People, Purpose, Process
In her book, “The Making of a Manager”, Julie Zhuo offers a trivariate of key ingredients for composing and leading teams: people, purpose, process.
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People: First and foremost, effective leadership must prioritize people. Managers should build strong relationships with their team members, recognize their individual strengths and weaknesses, and provide the necessary support and resources to ensure their success.
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Purpose: In addition to focusing on people, leaders must also have a clear understanding of the team’s purpose and goals, as well as those of the broader organization. Effective managers communicate the team’s vision and purpose, helping team members see how their work contributes to the larger mission of the company.
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Process: Finally, strong leadership requires establishing efficient systems and processes that enable the team to work collaboratively and effectively. Managers must create structures that align team members towards shared objectives and allow for seamless execution of work.
This ordering is not accidental. To be overly reductive, without people we don’t have much of a company. We may as well pack it up and go home, because there’s really not much else to say. Less dramatically, if our goal is to strive for effective and efficient leadership, it’s not just a good idea to start with people but an absolute prerequisite.
People First
From a business perspective, people might sound like a factor that’s necessarily, if perhaps unfortunately, secondary to a cold, hard truth: the bottom line. We might argue that without revenue, there’s no business. Indeed, that’s likely the case. However, not only is this a myopic outlook, it’s also too simplistic to be entirely accurate; there are many existential threats to a business, bankruptcy being just one.1
While it is true fiscal mismanagement can doom a business, it’s important to recognize that there are many other factors that contribute to a company’s success or failure. Business is complex, and any enterprise that requires more than a person or two to operate effectively must consider a rang
