基本信息出版社：Free Press
页码：320 页
出版日期：2005年03月
ISBN：0743267583
条形码：9780743267588
装帧：平装
外文书名：首位平等
内容简介 在线阅读本书
Whether you have recently been appointed as a group leader or are a battle-scarred veteran, you know that managing professional people is difficult! In this unique handbook, Patrick J. McKenna and David H. Maister argue that leaders will best enable their people to achieve peak performance not by managing them, not by leading them, but by inspiring them. The authors show you how to actually add value as a group leader or induce people to accept your guidance, even with intelligent professionals who are often free-agents accustomed to having automony to work on grueling assignments with little supervision. They also give advice on how to handle those oh-so-talented but oh-so-annoying professionals who exhibit attitude problems or are just exceedingly difficult to work with, when you need them but they tend to needle you.
The lessons and learnings presented here will give you insights and action tips to help you provoke and inspire your people to their full potential.
作者简介 Patrick J. McKenna is a widely recognized expert on managing professional service firms and a partner in Edge International in Edmonton, Canada, a consulting firm serving professional service firms throughout the world. Mr. McKenna is the co-author of two Canadian Top 10 management bestsellers, Beyond Knowing and Herding Cats.
媒体推荐 Review
"This is a timely, easy-to-read work leavened with action plans and examples."
-- Harvard Business School Working Knowledge for Business Leaders
"This book makes a unique and very useful contribution to the field of leadership and management of professionals. It captures both fundamental principles that are characteristic of the better firms as well as offering dozens of practical specifics."
-- Jon R. Katzenbach, coauthor of The Wisdom of Teams and The Discipline of Teams, and author of Peak Perfomance
"First Among Equals is a treasure chest of extraordinary value. Open it up and between its covers you'll find an unparalleled source of wisdom from two highly seasoned and extraordinarily credible professionals. McKenna and Maister turn the often elusive and obscure concept of leadership into something tangible and accessible. With rich detail and straight talk, they offer practical lessons, usable tools, and case examples from the real world. This is advice and counsel you can trust, and every manager of professionals (no, every manager in any setting) should take it to heart."
-- Jim Kouzes, coauthor of The Leadership Challenge and Encouraging the Heart
Jim Shaffer
author of The Leadership Solution
This book is truly a fire hose of practical, proven, workable advice and counsel that is intimately sensitive to the very special demands of professionals. It may well become the most dog-eared book in every firm -- and with good reason.
Nancy K. Austin
co-author of A Passion for Excellence
First Among Equals delivers for newcomers and old pros alike. McKenna and Maister -- polished professionals both -- know how to work with enormously talented people, and they write with the kind of reassurance and calm confidence a professional group leader craves. The book's hands-on checklists are flat-out superb.
Review
Nancy K. Austin co-author of A Passion for Excellence First Among Equals delivers for newcomers and old pros alike. McKenna and Maister -- polished professionals both -- know how to work with enormously talented people, and they write with the kind of reassurance and calm confidence a professional group leader craves. The book's hands-on checklists are flat-out superb. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
编辑推荐 Amazon.com
Competently managing a group of peers is unquestionably among the most difficult of workplace tasks, but key steps that produce success are laid out so clearly by consultants Patrick J. McKenna and David H. Maister in First Among Equals that even those who completely lack experience should find the process feasible and effective. McKenna and Maister focus on leading teams of professionals--often composed of people who don't feel like they are part of a team or in need of leadership--by transforming the way managers assume responsibility and direct members. "Success in helping your group succeed is mostly about you. Not them," they write. Their book starts by explaining how to prepare for the job ahead, for example, by meeting informally with participants and displaying sincere interest in things that matter to them. It then explores coaching the individuals involved (offering methods for gaining acceptance, building rapport, assisting underperformers and dealing with prima donnas) and guiding the collective group (by developing rules, building trust, invigorating meetings, and resolving conflicts). Finally, it proposes measures for continued success, such as integrating new hires and gauging performance. Dozens of self-assessment questionnaires and diagnostic tests help make this an exceptionally practical guidebook on a critical but oft-neglected topic. --Howard Rothman --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
专业书评 From Publishers Weekly
Organizations are more successful when they mold highly talented individuals into a cohesive group. But most talented people especially professionals hate to be managed. How to resolve this tension is the subject of this tightly focused, effective book by consultants McKenna (Herding Cats) and Maister (Practice What You Preach). Recognizing that all groups of professionals are different, the authors don't set off to create sweeping rules. Rather, they divide the task of leading groups of professionals into three parts what one must accomplish as the leader; how one wants to interact with individual members of the group; and how one wants to deal with the group as a whole and then offer concrete suggestions. A big part of this book's appeal is the authors' inherent understanding of how professionals resist overtly and otherwise being managed. Not surprisingly, McKenna and Maister spend a great deal of time explaining strategies for getting colleagues to agree to being led. They are particularly effective in outlining approaches for dealing with talented prima donnas (e.g., "listen to the individual's reasons for this behavior" and "inform the individual how improved behavior will improve his or her career"). This is a valuable resource for anyone in the position of trying to manage someone who was and still is, to a large extent a peer.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.From Booklist
How do you become an effective coach, catalyst, and facilitator for talented, independent professionals who are the essential contributors in industries such as banking and insurance and law and engineering, as well as research firms and software companies? McKenna and Maister, management consultants, set out to introduce the basics of being a group leader in a professional setting. Part 1 is aimed at clarifying and understanding the role and responsibilities of a group leader. Part 2 offers advice on actually inspiring and guiding team members, and part 3 addresses dealing with associates collectively as a group. The final section covers growth and future planning for the team. Most leaders of professional groups have had no training for these responsibilities, and the authors tell us that the skills required are listening, understanding, empathizing, influencing, and being able to get things done through others. The authors conclude that by affecting the performance of those around you, "you have a chance to make a difference and to leave a legacy." Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.