Professional success, more often than not, means becoming a manager. Yet nobody prepared you for having to deal with messy tidbits like emotions, conflicts, and personalities—all while achieving ever-greater goals and meeting ever-looming deadlines. Not exactly what you had in mind, is it?
Don’t panic. Devora Zack has the tools to help you succeed and even thrive as a manager. Drawing on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Zack introduces two primary management styles—thinkers and feelers—and guides you in developing a management style that fits who you really are.
She takes you through a host of potentially difficult situations, showing how this new way of understanding yourself and others makes managing less of a stumble in the dark and more of a walk in the park. Her enlightening examples, helpful exercises, and lifesaving tips make this book the new go-to guide for all those managers looking to love their jobs again.
Topics Include:
Chapter One: Why I Wrote It, Why We Hate It
Chapter Two: Who Are You?
Chapter Three: Feelers Think & Thinkers Feel
Chapter Four: But I Liked My Real Job
Chapter Five: Flex for Success
Chapter Six: Lonely @ the Top
Chapter Seven: Being Bossy
Chapter Eight: Don’t Cry in My Office, I Have a Deadline to Meet
Chapter Nine: Inside, Outside, Upside Down
Chapter Ten: Charisma ‘N You
Chapter Eleven: Bonus Track. This Amp Goes to Eleven!
Signing Off: You’re STILL Here?
WHY DOES THIS BOOK EXIST?
As a management consultant for more years than is really your business, I’ve seen plenty of fads come and go. I could list them here to make my point, except that would be criminally tedious. Plus, my up-and-coming readers will have no idea what I’m talking about. That’s the point: Fads go. Splitsville. Ta-ta. Heartlessly leaving us panting in the very offices where they sought us out, promised the world… then promptly turned on their heels following the big gala thrown in their honor.
There are way beyond plenty of management books out there. Why didn’t I choose to write about an underrepresented topic in business literature? The impact of solar eclipses on manager tirade cycles, for example.
I’m focusing on this topic because it is so stinkin’ essential. Learning techniques to reverse your secret hatred of managing can have a colossal impact on your work life—to infinity and beyond. We are teetering on the verge of a veritable management big bang.
Notice I said “reverse your secret hatred” not “how to deal with people even though you can’t stand managing them.”
Our aim is to discover a method of managing that you don’t hate.
The reason you won’t hate it is because it fits who you are.
Managing isn’t just something we do while walking purposefully in big buildings with lots of windows. Management is about communication, rapport, morale, and productivity. For starters.
WHAT IS MANAGING, ANYWAY?
Aah, the bazillion dollar question. I’ll take an IOU.
Any half-baked MBA knows that we could argue all day about the truest, bestest definition of manager. Didactics bore me, however. So let’s put our heads together and think about the brass tacks of what we expect in a quality manager (precluding, for now, the rest of your job, such as whittling widgets or multiplying money). What does managing boil down to?
Managing is the high-wire act of balancing useful guidance and getting out of the way.
If you got to handpick a person to manage you, wouldn’t you tag someone with a variation of the above recipe?
Providing useful guidance presupposes that a manager has the requisite ability and credentials. Equally essential is having the wherewithal to know when to step aside to let others grow, excel, and mess up. When in doubt, pour a higher proportion of letting-others-shine into your management protein shake. (Chapter 7 delves into this.)
About The Author:
Devora Zack Ceo at Only Connect Consulting, Inc., provides leadership programs to over a hundred clients, such as Cornell University, Mensa, Smithsonian, the Australian Institue of Management, London Business School, Deloitte, and the US Department of Education. She is also the author of Networking for People Who Hate Networking and Managing for People Who Hate Managing.
Praise:
“This is probably the most fun you will ever have reading a business book. Devora Zack demonstrates how a couple of simple shifts in thinking and technique can completely transform how you manage and, in turn, how you feel about managing. If you think of leadership as a daily grind, you really need to read this delightful book.”
—Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager® and Great Leaders Grow
“In her one-of-a-kind style Devora Zack offers up a wonderfully original look at what it takes to manage others when it’s not necessarily one's lifelong ambition. Her irreverent humor and splashes of witty commentary ensure you actually remember the very serious, insightful advice you’ve read.“
—Jim Kouzes, coauthor of The Leadership Challenge
“There are plenty of management books out there, yet none as smart, funny, and effective as this one.”
—Michael Depatie, CEO, Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants
“This witty, immediately applicable, and action-oriented guide teaches that managing can be fun, meaningful, easier, and more peaceful.”
—David Bach, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Automatic Millionaire and Start Late, Finish Rich
“Don’t let the laughter fool you. In here there is very serious and insightful guidance on how you can get out of others’ (and your own) way so everyone can excel. There are plenty of useful examples and practical tips to please even the most obsessive-compulsive types.”
—Jim Kouzes, coauthor of the bestseller The Leadership Challenge
“Why do so many managers hate managing? Devora Zack tackles that question head-on in a book that should be on every manager’s reading list. Zack identifies skills and techniques that will help you manage authentically—and effectively.”
—Tony Bingham, President and CEO, American Society for Training and Development
“Like the author, this book has bounce and sass, plus great ideas and examples. If you want to retain your talented employees, read this book—cover to cover!”
—Beverly Kaye, coauthor of Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go
“Zack’s sparkling personality bursts from the pages to guide readers in a delightful and entertaining way.”
—Amy Lemon, Volunteer Management, Smithsonian
“Zack’s insight and her engaging writing style make this book easy to read and fun to apply in your business and personal life.”
—Hector Vargas, Managing Director, Training Solutions, Mexico and Central America
“Management is as much an art as it is a science. Zack provides insights on the importance of both and practical advice on how to improve performance.”
—Jerome E. Hass, Professor Emeritus of Finance and Business Strategy, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University
“This book is a life-saver for any managers who woke up one day to discover they’re suddenly in charge.”
—Rachel Lam, Senior Vice President and Group Managing Director, Time Warner Investments
“My manager was so inept, his boss sent him to a Myers-Briggs class, and another participant told him he was a first-class J-E-R-K! If he’d read this book, he would have learned why he was ineffective and how to successfully capitalize on his gifts! Delightful and insightful!”
—Chip R. Bell, coauthor of Wired and Dangerous
“Leaders and managers often have to deal with the elephant in the room—or worse, being the elephant in the room. This book shows how to do it properly.”
—Jeff Weirens, Principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP
“Zack’s entertaining and accessible guide to building management skills is essential for new managers and pretty damn useful for old ones as well.”
—Patrick L. Phillips, CEO, Urban Land Institute
“Management is a profession that leaves really smart people scratching their heads and hoping for a miracle. At last that miracle is here.”
—Vivienne Anthon, FAIM, CEO, Australian Institute of Management, Queensland, Australia
“I laughed, I sighed, I went right out and bought three more copies of this light-hearted, yet heavy on wisdom book for my favorite managers.”
—Elaine Biech, author of Training for Dummies and The Business of Consulting
“Read this book! You’ll thank me later.”
—Jules Polonetsky, former Senior Vice President, AOL
“I couldn’t put this book down! Zack boils down the wisdom of dozens of management tomes, teaching how to match your personality and management style. As entertaining as it is effective!”
—Howard Wiener, Principal, KPMG
“Like a stress-relieving lunch with your best friend at an outdoor café, Devora demonstrates she feels your pain, gives you hope, and shares secrets to get real results”
—Grant D. Marques, Vice President, Global Business Services, CSC
“For managers seeking an effective, personalized style of leadership, Zack’s book is a perfect guide.”
—Dr. Hubert Lobnig, faculty, University of Klagenfurt, Austria
“Learn to effectively manage your team and—miraculously—have fun doing it.”
—Jeff Cooke, Manager, John Deere
“Zack’s tested methods and tailored advice enable all personality types to hone their management styles and find the recipe for success.”
—Barbara Rosenbaum, Vice President, Capgemini Government Solutions
“Bravo! This book provides you with all the tools, strategies, and tricks nobody ever told you you’d need in management.”
—Meredith Pierce Hunter, Director, Alumni Relations, London Business School
