I recently received an article to review that resonated with me, it was called “Manager: Superhero or Pilot?”. This article was written by Stephen Carver and is available to read on the page for Cranfield Universities School of Management

What do you think of when you hear the terms “Superhero” or “Pilot” in regards to management? I think of the Superhero as being the person who swoops in and saves the day when crisis hits but does not play a part in planning to prevent the crisis nor do they do anything to prevent it from happening again. When I think of the Pilot, I think of someone who is a careful, contentious planner whose objective is to make sure their task at hand is successful without experiencing a crisis.

I think most of us would rather fly on a plane chartered by the Pilot rather than the Superhero but think about your own organization… do the managers act more like Superheros or Pilots? Now think about your role in the organization… are you a Superhero or a Pilot?

A crisis attracts attention, its inevitable so when the Superhero saves the day there is usually a lot of attention paid, particularly by leadership; who doesn’t want to be seen as a hero, especially by their peers and leaders? In contrast when things are going smoothly and uneventful, the same attention is not given but rather its just business as usual and people doing what is expected of them. In my opinion, these Pilot managers are the true heroes because they are doing their job so well that a Superhero is not needed.

The final reflections of the author question if we should extend pilot thinking globally. It is arguable that if we had had better planning and people were thinking about how we were flying and where we were heading, we would not be experiencing the global predicaments that we currently are. Of course, this suggested change in approach represents a significant and widespread culture shift; the author believes that the time is right, people are ready to manage in a more considered way and I would have to agree…

Do you agree? Have you or your organization already began to manage in a more considered way?  If not, why?