Photo by Marie Constantin
John Forrest Ales
Age: 29
Position: Public relations director
Company: Hilton Hotels
Q. Do you seek advice from employees? If so, how do you balance asking questions with maintaining your authority as a manager?
A. “The fact that I’m relatively new in the role is helpful. The second piece of that is I’m responsible for the specialty area of public relations, and I sure as heck better be skilled at what I’m doing. I bring to the table the expertise and the confidence in knowing that for the areas I’m responsible, I know what needs to happen even though I may not know the other circumstances surrounding it. Those are their areas of expertise, and we have to work together. That confidence is critical.”
Q. Have you had to modify your behavior since you’ve come into your job as a young manager?
A. “If anything, I’ve had to be much more patient and realize maybe big entities and structures don’t flip on a dime. On one hand I’m eager and our generation is, ‘We want it now, here we go.’ I’ve learned to be much more patient.”
Q. What is your best advice for other young managers?
A. “Knowing that you don’t know everything is incredibly valuable. If you are managing people at a young age, you’ve been given some sort of great opportunity. You should be incredibly humble about that and know that you have to prove yourself.”
J.T. Lane
Age: 30
Position: Deputy chief of staff
Company: Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals
Q. Do you seek advice from employees? If so, how do you balance asking questions with maintaining your authority as a manager?
A. “Overall, it’s about getting the right information, condensing it very fast through the funnel and getting it down—making that decision or getting out whatever work needs to be done. I met with lots of people. I read a lot to absorb as much information as I could. It was like cramming for a big exam. I don’t think that ever really stops.”
Q. Have you had to modify your behavior since you’ve come into your job as a young manager?
A. “By virtue of the fact that it was a new job in a massive agency, I definitely had to change my behavior. I had to focus more, think more about what is critical or very important and what needs my attention right now. It’s always having that filter on and honing that filter.”
Q. What is your best advice for other young managers?
A. “Don’t let age be a difference. Whether you’re 20 or 50, your boss said, ‘Wow, you’ve got something I need or want.’ If that’s the case and they continue to have faith in you to get the job or the task done, you keep going. You can’t let it be an issue.”
Becky Roby
Age: 29
Position: Public relations director
Company: Client Technology Services
Q. Do you seek advice from employees? If so, how do you balance asking questions with maintaining your authority as a manager?
A. “By all means. I openly look for suggestions. They understand I am their boss, but I don’t ever ask them to do something I wouldn’t do. I’m not that person.”
Q. Have you had to modify your behavior since you’ve come into your job as a young manager?
A. “Not really. It [promotion] just gave me more authority and more responsibility.”
Q. What is your best advice for other young managers?
A. “Stay positive. Be firm, but always be willing to help someone if they’re having challenges. That’s your job. Be a good role model and never ask someone to do something you’re not willing to do yourself.”
Matt Tanory
Age: 28
Position: Senior project manager
Company: Walton Construction
Q. Do you seek advice from employees? If so, how do you balance asking questions with maintaining your authority as a manager?
A. “One thing I was taught my first year on the job as a project engineer was always ask questions. No question is stupid. It’s going to be worse if you don’t ask a question and you try to make a decision yourself when you could have asked a question and gotten a clear answer. To me, that doesn’t undermine authority.”
Q. Have you had to modify your behavior since you’ve come into your job as a young manager?
A. “I’m a little more serious. I’m very playful, and I’ve had to tone that down a little bit. Everyone else is still playful, but I don’t get to play back as much as I used to because I have to be the boss.”
Q. What is your best advice for other young managers?
A. “Work hard. Always take everything as a learning experience. Never look down on a position regardless of what it is. Put the time in.”
Kay Wilbert
Age: 28
Position: General manager
Company: Professional Limousine Service
Q. Do you seek advice from employees? If so, how do you balance asking questions with maintaining your authority as a manager?
A. “I knew I was going to have to earn the respect of the drivers here. Being so young, coming in and being a relative of one of the owners, I knew I had my work cut out for me. I basically came in with an attitude of … let them know you work with them and they don’t work for you.”
Q. Have you had to modify your behavior since you’ve come into your job as a young manager?
A. “I did not find I had to change anything about myself. My training from Southern Miss and Sandestin prepared me for the position I have here, not to mention having an incredible amount of support from my family.”
Q. What is your best advice for other young managers?
A. “To realize and respect the talent and skills of your staff, and not to think that because you’re so young and fresh that your ideas are always better than those who have been there before. Seek out the talents of each employee.”
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