What We're Reading Now

11 March 2011

Allison read It's Okay to Be the Boss: The Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming the Manager Your Employees Need by Bruce Tulgan for a second time and she's ready to make a bold proclamation . . . this is the best boss book on the market.

Tags: allison read, bruce tulgan, leadership, management and supervision

I read a lot of fiction and I often reread my favorites. It kind of feels like visiting old friends. And I've read some of my most favorites more than four or five times. Okay . . . it's a bit of a weird habit, but as habits go, I figure it could be worse.

Anyway, back to this blog post. While I often reread fiction, I very seldom reread a business book from cover to cover. I reference the ones I like best all the time, but the true rereads are few and far between. I share all this to let you know that it's a pretty big deal that I actually reread almost every word of It's Okay to Be the Boss as I prepared to teach an 8-hour class for supervisors at my beer distributor client last month. In doing so, I confirmed that this is definitely a book that every boss (and would-be boss) should read. Last week I blogged about Good Boss, Bad Boss and while I think it has some useful insights, I'm not sure it's worth the read for every manager. The One Minute Manager is a classic and has the added benefit of being a 30-minute read from cover to cover, but if you're willing to invest a bit more time and want a little more to work with, then It's Okay to Be the Boss is definitely the book for you.

Ask yourself or others in the workplace about the best boss they ever had and watch their eyes light up. That light (we often call it employee engagement) is what you're looking for in your employees, and this book will help you get it to shine. Be forewarned - Tulgan will challenge some of your deeply held beliefs about what it takes to be a great boss, especially when he advises that we all let go of our fears of being micro-managers because it's leading to a greater problem (or in his words, a full-on "epidemic") of undermanagement. You'll also get the best argument I've seen for why you should be having scheduled, 15-minute meetings every week (or at least every other week) with each of your direct reports. We've watched more clients than we can count fight this advice and then finally give in. A few months later, they all report back with the same feedback: "It was hard to get started, but now we're in much better shape. I wish I hadn't fought you about it for so long." If you wonder what you would do in those meetings, why it matters that they are scheduled, and how they are different from other meetings you have every week, those are just the kinds of questions this book will answer.

Now just about every book has a few things I'd change. My number one criticism here is that I really think Tulgan could use some work on how he phrases feedback. In an effort to be straightforward and constructive, I find his tone in many of his examples to seem a bit harsh and condescending. With that said, I'm still very confident that this book will help you be a better boss . . . especially if you refer to other favorite books like Crucial Conversations and FYI: For Your Improvement along the way.

Being a boss is a really important job. Good luck, and if you get stuck, call me. And if you've got a better contender for the best boss book out there, please let me know. I promise I'll read it and blog about it right away.

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