Management Books

Management is important. Work is about people, not work. Sure the people have to get work done. However, it seems like those assholes never get along.

In my experience, when executive leadership needs a new manager, they tend to find someone who's kicking ass at their current job and promotes that person to the next level. Then they throw the newly promoted person to the wolves. Hey, they kicked ass before, surely they will figure it out, right?

Not always.

People are promoted to their greatest level of incompetence - The Peter Principle. 

As an employee, it is important that we are preparing ourselves for our next promotion. Someday, some poor, misguided manager might give us one. 

A few years ago, I was promoted from Lead Programmer to Assistant Managing Director. My training was a couple of conversations and then I was sent into the management wilderness to find my own way. As it turns out, I'm a big Maximizer. I already read some books to help me deal with my new paradigm. 

Here are some of the things I have over the years found which I believe are vital for any manager, new or old.

Start by reading the book Peopleware.


Knowing about Emotional Intelligence is very important to preventing your emotions from hijacking you. You can learn about it by reading Primal Leadership by Daniel Goldman. You can assess your EQ and improve it with the workbook Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves.

Knowing your intrinsic strengths is vital. Check out the StrengthsFinder. Take their test and find your five biggest strengths. Then, you can find other to help you round out your strengths and build great teams. 

All of the above has training as well. Ask your boss for help. 

Other books.
Write for no reason at all. For the love of everything holy, get better at writing. No one - no one at all - will thank you for it, but they will be thankful. 

Join Toastmasters and get involved. They help with speaking and leadership skills. It's weekly practice in a safe place to fail for about the price of lunch once a month. Plus you get to network outside of your industry. It's the best deal anywhere.

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