Articles

Management Reading

Jana M. Kemp

May I suggest that on your New Year’s resolutions list you add management reading to improve your insights and skills? Both of these 2004 releases are worth your time.

My Way or the Highway by Harry E. Chambers
The cover of this book says it all: “The micromanagement survival guide – Don’t do it yourself, don’t take it from others.” Chambers defines micromanagement as being “all about interference and disruption. It occurs when influence, involvement, and interaction begin to subtract value from people and processes.”

Chambers identifies the four negative behaviors of micromanagement and provides a way to discover whether you really do micromanage. For example, you might be a micromanager if “you don’t trust people to do the jobs you hired them to do” or “you never take a vacation because something might happen at work.” Sound familiar?

Whether or not micromanagement is happening in your organization, add this conversational 240 page guide to your reading list. It is worthwhile because even if you just skim the headlines, quotes and quizzes in each chapter, you’ll discover a lot about yourself. Take for instance this quote, “People who micromanage appear to be threatened by the growth and development of others, when in fact, they should be supporting it if for no other reason than their own personal gain. If no one is capable of replacing you, how will you get promoted?”

The Marine Corps Way by Vincent Martino, Jason Santamaria and Eric Clemons, PhD
“Using maneuver warfare to lead a winning organization” is the cover description for this management text. Based on Marine Corps maneuver warfare, tactics and stories from militaries around the world and over several centuries are given to help illustrate the seven guiding principles of maneuver warfare and how they are applied to the business of work.

Boldness is one of the seven principles and is defined as “the daring to commit resources to endeavors with uncertain, even highly uncertain, outcomes to achieve breakthrough results and, in some instances, ‘blow open’ frozen situations. Another is Tempo: “the principle of ‘hitting the other fellow as quick as you can’ which is relative to speed in time: identifying opportunities, making decisions, and acting faster than one’s opponent, thereby forcing him into a constant state of reaction.”

The 195 page book illustrates each of the seven principles with stories and leadership lessons from the military and big-name corporations. The appendix offers an executive summary of the book content and leaves the reader prepared for organizational application. FedEx found Fred Smith says in the book opening “I never could have done what I did at FedEx had I not served in the Marines.”

Action Plan: Ready your management improvement reading list for the New Year!

My Way or the Highway BUY BOOK button – link to amazon.com
The Marine Corps Way - BUY BOOK

Reprint Permission: The author is willing to grant reprint permissions. Please contact Jana Kemp: jana@janakemp.com or call 208-367-1701.