Future Manager Pat had the very fun job early in his career of role playing various producers during sessions where manager wannabees were observed by regional directors to determine if they could go to manager training school. These were make or break events for the candidates. They were stressed. There was absolutely no pressure on Pat the role player so it was a blast to show off in front of the regional directors. At the same time, having gone through such an assessment the role players including Pat were also sympathetic to the stress so there were often unspoken breaks cut for the wannabees if they were really trying hard to do the right thing. “Breaks” mean that if the candidate was well intentioned but struggling, the role player would take their foot off their throat out of sheer mercy. The Regionals generally got it but one in particular was too dumb to even get that.
Pat was most often type cast as the egomaniac big producer who wanted all kinds of resources (staff, seminar money, etc.) while the manager candidate had been tasked with running an office that needed to increase its profitability. Not an unrealistic assignment. The role play was to last fifteen minutes. It started off innocently enough as the wannabee very calmly explained to the producer (Pat) that as the new manager he had to watch expenses and hoped the producer could understand that and get on board. After listening to that for a minute or two, Pat simply ignored the plea and launched into his list of requests/demands.
The bloodbath ensued. First came the request for another assistant. Granted. Then came the request for thousands of dollars for a seminar series for clients and prospects that just happened to be at the producer’s country club. Granted. Each and every request, some in the role play and some not, were summarily granted. Every single one. After maybe five minutes, Pat ran out of stuff to ask for – even asking for and getting a cappuccino machine. Pat finally turned to the wannabee and asked whether there was anything he could ask for where the manager would say no. There apparently was no limit. The role play ended early and so did the candidates chances at management.
Managing the egomaniac is tough. On one hand, the manager must be in charge. On the other, no one wants to lose a big producer. So saying no is an art form. One established manager, let’s call him Clem, had a very big producer, let’s call her Sally, who was a real pro. She was also a resource hog. She had an analyst, a couple of assistants, a junior partner or two, a computer network that could hack into NORAD, and it was never enough. Sally was a former manager herself so she knew the game well. Clem’s artful way of saying no came from two separate techniques: the ROI and the split.
ROI is short for Return on Investment. Clem would ask Sally how much production he could expect from the money Sally wanted. Based on the type of request, Clem would insist on a minimum of a 5:1 ratio of revenue to expense. Then Sally would have to go out and produce it. And usually Sally did. In the case of staff or other items that the firm hated, Clem would almost always insist on a split arrangement. Sally would take say, half, and the branch would take half. Clem would also take 100% of the grief from the region, something Sally knew was a big deal.
Now don’t fool yourself. Even Clem wasn’t good enough to keep Sally. She eventually left the firm for the competition telling Clem it had nothing to do with him or even the firm. Rather, the then ridiculous offer (that today would be chump change) finally just was too much to turn down. Hell, Sally didn’t even need the money. But she took it and went anyway.
So what’s the moral of the story? Was the role player that Pat got the cappuccino machine from right after all? No you doofus. The moral is that even if you’re right you might still lose. Surprised? That’s the job you are signing up for. That’s right: life’s a bitch and then you die. Deal with it. Sally is just the perfect case study for a manager. But don’t forget you will make more money off this one than you will the low maintenance low producer.
Here’s one list 10 Commandments for Managing the Egomaniac Big Producer you can use or ignore – your choice:
1) Thou shalt show great respect and earn the same from him/her.
2) Say no to requests that will not grow the business and to stuff the producer really doesn’t care about.
3) Go to bat for the producer with the firm on screw ups especially errors impacting their pay.
4) Pick your battles even more carefully than normal.
5) No must mean no. Maybes just piss them off.
6) You will have some office rules that just won’t apply to them and you will have to live with others bitching about it.
7) Don’t ever risk your career for him/her. You cannot jump on the compliance grenade or the sexual harassment grenade or the theft grenade or the, you get it right?
8) Accept the fact that they get recruiting calls every day and there is nothing you can do about it.
9) Listen when they want to complain. They will bitch about you, the firm, a client, a peer, a policy, a whatever. When they are done puking on you, if they don’t ask for anything, just eat it and move on.
10) Stop in their office every day just to see how things are going.
Tell us your egomaniac stories. Got an especially good technique for dealing with their demands? Well? Do you? Let’s hear it. manageia2@gmail.com
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