What Managers Need

Source: AICPA CPA Insider

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by Justin Locke.

It was not until I became a manager that I discovered how unaware I had been of what the average manager needs. With a bunch of people working for me, I was frustrated. They were willing to follow any order, but I needed people who could see the big picture, see my perspective, and make things happen.

One day I got a chance to go back to being an underling. I was asked to be a “score reader” for television broadcasts of the Boston Pops.

I liked not being in charge, but I did want to cement my position and get paid more. I was working for the director. He was “my manager,” but he was also under enormous pressure. So I took notice of things he needed.

For example, he kept walking into the next office to use the pencil sharpener, so I bought him an electric one. He rarely had time to run to the vending machine, so I always had a bottle of water for him. To save him time, I made sure all the scores were in his bag in program order. If there was some confusion with the scores, I would fix it.

Over the years, my fee increased by a factor of 10, and this director wrote me into all his contracts for other TV shows. His clients had to hire me when they hired him. Ka-ching!

The CPA Equation
Giving your clients more value makes it a lot easier to charge more the next time you negotiate your fee. I did not insist on more money, I persisted in giving them more value, and the money followed the value.

For the complete article, read “Managing Your Manager.”

From AICPA CPA Insider, May 2, 2011, http://www.CPA2biz.com.