Micromanagers Make Less Productive Workers. But What About Elon Musk?

This post was originally published on leonardkim.com and has been republished here with permission from the author.

The problem here is the difference between management and leadership.

Entry level workers don’t work well with someone breathing down their neck. It makes them nervous. It makes them choke.

Leaders, on the other hand, are not the same as an entry level or mid level employee. They each have a criteria to live up to. The benchmark they have to live up to are not only that of the ultimate leader, but of the greater vision as well. It is one leader’s job, to attract other leaders, to move forward together. This, is what we would call the inner circle.

This inner circle knows that they have specific tasks to handle, and benchmarks to meet. They are known to carry their own weight and demand perfection out of themselves. So, they also expect their leader to demand perfection of them as well. Which he does.

Then, that trickles down to the middle level managers, to the bottom level employees. Not each layer maintains the same level of consistency of micromanagement, yet it is quite important at the top. Not necessarily at the bottom.

(Picture taken from McGraw Hill business text book.)

About the author

Leonard Kim

Author and Strategist

Leonard Kim has been featured in publications such as Inc., GQ, BBC, the Los Angeles Times and The Huffington Post and interviewed on Ask Altucher and twice on the Quoracast. He is the author of "The Etiquette of Social Media: How to Connect and Respond to Others in the World of Social Media." Leonard has been recognized as a Top Writer in Marketing, Business Strategy, Startup Strategy and Business Advice on Quora, an Alexa ranked top 200 global website with a focus on sharing knowledge and advice.