“It is a fine thing to have ability, but the ability to discover ability in others is the true test.” -Elbert Hubbard

The word “management” reminds us of the movie Office Space. Reverting to the age old image,  managers are supposed to be corporate drones who sit in their office, have a fancy title,  sip coffee, and report to their higher ups. Forget that! Truth be told, that image just doesn’t fit into our work ethic or our culture.  Still, the question is tough- what does it mean to be a manager?

On Tuesday, January 26th all of the leaders at the Rubicon Project (anyone who manages anyone) spent an entire day learning what it means to be responsible for other people. The wonderful Mr. Jason Seiden visited our LA headquarters, helped us talk through our problems and issues, provided brilliant insight into where we can improve, and even made us laugh! The entire day proved to be one of the most important for furthering developing our leadership as we push this company forward.

Sometimes we discussed topics as a large group, other times we broke into small groups of 4 or 5 to talk about everything from what we do to block communication or listening (often times not on purpose) to how a manager keeping their head out of the weeds is beneficial for your entire team.  Jason got us out of our of comfort zone and got us thinking creatively and realistically about how we can create the best environment for our team possible.

Ultimately, our team members are our biggest assets and we will do any and all we can to make sure they are successful, supported, and inspired! As team members in this company, we all believe it is our duty to push each other to be the best we can be. The leadership training session led by Jason is a perfect example of this aspect of our culture in action.

Besides being an author, Jason is available for corporate and leadership coaching and we couldn’t possibly give him a higher recommendation. Thanks Jason!

Quotes from our leadership team:

“I loved working in small groups, it made the session extremely relatable. I think my team will really benefit from what I learned during the session , especially when we reviewed decision making and effective communication. Seeing it up on paper and talking through scenarios really allowed me to visualize how to apply everything in the real world.”

“I really got a lot out of the training session. I was glad to see everyone be so open and honest. It was good to see others appear to be struggling with some of the same issues I struggle with. A lot of times, I feel like I am the only one who is, at times, struggling as a new manager.

“I walked out of the session feeling a profound sense of urgency not to ‘do’ (my team can do that) but rather to ‘manage’, the act of being able to get a group of people to achieve a set of goals by providing a detailed set of objectives, creating the right work environment, and maintaining an overall positive attitude among the group through motivation and support. Thank you!”