Here’s a wonderful reflection by Walter Kiechel III, author of Office Hours: A Guide to the Managerial Life on an excerpt from Managing by Henry Mintzberg, introducing a more organic view of managers and their work.

“One yearns to believe in the world implicit in Henry Mintzberg’s view of what managing ought to be. One really does. It is, apparently, a place where people of generally good intentions work more or less cooperatively in organizations-cum-communities: no need for particular skills on the part of those keeping the trains running, certainly no call to believe all the pernicious tosh published about leaders and how special they are. Hearts are light, including those of the men and women responsible for coordinating the efforts of others.

“If I could find such an organization, I would rush to join it. I would put behind me memories of places I have worked — many of them smart, “well run,” and of noble purpose — where colleagues jockeyed for power and position, the fearful resisted even conspicuously necessary change, and turf concerns always seemed to get in the way of collective endeavor.

“We need visions of cities on the hill to fuel our aspirations and kindle the better angels of our nature, even if we can’t move into those cities tomorrow. Think of the ideal, deftly portrayed in this excerpt from Mintzberg’s new book, titled simply Managing, as a natural way of life: a sort of human beehive on the hill, humming with what management, at its best, might be.”

Exciting stuff - and it speaks to the real power of leadership and management…the ability to create an atmosphere where other people THRIVE for the benefit of all.