Career Mission's Chief Executive Officer, A. Harrison Barnes, in a webinar discussed what it means to be good manager.

The job of a good manager should be to keep a company in business.  According to Harrison companies are kept in business by pro business managers.  If you want to be a manager–and a good manager, you need to truly be on the side of the company. 

Being a manager requires a completely different orientation from the non-manager. The best managers always focus on the interests of the organization–not so much on the interests of its workers.  The difference between a good manager and a poor manager can either make, or break, an entire company. 

The greatest distinction between companies that run and continue going forward and those that go out of business is good managers that care about what happens to the organization.  When a company has good managers who care about what happens to the organization, it is likely to survive.  Decisions needed to keep the company going forward are made, despite the fact that they are difficult to make, and may be unpopular with the rest of the staff. 

As a manager, and in order to be a manager, it is extremely important that you be seen as someone who is on the side of the company and out to make the company profitable and do well.  The more you are seen and perceived as someone on the side of the company the more you are likely to grow as well. Once you understand these fundamental principles you can master the art–and the business of being a great manager.