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Best management practices

Luke C. Ng
Frank G. Zarb School of Business, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, USA

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Abstract
Purpose Management means getting things done effectively through people. This implies the importance of leadership and people skills in management practice to achieve optimal results. Great managers usually succeed for a number of reasons. They usually possess nine common management practices. This paper aims to identify these common denominators in their character and management practice that dene them. Design/methodology/approach Case examples are used to illustrate the application of those management practices. Successful managers from well-known industry giants such as IBM, Nestles, P&G, Apple, Loews, GE and PepsiCo are proled to demonstrate how their success can be traced back to those practices. Findings The paper demonstrates that every manager can easily apply the nine management practices daily to achieve a successful outcome. While some of these traits appear to be personal habits, it is these simple management habits that inuence subordinates to perform their best. Originality/value Most good managers are trained, not born. The nine personal practices identied in this paper can be easily adopted on a daily basis. With consistent practice, the nine personal traits help train managers to become more effective leaders in driving optimal performance and motivating subordinates to get things done effectively. Keywords Management technique, Social skills, Motivation (psychology), Leadership, Management development, Best practice Paper type General review

Introduction Management means getting things done effectively through people to achieve the desired results. This requires a combination of leadership, communication and people skills. A manager without any leadership skills is like a ship sailing on high seas without a compass and a gyroscope. The manager, in that case, is merely a bureaucrat pushing paper and administering the daily chores and directives of higher-ups a gloried order-taker. In his groundbreaking 1977 Harvard Business Review article, Managers and leaders, are they different? professor Abraham Zaleznik illustrated the differences between managers and leaders based on four attitudinal qualities: attitudes toward goals; conceptions of work; relations with others; and sense of self (Zaleznik, 1977). However, the twenty-rst century managers must possess all those attributes. They must proactively assume positive outlook, constantly shaping the competitive landscape, and steering the rm to their desired course. Rather than accepting status quo, they always examine alternatives and develop new approaches to problem solving. Moreover, they emotionally connect with colleagues and subordinates by establishing open communication links, thereby inviting new ideas and fresh approaches to getting things done. They usually avoid getting bogged down by the

Journal of Management Development Vol. 30 No. 1, 2011 pp. 93-105 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0262-1711 DOI 10.1108/02621711111098398

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bureaucratic process. Instead, they nd ways to bypass or change the process to steer clear of bottlenecks. In the auto-biography, War as I Know It, General George Patton and author Rick Atkinson described how the legendary second world war commander managed the allies invasion of Sicily and the subsequent campaign to rescue encircled US paratroopers in Bastogne. He demonstrated how a military leader managed the campaign skillfully by re-shaping the competitive landscape (changing the process) to achieve optimal results. However, all these successful actions were made possible in large part because of Pattons sense of self a special condence of destiny in the organization (Atkinson and Patton, 1947). Likewise, modern day managers must assume and exert the same self-assurance to achieve the targeted outcome by leading the team with condence. Great managers usually exhibit nine common management practices. In this paper, examples are drawn from companies such as IBM, Nestles, G.E., Loews, P&G, PepsiCo and Apple, to illustrate the actual application of these practices. Visionary big picture orientation A good manager must have the capacity to see the big picture the ability to see the forest rather than looking at individual trees. This unique attribute is usually the hallmark of a great manager. It requires the manager to think strategically, like a good chess player, planning several steps ahead. Equally important, it requires the manager to assess the implication of each move, especially their long-term impact, not merely short-term results. Even though Lou Gerstner had no background in technology, he was recruited out of Nabisco (a food conglomerate) to be the CEO of IBM. By his own admission, Gerstner never even used a PC (personal computer) until the rst day of his arrival at the Big Blue (Gerstner, 2002). However, he was able to strategically see the forest. He saw that the world was changing due to the tech revolution while IBM was still resting on its laurels. The company was blindly stuck to the mainframe strategy trying to perfect the humongous IBM big box while the rest of the world was going PC and work stations. This emerging trend would essentially make IBMs agship irrelevant. Despite being an outsider, Gerstner was able to change the strategic focus of IBM by liberating it from the traditional marketing myopia as described by Ted Levitts revolutionary thesis (Levitt, 1960). Today, Big Blue is thriving again simply because Gerstner was able to convert the stodgy old giant into a nimble technology rm. About 60 percent of IBMs current revenue comes from software/service/consulting. Only 1/3 of its business remains hardware related. Without Gerstners visionary big picture strategic shift, IBM might have disappeared into the oblivion, like Wang Computer, E-Toy and Gateway Computer. In a different way, A.G. Laey, the current Chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble and Ram Charan described in The Game Changer how he turned around the embattled consumer product giant after unexpectedly yanked into the CEO suite (Laey and Charan, 2008). Unlike Gerstner, A.G. Laey is a life-long P&G veteran with over 30-years of brand management experience. As an insider, however, he saw the need to change the status quo a unique P&G mentality that was prevalent for many decades. Essentially, Laey. managed the monumental change perfectly by looking at the forest with a

