My Biggest Mistake as a Manager (And What Others Can Learn From It)

The work of a general manager sometimes feels like that of a miracle worker. You have to provide answers for everything. Whether it is debt collection, suppliers’ issues, or even that fellow who is a little too cosy to young female interns, you are expected to have answers.

Sometimes things just click and you reach out to that cup of coffee for a sip – or glass of wine if you are of that flawed disposition – satisfied. However, many times, even as your door keeps revolving from morning to evening, you know you don’t have the needed answers. Like all mortals, you have to figure them out somehow.

Leadership and Decision Making

Decision making is not easy. Experts tell us that the more informed we are, the more difficult decision making becomes. A general who knows his soldiers personally will find it difficult to send them to battle. But he must make that call anyway.

When you make dozens of decisions a day, mistakes are inevitable. All managers must come to terms with that reality. Avoiding decisions to avoid mistakes doesn’t work. This is the lesson which the British learnt the hard way in Singapore.

Not making decisions is a decision.

During WW2, the British army commanders in Singapore knew that the Japanese would invade Singapore at some point. The city’s defences assumed that invaders would come from the sea, since the tropical forest separating Singapore and Malaysia had historically provided a cover. However, the forest was slowly being cleared for rubber plantations, and the British were aware of that, yet the British did nothing to address that threat. The Japanese arrived through the forest and routed the British command in Singapore. Not making decisions is a decision.

My Decision Making Experience

I have had my share of mistakes as a manager. The normal, the not so normal, and the bad ones. But my biggest mistake was paradoxically a mistake that my employers would have wished me to continue doing.

When I was appointed a GM of a certain internet business, I was a relatively young chap. The company was part of a group that had an illustrious history in Tanzania’s ICT sector, so, given its brand, we had a significant reach. 

My biggest mistake was paradoxically a mistake that my employers would have wished me to continue doing

Given my background in telecoms, I lacked solid hands-on experience in networking. That was a concern then, but I later realised that my experience in telecom projects was a great asset given the company’s challenges. And we deployed that advantage to a dramatic effect.

Nevertheless, transitioning to a commercial role was not easy. I was aware that my performance was to be determined by the organisation’s market success, but there is always that temptation to stick to what one is comfortable with. But I slowly eased into that role, initially like a wizard pulling the strings from the background - like to minimise clients’ barriers to adoption or picking low hanging fruits without causing ripples in the market. Nonetheless, other areas were not so conspicuous and, in my case, I missed one of the biggest opportunities of my managerial career.

To appreciate that, one must understand what the business of internet is. ISPs sell access to the internet – in terms of the duration of time, size of data, and the speed of access. The company I worked for had invested a lot of money in purchasing a substantial data capacity from uplink providers. It was this capacity which we were reselling, and a sizable part of it remained unused in the early years.

In internet business the capacity you don't use, you lose. It is that simple.

Now, unused internet capacity is like hotel rooms: if you don’t sell a room in a certain night, that night is gone. So, if 50% of your rooms are vacant for a year, you lose 50% of your potential revenues. The logic is simple – if you don’t use it, you lose it. The mentality has to shift – you are not selling rooms but accommodation, so do so and increase your revenues – even at significant discounts.

I was slow to appreciate this fact. I could see – or rather feel – that something wrong was unfolding, but I didn’t have the confidence to ruffle the feathers. Therefore, we lost millions of dollars in potential profits because I followed what the market was used to.

Attempts to Remedy the Situation

Years later I was ready to correct that trend. I started a new year by setting bold targets for the organisation and hired five new salespeople. Quite early I got a client that required sizable capacity and I closed that deal by offering a competitive price. The decision made was not easily appreciated by other managers and in the next meeting I was asked me to explain my reasoning. The fact that this was necessary shows that the decision was not intuitive - usually people are called to explain decisions which have lost organisations money not otherwise! There is that amusing angle to the story, isn't there?

Conclusion

Some of the worst mistakes that organisations make are the one’s which cause them no pain. Poor HR practices. Lost opportunities. Failure to innovate. Poor organisational culture. Many times it is not what is done but what isn’t done that matters. Chronic diseases, even if pain free, will ultimately kill an organism if not attended.

To me, in retrospect, this was the difference between having a good and a stellar management performance. I came short. Sadly, sometimes, it is in missed opportunities that history is shaped.

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Is there anything that managers can do to prevent making mistakes? Could my mistake been avoided then? What are your experiences in decision making? We would like to hear your views. Please like, comment, and share the article as needed.