Linda Nelson

The book that made my read pile for October is The First-Time Manager by Loren B. Belker, Jim McCormick, Gary S. Topchik. Many times, new managers, supervisors, and lead-persons are thrown into a leadership position with no idea of how they are supposed to manage. According to The First-Time Manager that is known as the sink or swim approach which makes this book an excellent selection for that newbie manager.

Title: The First-Time Manager

By Loren B. Belker, Jim McCormick, Gary S. Topchik

Paperback: 240 pages

Publisher: AMACOM; 6 edition (January 3, 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0814417833

ISBN-13: 978-0814417836

Rating: 4/5

Wouldn’t you like to know how to manage people without being that Boss?

Come-on, we’ve all had one of those, that Boss in our lifetime. You know the one who never has anything good to say about your work performance and never seems to appreciate how hard you try to please the Boss. Is there more to managing people besides cracking the whip in hopes of getting a couple of extra completed orders out of them?

According to Belker, McCormick, and Topchik, there is more to managing people then telling them to move their hands faster than their mouths.

Loren B. Belker who is now deceased was an executive for a Midwestern insurance company for 30 some odd years.

Gary S. Topchik is a managing partner for SilverStar Enterprises, Inc. which is a consulting firm that specializes in management development. Topchick is also the author of The Accidental Manager and Managing Workplace Negativity.

Jim McCormick is not only an author, but he is also a speaker and a professional skydiver that is known for being an expert in intelligent risk-taking and innovation. He is also the founder of The Research Institute for Risk Intelligence.

Many leadership topics are covered in this book such as how best to respond to team members appropriately. Don’t be one of those bosses that correct their workers in front of everyone. Take them aside and explain in private without making a show of the incident. You will build more trust with your team members and not hurt department morale. Without spoiling the book, the information found in this book is well worth the read.

I did give this book a four-star rating only because some of the information sounded repetitive. However, that may have been the writers’ purpose since much of what is written in this book is helpful to all new managers and even some leads who have been in their position for some time would find this book useful if they want to learn to motivate their workers.

If you are looking at becoming a manager, supervisor, or lead-person soon, I highly recommend reading this book. Even if you have been in your position for some time, there is probably at least one chapter that would benefit your leadership role making this book well worth the time and effort for your next book to read.

I would tell you…

~ Lost one of my writing coaches this week.

Julie

RIP – 12/2001 – 10/2017

She was an extraordinary pup and spent many hours sitting by my side while I wrote. Julie was one of my main inspirations for the story Aaron and Keja even though Keja is a golden retriever and Julie was a long-haired black lab mix who had a Rottweiler for a daddy. It was her time. She was in pain from arthritis and was having difficulty standing and walking. I feared how she would handle the winter months because last winter she was already struggling. Snow and ice were no longer her friends.

When she was a pup, she loved to lay in the snow until she was entirely white, and then walk with her mouth open scooping up the snow to eat. She’d have a choking fit whenever she tried to do this with a snowbank that had gobs of sand mixed with the snow. I’d try to warn her, but she wouldn’t listen.

May you rest in peace, Julie, we will miss you dearly.

~School Updates

This term is focused on Psychology and Statistics. I like – no – love psychology. Statistics well, it appears that statistically, most people don’t enjoy statistics because it is a hard concept to understand. I hope I pass. It was a huge risk taking statistics. I will continue to attempt to do my very best and not give up with that class the way I had given up on pre-calculus in high school. My saving grace is probably the fact that I have psychology at the same time to help temper any anxiety I feel about taking that risky class. 4 more weeks to go and statistics will be over!

~A little bit of Writer Advice

“I say, it’s getting tough out there selling books. I’m beginning to see the signs.”

Today I received my first desperate book review request from an author who does not realize that sending a chapter of their book to someone without it being requested is not really kosher.

I hit the delete button on that one.

I get it. You want your book reviewed so you might sell a few books, but please, don’t send me a bunch of crappy text in an email, and I don’t do Pdf’s either.

Right now, I really don’t have enough time to review random books. I work a full-time job, and I have plenty of school work eating up the rest of my time. Any books that I am reading at the moment are a prerequisite of my Professor, or they are directed at my potential career.

Unless you’re G.R.R. Martin with the book Winds of Winter you need to find someone else who is looking for something to read.

Go to Goodreads and give copies away in their book giveaways.

On Amazon, create a giveaway with them to help find reviewers.

When you beg or spam readers you lose readership.

I don’t even know what that book was about. I can’t remember the name of the author who sent me the chapter. I only remember that I hit delete.

I’m booked up for the next 3 years.

~ NaNoWriMo is coming soon!

I’ve been plotting and doing a bit of writing. I still don’t know what this year’s story will be about, but I’m ready for November 1. Hopefully, I will have a stronger plot outline by then.

It has to be a romance no matter what.

Boy meets girl + girl meets boy = happy ever after.

Anyone have story twist suggestions?

I’m game to hear them.