NEW BOOK
“Kingdomality: An Ingenious New Way to Triumph in Management,” by Sheldon Bowles, Richard Silvano and Susan Silvano, Hyperion, $19.95
What you’ll learn: The authors use a medieval kingdom as a metaphor for modern business. King Harold, the benevolent ruler, knows something is wrong with his kingdom, but he’s not sure how to go about figuring out what the real problem is. The king commands the imperial wizard to “fix it”; with a flick of his wand, Lady Elizabeth, a management consultant, appears.
She tells the king: The people are confused about who they really are, and you keep trying to make these confused people do things and behave in ways they’re not suited to do.
Harold agreed that what worked with one wouldn’t necessarily work with another, and he began his learning experience. It started with learning about the four basic groups of people: Southerners (helpers), Northerners (challengers), Westerners (explorers) and Easterners (maintainers).
As Harold and the consultant dissect the groups, he learns about the personalities in each, and how to build bridges.
–Jim Pawlak, BizBooks
NEW BOOK
“High Impact Middle Management: Solutions for Today’s Busy Managers,” by Lisa Haneberg, Adams Media, $19.95
What you’ll learn: The ranks of middle management have shrunk–so much so that today’s organizational “pyramid” looks more like an obelisk atop a trapezoid. While the ranks shrunk, the job expanded.
The first thing you learn about high-impact middle management is that success is dependent on leveraging talent–the manager, the team and anyone in the firm willing to help.
Time is important. Hastings debunks four management myths about time:
– There is never enough time.
– If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
– If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.
– Slowing down decreases output.
–Jim Pawlak, BizBooks
