Ng Khai Portal

I remember one of my first confusion on the debate between being a manager and a doer.  That was when I was about 18 and on the start of business school.

I was brought up in an entrepreneurial family where managing WAS doing things. Indeed that will be the case if the business is started until it has about 10 or more employees.  Typically a business is founded not because the entrepreneur knows management - it is founded because the entrepreneur knows the technical side of the business ( as a programmer in a software company, as a cook, as a marketing consultant).

But if you want to grow more than a certain side, then knowledge in managing have to be emphasized - you have to know now how to read financial statements, hire people, develop teams, nurture talent, and delegate / control tasks.

More and more, you have to let go of the things in which you are an expert in, and slowly help other people learn such tasks so that more and more tasks can get done without you having to do it yourself - that will free you now on new things to learn, and creating the vision that will put the company together as it grows.

This growth path - from techie to manager is also a transition not only for entrepreneurs but for most people in their career paths — even if they are working in big corporations.  You will probably start off being a programmer, then asked to lead a programming team.  Or you will start off in sales, and then if you’re good, you will be asked to manage a sales force.  Or you can be starting as a clerk, and ultimately ask to handle a department as you show your capabilities.

This will be the time when you will have to slowly leave the things you are comfortable with, and learn to accept new responsibilities.  Here is another excellent post on how to transition between a programmer and a manager.