Excerpted from: *Grove’s First Lesson for Managers* (Collector’s Edition), June 2013, CITIC Press.

20th century80 Two events that occurred during that era changed the way business managers work and prompted me to write a new preface for this book. These two events were Japan’s rise in the computer memory industry and the rise of email.

“Business Knows No Borders”,Capital and labor can move freely around the world; the entire world will be viewed as a single market, and everyone will have to compete with others around the world who possess the same abilities, rather than being limited to competing with a single company or local manufacturers.

In the face of the information revolution, how should managers and the companies they lead respond?

How Can We Adapt to the New Environment?

Compared to front-line supervisors or high-ranking executives, middle managers are the most likely to be overlooked. On the one hand, many training programs provide front-line managers with a wealth of practical tips; on the other hand, most courses at top business schools are designed to train senior executives. And caught between these two groups is a large cohort of people: middle managers.

Some of them are supervisors or foremen, while others are engineers, accountants, or sales representatives. No matter how flat or loosely structured an organization may be, middle managers are its backbone. However, their contributions to society and the economy as a whole are often overlooked.

Middle managers aren’t limited to large corporations. In fact, almost every type of organization has middle managers. If you’re in charge of the tax department at a law firm, you’re a middle manager—and the same applies to a school principal, a distributor, or the head of a small-town insurance office. The response to the first edition of this book from these individuals confirmed my initial hypothesis: since Intel grew from a very small company into a multinational corporation, the management techniques described here can be widely applied across all sectors.

There is also a group of people who should be included in the category of middle managers; these individuals do not directly manage others, but they do influence the work of others. I refer to this group as “technical support managers” (know-how manager). These individuals understand the knowledge and skills required for their jobs, as well as the people around them. They are experts within their organizations and often serve as advisors; in fact, they also function as nodes in information networks. Teachers, market researchers, and corporate information managers all fall into this category. Although they do not exercise the managerial authority of traditional managers, the technical expertise and knowledge they possess similarly influence the work of others; therefore, I also refer to them as mid-level managers. In fact, the importance of technical support managers will grow as the world rapidly evolves toward an information-based and service-oriented economy.

Whether you’re a technical support manager or a traditional manager, the company you work for has been swept up—with no other choice—in the torrent of globalization and the information revolution. Today, your company has only two paths to follow: either adapt, or sit idly by and wait for disaster.

We have witnessed some companies fall into decline, while others are struggling to transform, only to discover that the strategies that once made them successful are no longer suited to the times. Some companies that never laid off employees in the past are now, with a single order, leaving tens of thousands of people suddenly without income. This unfortunate situation stems from the growing pains of transformation.

Now, all managers need to find ways to adapt to the new environment. The rules of this new environment are: First, things are happening at an ever-faster pace; second, there’s always someone else who can do the job—if you don’t do it, we’ll find someone else. To put it more plainly: these changes will give rise to a highly competitive and unpredictable work environment.

A manager facing today’s precarious situation must develop a greater tolerance for “disorder,” but this does not mean you should surrender to it; on the contrary, you should find ways to control everything around you. Today’s managers, no matter where they are, must equip themselves to deal with the constant stream of corporate mergers and acquisitions or the sudden emergence of new technologies.

You’ll need to accomplish impossible tasks and predict the unknown future. And when unexpected situations arise, that’s when you’ll have to work twice as hard to adapt to them. Here’s a saying I live by, which I’d like to share with you first: “Let chaos flourish, then master the chaos.” I also know you’re bound to mutter under your breath: “This approach only works at Intel! You’ve never worked at our company—only the boss can solve our problems.” But I believe that no matter what type of mid-level manager you are, you are, in fact, a leader within your organization. Don’t just wait for your immediate superior to issue orders. As the leader of a small organization, you should find ways to improve its performance and productivity.

How Can You Get to Know Your Organization?

   
I believe there are three fundamental concepts that managers should focus on. The first is “output-oriented management” (output-oriented approach to management), I will outline some guidelines and apply them to both tangible manufacturing processes and intangible management tasks.

Take Intel, for example. Intel is a company that manufactures high-tech chips and computer peripherals. We have more than 20,000 employees, of whom approximately25%Working on the production line, and also25%Managers, maintenance staff, and engineers, as well as25%This person is responsible for managing matters such as scheduling production, personnel, and cash inflows and outflows; finally,25%is responsible for product R&D, marketing, sales, and after-sales service. During my time at Intel, I discovered that regardless of which department these employees worked in, they each had their own distinct “outputs.” Some manufacture chips, some prepare invoices for collection, and some design software or write advertising copy. At Intel, I was the one who kept this concept of “output” firmly in mind, helping to bring the company’s management onto a more effective track. These concepts are actually very similar to the financial principles we use to evaluate and manage various investments.

The second concept is “team spirit.” Whether in government or in public and private enterprises, most human activities can only be accomplished through teamwork. Based on this concept, I arrived at what I consider to be the most important point in this book: “A manager’s output is the sum of the work performance of the subordinates he manages and influences.” “ How should a manager promote the efficiency of their subordinates? In other words, with a mountain of work piling up every day and time being limited, which specific tasks should be addressed first? To address this issue, I propose the concept of ”management leverage” (managerial leverage) This concept is a metric used to measure the impact of various management activities on improving team productivity. Only management activities with a high leverage ratio can lead to high productivity.

