Sonja Becker - The Female Leader

Where others are regularly shy, they first begin to glow, and so does the email box, the telephone and the fax machine. They want to reach people and sell. That is their sense of achievement. Contact with other people is their universe. If there are only genuine promoters in the marketing department the firm makes a profit and has fun doing it.

Promoters are curious about people, are born communicators, and are always on top of things. They know exactly when to put pressure on others or how to give them space to develop. Where many of us fail in personal affairs, they have the right touch for diplomacy, know how to resolve conflicts; and thanks to their knowledge of people also know exactly which candidate would be best for the company. Women are often exceptional promoters, because their ability to communicate and create social order is stamped by evolution.

When it comes to details, however, promoter types switch off. They leave it to the manager to supervise what works and what doesn’t. But their directness is refreshing and always an enrichment fort he human race. But they would sell their own grandmother once they get going. Their power rides roughshod over every problem and every objection. Many promoters come to recognize at the end of their career that they would have been considerably more successful if they hadn’t changed horses so often. Apart from this handicap, promoters have the greatest career chances. When they spearhead a company it can explode with success.

The symbiosis of visionaries and promoters often brings astronomical success with it, as for example when brothers are business partners. Just imagine: one discovers, the other sells, all day long, side by side. Most companies have been founded by visionaries. But the world can only be conquered with a promoter. One has a dream and the other believes in the dream. When the ship is ready to be launched, the manager comes on board.

We have been pulling your leg a bit. In the long run, relaxing and romance can also be a substitute for the stress and strain of your daily life. For most types of manager repress their power because it doesn’t make them popular: they are generals. They create order, and clear the way. That’s realistic, not bad. A team is lucky to have someone like you.

You have excellent organizational skills and are able to inspire people to carry out tasks with care and on time. You will even conquer men in accordance with your personal needs. In business and accountancy your experience and your analytic way of thinking is indispensable. You have the numbers in your head, the goal before your eyes and your heart in the right place.

Many visionaries need this type, who can pull in the reins and kick ass until they begin to make something of their talent. A company founded by a visionary and a manager doesn’t necessarily lie under a good star. One is from Mars, the other from Pluto. The visionary has scarcely had the idea, when the manager comes along with the objections. That sucks up energy. When manager types start up a business one often feels from the beginning like being in the tax office. What is lacking is the mediating unit of the promoter type.

The manager type has many personalities. After all, she has to tame the temperamental visionary and put the breaks on the promoter pushing ahead, and harness them both. That takes a lot of courage and assertiveness. The manager type has to bring ideas and strengths into a system, which means drawing up rules, directing the course of action, and seeing that goals are achieved and pay off. And that they are realistic.

Managers are the champions who do all the dirty work. The have to protect the business from the competition as well as securing it from the inside. They lead battles, develop strategy and win victories for the company. They are among the rarer species among the leaders. Where the promoter sees opportunities, the manager sees problems. And so it is not by chance that Steve Job’s counterpart is Bill Gates. He is the perfect organizer, the powerful coordinator and the field marshal. His genius lies in his strong will, and his power to fight for his system. His courage and his brilliance in thinking strategically have made him the richest man on earth. This brilliance has enabled him to take on challenges which would send most of us fleeing in panic. It was he who ensured that his computer system was used by IBM and would thereby become the world’s leading software.

Managers are strategists. They know how to delegate and how to build teams which can carry out their mandate. They are the hardliners, who get the best out of their teams and demand that they exceed their limits. Hence the word“generalissimo”. Generals are managers.

They don’t wage war, but deal with the details and the victorious outcome. They don’t shrink from attacking others, although they take pains to stop it from coming to that. They make great sacrifices when they have to. They know how high the price they have to pay is in order to achieve success. All genuine managers are hard-bitten realists who accept reality as it is - in complete contrast to the great illusionist the visionary and his idealist in the shape of the promoter.

Products and goods have to be sold, delivered and stored. Someone has to do the accounts. At the end of the day the books have to be balanced. Has anyone thought of that? Exactly. That’s why the manager type is indispensable. The number of idealistic businesses taking off and followed by a rapid decline is legion. Pure management consists in keeping track of numbers and goals. Things such as logistics or accountancy are often the domain of managers.

Managers are responsible for the complete organization. They are born supervisors, helmsmen, tax advisors or lawyers. They set up the rules of the business game and ensure that everyone sticks to them. They are often the spoilsports in an organization.

But they are the ones who are responsible for success. Adventures are not their thing.

Franchises are made for them. When they bump into a visionary/promoter team however, the latter can be thankful that they put the shop in order. They draw up the handbooks and instructions for success – which will happen if everyone keeps to them. It isn’t exciting. But Murphy’s Law applies just as much today as it ever did: everything that can go wrong will go wrong.

Make sure that the manager has checked everything before you start your business. Visionaries like to evade problems and objections. Promoters run a mile from them. Managers confront them directly. Be thankful for these brakemen.

On the other hand of course a manager knows that his true capital lies in the two other types. Pure “manager firms” are ones that at some stage run themselves. It’s not a good sign when the rules are more important than the people. Their system becomes too inflexible and sooner or later will collapse like scaffolding without a wall.

T

o say it again: you have something of each type within you. And that’s good. For in thebeginning you are on your own. And you need all three figures to create a successful business.

Whichever type corresponds most to you, you will have to deal with the other two later on. It will be wonderful when you can get out of this and finally only have to do what you want to. Logically this relief will have a great effect on your career. But all three elements are integral leadership qualities. The synergy between them brings out that energy that customers trust. If they are united in one person right from the start, so much the better! One day your business will grow so large that it functions without you and you only have to draw the profits. The conditions are: that you see your business as an organization which is a permanent learning process which means that you share your sense of curiosity and master all the abilities that lead to success, and creates new leaders alongside you.