Today is my first anniversary at my current job. I work as a manager at a local managed service provider. What does that mean? Well, it means that I herd a team of cats, trying to balance their personal needs against the needs of my company, and the needs of my clients. It is, at times, a bit difficult. But I’ve learded a few things over the past year, and I thought it might be a good idea to write some of the lessons up.

• First, being a leader in the military is not the same thing as being a leader as a civilian. For example, I cannot swear as much, and I cannot expect an order to be followed. In fact, I can expect most orders to be actively ignored. It’s just how civilians work, I guess. Instead, I make suggestions.

• The owner of the company I work for is a very weird bird. He is just about as liberal as one can get, but I often find him to be demeaning of my coworkers. It’s not intentional, of this I am absolutely sure, but that doesn’t make it less hurtful. I believe I come across as playful, instead. I don’t have the power he has to throw around, but my results are at least as good as his are, as it relates to getting the team to complete tasks. I’m pretty sure, however, that people work for me because they don’t want to disappoint me, whereas they work for him because they don’t want to get yelled at.

• I am sure if you asked him, he would think about it for a bit, before admitting that he was overbearing. I like that he is able to be that introspective. It’s a hard thing to do.

• Don’t ever leave something you love in the refridgerator without a label. Bad things will happen to it.

• Don’t ever leave an empty food container in your car. Bad things will happen to your car.

• Always remember that your employees are imperfect people. They try, legitimately try, hard. But they won’t always come through for you. Be prepared to roll with the punches.

• Be prepared to roll with the punches.

• Sometimes, there is nothing you can do to heal a relationship. Let it die.