Fans pick 100 books like Developing Management Skills

Lisbeth has been a colleague for many years and, like me, has the academic credentials and ability to understand the research about how best to manage and how best to talk about it in a practical and engaging way. As a trainer, I’ve been able to use this book in my work with organizations large and small. It focuses on practicing to help you build your competencies. I’m a firm believer that leaders can be made and this book helps readers develop their skills and understand what they need to do in order to focus on their own development.

Julie Zhuo has a Silicon Valley and technology background and writes about management in a very straightforward way that lets the reader both identify with the content and learn from it. The new manager is targeted in this book but the discussion and anecdotes are valuable for anyone. My experience is that managers, even those who have held the people manager role for many years, need to refresh their view and skills on a continuous basis. Organizations frequently don’t train managers as often or as deeply as is needed. Starting with a good foundation that talks about “people, purpose and process” as Zhuo discusses, is not only a good foundation, but a good refresher as well. 

Weasley Donahue presents a practical guidebook for managers and individuals looking for a resource for professional development. A primary goal is to help the reader become a competent manager by providing tools and content in a structured way that allows the learner to work through issues that are important to them in becoming a more proficient and effective manager. This is a candid and dynamic book with easy-to-follow content. The workbook approach supports my notion of self-directed learning with a focus on competencies and helps the reader derive the most personally important competency areas in an organizational setting.

David Whetten and Kim Cameron have written many books about management skills and are well-known for their practical approach. During my years as a college professor, I used their books in teaching. The book discusses the essential skills that managers need to be successful. The book also takes a hands-on approach and provides practical application that any manager, new or more experienced, can use. Developing Management Skills uses contemporary examples and also groups the skills to help readers understand how skills relate to one another. 

I recommend this book because of its accessibility and tie to the new age theories of consciousness. This book has the depth to bring value to experts, yet is accessible to anyone who wants to be a better leader. The authors demonstrate that hard work is not enough, recognizing how we’ve been conditioned to survive instead of thrive. They tout the benefits of compassion, empathy, resilience, and authentic engagement and encourage readers to rewire their thinking to manifest real change. This book doesn’t sugarcoat the fact that real change isn’t easy. It requires intention, finding purpose, and practice. But the authors also give you the tools and empowerment to make change a reality.

I like Jesus, CEO for many reasons. I read it when it first came out in the mid-1990s. It is a staple in my library because the principles it brings forth are timeless. It focuses on the strength of self-mastery, action, and relationships. These were crucial elements that Jesus used with the disciples. I was challenged to see life's opportunities and do something new to celebrate them. We all want the next big thing, yet it is ok to start small and do your best. It was the realization that we all want to be successful in business but are we taking time for people in need? Jesus always had a plan and gave clear instructions. Lastly, when profit is the only measurement, the results lead to exploitation. Jesus changed the measure from self to others, and He came to give and not to get.

Business management guru Ichak Adizes lays out a simple, memorable formula for helping you create high-performing teams.

As he deftly explains, conflict among teams comes from the failure to recognize that everyone brings different concerns and priorities to the workplace. These four "thinking styles" are embedded in our brains, and good teamwork requires 1) we learn what these styles are, 2) how to recognize coworkers' different styles, and 3) how to meet them in the middle. Critically, organizational leadership teams need all four styles.

Nothing replaces reading this fascinating and critically important guide to understanding your own strengths and executing on job #1 for management: selecting and building successful teams. So while Collins says, “Get the right people on the bus,” Asizes gives you actionable insights on how to do that. 

I spent my career leading software engineering at two of America’s top banks. It’s not all innovative work, as you might guess, and here is where Toyota comes in. 

Toyota teaches the difference between routine, standardized work (where we use predictive process control) and creative work (where we use adaptive process control). Balancing this in practice is a key to being a great software engineering leader. For those manufacturing-like processes (incremental feature addition, defect repair) the Toyota manufacturing way became the basis of the Agile movement a decade later: flow, pull, level work, quality the first time, process standardization and continuous improvement, and closeness to customers. Toyota Way provides a deeper understanding than any agile seminar. 

This book introduces a problem of cultural overtourism, too many people visiting museums and historical sites to the point they are extremely overcrowded and often damaging to the sites. Frey suggests, instead of limiting people coming to these sites, expand the demand side by providing more sites that are exact replicas of them through “Revised Originals.” This book helps readers rethink the status quo of cultural heritage tourism and how it can be reimagined to preserve important historical sites all over the world and generate user experiences that are not crowded but transformative. It’s a completely different way to think about what is authentic and what it means to experience it.

Perform from your strengths! There can hardly be a more effective success principle than this one.

The book is very tiny – you can read it in 1-2 hours. But it has had a profound impact on my life. After reading it, I decided to quit my job and focus 100% on business because I discovered that I didn’t need a corporate environment to reach success and I didn’t need a boss either.

Only after reading Druckers' “Perform from your strengths” principle I gave myself permission to do just that – and it changed things quickly for me.