Customer Reviews

Becoming a Manager: How New Managers Master the Challenges of Leadership

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I highly recommend this to anyone involved in "management", particularly where you have to lead people.

The value of this book -- to me -- was not that it revealed anything new (most managers would instinctively know what the issues are when working with a team). What it did for me was to give me assurance that the trials and tribulations that I've gone through (some of which are daily occurances) are normal. That told me that I AM NOT ALONE! -- for management is a lonely business.

This book took me sometime to finish (440 over pages) but a very readable book. Not overly academic. I particularly liked the section on "Is Management Really for Me?".

This is one of the few books that explores and discusses the reasons that new managers FEEL the way they do. It helped me through my own difficulty transition from top individual producer to manager/director of others. I recommend it often in conversation or speaking engagements and actually give it to each new manager I promote, as required reading. Lastly, I have found it most effective when read after a month or two of performing as a new manager. By: Pete Dignam, Sales Director and General Manager, ICG Communications

I highly recommend this book as one that should be kept handy for all new managers transitioning from the role of "individual producer". I also recommend it for those top performers who feel it is likely they will be "approached" about a management position and/or are wondering if management is their "cup of tea". It's also of benefit for managers OF new managers (who sometimes forget what it's like), and HR professionals responsible for designing New Manager training programs.

It's very well written, even humorous at times, and details the actual statements and insights of these new managers. What an absolutely accurate sanity check!!! These folks really let their hair down and were completely honest about their experiences.

Not only did I dog-ear and underline my book all over the place, I wouldn't hesitate to buy this book for a friend or close colleague who is considering or transitioning to management. It's like being in a roomful of other new/fairly new managers and getting honest feedback on the ups-and-downs, the highlights, and the things you would love to have known before accepting the management position!!

Linda Hill's analysis in the final chapters is the icing on the cake. Based on this study, she offers extremely valuable insights into how corporations need to support and train new managers, and suggests things that potential and new managers need to be aware of and prepare for.

I found this book insightful and validating. I transitioned from being a healthcare professional to a manager of a clinic. Despite the difference in practice areas between this book and my own career (sales vs. healthcare), I still found the findings in the book to be important. Whether you're transitioning to manager from a position of top performer in terms of money or in terms of some other measure of achievement (such as quality of patient care or number of new innovations, for example), the lessons of this book still apply. I highly recommend this book to new managers and to THEIR managers.

I've been in management at Hewlett-Packard for 10 years. This book accurately captures my experience and the experience of many of my friends and colleagues who have made the transition from individual contributor to first-level manager. Even though the managers in this study were sales people in financial firms, their experiences mirror those I've seen as a manager of R&D engineers. I highly recommend this book to anyone considering a career in management. It's an accurate description of both the joys and frustrations.

This book discusses the experiences of managers at different points in their first year as new first-line managers. I read the book half way through my first year as a manager and wished that I had read it sooner. My experiences were very similar even though I am in a completely different field. This was even more usedul than a three day new managers' workshop that I took.

This is the second edition of Becoming a Manager and although only three chapters have been added, their impact is considerable.

The original edition is based on interviews with 19 new managers and their thoughts on becoming a manager. As such, it was an interesting, but somewhat hard going (sentences and paragraphs are wordy), read. Although the 19 managers are all from customer service or sales, their stories translate well to other professions.

This latest edition adds chapters on Exercising Influence Without Formal Authority, Building an Effective Team, and Learning For A Lifetime. I found the chapter on teams a little light in it's description of process management. However, it's these chapters and in particular the one on influence, that makes this book much more useful for the new manager than the first edition. Every manager should use Hill's description of sources of personal and positional power to improve their influencing.

By Hill's own admission, she has become far more prescriptive in the latest edition and this is a real benefit for readers. For instance, in the most recent chapters, Hill asks questions that will enable the manager to apply the key concepts being covered. But, these "how to"s are hard to find.

If you are a big picture person, or someone who likes to get plenty of "how to" action type suggestions, then this book is not for you. However, if you are someone who always wants to know the reason "why?" something works or doesn't work, you will enjoy this book.

Bob Selden, author of What To Do When You Become The Boss: How new managers become successful managers

This book was right on target as to what events a new manager should expect to experience and more importantly what to feel about these experiences. It's a roadmap to becoming a new manager especially for someone who used to contribute as a salesperson and now must contribute as the agenda setter. Usually, most books I've read have little relevance when applied to commercial real estate. "Becoming an Manager" is quite aligned and very useful for the manager of a commercial real estate firm. The examples cited are very real to the brokerage business and quite illuminating for a new manager.

This book is very poorly written. The author (for some reason) writes this thing like it is some great body of work in academic thought. I found this book to be exhausting, long, repetitive and very boring.

Gaps in her research include:

- Many new managers experience many aspects of management before they are actually promoted. I am surprised that the transition is such a shock to those that participated in the research.

- Her sample is too small to be representative.

- The sample space includes only sales related people. It does not include anyone in professional services. Sales personnel tend to be motivated by quotas and commissions (me, me, me). Consultants, accountants, lawyers, doctors, operations and other managers, who tend to be thought leaders, do not share many of the concerns and experiences of the "me" mentality (well, maybe some). My point being, if you are in a field other than sales, you are wasting your time with this book.

A "Cliff Notes" would be nice. One hour reviewing the highlights of this book is all anyone needs.

I've only read 1/2 of this book that was loaned to me, but I'm convinced enough to buy it myself and keep it as a reference book. I've only done this for a few others - all long-term, working examples, applicable to a variety of situations in real life - not theory!