63. Don't stagnate

"A manager's job is to create stability and deal with reality. A leader's job is to stir emotion and set audacious, grandiose goals that shake the sta tus quo. Too much management and you stag­nate. Too much leadership and you get nowhere. Embrace the challenge of striking the balance. Do it well, and the results will surpass your wildest dreams." The Management and Leadership Network

So are you a leader or a manager? Not really a fair question when we've spent the whole book so far making sure you are an effective, efficient and startlingly good manager. But the really good managers are also leaders - they inspire and motivate, encourage and enthuse. They draw people to them like moths to a flame. They are charismatic and dynamic and stylish. They are leaders indeed. But they are also good managers. Too much management, and you stagnate. You have to revel in change, seek new challenges, stay on your toes, find new ways of doing things, motivate your team in new and exciting ways, introduce new technology and ideas, start trends, jump fences, light fires. You can't be seen to stand still or moss will grow over you and you become a fixture and people stop noticing you.

I know it's difficult sometimes to see beyond today's work load, tomorrow's meetings, next week's directors' report. But you have to be moving or you will stagnate. Set aside a little time each day or week - only half an hour perhaps - to think up new ways of being revolutionary. Why? Because if you don't do this you become bogged down in the day-to-day, the humdrum, the routine. Yes, you are a manager, but you are also an innovator, motivator, inspirer, leader, trendsetter.

If the moss has already grown over you and people have corne to regard you as part of the furniture you will have to work very hard to shake off that image. Don't scare them with radical change - do it bit by bit.

64. Be flexible and ready to move on

"Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted." Anonymous

There will come a time when it's time to move on. Other jobs are waiting to be done. Other teams are waiting to be led. You may have to pack up camp and hit the trail. 'Hell is in hello, heaven is in goodbye forever, it's time for me to go', sort of stuff. * Keep your eyes open for opportunities. Remember your long-term plan -and I bet it didn't include stuff like, 'Stay here until I retire and/or turn to dust' - and keep looking to distant horizons.

Being a good manager, a fantastic manager, often means you get sought out, head-hunted, poached. Be ready to be enticed away Doesn't mean you have to go, but be open to offers - how flattering.

Stay on your toes and be ready to move sideways; be prepared to look at unusual opportunities. Be ready perhaps to go it alone if that's in your long-term plan.

Should you feel guilty at abandoning your team? No. You have a career and that involves moving on. Your team may benefit from a breath of fresh air coming in after you to blow the cobwebs away. I've left managerial jobs where the staff seemed genuinely surprised that I would dare to leave, to spread my wings and go 'elsewhere', as if it was a dark and dangerous country that would gobble me up. Of course, once 1 had left I gained a reputation as a 'deserter' for leaving, but better that than 'good riddance'.

* Lee Marvin in Paint Your Wagon.