There are at least five things you can do to be a better manager: thrive in the first 90 days, manage employee leave better, assess strengths *and* limitations, journal, and manage team conflict. Here are three reflections on the series. First, as we noted all along, these methods are either low-cost or free. You don't need to go to an in-resident Ivy League B-School program for 6 weeks to get better at being a manager as fun as that would be because -- dorm food & this series. Second, especially for technically adept leaders, these methods let you be your introvert self. No trust falls, karaoke, walking barefoot through fire pits, "sharing," etc. (again as fun as those might be). Third, you've noticed, no doubt, that in many ways these means to be a better manager involve you paying attention : how am I onboarding, what example am I setting with leave utilization, what really actually are my strengths and limitations, how did today go for me, who's in confli...

  Do you want to be a better manager? Here is the fifth piece of advice in an occasional series. Remember, these processes are usually free and have high ROI. Ready? OK: Manage employee conflict on your team . First, let's get this straight. Yes, there is conflict among employees on your team. In fact the better each team member is, the more likely they are in conflict because the more they care about what they're doing and they are more invested in team outcomes, in addition to being good at their technical work. I once worked with a leader in a cross-organization role. She led a team of industry experts, each of whom believed they were "right." She once in my presence looked at them and said "if you're not managing conflict, you're not paying attention." Bingo. Second, you probably know of business lore/war stories (can't even avoid the term, can we) regarding Very Famous Tech Giants who reveled in having subordinate managers 'fight it out...

Do you want to be a better manager? Here is the fourth piece of advice in an occasional series. Remember, these processes are usually free and have high ROI. Ready? OK: Keep a journal . Not what you expected, was it?  I know. You don't have time, can't actually be real, what is this the 16th century, etc. The goal of journaling in general is to offer the journaler a chance to be alone with their thoughts for a little bit. This is not about writing a novel or answering questions. It's time to process what happened, reflect on high points and low points, goals for the future, etc. The benefits of journaling include having a chance to work out your (negative) feelings about office events, relive your (positive) feelings about office events, a private opportunity to think through options, and keep positive details from your daily life in focus. Here is how Michael Phelps, Olympic multi-gold medalist swimmer, puts it: “As long as I’m doing something right or something positive t...

Do you want to be a better manager? Here is the third piece of advice in an occasional series. Remember, these processes are usually free and have high ROI. Ready? OK: Now discover your strengths and limitations . An inspection is not the time to be surprised, especially when you think something should be there and it's not.  Ask yourself, then: what do you expect when you review your logs, check your patches, or assess your system's functions?  Or, on the behavioral side, what about when you assess your candidates, review employee performance, or assess your team culture? If you have the same look as Mr. Alfozan in the picture above, you are like most managers and you probably have a talent issue -- both theirs and yours. Let's inspect the inspector. The four pillars of a successful cybersecurity team are hire for talent, build structure, create engagement, develop your people. Get those right and you're invincible. But too often managers are not invincible, despite k...

Do you want to be a better manager? Here is the second piece of advice in an occasional series. Remember, these processes are usually free and have high ROI. Ready? OK: Manage employee leave better . We have posted about the four pillars of an effective cyber-defense team : hire for talent, build structure, create engagement, develop your people. Managing employee leave is one way you create engagement and build structure. Research by Kossek et al. (2026, open access ) examined what happened when immediate supervisors learned to encourage employees to access, use, and value paid leave as a resource for managing nonwork time-off demands. The study was conducted at two universities, one of which was randomly assigned to manager training and the other to a wait-list. (Randomizing universities instead of managers keeps trained managers from passing the training along to colleagues in the control group.) The focus was managing leave-taking. You probably think that this is a "no-brainer...

  Do you want to be a better manager? If you want to be a better manager, you have to improve your management skills. It is highly likely that you were promoted or hired into a management/leader role based on technical skills or program management skills or financial management skills, that is, not based on your general management skills. Even if you were hired/promoted based on management talent the question remains: do you want to be a better manager? Don't avoid this improvement path by trying to over-achieve. You don't have to seek to be the "best" manager. You only need to work to be a better manager. Same advice if you think it's too hard or you claim you don't have time or you think it doesn't matter, or if no one else in your opinion cares or tries. The question is whether you want to be a better manager. Our work with clients shows that bad managers say "no" to this question for all the rationalizations we've mentioned -- busy, doe...