The Manager's Handbook: Five Simple Steps to Build a Team, Stay Focused, Make Better Decisions, and Crush Your Competition

A WALL STREET JOURNAL AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER An actionable strategy guide for busy professionals who want to level up their management game In The Manager's Handbook, Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty member, serial entrepreneur, and investor in over 100 companies, David Dodson, delivers an insightful work that describes, in highly practical detail, five skills every great manager needs to know if they want to get things done. Managers desperately want a crisp, how-to book that will show them—in one single title—the way to master the most important skills necessary to run an organization. The Manager's Handbook organizes the five essential skills of effective implementation into one, simple-to-read, easy-to-use, book. The Manager's Handbook is an essential playbook for managers, executives, board members, and other business leaders interested in dramatically improving their ability to lead people and inspire loyalty. In the book, you’ll learn how to get better at running any kind of organization by breaking down each essential skill into bite-sized sub-skills you can easily and quickly learn. You'll also find: Digestible tips and tactics for hiring the best people, onboarding, performance feedback, and improving the performance of underachievers A model script for how to begin an exit interview Ways to let people go from your organization gracefully, quickly, and with compassion The Manager's Handbook is an essential playbook for managers, executives, board members, and other business leaders interested in dramatically improving their ability to lead people and inspire loyalty.

Table of Contents:
Foreword xi Acknowledgments xiii Introduction: Five Must-Have Skills from People Who Get Things Done 1 Part I Commitment to Building a Team 9 1 Hire for Outcomes 11 2 The 100-Day Window 31 3 Instant Performance Feedback 39 4 The 360 Review 47 5 Coaching Underperformance 57 6 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do 67 7 Never Waste a Last Goodbye 84 Part II Fanatical Custodian of Time 93 8 Activity Is Not Progress 95 9 Make Your Day to Make Your Month 105 10 Curing the Digital Disaster 117 11 Seven Steps to Running a Great Meeting 125 12 Delegating 134 Part III Willingness to Seek and Take Advice 143 13 Five Questions 145 14 Finding and Using Mentors 153 15 Executive Coaching 159 16 A Board of Advisors 167 Part IV Setting and Adhering to Priorities 177 17 Key Performance Indicators 179 18 The Operating Plan 186 19 Alignment Through Compensation 193 Part V An Obsession with Quality 205 20 Quality Drives Profit 207 21 Walk Behind the Tractor 215 22 A Vow to Wow 226 Implementing the Five Must-Have Skills from the Manager's Handbook 237 Notes 241 Index 255

About the Author :
DAVID DODSON is a successful serial entrepreneur, CEO, a board member of more than 40 companies, a former McKinsey & Company consultant, and an active investor in over 100 businesses. He is on the faculty of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he draws on his real-world experience to guide students in tactical execution. He is a recent recipient of the MSx Teaching Excellence Award, and co-founder of Sanku, which has improved the health of over 5 million people across rural East Africa.