During the career development of a successful manager, there are two distinct phases of development: Warriors and Statesmen.

Most companies do not have unlimited resources including money. There is always an internal tension revolving around program priority that decides which programs or groups get the resources or money first. The best managers are often those who think through and articulate the best arguments for why their group should get the goods first. There is usually a fierce focus on their group's needs with a reduced concern about the needs of other groups. This is not unlike warriors doing battle among each other. This behavior is often found in larger, more mature companies, and some companies promote managers based on how successful they have been with their projects and groups (in other words, how good a warrior).

As the managers progress up the corporate ladder, part of the maturing process is to understand the needs of all groups in the company. The successful managers develop into statesmen. Part of their new job is to bring warriors to the bargaining table to help the company allocate resources and funds for the good of the company. Territorial behavior within a company which is excused in a warrior must give way to looking at what is best for the company as a whole.

Some managers are statesmen from the beginning. But at some companies, other warrior managers will win out over statesmen at the same operational level—it is important at those companies to have that warrior hunger or your group may not get the funding and other resources needed to be successful. Without that warrior hunger, your personal reputation will suffer along with the group's.

But by the time a manager progresses to the VP level, the statesman trait must come out.

-Don Burtis