Why Managers Become Unhappy...(and what to do about it)

Happy Friday,

A lot of people in leadership roles are privately disappointed, even dismayed, by the actual job behind the title. Leadership titles get sold as the most prestigious career path for technical people. But few engineers chose the profession, took courses like Calculus, Fluid Mechanics, Statics, and Differential Equations, then studied to pass the PE because their real goal was to become somebody’s manager.

Yet there you are, and somebody’s gotta do it.

The problem with leadership roles is, ironically, the near absence of leadership. Leadership is, in fact, the most fulfilling part. But management dominates the job description because management is easier to quantify and measure.

Management is ultimately about correcting drift from predefined targets. Think performance metrics and the annual plan. Leadership is about amplifying a faint signal into a new equilibrium, cultivating new capabilities, innovation, and creative value creation.

Management grants agency over the process, offering low intrinsic meaning. Leadership grants agency over the outcome, offering high intrinsic meaning.

Both are essential, but only one creates net-new value, and that's where the meaning is. When the role is 100% management, your limbic system registers “I am a cog.” When even 10% of the job is leadership, it registers “I am an author.” The second state is the antidote to frustration and mid-career burnout. Human meaning derives from agency over uncertainty.

Organizations advance by turning unknowns into knowns. That requires leadership, not management. And when the market shifts as it's doing now, leadership becomes the most essential survival skill.

If you're currently in a 'leadership' role, I highly recommend taking it upon yourself to truly master the leadership element, whether it's expected of you or not. It’s the only way to create value beyond the predefined, the only way to experience meaning beyond the timesheet, and it’s the only way to future-proof your career, your team, and organization.

You'll be thankful you did. And your boss will thank you, too, eventually.

Have a GREAT weekend,

Dave

Feedback and blowback are always welcome: dave@goodnewsfriday.com

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