Today for Throwback Thursday, I’ve re-posted my review of “Good Boss, Bad Boss” by Robert Sutton, PhD. It’s still very relevant advice – good reminders for me! Take a quick read, and let me know what you think:
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When I started my business some 14-years ago, I never imagined I would be in the position I am today = The Dreaded Boss.
No one prepared me for this unexpected roll of being an employer. There were no manuals when I filed for my LLC. I had no college business course on how to manage others. Heck, I started my own business so that I wouldn’t have a boss. So why on earth would I want to be one?
Well, as my parents always warned me, to have success is to be responsible. So there I sat. Now what?
I decided I could use some advice. I mean, if you’re going to take on new responsibilities and manage folks, why not aim to be the best you can be, right?
So over the holiday break this year, I luckily found the time to read cover-to-cover {with notes!} ”Good Boss, Bad Boss” by Robert I. Sutton, PhD and I found it to be very helpful.
It’s not earth-shattering, change-my-life level of helpful, but helpful enough that I can at least feel fairly confident and relax knowing how to avoid turning into a “Bosshole” {pardon my language – it’s his term, not mine, I swear!}.
So after that long introduction, here is my short review:
The book was well written, contained several helpful takeaways and gave me quite a few opportunities to pause, think and consider my answer to a number of thought-provoking questions or alternative points-of-view. For example, Dr. Sutton asks us to imagine if we were our own boss – would we like us? Do you continuously press forward, or do you treat life as one emergency after another and give up – or worse, disappear – when the going gets tough? Would you hire yourself? Would your past employees ever want to work for you again? Do you give credit to your team in front of others? And so forth.
It was certainly worth the time spent reading it if only to give me time to concentrate on what type of boss I think I am currently and how can I be better. As a small business owner, at times, I felt the author was writing directly to me. Other times he was speaking to managers or supervisors in larger organizations – but I could still relate to the material and get something out of it. Also, some of the information is self-evident, however, it may not be the same information that is self-evident to every reader. Thankfully, Dr. Sutton doesn’t dwell on any one point too long and you move quickly through the material.
From my personal notes on this book, here were a few of my key takeaways:
- Confidence is Contagious: I can inspire others to achieve great things by being a confident leader.
- Make crisp, quick decisions. I can always change my mind later if need be, but employees without clear answers stop workflow waiting for your decision. (Which I realized I need to get better at and not allow items which need my reply linger for more than an hour in my in-box when they are holding up someone else’s project).
- Never be late for your staff meeting and come prepared.
- The best bosses keep hunting for little ways to use everybody’s time and energy more efficiently and respectfully.
- Give pointed and persistent feedback immediately when asked.
- Clearly define each employees goals and what they need to do individually to reach them (working currently on this one).
- Dress and act the part. Take every call {especially the unpleasant ones}. Act like a leader.
- Don’t get caught up in the day-to-day drama – no open forums for complaining!
That’s just a taste, a tease, an appetizer to the many helpful, direct and honest suggestions found in this book. It’s the first “rule book” since managing others I’ve ever read. My gauge for whether or not a book has been helpful is if – upon completing it – I cannot wait to being implimenting tactics I’ve learned and this is what I have done.
Can you recommend any good books you have ever read {including this one} on the topic of managing others that you found useful?
Thanks, and next month, I’ll review my current read “Website Analytics An Hour A Day” . Until then, happy reading … AND GET BACK TO WORK!
~Amy
