Have you ever heard the phrase “It’s lonely at the top”? This phrase has been repeated for years and years because basically it’s true. Being the boss sometimes means making tough decisions about people who work for you. The fallout usually includes rumors which don’t even resemble the truth followed by speculation and then eventually judgements made about your character (for good or bad) regarding the situation. As manager you generally are not even to discuss the matter by which others seem to draw their conclusions about you, therefore there is nobody to defend you or your actions and intentions should they not be popular. There may be times as a manager that you even have to let someone go, give someone a reprimand, hand out a reduction in pay, turn down someone for a raise or even demote them. These are never easy decisions to come to and no decent person ever enjoys being in the position to do such.

Recently a friend of mine poured his heart out to me because during his few years as manager, he had to fire someone for the first time ever. He couldn’t eat or sleep for 2 days before it was to be done, his wife told me privately that he was being tormented by what he had to do. He eventually talked it over with me and debated questions like “I wonder if there is anything different I could have done” or “I wish I would have done this instead”. Naturally he struggled not so much with his conscience, but with his humanity. No decent person likes to see anyone suffer and no decent person ever wants to be viewed as the source of that suffering, especially around Christmas. He asked me “does this ever get easier?” I told him “no, it doesn’t, but you have to look back at their performance, which led up to this point. Satisfy yourself that you did everything in your power to correct their destructiveness to their own career, once you determine that you have, then realize that you have not fired them, they have fired themselves.”

This brings me to where the educational portion comes into play. You are most likely going to school to get ahead in your career. Doing so will mean that eventually, you are likely to end up in authority over others as a manager, supervisor or whatever. To this end you will be placed in charge of people’s very livelihoods, how they keep the lights on, a roof over their kids heads and food on the table. It doesn’t get any more personal than that. This attitude of “it’s just business” is crap, don’t ever believe it and don’t ever manage that way. When you do your coursework you need to realize that the skills you are learning and the knowledge that you are expected to have will affect people’s lives, especially when you are a manager. Don’t give a 2nd rate effort in school and don’t do it once you’ve arrived. Learning and working hard should become a lifestyle, not a goal that once attained is forgotten. One day you may be looking at the ceiling in the middle of the night, about to have to fire one of your employees and if you have any decency at all you will be asking yourself questions like my friend had. Your education should make you a better manager. It should give you skills and habits that you use to get the best out of your people and if you can’t you may find the answer to “did I do everything I could” to be most unsettling. However if you are serious about your education and apply your skills, commitment to excellence and your humanity in every situation and give 100% to your employees, you will sleep somewhat easier at night.

Make sure that you understand that graduation does not mean that you stop working hard and stop learning. Like in school you will learn something everyday and likely something from everyone, as a result you will increasingly become a better and better manager. Your employees deserve your best efforts. A terrible manager says, “they work for me” whereas an excellent manager says, “I work for them”. As an managerial or administration student you are making a commitment. You are either committing yourself to be a crappy manager in it for the money (don’t worry you’ll blend in, the world is full of them) or you are committing yourself to servant-hood. If you are a servant-oriented manager, you will find that when you have to make tough and unpopular decisions you are able to live with yourself just a little better.

Now go study.