IT Management Slideshow: Leadership Realities You Won't Learn in Management School

All managers have flaws.

Leaders who can win over employees, superiors or customers despite their failings are the ones who succeed. First step: Identify your own faults to minimize negative impact.

Your best information is not always the result of a systemic, data-driven process.

Face-to-face conversations, phone chats, e-mail/text exchanges all provide insight needed to supplement data.

Great managers do not always have everything “under control.”

Even so, they don't fear unanticipated change, nor do they allow themselves to get rattled by it.

You don’t need a clear understanding of everything your employees do.

Jack Welch once joked, "If you're not confused, you don't know what's going on." It's more important to know that your staffers can take ownership of their individual tasks.

Dont “present” information. Deliver it.

Long presentations, marathon conferences and the like are a time-consuming crutch. Streamline information delivery whenever possible.

You dont have to be “supreme leader.”

There are no "single leaders" really. There's only leadership. Cultivate this quality within your IT teams.

Education isnt everything.

There are all kinds of reasons why a prospective employee didn't graduate from the best college - or graduate at all. Remember, Bill Gates, Mike Dell and Steve Jobs all dropped out.

Dont populate your office with superstars.

Superstars have value. So do the middle-of-packers who are ready/willing to take on the grunt work that the stars avoid.

Talladega Nights got it wrong: If you aint first, youre not necessarily last.

You sure don't want to be "first" to pilot a system upgrade that fails, do you? Best to adapt tools that have a proven track record.

Work and private life neednt be entirely separate.

When a senior manager and team members interact and share off-work experiences, it builds bonds that can lead to better quality of work.

Minimize your maxims.

God only needed 10. You're better off with seven if you want them to stick.