Understanding and Changing Your Management Style (Jossey-Bass Business/Management Series)

Understanding and Changing Your Management Style, by psychologist and business consultant Robert Benfari, is a hands-on guidebook for determining the type of leader you are--and becoming the kind you want to be. It includes methods that you can use to influence others, problem-solving techniques, and exercises that reveal your psychological nature according to the widely used Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Using the resultant patterns, the book suggests practical ways to maximize your strengths, overcome weaknesses, and deal with difficult employees, such as hostile-aggressive Sherman Tanks ("Give them time to run down") and supremely confident Bulldozers ("Do some serious research so that you are on top of the problem"). "Good management is not in-born in some, nor is so-called bad management a fixed state for others," Benfari writes. "Changing your management style is possible once you understand what can be changed (and what cannot) and are willing to do the work to shift your assumptions, perceptions, and behavior." --Howard Rothman