There are 130-plus employees in Leggett & Platt’s IT department and well over half of them manage either people or projects. As an entry-level IT employee, I get to work with all the management-style combinations you could imagine on a daily basis. It used to make my head spin, so I categorized managers (with the help of trainingmag.com terminology) into 3 main management styles. Then I analyzed the characteristics and came up with ways I could dazzle ‘em all.

The Directing Management Style

Managers who use this style tell employees what to do, how to do it, and when it needs to be done.  They like to poke holes in your arguments, they like to be in full control, and—if we’re all being honest— they can be a little intimidating. They know what they want and they expect no less than their vision (which is often brilliant). Continue reading →

June 2014 marks my 1-year anniversary as a working professional, a transition chapter in my life I call “the slingshot year.” College graduation lifted me from the soft pillow of the educational system and slung me into the concrete wall of Corporate America.

Ouch.

For me, June also marks my first year of 9-5 and no sleeping in on the weekday, my first year of trying to find cheap, professional clothes for a child-sized adult (a lot harder than it sounds), and my first year of actually learning things. That’s right: I’m implying you don’t learn much in college. At least, you don’t learn what you need to know to smoothly transition into the business world.

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