Managing the Unmanageable: Unlock Your Full Management Potential to Empower Your Top Performers

By Mike Cecil

• Reveals practical and time-tested advice for effectively managing top performers who thrive outside traditional constraints.
• Provides insights and lessons learned from a seasoned industry professional with 42 years of experience.
• Emphasizes the importance of treating individuals with dignity, respect, and autonomy to unlock their full potential.
• Offers relatable anecdotes, strategies, and actionable tips for creating a thriving work environment.
• Appeals to a wide range of managers and aspiring managers seeking to enhance their leadership skills.
• Addresses a pervasive problem in management: how to retain and nurture high-performing employees.
• Presents a fresh perspective on effective management, challenging conventional norms and fostering innovation.
• Ideal for professionals across various industries looking to maximize productivity, employee satisfactions, and long-term success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Release date: May 7, 2024
• ISBN: 9781636982793

Mike Cecil

Mike Cecil is a seasoned construction industry professional with 42 years of experience. As a Master Plumber, Master Gasfitter, Master HVAC, Master Electrician, and General Contractor licensed in multiple states, Mike has successfully executed projects throughout the United States and internationally. Having worked with both exemplary and poor managers throughout his extensive career, he draws on his wealth of knowledge to offer practical, tried-and-true guidance for effectively managing high-performing individuals who thrive when given the freedom to excel without excessive rules and limitations. Mike currently resides in Lothian, Maryland. 

Book preview

LESSON 1

A Great Manager

People are not robots. We are all made different. To be a great manager or leader of your employees, you need to recognize the differences, strengths, and weaknesses and use that to your advantage. Get out of my way and do not micro-manage.

Business is not family; business is a team. As Michael Gerber says, in my favorite business management book, The E-Myth Revisited, as a manager, you wear different hats.

Tiresome corporate rhetoric loves to say mouth the words, We are a family. But in business you are not a family; you are a team.

A good manager is like the coach of a team. Is it more successful for the team to adapt to the coach, or for the coach to recognize what talent is in place and put them in the correct position? Someone may be great as a quarterback, but lousy as an offensive lineman.

An ego-driven manager will try to force people into roles and to perform skills they don’t possess. Or they become jealous of an employee who outshines and out-performs them.

An ego-driven manager will also let favorites get away with murder, while others are held to standards.

Excellent management doesn’t allow any team player to run amok and afoul of corporate philosophy or protocol. It cannot be tolerated when there is disrespectful, degrading, dishonest, disengaging, prejudiced, or any other form of unacceptable behavior.

Who’s Writing This Book

At one level, the experience of being terminated prompted me to write this book. Why?

Because I know there are many people whose managers don’t really know how to manage them. And they feel there is something wrong with them or that they are somehow doing it all wrong at work.

I also know there are many managers who really were not trained to be managers, and—in the fray of getting things done—lose sight of or never really knew how to manage.

At another level, I write because my passion is helping people. I believe it’s the reason I’m here on this planet. I do much work for charitable organizations and get great satisfaction. I have served on several boards of philanthropic organizations, which gives me great joy.

Not so long ago, before my dismissal, I was in the company’s main office and collected my mail. In it was a thank you letter from someone in Pittsburgh and I had no idea who it was from. I read it to a few people at work. The writer stated that they were appreciative of the generous gift I bestowed on them and could not wait to see me again. I had no idea who this person was, and it puzzled me.

The two people I read it to, could not pick up any clues. I explained that I always give money away to strangers, and thought maybe the thank you resulted from something like that. I was taken aback by the one person saying, Why would you do that—give money to strangers. I watch my money very closely?

Why wouldn’t you? I thought. We were put on this earth to help people and be kind and generous. I’ve never seen an armored car following a hearse, because it’s true that you can’t take it with you. In my experience, I’ve seen that if you are generous, kind, and loving - somehow, you will always be rewarded and it your goodness to others will come back to you.

As it turned out, the letter came from a couple I’d met at church, knew they were from out of town, and paid for them to have a nice dinner during their visit in the town where they were visiting, I was not expecting any type of thank you. That is not why I do things.

My Roots

I have to give credit where it’s due. My values were taught to me by my saintly mother. Whenever she saw a priest or nun, she would give them money.

Now, I always do the same thing wherever I see religious people, no matter the denomination. They make little money and deserve our thanks for making the world a better place. I have always given money equally to priests, nuns, rabbis, or mullahs.

On one of our trips to Rome, my wife said, Michael, you’re outnumbered here and are going to go broke. There are more nuns and priests than you can give money to.

I can honestly say that, because of this open and giving stance toward life and people, I have been beautifully rewarded many times.

… Except when I was summarily fired after doubling a company’s cash intake.

Which leads me back to my former boss.

How Some Business Leaders Fail

My former company boss will be losing sales because his pride and ego got in the way of good business judgment and managerial skills. Terminating high achievers and your A-players can often be very costly for managers. Do not let your pride and ego get in the way of making sound business decisions. Check your ego at the door.

I was not disrespectful on my last day, but simply asked him to stop micromanaging me and let me do my job. He could not handle that. I will never forget his last words on the phone: I can’t work like this. You are fired.

I said, "Well, that is a you problem. There are plenty of people who could utilize my skillset."

Now the thing is, if you’re going to stand up for yourself, you need to be sure of the ground you’re standing on. Bragging or overblowing your credentials or experience doesn’t cut it.

As it happens, in my eleven-year career in the Business Development world, I have been responsible for $1 billion in sales. For all that effort, I would receive only token bonuses; it was always about the win for me. Granted, on many of those wins, I was just part of a team, but on some I flew solo and did all the work on a proposal.

Most Owners and Managers do not understand how to handle high achievers like me. I am not a maniac, and people consider me kind and empathetic. I do know, from experience, that I have a lot to offer the world and the working environment to make it a better place. I also know, however, that I cannot and will not be micromanaged. It smothers me and takes the wind out of my sails.

Creating a Great Working Environment

If you want to be a great manager, leave your pride and ego home. It has no place at work. I have been in the workplace for over forty-two years. Along the way, I have had great managers, good managers, and terrible managers.

Let’s start with …

Meetings

People like me do not like to attend needless and never-ending meetings.

Good managers should make meetings efficient and no more than 15 to 20 minutes, not hours, unless you are laying out an important strategy. And you better have a detailed and well-thought-out agenda to avoid wasting time. We, the employees, are interested in the bottom line and cutting through the baloney.

And here’s a thought about …

Business Teams

I have never been a yes-person, and I don’t know anyone who really likes them. I also have very little patience for the incompetence or laziness of co-workers or employees. The lousy managers surround themselves with robots who agree with everything they say. That’s great for the ego, if you have a small one that needs to be constantly propped up, but it’s terrible for the bottom line and for keeping your All-Star talent.

In a very funny, animated movie called Madagascar, the hilarious penguins often say, Smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave. That’s a great picture of yes-people. They just