Mehdi Khatiri

Business Consultant

Management Base

Management Base

You are here:

  • Level 1: Entry to Management
  • 👈 Level 2: Management Base
  • Level 3: Management Mastery
  • Level 4: Management Atlas

🪴 Introduction

I know you’re busy. And maybe you’re thinking, “Why would I read a long piece about management— with all these tasks and decisions piling up?”

But I wrote this because I’ve been right where you are— in the middle of all that pressure, searching for something that would make management clearer for me.

Not with theory. Not with pretty words. But with the kind of clarity that actually helps when dealing with work and people in real life.

Here, we’re going to look at the base of management. Not the textbook stuff— the things you really lean on when you don’t know what to say, when to decide, or how to deal with someone.

It’s not complicated, but it’s not superficial either. Just enough so you can stand on solid ground— so management turns from something abstract and stiff into a human tool for thinking and decision-making.

That’s it. Let’s explore these foundations— and how they might offer you something to lean on.

Mehdi Khatiri Summer 2025

🎯 Path Introduction | Management Base

This file is the second stage in the Management path of The Path Series— the point where we move past a broad, human view of management and step into the foundations of thinking like a manager.

Not with complicated words. Not with models that only work on paper. But through simple stories, clear language, and examples you can actually use today.

This stage is for you if management feels out of reach— or just too heavy sometimes. Or even if you’ve been managing for years, but some of the core ideas still feel fuzzy in the back of your mind.

Each section here is a piece of more solid ground for your thinking. You don’t have to read it all at once. You don’t need to memorize anything. Just live with it. Let the concepts slowly take root in the way you see things.

Let’s rebuild management— from the ground up. Not just to manage better— but to think more humanely.

Table of Contents

1. What Is Management?

  • Management in human terms: definition, nature, and role in life
  • Difference between management, leadership, entrepreneurship, and ownership
  • Management as choice: why should someone learn to be a manager?
  • Is it a science? A profession? An art? A skill?

2. The Mental Landscape of Management

  • How does a managerial mindset take shape?
  • Mental models of successful vs. overwhelmed managers
  • Decision-making in the real world (beyond theory)
  • Facing uncertainty, failure, and pressure

3. The Four Pillars of Management (P-O-L-C)

  • Planning: From goals to executable roadmaps
  • Organizing: Structures, roles, and resources
  • Leading: Motivation, communication, influence
  • Controlling: Measurement, feedback, and adjustment

4. Understanding the Organization and Its Inner Workings

  • What is an organization and why does it exist?
  • Designing organizational structure: hierarchical, matrix, flat, etc.
  • Organizational culture: from undercurrents to public image
  • Power, politics, and the roots of internal conflict

5. Human Behavior in the Workplace (Organizational Behavior)

  • Personality, motivation, and job satisfaction
  • Groups, teams, and the dynamics of collaboration
  • Personal vs. team leadership
  • Conflict, negotiation, and collective decision-making

6. Strategic Thinking & Big-Picture Vision

  • What strategy really means—beyond the PowerPoint slides
  • Environmental analysis (SWOT, PESTEL, Porter)
  • Choosing a path: differentiation, cost leadership, focus
  • The challenge of strategy in Iran—and in practice

7. Economics, Markets & the Numbers

  • A simple understanding of key economic concepts for managers
  • Revenue, cost, and profitability models
  • Budgeting, financial forecasting, balance sheets & cash flow
  • Consumer behavior and market analysis

8. Branding & Marketing

  • Branding in plain language: from identity to trust
  • Creating perceived value in the audience’s mind
  • Traditional, digital, inbound, and viral marketing
  • The sales funnel and the customer journey

9. Human Resource Management

  • Hiring, growth, motivation, retention
  • Personal and career development paths
  • Performance evaluation and feedback culture
  • Team-building and managing difficult personalities

10. Change, Innovation & Transformation

  • Change management: why change is so hard
  • Real innovation in everyday work
  • Crisis management, fast decisions, stability in chaos
  • Leading through uncertainty and instability

11. Operational Management in Practice

  • Systems & processes: how work actually gets done
  • Process design and improvement
  • Project management and agile tools (Agile, Scrum)
  • Technology in service of productivity

12. The Manager as a Human Being

  • Work–life balance
  • Resilience, burnout, and energy renewal
  • Self-awareness, inner growth, and real influence
  • The personal journey of managers: the roles behind the curtain

13. Building a Business: A Founder’s Lens

  • From idea to execution: reality vs. dream
  • Co-founders, partners, investors
  • Systematizing for scalable, non-dependent growth
  • Exit or scale?

14. The Iranian Management Experience

  • The Iranian manager within Iranian culture
  • Local opportunities and constraints
  • Failures, case studies, and ingenuity in Iran’s context
  • Experience-based reflection, not just textbook theory

15. The Future of Management: What’s Coming?

  • Management in the age of AI
  • Work without workers? Borderless organizations?
  • Continuous learning over credentialism
  • Becoming a manager in tomorrow’s world

15 items under this folder.