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Best books on leadership/management

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 Lrunner 28 Aug 2022

Found myself offered a job managing others for the first time in my career, job in a dynamic sector. I was wondering if anyone can recommend any literture to give me heads up before I start. I'm a big reader so I'd prefer to read something with a bit of depth (i.e not some 7 tips to be the best leader etc).

Any recommendations would be fantastic.

Larry

Post edited at 18:44
 65 28 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

Chouinard, Y. Let my people go surfing.

Seriously.

OP Lrunner 28 Aug 2022
In reply to 65:

Good recommendation, I read it years ago but I'll check that one out again.

Thanks again

 Rob Parsons 28 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

> ... job in a dynamic sector.

What's a 'dynamic sector'? And what is yours?

 DaveHK 28 Aug 2022
In reply to Rob Parsons:

> What's a 'dynamic sector'? 

Making climbing ropes?

Post edited at 20:20
 Basemetal 28 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

Shackleton's Way springs to mind.  Or Conversations with Major Dick Winters  

 profitofdoom 29 Aug 2022
In reply to DaveHK:

> Making climbing ropes?

Making batteries?

 AdrianC 29 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

The Peter Principle by Peter and Hull

Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke

Anything that provides some insight into human irrationality e.g. You Are No So Smart by David McRaney or Thinking Fast and Slow by Dan Kahneman.

And check out -  https://www.richardhughesjones.com/books-wisdom/ (Rich is an erstwhile ski-touring and ice climbing mate and also a big reader of books on this kind of subject.  I'm pretty sure if you drop him an email asking for top reads you'll get a useful response.)

 Mick Ward 29 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

Hi Larry,

Having spent my life obsessed with writing and with books, I'm the last person to advise anyone against reading! However, a caveat...

When I started climbing, I read about 30 books in the first year. Many were classics. Unfortunately few of them helped me that much with the nuts and bolts of climbing. (The uber-classic 'Let's Go Climbing' encouraged me to go soloing on mountain crags - as a beginner. Madness!)

What I really needed was for someone to mentor me - but there was no-one. 

Much the same thing applies to management. By its very nature, it's a practical activity. There are lots of charismatic leaders (e.g. many entrepreneurs) who are absolutely shit managers. In my view, that's no use, just a recipe for chaos. 

Years ago I was a management consultant. Typically my clients were superb engineers but terrible managers. Back then a lot of management education was theoretical; nowadays a lot seems fluffy (though I'm hopelessly out of touch). But with the right practical input (e.g. how to run good meetings) they could become reasonable managers in a relatively short time (typically about six months). 

I'd forget about leadership for the time being, think of it as an E5 grade when I want to lead VS competently (i.e. be a half-decent manager). 

Is there anybody experienced who could mentor you? A good mentor would be worth their weight in gold. 

At the very least you need to understand the professional 'worlds' of the people reporting to you (even if you don't necessarily understand the technicalities). This means spending time with them and developing relationships. Ultimately clear expectations need to emerge of what you expect of them and they expect of you and how these expectations will drive the business. You need to be scrupulously fair at all times. And (OK, this is leadership - busted!) always put them before you unless the business demands otherwise. 

One of my favourite definitions of management was along the lines of 'creating an environment where people can get on with doing what they're good at'. Your staff will have strengths and weaknesses; it may be necessary to shield them from 'them up above'. (You will also have to manage your senior manager/s.)

Anyway, some thoughts. Hope you find them helpful. 

Mick 

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 spenser 29 Aug 2022
In reply to Mick Ward:

I'd add in a suggestion to have a quick look through the equality act and other legislation relevant to the role, experience would suggest that lots of managers are clueless about this, sometimes costing the company competent staff! 

In reply to Lrunner:

Some of the literature on psychological safety might be of interest. Amy Edmundsen’s work is a good starting point and she’s got a few introductory talks on YouTube. Basically, how to create a culture where people feel safe to speak up about problems, mistakes, opinions, and why this is an important thing.

Edit: Mick’s advice about differentiating between leadership and management, and working out which is the priority, sounds very wise. 

Post edited at 19:50
1
 Mick Ward 29 Aug 2022
In reply to spenser:

Totally agree. Nail the basics. No point trying to run the race of your life if your laces aren't tied. 

Mick 

 Mick Ward 29 Aug 2022
In reply to Stuart Williams:

> Basically, how to create a culture where people feel safe to speak up about problems, mistakes, opinions, and why this is an important thing.

Also agree. This is massively important. If people don't feel they can speak freely then problems and mistakes get buried. 

We simply can't stop learning; it's the human condition. Unfortunately we can spend a lot of time learning dysfunctional stuff. When people don't feel they can speak freely, then everyone (surprisingly quickly) learns to bury problems and mistakes. When they should be learning from them. And this sets the scene for disasters.

God, I used to find all this fascinating. Get it right and amazing things can happen. Hope they do for the OP. 

