management blog

“Can you give me a pay rise?” is not the hardest question that an underling can throw at their boss. “What do you do all day?” is often the killer.

The contribution of a good manager to a team’s performance can be subtle to the point of appearing non-existent. After all, they aren’t out in the trenches closing sales, devising new products or doing other things that are instantly recognisable as work.

Spooked by the lack of measurable output, many (bad) managers revert to doing the hands-on tasks they used to be responsible for before they got promoted to a management role. It is an understandable temptation: these were the things that got them noticed and praised by the big bosses, after all.

A documentary I watched over the weekend made me think of this tension implicit in jobs that involve overseeing others. It was about Quincy Jones, the music industry legend who produced Thriller, Bad and many other best-selling albums. Mr Jones revealed that Michael Jackson once wondered aloud what he did all day. The answer was that he was constantly scanning the musical arrangement “like an x-ray machine”.

Lionel Ritchie then came up with an even better explanation of Mr Jones’s art that displayed a nuanced understanding of the networking skills that the veteran producer brings to the party (and which he shares with the best managers):

How Quincy produces is hilarious. There’s a… giant address book. You’ll see him on the phone, and he’s just calling. He knows who to call to get “that” done. He knows who to call to get “that” [different emphasis] done. He’s just constantly making phone calls and you keep saying ”is he producing or is he just wasting time talking on the phone?”. No, he’s producing.

The musicians and technical experts that were brought in courtesy of Mr Jones’s awesome Rolodex – including Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis – constituted a massive but not always visible contribution to the projects he has been involved in.

Managers with strong external networks and a flair for orchestrating others should feel free to quote this example any time they get asked the Killer Question. Grabbing one’s crotch afterwards and shouting “who’s bad?” is entirely optional.

Further reading in today’s FT: Josh Chaffin’s interview with Martin Bandier, the head of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which is half-owned by Michael Jackson.