There is a thrill in making New Year resolutions and an even greater joy in “breaking” them. As a wag once said, “To err is human, but to put the blame on someone else is even more human”.

One never stops making resolutions just because one knows that they are going to be broken; but making the same resolution year after year and breaking them again and again does lead to boredom. I thought of sharing with you some unique “managerial resolutions which will give you the pleasure of having “promised yourself something new”- - the joy of breaking these will also be novel!! If some of them however get implemented in your private and professional lives, you may be in for a welcome increase in your effectiveness and mental productivity.

Just one word of caution!! Don’t try and implement everything in a bid to make yourself a superman (super person sounds so uninspiring). If you notice resolutions addressing weaknesses in your “armory”, choose them!! After listing them, prioritize them and then keep reminding yourself about them. That is the only way to internalize new things. If you feel like implementing too many of them, you are probably in the wrong profession (that of a manager) & it is still not too late for a change.

Here we go!!

1. I will not convene a meeting unless I have written down what I want to achieve in this meeting .If what I have written down appears trivial, I will cancel this meeting.


2. I will always try to locate the strong points of my subordinates and then concentrate on making these strengths even stronger.


3. I will list down my own strengths and weaknesses. I will then read both lists twice a day in a bid to eliminate my weaknesses and preserve my strengths.


4. I promise to learn a lesson from the mistakes that are being committed around me; more so from my own mistakes.


5. I will start my day by preparing a list of things that I want to do, on that day. Once this list is made, I will look at nothing else, unless there is an emergency.


6. I will always criticize/ punish my subordinates in privacy and will strive to praise them in full view of everyone.


7. I will personally visit at least one customer a day – there is no better “school” to learn from.


8. I will learn to compete with myself first, before competing with others.


9. I will be a man (or woman) of action. If at all there is a choice between observing and acting on a particular issue, I will choose the latter.


10. When I interact with persons of foreign origin, I will strive to learn and implement at least two good practices of that culture (& these good points will not include eatables).


11. I will delegate important tasks to subordinates and will restrict myself to ensuring that they are indeed doing these jobs.


12. As a leader of my team, I will be ready to take most of the blame in a task that fails, but least of the credit when the team succeeds.


13. I will spend time with people more successful than I am in a bid to learn how they do the same things differently.


14. I promise to myself not to express an opinion unless I have done my homework.


15. I will look for evidence, howsoever small, before believing in anything. I will look for my blind spots so that they are no longer my blind spots.


16. I will strive to be nearer to my critics and analyze every criticism against me or my style of working, in order to improve.


17. I will eliminate the words “I have no time” from my vocabulary. Instead, I will say what I actually want to do.


18. I will learn to be proactive – so that I do not have to manage crises and face emergencies which could have been avoided.


19. If the situation demands, I will swallow my pride – I know it is at least free of calories.


20. I will never lie to my customer, ever!


21. I will recruit people smarter than I am – that’s the only way to make my organization grow.

"Mr. Prakash Shesh, the author, has done his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad after his Masters in Physics from I.I.T. New Delhi. You may send your feedback to him by choosing an option at the top right corner of this page."