In my career, I’ve seen two kinds of people. Managers and administrators.

Administrators react. They are good steady state people. They maintain the status quo. When things go wrong though, they tend to panic.  They can be bureaucratic. They’re typically not change agents.

Managers are different. They have a sense of urgency. They are the ones who are always looking for the weakness in the process, the next thing that will go wrong before it does. They constantly pressure test, they ask “what if”, they have a plan b. They solve for the problem before the problem even happens. They are continuously improving.  They are not afraid to address the elephant in the room. They will bring up problems, but will also create answers. They are passionately motivated to do the right thing. Even though they look for faults, they’re positive and optimistic, because they believe in getting better.

Managers are often unsung heroes because there is no drama. We have a culture that likes drama, the rescuing, the adrenaline rush. I heard a great description at one company: “We’re so good at putting out fires, we’ve become pyromaniacs.”

But eventually, someone asks “Could this have been avoided?”  So be a manager.