Managing (Right) for the First Time is intended as a field guide for first time managers, or for managers who want to begin doing a better job. The author worked closely with 600+ companies and interviewed more than 10,000 employees, then summarized the findings in an interesting and eminently readable form. Read this book and you're likely to understand management and leadership like you never have before, but also learn very practical steps toward becoming a better manager and leader. The book begins with preface and introduction, and then contains 21 digestible chapter, starting with a unique view of the basics and then building to an interesting conclusion. Chapter 1 talks about who managers are and how you become one in real life, since the circumstances for your promotion have a significant bearing on how your management experience unfolds. Chapter 2 examines the various reasons for promotion, explaining the implications of each. Chapter 3 explains the few but critical elements that allow an inspired start as a leader, including (Chapter 4) how to manage your boss effectively so that the two of you can actually get things done. Chapter 5 recounts the early discoveries you'll make, hopefully eliminating many of the surprises that might stunt your growth as a manager. Then Chapter 6 explains that there are not just two kinds of managers (good managers and bad managers), but in fact three kinds: evil managers, those who are managing, and those who are not managing. This chapter alone provides some seminal thinking that is certain to change your management life. Chapter 7 details the process for finding the right employee candidates. Chapter 8 provides a thorough look at how to screen applicants reliably. And chapter 9 provides a checklist style program for integrating employees through their initial orientation and first few weeks on the job. To that end, Chapter 10 lays out some important principles to keep in mind when structuring employee roles. Chapter 11 is perhaps the fulcrum of the book in that it compiles the most important individual elements of managing employees well, followed by a revolutionary approach to performance reviews (Chapter 12) that you might actually enjoy doing! Chapter 13 urges you to move beyond reluctant leadership, followed by a logical next step in Chapter 14: being a leader that your employees want to follow. It's all neatly tied together in Chapter 15, which examines the creating and sustaining of an appropriate culture at your firm or department. Chapter 16 explains the different styles of managing, allowing for the different personality types. Chapter 17 notes the important transitions you'll make over time, particularly if you want to remain effective. And Chapter 18 contains a short but important message for control freak managers. Chapter 19 argues for a more open approach to management, and chapter 20 shares a unique perspective on work/life balance so that your role is sustainable over time. Chapter 21 concludes with some specific suggestions designed to help the managers who follow you. Finally, there's a concluding section with real advice from real managers who were asked to speak to you, the reader, sharing what they wish they had known when they set out on their own journey.

Managing (Right) for the First Time

David C. Baker

RockBench Publishing Corp.

This manual, by David C. Baker, is the compilation of 16 years of analyzing 650+ firms. It contains 270 pages and sample financial statements and utilization forms, all in a handsome looseleaf format for years of use. The 21 chapters cover your compensation and ownership agreement, organizing and interpreting financial statements, and calculating benchmarks. There are chapters on funding growth, managing cash flow, collecting overdue accounts, and deciding whether or not to own or lease your facility. Covered also are systems and utilization, pricing your work, handing costs of goods sold, and compensating new business development. There are sections on open book management, employee incentives and rewards, and policies for employee paid time off. There are also chapters on managing a downturn, formalizing client relationships, using retainers, avoiding legal pitfalls, preventing financial fraud, and transitioning out of your firm as a principal. Click here for a PDF of the Table of Contents. The book is a professionally produced 8.5 x 11" looseleaf manual, in color. ISBN 978-1-60544-006-4. Library of Congress Control Number: 2010913358. Released by RockBench Publishing Corp. The manual costs $200.00, including shipping. Includes hardcopy if shipped to the United States or Canada elsewhere a PDF is sent to your email address.

Financial Management of a Marketing Firm

Arts & Photography

Graphic Design

This passionate expertise manifesto is intended to elevate the impact of advisors who sell insight as entrepreneurs. Three foundational chapters form the basis of the entire book: experts develop insight by isolating patterns in data; they convert those insights to wealth by crafting a unique positioning for which few available substitutes exist; and their confidence grows as the marketplace embraces their application of expertise. The next fifteen chapters--building on that foundation--each answer a single question, starting with the role of expertise in a developed society, how important it is for experts to love the hard work required to hone their expertise, and how to see all that in the context of their own purpose in the world. We pause to dig deeper by examining the very narrow overlap between expertise and entrepreneurship: the narrow slice of humanity for which this book was written, with a nod to how easy it is for those entrepreneurial experts to be pulled off mission to explore new things. What are the critical positioning mistakes to avoid? Are there helpful ways to keep your deep, narrow expertise from blinding you to a broader, wider relevance? How might you frame your expertise in horizontal or vertical terms or a combination of both? There are core principles for this and they start with distinguishing between strategy and implementation. What are the earlier and then later tests to validate your positioning? What are the most effective ways to demonstrate your expertise, and conversely the activities most important to avoid? If you are an entrepreneurial expert selling advice for a living, you ll absorb deeper and deeper insight each time you scour it. It emerges from the trenches, and is written for experts in the trenches. Following the three foundational chapters (A, B, C) that open the book, there are fifteen chapters that build on that: The Role of Expertise in a Developed Society; The Interplay Between Expertise and Fulfillment; The Why for Your Entrepreneurial Expertise; Combining Expertise and Entrepreneurship; The Relevance and Sustainability of Expertise; Positioning Mistakes and Why We Make Them; Practicing Expertise Within a Broader Context; Distinguishing Between Vertical and Horizontal Expertise; Principles for the Less Exchangeable Positioning of Expertise; Distinguishing Expertise from Implementation; Five Early Tests for the Positioning of Your Expertise; Demonstrating Expertise; Not Demonstrating Expertise; How Expertise Unfolds: A Recap; and The Long Game: Maintaining Relevant Expertise. The book is fully illustrated in color, is a hardback (case bound), and has a full-color dust jacket.

The Business of Expertise: How Entrepreneurial Experts Convert Insight to Impact + Wealth

“What’s so compelling about Mr. Baker is that he’s an expert on being an expert.” 
―Carl Richards, New York Times 
The Business of Expertise, David’s previous book, set the stage by suggesting a narrow focus and then capitalizing on the patterns that emerge from repeated application of your expertise. This book builds on that work by suggesting how to craft a consulting practice with those insights. 
Rather than a broad philosophical treatise, this book is a very practical how-to that meets practitioners in the field. It’s a handbook on the nuts and bolts of application in the actual world of helping your clients in a sustainable way. 
Essentially, it’s a field manual that helps you build a $1M+ per person consulting practice.

Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors: Covert Techniques for a Remarkable Practice

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by David C. Baker. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by David C. Baker

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by David C. Baker. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Managing (Right) for the First Time

Financial Management of a Marketing Firm

The Business of Expertise: How Entrepreneurial Experts Convert Insight to Impact + Wealth

Secret Tradecraft of Elite Advisors: Covert Techniques for a Remarkable Practice