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Best Books for Managers: You Need to Manage People If You Start Your Company
While some of us are naturally good at being leaders and managers, some of us are put into a situation where we need to be leaders and, hopefully, good managers. Thus, it’s best to brush up on your management skills to help manage employees and businesses without causing too many issues. While experience is one method to learn how to manage people, books can also be beneficial.
Similar to attending a class, books give you the basic knowledge you need to know how to keep everything in check. A good leader will know how to manage a large number of employees while also learning to delegate the work towards other people. If you’re going off of just experience, you can see how quickly this method could cause problems.
By picking up a good read on management skills, you can easily avoid issues that may occur off of learning by experience. Plus, you can develop long term strategies that can help you keep investors and business partners.
So, why should we read the best manager books? I find that leadership skills change every two to three years, so being ready for the upcoming years is essential.
I’ve tried to get away with pushing back books or avoiding extra classes. However, once I started to read the best books for managers, I noticed a massive difference in the way I was able to strategize.
What I’ve found in the books is that they teach you valuable skills. Some of these include ones that aren’t so obvious. Skills that they teach you are Networking, teamwork exercises, verbal skills, and how to recover from failure.
So, if you’re sick of attending classes, seminars or don’t have the time or patience for other forms of education, a book can definitely help. I find it more productive to learn at your own pace, especially for business. You can easily pick up a book on management and really focus on what it’s telling you.
Best Books for Managers
The Making of a Manager: What to Do When Everyone Looks to You
The 80/20 Manager: The Secret to Working Less and Achieving More
Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager
The New One Minute Manager
Management Tips: From Harvard Business Review
Monday Morning Leadership: 8 Mentoring Sessions You Can’t Afford to Miss
Three Nights in August: Strategy, Heartbreak, and Joy Inside the Mind of a Manager
The Restaurant Manager’s Handbook
This is the bible for starting and running a restaurant. I recommend you get the printed version and the Kindle version. Use the Kindle version for quick reference and the printed version for study.
Managing Oneself
The Halo Effect: … and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers
It questioned the delusions of business books and the pseudoscience that some use. It reminded me that the advice given in business books may not necessarily be right for you, your team, your business or the current situation.
Uncreative Writing: Managing Language in the Digital Age
The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Managing Your Business and Your Life
Managing The Mental Game: How To Think More Effectively, Navigate Uncertainty, And Build Mental Fortitude
Jeff Boss is a former Navy SEAL and knows everything about mental fortitude, and controlling your emotions and impulses in the face of critical situations. He uses his expertise in this book to teach others how to develop resilience and fortitude and cope with difficult situations.
Resilience and fortitude are two key qualities of a successful leader, especially when faced with crisis situations or making tough decisions. This book is a great aid in such moments, when you feel unsure of yourself.
The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal
Forgive and Remember: Managing Medical Failure
Managing to Learn: Using the A3 Management Process to Solve Problems, Gain Agreement, Mentor and Lead
Virtual Freedom: How to Work with Virtual Staff to Buy More Time, Become More Productive, and Build Your Dream Business
Social Media ROI: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization (Que Biz-Tech)
Remarkable Service: A Guide to Winning and Keeping Customers for Servers, Managers, and Restaurant Owners
Thinking, Fast and Slow
This book is amazing—it didn't change my mind, so much as it has changed the way I think. It helps to understand the difference between the way you make quick decisions, versus considered decisions—it takes different mechanisms in the brain. Understanding which you're doing at any given time can have a profound impact on what you ultimately decide.