Back in January, I found out that Mark Horstman’s second book, The Effective Hiring Manager, was available for pre-order on Amazon.com. It was a no-brainer: I ordered it immediately.
When a Manager Tools licensee newsletter announced in August that Horstman would be signing copies, I ordered a signed copy. I had to get a signed copy to match my signed copy of his first book, The Effective Manager.
Today my unsigned Amazon copy arrived, and I was as excited to unwrap it as my sixteen year-old daughter is to unwrap BTS merchandise.
If I ever met Mark Horstman (or Michael Auzenne for that matter) I’d be as speechlessly mortified as my wife would be in front of Barbra Streisand. It would be as bad as Troy from Community meeting LeVar Burton.
I know, in my head, they are just people. But I’ve heard their voices on the podcast for so long, and their guidance has made so much sense, and I’ve benefitted so much that I’ve been affected the way that is normally associated with cringing women at the front of a Beatles concert.
Unfortunately, a book on management is unlikely to ever spark a global craze of enthusiastic admiration. It seems that only happens for memes that are merely entertaining, diverting, or even infuriating. But, if you have to bear the responsibility of being accountable for another person’s performance, if you have to participate in the process of defining a company by deciding who gets to work there, if you find yourself tap dancing as fast as you can—wondering if you’re the only one that feels this unprepared: then get this book.
Now, there is one thing infuriating about Manager Tools. One thing that keeps me wondering.
You see, normally I don’t feel confident in recommending a technology without being aware of several instances where I would NOT recommend it. (If you can’t see anything wrong with a technology, then you are probably stuck in the bad part of the hype cycle, and painful enlightenment awaits.) So, I’ve been listening for eight years now and waiting for something I disagree with.
I’ve been waiting to find something to disillusion me. Show me your limits, Manager Tools! Well, I’m sure there’s something, somewhere….
Frankly, if you’re a manager or team lead then manager tools is the best thing since sliced bread. It’s hard for me to think of something wrong with sliced bread, too.