Love and Profit - The Art of Caring Leadership

James A. Autry , Author

I was attracted to Autry’s book by two sentences in his introduction:

“Good management is largely a matter of love. Or if you’re uncomfortable with that word, call it caring, because proper management involves caring for people, not manipulating them.”

Autry says that there are two kinds of managers:

1. Those who practice management as a trainable skill with all sorts of technical and administrative aspects that, when pursued properly, serve to direct people in performing for the company’s best interest.

2. Those who approach management as a calling a life engagement that, if done properly, combines technical and administrative skills with vision, compassion, honesty and trust to create an environment in which people can grow personally, can feel fulfilled, can contribute to a common good, and can share in the psychic and financial rewards of a job well done.

[ Note: The parallel in his characterization that parallels our other featured author Dave Guerra’s twin complimentary elements of process and culture. ]

So how do you love…or care for…people? Autry gives example after example; here are a few:

· You can’t motivate numbers, but you can motivate relationships and feelings.

· Understand effective management starts with their people succeeding first.

· Commitment by people is not the same as hours worked.

· Real management is not hype or glamorous; just think of people first.

· The antidote for ambitious leaders: the more people you try to take along with you the faster you’ll get there and the longer you’ll stay there.

· Relationships trump cute titles…think “talent department.”