The people holding your operation together don’t always have “manager” in their title.
Hi y’all,
There’s a Brené Brown chapter I reread recently — from her book Strong Ground — that kind of broke my brain a little. And it got me thinking about something I see come up over and over with event rental businesses, especially right before busy season hits.
There’s a common assumption that leadership is good and management is bad. And I get where it comes from, but it’s wrong. And if you run a team, it will cost you.
Management is what keeps your business alive right now. Managers who can build great systems, see a process through, and keep the minute-to-minute operations of a business running — that’s not a lesser role. That is the role now. If everyone on your team is looking out ahead and nobody’s got eyes on what’s happening today, things fall through the cracks. In the events world, that means missed pull sheets, finger-pointing between teammates, and problems your client finds before you do.
But if you’re only managing, you’re never going to grow. You need people looking out ahead — into next quarter, next year, the next season. That’s the other half.
Leadership doesn’t require a title. Some of the strongest leaders I know are individual contributors with no direct reports. Just people who show up and influence how a team operates. The key is that leaders with titles have to actually tell those people they’re trusted leaders and then genuinely let them carry it.
That’s the special sauce: when peers hold each other accountable, teams move fast. So, who on your crew is already leading without a title? Have you told them?
See you next Monday,
Mallory Mullen
Goodshuffle
