Managing Leadership^®

Managers are always looking for ways to draw better performance out of their staffs, to be more effective in their own work, and to help prepare for advancement. So, they troll the bookshelves looking for breakthrough wisdom; they are seeking material for their own reading and for recommending to others.

As we know, the intended audience for many of the books out there seems to be the authors themselves. Many more are quite good, but they are directed at specific tasks or techniques – or even fads. Still others, also excellent, are clearly most immediately useful to people who are already in top management.

But Nick McCormick‘s “Lead Well and Prosper” is both good – very good – and is written for all of us. It is a slim volume which nevertheless provides comprehensive advice for the manager and executive that is difficult to find anywhere else on the shelves.

The chapters begin effectively – even enjoyably – with a vignette featuring “Joe” and “Wanda,” familiar to visitors to Nick’s blog, introducing each topic in a surprisingly compelling and engaging manner. You immediately recognize the issue, its importance, and your own vulnerability to it – because you express it yourself, you are being victimized by it, or its occurrence elsewhere in your staff degrades performance.

They conclude with something I generally find disagreeably patronizing – summary boxes of the “dos” and “donts” identified in the chapter. The presentation of these, however, is so natural to the generally open and engaging atmosphere of the book that they are actually quite effective.

The 15 chapters cover topics from self-development and time management to core management duties, attitudes and behaviors, and even career planning. New managers will benefit from all of it. Senior managers will be surprised at how this quick read will have an immediately invigorating impact.

Trainers should put this book in their curriculla. Mid-level and higher managers should read it themselves and present it to new assignees.

Lead Well and Prosper is a gem – but one you will want to share. Enjoy it – and prosper!

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Today’s tip: Speaking of gems, please take a look at this post on the psychology of magic, by Jeremy Dean, author of the must-read PsyBlog. You’ll often find something at this site of real value in your work as a manager, and always something enjoyably informative; this one is an example of both.

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Technorati Tags: performance, work, management, Nick McCormick, manager, executive, self-development, time management, career, planning, psychology, Jeremy Dean, PsyBlog