The Harvard Business Review Manager's Handbook

Book excerpt: The one primer you need to develop your managerial and leadership skills. Whether you’re a new manager or looking to have more influence in your current management role, the challenges you face come in all shapes and sizes—a direct report’s anxious questions, your boss’s last-minute assignment of an important presentation, or a blank business case staring you in the face. To reach your full potential in these situations, you need to master a new set of business and personal skills. Packed with step-by-step advice and wisdom from Harvard Business Review’s management archive, the HBR Manager’s Handbook provides best practices on topics from understanding key financial statements and the fundamentals of strategy to emotional intelligence and building your employees’ trust. The book’s brief sections allow you to home in quickly on the solutions you need right away—or take a deeper dive if you need more context. Keep this comprehensive guide with you throughout your career and be a more impactful leader in your organization. In the HBR Manager’s Handbook you’ll find: - Step-by-step guidance through common managerial tasks - Short sections and chapters that you can turn to quickly as a need arises - Self-assessments throughout - Exercises and templates to help you practice and apply the concepts in the book - Concise explanations of the latest research and thinking on important management skills from Harvard Business Review experts such as Dan Goleman, Clayton Christensen, John Kotter, and Michael Porter - Real-life stories from working managers - Recaps and action items at the end of each chapter that allow you to reinforce or review the ideas quickly The skills covered in the book include: - Transitioning into a leadership role - Building trust and credibility - Developing emotional intelligence - Becoming a person of influence - Developing yourself as a leader - Giving effective feedback - Leading teams - Fostering creativity - Mastering the basics of strategy - Learning to use financial tools - Developing a business case