How best to use a management book

 

Question

Hi Elizabeth,

Thanks for your recommendation on books  to help with Change Management. I must say your own book Effective Management Skills – Doing the Right Things in The Right Way is just great and I would recommend that one too.

Have you any advice on how to use a management book? I have to say most of the management books I’ve read so far are long-winded and it’s hard to get to the heart of what they are trying to say. They’re not the best “bed time reading” either – too heavy, too dull and they send me to sleep.

G.

Answer

Hi there G,

How to use a management book. Hmmm…..

Great question! You obviously know that a management book should be used differently from other books. A management book isn’t a novel. It’s not meant to be read cover to cover in content-sequence-page-order. A management book is to be flicked though. Look at everything it contains right at the start, then go first to what interests you most right now.

Tony Buzan, pioneer of the mind-mapping technique, makes reference to a man who found the exact book he needed, full of great information and ideas. The guy was so pleased with the information and so impressed with all the book contained that he made extensive notes as he went along – probably prolonging his reading time by 50%.

38 pages from the end of the 350 page book ….he found that pages and pages of wonderful summary notes were included…as an appendix!

If only he’d flicked through the book before he began to read it.

We’ve recently added to the Team Effective material that is published as downloadable eBooks.

Check out Best Management Books Online.