Level 0 exam — Business Management

Exam — toughened questions

14 questions: recall (30%) + scenario application (45%) + dilemma arbitration (25%).
Answer everything, then click Check: each explanation re-teaches the concept.
Indicative threshold: ≥ 80%.

0.1 · Recall

1. What is management, fundamentally?

Doing the work yourself faster than your team Watching every move to prevent any possible mistake Achieving goals through and with others Giving orders without explaining or checking the result

Managing = "making others do": organize, engage, decide, control. Doing it yourself or monitoring is not managing.

0.1 · Application

2. Salim takes back all difficult cases "to go faster". What must he change first?

Moving from "doing" to "making others do": frame, coach, verify Working even more hours to handle everything himself Controlling every screen and re-reading every message sent Proving he is still the best expert in the whole department

The new manager's #1 challenge: succeeding through the team, not in its place. Taking back creates dependence.

0.1 · Exclusion

3. Does a good expert necessarily make a good manager?

Yes, always: expertise is enough to make the team succeed No: managing requires other skills to be learned Yes, once they have enough seniority in the department No, never: an expert cannot become a manager

Expertise helps credibility, but engaging, delegating, deciding are learned. Neither automatic nor impossible.

0.2 · Discrimination

4. What is leadership based on?

On title and the superior's formal authority On seniority accumulated in the company On the manager's salary and perks On influence: winning buy-in through trust

Leadership is earned through example and trust, not title. "Management does things right; leadership does the right things."

0.2 · Application

5. Management and leadership are…

Opposites: you must pick one style or the other Complementary: a good manager cultivates both Identical: two names for the same thing Reserved for executives: useless for a team lead

Without management, vision is poorly executed; without leadership, the organization drifts without direction. Salim must keep the schedule AND give meaning.

0.3 · Discrimination

6. Into how many families does Mintzberg group the manager's roles?

Two families: good roles and bad roles Five separate functions with no link between them Three: interpersonal, informational, decisional Just one: managers only decide alone

Relationships (figurehead, leader, liaison), information (monitor, disseminator, spokesperson), decisions (entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, negotiator).

0.3 · Application

7. Mintzberg's grid often reveals…

Over-invested roles (firefighting) and neglected ones (info, initiative) The exact salary each manager deserves The precise hours the team must keep at the office That managers actually have strictly nothing to do

It's a mirror: Salim sees his 80% firefighting and 0% disseminator/entrepreneur, then rebalances with an info brief and protected deep-work time.

0.4 · Discrimination

8. What are the four management styles?

Good, average, bad and neutral depending on results Morning, noon, evening and night depending on the moment Junior, senior, expert and boss depending on the grade Directive, persuasive, participative and delegative, to be dosed

Four dosages of the same job, not four grades: none is "the best" — all depends on context and autonomy.

0.4 · Application

9. Which style for Lina, a beginner, facing an urgent complaint?

Delegative: let her fend for herself to toughen up fast Rather directive: tight framework and very clear instructions Long participative: consult the whole team before acting No style: say nothing and wait for it to pass

Beginner + urgency = protective directive style (what, by when, debrief). Delegative is for autonomous people (Karim), on results.

0.4 · Exclusion

10. Is the directive style always bad?

Yes, always: it must be banned in all cases Yes, except in meetings where it can still be used No: useful in emergencies, harmful if permanent No, never: it's the only style that's really effective everywhere

In a crisis or with a beginner, framing protects. With a mature team all the time, it infantilizes. The mistake = a single style.

0.1 · Synthesis

11. Can management be learned?

Yes, largely: methods and postures can be practiced No, it's innate: you're born a manager or not Only with a prestigious, expensive degree Only by accumulating seniority without effort

Setting direction, delegating, correcting, deciding: methods you practice. The will to progress matters more than gift.

0.4 · Synthesis

12. What is the key skill behind styles?

Natural charisma that impresses the whole team Authority that imposes obedience without discussion Speed that lets you decide everything very fast Adaptation: adjusting your style to the real context

Directive with beginner Lina in urgency, delegative with autonomous Karim: stable values, adjustable posture.

Cross-cutting · Arbitration

13. Dilemma — Lina handles simple tickets well but gets stuck on difficult cases; Karim, autonomous, is bored. You…

Manage both the same: same instruction to stay fair Frame Lina step by step and entrust Karim with a challenge his size Take back difficult cases yourself to go faster Leave both to fend for themselves: autonomy is only learned alone

Arbitrating "make others do" + styles: protective directive for the beginner (she progresses without panicking), stimulating delegative for the expert (he commits without boredom). Neither single style, nor expert takeover, nor abandonment.

Cross-cutting · Arbitration

14. Dilemma — Salim spends his days firefighting and no longer informs the team. The owner also demands reporting. You…

Remove all information: only fieldwork really counts Add evening reporting without changing anything else Ritualize the disseminator role: 5-min brief + protected deep-work slot Ask the team to inform itself with no ritual at all

Arbitrating Mintzberg + leadership: the informational role (disseminator, spokesperson) prevents the next fires. A daily 5-minute brief and a protected deep-work slot beat hours of endured firefighting.

What's next?

Score ≥ 80%: move on to Level 1 (goals, delegation, motivation, listening, rituals).
Score < 80%: re-read the explanations above — each re-teaches the concept — then redo the 48h challenges of the 4 sections.