Today the Making of a Manager is 5 years old, has nearly 5,000 Amazon reviews, and is published in 19 languages! The biggest misconception about being a management book author is that I am someone who really *really* knows how to manage. I assure you, I am still learning! I believe I will *always* be learning how to become a better manager, because managing is about relationships, and relationships are about people, and there is no end to deepening how we understand and collaborate with people. Some of the skills I am still working on today: 1. Identifying each person's distinct superpowers and growth areas and mirroring that back in a way that helps them grow 2. Finding a way to say the thing I feel, even if I worry about others' reactions 3. Developing a better instinct for when I am likely to have the best instincts, versus when others are likely to have the best instincts 4. Honing the balance of when to trust and when to be skeptical 5. Appreciating the journey more than the destination Some of the key points from The Making of a Manager that I still sing from the rooftops: 1. Feedback is a gift -- so give and receive it freely 2. Know thyself -- and reduce your blind spots 3. Care about people -- this is how you build trust 4. Find the win-wins -- aka the big overlaps between someone's career goals and the business' goals 5. Share your problems -- it's okay to not know the answers; open up your problems and you'll open up opportunity for the team. As someone more familiar with launching software, launching a physical book is both delightfully and frustratingly different. On the one hand, there is very little data! I don't know exactly what's selling where and why, what the retention is, what the viral coefficient is, whether podcast interviews are an effective promotion strategy, etc. On the other hand, there is something simple about knowing that The Making of a Manager could not have had the impact it did without people spreading it via word of mouth. Thank you to all of you who read it, who spread it, who care about the job of management. I'm so happy to be along on this journey with you all!
@joulee Congrats on the anniversary, Julie! Such a unique and impactful book for everyone in the field.