Hiring Wisdom: Which Type of Manager Are You?

Studies show there are essentially two types of managers (and companies) — those that are accounting-focused and those that are marketing-focused.

Accounting-minded managers focus primarily on reducing costs and overhead. This approach appears to make/save money in the short run, but actually has the potential to lose customers over the long-term which causes the manager to work even harder at reducing more costs. While it is easy to add up the number of units produced or customers and sales you had last year and come up with an exact number, it’s impossible to put a number on what has been lost through loss of quality, inefficiency, or poor customer service.

Marketing-minded managers focus on taking the best possible care of their customers and their employees. Their primary concerns are things like company appearance, brand recognition, customer service, employee training, and product and service quality.

Marketing-minded managers will often have higher costs than accounting-minded managers, but, in the end, will have more satisfied customers and more repeat sales as well as a more highly engaged workforce. When times get tough, it’s easier for marketing-minded managers to find and trim the unnecessary fat while the accounting-minded manager is already as lean as can possibly be.

As a manager, it is your job to find the right balance between marketing and accounting, but, be mindful that it’s marketing that really drives long-term profitability and success.