different strategic vision. He began fostering a new mindset for all P&Gers by rst changing the attitudes of the company. Contrary to P&G of the past, Laey encouraged that innovations must be promoted from both inside the company (traditionally) and outside sources as well. This led to the unprecedented sourcing of new ideas from the outside such as the battery-powered toothbrush. From a marketing perspective, this was a brilliant move. It essentially transformed the old standard toothbrush from a commodity that everyone needs (retailing between 75c to $1 each) into a $6 mechanical brush that many consumers want! This moved the consumer up-market and raised the toothbrush revenue signicantly. Equally important, the ergonomically designed brush is powered by batteries (that P&G happens to distribute Duracell). It was followed by other mammoth acquisitions such as Pantene and Wella Hair Care, only to be surpassed by the epic $56 billion purchase of Gillette. Essentially, A.G. Laey transformed P&G from a soap company (Ivory & Tide) into a consumer product giant (personal care and beauty care, family care, health care, and household care). Meanwhile, Laey initiated game-changing policies such as inviting ideas for innovations from suppliers and even P&G alumni from around the world. The idea is to tap into the vast network of former employees who were raided by other rms regularly. Many of the P&G alumni have become very successful in other companies. Some notable examples are Meg Whitman, who became Chairman of Ebay; Steve Ballmer, the current CEO of Microsoft; Steve Case, who founded AOL and Jeff Immelt, current CEO and Chairman of GE. They all had their humble beginning at P&G! With these untraditional strategic shifts, Laey has steered P&G on an enormous growth path analogous to GEs during Jack Welchs era. In retrospect, none of these could have materialized without Laeys visionary strategic change. Equally remarkable was that A.G. managed the disruptive change process perfectly by rallying the troops to support him enthusiastically a seismic shift of entrenched attitudes that his predecessors were unable to achieve. Other examples of visionary managers are Steven Reinemund and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo as well as Steve Jobs of Apple. Both Steve Reinemund (former Chairman and CEO) and Indra Nooyi, former CFO who succeeded Reinemund as CEO in 2006, are credited for their successful transformation of PepsiCo. They accelerated the strategic shift by expanding the Frito Lay division (snack) and restaurants (KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, etc., later became Yum Brands). Company resources were devoted to non-carbonated beverage categories with the $14 billion purchase of Quaker Oats followed by Tropicana Orange Juice, Naked Juice, Izzi and Aquana Water (Business Week, 2002). These strategic moves were signicant because the world was changing consumers were shying away from carbonated drinks (soda) into alternative beverage, perceived to be healthier. Such acquisitions were well timed to take advantage of the consumer taste shift. Meanwhile, Pepsis food business expands into emerging markets by leaps and bounds. This coincides with the explosive economic growth and the rise of the middle class in China and India. Consequently, KFC and Pizza Hut have become the fastest growing restaurant chains in those countries while Pepsi, the soda, is simply riding the coattail of the food business, expanding one restaurant at a time.

