Customer Reviews

The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work

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Block gets to the bottom of what leadership is all about -- Love and Trust. Love for one another, the love to serve, the love to help others rise. The courage to do what would cause traditional, stoic managers to turn their noses up and jeer. His words, however taboo by traditional management standards, are priceless. I always felt this way, but was so glad to see Block put it in print. I realized I was not crazy after all! My ideas were not so weird or unconventional :-) There is so much more. READ THIS BOOK!

Fourteen years have passed since the original publication of this book, and we are now in what is called the post-empowerment era. Nevertheless Block's text remains its fundamental status, and its relevance and value have in no way diminished.

"The Empowered Manager" would be on any short list of the most important management books ever written if only on account of its classical exposition of one of perhaps the most significant idea in late twentieth century management practice. In addition, every page contains sage practical advice of benefit to anyone who wants to be more than a slave or a drone at work.

Check out Bergmann et al's "Everyone a Leader" and Hirschhorn's "Reworking Authority" for some more recent developments in this area. But do not fail to read this book: its wisdom is inspirational, and Block's fine style makes it a treat to read.

The Empowered Manager is a "classic" in the full sense of the word. It belongs in the book collection of anyone who hopes to lead effectively in an organizational setting.

Personally, reading this book was a transforming experience in my career. It helped me to understand the nuances of effective leadership -- that the work environment we create through our words and behavior is something we have the power to change in very positive and profound ways.

A great book!

Peter Block restores meaning to the overexposedword, "empowered." His book is insightful andinspiring; it will change the way you thinkabout yourself, your co-workers, and your work.Well-written, engaging, highly readable andhighly recommended

This book offers the middle-aged middle manager a strategy for surging ahead instead of sinking in an ocean of uncontrollable organizational forces. Author Peter Block provides strategies for countering the negative effects of being enmeshed in hierarchy and bureaucracy. Reactions to that experience, especially fear, lead to bureaucratic management styles that leave everyone in the company - sometimes even the CEO - feeling trapped and frustrated. The book wanders around and bogs down here and there, but we find that its advice - which strongly pushes self-awareness, vision and autonomy in the service of others - could muster middle management's entrepreneurial spirit.

This is a great book and from what I've seen of Peter Block's works they are all good. I haven't yet finished my copy; I've bought 3 of them now and I keep giving them away to manager colleagues who I think would benefit from the insights I've gleaned thus far. For anyone struggling to understand their position in a large organization or corporation, or anyone wondering why their best intentions are taken the wrong way, this would be a very helpful read. It helps to understand the conservative corporate mindset, why innovation is not necessarily valued, and how to cope within such a system. For example, understanding the various "scripts" that people within an organization use and how they make colleagues difficult to deal with; and recognizing which "scripts" we ourselves tend to use, and how they can undermine our efforts.

Unfortunately, Block lives in a "what if" fantasy. Politics is a "real world" subject.