I‘ve made a career out of helping business leaders develop better relationships with their colleagues and team. In the course of that work, I’ve seen many managers who struggle to achieve business success, much less build meaningful professional relationships.
If that’s you, you’re not alone. The truth is that in companies, nonprofits, and government offices around the world, it’s not hard to find stressed-out, frustrated (and often helpless) managers. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Not for you.
Karin Hurt and David Dye give you the tools you need to take on a manager’s most important job: to improve business performance, without sacrificing your humanity, your well-being, or your sanity.
I often share with executives that the only performance appraisal that really matters is the one you give yourself as you look back over your life. When friends of mine interviewed people in the last years of their life, three themes emerged: be happy now, friends and family are critically important, and if you have a dream, go for it.
From a business perspective, my ultimate business advice isn’t very different:
Karin and David give you the specific tools to accomplish all three of these goals in your daily work. The resources they share will help you create a healthy management mindset, improve business performance with less stress, and help you build better relationships with your colleagues and team. I encourage you to use these tools, not just because they will improve your business performance but also because at the end of your life, you will be happy that you did.
As an executive coach, I’m fond of simple tools. Yet simple doesn’t mean easy. The tools Karin and David share with you are straightforward and simple to implement, but they will work only when you use them. Karin and David know they work because they’ve been where you are now, and they’ve practiced everything they give you.
One thing that sets Karin and David apart from other business authors is their compassion. They genuinely know what it’s like to do the work you do, face the pressures you do, and thrive amid them. They have genuine compassion for frontline and middle-level managers that comes through in the encouragement, humor, and tough love they share. They want you to succeed.
Ultimately, your work as a manager is about far more than what you make or how you serve your customers. In the final chapter, Karin and David call us to our legacy: the life you build for yourself, your family, and the impact you have on the people around you while you do your work. In Winning Well, Karin and David give you the answers you need to do just that. Will you use them?
Life is good.
MARSHALL GOLDSMITH,
AUTHOR OF TRIGGERS AND MOJO