Introduction

TWO HUNDRED years ago, during the early years of the Industrial Revolution, most of the world was poor. Most of the world is still poor today. Over the last 200 years, we've gone through a technological revolution, beginning with the advent of the steam engine and electricity, right up to the amazing technologies that we know and use today. It is said that high technology has vastly reduced poverty in most of the Western world and created more wealth for more people than was ever dreamed possible in all of human history.

But the fact is that it is not technology. It has not been a technological revolution but rather a managerial revolution. It is the managers of enterprises and organizations at all levels who have been responsible for the great bursts in progress. Technology has always followed managerial development.

In this book, I'm going to talk to you about twenty-one key ideas you can use to become a more effective manager. Why is this subject important? In my studies over the years, I've read hundreds of books, taken a business degree, and worked as a consultant, trainer, and adviser for more than 1,000 large corporations. I work every year with hundreds and sometimes thousands of managers. I have seen good managers and poor managers, and I've found that 20 percent of managers, as you can expect, get 80 percent of the results. This means that 80 percent of managers are getting only 20 percent of the results.

My aim in this book is to give you the techniques and tools, methods and ideas, for moving yourself up into the top 20 percent. And if you are in the top 20 percent already (and the fact that you are reading this book indicates that you are), you will learn how to move into the top 5 percent of managers, and then the top one percent.

The Inexact Science

Management is an inexact science. I have started, built, managed, or turned around more than thirty businesses, and I can assure you that there are no fixed answers. There are no answers that are correct all the time. The key to managerial success is learning and practice, over and over, although you probably will never get it exactly right.

When Vince Lombardi took over the Green Bay Packers, he was asked, “How are you going to change the way this team operates? Are you going to bring in new plays and ideas on how to run the ball?”

He said, “No, we're going to simply become brilliant on the basics.”

In my estimation, 80 percent of managerial success is determined by practicing the basics over and over. They represent about 20 percent of management activities. In this book, you will learn, or be reminded of, the 20 percent of managerial skills that make all the difference.

If you practice the same methods that other successful managers practice, you will find that you can sometimes accomplish more in your managerial position in a few days than you've been able to accomplish in weeks or months in the past.

The Definition of a Manager

Let's start off with our definition of a manager. A manager is someone who gets results by working with and through others. A manager is someone who does the right things right.

What is an excellent manager? An excellent manager is someone who achieves superior results by consistently getting the best out of himself or herself, while releasing the potential of others so that they can make an even greater contribution to the organization.

The strength of any organization is determined by the quality of its managers at all levels. They are the “officer corps” of the business army. What they do and how well they do it are the key determinants of corporate success.

The most conservative studies estimate that the average person works at less than 50 percent of capacity, and sometimes at just 40 percent or 30 percent. A good manager creates an environment where the average person functions at 60 percent, 70 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent, and occasionally close to 100 percent of capacity, and makes a massive rather than an average contribution to the organization.

Here now are the twenty-one key ideas for becoming an excellent manager.