The Cranky Middle Manager #147 Ken Blanchard Is Here

Posted on 09. Jun, 2008 by Wayne in Podcast

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Cranky Middle Manager talks to one of the all-time greats, Ken Blanchard, about his new book “The One Minute Entrepeneur”. We know why Wayne wanted to talk to him, why’s he talking to Wayne? Gift horses and all. Plus we learn about the Korean King Sejong the Great.

0:00 Welcome to the show all ye who try really, really hard. Today we talk to Ken Blanchard about his new book and the last 25 years of management development. We dedicate this episode to King Sejong the Great of Korea. Others will notice when you’re management material. Oh and Tom Peters is the last one on my list.

3:45 Immanuel Kant had a lot to say about wisdom… good advice here. Also a shameless plug for a webinar on June 26th. Just go to www.dimdim.com and look for featured meetings. You can read about the webinar here.

5:45 Welcome Ken Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager. Whatever the reason, we’re glad he’s here. One Minute Manager has sold over 13 Million Copies!!! Why? Maybe because everyone was tired of hearing how the Japanese were so brilliant. It came out the same time as Megatrends and In Search of Excellence, kind of a golden age of management books. It’s a classic, even if it is false advertising.

8:45 Over the years, middle managers have struggled with operational leadership. Vision is great but you have to help your people get things done. The real impact comes from operational leadership…so why is most of what we hear high-level leadership? Ken talks about a new concept- the triple bottom line.

12:34 Ken Blanchard is a “Seagull Manager”….. I love when people we look up to admit their flaws….. the greatest detriment to being a good manager is our own ego.

17:34 If you want to know why this show is different from others, the fact that Ken Blanchard just said, “Duh” sums it up, but sometimes there’s no other response. After all these years people management still impacts your business as much or more than other factors. This is a big issue for entrepeneurs (you can hear Jay Goltz talk about it on episode 130 )

23:30 Big Disclaimer…her name is Margie, not Marjorie…. Ken’s wife and co-founder is Margie… I know that…. didn’t hear the mistake til the third time through. Humble apologies. There are 5 principles of being an entrepeneur:

• Passion
• Profits (know your numbers and take care of the take care)
• People
• Priorities
• Perspective

27:00 Ken’s resources

Ken recommends Patrick Lencioni (who has been on this show)

Good to Great by Jim Collins.

Don’t let the weasels get you down!

Tags: business, Cranky Middle Manager, Ken Blanchard, management, manager, one minute entrepeneur, one minute manager, Podcast, wayne turmel