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With the big picture visions of Reinemund and Nooyi, PepsiCo evolved from a single me-too soda company into a food and beverage conglomerate powerhouse with record earnings growth perennially (Pepsi, 2007). Likewise, Steve Jobs transformed the former Apple Computer into the new Apple a consumer products company. It is no longer selling just the personal computer, which has become a commodity with retail price and prot margin dropping by the day. Todays Apple has moved into a completely new frontier, creating nifty, user-friendly products that consumers desire, such as iPod, Shufe, iPhone. Jobs has essentially created a new blue ocean for Apple as described by Kim and Mauborgne (2005) making its traditional competitors irrelevant. Without any real competition on the horizon, Apple could adopt a price-skimming strategy, charging premium price for products (i-Phone introductory price of $600 each) that consumers were willing to stand in line overnight for. Consequently, Apples stock price has performed much better than Dell and HP in recent years (Apple, 2008). A sense of curiosity and inquisitiveness Curiosity is a very important attribute for a good manager. It prompts the manager to keep acquiring new knowledge and to seek a better way to get things done. The famous Robert Kennedy quote goes: There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why . . . I dream of things that never were, and ask why not is particularly pertinent in the world of business. This propensity to probe why not? enables the manager to keep nding a better way to conduct business. It challenges the status quo mentality and practice. It also encourages us to explore alternatives and promotes diversity in critical thinking for problem solving and general management. The following personal experience is a good illustration of this attribute for every managers daily practice. Since arriving in New York from Hong Kong 41 years ago, the new environment provided me with abundant opportunities to learn. My eyes were feasting with sensory overload. I kept asking Why?, Why not? and How? The new surroundings became natural stimuli for my learning, which I could later apply in real life situations. Here is a perfect example of how I utilized my inquisitiveness and applied it to business effectively: As I arrived at JFK airport three days after Christmas in 1967, I witnessed the aftermath of one of the most severe snowstorms in decades. I saw snow for the rst time in my life. I still vividly remember the snow piles, twelve feet or higher all over the airport. Meanwhile, numerous stranded travelers had been stuck at the airport terminal for days. That was my rst, up-close glimpse of New York. That image never escaped me. I kept wondering why travelers were stranded at the airport and why many of them needed to sleep on the oor of the terminal. My curiosity and observation prompted me to think that there ought to be a better way! It so happened that I was later employed by Pan American World Airways (PanAm). Therefore I had the opportunity to put my newly acquired observation to good use. After learning the ropes of the airline business, I took the initiative and subsequently recommended to PanAm management a way to improve procedures for managing weather-related crises, i.e. by pre-handling potentially stranded passengers. The idea was to make alternate travel and lodging arrangement for all

