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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like "Cliff's Notes" for most important management books of the last 30 years, September 14, 2010
This review is from: The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Management: Lasting Lessons from the Best Leadership Minds of Our Time (Paperback)
I guess many of us called upon "Cliff's Notes" in our youth to get the gist of a book before we read it ;-) I would charecterize Alan Murray's "Essential Guide to Management" as the "Cliff's Notes" summary of most of the important literature in management over the last 30+ years.
I bought this book after reading a recent related article by Murray in the WSJ. "Essential Guide to management" reduces a whole library of books into a very quick read by distilling the most important concepts from Peters & Waterman to Michael Porter to Clayton Christensen. Topics covered include everything from Leadership, to Strategy, to Financial Literacy to Managing Yourself. Each chapter is a concise (~10 pg) summary of the essential leading thought on the topic, wrapped up with bullets and recommended reading at the end.
Although I might have summarized a few details on a few topics slightly differently myself, overall the key points are largely bang on with what I also understood to be the original writer's intent. In my opinion, the only thing missing was that the Financial Literacy could have used a dose of Buffet regarding understanding value-based management - something I wish more managers understood.
So, if you don't know what to read on management, read this first, then dig deeper in a reference. If you already know a lot, it's a nice refresher.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good intro to Management Concepts, October 10, 2010
This review is from: The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Management: Lasting Lessons from the Best Leadership Minds of Our Time (Paperback)
Despite the 3-star rating, I recommend the book for those new to management and those who wish to read a cogent primer on Western management concepts: the book is well written, easy to understand, and provides a decent overview of management/leadership ideas. Those who have given the book 4- and 5-star ratings have highlighted the strengths of the book.
I found it to be just an average intro because
a) Mr. Murray can't seem to make up his mind whether this is a book for any "knowledge worker," mid-level managers, or CEOs. Various chapters appear to be targeted at different audiences.
b) The book appears to be a paean to the Wall Street Journal. Many of the stories and anecdotes shared by the author are based on WSJ articles. The author could have found better examples and stories in a myriad of other journals, magazines, and newspapers to make his points (e.g, Fast Company is an excellent resource for great management/leadership ideas).
c) Despite the chapter on Globalization, the book is entirely focused on Western management thinking. It would have been strengthened by adding management ideas from any of the rising economic powers. (e.g., Nilekani's Imagining India)
d) Mr. Murray largely omits the impact of technology and social media on management.
e) And finally, the book focuses on a rather narrow list of management classics. Mr. Murray had a difficult task of distilling 50 years of management thinking into a couple of hundred pages, but the book would have been better if he had mentioned or suggested reading a broader array of management classics (e.g., any book by Peter Block).
So if you need a primer on management or a quick review of standard topics, this is not a bad book. If you are looking to take your management skills to a new level, best to look elsewhere.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Introduction, much more than management for dummies, September 16, 2010
This review is from: The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Management: Lasting Lessons from the Best Leadership Minds of Our Time (Paperback)
The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Management is part management overview, personal commentary and case study. The book written by Alan Murray offers an introductory review of key elements of management, leadership, strategy and execution. It is a Management 101 book written in a well paced and easy to read format. Recommended for those who are new to management or you want to have your team come up to speed with management and executive ideas and terms, then this book is recommended.
Readers looking for new ideas concerning these issues will be disappointed as that is not the purpose of this book. It really is a primer for people about the major ideas and themes in management. Murray does a good job of going through a combination of thinkers like Porter, Pfeiffer and executives like Bossidy and others to give a landscape overview of the practice.
Murray incorporates stories that help illustrate major ideas and concepts. Students of management will recognize just about all of the stories and some are presented in a rather simplistic but effective way for a first time reader. The book also has a logical order and do cover the essentials of management in the following chapters:
Management
Leadership
Motivation
People
Strategy
Execution
Team
Change
Financial Literacy
Going Global
Ethics
Managing Yourself
The book is challenged in a few areas. The book gives you the impression that technology has little to no role in management - except as the source of a stock market crash. Given the role of technology in shaping strategy, competition and our future, this is a serious omission. The ideas and strategies in the book are comprehensive up to about the mid 1990's. While Murray does mention Blue Ocean Strategy and some other more recent thinking, the book largely concentrates on the classical view of strategy rather than the new strategies that are shaping current leadership plans and thinking. A final weakness is Murray's occasional editorial asides that sometimes muddle the messages.
I recommend as a general introduction (management 101) book to give to people who are interested in coming up to speed on management and strategy. Murray does a good job presenting these materials in an accessible, understandable and helpful way that explains ideas without trivializing them. That is what separates it from a `dummies' book.
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