So after my first couple days of class in my final semester of grad school, I’ve had a sudden change of heart. In the recent past, I was perfectly fine renouncing all studies related to finance and accounting and ready to fill my whole world with nothing but strategic management. Needless to say, I was dreading the last two accounting classes I had standing between me and graduation. Now, I find myself more excited than ever to expand my financial knowledge. It could be because I spent the last two months sans-academia and Im just really ready to be a student again, or it could be because I’m now fully realizing that to be a successful organizational leader, one should know everything about everything. Marketing, finance, operations, people, etc. Everything.
I recently met a man who spent his entire professional career as a marketing exec, and he was damn good at his job. However, he got his undergrad and masters degrees in accounting and finance. He cautioned me against undervaluing my accounting knowledge, noting that his greatest successes came from his ability to understand not only marketing, but the rest of the business as well.
A manager will be well-respected and deemed worthy of leading if they understand each area. Cross-departmental communication will be easier and more effective. Problem solving will become far more successful and effective if the implications of one decision on each department are fully understood. In short, the role of upper management will be far more simple and more fulfilling. If nothing else, the vision of the organization will resonate throughout the firm, prompting a united workforce and a lucid strategy.
So consider my case for omniscient management. Just because you didn’t understand accounting in college doesn’t give you the right to disregard it in the real world. Just because you’re a “numbers guy” doesn’t mean you’re above marketing and operations. It’s all interrelated, and in the modern company, a leader cannot survive without understanding that.
FAILURE: I recently took the most incredible trip to Catalina with a few good friends. It was just the best week ever. So, one morning, we woke up relatively early in order to take a hike. Now some of us were in pretty good shape while others (i.e. me) were in…not that great of shape. We started the climb and really enjoyed it for the first seven-ish minutes. At that point, I said enough. But I kept pushing because I wanted to keep up with the group. About 15 minutes later, we all said enough. While sitting there at the first little peak, we discussed what would have successfully kept us going to the top. One friend said a new purse. Another said a cool activity at the top. I said…nothing. I didn’t care about the view. I didn’t care about getting exercise. I didn’t want any presents. Nothing on earth could have prompted me to continue climbing. I was tired, and I needed a Pacifico. And an oxygen tank. Needless to say, we all turned around and headed back to the boat. Maybe our lung capacity just wasn’t strong enough. Or maybe it was the nature of our motivation that led to our downfall (ha…get it?). Either way, our attempt at hiking to the top of Catalina Island was…a failure.
The trouble with theories is…
they rarely prove themselves to be indisputably true.
Do you ever write a piece of work, then submit it, then forget about it for a few months? Then when it’s finally published, you read it and think to yourself, “Dang. 
Everyone has their opinion on what makes a great leader. Authenticity. Charisma. Creativity. Trustworthiness. Ethics. Innovation. Drive. Intelligence. Good looks… I could continue to rattle off these traits for another 19 paragraphs, but I know that each of you has heard this shpiel so many times it makes you want to cry. It makes me want to cry for you.
“We talk too often about the team leader’s role as something that we do instead of something that we are.” -Kimball Fisher (Leading Self-Directed Work Teams)
