The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.
With offerings ranging from the timeless classic "Management Time Who's Got the Monkey" to innovative, cutting edge ideas, this book provides busy managers with strategies for more effective time and stress management, and offers insights into what a manager's job really entails. This is a must read for any professional wanting to work more effectively and become a better manager.
The muddled state of thinking on the qualities of a good manager is reflected in this uneven collection of papers reprinted from the Harvard Business Review. The best of them are the most prosaic. Carol A. Walker pinpoints some of the common people-management mistakes made by rookie managers; Steven Berglas warns of the damage caused by Svengali-like executive coaches who impose superficial managerial nostrums and overlook or exacerbate deeper psychological problems; and in the collection's high point, William Oncken, Jr. and Donald L. Wass give a funny and perceptive account of the ways subordinates shift their problems onto their supervisors' shoulders. Other selections are less substantive: "The Making of a Corporate Athlete" includes tips on diet, weight-training and "spiritual capacity," while an esoteric round-table of leadership experts mixes vague talk of managerial "vision" with the latest results in primatology. Confusion reigns even on such a basic issue as managerial time wasting. A leadership researcher and a management professor blame "unproductive busyness" on a lack of "focus" and "energy;" two management consultants argue that managers' retreat into busywork as a comforting escape from their anxiety over more challenging and unfamiliar problems; while leadership guru John P. Kotter contends that wasting time on seemingly insignificant chats and socializing is actually the key to executives' success. This anthology makes it clear that being a good manager is still more art than science.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
