HBR’s 10 Must Reads for New Managers
Various Contributors
Harvard Business School Press (2017)

“People won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”  Theodore Roosevelt

The eleven HBR articles assembled in this volume were published between January 1980 and June 2016. All of them are timely and timeless. If purchased separately as reprints, the total cost would be $98.45. Amazon now sells a paperbound edition for only $16.96. That’s not a bargain; it’s a steal.

I selected the Roosevelt quotation because it offers the best advice I am aware of for those who are given responsibility — for the first time — to supervise resources, usually people and their work. All of the major research studies of employee satisfaction indicate that “feeling appreciated” is ranked high among what is most important to respondents. Managers who don’t care enough almost never succeed.

Near the downtown area of many major cities, there is a farmers market at which a few merchants offer slices of fresh fruit as samples of their wares. In that same spirit, on behalf of the HBR editors, I now offer a selection of brief excerpts:

o  “It’s important for the bosses of new managers to understand — or simply recall — how difficult it is to step into a management role for the first time. Helping a new manager succeed doesn’t benefit only that individual. Ensuring the new manager’s success is also crucially important to the success of the entire organization.” Becoming a Boss, Linda A. Hill, Harvard Business School

o “Delegating, thinking strategically, communicating — you may think this all sounds like Management 101.  And you’re right. The most basic elements of management are often what trip up managers early in their careers. And because they are the basics, the bosses of rookie managers often take them for granted. They shouldn’t — an extraordinary number of people fail to develop these skills.” Saving Your Rookie Managers from Themselves, Carol A. Walker, President of Prepare to Lead

o “I have learned that two two bear repeated emphasis. First, the six principles and their applications [discussed in this article] can be discussed separately for the sake of clarity, they should be applied in combination to compound their impact…The other point I wish to emphasize is that the rules of ethics apply to the science of social influence just as they do to any other technology. No only is it ethically wrong to trick or trap others into assent, it’s ill-advised in practical terms. Dishonest or high-pressure tactics work only in the short term, if at all.  Their long-term effects are malignant, especially within an organization, which can’t function properly without a bedrock level of trust and cooperation.” Harnessing the Science of Persuasion, Robert B. Cialdini, President of Influence at Work and professor emeritus at Arizona State University

o “The only way we grow as leaders is by stretching the limits of who we are — doing new things that make us uncomfortable but that teach us through direct experience who we want to become. Such growth doesn’t require a radical personality makeover. Small changes — in the way we carry ourselves, the way we communicate, the way we interact — often make a world of difference in how effective we lead.” The Authenticity Paradox,  Herminia Ibarra, INSEAD

o “To many people, the phrase ‘managing your boss’ may sound unusual or suspicious. Because of the traditional top-down emphasis in most organizations, it is not obvious why you need to manage relationships upward — unless, of course, you would do so for personal or political reasons. But we are using the term to mean the process of consciously working with your superior to obtain the best possible results for you, your boss, and the company.” Managing Your Boss, John J. Gabarro and Mark Lee Hunter, both associated with Harvard Business School

Although the focus of the material in all of the articles is on new managers, the fact remains that the information, insights, and counsel can also be invaluable reminders to managers at all other levels and in all other areas of the given enterprise.  I also highly recommend these articles to those now preparing for a career in business or who have only recently embarked on one. Not everyone will be entrusted with managerial responsibilities but all of them will face an even more serious challenge: managing themselves.