• You will hear five short recordings．Five people are talking about problems and suggestions on becoming a successful manager．

M：Well，now it’s all over，I can only hope we’ve learnt the right lessons from the experience．Although the consultants at the time had warned us of the risks，we-umm，especially me，were sure of the plan as we had such a success in the noah．So we decided to launch the new product in the south．We did add more bright colors into the fabric to satisfy those southern customers who have a natural favor for brightness．It sold well in the first couple of weeks and then no one seemed to be interested any longer．I took up all the responsibility as I was the person who was pushing all the way.Anyway，I went through all the promotional plans and worked out a detailed and improved proposal，in case similar problems might arise again later．I guess the top management also noticed that，although I don’t have the answers but I tried．Sometimes you just need to be honest and if you tried to do the right thing，then your failures will be forgiven．
   Speaker Two
F：Actually，I now know to take all this talk about the importance of clear job descriptions seriouslv… I used to think it was all a kind of formality as we all work in a team and could help each other out．but when you see the damage misunderstandings can do…I have no doubt about the excellence of each member in the team，bul when more than two people are aiming at the same task．it was perhaps inevitable that they’d clash over what di rection the project should go in．Anyhow．I got over the idea of making friends with my team members—I mean it is equally impo~ant，but as a manager，your job is to manage the whole team，not become friends with your employees or do their jobs if they can’t．If anyone is unclear of their specific duties，it is your job to sit down and state exactly what expectations you have for him or her．
   Spesker Three
M：In the end，you’d have to say we had a lucky escape—I mean，it could have been a lot worse. it’s very difficult to know where your brand is really positioned，and how much people are willing to take in a completely new series—especially when you’re aiming at a foreign market…Besides the routine analysis and research，you have to answer the questions of impotand export policies，the landed price setting，agents and promotional strategies，etc．I felt so overwhelmed with different tasks all at once．and so exhausted every night when I got home．The only lesson I learned from this was to enhance my time management skills—I need to prioritize the tasks and find out what any vague wording exactIv means．I should have involved my staff more—chances are the older employees have seen it all．They would have been able to tell me what’s a potential problem and what isn’t.
   Speaker Four
F：I know there’s quite a trend to constantly review your sourcing in the search for cost saving，and we should have really got this done if everyone else in the industry was doing the same thing.It was crazy to stick to the same firm simply because we’ve been working with them for more than 10 years.I oot the inside news that they had massive changes in top management but intentionally kept it secret，for fear of damage to their reputation．You see the consequence now．We were getting nearly all our parts from them，so everything was leaving the factory with faulty components.As I was new in this position，no one listened to me at first．They thought that new managers like me frequently want to come in and totally redesign processes and systems to show how smart they are．So I asked the consultants for advice，and then proposed a change in a reasonable timeframe.
   Speaker Five
M：As a sewice company，we intentionally hired more female employees when recruiting.But the problems arose when most of these employees got married and had children—they wanted to find a good balance between work and family．Many of them mentioned their fixed working hours and yet constantly changing amounts of incoming orders．which—as they claim—leads to boredom at work on some days and pure stress on others.But even more staff members have complained about constant organizational changes without ever getting the information of what exactly will change beforehand．The direct outcome was the increase in the complaining rates of customers.As a manager，I think what they are looking for is a leader who knows what to say and what not to say，and when to pass on important company information，when to go to the next level with a concern，and when to crack down on the rumor mill．