The One Minute Manager, by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson

I don’t like Spencer Johnson’s style. I didn’t care for Who Moved My Cheese? and I didn’t particularly like this one either. Both books make some good points, but the presentation is so childish I thought I was reading a book my kindergartener should read. I find a book so patronizing very difficult to take seriously.

A lot of the points he makes seem to be more common sense than anything else to me: set clear goals; reward good behavior; punish bad behavior, but don’t dwell on it. I know there are managers out there that don’t do this (boy, don’t I know it!), but it seems so obvious. We are often not the best judge of our own habits, but I like to think this is how I operate. Hopefully, my team feels empowered to call me on this when I’m not living up to my end of the deal!

First Sentence:

Once there was a bright young man who was looking for an effective manager.