General Manager

Stop! If you have been looking for the one resource for managing a business of any size, this is it. Based on the extensive business experience of five experts, this authoritative guide provides an in-depth look at what every leader must know about managing across departments, functions, divisions, or companies. Drawing on decades of combined experience, John Colley and colleagues detail the wide range of skills, tools, and conceptual understanding as well as the qualities of leadership that a successful general manager must acquire. In an era of specialization and specialists, the authors return due focus to the generalist. No other book so passionately and thoroughly examines the roles and responsibilities of the general manager and the full scope of this distinct, pressure-filled occupation. The authors explore the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the job and discuss how the skilled manager moves an organization from abstract goals to definitive action. For every profit center or plant manager, function head, division president, or CEO, this book is indispensable reading.

The general manager of a large nineteenth-century railroad line reminisces about his boyhood when he ran away to work on the railroad.

Not Just the Wife of the General Manager is a rollicking memoir of one woman’s life on outback cattle stations, and an homage to the many unsung women like her. It was the 1980s and Sally was in her mid 20s when she returned from a backpacking sojourn and hitchhiked to Australia’s far north. But instead of moving back to Canberra as planned, she stayed. After marrying a cattle station manager, Sally lived and worked with him on various stations until she was 50, ingraining herself into the lives of the characters who inhabited these isolated places. With wit and sass, Sally tells the story of how she was so much more than just a wife of a station manager (despite what some of the top end blokes thought). Among other things, she was a nurse (dealing with local accidents, assisting the Flying Doctor service and making emergency 400 km round trips through the outback with sick children), a mother (bringing up several children, not all her own), a travel agent, a social secretary, a host and an organiser (including of Kerry Packer’s New Year’s Eve parties). This is a story about adventure, resilience, the unexpected journeys we need to go on to find ourselves, and having the courage to do something for yourself. In Sally's words: 'Life’s like that, fellas. You may spend a lifetime trying to find yourself but, at the end of the day, you've been there all along.'

From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

Make the move up to senior management with lessons from world-renowned business school experts Based on themes from INSEAD's popular Transition to General Management programme, authors Kevin Kaiser, Michael Pich, and I.J. Schecter offer sound advice and practical insights for those looking to move to senior general management roles. By following the stories of three managers making the transition to general management, Becoming A Top Manager highlights not only the most crucial aspects of becoming a successful general manager, but also the necessary mindset changes required—both on a personal and professional level—that will ultimately translate into ongoing success. Provides practical insights, clarity and confidence for those looking to move into senior general management roles Written by a well-known and experienced international author team Outlines key skills and executive tools needed for the transition Online resources also available at www.wiley.com/go/topmanager

Abstract: A behavioral view of leadership is presented. Managers are usually viewed as either commonsense, practical individuals or as guardians of human satisfaction at work. Individuals take for granted the action and dynamism needed to perform first-rate managerial work. Understanding of behavioral skills assists practicing managers to comprehend organizational pressures, allocate energies among competing demands, and relate organizational work flow requirements to both management controls and personality differences. Specific topics included are based on formal and informal studies and cover: 1) The expectation and reality of the managerial world; 2) an overview of managerial work; 3) authority; 4) commitment and motivation; 5) lateral relations; 6) organizational power gains, struggles and status ; 7) work within the hierarchy; 8) types, use and design of controls; 9) facilitating organizational change; 10) project management skills; 11) managerial personalities.