Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

I used to be a financial advisor to a number of clients and a word that came up a lot was the word "portfolio." I like this word when it comes to management. It deals with having a variety of things that are then converged and merged into one final product. But then the final product or service is segmented again as it is introduced to the consumer.

If you invest in a mutual fund, you're investing in a number of companies that are then put together under one management umbrella. Management deals with the same thing all the time.

Look at the very simplest idea: You have a new employee and you train them for the job they're required to perform. Normally you will have a series of steps laid out for the employee to learn and master one at a time. The job itself is a whole, but made up a specific things that need to be mastered by the employee.

Then you can have 10 employees that have been trained in different disciplines brought together to complete a project. They all of a specific aspect of the project to accomplish and find answers to. When they get hold of their responsibilities they then bring them together with others to merge it into the final product or 'whole.'

The idea here is to see yourself managing a portfolio; from the individual to a team situation, it gives you an entirely different perspective and understanding of your own role in the process.

It is within that whole and segment at the same time that you can look at the merging points and deal with that which may be holding up success, or help those who are responsible for it to see and solve it themselves. Either way, the problem and solution is found.

Oh, when I talk about a final product or service being segmented above in the first paragraph, I'm talking about the support that is built around it. It can include warranties, customer support lines, return policies among a number of things. See how looking at things from a portfolio viewpoint helps to simplify all the variety of things happening around you? Have you ever thought of management in this way?