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Managing the Gray Areas: Essential Insights for Leading People, Projects & Organizations
This groundbreaking book by best-selling author Jerry Manas touches on topics such as principles, values, ethics, decision-making, incentives, staffing, critical thinking, and communication, pulling ideas from a wide variety of knowledge areas. Managing the Gray Areas explores typical challenges that many leaders of people, projects and organizations struggle with, and offers a set of guidelines, principles, and tools that can help navigate these murky waters. Challenges and issues covered in this essential guide
- Ensuring accountability without micromanagement
- Implementing the right level of internal processes
- Creating positive images for organizations, teams and products
- Balancing individual needs with organizational goals
- Communicating with simplicity and context
- Assembling teams and team makeup
- Creating flexible, yet integrated organizations
- And more!
How we address these difficult choices will determine the feel of our organization as a whole as well as how people interact, how work gets done, and ultimately the strategies of both our present and our future. If you believe that true leadership is about understanding and managing complexities instead of taking black and white approaches to problems, you need this book!
- Ensuring accountability without micromanagement
- Implementing the right level of internal processes
- Creating positive images for organizations, teams and products
- Balancing individual needs with organizational goals
- Communicating with simplicity and context
- Assembling teams and team makeup
- Creating flexible, yet integrated organizations
- And more!
How we address these difficult choices will determine the feel of our organization as a whole as well as how people interact, how work gets done, and ultimately the strategies of both our present and our future. If you believe that true leadership is about understanding and managing complexities instead of taking black and white approaches to problems, you need this book!
232 pages, Perfect Paperback
First published January 15, 2008
About the author
Jerry Manas
8 booksWhether writing about leadership lessons from historic figures and other icons, or musing on organizational culture and management, Jerry Manas has a knack for combining history, science, and a variety of other topics to bring fresh and entertaining perspectives to what could otherwise be dry subjects.
A thought leader in organizational project and resource management, Jerry is frequently cited by leading voices in the world of business, including legendary management guru Tom Peters (In Search of Excellence), who often references Jerry’s best selling work, Napoleon on Project Management, for its insights on simplicity and character. Jerry’s work has been highlighted in a variety of publications, including Leadership Excellence, The National Post, The Globe and Mail, The Chicago Sun Times, The Huffington Post, and The Houston Chronicle. He has written numerous books and articles and appeared on radio programs nationwide.
Jerry’s newest book, The Resource Management and Capacity Planning Handbook (McGraw-Hill, Sept 2014), offers benchmarks, guidelines, and tools for maximizing the value of organizational “people” resources. Max Wideman, considered by many to be the “father of project management,” says of the book, “Author Jerry Manas steps nimbly through this minefield with solid evidence and practical advice—all laced together in an easy-to-read style and light-hearted humor. ”
In Napoleon on Project Management, Manas drew insightful parallels between Napoleon’s strategic brilliance and success in today’s organizational and business worlds. The prestigious Kirkus Reviews called it “the ultimate case study in effective project management,” and called his research “impeccable.” The book has been published in eight languages and has been course adopted in universities around the world, including in Iceland where Jerry appeared on National TV applying the lessons to the country’s economic recovery.
Jerry’s book Managing the Gray Areas, which brought new perspectives on resolving the most common leadership dilemmas, was hailed by Pat Williams, Senior VP of the Orlando Magic basketball team, as “a new path for leaders.” Project Lessons from the Roman Empire was a natural follow-up to the Napoleon book, and examines lessons in leadership, planning, and communication from the rise and fall of Rome. Jerry was also a co-author of the bestseller, 42 Rules for Creating WE, which Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, called “today’s greatest guide for team success.”
In addition to his books on management and leadership, Jerry writes fiction books as J.B. Manas. His debut sci-fi thriller, The Kronos Interference, with co-author Edward Miller, received a starred review in Kirkus Reviews, who called it “impressively original” and [a] “tour de force.” The book was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best of 2012. Visit the authors’ blog at www.millerandmanas.wordpress.com.
An active voice in the field, Jerry considers himself an “organizational architect.” Besides his writing, he is senior editor and research consultant at the market leading enterprise portfolio management firm, Planview, where he applies his passion to developing and evangelizing best practices in the areas of leadership, planning, execution, and value delivery.
