Andersen - Growing great employees: turning ordinary people into extraordinary performers

Im indebted to many, many people in a variety of ways:

Jim Levine, agent extraordinaireyour personal passion for the topic warms my soul. Thank you for every conversation and every effort. And the sox.

Adrienne Schultz, my editor, for being a delight and telling me about occhi di lupo .

Adrian Zackheim, my publisherglad you liked the book, even though its not about options trading. And it is a great cover.

My pre-Proteus bosses, for lessons learned: Prentiss, Tim, Peter, Dot, and Bob.

All my smart, honest, cool clients, for letting me help and helping me grow.

My wonderful Proteus colleagues, past, present, and yet to befor every step we take together toward our hoped-for future.

Jeff: your good brain and good heart sustain me daily.

My dear siblingsand that includes you, Anne.

And always, every day, to Scott, Rachel, and Ian.

D uring my first conversation with Jim Levine, the wonderful guy who became my literary agent, he asked me, Why did you write this book? I told him three things: First, That I wanted to be able to help a much larger group of peoplepeople who might never know or work with me or my company, Proteusto become more confident and successful managers of people. Second, that I wanted to offer the book as a way to more fully support our clients success. And third, the I hoped the book would become a medium for introducing new clients to Proteus and the services we provide.

Fast forward a couple of years, and I am thrilled to say that all three hopes are being fulfilled. Jim was able to connect me with the great people at Portfolio, who saw the books potential and have been extremely supportive from day one. Since Growing Great Employees was published in January of 2007, it continues to find an audience across the country and, increasingly, around the world.

Some of the responses Ive gotten have been especially touching, and have given me the sense that the book really is providing a valuable service. One client, the SVP of marketing at a media company, e-mailed me to say, I just wanted to tell you that your book was invaluable in helping me get through a really tough meeting today. I had to let someone go and restructure his group. I must have reread Chapter 11 four times between last night and this morning. It was so helpful in organizing my thoughts, planning the conversation, and working out scenarios for potential feedback. Thanks so much for the direct and indirect guidance!

And some people have, unsolicited, given me great examples of how managing more effectively has directly affected their business results. A sales manager for a large northeast-based car dealership, wrote me to say this: To my great pleasure, Ive just been told my sales team got the top results this quarter, beating out teams in much larger cities. I truly believe your book played a big part in this, as I find my interactions with those around me slightly and beautifully altered. I plan to read it again this month.

Ive also been gratified to get a wide variety of responses from people who arent managers, but who have found the skills applicable nonethelessparents, teachers, ministers, salespeople, and coaches. Most interesting to me are the indications Ive gotten that employees have also found the book useful. One person told me she is using the concepts in the book to quietly train her boss to manage her in the way she deserves to be managed!

In addition to these personal notes of success, the book has received a good deal of positive attention from more objective sources: a very warm reception by the Harvard Business Review; a nod as a recommended business book for 2007 from Kirkus Reviews; a very positive review in the National Post, Canadas largest circulation daily; and a pick as one of Jack Coverts Selects on 800CEOREAD.

One of the main points I make in the bookthat managing people is an important craft and that learning tips and tricks is not enough; that people, like gardens, thrive with consistent and skillful attention and wither without itseems to have really struck a chord. I was asked to write a manifesto for ChangeThis.com, a Web site that publishes essays by authors, each focusing on something the writer feels should be changed in business or society. I wrote about how goofy it is that so many businesses promote people into management without giving them the tools and skills they need to succeed. The essay than goes on to provide a kind of crash course, based on the book, as an immediate antidoteand it has since been downloaded more than 20,000 times!