Management

Becoming a Successful Manager : How to Make a Smooth Transition from Managing Yourself to Managing Others
$15.95
This book is excellent for first time managers. It really help with the transition from worker to supervisor.

First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently
$30.00
When I was a young management trainee with Enterprise Rent-a-Car (many years ago), I was underpaid and overworked; but I loved my job. I also respected the young, free-wheeling and fun-loving management style the company cultivated; everybody seemed to like everybody else. There were no hidden agendas; just a lot of laughs. We also did our jobs exceptionally well; from my early days in the '70s, Enterprise grew to become the largest and most profitable car rental company in the world by the early '90s.

Unfortunately, they grew too big for their own good. By the end of the '90s, a definite culture of fear permeated the organization. Micro-management and backstabbing proliferated. I made it through the first year of the current millennium, relieved to be out of that type of environment.

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman's wonderful book, First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently, examines the issue of what the truly successful managers accomplish in the area of employee engagement and productivity. They understand the iconoclast brings forth positive change; the innovation necessary to keep moving forward. They also understand the importance of getting the most out of people's inherent skills, rather than trying to mold them into something they aren't. It's simple common sense, but it's rarely displayed in the vast wasteland of corporate America.

Since the publication of this gem, several other excellent books have come out which support the authors' findings, and they too, should be read in tandem: Primal Management: Unraveling the Secrets of Human Nature to Drive High Performance, The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How., How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of "Intangibles" in Business, and mine---Life Under the Corporate Microscope: A Maverick's Irreverent Perspective.

This is a great place to start. It certainly captures the essence of what the great managers accomplish; and it's a message that needs to be received, loud and clear, by the pompous CEOs of corporate America; the sooner the better.

Management (10th Edition)
$192.00
What I like best about this textbook are the insights from real managers. Each chapter features a manager who shares his or her real world insights in little sections dispersed throughout the chapter. I always enjoy reading the responses to the question "What's the best management advice you've ever received?" Some real pearls of wisdom are in this book.

The First-Time Manager
$17.95
This is a great book for the beginners on the management roles. Most of the examples are quite simple and one can relate to those. It's very easy to read. It will be a good one to read first, before moving on to management books of greater depth.