Manager of Choice: 5 Competencies for Cultivating Top Talent

Rating:
Summary: Reflective of our new times
Review: I looked at this book at an airport I was stranded at recently, and then ordered it when I saw it featured in Fast Company magazine. It's much better than I thought, as it talks about the new reality of dealing with people who aren't necessarily your direct reports. We are now dealing with off-site workers, contractors, freelancers and it's important to be authentic to all of them. This is the first book I've seen that addresses this issue. If you think just managing your direct reports is all that matters these days, take a close look at this book. I have been a member of SHRM, the co-publisher of this book, for many years and, frankly, I wish they would address this particular topic in some of their own publications and as a track in their annual convention.

Rating:
Summary: A Solid Effort!
Review: This book aggregates a plethora of tips and techniques believed - sometimes on the basis of solid research - to boost employee loyalty and organizational productivity. Managers need to learn tactics that will bind employees to them personally and to their companies. Author Nancy S. Ahlrichs earnestly believes in the thesis that it is important to be a manager whom employees would chose to work for, that is, a manager of choice. Her advice ranges from quite helpful to self-evident to sort of impractical. For the greatest utility, be a choosy reader: adapt her counsel to your situation. We highly suggest reading this through and then keeping it handy and dipping into it from time to time, as if it were a book of proverbs.