🚪 Management Entry
The first stage in the Management path of The Path Series
Many of us have been managing for years— without even realizing it.
Sometimes in our personal lives: when you have to juggle several things at once, when you’re balancing your own needs with others’, when you’re making a decision without knowing how it’ll turn out.
And sometimes at work: when you’re trying to close out a project, when you’re dealing with different kinds of people, when resources are tight but expectations are high.
All of that… is management.
đź‘€ But What Is Management, Really?
It’s something in between thought and action. Between building and guiding. Between seeing the big picture—and moving all the little pieces.
Management isn’t just about planning. Or leading. Or giving orders. Or “motivating” people.
At its core, management is a way of thinking. A way of seeing people, resources, priorities, and time.
✍🏻 In This Entry Stage, We’re Just Looking
Not learning techniques. Not building structured mental models. Not defining roles.
We’re just looking at management— from a human angle.
🪴 For Example, Ask Yourself…
- Is the person we call “manager” always actually managing?
- Can someone who’s not a “manager” be better at managing?
- Is management different from leadership—or just a different label?
- In our culture, when someone says “manager,” what images come to mind? Orders? Authority? Responsibility? Pressure? Coordination?
🔍 Ask Yourself Honestly
- Have I ever been managing—without realizing it?
- Do I even want to be a manager? Or did I just get close to it because I had to?
- Does “management” feel like pressure and control to me? Or meaning and movement?
- Which managers in my life actually left a mark on me? What did they have that others didn’t?
🎒 You Don’t Need to Know Anything
You don’t need past management experience. You don’t need a team under you. You don’t even need to feel deeply passionate about it.
You just need to sense that management exists somewhere in your life— and maybe, it’s time to stop watching it from a distance.
In the End…
Entry to Management means saying, “Let me look at this again—from the beginning, without assumptions.” No ready-made models. No pressure to be “good” at it.
Just to ask: How could this thing everyone talks about… actually take shape in _my real life?_
Not with an answer— but with a question:
“Am I managing right now… or just holding things together?”
Mehdi Khatiri Summer 2025