booked passengers before their arrival at the airport on the day of the snowstorm. Hence, they would not be stuck at the airport like other last-minute walk-ins. In this way, we essentially prevented the trafc jams by decongesting potential bottlenecks ahead of time. Equally important, this would save the anxious passengers the hassle of hurry up and wait at the airport just to nd themselves stranded, frustrated and helpless. In addition, this prevention procedure saves customers valuable time so they could do something else more productively rather than getting annoyingly stuck at the airport. Such a procedure would present the airline in a professional manner thereby creating enormous goodwill, unlike the chaotic scene of the JetBlue asco just a few years ago. My recommendation was eventually adopted. As a result, PanAm passengers never had to endure such a chaotic situation like the scene I observed upon my arrival at JFK. In this instance, my sense of curiosity and observation rewarded me with management recognition and a subsequent promotion. Importance of being observant It was those attributes of curiosity, inquisitiveness and being observant that earned me a job with PanAm to begin with. I was hired serendipitously, totally by chance! When I came to the US after high school in Hong Kong, I planned to attend college to further my education. However, while I was sending my friend off at the airport, I observed that there was a long line of people in front of the PanAm counter. But none of them had any luggage with them. That anomaly prompted my curiosity. Upon probing, I found out that PanAm was accepting applications that day for employment. I naturally followed the crowd and applied without much of an expectation. However, I was pleasantly surprised to be selected for a series of interviews. Subsequently, I was one of the seven lucky applicants hired from a pool of over 800 prospects. As I encourage my students, this is another clear example of how curiosity, inquisitiveness and being observant paid enormous dividends. This was signicant also because when I was in Hong Kong, I tried to get a job in the airline industry straight out of high school. In those days, it was every young graduates dream to work for a glamorous airline, so we could embark on exciting adventures around the world. However, like all of my former classmates, we were rejected due to severe competition and limited vacancy in Hong Kong at the time. Ironically when the opportunity arose, albeit ten thousand miles and half the world away, resulting from my curiosity and being observant, I jumped at the chance to work for the legendary PanAm, and thus postponed my original college plans for a while. Consequently, I could enjoy the many fringe benets of working for a prestigious international airline the ofcial ag-carrier of the USA. I was able to travel around the world in my spare time, enjoying my new adventures. In fact, my entire family beneted from my PanAm employment. My parents, brothers and sisters could enjoy air travel a very expensive luxury for most people back in those days before airline industry deregulation. My PanAm work experience is signicant also on other counts. First, I worked with a truly international staff. My colleagues came from various countries around the world. This was very important, especially after I was promoted to supervisor; I had to manage the staff from different cultures. The signicance was compounded by the fact that I was the youngest supervisor and the only one without a college degree then!

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In retrospect, if I were clueless and simply walking around the PanAm terminal like a typical tourist without observing and probing the anomaly of the scenery, I would have missed one of the greatest experiences of my life!

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Attention to detail Besides big picture orientation, good managers must always pay attention to detail. Fortunately, this is made easier by the two preceding attributes. A good manager always ensures that he/she is well informed with all the details of the business. Despite the colossal size of Berkshire Hathaway with record 2008 revenue topping over $66 Billion (Berkshire Hathaway, 2008), Warren Buffett learns every facet of his companies thoroughly. Buffett has such a good grasp of detail that he can quote facts and gures off the cuff when questioned a very important attribute of every professional manager. When I was running my own restaurant business until retirement in year 2000, I trained my managers, hostesses and wait staff to pay attention to all detail of the business. They all learned to remember customers, especially the regulars. After all, they were the ones whose regular visits helped pay our rent and our salary! Moreover, they learned all the customers likes and dislikes. Most important, they paid particular attention to all the customers needs for instance, allergies and idiosyncrasies. Furthermore, my staff learned to remember what customers ordered during their last visit (before computer technology was introduced into the restaurant scene) so they could recommend something new for the customers, to keep their dining interests fresh each time to avoid boredom). This prevented customers interest fatigue, a resigned feeling that its the same old thing again! As raved by the New York Times food critics and others, customers were very impressed by this unusual attention to details my unique selling proposition (USP, as described by the legendary advertising guru David Ogilvy (1964). They would keep coming back week after week, especially with family and friends each time to impress them, thereby expanding my customer base constantly. This was particularly signicant because I had a large core of regulars who would patronize our restaurants two or three times a week. Many of them were physicians, lawyers, investment bankers and heads of Fortune 500 companies besides celebrities, movie stars and politicians. This word-of-mouth (WOM) effect essentially saved me the cost of advertising while building usage frequency that P&G and Nestles were known for. This was one of my secret sauces my invisible secret weapon to entice regular customers returning week after week. As a result, all my regular customers never laid eyes on my printed menu. They preferred to rely on the advice of my staff to order. This secret sauce paying attention to details, was one of the critical success factors because it created a different consumer dining experience. It eliminated the typical (commercial looking) dining rituals intently studying the printed menu, placing orders, then anxiously waiting for the food. Instead, the process I designed provided a personal touch. Diners would feel they were special that they did not need a menu for ordering. Meanwhile, the customers encounter with my staff (via consulting about their meal plans) created a special relationship between them. Hence this rapport led them to treat our restaurant dining rooms as their own home away from home!

