Shortcuts for Smart Managers

Your first budget is due next month, and you'd love to get a head start, but you're already working ten hours a day.

Or maybe your stomach is churning because you have to conduct a performance review of a difficult employee.

Or perhaps your boss's boss suddenly fired off a request for a departmental quality report. You haven't created one of those in years.

Congratulations. You're a manager — a real person facing superhuman demands on your time, your nerves, and your abilities. But don't let the grind wear you down. You have a new personal assistant to ease your burdens. You're holding it in your hands!

Shortcuts for Smart Managers provides fast and easy access to the key principles of 30 essential management topics. Consult it with pencil in hand — it's designed to keep you on track as you rush between meetings, projects, and the inevitable crisis du jour

The author, a veteran manager herself, doesn't waste your time with highfalutin' theory from people who seem never to have set foot in an office. What you'll find instead are tested, frontline approaches to the daily tasks and cumulative pressures that are every manager's lot.

Like a wise friend, this guide is full of encouragement and practical advice on all the issues that matter. From budgets and business ethics to the find points of dealing with difficult people … from mastering the Internet to planning an event … from negotiating and selling to strategic planning … Shortcuts tells it like it is in the real world of problems and solutions.

And for a one-two punch. this guide is so interactive that it really works as a toolbox. Each chapter is self-contained; no need to scramble around for the information you need. Just pick your topic and get down to business with:

• Brief, straightforward text
• Step-by-step instructions
• Key questions (and answers)
• Reminders of things to do, ask, and remember
• Action Checklists
• Organizer Sheets that you can photocopy for immediate use, and which will also serve as a valuable permanent record of what happened, where, when, and with whom.

Use this detailed yet friendly guide to anticipate problems, focus your energy, and reduce stress. It will help you present a cool and professional front in a wide range of difficult situations. Best of all, it will make every day easier.

• List of Organizer Sheets
• Introduction
• Acknowledgments
• Appraisal
• Budgets
• Business Ethics
• Change Management
• Coaching
• Communication
• Dealing With Difficult People
• Decision Making
• Delegating
• Goal Setting
• Influencing
• The Internet
• Interviewing
• Marketing
• Meeting Planning
• Meetings
• Mentoring Partnerships
• Negotiation
• Presentations
• Project Planning
• Public Relations
• Quality
• Selling
• Strategic Planning
• Stress Management
• Teamwork
• Teleworking
• Time Management
• Training
• Troubleshooting and Crisis Management

One of the most practical books I have ever read. I should begin using it as well…