Only when every member of a team does their best can the team achieve maximum productivity. This is the third key concept. I believe companies should be able to motivate their employees to strive for peak performance at all times, just as coaches train athletes. In this book, I will also use sports competitions as examples to discuss how “feedback” can be used to maintain high productivity in corporate teams.

We must acknowledge the fact that “the future is unpredictable,” but that does not mean “we should simply give up on planning.” First, we should train our employees the same way fire departments train their firefighters. Since fire departments never know when or where the next fire will break out, they remain vigilant at all times and are always ready to respond.

Second, companies should reduce management layers to enhance their ability to adapt. As the widespread use of email makes information exchange more convenient, the task of relaying information—which managers once had to perform—will be taken over by computers. The result of reducing management layers is that each manager must oversee a larger number of employees. In Intel’s management philosophy, routine one-on-one meetings between supervisors and subordinates are a fundamental practice. Their primary purpose is to share skills and exchange information. Through discussions of specific issues or situations, supervisors impart the necessary skills to their subordinates and teach them how to approach their tasks. At the same time, subordinates provide their supervisors with the information needed to understand how they are carrying out their work.

Given time constraints, one-on-one meetings inevitably take up a portion of managers’ limited resources. So why do we still insist on holding them? Because even though you’re managing more people, one-on-one meetings can still reduce the frequency of group meetings.

Most employees can access the information they need in real time online, so the old practice of using meetings to “convey directives” is no longer necessary. And you don’t need to rely on one-on-one meetings to check in on your subordinates’ progress, because they can also report to you via their computer screens.

Let’s look back at the example of the “Japanese round table” I mentioned earlier. Subordinates can receive instructions from their superiors without leaving their seats, but sometimes leaders still need to find a separate room to discuss matters face-to-face with individual subordinates. Whether in a traditional Japanese-style office or an email-based one, one-on-one meetings will still be necessary, but their purpose will become increasingly straightforward. Therefore, even though you’ll need to manage more subordinates, the frequency and duration of these meetings will decrease.

How Should You Manage Your Career?

What should you do if you have to play both the role of a manager and that of an employee?

An article I read pointed out that,20 centuries90 The likelihood of middle-aged people becoming unemployed is approximately80 Twice as high as it was in the early years, and the situation is getting worse.

In short, no matter what field you’re in, you’re not just an employee of someone else—you’re also an employee of your own career. You’re constantly competing against millions of others who, like you, are managing their own careers; some of them may be better than you, or more passionate about it. But don’t point the finger at your colleagues just yet—they’re just a drop in the ocean; many competitors are hidden among your company’s rivals. So, if you want to win this “battle to keep your job,” you’ll need to maintain your competitive edge.

If you work at a company that’s growing slowly or hardly at all, you need to watch out for a group of ambitious new colleagues who are eager to climb the corporate ladder. They may already have everything they need—but you, a long-time employee, are standing in their way. Sooner or later, your boss will have to decide whether to keep you on or let you go—and whether you end up in this situation is entirely up to you.

exist20 centuries60 Era,70 Decade, or even80 Back in the day, the secret to a manager’s success was this: identify a good company, join it, and work hard—and the company would reward you in return. But things are different now.

Globalization and the information revolution have a profound impact on everyone’s career planning. No one owes you a job—you have to take charge of your own life. Every day, you’re competing with millions of others, so you need to find ways to increase your contribution to your work and strengthen your competitive edge. You need to be constantly learning and adapting to new environments, and when necessary, you may even have to switch from one company to another, or from one industry to another… The key is to recognize that you alone are the master of your own destiny; only then will you avoid becoming a casualty in this tough battle.

Before I share some winning strategies, here are a few things to think about first:

1. Do you truly contribute to the company, or are you just a “messenger”? How can you add value? The only way is to constantly seek ways to increase your productivity. You are a manager, and the central idea of this book is that “a company’s productivity is the sum of the individual productivity of its managers.” In theory, in a day24 You should always do your very best to strive for improvement and increase productivity.

2. Is your work insignificant? Or do you constantly have to wait for your boss or someone else to tell you what to do? Are you a key player in the organization? Or are you just sitting back and taking it easy?

3. Are you always seeking new knowledge or trying out new technologies? (Just reading books doesn’t count.) Or are you sitting on the sidelines, waiting for someone else to turn your business around? (That’s called “sitting around waiting to go under.”)

I have a background in engineering, and I’m currently a manager at a high-tech company. But at the same time, just like you, I’m the boss of my own career, and every day I have to improve my productivity and deliver better products and services to meet my clients’ needs.

I’m an optimist; I believe everyone has the ability to dream of getting rich and to make those dreams come true. But sometimes I think people don’t quite understand how to cope with the changes around them, which makes me realize that I’m actually a realist—only those who can survive in the face of change can remain optimistic about the future.

Based on my experience at Intel, I believe the principles of productivity, management leverage, and strategies for motivating employees to surpass their limits that I’ve distilled will certainly help people in all walks of life—including lawyers, teachers, engineers, supervisors, and even editors… In short, they will help all mid-level managers boost their productivity.