Book Review: The Effective Manager (2Ed)

“Most managers still don’t know what they are doing.” Authors Mark Horstman, Kate Braun and Saran Sentes don’t hold back in their latest release, the second edition of the very successful The Effective Manager (2023, Wiley). They double down on this by noting that “Most managers are terrible at the most important thing they’re supposed to be doing. We’re supposed to e getting top performance out of the people we are managing. But most of us aren’t.”

This book is written specifically for manager, not the CEO. It’s major emphasis through each chapter is what you do next – in detail. Tackling the most basic issue of managing people and getting the most out of your direct reports, the book highlights and explores the four most critical behaviours of managers:

1. Get to know you people.
2. Communicate about performance.
3. Ask for more.
4. Push work down.

And again, the book provides tools within each chapter, including scripts and details on how to actually put into practice the points made. There is also free access to their website where there are a multitude of other free resources to make use of.

This is an excellent book, especially for new managers, or managers who may be struggling with their role. The authors are so confident in their content that they offer a no condition money-back guarantee on the price of the book if you are not satisfied. A highly recommended book.