I love to read management books. All the ideas are perfect. Everything tried is well received by the staff. Managers are smart and funny. In touch with the pulse of the business. It's a perfect world. A management Utopia. Too bad it doesn't exist.

Even Peter Drucker, or The Drucker as he a few of us refer to him, never actually managed people. In that respect he is the business version of the ultimate Monday morning quarterback. Sure, he's a smart guy. And certainly he has thousands of brilliant ideas. Why shouldn't he? He can spent all his time thinking about how to be the greatest manager in the world. Sort of like theorizing about being the best husband and father without the drawback of the wife and kids.

But what happens when the wife isn't happy and the kids are running wild through the neighborhood. The bachelor neither knows nor does he care.

What I want is a book written by the guy in the trenches. A guy like me. Someone who can assure me that when I have one of those days (or weeks or months or years) when I put my foot in my mouth, piss off the staff, alienate the other managers and land sideways from my boss, that everything will be okay. Not only okay, but how about some advice on how to get out of those tight spots that real managers end up in all too often.

I'll still continue to read my management books. I'll keep on respecting the Drucker. But I will also spend some lonely time wondering where it all went wrong, dreaming of the day when I can step down, join the rank and file, and let my manager know just how I'd do it if I were in his shoes. Which thankfully I won't be...........
9:25:04 PM    comment []