Practical Manual for Top Leaders
By Wiliam W. Casey
February 1, 2014
To move up to, and then act effectively as CEO, (or equivalent position in government, military, or non-profit sector) requires a fundamental shift in what you must do to carry out your job effectively.
These senior positions are not just larger versions of lower executive jobs; they impose fundamentally different demands on the leader. Often, people don't talk about this shift, or when they do it's a muddle of bromides.
Nick Forrest's How Dare You Manage is certainly the exception. It lays out a complete, sensible system of seven principles, walking the reader clearly, logically, and entertainingly from strategy to building the organizational design to execution. He repeatedly answers the important questions:
How many layers should an organization possesss? How should talent be recognized and developed? How do you make lateral -- cross-silo -- processes work? And much more.
Nick gives the reader just enough theory, and then shows how exactly to apply it in real situations.
Clearly, Nick is a master of management theory, but he's got dirt under his fingernails. He knows exactly how reality works, and how senior-most leaders can do the right, most effective thing, in real organizational life.