Beth H. (suburbanalien) reviewed on 7/8/2010 + 63 more book reviews

A short book with practical lessons, a quick read with a review of some really important concepts that often get lost in the day-to-day management job. The book flows well, it is set up as 8 lessons, and that style works to help you remember the 8 important points. The part I always rebel a little against is the "parable" style of these kinds of books. It's a retelling of some management principles using a story, and those rarely are believable or even entertaining. This one is not such an assault on your good sense and internal lie detector as some, and the story given actually has some elements you will recognize from jobs you've had in the past. I just always have a problem with the "I'm incredibly successful and my life is perfect and my bosses love me, they've put me in charge of a big-time company, but I don't know what to do!" sort of premise. Oh really, sparky? You're such a hot shot and you found yourself in charge of a massive enterprise and you're scratching your head over the basics. Well, maybe that's more common than I thought. What do I know, the largest team I've ever supervised was 11 people, so maybe my envy is showing. Anyway, I liked it, I could relate to nearly every tale he told with each concept. We've all worked at places where the slackers stick around and keep getting paid as much as the good ones, even though the good ones do more work, the boss only notices the net effect of the entire team and doesn't get rid of the slackers because "well, we can't be short-handed!" and eventually the good ones get fed up and quit. We've all also had those bosses that try to be one of the guys, try to insert themselves in your personal life, and want to be liked. And on and on, really it was a good refresher, and the story was not as bad as others I've seen. You'll uncomfortably recognize mistakes you've made before you knew better, and get some tips to remember the important points you don't want to neglect.

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