“My Manager’s Creed”

I work best with goal oriented people who are committed, who want to be accountable, who
seek responsibility and growth, who display a sense of urgency when needed, and get on with
the job. In other words, I don’t work very well with people who are excuse makers, and those
people who will go to great lengths to give me rationalizations why things can’t be done.
I work best with people who treat commitments as final. If, for example, a delay in something
they are responsible for is sensed, and they advise me immediately, not with an excuse, but
with a new commitment and deadline, then I’m happy. In these circumstances, I expect what
ever is required from the responsible person to minimize the delay.

I work best with people who can tell me at any time, their top priorities and action plans, and
whose subordinates can do the same. In other words, “where are we now” is a legitimate
question. I don’t want people spending so much time reporting to me that they don’t get
anything done. Reports are of no use to the company, unless they are read, analyzed and acted
upon. I expect people to have a handle on their current areas of responsibility, with or without
the generating of “reports” and “memos” that can take longer to write, than fixing the problem
in the first place. Paper trails are great, if used properly, and not used as excuses.

I work best with people who inform me of their critical problems, before hearing it from others.
I don’t like to hear things second hand, much less from outside the company. I don’t like
“cover ups”, as they are inexcusable. Surprises are self-defeating to our common cause. And,
I work best with people who leave word where they can be located when they are away from
the office during business hours. I am terribly frustrated when something comes up that I need
help with, and I can’t find the responsible person. Good communication is always key.

My tolerance for mistakes is directly linked to evidence that our mistakes will become useful
learning experiences. If you stop to think about it, both success and failure have the same root,
and that’s the desire to achieve. If you don’t have a desire to achieve, you don’t succeed – but
you don’t fail either – because you simply never try. A ship in the harbor is safe, but that’s not
what ships were built for.

I tell people that if they are facing uncertainty, and think that I can be helpful, talk with me.
But remember, in management, the more you need me, the less I need you. Think about it;
the more dependent you are on me to solve the problem of the day, the less dependent I can be
on you. I try not to bear grudges, but I believe that we can disagree without being disagreeable,
and disagree without it negatively effecting our ongoing working relationship.

I believe that every important project or goal needs a champion, someone who rides point,
someone who takes the lead, who is the initiator. Managers must think carefully what they
champion, who is to be involved, when they do it, and how important the final results will be
to the company’s overall profitability and long-term benefit. It doesn’t do much good to
champion situations that are of low priority, or to champion situations that are not going to
have high payoff to our overall goal of success. Thomas A. Capone January 1, 1995.

“On New Year’s Day 1995 I sent my staff a memo – My Manager’s Creed. I remember it like it was yesterday, I wrote this with my new laptop that I got for Christmas. I have sent this same memo to everyone that I have worked with since that day. Feel free to download this PDF. Here’s to an amazing 2025″ ~ Thomas A. Capone | CEO