Mick 

 Rob Exile Ward 31 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

Don't know how directly relevant it is, but W Edwards Deming is worth hunting down. He was foisted on Japan after WWII to help get their economy working again, and doesn't seem to have done too bad a job of it.

He had '14 principles'; one which always sticks in my mind is the simplest 'Drive Out Fear.' Unfortunately no-one in the NHS has ever heard of it.

 ericinbristol 31 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

Anything by Derek Sivers

 Arcturus 31 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

For me the most effective and practical guide to good leadership was originated by John Adair in the early 1970s. It is known as Action Centred Leadership (ACL) . It takes a position that you cannot rely on the intuitive or ‘natural’ leadership skills which people may or may not possess because that limits the availability of good leaders to those who are lucky enough to be ‘born leaders’ whereas many situations arise where a leadership role is thrust upon someone (perhaps for example in your case) and this requires a model that enables leadership skill to be learned. 
i spent many years of my career as a leadership trainer and coach but also actually running large international engineering and chemicals businesses. I can attest to both the effectiveness and learn-ability of ACL. Incidentally it also makes an interesting topic in its own right for a more academic study; of which there have been many.

There are some comments about the culture of an organisation. For me if you focus on establishing good and consistent leadership with clear values the right culture will form and develop. Don’t try and create a culture. Culture follows good leadership. 

In reply to Arcturus:

> There are some comments about the culture of an organisation. For me if you focus on establishing good and consistent leadership with clear values the right culture will form and develop. Don’t try and create a culture. Culture follows good leadership. 

Focusing on establishing good and consistent leadership with clear values is creating a particular culture. I agree that workplace culture comes out of leadership rather than being created separately, but I don’t think you can define “good” leadership without giving some thought to what you want the results of that leadership to be.

 Rob Parsons 31 Aug 2022
In reply to thread:

When working as member of engineering teams, I have only ever had respect for managers who were au fait with all of the technical details, and who could if necessary do more-or-less any of the work themselves. In that respect, practical management seems much more to me than merely 'leadership.'

We still don't know what field this management job is in (other than the very vague term 'dynamic sector'), nor do we know the previous experience of the candidate in that field.

I'm not trying to derail the thread, nor to gainsay the helpful advice already given.

2
In reply to Lrunner:

I’ve read plenty of books on leadership but I’ve found having a good mentor to be invaluable. When I say mentor I mean someone who has the leadership skills themselves. There are plenty of leadership coaches around who don’t actually have the relevant experience themselves but have borrowed some terminology from sports coaching. Don’t bother with those. 

 robertmichaellovell Global Crag Moderator 31 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

This is one of the most inspiring books I have read on organisational design/development and leadership approach. I’ve not read anything on this topic for 5 years or so, but this felt quite forward thinking at the time.

https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/

In reply to Rob Parsons:

> When working as member of engineering teams, I have only ever had respect for managers who were au fait with all of the technical details, and who could if necessary do more-or-less any of the work themselves.

I’ve had lots of useless managers who didn’t understand the field well, but I’ve come across exceptions to that too. I once had a fantastic leader/manager who came from a very different field and lacked relevant technical knowledge, and would be the first to admit they lacked this. But they were incredibly good at listening to their staff, understanding the team’s strengths and weaknesses and identifying who had the right skills to deal with a problem. They were really effective at bringing the right people together and then giving the team the authority and autonomy to decide on the exact course of action. They were probably the best manager and leader I’ve ever had.

> In that respect, practical management seems much more to me than merely 'leadership.'

Personally I think it’s the other way round. Leadership sits above management as having the broader scope. Management is making sure people are doing what they should be, while leadership provides the direction to what it is they should be doing and how they should be doing it. There’s often a lot of overlap and often the same people are both managers and leaders. But I wouldn’t say either warrant a “merely” as they are both challenging to do well.

 Ramblin dave 31 Aug 2022
In reply to Rob Parsons:

> When working as member of engineering teams, I have only ever had respect for managers who were au fait with all of the technical details, and who could if necessary do more-or-less any of the work themselves. In that respect, practical management seems much more to me than merely 'leadership.'

Interesting - I don't think I'd ever expect that. Some experience of "doing the job" is normally going to be helpful, but what I'd really hope for is a manager who knows the limitations of their own technical understanding and respects the expertise of their team.

 Ramblin dave 31 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

I haven't read it yet, but I'm looking at getting this book:
https://teamsthatwork.com/

It seems to be a relatively scientific look at what makes teams effective, what problems trip them up and what you can do about it (free tip - it isn't a day of raft building or a "charity abseil"), by people who've actually got a fairly broad evidence-base.

