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Business Success: It’s the People, Stupid
I am a proud product of professional self-help books. Ground up all the books I consumed as a young professional with “better,” “habits,” or “power” in the title and the resulting cache of fine powder would rival shipments of the most powerful drug lords on the planet.
This, of course, begs the question: What type of exotic animals would I own if I really was a drug lord? I presume that is what drug lords think about, right? I digress.
As a mentor, I am often asked about my favorite leadership and management books. In the past, I could suggest several, depending on personal preferences. After a long career leading organizations and teams, however, I can tell you with great confidence and fierce conviction that you can dispense with the self-help books and save your money.
Truth be told, the formula for career success in leadership and management is simple and mirrors a quote about the economy that James Carville popularized in the 1992 presidential campaign:
It’s the people, stupid.
That is to say that people are the key to all business success, and to lead and manage effectively is to understand people. While this may seem like an oversimplification, in our post-pandemic world order, “understanding people” has become much more complicated and less refined than we think.
