There is no such thing as 'managing people'

"Most of us live with the illusion that we need to manage our people. We express our value by the size of the teams we 'manage', number of people we recruit and the size of our workforce.

I learned over the years, we cannot manage people. People have their own agendas, their own aspirations. Most have their own plans as to where they want to be and what they would like to do. All we can do is manage the processes that give people what they are looking for. The best managing task we can undertake is to create an environment that provides people with the freedom and the resources to risk, learn, innovate and grow. People manage themselves. In trying to 'manage people' often managers come in the way of successful individuals."

-- Cyprian D'Souza, MD, Kanbay India
as read in The Economic Times, Corporate Dossier, 28-Apr-2006

My take:
1. I agree
2. A workplace that has clear-headed self motivated achievers is a delightful workplace
3. There arent as many of these around as there should be :)