Lost and Found: The Story of How One Man Discovered the Secrets of Leadership . . .Where He Wasn't Even Looking
In the tradition of Who Moved My Cheese?, Larry Parks is asked to attend a development workshop while he's in the midst of overseeing a major project. On his return, his manager questions him intently about the workshop and soon after, again presses him for feedback. In fact, Larry's supervisor is very concerned with Larry's interpersonal skills and his ability to manage effectively. Only after Larry is told to take a "vacation" does he begin to see that he has been treating his staff and his family in similar ways: "All I've taught them is to go off and focus on their own pieces of the puzzle and let me worry about putting it all together. I'll bet that some of them, like me, are so focused on the budgets and timelines related to what they're designing and building that they hardly if ever even think about the people who will use it!" The authors, management professors and consultants, use Larry's predicament to show how effective employees need to learn how to become effective leaders. According to the authors, the key "grow" question for managers to ask is "Are my team members more valuable to our team, to the company, and to themselves than they were a year ago?" It's equally important for managers to have a clear vision of the future and to treat their staff as if they're partners working toward this vision rather than "hired hands." Following the parable, the authors offer about 10 pages explaining their "know, grow and own" philosophy. The parable is entertaining and many readers are likely to identify with the character's stressed and overscheduled predicament. The question is whether readers are weary of this genre.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.