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

The death of former President Ford, and the resultant comments that he was the right man for the job at the right time, brings to mind something that business managers and leaders need to think about.

Because businesses in reality are organic, and live to one degree or another, that means that they go through various stages of growth that also demand a certain type of leader to help them through those stages. Sometimes someone that is able and willing to adapt and understand what's going on, can lead a company through these various stages - other business leaders can't.

What's important here is that we need to understand ourselves and our strengths explicitly. We need to know if we really are the right fit for the job, or the one we're considering for the job is the right fit.

Even a great leader as Margaret Thatcher outlived her usefulness to her country as the times and circumstances changed and she no longer fit the needs of the nation, as this article talks about.

For those of you who lived during that time, you'll remember that the European Union was forming and currency reform a hot issue. Her strength and nationalism, which has been embraced by her political party and country, now was rejected as stubborness and unwillingness to change with the times on her part.

Business management, to stay relevant, must adapt to the changing times they live in. This doesn't mean that the core purpose of the company should change, but rather that the company leadership must understand the times they live in and how they must change as a result.

Another example would be former Chicago Bears football coach Mike Ditka. When he coached a team of superstars and won the SuperBowl, he would yell and scream at the players, but it didn't bother them at all. Then several years later a whole new crop of players came onto the team, who were younger, and couldn't relate to his style of coaching. He didn't do well at all and had to work hard to change with the new type of player he had to work with.

The teams goals and purpose didn't change, but the coaches had to change as the people and circumstances surrounding them did. This is how it is in the new business world we live in. To be relevant on a steady, long-term basis, we need to understand what is needed at that time, so that we can continue to be the right person for the job, or to make sure we put the right people in other management jobs in the company.