Growing Great Employees: Turning Ordinary People into Extraordinary Performers: Erika Andersen
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The management lessons Andersen distills from her career as a consultant to corporations like MTV and Bank of America are not innovative—most executives have heard about the importance of listening and establishing clear lines of communication. The centerpiece of her technique is a form of personality typing developed in the 1960s to measure workers based on their assertiveness, responsiveness and versatility. Evaluating employees through these “social styles” templates, Andersen promises, will help determine “how they like and need to be managed.” Writing in a pleasant, conversational tone, the author begins each chapter with an imagined scene in a garden, establishing an overriding metaphor for her techniques for everything from creating job descriptions to firing underperforming employees. Andersen makes extensive use of worksheets and what-if scenarios to elaborate her points, and summarizes the “big ideas” in each chapter. For rookies, it’s a serviceable introduction to the field. (Jan.)
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Review
A most readable, insightful, and thorough treatment, filled with common sense and practical examples. A must read for all managers interested in growing their people. — W. Timothy Gallwey, author of The Inner Game of Tennis and The Inner Game of Work
Believe me when I say you can take four full semesters of ‘management’ in business school, or you can simply read, keep, and refer to Growing Great Employees. This book transcends all the theory, fads du jour, and management babble on the current scene and offers simple, straightforward, and, most important, effective steps for creating a community of work in which people are so fulfilled and so productive that they achieve superior results. — James A. Autry, author of The Servant Leader
For the past twenty-five years, Erika Andersen has been working with companies to make sure that employees achieve their true potential. In Growing Great Employees, Erika is sharing that practical, smart, soup-to-nuts insight on how to be the best kind of manager with a broader public. — Geraldine Laybourne, president and CEO, Oxygen Networks
Growing Great Employees is like having an expert at your side; one whose clear-headed lessons provide a nutrient-rich roadmap for perennially winning at business. — Danny Meyer, CEO, Union Square Hospitality Group and author of Setting The Table
Growing Great Employees…creates the sense that you’ve got somebody with you every step of the way, somebody who knows what you’re up against and can help you be the kind of manager and leader you want to be. — Doug Herzog, president, Entertainment Group MTVN
In Growing Great Employees, [Erika’s] offered a comprehensive guide to being a fun, smart and effective manager—the kind of manager that any company would love to have. — Leo Kiely, president and CEO, Molson Coors Brewing Company
The consummate ‘how to’ manual for choosing and nurturing great employees. Erika’s techniques are practical and highly effective and this is a powerful tool for creating a stable and innovative work environment. Read it and watch your staff blossom! — Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, president and CEO, Women in Cable Telecommunications
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