A few years ago, I traveled to Green Bay, WI to see the Bears play the Packers on a Monday night.

My son and I made the trip with my wife’s brother and his son, who live in the LA area but somehow are huge Packers fans. When we arrived at the stadium on Sunday afternoon for a tour, my nephew said, “Look at the clock.” I said, “Okay, it’s 1:15.” Then he said, “Look at your watch.” I saw it was 1:00 and remembered about “Lombardi Time.”

The toughest part of any organization is leading and managing its people.  Leadership is the more strategic, “thinking” part of the job — setting a clear direction, long-term planning, etc.  Management is more about execution — the “doing” part of the job — setting expectations, communicating, coordinating, etc. A manager needs to be a coach, or a “Manacoach” as my colleague Kevin Armstrong calls it. 

Over the years, I have seen several examples of managers who were so good that I believe they could manage almost anything. They just know how to manage people. They don’t need great technical skills in their field because they know if they get the right people in the right seats, the skills will be there.

Whether or not you play or follow golf, you may have heard that last weekend Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy won The Open Championship (British Open) and was declared “Champion Golfer of the Year”. At age 25, he is the third youngest to ever win 3 out of 4 of golf’s modern “major” championships. What you may not have heard were the two key words – “process” and “spot” – that he credited for his victory. You may also not imagine how the principles behind these words can apply to your business.

Earlier this Fall, I went up to Green Bay, WI to see the Bears play the Packers on a Monday night. My son and I made the trip with my wife’s brother and his son, who live in the LA area but somehow are huge Packers fans. When we arrived at the stadium on Sunday afternoon for a tour, I took this picture: