Effective management is a "contact sport"!

No, I don't mean "contact" in the sense of how you'd pound on someone in Rugby or American Football... I'm referring to "contact" as in having a deep, personal understanding of, and connection with things like:

• Your industry; know what it takes for your company to succeed and stay on top of industry events.

• Your business. Learn all you can about your business; each function and department.

• Your leaders; what are their goals and aspirations for the company and what you can do to help them achieve success for the company.

• Your people – personally and professionally to help them grow and contribute to company success.

• Your strengths – know them and employ them to achieve the better results.

• Your weaknesses – understand your shortcomings and take an active hand in developing them; maybe you cannot overcome them, but you can improve them.

• Your competitors: learn who their key players are and who is driving their success in sales, product management, design, etc.
  

YOUR MISSION:
Stop thinking about your role in the business as the silo of just doing your part, and start really analyzing how you (and your team) interact and contribute to the larger picture of your entire business and industry - get in contact with all of it.