Post edited at 14:12
In reply to Ramblin dave:

Conversely, I think people with loads of technical expertise typically chose their career because they enjoyed the hands-on work and don’t necessarily have any interest or talent in managing other people. They eventually apply for management jobs because they hit a salary ceiling otherwise, and they are hired because people don’t realise that being good at your job doesn’t mean you’ll be good at managing others to do your job. Then they realise, too late, that being a manager means they no longer get to do the stuff they are actually interested in, but trudge on rather than ask to be demoted back to the role they actually enjoyed and excelled in. Isn’t there an old saying about most people being promoted one step further than they should be?

 john irving 31 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

https://profilebooks.com/work/the-brompton/

I enjoyed this account of engineering, company reorganisation, and vision of saving the world. Some good insights into the challenge of managing change

 Rob Parsons 31 Aug 2022
In reply to Ramblin dave:

> Interesting - I don't think I'd ever expect that.

We have different views, and that's good.

My one key piece of advice for prospective managers: recognize that everybody is different.

 C Witter 31 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

Being a good manager means:

- feeling a duty of care and solidarity for your team; always being respectful and fair

- creating democracy

- knowing your shit and taking responsibility for problems

- creating a clear sense of a collective project and articulating why practices are important and meaningful.

All the rest is just managers marketing themselves, because under neoliberalism the only solutions that are ever allowed are intensifying exploitation and/or new managers.

5
 Iamgregp 31 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

I've been managing people for about 15 years, and whilst I'd never dream of calling myself any kind of expert in the field most people I work with seem to enjoy working with me.  

Some things I've learned over the years, often the hard way:

There's no point in criticising if you don't also offer praise.  

Be fair, but that doesn't mean treat everyone the same.  Different people respond to different types of management style.  Get to know your team and learn what each of their needs are.  

Generally, if you treat people like adults and they'll behave like one.  If someone turns up 15 minutes late once in a while and you don't give them sh!t about it, they're not going to clockwatch and leave at 6pm on the dot everyday, and will stay behind and go the extra mile when you need them to.  Just don't let anyone take the piss.

Set aside regular time with your team to speak to each of them one on one, away from prying ears.  Let them know they can be honest and open and they will be heard.

At some point you'll make a mistake (happens to us all) and your team will be pissed off.  Make sure that they know you're a human being, as well as their manager, and they we all make mistakes and a good team helps each of us work through them together.  If you help them with theirs, they won't crucify when you make one too.

Make your teams happiness and their individual career progression a priority, above that of your own. 

Never ask anyone to do anything you wouldn't be willing to do yourself.  If there's a really sh!t job that needs doing, make sure your name is first on the volunteers list.

Don't try and do everything.  You're supervising other people doing their jobs, not doing everything with a team of assistants.  Delegate tasks, trust people and empower them to be able to make their own decisions in their role.  Doesn't matter if they've done things slightly differently to how you would have done it.   

This is probably all wrong and complete bollocks.  And I'm sure all sorts of people who have written all sorts of books on the subject would say this is all wrong but this is how I've gone about things. 

 Arcturus 31 Aug 2022
In reply to Stuart Williams:

You are correct.

Adair’s books explore these ideas about expectations of the leader and what constitutes good leadership. He was (indeed still is) an academic at heart but his approach to the action centred model is still, I think, the most practical path for someone new to leadership to consider. 
Forgive me if you are familiar with Adair’s books and thinking, I was pitching my comments at the OP. 

 Tony Buckley 31 Aug 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

Many years ago, when I hitched, I got a lift from a chap in one of the artillery parts of the army.  They'd recently got a new leader for their section who'd come from a different part of the army and he knew nothing about artillery and everyone knew he knew nothing about artillery.  The chap who told me this said that he was the best leader they'd ever had.

What he did that particularly stuck in the mind was after the initial 'hello, I'm the new boss' speech, he spent time with every member of his team and got them to tell him what they did, show him what they did, tell him what they thought was good, bad or a pain in the arse about being them doing their job, about how they'd come to be where they were, about their family, upbringing and more.  He took notes and remembered; and all that made a difference.  He set targets they could achieve, if a dressing down had to be given he'd give it but afterwards it'd be left in the past, if praise was given to the section or someone in the section he'd make sure that they got credited but if anyone wanted to complain about his team or anyone in his team, they complained to him as the team leader rather than anyone in his team.

Even though the conversation was with a complete stranger many years ago, it's one I've never forgotten and looking back, I suspect that discussion had a more profound impact on me as a manager than any of the training courses I was sent on.

Funny what sticks.

OP Lrunner 01 Sep 2022
In reply to Mick Ward:

Thanks Mick, that's some great food for thought. I'm lucky that I should have some mentors to help me.

LR

OP Lrunner 01 Sep 2022
In reply to Arcturus:

Thanks for this, read a fair bit of Adair at uni so keen may be I'll get back to that.

thanks

OP Lrunner 01 Sep 2022
In reply to Iamgregp:

This is such great advice, it kind of describes managers I've prefered in the past. Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed post.

 Iamgregp 01 Sep 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

My pleasure! It was actually a quite useful exercise for me too. Helped me arrange thoughts in my own mind.

 Denni 01 Sep 2022
In reply to Lrunner:

Black Box thinking.


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