Be a Yes Manager
July 14, 2009 by Phil Gerbyshak
Filed under Business
Last weekend my girlfriend and I watched the movie Yes Man. We needed a laugh, we both enjoy Jim Carrey, and we hadn’t seen this movie, so it was a no brainer for us.
If you’re unfamiliar with the plot, Jim Carrey is a No Man. He says no to everything and his life sucks.
One day he goes to a seminar and learns the power of YES. The teacher gives one key phrase for living a happy, successful life:
Say Yes to Everything
If you make it all the way to the end of Yes Man you’ll understand that’s not the real lesson in the movie.
The real lesson of the movie is this:
Be Open to Everything
That’s the real lesson for managers. Be Open to new things and when it makes sense, say yes.
Be a Yes Manager
- Say yes to what makes sense for your team, and say it more often than you say no.
- Say yes to having fun at work.
- Say yes to that wacky new idea that doesn’t cost anything if it fails.
- Say yes to reading your team a book on initiative that has a goofy title.
- Be open to the opportunities a yes might bring your team.
- Be open to your team trying something new they haven’t tried before, or better yet, that they had tried years ago and that didn’t work for one reason or another.
How can you be a Yes Manager?
What can you be open to doing on the team you manage?
Yes Man movie poster from MovieGoods.com
I actually think that is a pretty good lesson, if only to prevent knee-jerk ‘No’ reactions.
Sometimes it’s best to stop and think about it for a moment, even if the answer turns out to be ‘No’.
Nice post, Phil. I’m channeling my mother to suggest another good first response: “How.”
She thought that “how can we do this” was the perfect response to ideas because it brought out the good and the obstacles.