Miller's Bolt: A Modern Business Parable [Paperback]

Thomas Stirr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 1997

Miller’s Bolt is the fast-paced fictional story of a top-notch manager who is in danger of being fired. For although Jim Manion does his job well, his relationships with his coworkers have become increasingly antagonistic. Given just three months to turn himself around, Jim consults his friend Peter Miller, a personal performance coach, and together the two of them work to save Jim’s career.We watch Jim as he learns new interpersonal skills, manages change, and improves his performance. Thomas Stirr guides us through the techniques and conceptual tools that Jim uses, including Miller’s Bolt—a simple and logical tool that reminds us that our performance is never static. We are either getting a little better and moving up the threads on our bolt, or a little worse and moving downward—every day.Realistic characters and situations bring the story alive as Jim faces the challenges of a tense board meeting, a climate of lagging sales, and his personal nemesis, a manipulative coworker who tests Jim’s newfound skills. Each of these dramatic turning points further crystallizes the main message of the book: If we want our lives to be different in the future we have to make different decisions today. By taking responsibility for our perceptions, our relationships, and our performance, we gain the ability to learn and grow.As we read about Jim’s success and failures, we learn along with him the practical skills that we all need to thrive in today’s business world. Miller’s Bolt is a new kind of business book: It’s a page-turner.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas Stirr is a highly regarded executive coach and trainer. He specializes in leadership development, team building, strategy, marketing, and sales development. Thomas has a broad background having worked in various management disciplines for a number of major North American companies over the past twenty-five years. He was a regular columnist for Marketing Magazine and currently contributes a coaching e-column for esourcecanada.com. Miller's Bolt is his first book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1St Edition edition (April 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201143798
• ISBN-13: 978-0201143799
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,155,848 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An undiscovered GEM!, May 14, 2001

By 

Adam F. Jewell (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Miller's Bolt: A Modern Business Parable (Paperback)

Miller's Bolt is a gem! This is one of the best business/psychology(ish) books that it seems nobody has read. It's a story, a parable, about a guy at work. He's got a family, lots of responsibilities, and recently lots of frustration. At work, things aren't going as well as they have in the past, for our man Jim Manion. Jim has a history of outstanding achievement at the company, however, his recent performance has attracted the attention of the CEO and other executives at the company.

Jim needs to change, he needs to work better with the team, and regain is star performer status. He's got two choices, stand his ground and assert that the problem is not with him, or dig deep within and make some changes.

He chooses the latter and confides in his friend Peter Miller. Over the course of a few months Jim and Peter work together to get Jim back on track. Throughout the turnaround time, the reader is exposed not only to Jim's trials and tribulations, but also to the thoughts and emotions of the executive team. The book demonstrates how Jim's situation affects family friend, co-workers, and those wielding the power of the ax. It's a brilliant work, full of fresh perspectives, insights, and techniques for bringing about change in yourself, or helping others to do so.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Change your attitude, not your job!!, September 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Miller's Bolt: A Modern Business Parable (Paperback)

Millers Bolt is a fictional story that gives concrete advice on how to view many aspects of interpersonal relations in the business world. In a nutshell, Jim Manion, our hero(?), learns that changing his attitude towards his peers can indeed drive his professional relationships in the right direction. If I had only known that years ago, I could have really made a difference in the ruts that I felt I was in. A must read for those who are disillusioned with their current jobs. It just might save your career.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Relationships at work, January 16, 2001

By 

Venkat Manthripragada (Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miller's Bolt: A Modern Business Parable (Paperback)

Miller's bolt is an excellant parable about relationships at work. Jim Manion is one of the top performers in the management board of the company. But for sometime his productivity comes down considerably which puts him in defensive. Because of excessive defensive game, he starts destroying his relationships with his colleagues which takes him to the danger of getting fired. His family life also gets affected because of this condition. Peter Miller, helps Jim with some nice techniques to see the reality and stage a come back for rebuilding relationships which eventually makes him a winner again. Written in typical corporate environment, this book explains how project management capabilities can be used for any kind of project execution. This is a must book for all those managers who tend to feel more and more defensive about their work and start disliking their colleagues. This book presents a fresh direction which can help us understand our colleagues at work from right perspective and rebuild the relations for success.