Cowboy Caleb the liberal arts, grown-up stuff & random mischief

Farewell, And Thanks For All The Fish

Last Friday, I held a department meeting where I told the bunch of staff that we (the company) had managed to hire a new manager and he would be reporting for work on Monday, so I would not be their boss any longer.

After 2.5 months of serving as acting manager of their department, I thanked them for their hardwork and support. The fact that everything ran pretty smoothly and no major disasters happened showed that we had managed to pull through a rather difficult patch together through teamwork.

Shortly after the meeting, the team leaders came to see me privately and expressed their sadness at my departure. Apparently they tremendously enjoyed my Cowboy Method of making as many decisions as fast as possible. Although I didn’t manage to solve all their problems, I had probably closed 6 out of every 10 issues, leaving the department in a better shape than it originally was when I took over.

So I’m very glad that they appreciated me and didn’t see me as some stupid expat manager who lorded it over them. The general rule of thumb is that expat = idiot and acting manager = bumbling moron.

But at the same time, I’m now even more convinced now that the best managers are the ones that have the courage to make decisions in a timely manner and get people to move their arse.

I believe the manager indeed move their ass, making decisions, is just that, the quantity and the quality on how you wight it. You take quantity of decision as priority whereas some manager take quality decision as priority. The later is for long term career plan. You only short term in this chair, hence you select quantity as priority …

Good news for you Cowboy… now you have more time on your hands to get into trouble in other areas!?!?! HA HA HA! But your point regarding your decision making is so true - well done sir!

you’re right. history has proven that indecisive generals often cause huge casualties in wars