Scrappy General Management
Common Sense Practices to Avoid Calamities, Catastrophes, and Lackluster Results
By: Michael Horton
Published: October 7, 2010
Format: Paperback, 154 pages
ISBN-10: 9781600051487
ISBN-13: 978-1600051487
Publisher: Happy About
"You're not the leader of a section, or the team of a particular function - you're responsible for the whole shooting match, end to end. You are the business's general manager and the people look to you for their livelihoods. Yes, YOU!", writes Vice President, Chemical, Energy & Natural Resources Division at CSC Australia, Michael Horton, in his very practical and results oriented book Scrappy General Management: Common Sense Practices to Avoid Calamities, Catastrophes, and Lackluster Results. The author describes how the new general manager can not only survive the promotion, but thrive in the position, for the benefit of the employees and the entire organization.
Michael Horton has been there. He has held the role of general manager, and experienced the initial feeling that perhaps he was not qualified for the role. With that personal experience in hand, Michael Horton shares valuable ideas and best practices to ensure the transition to the new position is a very successful one. The author addresses the usual organizational assumption that anyone who reaches the level of general manager already possesses the skills and experience necessary for the position. As Michael Horton demonstrates clearly, that is simply not the case. With many companies promoting younger, less experienced executives to a general managerial role, that older belief is less true now than ever before. Utilizing his own management experience, learned on the job under real world conditions, Michael Horton provides a no nonsense course in becoming an effective general manager.
Michael Horton (photo left) recognizes that a new general manager faces a steep learning curve, regardless of their experience level in the organization. As a result, the author advises keeping things as simple as possible. This advice is especially important as the general manager is in charge of so many events, people, and processes. If any of these dozens of responsibilities are ignored, the result can be a catastrophe. For Michael Horton, a great general manager avoids those disasters, through a combination of good planning, strong communication and people skills, and excellent execution. At the same time, Michael Horton provides some very unexpected, but truly important advice. He recommends that the general manager grow a strong backbone to stand up to the rest of the organization and its pockets of resistance to positive change and fresh thinking. At the same time, Michael Horton emphasizes the importance of managing both staff and external organizational relationships well. In the end, a general manager must practice self management to lead others toward the goals set out for them.
For me, the power of the book is how Michael Horton provides a strong combination of managerial theory and his personal experience. The advice shared in the book is both practical and universally applicable to small, medium, or large sized businesses. The author blends his common sense approach with strong visual aids, including charts and graphs, that help the new general manager visualize the concepts to enhance their effectiveness. Michael Horton recommends keeping things simple, and the book is arranged in a logical and concise format, that utilizes that principle. Overall, this book is an excellent guide for any new or experienced general manager to read and absorb. The concepts presented are both timeless and timely to boost the performance of the general manager, the employees, and the entire organization.
I highly recommend the idea packed and very engaging book Scrappy General Management: Common Sense Practices to Avoid Calamities, Catastrophes, and Lackluster Results by Michael Horton, to any new or current general manager seeking real world techniques for not only surviving the transition to the position, but thriving in the job. This book dispenses with the frills and gets right to the core concepts of becoming an exceptional general manager.
Read the useful and lively book Scrappy General Management: Common Sense Practices to Avoid Calamities, Catastrophes, and Lackluster Results by Michael Horton, and transform your career as a general manager into a success story. Picking up this book, and reading any page, will yield excellent advice that can be applied immediately with tremendous results.
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