Not everyone who reads this column is responsible for managing people, but at some time in your career, if not now, you may be called upon to do so. Ferdinand Fournies, the author of the book Why Employees Don’t Do What They’re Supposed To Do and What To Do About It, points out that being promoted into a management role for the first time is akin to being knighted.

He says to imagine that instead of being promoted into the role of manager, you have just been promoted into the role of F-18 fighter pilot. You most likely would not go home and tell your significant other what an amazing thing had just happened to you and how much you had earned and deserved it. More likely, you would be wondering how in the world you are supposed to know how to do what an F-18 fighter pilot actually does.

He then makes the point that flying an F-18 is just a series of “things you do”. But, he adds, management is a series of “things you do” as well. What amazes him is