Book Recommendations
Strategies for Dealing with a Bad Boss
Are you dealing with a absentee boss, a tantrum thrower, or a control freak? Good news, there are two brand new books out that can help you manage up more effectively!
- Working for You Isn’t Working for Me, The Ultimate Guide to Managing Your Boss by Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster
- Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant by Lynn Taylor
Read about both books and get some quick tips from Wallace Immen’s career column in TheGlobeandMail.com.
Two oldies but goodies on the topic are the Managing Conflict with Your Boss from the Center for Creative Leadership and my all-time favorite, Dealing with People You Can’t Stand by Dr. Rick Brinkman and Dr. Rick Kirschner.
You might also want to check out my February post on Dealing with Big Egos in the Office.
Expert Advice on Leading from the Middle
As a middle manager, do people support or resist you? Are your superiors hindering your success?
A few years ago, change expert Rick Maurer produced a teleseminar called The Middle Manager’s Dilemma. Based on the popularity of the teleseminar and the demand for more information, Maurer just released a new e-book, Leading from the Middle: How It’s Different, Why It Matters.
According to Maurer, when you are a middle manager . . .
You are accountable to many bosses, all of whom have slightly different agendas and priorities. You’ve got to keep your own staff working productively …and, you’ve got to rely on other managers and professionals down the hall or around the world in order to get your work done. That’s up, down and all around accountability – and many times without authority to make things happen.
In addition, middle managers are often accountable for leading projects/change initiatives that a) weren’t their idea and b) may not even be a good idea.
A Sense of Urgency
John Kotter is often described as the world’s foremost authority on leadership and change. So what does this guru believe is the key to successful change? Just take a look at the title of his new book, A Sense of Urgency.
According to Kotter, creating urgency is the first step in any change effort. It’s also often overlooked. Many companies suffer from complacency – an overdose of self-confidence that causes myopic views. Other organizations are plagued by a false sense of urgency – hectic activity driven by fear. Successful companies, on the other hand, experience what Kotter calls “true urgency”. True urgency is driven by a deep determination to win, not anxiety about losing.
So how do you go about creating a true sense of urgency? Kotter’s book presents four specific tactics, such as “bring the inside in” and “act with urgency every day.”
Get a preview of the book by watching this video clip.
Begin Today
I just read Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. It’s all about why so many of us put of starting that project that we dream of. Where does resistance come from and how can we overcome it? Well worth the 45 minutes it takes to read. Key message – sit down and start!
Favorite quote:
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genuis, magic, and power in it. Begin it now.”– Goethe
Unite and Concur
A friend of mine, Meryl Runion, has just released an important new e-book, Unite and Concur: Stop Arguing and Start Communicating about Politics.
According to Meryl, “It is rare for any of us to have informative, principled, thought-provoking, and reasoned political conversations. Instead of communicating, we argue, attack and stubbornly defend our positions.”
Meryl has written this book to help us have reasonable conversations with our political opposites. Check it out at:
http://www.uniteandconcur.com/political-divide/index.html