Manage with visibility and enthusiasm A good manager must always be visible to all employees and customers. The old adage, monkey see, monkey do is an important axiom to remember for everyday practice. Both customers and employees must see with their own eyes that the boss cares. Once Lou Gerstner became the CEO of IBM, he spent nearly 75 percent of his time visiting different eld ofces and customers around the world. This enabled him to witness with his own eyes actual conditions in the market place (Gerstner, 2002), rather than simply relying on memos and conference calls. While he virtually lived out of his suitcases hopping between conference rooms, hotel rooms, and the company jet, he learned rst hand from customers about their needs and complaints. Such direct contact with clients and employees around the world was very impressive. They all felt that nally someone from the New York headquarters cares. Importantly, they also saw the enthusiasm of the new CEO! This prevented clients from switching to competitors and employees jumping ship to rivals. Consequently, morale and productivity shot up dramatically. Likewise, during his reign as GEs Chairman and CEO (1981-2001), Jack Welch made sure that he was visible to clients and employees alike (Welch and Byrne, 2001). He was always seen on the frontline, visiting factories and research labs, so that he would be kept abreast of the latest. In this way, he was open to direct communication with the shop steward on factory oor besides PhD scientists cocooned in R&D facilities. Despite the fact that he had a PhD in chemical engineering, he forbid anyone calling him Dr Welch. Everyone knew him as Jack, from janitors to the receptionists. They could all stop him in the hallway and engage him in discussion, from the latest GE invention to sports events. Essentially, Jack made himself a role model for visibility and attention to details. Consequently, every employee was on top of his/her responsibilities constantly. In the best selling author and historian Stephen Ambroses book, D Day (Ambrose, 1994) and Cornelius Ryans The Longest Day (Ryan, 1959), both authors described how General Patton and Brig. General Teddy Roosevelt Jr, respectively charged into battle with their troops. In Pattons case, he wanted to be on the frontline to manage the execution of the battle plan. He would personally conduct on-site inspection of the battleground ahead of time just like the legendary warrior Alexander the Great. Likewise, General Teddy Roosevelt Jr insisted that he charged into a Normandy beach with all the troops under his command, despite the objection of his immediate boss. Roosevelts objective was to instill condence and raise morale of the troops, who would witness their commander, the son of the president walking with a cane, leading them into battle, taking the same risk like everyone else, just like the legendary Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great! In business, a managers passion (or the lack thereof) is extremely contagious. There is a lot of truth to the maxim, monkey see, monkey do. Employees could easily justify their lackadaisical attitude by rationalizing that why should I care if the boss doesnt? On the other hand, the enthusiasm of Gerstner, Laey, Welch, Roosevelt Jr, and Patton sent out important signals to their subordinates to motivate them into actions to ascertain positive results. In a stark contrast, Jimmy Cayne, Bear Stearns former chairman was playing golf in a Florida country club while the embattled investment bank imploded on Wall

