Managing Older Managers: A Guide for Younger Bosses | Hacker News Reader

Managing Older Managers: A Guide for Younger Bosses

blogs.hbr.org

33 pointsnlh11 comments

WTF!!!

"Let them know that you are working long and hard. Even accomplished, self-motivated senior colleagues won't work harder than you will for very long. Send emails early and late. Invite meetings on weekends and at odd hours. Be in the office or online all the time. Dial into meetings at insane hours during overseas travel. Understand that managers older than yourself may have families that require them to live by different rhythms from yours — they may need to be offline from 6 to 8, for example. But expect them to be working long and hard, whenever it is, and make sure you are always doing more than they are. Because you have less natural authority when working with older people, reinforce your "moral right" to demand hard work by showing that you demand even more of yourself."

This seems dishonest and distracting, maybe even slimey. I'm mentally more tired just by imagining taking a course of action for show IN ADDITION to doing real work. I wouldn't want to live or think this way. We've all had these thoughts as kids, but when we grow up and become wiser we see how all of that is a distraction. Maybe I"m overreacting, but in the context of an otherwise sane piece, that paragraph surprised me.

The whole thing emphasizes the appearance of hard work rather than actual results, which is an attitude I hate.

It IS the HBR...

I stopped reading right at that section.

I really dislike the fake and pretentious "politically correct" style that refers to anonymous people in typically male-dominated occupations (in this case, management) with feminine grammatical person (she), to "balance" things. It is simply dishonest and implies to me that the professional honesty of the speaker is, at least, questionnable.

If 1 in 5 managers are female should 1 in 5 pronouns? :)

People seem to have forgotten that "him" is the long-standing traditional way to refer to an unknown person. In Spanish, for example, "ellos" can refer to "them (male)", "them (mixed or indetermine gender)", or "them (inanimate objects)"

Let them know that you are working long and hard. -- Dishonest and Disrespectful.

Seek their opinions, even when you don't really need them, especially on topics that aren't within the reach of their roles.-- Dishonest, Manipulating and Contemptuous

Good luck to you sir.

I have managed older folk and they appreciate the same things we all do. Be honest and upfront, let them know what you expect of them and what will happen if they accomplish the goals and what's the outcome they don't.

And then be true to your word.

The only thing that's a little different is that some older folk appreciate you openly ask for their input piggybacking on to their "extensive experience" while some see it as a sign of weakness. You have to measure the person but, then again, it's almost the same with younger folk.

You already know that winning depends in no small part on hiring people better than yourself. If you are a youngish entrepreneur or boss, that will entail hiring older and more experienced people, especially in top roles for your organization.

How many YC companies subscribe to this? It seems few and far between are the company bio pages with anyone over 35.

There will be great talent in all age brackets, but, of course, younger founders will generally network with younger people. If a founder finds a great employee 20 years his or her senior, then age should hardly matter. I do understand being nervous about hiring someone who is old enough to be your parent, but maybe more columns like this will help ease that anxiety & enable founders to build better companies.

Archived under "Defense Against the Dark Arts".

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