University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
The Beginner's Guide to Managing
Book

The Beginner's Guide to Managing

A Guide to the Toughest Journey You'll Ever Take

Mikil Taylor
Business Books, 2021
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Overview
  • For Beginners

Recommendation

Mikil Taylor’s management manual for beginners offers first-time managers an easy-to-follow, actionable, common-sense blueprint for becoming effective and proficient. Taylor leverages his experience as a young manager – his mistakes and the lessons he learned – to provide first-timers with the fundamental grounding they need to develop themselves and their teams. However, as Taylor cautions, simply knowing this information is not sufficient; he advises readers that they must be ready and willing to put these ideas into action.

Summary

You must love the people you manage.

As a new manager, you’ll be starting from scratch. You know that managing people is tough, but you can begin your management journey on a strong note. Realize that the work skills that gained you a promotion into management will become irrelevant quickly, because those skills don’t revolve around managing people. That’s the skill you must master now.

From the outset, top managers work to be a positive influence on their employees. Learn to treat the people you manage with love. Be kind. Let them know you have their backs. Focus on them, not on yourself. If you don’t show your people love, you won’t be able to communicate with them. If you don’t trust them, they won’t trust you. 

When you build a team, you’re responsible for its procedures, work processes and culture.

As you build a team, make sure your new team members are ready to move ahead together in a unified direction to achieve their shared goals. They should have a mutual understanding of the team’s objectives and how to reach them.

When you build a team, its culture...

About the Author

Mikil Taylor is the vice president of Analytics at Healthcare Bluebook in Nashville.

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