The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhou
JACK’S TAKE
A family member bought this book for me when I first became a people manager. I was every emotion under the sun - excited, scared, confident, stressed - you name it, I felt it!
I loved this book because it is real. It wasn’t written in a laboratory by a Harvard business professor, it was written by a young lady who was suddenly thrust into a managerial role at Facebook in her mid-twenties. She recounts great stories and breaks them down into actionable takeaways - trust me, you won’t be disappointed!
No book or training course can really prepare you for the real thing - but what this book can do is give you a bit of confidence that you are not the first or last person going through the process of becoming a leader.
KEY IDEAS
① A manager’s job is to get better outcomes from a group of people working together: build a team that works well together; support members in reaching their career goals; and to create processes to get work done smoothly and efficiently.
② Balancing your individual contributor tendencies. You were promoted for doing great individual work. Now you have to guide others to do the same. Before jumping in and doing someone’s work for them, pause, take a breath, and think “what does this situation really need from me?”
③ Everyone feels like an imposter sometimes. Just remember, every manager was once new and in the same position that you are in right now.
④ Manage yourself. You have been given a responsibility to guide a group of people towards the organisations goals, but don’t forget yourself in the process. A little bit of self care will go a long way.
“Repeat after me: the story I have in my head is probably irrational.”
MAYBE SKIP IF
You aren’t a manager and you have no desires to be.
You’ve been a manager for quite some time already and feel you have it pretty locked down.
WHO THIS IS FOR
You have just started, are about to start, or only a few months into management.
You want specific tools and frameworks you can use to become the best version of yourself.
You want to feel like you aren’t the only one on this journey.
You have imposter syndrome about your management abilities.
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