Drive to Thrive

What It Takes To Become An Inspirational Manager By Bringing The Best Out Of Others

Sharad Bajaj, 2020

15 min read

9 take-aways

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What's inside?

Amazon’s head of engineering Sharad Bajaj offers a management primer for new or aspiring managers.

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Due to the pandemic, many employees now work remotely, leaving managers to figure out how to supervise employees they seldom see and may rarely talk to one-on-one. As part of his guidance for aspiring and new managers, Sharad Bajaj, Amazon’s head of engineering, explains how managers can communicate with remote team members, how to surmount common hurdles in remote managementand how to create a psychologically safe work environment.

Summary

Managers need multiple abilities and skills.

Managers provide guidelines, direct their teams to be productive and meet their organization’s short-term and long-term goals. They coordinate, plan, organize and run teams in departments as varied as human resources, finance, production and sales.

Team members see their managers as people with heavy responsibilities and notable power, and that is a correct assessment. Employees, teams, higher-up executives and their organizations all depend on skilled managers.

Successful managers need knowledge and expertise. They must be organized, empathetic and able to communicate well, negotiate successfully and make sound decisions. They must manage office relationships, set priorities, and direct, monitor and assess team activities. Managers need strong emotional intelligence so they can understand what’s going on with their team members – and adjust their management style and actions accordingly. They also must establish a positive, safe working environment, all while handling their own stress and remaining productive.

Managers must help people ...

About the Author

Sharad Bajaj is head of engineering at Amazon and a former Microsoft group engineering manager.

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M. W. 2 years ago

Challenge the aspect that a work-life balance is a fantasy. Some days the weight shifts to work, likewise a manager worth their salt can disconnect & trust the team they manage - this needs to happen so (1) your people thrive, and (2) so your mind can rest, recuperate and re-energise... The rest of this seems rather obvious.
H. I. 2 years ago

The "commentary" section does not cover accurately the majority of the content of the abstract.

Sharad Bajaj