Gung Ho! – by Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles
This is a book that is full of inspiration for a manager that might feel like there is no way to succeed. I really enjoyed reading this book because it’s a reading that managers can use to get some true-life examples of things they can immediately implement to better their department. The book takes you on a journey of a female manager that was given a “promotion” as general manager to operate one of the company locations. Although she was excited about the opportunity, little did she know that the location assigned to her was the company’s worst location, of which, was in plans to get shut down within the next couple of months. She was faced with adversities, challenges and difficult decisions to make within a short timeline and even though the probabilities of her success were slim to none she continued her fight for success. In her journey she meets a local native that assists her though her voyage and walks her through the native teachings of the way of GungHo!
Gung Ho!, which means work together in Chinese, is a three-tiered method to a different way of approaching management, creating a new company culture and reenergizing your employee engagement. In this unique style of management, this book walks you through the:
- the spirit of the Squirrel
- the way of the beaver
- the gift of the goose
I know what you are probably asking yourself, “what do these three animals have to do with managing employees and shifting culture?”. It’s actually the same question that attracted me to the book, but once you read the book you understand the three elements and comprehend why the animals make sense. It is an inexpensive book that affords numerous examples that will become very valuable for you in managing your team and redirecting your employee culture into success. The piece that caught my attention the most about this book is the creative approach on how the author puts a new spin on the famous mathematical equation e=mc2. You see I am a little bit of a math geek, so I love to solve equations but this one was just great on how the author tied it all in with this equation. You will need to read the book to figure it out but it’s great.
For all you managers that want to lead successful teams, no matter which stage in management you are in, this book is for you.