Manager of Choice

The Best Managers

Superior managers are "managers of choice," those rare leaders for whom people really want to work. Such managers hire good people, coach them and help them develop in every way possible. Employees then reciprocate by doing their utmost. When managers of choice have openings in their departments, good candidates get in line, hoping for a chance to join up. Managers of choice attract and keep the best people through good times and bad. In part, this is because managers of choice are more open to diversity – in age, gender, skills, background, abilities and ethnicity – and to non-conventional work arrangements than traditional managers. This openness will become even more important in the years ahead because:

• The workforce is aging.
• More women work than in the past; almost half of the workforce is female.
• Spanish is emerging as a very important second language, with Hispanics expected to be the biggest minority group in the United States by 2005.
• The religious composition of the U.S. is changing, and although Christians remain the biggest religious group, Islam has replaced Judaism as the second biggest.
• Employees...