Many think when being a manager it is the ultimate fulfillment of one’s wishes and dreams. The more people they manage the better it is and the larger the bonus and other fringe benefits will be. Not to mention of course the more than generous pay check that lands every fortnight on the doormat. As mentioned manager tend to manage people. Aside from the legitimate question if it is possible to manage people (I say people manage themselves and cannot be managed) let us take a look at the position of a manager.
This individual is always on top of a small or bigger group of employees who are directly responsible to the manager. In fact when it is drawn on the infamous white board something like a triangle appears. Which is the most simple form of… you may guess it already: the pyramid. An important aspect is that the manager must stay in control of everybody that is below him in the pyramid or he may lose his position and the paycheck, the bonus and the fringe benefits. Managers don’t want that to happen. One thing to make sure this does not happen is to block anyone of your employees to climb to the top of the pyramid. So the Human Resource Department is asked to make a job description for everybody in the pyramid. One has to fulfill all the requirements or the employee may lose his position in the pyramid to a lower rank or even worse: be expelled from the pyramid with a job termination as the logical result. Due to the strict job description it is not possible to advance in the ranks; the best possible result is to remain on the same level supporting the manager in his position at the top. However, something similar is applicable to the manager. There is always somebody controlling him. It may be a CEO or shareholders or a politician or a voter… The manager is never sure of his position at the top and the possibility of tumbling down is always present. Hence, the fear for loss and the enormous kind of self content and greed we see nowadays in our world to compensate this fear for loss. The conclusion is this system is not sustainable and doomed to fall apart. Isn’t it today it will be tomorrow taking away everyone’s basic securities (lower threshold of the Maslow Pyramid).
A Master on the other hand is someone who possesses inner wisdom. He knows and does not believe and stands apart of the pyramid system. This inner wisdom is created by not believing, asking questions, listening to answers and putting the answers into reality. All generated and created from within and totally independent of a boss – follower construction (which is similar to manager – employee). Hence, a Master shall never experience fear for loss as the inner wisdom is fully internalized. Inner wisdom is accessible to all who want to step out of the pyramidal system and stop believing in a religious model full with ideas, dogmas of others and hence, of the past. By religious model I mean pyramidal models where there is always someone on top who tries to dictate behavior by conventions. On the other hand a Master is free to choose how and when to live and makes his own decisions based on true love. What a difference with the daily struggle of the manager which ultimo does not give fulfillment but fear for life.
What is it going to be: Master or manager?????????????
