Manager in Training

I recently flew down to Silicon Valley to spend the day with some of my internal customers. At the end of the first activity, we debriefed as a group. One of the first volunteers to share was a woman sitting at a table towards the back of the room. Before giving her example, she said, “I’ve only had direct reports for about three months, so I still consider myself a Manager in Training.” When she was done, I smiled and thanked her for being brave enough to go first. “You mentioned that you consider yourself a manger in training,” I said. “I want you to know that tenure has nothing to do with mastering the art of leadership. We likely have about 300 years of collective management experience in this room today. That does not make us experts. Leaders begin to fail when they feel they’ve somehow “arrived.” You are in good company today, I promise—we have a lot to learn from you.” Across the room heads nodded, and she appeared relieved. My name is Heather. I am responsible for the Talent & Leadership Development needs of 10,000 employees across Amazon Devices. I’ve been leading people for roughly 20 years, and still consider myself a manager in training... because tenure does not equal competence... because there is always something new to learn.

#growthmindset #leadership