Customer Reviews

Harvard Business Review on Managing Yourself (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was my first time reading the Harvard Business Review books. The book is made up of 8 topics by different authors. I'm not used to this format so the topics felt short and leaving me wanting more.

The topic on "Overloaded Circuits" is fantastic. Dr. Hallowell describes ADT or Attention Deficit Trait. Similar to ADD but entirely created from the environment, ADT is a new condition brought about recently by the new technology that is pervasive in business today. Ever feel overloaded by the constant emails, phone calls, mobile phone calls, and "crackberry" alarms? Ever multi-task to a point where you feel like your work product is rarely adequate? I could go on about this topic but don't want to steal Dr. Hallowell's thunder. It's a must read. He also wrote an article on CNet News named "Why can't you pay attention anymore?"

Other topics such as "managing your boss" and "how to play to your strengths" provide a few new tips. My hang-up with the book is that some topics felt out of place such as the first topic on how leaders move up to the CxO level and the topic on getting advice from your boss.

I thought this was an excellent book, and I love this format of short articles you can read and think about at lunch (you don't feel guilty not finishing it at once.) I completely disagree with the other reviews, I thought that this book provide 5 or 6 different tools for looking at your relationship with your boss and peers that would have been helpful when I was just starting out. Usually if you buy one of these books, about 60-70% of the articles in any one are good, with the rest as throwaways. Still, I am very glad I bought this because it solved a problem I had with one of my subordinates (I am a Reader and she is a Listener - the Drucker article). No matter where you are on the corporate ladder, this is a useful book.

It's surprising how practical these small books are. I love the Harvard Business Reviews Paperback Series. HBR's, Managing Yourself is no exception. It points the subtle difference between great leadership and elite leadership. It helps guide you to discovering your story; thus, peeling back the layers of your leadership style. I refer to the small book often to make sure I'm staying on track, with personal goals and if you buy it you will too.

Absolutely uninteresting, I'm returning it. Did you know that you have to get enough sleep, eat well, and exercise? If not, learn it from this book.

Over the years, I've bought, oh probably like a dozen of these books (from this series, I mean) and, with the exception of Managing High-Tech Enterprise, found them completely unhelpful and uninteresting. Always self-contradictory, unintelligent, and droning, they remind me of the "self-help" book genre -- which is to say, politically-correct, vapid tripe that the publishers probably believe will sell in any quantities and no matter how bad, simply because people look forever for advice and will probably buy and keep buying. Very disappointing; I'm through with this series.