HBR's 10 Must Reads On Managing Yourself (with Bonus Article "How Will You Measure Your Life?" By Clayton M. Christensen) (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
Very disappointed by this book. I thought it would be a collection of complex ideas and new solutions, but it is only a handful of dated articles, only a couple of which gave me any novel insight. The introduction "How Will You Measure Your Life" is the best chapter and deserves a star to itself. "Managing Oneself" is a classic article with the humorous idea of managers getting stuck with problem "monkeys" and offers some practical examples of how to empower the managed to solve their own problems instead of doing it for them. Sadly the follow-up by of "Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey" points at the subordinates as the monkeys and makes their problems seem unimportant. The topic of resilience is important but "How Resilience Works", instead of providing strategies for building resilience undermines itself by likening resilience to some sort of magic. "Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time" is a great concept and neatly represented in the title and in depth. I particularly liked the ideas of changing perspective to see situations with a "reverse lens" (how might the other person see this?), "long lens" (what will I think about this in 6 months, a year etc?), and "wide lens" (regardless of the outcome, how can I grow and learn from this?)I didn't learn anything from the other articles I just invested in myself with the HBR’S 10 Must Reads Collection by Harvard Business Review Press. This series is really good because each book has 10 of the best articles published by Harvard University on each topic. I think it is a must read for any ambitious manager, new or experienced leader.It is easy to read, each book has approximately 300 pages. Each chapter is an article from great authors such as Peter F. Drucker, Theodore Levitt, Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton and others. One of the things that I liked on these books is that each chapter has a box called Idea in Brief, which gives you an idea of the basic concept of the chapter and most of them has very interesting case studies as well.I highly recommend you to get this collection because will inspire you with ideas and knowledge that will accelerate both your own growth and company. Each title includes timeless advice that will be relevant regardless of an ever-changing business environment. The titles include: Leadership, Managing Yourself, The Essentials, Change Management,Managing People and Strategy.One of my favorite articles were:What Makes an Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker (HBR’S 10 Must Reads On Leadership)Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton (HBR’S 10 Must Reads The Essentials)Managing Oneself by Peter F. Drucker (HBR’S 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself)The Real Reason People won’t Change by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey (HBR’S 10 Must Reads On Change Management )What Great Managers Do by Marcus Buckingham (HBR’S 10 Must Reads On Managing People)The Secrets to Successful Strategy Execution by Gary L. Neilson, Karla L. Martin, and Elisabeth Powers (HBR’S 10 Must Reads On Strategy)“Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes “ Peter F. Drucker “The ability to change constantly and effectively is made by high-level continuity.” Michael E. Porter
What do You think about HBR's 10 Must Reads On Managing Yourself (with Bonus Article "How Will You Measure Your Life?" By Clayton M. Christensen) (2011)?
I'm not the target audience for this. Some gems of wisdom, but lots of self-helpy hocus pocus.
—Lily
Ideal for personal development. I like the chapter on energy management.
—memoryyuer
Great bookshelf reference for resetting perspective, goals and focus.
—danny57642
some ideas looked interesting; however, my hopes had been higher
—bookeater
