I remember when I became a manager, I wished that I could be injected with everything I needed to know. For the first few years, when I thought I should be omnipotent, I’d come home and whine (sorry, but that’s what I was doing) to Mark. I finally realized that I needed training — even […]
I’m crazy-busy with the finishing of Behind Closed Doors, so I’m starting another series of blog posts, this time about management myths. (When I’m in a series of posts, it’s easier for me to stay focused on writing a post every or every other day.) I’ve worked with many managers and teams who think
Esther and I have finally integrated all of our reviewer comments for Behind Closed Doors. We’re looking forward to final publisher (that’s Andy and Dave) comments, and copyediting, and then yippee, the book is ready for printing. We think the printing is about 6 weeks away — very fast for a book. Some of
My Stickyminds column, What’s on Your Not-to-do List? is posted. Please do leave comments there (or here if you like). This column is based on one of the ideas in Behind Closed Doors.
Esther and I are editing (the next-to-final pass, we think) the book this week, integrating comments from our reviewers. We are very fortunate; our reviewers provided wonderful feedback. And some of the feedback we’re not going to use — at least, not in this book. One of the hardest things to do, whether it’s
I’m thrilled to announce that you can see the announcement of Esther’s and my book, currently entitled Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management Revealed. Yes, this is the book we pair-wrote. We’re in the final stretch. First is working with Andy and Dave and whomever from Pragmatic Bookshelf to make sure we didn’t
Managers have an obligation to coach employees to help employees obtain better performance. However, managers choose when and whom to coach. Managers also have an obligation to provide feedback — which is not a choice. Every employee deserves feedback about his/her work on a frequent (weekly) basis. I’ve never met a manager who didn’t
I’m working with Esther this week on the book. We’re editing (and continuing to pair-write and pair-edit). Today, one of the things we addressed were the comments dealing with the people we name in the book. We hadn’t done a good job drawing our readers in to care about the people. So we’re fixing
Esther’s here with me this week. We’re revamping our book based on early feedback from our reviewers. We’re focusing on the core skills of managers. Of course, prioritization is in the book. In addition, we’re addressing how to speak the language of the business (to get things done through others), how to give feedback, one-on-ones,