Remember Who Actually Makes the Money

I like to remind myself that a manager doesn’t do the work. It is the work of the people that get things done. Most managers are simply overhead and are only worth their wage if they are able to make a good team work better, more efficiently, and faster – whatever it takes to make the cost lower and the profits higher.

“I believe in the honest craft of workmen. Take a look around you. There never
were enough bosses to check up on all that work. From Independence Hall to the
Grand Coulee Dam, these things were built level and square by craftsmen who were
honest in their bones.” – Robert A. Heinlein

Mr. Heinlein wrote these words in 1952. He delivered them to a national radio adience in a broadcast interview by Edward R. Murrow. Later, Virginia Heinlein read them when she accepted NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal on Robert Heinlein’s behalf on 6 October, 1988. The award was awarded posthumously. The rest of his statement about humanity and this great nation is posted here.