I was recently promoted to manager and thought that this would be a good intro book, to get my head in the game related to managing people. I had already been acting as a lead and my manager had been handing me various items to manage so I was beginning to be prepared for the job full time.

First impression:

What I have found is that a lot of the information in this book really is just common sense and being a good person. I think that that book is a good resource for getting you thinking in the right direction from the get go, but it is not going to be a good resource long term for any sort of management methods or philosophies.

What I think I have learned:

It MIGHT be a book I refer back to from time to time just to validate that I am sticking true to "the path of good management", but there will be many more things that I can and will learn from my tenure as a manager, management mentors/colleagues and from other books that I will eventually read.

Overall impression of this book:

I go believe that this is a good book to have read. It is going to help point me in the right direction. It is going to help me with bringing lots of little details into focus. All of these things I already knew a little bit about or knew were things that I needed to be aware of. This book just helps to bring them together in a more specific point of view.

Conclusion:

I will say this. If you have read one or two `new manager' types of books you are probably done. No need to read another. I say this because I am currently also reading "The New Boss: How to Survive the First 100 Days, by Peter Fischer", and so far half way into that book a lot of the information is much the same.

I am glad I read this book, because it DOES have good information to help me focus. But I think that maybe I am finding that the book, "The New Boss: How to Survive the First 100 Days, by Peter Fischer" was a little better fit for me and my needs.

If I do read another `new manager' book, it would need to be from another point of view written for MY manager or my direct reports, or in some way try to be completely different from what I have already been exposed to.