What managing really means — The root

The word gestion (management) comes from the Latin gestio — the act of carrying, accomplishing, taking charge. Not administering. Not piloting. Carrying.

Gestio itself comes from gerere — to lead, to accomplish, but also to conduct oneself, to behave. And gerere traces back to an older Indo-European root, ges, meaning to carry within oneself, to hold in the hand, to take charge bodily.

From this root come gestation, gesture, digest, ingest, suggest. All these words say the same thing — to carry something within so that something may come to be.

To manage a project is not to administer it. It is to carry it within.

Everyone wants to be a leader. Very few grasp the weight that comes with it.