He is also a founding member of The Creating We Institute, an international thought leadership community dedicated to fostering WE-centric thinking in organizations through research in neuroscience and psychology. The institute is partnering with the National Constitution Center on exciting and transformative leadership programs to be announced in 2014.
In addition, Jerry is a founding member of the Project Management Institute’s New Media Council, created to boost PMI’s presence and awareness with regard to new media, as well as the co-founder of the popular project portfolio management blog PMThink!. He served on the leadership team for the first editions of PMI’s international standards for portfolio and
A thought leader in organizational project and resource management, Jerry is frequently cited by leading voices in the world of business, including legendary management guru Tom Peters (In Search of Excellence), who often references Jerry’s best selling work, Napoleon on Project Management, for its insights on simplicity and character. Jerry’s work has been highlighted in a variety of publications, including Leadership Excellence, The National Post, The Globe and Mail, The Chicago Sun Times, The Huffington Post, and The Houston Chronicle. He has written numerous books and articles and appeared on radio programs nationwide.
Jerry’s newest book, The Resource Management and Capacity Planning Handbook (McGraw-Hill, Sept 2014), offers benchmarks, guidelines, and tools for maximizing the value of organizational “people” resources. Max Wideman, considered by many to be the “father of project management,” says of the book, “Author Jerry Manas steps nimbly through this minefield with solid evidence and practical advice—all laced together in an easy-to-read style and light-hearted humor. ”
In Napoleon on Project Management, Manas drew insightful parallels between Napoleon’s strategic brilliance and success in today’s organizational and business worlds. The prestigious Kirkus Reviews called it “the ultimate case study in effective project management,” and called his research “impeccable.” The book has been published in eight languages and has been course adopted in universities around the world, including in Iceland where Jerry appeared on National TV applying the lessons to the country’s economic recovery.
Jerry’s book Managing the Gray Areas, which brought new perspectives on resolving the most common leadership dilemmas, was hailed by Pat Williams, Senior VP of the Orlando Magic basketball team, as “a new path for leaders.” Project Lessons from the Roman Empire was a natural follow-up to the Napoleon book, and examines lessons in leadership, planning, and communication from the rise and fall of Rome. Jerry was also a co-author of the bestseller, 42 Rules for Creating WE, which Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, called “today’s greatest guide for team success.”
In addition to his books on management and leadership, Jerry writes fiction books as J.B. Manas. His debut sci-fi thriller, The Kronos Interference, with co-author Edward Miller, received a starred review in Kirkus Reviews, who called it “impressively original” and [a] “tour de force.” The book was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best of 2012. Visit the authors’ blog at www.millerandmanas.wordpress.com.
An active voice in the field, Jerry considers himself an “organizational architect.” Besides his writing, he is senior editor and research consultant at the market leading enterprise portfolio management firm, Planview, where he applies his passion to developing and evangelizing best practices in the areas of leadership, planning, execution, and value delivery.
He is also a founding member of The Creating We Institute, an international thought leadership community dedicated to fostering WE-centric thinking in organizations through research in neuroscience and psychology. The institute is partnering with the National Constitution Center on exciting and transformative leadership programs to be announced in 2014.
In addition, Jerry is a founding member of the Project Management Institute’s New Media Council, created to boost PMI’s presence and awareness with regard to new media, as well as the co-founder of the popular project portfolio management blog PMThink!. He served on the leadership team for the first editions of PMI’s international standards for portfolio and
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 14, 2020
Caveat on the rating is that I listened to this as a book-on-tape. I think this book would have been better consumed in print. It almost seemed more like a study-guide companion than a typical audio book. I had a hard time following and tracking the book on CD.
The premise of the book is solid. Managers don't get paid to make black-and-white decisions. Management is all about effectively navigating the gray areas. I did get some good takeaways and I think most Managers, seasoned or prospective, would also.
The premise of the book is solid. Managers don't get paid to make black-and-white decisions. Management is all about effectively navigating the gray areas. I did get some good takeaways and I think most Managers, seasoned or prospective, would also.
March 16, 2009
While this book is very tactical for people managers, the major concept that stood out for me was the behavioral effects of positive affirmations on an employee. Specifically, Manas discusses the power of the "Hawthorne Effect" or the "halo" effect: when perceived value is higher, people perform better. Positive reinforcement is ultimately critical to long-term success.
A must-read for people managers.
A must-read for people managers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews