Ask HN: What are the best articles on managing people?

>...that still doesn't mean they will do what you want them to do.

I get the generalization/perspective, but I reject the premise that you can't influence or manage subordinates to "do what you want." While you can't avoid your subordinate (a) daytrading their job or (b) empirebuilding for the sake of empirebuilding, you can for sure mitigate with monitoring, prioritization, and termination.

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I don't know the context of the Larry Page story, but the qualifier of "early Google" makes my point that they were still figuring out their leadership presence as rising managers/leaders. Jobs was also a known micro-manager. The answer, I assume, is that they began to realize how to manage results and I bet they could get a random employee to "do what they wanted," but prefer a different approach.

> learning to be hyper-aware of how your employees' agendas/motives can subvert your goals

I don't disagree, but there are checks and balances you can incorporate as a principal. The Gervais Principle takes it one step further by incorporating how these "subverters" can be useful to take risks that if things work out (and nobody gets caught), you get a pat on the back and the bonus. But, if you get caught (for doing something illegal but highly profitable), well we have to fire you. Either way, the principal is getting subverted, but it's not always against the principal's wishes.

One problem I have with it, and with many similar books, is that it tells managers to move to a less directive way of steering people. This is very good for quite a lot of existing managers. But it's not very good advice for non-established leaders.

If, for example, you're not very assertive anyway, you might find that everybody has already taken the authority to do whatever they want. In that case you need to be a bit more assertive and directive.

This might be a less common failure mode for a ship's commander, who is already a very senior leader and has a strong formal authority. But if one day a manager tells a seniorish programmer "maybe lead the juniors a bit more", you're in a whole different position, and you need a very different strategy.

The "I intend to" advice is pretty good for non-managers too. In some companies you may find that no one is willing to stick their neck out too much. In that case communicating what you intend to do, and doing it unless stopped, gives you perfect cover. If it's actually a problem, people will say. If people are just scared to put their name on something, they won't stop you and you can improve things. You will also look like an A-player and a leader.

No.

[Ed: it is concerned with organizational dynamics - like senior management dreaming up release dates after talking amongst themselves - but they can (and do) do that in closed teams meetings or management/leadership zoom strategy chats...]