Knowledge Center: The Truth About Getting the Best From People By Martha I. Finney

The Truth About Getting the Best From People
By Martha I. Finney

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Product Description

Praise for The Truth About Getting the Best from People

"Finally, a no-nonsense primer for leaders on how to build...and keep...extraordinary talent. This book should be in the briefcase of every exec in the world and should be pulled out every day for a refresher on how to be a real leader."

Dan Walker, Former Chief Talent Officer for Apple, Inc.

"A fun and easy-to-read blueprint on understanding and creating engagement within a team. No high falootin' business jargon here--Martha Finney tells it like it is. She helps supervisors and managers uncover the secrets of employee engagement through behavioral examples, successes at top companies, and her charming storytelling."

Kirsten Clark, Senior Director, Organizational Capability Group, Starwood Hotels and Resorts

"Martha succeeds in reducing one of the business world's most sought-after but amorphous concepts--employee engagement--into 49 digestible truths."

Christopher Rice, President and CEO, BlessingWhite

"A must-read for new supervisors and managers, with lots of essential lessons and tips."

Tom Mathews, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Time Warner Cable

"Easy-to-read stories and useful truths about leading. I wish I had this book when I first became a manager. I had to learn some of these truths the hard way!"

Scott Shute, Senior Director, Xilinx

"The book is outstanding! Very easy to read....great examples, great advice, and the corporate world would be a better place if just 50 percent of the managers would follow your advice!"

Peg Wynn, Former SVP/HR, Adobe

"I started reading and found myself grabbing for a highlighter. I got to the following line 'Getting the best is about building a culture of trust, connection, growth, and service.' I had to drop a box around that one."

Tiane Mitchell Gordon, Senior Vice President, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, AOL

"Finney has gifted us an important compendium of accessible and eminently actionable insights about employee engagement. Using 'The Truths' as a guide, generations of managers will find infinite opportunities to unleash, inspire, and leverage the inherent talent in their people. My advice? Seize it! It will enable you to dramatically affect the future of your team, your organization, and your own career."

Jane Creech, Founder and Principal, Strategic Business Systems (Organization Consulting & Leadership Coaching), Former Sr. Director, OD, eBay

"If you are looking for a great way to deliver Management 101, just distribute this book. It has everything that someone new to management needs to know. Savvy, and sassy, and smart, this is an easy but important read!"

Beverly Kaye, Coauthor,Love 'Em or Lose 'Em

"Just when I thought one truth was as good as it could get, the rest lived up to it! I loved the anecdotes and the final truth, 'You're still the Boss.'"

Ed Martin, Vice President, Global Human Resources, Atheros Communications

"The subject is important, pragmatic advice told in an entertaining way. Front line managers need this for perspective. This book has some great 'keys' to bringing out the best in people!"

Jim Wiggett, President & CEO, Jackson Hole Group

Build a culture of engagement...one person, one interaction at a time

You can build and lead teams full of self-motivated, innovative contributors: people who love their jobs, believe in their mission, and perform with focus, enthusiasm, and creativity! This book reveals 49 PROVEN LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES for getting the best from every employee, every team, every organization!

The truth about building a self-driven workforce that's positive, committed, passionate
The truth about what really motivates people--and what doesn't
The truth about leading with authenticity, clarity, consistency, and inspiration

You can build and lead teams full of self-motivated, innovative contributors: people who love their jobs, believe in their mission, and perform with focus, enthusiasm, and creativity! Top leadership consultant Martha Finney reveals 49 proven leadership principles for getting the best from every employee, every team, every organization. She shows how to build a workforce that's positive, committed, passionate...how to really motivate people, even on a tight budget...how to lead with authenticity, clarity, consistency, and inspiration. These skills offer powerful, quantifiable business value. They are completely learnable--and this book is the fastest way to master them. It distills the world's best thinking on getting the best from people: the truth, and nothing but the truth!

Product Details

Amazon Sales Rank: #259853 in Books
Published on: 2008-03-01
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
208 pages

Features

ISBN13: 9780137080571
Condition: New
Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Praise for The Truth About Getting the Best from People

Dan Walker, Former Chief Talent Officer for Apple, Inc.

Kirsten Clark, Senior Director, Organizational Capability Group, Starwood Hotels and Resorts

"Martha succeeds in reducing one of the business world's most sought-after but amorphous concepts--employee engagement--into 49 digestible truths."

Christopher Rice, President and CEO, BlessingWhite

"A must-read for new supervisors and managers, with lots of essential lessons and tips."

Tom Mathews, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Time Warner Cable

"Easy-to-read stories and useful truths about leading. I wish I had this book when I first became a manager. I had to learn some of these truths the hard way!"

Scott Shute, Senior Director, Xilinx

"The book is outstanding! Very easy to read....great examples, great advice, and the corporate world would be a better place if just 50 percent of the managers would follow your advice!"

Peg Wynn, Former SVP/HR, Adobe

Tiane Mitchell Gordon, Senior Vice President, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, AOL

Jane Creech, Founder and Principal, Strategic Business Systems (Organization Consulting & Leadership Coaching), Former Sr. Director, OD, eBay

Beverly Kaye, Coauthor,Love 'Em or Lose 'Em

"Just when I thought one truth was as good as it could get, the rest lived up to it! I loved the anecdotes and the final truth, 'You're still the Boss.'"

Ed Martin, Vice President, Global Human Resources, Atheros Communications

"The subject is important, pragmatic advice told in an entertaining way. Front line managers need this for perspective. This book has some great 'keys' to bringing out the best in people!"