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Street. As detailed by William Cohans latest book, House of Cards (Cohan, 2009), his ominous detachment (or ignorance) from the realities of his rms deep-seeded problems was manifested when a reporter asked him about the company. He insisted that Bear Stearns was healthy and poised for growth. Cayne came across as totally clueless and out of touch. Crisis management skill A good manager must be equipped with crisis management skills. They separate the pros from the amateurs. How one manages during a crisis denes the manager. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani became famous after the 9/11 tragedy mostly because of his handling of the crisis. As described in Jack Newelds The Full Rudy (Neweld, 2007) he was on the scene immediately covered with soot, overseeing the rescue efforts despite the potential danger of being personally exposed to the toxic dust clouds. Again, he displayed leadership when others were dumbstruck. He was very visible on the frontline, just like Patton and Roosevelt Jr. This was coupled with an immediate call on airwaves for calm. Such a display of courage and condence was contagiously comforting and reassuring. Equally important was his immediate implementation of NYCs emergency plan, which had been crafted years ago with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), established during the Nixon Administration. It is signicant to note that such instant execution of the plan was possible only because New York City has regular emergency drills with FEMA throughout the year. Hence, practice, practice and more practice is the key to success in a plans execution. The success rate is a direct function of how well the team practices. As a result, Giuliani was named Time magazines Person of the Year in 2001. By comparison, New Orleanss mayor, Ray Nagins management of another historic disaster, hurricane Katrina in 2005 shows drastic differences. According to a recent New York Times report, residents are very unhappy about the lack of progress to rebuild the entire area. A recent University of New Orleans poll also recorded a dismal 24 percent approval rating Nagin (Schwartz, 2009). It was the lack of preparedness that turned the Katrina storm into a disaster. After all, hurricanes in that part of the country are perennial events. One would assume that the city would have a plethora of experience in handling potential hurricanes to prevent them from turning into disasters. This is particularly signicant given that the storm had been tracked all along. The storms arrival was not unexpected. Moreover, the geographical terrain of New Orleans is a known factor. Together with low levees and a long history of hurricane events, all these were prescriptions for a horric catastrophe waiting to happen. One wonders why New Orleans was so unprepared to deal with the expected hurricane. To make the matters worse, indecisiveness and inaction were major causes of the extent of the damage. Evacuation was never ordered until the day before Katrina hit the city. Furthermore, instead of onsite management of the storm preparation, Nagin was in New York City, just two days before Katrina hit New Orleans. The nonchalant and detached demeanor and his absence from the frontline sent out wrong signals to the citizens of New Orleans. This was a major reason for the lackadaisical residents reluctance to evacuate until too late. While the public media blamed FEMAs

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incompetence, it is important to note that the same FEMA agency was highly praised for their response and performance of 9/11. In dramatic contrast, despite the traumatic tragedy and devastation of the 9/11 attacks, New York City bounced back remarkably in record time. The economy rebounded stronger and equally vibrant. Mayor Giuliani deserved a lot of credit for NYCs preparedness. His management of the crisis truly denes his legacy positively in history. The moral is that a good manager must be constantly prepared through regular training. This includes developing contingency plans with scenario analyses and frequent reviews, updating and adjusting if necessary. Back in my days at Nestles, before the invention and adoption of personal computer, I used to have several sets of P&L statements in my briefcase prepared with different assumptions and contingencies developed under various conditions and scenarios. After all, with multi-million pounds of chocolate produced annually, it involved the livelihood of many thousands of employees and their families. Manage with openness and set an example A good manager must be approachable and open to new ideas. When Mike Bloomberg became the Mayor of New York City, he completely transformed City Hall literally and metaphorically. Armed with his business background and management experience from founding and operating the Bloomberg News organization, he overhauled City Hall with a complete makeover. First, he tore down the traditional design of executive ofces by converting them all into cubicles with see-through partition, just like a typical newsroom. Equally signicant is that the Mayors ofce is in the midst of all those cubicles. The message is clear Bloomberg is transparent and approachable. Like Gen. Patton and Gen. Roosevelt Jr, he wants to be on the frontline with his troops. The newsroom-like ofce allows him, the manager, to keep on top of whats going on with a single glance around the room. This is literally hands-on management with visibility and openness. Unlike his predecessors, Bloomberg commutes daily on the subway between his residence on Upper Eastside and City Hall in Downtown. Besides promoting mass transit and improving the environment, Bloomberg gains rst-hand knowledge of the daily challenge of a commuter. Therefore, he comes across as the peoples mayor, very approachable, open to new ideas and complaints by speaking with people on the street. Nearly three decades ago, when Andrew Tisch rst became the new CEO of Bulova Watch Co., a Loews Corp. subsidiary, he overhauled the company with similar makeover. The rst day he went to work at the Queens, NY headquarters at 7 a.m., he ordered the maintenance department to paint over all the reserved spaces in the parking lot no more designated reserved slots. His new policy was rst come, rst served. Those who came in late would have to park at the far end of the parking lot, a football elds length away from the ofce building. Next, he had breakfast in the company cafeteria rather than the executive dining room. Before he nished his last coffee, he signed an order to tear down the executive dining room. All managers and executives were instructed to join the rank and le for all meals in the cafeteria by sitting in their midst. Thus, Tisch learned more about their needs and challenges of his employees. As a result, he personally received numerous suggestions and new ideas about improving the business, which made suggestion

