It's Okay to Be the Boss: The Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming the Manager Your Employees Need (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: track performance every step, undermanagement epidemic, they turn into big problems (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Tulgan, author and expert on Generation X workers (born between 1965 and 1977), considers what he calls the epidemic of "undermanagement" in corporate America--or, the failure of managers to take daily charge of the work environment and tell employees what to do and how to do it. He identifies seven big management myths, including there not being enough time to manage people; that to be fair, everyone should be treated the same; and the desire of managers to be "nice guys." Today's change in corporate culture from long-term employees working their way up the ranks to short-term workers in flattened organizations reporting to project managers who "empower" them leads to failure, because employees are not really free and managers are not trained. The author decries managers' lack of guidance, direction, feedback, and employee support, and he responds in this book with hands-on management advice that he clearly differentiates from micromanagement. The author tells us, "Taking the first step toward effective managing takes discipline and guts." An excellent book. Mary Whaley
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Review

"Hands-on management advice . . . excellent." -- Booklist

"Small business owners . . . will find [Tulgan’s] advice valuable." -- BusinessWeek SmallBiz

An insightful work on how to manage people as individuals and achieve strong results. Should be required reading for anyone who manages other people. -- Ted Fowler, President and CEO, Golden Corral Corporation

Anyone with the desire to become a great boss will find here the inspiration, motivation, and empowerment not only to succeed but also to excel. Bruce Tulgan is a great teacher and coach with a positive and disciplined approach that builds the confidence and courage to take charge. Everyone benefits-boss, manager, and employee-but only if the boss knows it's okay to be the boss. -- John Edward Sexton, President, New York University

Bruce Tulgan has written an incredibly important book. As a fast growing company we are continually asking people to take on new management challenges. This is the only book I've found that spells out what it means to be a manager and how to do it. -- Chris Glowacki, President, Plum TV

Bruce Tulgan makes it safe again to be a hands-on manager. -- Mike Archer, President and COO, T.G.I. Friday's USA

Hands on management advice . . . an excellent book. -- Peter Cappelli, George W. Taylor Professor of Management, The Wharton School

If you want to be successful, I strongly recommend you do it the "Tulgan way." -- General Dennis J. Reimer (Ret.), Chief of Staff, United States Army (1995-1999)

Leaders and managers will find Tulgan's ideas, models and insights extremely helpful in adjusting their supervisory practices to a workforce destined to be dominated by post Baby-Boomer generations. -- John B. Coduri, National Executive Director/CEO, Association of YMCA Professionals

Sometimes we forget that the simplest concepts are the most difficult to execute. Bruce presents great tools for the seasoned executive and the newest "boss" in the organization! -- William S. Thompson, CEO, PIMCO

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness; 1 edition (March 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061121363
• ISBN-13: 978-0061121364
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,544 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A practical book for managers, April 15, 2007

By	Bob Pritchett - See all my reviews

I was attracted by the very direct title, and the book delivered. It is specific, detailed, and honest. I particularly appreciated Tulgan's warning that becoming a better manager is like starting a fitness program. I'd rather it wasn't hard, time consuming, and something that requires daily discipline, but I like that he's up front about it. And that his book has so many specific things to do, answers to objections, and reasons it's worth it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, the antidote to "management by fad", January 27, 2008

By	scifiguy57 "scifiguy57" (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

In my many years in the workforce, I've seen just about every half-baked management fad that's come down the pike. Most of them leave the manager confused and the "managee" feeling patronized or worse. Almost all get dumped sooner rather than later.

Thanks to this book I can finally put my finger on what's wrong with these fads - they are simply elaborate excuses to avoid the actual hard work of management by wallowing in pop psychologoy or meaningless "metrics". There is no getting away from the fact that the manager's job is to set very definite expectations for his/her direct reports, communicate them clearly, track them diligently, and reward or discipline the worker accordingly. Tulgan makes it clear that good management takes effort but the rewards are great - a better and more honest relationship with your direct reports, better morale and better productivity.

Read this book if you have anyone reporting to you. And if not, buy it for your boss!

21 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Inaccurate Statements Overwhelm Some Good Points, April 28, 2007

By	J. Schreier (United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Bruce Tulgan's "It's OK to Be the Boss" is one of the toughest books I've ever read/reviewed. His premise, like most of his previous work, is dead on accurate. When I saw somebody willing to say there's a crisis of "undermanagement," I was thrilled. So I'd give the book a five on promise - and some of that is fulfilled. But unfortunately, the execution is a -4 so the rating ends up as only one star. I think he could have made most of his good points without the pieces that ultimately will only confuse managers - and in many cases give them excuses for not doing the very things Tulgan's arguing must be done.

It starts early with Tulgan's criticism of the work from Blanchard, Buckingham, and even a backhand compliment of Adler's hiring formula. What's particularly misleading, no matter how much Tulgan might deny it, is that it is obvious he has never read the works he criticizing. Blanchard has been making it very clear for decades that the "One Minute Manager" takes more than a minute; Buckingham makes it even clearer that the steps in "First, Break All the Rules" are not just empowerment and require the very detailed regular attention to the very detail that Tulgan calls for. Buckingham's most recent works on a "strengths-based" approach is backed by solid research - not just anecdotal evidence Tulgan cites. He even misinterprets the classic Theory X - Theory Y, not knowing that McGregor clearly stated that a Theory Y Manager recognized the existence of Theory X assumptions about some employees (in 1960 estimated at 35% of the workforce). He then praises Lou Adler's hiring methods, but backhandedly points out that this approach is also flawed by assuming a company can hire all peak performers - something that is not Adler's position and again proves that he hasn't read the things he criticizing. Tulgan misunderstands Adler's position in which he clearly states that the performance-based hiring process is really the first step of what can become a much better performance-management process.

Tulgan also falls prey to the classic problem of blaming the system for the failure, ending up criticizing a new management-by-objectives, pay-for-performance, and forced-ranking as yielding only mixed results. Personally I'm not a fan of forced-ranking for a variety of other reasons, but when MBO or Pay-for-Performance fails, it is rarely the concept that fails - it is usually poor execution by the managers doing it.

As I delved deeper and deeper in this book, I realized how a good concept was destroyed by an overall argument that wasn't necessary.