Britain’s best management book revealed

It was Henry Mintzberg, the author of Managing.

The competition, run by CMI and the British Library, seeks to uncover the best books on management and leadership.

Henry Mintzberg, a professor of management studies at McGill University in Montreal, won the competition from a field of 145 entries.

His latest book explains what it is that managers do, why they make a difference and how they become effective.

“Over the years I have asked many groups of managers what happened the day they became managers,” says professor Mintzberg. “First I get puzzled looks, and then shrugs. Nothing, they report. You are supposed to figure it out – like sex, I suppose usually with the same dire initial consequences. And from there, while we can find plenty of effective managers – if we can figure out what that means – we see a great deal of dysfunctional and often bizarre managerial behaviour too. The costs are immense.”

Professor Mintzberg, who collects beaver sculptures in his spare time (we kid you not), says that management involves a lot of “flogging”: “It’s not glamorous. There’s a lot of time spent getting little things done. Everyone is against micro managing but I think macro managing is far worse; it means you’re working at the big piucture but you don’t know the details.”

Bill Lucas, author of rEvolution: How to Thrive in Crazy Times and Richard Donkin, author of The Future of Work, were also named as winners in their respective innovation and entrepreneurship and digital book categories.

Find out what to read next at www.managementbookoftheyear.org.uk

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