Buy new:
$23.62$23.62
FREE delivery: Monday, Feb 13 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.
Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com
Buy Used: $13.44
Other Sellers on Amazon
FREE Shipping
100% positive over last 12 months
+ $6.43 shipping
91% positive over last 12 months
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Learn more
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Manager's Guide to Getting Results 2nd Edition
| Price | New from | Used from |
- Kindle
$26.00 Read with Our Free App - Paperback
$13.44 - $23.6244 Used from $6.46 27 New from $23.49
Enhance your purchase
A nonprofit manager's fundamental job is to get results, sustained over time, rather than boost morale or promote staff development. This is a shift from the tenor of many management books, particularly in the nonprofit world. Managing to Change the World is designed to teach new and experienced nonprofit managers the fundamental skills of effective management, including: managing specific tasks and broader responsibilities; setting clear goals and holding people accountable to them; creating a results-oriented culture; hiring, developing, and retaining a staff of superstars.
- Offers nonprofit managers a clear guide to the most effective management skills
- Shows how to address performance problems, dismiss staffers who fall short, and the right way to exercising authority
- Gives guidance for managing time wisely and offers suggestions for staying in sync with your boss and managing up
This important resource contains 41 resources and downloadable tools that can be implemented immediately.
- ISBN-101118137612
- ISBN-13978-1118137611
- Edition2nd
- PublisherJossey-Bass
- Publication dateApril 3, 2012
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions7.3 x 0.6 x 9.1 inches
- Print length240 pages
More items to explore
Editorial Reviews
From the Inside Flap
To be effective, managers need to know how to get results. In this "management 101" manual, Alison Green and Jerry Hauser offer step-by-step guidance on everything it takes to make that happen, including how to:
- Effectively manage specific tasks and broader responsibilities
- Set clear goals and hold people accountable to them
- Establish a results-oriented culture
- Hire, develop, and retain a staff of superstars
- Address performance problems and dismiss staffers who fall short
- Use your own time wisely
- Exercise authority without being a tyrant or a wimp
- Maximize your relationship with your own boss
Whether you're a new manager or an experienced one, Managing to Change the World will give you the tools you need to get results.
"I have found it to be incredibly useful. It is truly a remarkable achievement."
—Richard Buery, Jr., president and chief executive officer, The Children's Aid Society
"Managing to Change the World gives remarkably helpful and practical advice about important management strategies and skills in the nonprofit world. This book is a treasure, with sound guidance on how to achieve organizational excellence."
—Heather Booth, founder and president, Midwest Academy
"This book captures the nuts-and-bolts of management in a comprehensive, insightful, and practical manner. What a great resource for both nonprofit and for-profit managers."
—Les Silverman, director emeritus, McKinsey & Company
"What a great book! I bought it for my entire management team because I wanted them to also benefit from its wisdom."
—Gene Karpinski, president, League of Conservation Voters
"This management bible sits on my desk and I've given it to more than a few other social entrepreneurs along the way—an invaluable resource!"
—Abby Falik, founder and CEO, Global Citizen Year
This book includes premium content that can be accessed from our Web site when you register at www.josseybass.com/go/managingtochangetheworld using the password professional.
From the Back Cover
To be effective, managers need to know how to get results. In this "management 101" manual, Alison Green and Jerry Hauser offer step-by-step guidance on everything it takes to make that happen, including how to:
- Effectively manage specific tasks and broader responsibilities
- Set clear goals and hold people accountable to them
- Establish a results-oriented culture
- Hire, develop, and retain a staff of superstars
- Address performance problems and dismiss staffers who fall short
- Use your own time wisely
- Exercise authority without being a tyrant or a wimp
- Maximize your relationship with your own boss
Whether you're a new manager or an experienced one, Managing to Change the World will give you the tools you need to get results.
"I have found it to be incredibly useful. It is truly a remarkable achievement."
―Richard Buery, Jr., president and chief executive officer, The Children's Aid Society
"Managing to Change the World gives remarkably helpful and practical advice about important management strategies and skills in the nonprofit world. This book is a treasure, with sound guidance on how to achieve organizational excellence."
―Heather Booth, founder and president, Midwest Academy
"This book captures the nuts-and-bolts of management in a comprehensive, insightful, and practical manner. What a great resource for both nonprofit and for-profit managers."
―Les Silverman, director emeritus, McKinsey & Company
"What a great book! I bought it for my entire management team because I wanted them to also benefit from its wisdom."
―Gene Karpinski, president, League of Conservation Voters
"This management bible sits on my desk and I've given it to more than a few other social entrepreneurs along the way―an invaluable resource!"
―Abby Falik, founder and CEO, Global Citizen Year
This book includes premium content that can be accessed from our Web site when you register at www.josseybass.com/go/managingtochangetheworld using the password professional.
