"I'm running a marathon in November," Mikil said calmly from across the table in the small conference room we frequently used for our meetings. It was July 2017, and my mind immediately flashed back to several years prior when some of my friends decided on short notice – likely over one too many drinks – that they would enroll in the Nashville Marathon. Their logic was simple: the marathon was in three months, so they would just run a couple miles each day and gradually increase the distance until right before the day of the race. It can't be that hard, right? As any good marathon trainer will tell you, this logic is highly flawed, and half of those friends dropped out before the race – the other half ended up walking a good portion of it.
Snapping back to the present, I took a couple of seconds to gauge Mikil's body language. His face was relaxed yet resolved; the tone of his voice confident in his new goal while equally cautious in his method to achieve it. I knew this was a different type of resolution for him, and five minutes into the conversation I was enamored at his plan to achieve this feat in such a short period of time. The schedule was practical, disciplined, and aligned with suggested best practices for first-time marathon runners. When the actual training started, Mikil followed the plan like a regimented soldier in the midst of boot camp, and four months later, he completed the marathon exactly as intended.
I started working with Mikil at Healthcare Bluebook in January 2014. Back then, he was an army of one, relentlessly crunching analytics through SQL and Excel like a master alchemist of medical claims. My role was to initially focus on building a data platform that would take some of the heavy-lifting out of his processes, thus freeing up bandwidth for him to pursue more advanced endeavors and grow a team. His rapid ascent to leadership was impressive – first to senior analyst, then manager, then director, then VP in just a few years – and I continued to work closer with him than anyone else in the company as we strategized on how to build and maintain one of the largest databases of healthcare cost and quality data in the country.
Throughout Mikil's professional journey, he was quickly thrown into numerous challenges as a first-time manager, often with minimal guidance. Difficult discussions with team members, creating an environment of proper work/life balance for his team, and delegating a constant stream of work were part of his daily diet. I offered mentorship and advice when he asked or when I thought it would be of benefit, but I equally observed his approach and thus refined my own strategies on how to be a good leader. Of all his proficiencies, his discipline towards achieving a singular goal was most impressive. Whether it was hitting a specific KPI by end-of-quarter or running a personal marathon within four months, he always had a specific and measurable plan to meet – and often exceed – expectations. So when Mikil told me in January 2019 that he would finish writing a book he'd started the year prior, I had no reservations about whether or not he'd complete the task.
Starting May 28th, The Beginner's Guide to Managing will be available for purchase. After participating in early draft reviews and reading the final version twice now, I can honestly say that Mikil has poured his heart and professional soul into this vulnerable view of what it's like to step into the shoes of a first-time manager. Unlike many dry reads with endless annotations and footnotes from surveys and consulting shops on how to be an effective leader, Mikil instead takes a raw, concise, and practical approach, sharing his own personal struggles and successes from navigating this often-ambiguous landscape at a rapid pace.
My favorite passage from the book is from the very first chapter:
Snapping back to the present, I took a couple of seconds to gauge Mikil's body language. His face was relaxed yet resolved; the tone of his voice confident in his new goal while equally cautious in his method to achieve it. I knew this was a different type of resolution for him, and five minutes into the conversation I was enamored at his plan to achieve this feat in such a short period of time. The schedule was practical, disciplined, and aligned with suggested best practices for first-time marathon runners. When the actual training started, Mikil followed the plan like a regimented soldier in the midst of boot camp, and four months later, he completed the marathon exactly as intended.
I started working with Mikil at Healthcare Bluebook in January 2014. Back then, he was an army of one, relentlessly crunching analytics through SQL and Excel like a master alchemist of medical claims. My role was to initially focus on building a data platform that would take some of the heavy-lifting out of his processes, thus freeing up bandwidth for him to pursue more advanced endeavors and grow a team. His rapid ascent to leadership was impressive – first to senior analyst, then manager, then director, then VP in just a few years – and I continued to work closer with him than anyone else in the company as we strategized on how to build and maintain one of the largest databases of healthcare cost and quality data in the country.
Throughout Mikil's professional journey, he was quickly thrown into numerous challenges as a first-time manager, often with minimal guidance. Difficult discussions with team members, creating an environment of proper work/life balance for his team, and delegating a constant stream of work were part of his daily diet. I offered mentorship and advice when he asked or when I thought it would be of benefit, but I equally observed his approach and thus refined my own strategies on how to be a good leader. Of all his proficiencies, his discipline towards achieving a singular goal was most impressive. Whether it was hitting a specific KPI by end-of-quarter or running a personal marathon within four months, he always had a specific and measurable plan to meet – and often exceed – expectations. So when Mikil told me in January 2019 that he would finish writing a book he'd started the year prior, I had no reservations about whether or not he'd complete the task.
Starting May 28th, The Beginner's Guide to Managing will be available for purchase. After participating in early draft reviews and reading the final version twice now, I can honestly say that Mikil has poured his heart and professional soul into this vulnerable view of what it's like to step into the shoes of a first-time manager. Unlike many dry reads with endless annotations and footnotes from surveys and consulting shops on how to be an effective leader, Mikil instead takes a raw, concise, and practical approach, sharing his own personal struggles and successes from navigating this often-ambiguous landscape at a rapid pace.
My favorite passage from the book is from the very first chapter:
Becoming a manager for the first time is one of the most difficult transitions you’ll make in your career. Most of the skills and habits that made you qualified for the promotion are now irrelevant, and doubling down on them is counterproductive. If you are fantastic at finding bugs in code, you may be able to teach someone else how to do that, but you won’t automatically have the skills to manage that person. You need to learn new skills and habits, and successful implementation of those habits requires a team that has your back. If you want that, you have to first demonstrate that you have their backs, and that you care about them as people.
If you continually approach discussions with your team in a “me-focused” mindset, it will not be a secret. Even if the team can’t articulate it, they will understand how they feel about it. And if they know you’re only concerned with yourself, it’s really easy for them to disregard coaching, correction, and guidance, because if you don’t understand and love them, you can’t communicate effectively with them. If they disregard the most important things you tell them (and your coaching, correction, and guidance are thousands of times more important for an employee than task assignment), then you can’t expect a high-performing team. They must trust you.
As a manager, you are your team. If your team is successful, you will be successful. If they fail, you will fail, too. And no matter how hard you try, you cannot force a team to work better. Perversely, trying harder usually produces the opposite effect. You have to win your team to your vision and your priorities. If you can do that, then they will work for you, rather than against you.
Wise words indeed. In fact, if I could rewind the clock back ten years and give one piece of advice to my younger manager self, I would shout this passage like a broken record with the volume on max. Fortunately, Mikil's book is filled throughout with great nuggets of similar advice, and each chapter conveys a linear progression of the strategies and challenges you'll encounter as you become an effective leader. Whether it's goal setting, building a motivated team, giving and receiving critical feedback, or recognizing accomplishments, he's got you covered.
Outside of my family, I've probably spent more time interacting with Mikil over the last 7+ years than anyone else on the planet. We've spent hundreds of hours leading, learning, and lecturing together, and it's hard to find words to convey how proud I am of this accomplishment for him. He's been a great colleague at Bluebook, a consistent source of motivation for my own leadership style, and most importantly, a great friend. I encourage anyone reading this to pick up a copy of his book – you won't regret it.
