You’re great at leading other people, but could you do their jobs?

If not, it’s time to learn.

Before you start thinking, “Yeah, right. I’m busy enough doing my own work. I don’t have time to learn their jobs,” give us a chance.

On the surface, it might not seem important – or even feasible — that the boss knows how to do employees’ work. But new research finds the exact opposite is true.

A manager’s understanding of employees’ work has the biggest impact on their job satisfaction, a study in the Industrial and Labor Relations Review found.

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No matter what you think about the Harry Potter novels, you must give it up for J.K. Rowling.

She was at rock bottom when she had the idea for the book series and wrote the first one on a manual typewriter.

It’s now estimated that after taxes, thanks to the books, movies, theme parks and television, Rowling’s earnings are $1.2 billion, according to The New York Times.

Not too shabby for a single mother who was once on welfare.

When it comes down to it, leaders, supervisors and managers can all take a page from Rowling’s book on what it takes to be successful and fulfilled both personally and professionally.

What other life/business lessons can you steal from the world-renowned author? Here are nine that could change your life:

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Feel like you’re spending more time putting out wildfires?

You know, the unnecessary ones sparked by petty employee outbursts.

One minute things are fairly quiet and, next thing you know, something flares up and causes yet another disruption.

You can almost smell the smoke outside your office.

Here are five classic employee fires that, with some deft handling, you can stomp out for good.

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It’s easy to point the finger at others when things go wrong. Sports coaches and players are blamed for games lost, deadlines are blamed for poorly executed plans, we even blame the weather when we’re having a bad day.

The blame game isn’t something new. We all know the term “scapegoat.” That term comes from a story in the Bible (if not even earlier) in which the collective sins of a community were placed upon the unsuspecting back of a poor goat.

Too often we get sucked into a pattern of blame and counter-blame, but I’ve got a couple of powerful questions that could alter that pattern and put an end to the question “Who is to blame?”

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We all make mistakes.

Then there are those times when it’s A REALLY BIG mistake.

You know the kind. When everyone gets together after and tries to figure out, “What in the world just happened?”

Think United Airlines. They say they stuck to the rules when they deplaned a passenger against his will. Fallout? The stock fell sharply the next day. And the turbulence could last for months or even longer.

Big mistakes aren’t just embarrassing. They’re expensive. Just little grammar issues cost companies billions of dollars each year, one study found. Some poor decisions that led to big mistakes have buried companies, leaving people jobless.

Researchers say many big mistakes – such as the embarrassingly public 2017 Academy Awards Best Picture flub – could be avoided or at least minimized if people paid more attention to the factors that lead up to them.

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