The Secret Laws of Management

The Secret Laws of Management distils the essence of great business into forty succinct and memorable laws. Each one represents a common or unavoidable business challenge. These laws will quickly become guiding principles that you can follow, and avoid the pitfalls into which others fall. The solutions are helpful, intelligent and often surprising.
They include:

• People tolerate being managed, but they love being led
• Most managers give their worst tasks to their best people
• Deadlines often backfire
• Most people say ‘no’ in code

Whether you are newly promoted, or want to improve your existing skills, this book will help you take the mystery out of management. The outcomes are more effective team relationships, less personal strain and improved results.

• The Laws
• Law 1: People tolerate being managed, but they love being led
• Law 2: Deadlines often backfire
• Law 3: People don't say NO to interruptions often enough
• Law 4: People don't hit invisible targets, unless by accident
• Law 5: People do not cope with more than seven concurrent objectives
• Law 6: 1 employee + 2 managers = half the output
• Law 7: Good managers are occasionally unpopular
• Law 8: People are outrageously optimistic when they estimate time
• Law 9: Inertia sets in after only fifteen minutes
• Law 10: People hate change and change happens
• Law 11: People value praise above money
• Law 12: Managers tend to flog their willing horses to exhaustion
• Law 13: People easily become addidcted to being a firefighter
• Law 14: Attention seekers never change
• Law 15: People prefer to leave the nasty jobs until last
• Law 16: People want to be given their work in one of only four ways
• Law 17: Productivity is a natural trait
• Law 18: People are easily tricked into thinking that urgent equals important
• Law 19: Most people hate being organized
• Law 20: Managers tend to give the worst tasks to their best people
• Law 21: Some unintelligent people are a great asset, but others are dangerous
  
• Law 22: Some lazy people are a great asset, but others must go
• Law 23: Most people say NO in code
• Law 24: Work expands to fill the time available
• Law 25: People tend to do things at the accepted time, which is often not the effective time
• Law 26: When leaders don't create the culture they want, they get a culture that they definetely don't want
• Law 27: When the managers lacks self-discipline, people don't try
  
• Law 28: All bullies eventually suffer their just rewards
• Law 29: The team does not judge you by your best or worst performances
• Law 30: The team believe what they see over what you say
• Law 31: Listening to personal stuff can backfire
• Law 32: There is often an unfair time delay between effort and reward
• Law 33: Most people resist planning
• Law 34: Teams rarely achieve things when they believe they can't
• Law 35: Team goals + team desire = team results
• Law 36: Few people think, really think
• Law 37: Energy levels rise and fall with expectations
• Law 38: People don't get out of bed to achieve your goals
• Law 39: There are nine common de-motivators
• Law 40: Many managers do not truly want to be the boss
• From problem to solution
  

A rarity! A self-help book that really contains advice that you can follow and is not too culturally encumbered.

Recommended reading!