Manager's Toolkit: The 13 Skills Managers Need to Succeed (Harvard Business Essentials)

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the most valuable volume in the series....
Review: This is one of the volumes in the new Harvard Business Essentials Series. Each offers authoritative answers to the most important questions concerning its specific subject. The material in this book is drawn from a variety of sources which include the Harvard Business School Press and the Harvard Business Review as well as Harvard ManageMentor®, an online service. I strongly recommend the official Harvard Business Essentials Web site (www.learning.hbsp.org/businesstools) which offers free interactive versions of tools, checklists, and worksheets cited in this book and other books in the Essentials series. Each volume is indeed "a highly practical resource for readers with all levels of experience." And each is by intent and in execution solution-oriented. Although I think those who have only recently embarked on a business career will derive the greatest benefit, the material is well-worth a periodic review by senior-level executives.

Credit Richard Luecke with pulling together a wealth of information and counsel from various sources. He is also the author of several other books in the Essentials series. In this instance, he was assisted by a subject advisor, Christopher Bartlett, the Thomas D. Casserly, Jr. Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. Together, they have carefully organized the material as follows. Part I "addresses five basic but essential skills needed to build the the foundation of a powerful and high-performing manager" (e.g. setting goals that others will pursue). Part II moves on to more challenging skills (e.g. creating and supervising effective team-based initiatives). Then in Part III, Luecke and Bartlett focus on the specific financial tools that every mid- to higher-level manager should understand and learn to apply (e.g. budgeting, the ability to read and interpret financial statements, net present analysis and internal rate of return). I also urge readers to pay close attention to the "For Further Reading" section which can be found at the end of this book. In it, they are provided with references to recent books and articles -- many of them "classics" -- which offer additional material and unique insights into the various topics covered in the previous 16 chapters. I especially appreciate the "Key Topics Covered in This Chapter" and "Summing Up" sections which precede and follow each of the chapters.

Luecke and Bartlett are to be commended for covering such a wide range of subjects and for doing so in depth. For most executives as well as for those now embarked on preparation for a career in business, this may well prove to be the single most valuable volume in the Harvard Business Essentials Series.