Quote
“The best outcomes come from inspiring people to action, not telling them what to do.”
— Julie Zhuo, in The Making of a Manager (2019) · The Making of a Manager →
Why it was said
Julie Zhuo presents this in The Making of a Manager as one of the first lessons she learned as a new manager. The book draws on her own move from designer to leading a team, and the line captures the shift from doing the work yourself to getting it done through others.
What it actually means
New managers were usually promoted for being good at the work, so the instinct is to tell people exactly what to do and how. It feels efficient, and for a while it may even look that way. But instructions produce compliance at best: people do what they were told and stop there. When people understand the goal and care about it, they bring their own judgement, notice problems you missed and keep going when you are not in the room. Zhuo's point is that a manager's job is better outcomes from a group, and directing every move caps those outcomes at the manager's own ideas.
How to use it
- 1Before your next assignment, explain the why and what success looks like, then let the person propose the how.
- 2When you are about to give an instruction, turn it into a question: "What do you think we should do here?"
- 3Share one piece of customer feedback or data with the team each week, so they can see what the work is for.