About the Author
Alison Green writes a weekly column on career and management for the Money section of U.S. News & World Report's website. She is also the founder of the popular Ask a Manager website and blog. Alison was the communications and publications director for two grassroots advocacy organizations and spent six years as a staff writer and campaign coordinator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Her writings have been published in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and more than 250 other newspapers.
The Management Center Founded in 2006, The Management Center works with nonprofit senior managers and staff, delivering intensive one-on-one coaching and training in the fundamentals of effective management. The Management Center has worked with more than 50 organizations, including the NAACP, Center for Community Change, Democracia USA, Media Matters for America, and the New Organizing Institute.
Product details
- Publisher : Jossey-Bass; 2nd edition (April 3, 2012)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 240 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1118137612
- ISBN-13 : 978-1118137611
- Item Weight : 12 ounces
- Dimensions : 7.3 x 0.6 x 9.1 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #53,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Alison Green runs the Ask a Manager website (AskaManager.org), where she tackles readers' questions on workplace issues. Ask a Manager receives 2 million visits each month and has been featured in the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall St. Journal, CBS News, ABCnews.com, Glamour, and more.
She also writes regular columns for Slate, The Cut, and Vice and is a regular contributor to Marketplace Weekend.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon-
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Don’t let the title fool you - while talk of “changing the world” may sound pie-in-the-sky or even hippyish, this book was relentlessly practical. The principles also matter more than just for non-profits… I think anyone managing others should read this book, regardless of whether they are working in non-profits or not. So far this is my favorite management book that I have ever read.
I have managed people before, but I tend to care more about the people than the business. Not the worst trait in the world to have, but not always effective, either. When I became a manager, there wasn't any sort of training available to me at my company. As I've progressed through other companies in the role of instructional designer charged with creating management training, I've found that to be the norm. We promote people because they're really good at their jobs, when we should be looking beyond that to see if they will make effective leaders who can motivate others.
Alison and co-author, Jerry Hauser, present information in a very accessible way. I had never thought of management as getting things done through others. After I read that, I thought, of course! I knew that, as a manager, the buck stopped with me, but my first management experience was in a company where managers still carried the full workload of a regular team member and sort of had power over their direct reports. Sort of? Yes, we could try to enforce rules and such, but the company was always so afraid of being sued, consequences were rarely imparted and almost never upheld.
The book is divided into three parts: Managing the work, managing other people, and managing yourself. There's clear guidance on how to balance being hands-on while being hands-off. The book also includes tons of great resources, including worksheets and planning tools.
I've highlighted about 28 pages, so I can't share all of my favorite moments, but here are a few:
• What does guiding more and doing less look like in practice? 1. Agree on expectations. 2. Stay engaged. 3. Create accountability and learning.
• When you’re assigning work, look for opportunities to make the assignment truly a conversation, as opposed to simply dictating every element. For instance, if there’s flexibility in what the finished project should look like, ask the staff member what she thinks the outcome should be. You can also ask questions around the other pieces of delegation, such as, “So who else do you think needs to be involved? ” and “Do we have samples that might be useful here? ” and “What timeline makes sense? ”
• Here’s what the different pieces of MOCHA stand for: 1 Manager Assigns responsibility and holds owner accountable. Makes suggestions, asks hard questions, reviews progress, serves as a resource, and intervenes if the work is off track. Owner Has overall responsibility for the success or failure of the project. Ensures that all the work gets done (directly or with helpers) and that others are involved appropriately. There should be only one owner. Consulted Should be asked for input or needs to be bought in to the project. Helper Available to help do part of the work. Approver Signs off on decisions before they’re final. May be the manager, though might also be the executive director, external partner, or board chair.
• Managers often define their staff members’ roles in ways that use those staffers as helpers to the manager rather than giving them roles with real ownership.
• When contemplating promoting someone, the most important factor to consider is not what sort of job the staffer is doing in her current position, but instead how strongly matched she is with the skills you need in the new position. Organizations often do the opposite of this: we have frequently seen outstanding staffers get promoted and then flounder because the skills that made them so effective in the first position aren’t the same ones needed for the new one. Most commonly we see this with promotions to managerial positions, since the skills needed to get results through others are often very different from those needed to get results on your own.
•The corollary of delegating as much as you can is that while you do less, you should guide more . And guiding takes time.
Highly recommend.
© Angela Risner 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from Amazon or Angela Risner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Angela Risner with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
I bought her book because I'm moving from an individual contributor to a management role, and this book is filled with great advice, especially for hiring and developing people. Those are two areas that I need to work on, and they've been incredibly useful.
The most important section is part 3 - "Managing Yourself", which is something I wish more managers would do. It makes you think about how you should adapt to your new role and be successful at it.
Although the book is more geared towards nonprofit companies, but you will have the same problems elsewhere as well.
Top reviews from other countries
Was quite disappointed. Found some of the examples and suggestions alarming.
Loved how it reminded me to reread first, break all the rules.









