Re: Senior Technical Writer

Subject: Re: Senior Technical Writer
From: Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2001 15:39:53 -0700 (PDT)

"Roy Jacobsen" wrote...

> "The true measure of leadership is influence -- nothing more, nothing
> less." -- John Maxwell

> In the long run, what kind of influence do sycophants have?

That's a good quote.

And its the core of why being a butt-kissing, non-technical lame-ass will
get you nowhere in the long run. Yeah, you may charm your way into some
pathetic middle-management job. But eventually, stupidity catches up with
you.

It may be a cliche, but I like to think that there are two kinds of people
with authority: managers and leaders.

Managers manage things. They move papers, attend meetings, dream up
pointless assignments, and pretend to actually work. Managers use a
hierarchy to impose authority.

Leaders drive people. They use their talent and skills to motivate people
to do good work. They aren't much concerned with meetings and task plans.
They are far more interested in results and action. Leaders use their
personality and talents to impose authority.

Now, that is a rather broad oversimplification. However, it explains why
so many companies have so many bad people. They focus on managing things
vs. motivating people. Personally, I don't mind being motivated, its being
managed that ruffles my feathers.

If I am working with somebody who is exceptionally skilled and inspires me
to work harder - I don't mind doing the job. Its fun and exciting to work
among bright, driven people. Its when I have to meet a bunch of pointless
requirements just to satisfy the weasel-like monotony of some pathetic
middle management loser that I think seriously about purchasing a machine
gun or a few atomic bombs.

Andrew Plato


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