Hello everyone. Thanks for coming back for more of the Cranky Middle Manager Show.

0:00 A big challenge for us all is making good decisions. It was easier when we were the ones “doing the work” instead of managing. Now the stakes are higher but we have less firsthand knowledge. What do we do about it? And let’s face it, every manager longs for the days of yore, when we just had to do whatever we were good at and let someone else take the heat. Plus at least one good tip for dealing with the Head Sales Weasel…

1:35 Our quote of the week… Change happens, according to Marcus Aurelius. Makes more sense than worrying about those stupid mice in “Who Moved My Cheese…”

3:25 Welcome our guest Rick Wells of Business Processes Inc. He talks about having to make decisions with too much data and none of it first hand.

6:29 Making the move to management- it would be so much simpler if it weren’t for the other people.

8:41 Decisions made for the wrong reasons are as bad as bad decisions…here’s an example.

13:00 How being good at your old job can mess up your decisions now.

21:30 How people problems differ from systems problems…. machines are easier

27:30 I stump Rick. Didn’t mean to, but he makes it up. He got back to us with a list of resources:

The Goal by Eli Goldratt - a business novel following how a plant manager saves his job and his plant by thinking differently and acting on his new insights.

Also by Goldratt, Critical Chain - a business novel applying the concepts from The Goal to projects.

TeamWork (What must go right / What can go wrong) by Larson & LaFasto - identifies the 8 critical success factors to high performing teams based on a three-year study.

Executive Leadership A Practical Guide To Managing Complexity by Elliott Jaques & Stephen D. Clement - very clear thinking about authority and accountability.

Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell - great introduction to cause-effect thinking and thinking traps while discussing issues of economics. No charts in the book and no jargon.

Any book by Robert Fritz

Just a quick mention of a podcast that I became part of by sending an email. Heidi Miller does a show called “Diary of a Shameless Self Promoter”. In her latest show she talks about an email I sent her and then follows up with some research I wish I’d done! It debunks the old myth that only 7% of your message’s impact is because of the content.

That’s it for this week’s show. I’m going to be out of touch for about 2 weeks, but I’ll return. Please post, subscribe and tell your friends.

Wayne