

Managing Older Managers: A Guide for Younger Bosses - nlh
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/08/managing_older_managers_a_guid.html

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diN0bot
WTF!!!

"Let them know that you are working long and hard. Even accomplished, self-
motivated senior colleagues won't work harder than you will for very long.
Send emails early and late. Invite meetings on weekends and at odd hours. Be
in the office or online all the time. Dial into meetings at insane hours
during overseas travel. Understand that managers older than yourself may have
families that require them to live by different rhythms from yours — they may
need to be offline from 6 to 8, for example. But expect them to be working
long and hard, whenever it is, and make sure you are always doing more than
they are. Because you have less natural authority when working with older
people, reinforce your "moral right" to demand hard work by showing that you
demand even more of yourself."

This seems dishonest and distracting, maybe even slimey. I'm mentally more
tired just by imagining taking a course of action for show IN ADDITION to
doing real work. I wouldn't want to live or think this way. We've all had
these thoughts as kids, but when we grow up and become wiser we see how all of
that is a distraction. Maybe I"m overreacting, but in the context of an
otherwise sane piece, that paragraph surprised me.

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arethuza
The whole thing emphasizes the _appearance_ of hard work rather than actual
results, which is an attitude I hate.

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count
It IS the HBR...

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DrJokepu
I really dislike the fake and pretentious "politically correct" style that
refers to anonymous people in typically male-dominated occupations (in this
case, management) with feminine grammatical person (she), to "balance" things.
It is simply dishonest and implies to me that the professional honesty of the
speaker is, at least, questionnable.

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qq66
If 1 in 5 managers are female should 1 in 5 pronouns? :)

People seem to have forgotten that "him" is the long-standing traditional way
to refer to an unknown person. In Spanish, for example, "ellos" can refer to
"them (male)", "them (mixed or indetermine gender)", or "them (inanimate
objects)"

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johnohara
Let them know that you are working long and hard. -- Dishonest and
Disrespectful.

Seek their opinions, even when you don't really need them, especially on
topics that aren't within the reach of their roles.-- Dishonest, Manipulating
and Contemptuous

Good luck to you sir.

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crpatino
Archived under "Defense Against the Dark Arts".

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umibozu
I have managed older folk and they appreciate the same things we all do. Be
honest and upfront, let them know what you expect of them and what will happen
if they accomplish the goals and what's the outcome they don't.

And then be true to your word.

The only thing that's a little different is that some older folk appreciate
you openly ask for their input piggybacking on to their "extensive experience"
while some see it as a sign of weakness. You have to measure the person but,
then again, it's almost the same with younger folk.

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bconway
_You already know that winning depends in no small part on hiring people
better than yourself. If you are a youngish entrepreneur or boss, that will
entail hiring older and more experienced people, especially in top roles for
your organization._

How many YC companies subscribe to this? It seems few and far between are the
company bio pages with anyone over 35.

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dgabriel
There will be great talent in all age brackets, but, of course, younger
founders will generally network with younger people. If a founder finds a
great employee 20 years his or her senior, then age should hardly matter. I do
understand being nervous about hiring someone who is old enough to be your
parent, but maybe more columns like this will help ease that anxiety & enable
founders to build better companies.

