The Manager's Handbook

A WALL STREET JOURNAL AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER

An actionable strategy guide for busy professionals who want to level up their management game

In The Manager's Handbook, Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty member, serial entrepreneur, and investor in over 100 companies, David Dodson, delivers an insightful work that describes, in highly practical detail, five skills every great manager needs to know if they want to get things done.

Managers desperately want a crisp, how-to book that will show them—in one single title—the way to master the most important skills necessary to run an organization. The Manager's Handbook organizes the five essential skills of effective implementation into one, simple-to-read, easy-to-use, book. The Manager's Handbook is an essential playbook for managers, executives, board members, and other business leaders interested in dramatically improving their ability to lead people and inspire loyalty.

In the book, you’ll learn how to get better at running any kind of organization by breaking down each essential skill into bite-sized sub-skills you can easily and quickly learn. You'll also find:

• Digestible tips and tactics for hiring the best people, onboarding, performance feedback, and improving the performance of underachievers
• A model script for how to begin an exit interview
• Ways to let people go from your organization gracefully, quickly, and with compassion

The Manager's Handbook is an essential playbook for managers, executives, board members, and other business leaders interested in dramatically improving their ability to lead people and inspire loyalty.

Foreword xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction: Five Must-Have Skills from People Who Get Things Done 1

Part I Commitment to Building a Team 9

1 Hire for Outcomes 11

2 The 100-Day Window 31

3 Instant Performance Feedback 39

4 The 360 Review 47

5 Coaching Underperformance 57

6 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do 67

7 Never Waste a Last Goodbye 84

Part II Fanatical Custodian of Time 93

8 Activity Is Not Progress 95

9 Make Your Day to Make Your Month 105

10 Curing the Digital Disaster 117

11 Seven Steps to Running a Great Meeting 125

12 Delegating 134

Part III Willingness to Seek and Take Advice 143

13 Five Questions 145

14 Finding and Using Mentors 153

15 Executive Coaching 159

16 A Board of Advisors 167

Part IV Setting and Adhering to Priorities 177

17 Key Performance Indicators 179

18 The Operating Plan 186

19 Alignment Through Compensation 193

Part V An Obsession with Quality 205

20 Quality Drives Profit 207

21 Walk Behind the Tractor 215

22 A Vow to Wow 226

Implementing the Five Must-Have Skills from the Manager's Handbook 237

Notes 241

Index 255

DAVID DODSON is a successful serial entrepreneur, CEO, a board member of more than 40 companies, a former McKinsey & Company consultant, and an active investor in over 100 businesses. He is on the faculty of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he draws on his real-world experience to guide students in tactical execution. He is a recent recipient of the MSx Teaching Excellence Award, and co-founder of Sanku, which has improved the health of over 5 million people across rural East Africa.

Why are some leaders so much better than others at getting things done—and how can you become one of them?

In The Manager's Handbook: Five Simple Steps to Build a Team, Stay Focused, Make Better Decisions, and Crush Your Competition, veteran entrepreneur, board member, and investor David Dodson delivers a practical and hands-on discussion of the five skills every great leader needs to drive extraordinary results: building teams, managing your time, using advisors, sticking to your priorities, and obsessing over quality.

Based on his years of research and practical experience, the author explains how to get better at running virtually any kind of organization. He does so by breaking down each critical skill into digestible, bite-sized sub-skills that you can learn quickly and easily—revealing the secrets to getting things done.

Busy leaders don't have time to read one book about hiring, another about delegation, another on time management, and yet another on quality control. As a CEO himself, he understands that there is a powerful need for a one-stop resource with practical advice on the key components of organizational leadership. This is that resource.

Along with an illuminating Foreword written by Irv Grousbeck, co-developer of Stanford's Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, the book offers timeless and insightful lessons that align with the most important skills organizational leaders need to run their companies. This is a book that leaders will use—and not just read— to improve their competencies in key areas that drive firm success.

An indispensable handbook for organizational management and leadership, The Manager's Handbook will earn a place in the libraries of executives, managers, directors, founders, entrepreneurs, and other business leaders looking for tested ways to improve their ability to lead others.

PRAISE FOR The MANAGER'S HANDBOOK

"The best book I've ever read on why some people are more effective at getting things done than others."
—LINDA HENRY, CEO, The Boston Globe

"I attribute most of my success to recruiting people with high scores for 'GSD' — get shit done. This is the definitive guide to GSD."
—PAUL ENGLISH, Co-Founder, Kayak

"Simply the desire to do things is not enough. The Manager's Handbook helps reveal the importance of joining the right strategy with excellent execution."
—MICHAEL PORTER, Professor, Harvard Business School and author of Competitive Advantage

"Business success is 1% insight and 99% implementation. Dodson puts the 99% in what will become the playbook for anyone serious about accomplishing anything."
—WALTER ROBB, Former Co-CEO, Whole Foods Market

"Dodson does not waste a single word. He packs a dozen business books, and a two-year MBA program, into one book."
—BRIAN SPALY, Co-Founder, Bonobos

"Dodson unmasks in a single book the practical skills that separate those who flounder from those who drive results."
—ILENE JACOBS, Former Executive Vice President for Human Resources, Fidelity Investments

"I wish I’d had this book early in my career. It thoughtfully captures many hard-earned life lessons in one place. This is not a book to read, it’s a book to use."
—WALTER BORST, Former Treasurer, General Motors Company, and Chief Financial Officer, Navistar

"Why didn't someone give me this book twenty years ago!"
—AMY ERRETT, Founder and CEO, Madison-Reed