[.ca] Ignited: Managers! Light Up Your Company and Career for ... (ISBN 0131492489)

Support the Backbone of Your Organization!:
What a wonderfully insightful and useful tool to support what is often times considered the backbone of corporate North American! Mr. Thompson adroitly points out the common issues that plague organiations and deftly navigates readers through the morass, identifying opportunities and avoiding common pitfalls. Mr. Thompson's approach is refreshing in the way it encourages Managers to be proactive in taking responsibility and through their accountability, 'ignite' themselves and the professionals around them. As an entrepreneur, coach, and consultant; I can confidently refer this book to managers and the executives that manage them.

How managers in "The Middle" can make a difference:
In a remarkably thorough and informative Introduction, Vince Thompson observes that managers in what he characterizes as "The Middle" are "the connective tissue in their organizations. Only they have the ground-level expertise required for success, the links to people above and below them in the corporate structure, the insights into customer needs, competitive realities, and the organization's strengths and weaknesses." Thompson wrote this book for them but also for those to whom they report because, as he correctly insists, the potential contributions that managers in The Middle can make are too often ignored or under-valued. Thompson's book offers a better solution: "a way for \omanagers in The Middle\c to stay within the corporation and begin making the kind of difference \othey\c want to make, taking back \otheir\c businesses, careers, and lives in the process." First, Thompson asks his reader respond to ten questions that comprise "The Ignited Quiz." The purpose of the responses is merely to suggest (rather than measure) to what extent the respondent is an effective and empowered manager in The Middle. In this context, I am reminded of what Ernest Becker suggests in his book, The Denial of Death. No one can avoid physical death but there is another "death" that can be denied: That which occurs when we become wholly preoccupied with fulfilling others' expectations of us, both in our personal lives and in our careers. Thompson then carefully organizes the material that follows "Base Camp: The Ignited Quiz" within three Parts. First, he offers some basic tools for improving the thinking and behavior of managers in The Middle. Next, he provides seven "Ignition Points" that are keys to the unique value that managers in The Middle can create. Finally, in Part III, he explains how to create a balanced fulfilling life while earning a living. They are not mutually exclusive. The challenge is to understand what really is most important in one's life, then achieve and then sustain an appropriate balance of those values dreams, objectives, needs, interests, and obligations. Of special interest to me is what Thompson has to say about what he calls "Quake Country," a land of perpetual change. "A place where companies merge, morph, rise, and fall at an ever-accelerating pace - where the only thing certain about the latest management buzz phrases - from `failing fast,' `coopetition,' and cannibalization' to `process commoditization,' `productive friction,' and `social networking' - is that they will be replaced by new ones tomorrow, each change leaving the essential business problems behind." Much of value has been said and written about the difficulties that C-level executives face when struggling to make sense of and then respond to such an environment. Indeed much has been said and written about the extent to which C-level executives (especially CEOs such as Dennis Kozlowski at Tyco, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Schilling at Enron, John Rigas at Adelphia, and Gary Winnick at Global Crossing) have exacerbated these difficulties. To the best of my knowledge, very little attention has been focused on those who manage in The Middle. Hence the importance of Thompson's book. Here is a representative selection of Thompson's key points: "The concept of Management Value Added (MVA) is based on a simple question that you should ask whenever you're making a decision about how to invest your time and energy: `What value does management add?' And how could your actions `add value' to any situation in business? That's right - by helping to meet your bosses' needs. The goal of MVA is to ensure that you are adding the value most important to your boss and company but also that you are always adding value in every situation." For example, managers must understand that if they are going to a meeting, they better be well-prepared to add value to discussions. Perhaps a better example would be a situation, what Bruce Bodaken and Robert Fritz characterize as a "managerial moment of truth," when supervisers have an opportunity to provide constructive criticism to a report-to that will be of substantial value to her or his performance and thus to the overall performance of the given organization. "People come and people go, but processes - once developed, codified, and set in motion - tend to perpetuate themselves until someone deliberately changes them (which is often easier said than done). The sum of the processes defines what the company does and determines whether or not it is successful." Citing Steve Mummulo (of US Search) as an example of a "Linkmaker," Thompson sums up the lessons to be learned. "When you're trying to get something done, use the proper channels first. Then, if the official procedures don't work and you find you must make an end run, do it in a politically sound way: Explain your reasons, get your boss's support, and keep people informed. Above all, show results. If you can make your network pay off, you'll be a hero. If you don't, you won't." Citing Henry Mintzberg's concept of "emergent strategy," Thompson asserts that it is the strategic role of managers in The Middle "not simply to execute the strategy dictated by the top executives of the firm, but to supplement it with creative ideas, initiatives, and inventions of their own, driven by their first-hand knowledge of developments in the competitive arena, their own capabilities, and the openings for profit they perceive." Given the organizational constraints that limit, often discourage, and sometimes even punish open and honest communication (especially "bad news"), how can those who manage in The Middle help their team members overcome barriers when tough corporate challenges demand clear and frank communication? Thompson suggests these tactics: "Acknowledging the constraints. Establishing an important business context and purpose. Recognizing the crucial role of the team member. Creating a separate space where it's safe to be open. Rigorously avoiding any form of recrimination or retribution for negative or `politically incorrect' statements." This review is somewhat longer than I originally intended but I consider the issues that Thompson addresses to be so important, and his insights and counsel about managing in The Middle to be so valuable, that I felt obligated to include several quotations from his narrative. If I understand Thompson's ultimate objectives correctly, they include the following: 1. Help those who manage in The Middle to be more effective as "the connective tissue," as "the links to people above and below them in the corporate structure." This will strengthen their organization and, at the same time, expedite their career's development as well as nourish their personal growth. 2. Help those "above" (i.e. in senior management especially CEOs) to understand, appreciate, and then take full advantage of what managers in The Middle offer as "connective tissue" and "links" as well as their insights into customer needs, their awareness of competitive realities, and their understanding of the given organization's strengths and weaknesses. 3. Help those "below" the superviser to whom they report. As Vince Thompson correctly observes, "If you help your boss achieve success with his or her boss (not by going around your boss but collaboratively), you're really onto something. You're focusing on the issues that matter most at the highest levels of the company - the ones that'll get you the most recognition, the most power within the firm, and permission to pursue all your other dreams and goals." As I finished reading this brilliant book, I was again reminded that organizations and even individual careers resemble vehicles in many different ways. Here's one example that seems especially relevant. Let's say you have just purchased a 2005 "cream puff" Mercedes with a full tank of gas, new tires and a new battery, tight breaks, and it has just been washed. Looks new. And of course, it has been properly inspected, registered, and insured. Then when you insert and turn the key, nothing happens. Nothing. The car isn't going anywhere and neither are you until the ignition problem is solved. For many people, particularly those who "insert and turn a key" in their organization and/or in their career...and nothing happens, this will be the most valuable business book they have read in years.