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boxes obsolete. Meanwhile, morale was raised to new heights while productivity shot up dramatically because workers and managers began showing up at the parking lot at 7 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. Moreover, employees found out that they could meet the CEO face to face by having breakfast with him at 7 a.m. The result was spectacular. Tisch was able to turnaround Bulova in only 18 months! Like his former Harvard Business School classmate, P&Gs Laey, Tischs secret sauce was to reach out to the ordinary rank and le to win their hearts (raising morale) and minds (gaining breakthrough ideas!). Empirical evidence shows that a people-oriented manager will always obtain the best work from subordinates! The art of delegation and communication skills History now recognizes that President Ronald Reagan was one of the best managers of US politics. He managed the White House administration like a corporation. He ran the country like a Chairman of the Board and CEO, reviewing strategies and setting policy direction. The Chief of Staff, James Baker III was essentially the chief operating ofcer (COO) to ascertain that policies were carried out effectively. At the time, detractors criticized that Reagan was not hands-on. However, history seems to prove otherwise. In Edmund Morriss Dutch (Morris, 1999) and Reagans Life in Letters (Skinner et al., 2003) the cowboy president was much better informed and always on top of every issue than his critics gave him credit for. One managerial trait was clear Reagan always delegated the actual implementation to his staff once decisions were made. This also removed him from any culpability of political controversy such as the Iran-Contra episode. Another hallmark of a good manager is communication skill, epitomized by Reagans. His message and delivery were superb, right on message and always sharp and clear. He always found ways to communicate with people effectively, such as hand writing personal notes to ordinary citizens. Likewise, GEs Jack Welch was also known for handwriting personal notes of feedback and congratulations to subordinates. Once Warren Buffet makes a decision regarding an investment, he delegates the execution to his staff and leaves the managers alone with the day-to-day operation. He merely meets with them once a year for business reviews, unless the managers request an audience to resolve urgent issues. This management practice is extremely compelling because it empowers the employees. With such enormous responsibility on their shoulders, the subordinates would usually do their utmost to ensure the objectives are achieved and not to disappoint the boss. Hence, management wins their hearts and minds besides their loyalty! After I was recruited out of P&G by Nestles, I managed their chocolate business in the Westchester, NY headquarters. Despite the suburban setting, we used to conduct semi-annual full-day Blue Sky meetings off the premises. All marketing personnel and staff from other departments and the advertising agency were expected to attend. The objective was to provide an informal forum for every employee to express their ideas unencumbered by the connes, procedures and protocols of the headquarters. This arrangement also allowed them equal opportunity to air out their thoughts and new concepts without the interruption of telephones and unexpected guests dropping in. This was essentially an open forum with no formalities. Only the blue sky was the limit. Employees would be publicly recognized and rewarded for any ideas adopted in the informal get-together. Consequently, this open-channel communication

arrangement led to a constant ow of new product ideas besides raising employee camaraderie. Fast-forward to the twenty-rst century. Best Buy designed a grass root program to generate new product and services ideas. As reported in BusinessWeek (Reena, 2009), the program recruits selected employees to live together for ten weeks in an apartment complex outside Los Angeles entirely paid for by the company. There they brainstorm and come up with creative ideas to market new products or services. This innovative, open-ended boot-camp approach for breakthrough concepts is one of the major reasons for Best Buys success, causing the eventual demise of Circuit City. Equally important, not only that such a program is very cost effective, it also empowers employees and motivates them to think creatively for their business. Thus, ebullient employees passionately take ownership in the future of the company.

