Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader [Hardcover]

Linda A. Hill (Author), Kent L. Lineback (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2011

You never dreamed being the boss would be so hard. You're caught in a web of conflicting expectations from subordinates, your supervisor, peers, and customers.

You're not alone. As Linda Hill and Kent Lineback reveal in Being the Boss, becoming an effective manager is a painful, difficult journey. It's trial and error, endless effort, and slowly acquired personal insight. Many managers never complete the journey. At best, they just learn to get by. At worst, they become terrible bosses.

This new book explains how to avoid that fate, by mastering three imperatives:

· Manage yourself: Learn that management isn't about getting things done yourself. It's about accomplishing things through others.

· Manage a network: Understand how power and influence work in your organization and build a network of mutually beneficial relationships to navigate your company's complex political environment.

· Manage a team: Forge a high-performing "we" out of all the "I"s who report to you.

Packed with compelling stories and practical guidance, Being the Boss is an indispensable guide for not only first-time managers but all managers seeking to master the most daunting challenges of leadership.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Named one of Five Best Business Books to Read for Your Career in 2011 by the Wall Street Journal.

“modern classic” - Financial Times

"This book can well serve both beginning and experienced managers as a guide for their own continued development. It is engaging to read, asks the right questions, and incorporates a compendium of the best research on leadership." – Graziadio Business Report

“a well-written, comprehensive guide to finding ways to succeed on this often-perilous journey.” – Korn/Ferry Briefings

Listed under “Summer reading suggestions for federal leaders” - Washington Post

“Being the Boss gives a cleared-eye assessment of the paradoxes and complexities of being the boss and offers practical advice on the questions and techniques that can help managers become more effective. "Being the Boss" is an insightful and readily accessible book” – Forbes.com

“…engaging with a precise presentation of concepts and plenty of real-world examples.” - CEO Update

“It’s a well-presented title that should prove especially useful for those assuming management positions for the first time.” – THE IRISH TIMES

About the Author

Linda A. Hill is the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, the faculty chair of the Leadership Initiative, and author of Becoming a Manager. Kent Lineback, now a coach, writer, and collaborator, spent nearly thirty years as a manager and executive in business and government. He is the coauthor (with Randy Komisar) of the bestseller The Monk and the Riddle.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press; 1 edition (January 11, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 142216389X
• ISBN-13: 978-1422163894
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.3 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide to the difficult parts of management January 13, 2011

By John Gibbs TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Sooner or later most managers realize that becoming an effective manager is an enormous challenge and taking a management course is not sufficient preparation, according to Linda Hill and Kent Lineback in this book. Considerable personal change is required for a competent employee to become a skilled manager, and this includes acquiring the necessary skills, knowledge, values, outlook, self-knowledge, judgment and emotional competence.

A manager is responsible for the performance of a group of people, and this means the manager must influence not only what they do, but also the thoughts and feelings that drive their actions. There are many paradoxes in what managers must do, including:

* You are responsible for what others do
* To focus on the work, you must focus on the people doing the work
* You must both develop your people and evaluate them
* You must make your group a cohesive team without losing sight of the individuals on it
* To manage your group, you must manage the larger context beyond your group
* You must do some harm in order to do a greater good

The manager's "3 imperatives" referred to in the title of the book are: manage yourself, manage your network, and manage your team. The bulk of the book is taken up describing ways in which these imperatives can be achieved. The authors help to make their theoretical advice concrete by using part of a fictional case study at the start of each chapter, illustrating a range of problems encountered by a technically competent individual who has recently been promoted to a managerial position.

Two key insights I gleaned from the book were the author's view of the difference between a boss-employee relationship and a friend-friend relationship, and the returns that can be gained by cultivating a network of relationships inside and outside the organization. The boss-employee relationship works best as a cordial, genuinely caring relationship, but the primary goal is to do the work; bosses and direct reports are not equals, and a boss has to evaluate direct reports. While most people appreciate the importance of a network of relationships to personal career success, the authors point out that the success of a manager within an organization depends on securing the right resources for his or her team, and this requires gaining and exercising political power, which is done through relationships.

The book contains a number of self-assessment questions. These types of questions are often assess the reader's vanity more effectively than the reader's ability, but they do provide a helpful list of attributes that a manager needs to work on. New managers will find this book a great help when navigating unfamiliar territory, and even well-seasoned managers will find plenty of useful insights for their continuing leadership journey.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for coaching January 19, 2011

By S. Alvey

Format:Hardcover

I am a leadership coach and I have found this to be a universally great book for my coachees. It provides ideas and assistance for so many of the issues they are facing: developing their teams, establishing trust and credibility as a leader, forming networks, and staying strategic while managing relationships day to day. A key issue my clients tend to face is how to build and maintain influence. This book has that, too. In fact, I have found myself randomly opening to a section of the book and finding the perfect scenario or framework for one of my clients. I like the organization of the book: Managing Yourself, Managing Your Network, and Managing Your Team. Inside of this simple structure the authors address the highly-nuanced issues that managers face. And the scenarios bring those issues home in a way that readers can identify with the issues and find a way through them. Other leadership books can be too theoretical. This one has a practical tone that allows readers to define specific actions to take, without losing sight of the overall principles that make good leaders.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Gem! January 26, 2011

By d. ogawa

Format:Hardcover

I am a mid-level manager at a global financial institution thrown into management without any training on how to manage people. I had been looking for a book that would offer me guidance on the key elements of the job. Being the Boss is just that book. It is practical, easy to read, and organized into three focused sections that cover the most important aspects of a manager's job: Manage Yourself, Manage Your Network, and Manage Your Team. The most meaningful section for me was the first. It provided me with tools for evaluating my performance as a manager in a comprehensive way, allowing me to know where I stand against real mastery of the job. I came away with a better feel for my responsibilities as a manager and how certain approaches and actions could be viewed by my direct reports as well as others in the organization. The book is a real gem.