The Female Leader - Sonja Becker

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They create order, and clear the way. That’s realistic, not bad. A team is lucky to have someone like you.

      You have excellent organizational skills and are able to inspire people to carry out tasks with care and on time. You will even conquer men in accordance with your personal needs. In business and accountancy your experience and your analytic way of thinking is indispensable. You have the numbers in your head, the goal before your eyes and your heart in the right place.

      Many visionaries need this type, who can pull in the reins and kick ass until they begin to make something of their talent. A company founded by a visionary and a manager doesn’t necessarily lie under a good star. One is from Mars, the other from Pluto. The visionary has scarcely had the idea, when the manager comes along with the objections. That sucks up energy. When manager types start up a business one often feels from the beginning like being in the tax office. What is lacking is the mediating unit of the promoter type.

      The manager type has many personalities. After all, she has to tame the temperamental visionary and put the breaks on the promoter pushing ahead, and harness them both. That takes a lot of courage and assertiveness. The manager type has to bring ideas and strengths into a system, which means drawing up rules, directing the course of action, and seeing that goals are achieved and pay off. And that they are realistic.

      Managers are the champions who do all the dirty work. The have to protect the business from the competition as well as securing it from the inside. They lead battles, develop strategy and win victories for the company. They are among the rarer species among the leaders. Where the promoter sees opportunities, the manager sees problems. And so it is not by chance that Steve Job’s counterpart is Bill Gates. He is the perfect organizer, the powerful coordinator and the field marshal. His genius lies in his strong will, and his power to fight for his system. His courage and his brilliance in thinking strategically have made him the richest man on earth. This brilliance has enabled him to take on challenges which would send most of us fleeing in panic. It was he who ensured that his computer system was used by IBM and would thereby become the world’s leading software.

      Managers are strategists. They know how to delegate and how to build teams which can carry out their mandate. They are the hardliners, who get the best out of their teams and demand that they exceed their limits. Hence the word“generalissimo”. Generals are managers.

      They don’t wage war, but deal with the details and the victorious outcome. They don’t shrink from attacking others, although they take pains to stop it from coming to that. They make great sacrifices when they have to. They know how high the price they have to pay is in order to achieve success. All genuine managers are hard-bitten realists who accept reality as it is - in complete contrast to the great illusionist the visionary and his idealist in the shape of the promoter.

      Products and goods have to be sold, delivered and stored. Someone has to do the accounts. At the end of the day the books have to be balanced. Has anyone thought of that? Exactly. That’s why the manager type is indispensable. The number of idealistic businesses taking off and followed by a rapid decline is legion. Pure management consists in keeping track of numbers and goals. Things such as logistics or accountancy are often the domain of managers.

      Managers are responsible for the complete organization. They are born supervisors, helmsmen, tax advisors or lawyers. They set up the rules of the business game and ensure that everyone sticks to them. They are often the spoilsports in an organization.

      But they are the ones who are responsible for success. Adventures are not their thing.

      Franchises are made for them. When they bump into a visionary/promoter team however, the latter can be thankful that they put the shop in order. They draw up the handbooks and instructions for success – which will happen if everyone keeps to them. It isn’t exciting. But Murphy’s Law applies just as much today as it ever did: everything that can go wrong will go wrong.

      Make sure that the manager has checked everything before you start your business. Visionaries like to evade problems and objections. Promoters run a mile from them. Managers confront them directly. Be thankful for these brakemen.

      On the other hand of course a manager knows that his true capital lies in the two other types. Pure “manager firms” are ones that at some stage run themselves. It’s not a good sign when the rules are more important than the people. Their system becomes too inflexible and sooner or later will collapse like scaffolding without a wall.

      Leadership: the power of three hearts

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      o say it again: you have something of each type within you. And that’s good. For in thebeginning you are on your own. And you need all three figures to create a successful business.

      Whichever type corresponds most to you, you will have to deal with the other two later on. It will be wonderful when you can get out of this and finally only have to do what you want to. Logically this relief will have a great effect on your career. But all three elements are integral leadership qualities. The synergy between them brings out that energy that customers trust. If they are united in one person right from the start, so much the better! One day your business will grow so large that it functions without you and you only have to draw the profits. The conditions are: that you see your business as an organization which is a permanent learning process which means that you share your sense of curiosity and master all the abilities that lead to success, and creates new leaders alongside you.

      Believe us, this way of learning is fun. While you learn what works and what doesn’t, you get to know yourself and your team better and better. It’s wonderful to work with other people. Getting to know other people on your journey through the business world broadens your perspective and brings more and more people into play with curiosity of their own. This is not about business but about an adventure. And it’s not called “going on an adventure” for nothing. Find your role and find the language for it.

      Visionaries like to talk about their ideas and plans in the grand manner. Promoters use words as stepping stones for action. Managers like to discuss and “review” every possible thing to focus as exactly as possible on results and goals. Whatever your role is, you will give your best performance in it.

      Your business project starts with you alone. And, alas, there are only three hearts beating in your breast. If you can balance these three powers perfectly you can only win. Once your inner visionary, promoter or manager is awakened and steadily comes to fruition, you learn to control yourself, to find your balance and to navigate your business in a straight line. Thus your project becomes the springboard for a successful career. Your competence in this area will automatically attract specialists from every single field. Note down their telephone numbers. Employ them as soon as success comes and you can pay them. It pays off. You will have more time than before and earn more money than you would have thought.

      If your business grows, you have to realize quickly where your strengths lie and which people you need. Look back at your projects in the past. Ask friends and trustworthy acquaintances how they see you. Note, which jobs were the easiest, and which brought in cash the quickest…and which was the most fun. Your business is like a game. Soon you will need a player for every position, an ideal team. There is no doubt such people exist. And you will find the right people for the right team. If your staff is all doing what they like doing best, your workplace will be bursting at the seams with harmony and energy. The main thing is that the three types understand, complement and overlap each other in their spheres of competence. And then you have a team of leaders. Then others can only step aside when you come rolling.

      The mental strengths and weaknesses in companies are always underestimated. Relationship complications are the dream killer number one in firms. In the mid-term they lead to disaster. In such cases many entrepreneurs draw back because they are disappointed that they haven’t communicated their energy to the others. Your dreams will only come true if you establish an energetic social network in your company. The challenge is to create an organization that works for you, not you for it.

      A too dominant visionary will steamroll promoters and managers with muddleheaded concepts that aren’t from this planet. A promoter

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