It’s All About You! 10 Leadership Parables for Maximizing Middle Management

Description

Middle management is the glue that holds organizations together, yet many middle managers encounter a lack of support from upper management and massive employee disengagement. This book is a practical solution. Based on Charlie Retts’ decades of experience in middle management, along with his doctorate in adult education, this book will help you in assessing your own current leadership style, and then guide you to become a more effective and engaged manager. Using stories, Retts helps the reader explore real-life situations to assess all the options that could have been available, as well as assessing what you might have done. Each chapter ends with reflection questions and “key points.” Along the way, brief “stop for a moment” reflections help to focus on the reasons and benefits of different approaches.

Dr. Retts has spent over 30 years working in leadership and has an Ed.D. in Adult Learning and Human Resources. Currently, he teaches and helps develop organizations into best-in-class operations and to improve employee attitude, morale, and organizational loyalty. This includes designing and implementing departmental change efforts, achieving exceptional levels of organizational collaboration and communication, creating high-performing cultures, designing environments that challenge all employees to reach their full potential, creating new levels of performance criteria and establishing management and employee relationships that truly leverage organizational diversity. Published articles on leadership include such titles as “While the Cats Away, Will the Mice Play?” and “I’m Too Nice?? Caring Leaders Are Often Misjudged.”

For the past 30 years, Dr. Retts has taught graduate leadership and management courses Arizona State University, Bethel University, Brandman University, Glendale Community College, Grand Canyon University, National University, Northern Arizona University, the University of Phoenix, and the University of Redlands. He has also worked in leadership positions for several organizations and projects, including Sperry Aerospace and the Salt River Project in Arizona. He also has spoken at management training courses in the U.S, Egypt, and Japan.