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Talent cultivation and mentoring A manager is only as good as the people who work for him/her. This means he/she must develop an on-going program to cultivate talent for the organization. Jack Welch is considered to be one of the best managers in recent history. One reason was his accomplishment for creating a deep talent pool (3) Welch developed such a deep executive bench that by the time he retired, he could select from a large group of executives. Welch eventually passed the baton to Jeff Immelt. However, headhunters immediately recruited the two lieutenants, namely, Bob Nardelli and Jim McNerney Jr. They both became CEO of other Fortune 100 companies, namely, Home Depot and Boeing respectively. Grooming and training subordinates are major responsibilities of a good manager. In reality, it is in his/her best interest to mentor subordinates well. After all, once the boss moves up the organization, the vacancy needs to be lled. From a selsh standpoint, the boss would ascertain that his/her agenda is carried out effectively by the successor, preferably the person he/she trained. If the transition does not execute well, things could fall apart, which would be a bad reection on the boss. Worse still, if an outsider is brought in to ll the vacancy, he/she might have a different agenda. This would lead to dismantling everything the predecessor built, thus destroying the legacy. When I was in the restaurant business, I made it a priority to train all my staff the way I envisioned the restaurants to be run. This was especially important since I had different ideas about operating style and process, compared to the conventional and traditional restaurants. Meanwhile, my dining room managers and chefs actively mentored their subordinates to ensure consistency of food and service. The new IBM, however, takes a very creative approach according to BusinessWeek (Hamm, 2009). They changed the standard mentoring protocol whereby a seasoned executive would counsel and impart valuable advice to a junior employee. Beginning in 2009, the company established a new global online system for mentoring. Volunteers were recruited to coach/consult junior employees across the globe. Remarkably in only two months, over 3,000 mentors volunteered to impart advice online after being screened and matched for their areas of expertise by human resources department. The result is improved morale and camaraderie. Serendipitously, the added benet is reduced cost of mentoring logistics.

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Conclusion A manager is like a conductor initiating every move so that every member of the orchestra produces the desired sound for a cohesive outcome symphonic music. How well the music sounds depends on the energy, leadership and management skills of the maestro. Since management is getting things done effectively through others, people-management skill is vital to achieving success. This paper details nine best management practices that have been proven successful. They would enhance the entrepreneurial and leadership skills of a manager besides motivating employees to achieve the desired results effectively. Copious corporate examples are used throughout the article to illustrate the actual application of such management practices. The key, however, is execution with consistency. After all, employees are only as good as the manager leading them.
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About the author Luke C. Ng has over 37 years of industry experience in the areas of management, operations, entrepreneurship, consulting, development and non-prots. He has worked in management roles for companies such as Procter & Gamble, Nestles, and Pan American World Airways and was the founder and CEO of a group of upscale restaurants and an import/export company. He was a featured speaker at the Food Marketing Institute of America (FMI) convention 1997, Chicago. Luke has served as a consultant to the president of Lifetime Brands Corporation as well as to Chinese companies in the areas of marketing strategies and foreign expansion. He advised the Managing Director and Chairman of a Hong Kong conglomerate (a Hang Sang Index company) on corporate strategy and new venture initiatives and advised US corporations venturing into Hong Kong and mainland China. Luke also advised Foreign Relations Committee Chairmen of both the House and US Senate on the reversion of Hong Kong to China. Luke has been an active fundraiser for various charities organizing food and clothing drives for refugee children and operating a primary school staffed by volunteers for over 800 refugee children. Prior to becoming a professor at Hofstra Universitys Frank G. Zarb School of Business, Luke served as a guest lecturer for eight years (Hofstra, Iona, and Pace Universities). He now teaches management, marketing, international business, services marketing and business ethics in the MBA program; international business in the executive MBA program; and competitive strategy in an Executive Education program. Luke also served as Director of Recruitment for four years at Hofstra Universitys Frank Zarb Business School while teaching. Luke received an MBA from Harvard Business School (1977) and his BBA from Hofstra University (1975). Luke C. Ng can be contacted at: bizlcn@hofstra.edu

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