Jim Wiggett, President & CEO, Jackson Hole Group

Build a culture of engagement...one person, one interaction at a time

You can build and lead teams full of self-motivated, innovative contributors: people who love their jobs, believe in their mission, and perform with focus, enthusiasm, and creativity! This book reveals 49 PROVEN LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES for getting the best from every employee, every team, every organization!

The truth about building a self-driven workforce that's positive, committed, passionate
The truth about what really motivates people--and what doesn't
The truth about leading with authenticity, clarity, consistency, and inspiration

You can build and lead teams full of self-motivated, innovative contributors: people who love their jobs, believe in their mission, and perform with focus, enthusiasm, and creativity! Top leadership consultant Martha Finney reveals 49 proven leadership principles for getting the best from every employee, every team, every organization. She shows how to build a workforce that's positive, committed, passionate...how to really motivate people, even on a tight budget...how to lead with authenticity, clarity, consistency, and inspiration. These skills offer powerful, quantifiable business value. They are completely learnable--and this book is the fastest way to master them. It distills the world's best thinking on getting the best from people: the truth, and nothing but the truth!

About the Author

Martha I. Finney is a leadership consultant, and President and CEO of Engagement Journeys, LLC, which helps companies create a culture of employee engagement in their organizations. She has written or coauthored 10 books, including HR From the Heart: Inspiring Stories and Strategies for Building the People Side of Great Business, with Libby Sartain, Chief People Officer, Yahoo!. She has appeared on CNN, NPR's Morning Edition, and in major newspapers around the country. Her clients and interviewees include executives from Intuit, the Central Intelligence Agency, Knight Ridder, Hewlett-Packard, AOL, Newell Rubbermaid, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Caterpillar, Inc. and Kenexa. She also speaks and gives workshops on creating and leading passion-driven workplaces.

Martha divides her time between Silicon Valley and Santa Fe, NM. She can be reached at martha@engagementjourneys.com.

Introduction

As a people leader, your job is simple: You are the link between organizational mission-critical objectives and the effort your employees invest in achieving those objectives. And you just have to keep those two pieces working together smoothly. See? Easy.

Yeah, right. As a people leader, your job is to inspire your employees to bring their personal greatness to work every day and to invest their best in your business. And that's a hard job. It's an emotional roller coaster. You experience the exquisite highs of engagement and teamwork when everyone is pulling together. Your heart breaks when you have to make really tough decisions that negatively affect the personal lives and well-being of people you truly care about. And it can be absolutely frightening when you're dealing with hair-trigger personalities who really don't belong in a safe workplace.

But even more routinely—and just as challenging, if not more so—you have to deal with yourself and your beliefs about life, about people, and about motivation and trust. Every day. Even on the ho-hum days. And that's when we get down to some pretty simple principles. Although this book by no means trivializes all the behaviors and beliefs that go into bringing out the greatness in your employees, the material you'll discover in these pages is based on a few very accessible assumptions:

People leaders discover that leading is impossible when they forget that they're people first. It may be paradoxical, but nothing makes a person come face to face with real—or perceived—limitations faster than a promotion into a managerial spot. On the outside you may be projecting, "Can do!" (or at least hoping you are), but on the inside you may be saying, "Uh oh, what have I gotten myself into?" Your first managerial assignment? Manage yourself into keeping in mind that you're not expected to be perfect. You're just expected to reach a little further for some brand new stretch goals.
Most people want to do good work in a job they love. Marketing consultant (and former Senior Vice President of Marketing for Starbucks) Scott Bedbury speaks about what he calls the "Five Human Truths." We need to be understood, feel special, feel as though we belong, feel that we're in control, and know that we have the chance to reach our potential. Although these feelings may not necessarily be what we want from a cup of coffee, they're certainly what we want almost universally from the work we do. (But ask me at 4 in the morning when I'm cranking against deadlines, and I may have a different answer for you.)
Great people leaders don't have to be clever, complicated, politically astute, or even especially wise. But they do have to be kind, honest, focused, positive, and authentic. If your company is committed to supporting you as you cultivate a grounded, authentic, compelling leadership style, you will see first-hand that creating great employees isn't about being magically charismatic. It's about being you.
There is no "u" in team, but there should be. As a people leader, you're also a team member. Sometimes you're the coach; in fact, you might often think of yourself in the top leadership spot. But you're also the water carrier. And if your team is working so well and independently that all they need is a regular infusion of refreshment, that's a great position for you to play.

Enjoy this book. When you learn that creating great employees can be fun and personally rewarding, the first great employee you'll create will be yourself.

Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
Concise 'How To' with advice for managers at all levels
By Lauren Rae Brimmer
Concise, positive, practical and insightful...all are apt adjectives for Finney's book. Having been a Fortune 1000 product manager and program manager for many years, I was forever nodding my head in agreement, yet finding plenty of meaty content. Unlike so much management prose that can only be described as repetitious drivel, the 'truths' provide solid how to advice that assumes the reader already has a brain and a conscience. Further, the organization is excellent for the time-crunched. Each 'truth' gets 2-3 pages of intense discussion, allowing for on-the-go reading. Recommended!

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
Getting The Best From People
By Bruce Ferguson
This is a terrific book. Why you ask? Because is practical. This will become one of your favorite reference books. Lots a good tips and reminders. Everyone intereted in being a leader or help others be leaders should have it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
I AM CONSTANTLY REFERRING TO THIS BOOK!
By Libby Gill
As an executive coach and employee engagement expert, I help professionals motivate their teams to greater productivity. This book has been so useful to me by providing relevant information, great examples and applicable strategies to - as the title aptly states - get the best from people. I reach for GETTING THE BEST FROM PEOPLE - every single day and highly recommend it to anyone who has to manage anyone!

Libby Gill, author of Traveling Hopefully: How to Lose Your Baggage and Jumpstart Your Life