David Cottrell
1 Excellent Guide For Effective Management
While it is possible to read this little book in a very short time, perhaps even one sitting, the lessons to be gained from the book may take a lifetime to master.
The author hits the nail on the head with his mentoring sessions for the struggling manager. The author teaches the manager what it takes to be successful, and how to remain successful.
Covered in this book are lessons on hiring the right people, coaching and mentoring them to success, and taking personal responsibility for our actions, an attitude many employees seemed to have abandoned many years ago.
The book should be read quickly the first time to get an overall perspective on what the author has to say, then read in greater depth a second time around to really absorb those lessons.
This is a book one will not want to put up on the libray shelf and forget. It should be read again periodically to refresh oneself on the lessons it contains.
The price of the book is very small, especially compared to the benefits the book contains. While an MBA degree may contain more information and management "theory," this book teaches managers all they need to know to be successful in the workplace.
We need more books like this, short on theory and long on practical advice.
2 The Best
The best book on leadership I have ever read. It is not Peter Drucker type stuff, just common sense that has practical application.
I highly recommend for all.
3 weLEAD Book Review from the Editor of leadingtoday.org
This is a short but highly engaging book. It is written in a way that draws you into the subject. The book begins by explaining why it was written. The author begins by explaining in the prologue a story about an executive named Jeff Walters. Jeff's life was falling apart. He was in a slump in his career, personal relationships and health. He needed help and was at a crossroads, desperately needing direction. He rekindles a relationship with an old friend of his father's named Tony Pearce. Tony, being a respected and successful semi-retired business leader, offers to help but only on two conditions. The first condition is that the struggling executive must agree to meet with Tony every Monday morning for eight weeks of tutelage. The second condition is that the author must promise to teach others the experiences and lessons Tony teaches him. Monday Morning Leadership is the fulfillment of the second condition.
The eight chapters of the book are a synopsis of the Monday morning sessions with Tony. Jeff shows up with his spiral notebook ready to learn and grow. Each Monday morning session is educational and entertaining to read. There is no new ground covered here regarding known leadership principles, but the analogies used by Tony puts many in a new light. For example, in the third chapter (The Third Monday - Escape from Management Land) Jeff learns that many managers fall into a trap called management land. In this artificial world things are not always as they seem. Simple things become complex and games are played. People are rewarded not for performance but for saying the things managers want to hear. Jeff learns that he must "escape from management land and get in touch with your people". He also learns there are three types of employees or "stars" on every team and how to deal with them.
This is a book you will enjoy and it ends with a collection of quotations from Tony that are thought-provoking and helpful. You will be able to read it in one or two short sittings. Monday Morning Leadership deftly covers a number of important leadership principles in a refreshing way. If you want something different, easy to understand, and a pleasure to peruse, Monday Morning Leadership is a book for you.
4 Very Little Information
This CD presented a few tips with very few details presented in a cutesy way that pads the small amount of information presented to span 1 1/2 CD's.
There are many better CD's/books to help you improve your management techniques.
5 Very GOOD!
This book could have been written about me. I am a stuggling manager who is having a tough time juggling everything. Unfortunately, I do not have a "Tony" to help. In fact, my boss needs to read this book too.
I highly recommend Monday Morning Leadership and Monday Morning Leadership for Women. The women version has some of the same concepts in it but is very good as well.
I would love to find someone like Tony who would invest their time and wisdom with me.
6 8 Monday mornings you won't forget
A simple story told in a memorable way about a tired, almost burnt out manager who seeks renewal through a trusted friend. They meet on Monday mornings to implement some basic strategies. Although these strategies were not new to me, they remind us to stay on the right track when we are presented with convenient options that are not in our overall best interest. I recommend Optimal Thinking: How to be Your Best Self along with this book to help managers make the commitment to consistently do their best and transform themselves into optimizers.
7 Become an Effective Manager in Eight Lessons!
The best business books are brief, clear and pertinent. Monday Morning Leadership fits all of those requirements.
You can read the whole book in a few minutes . . . and think about and apply what you learned for a lifetime.
The format is around a man who's struggling as a manager. His operation isn't performing well. His boss isn't happy. He's not happy. He doesn't have time to be with his family or to do what he likes to do. It looks like his career has peaked . . . and his job may be in jeopardy. What to do?
If that sounds familiar, almost everyone has had that experience who has taken on a management role.
Jeff decides to do something about it. He contacts an old family friend, Tony Pierce, who has had a very successful business career. Tony has agreed to meet with Jeff for eight weeks on Monday mornings.
In their eight sessions, Jeff learns the following lessons:
1. He has to accept total responsibility for results without excuses and to think like a leader rather than a manager or follower.
2. Be sure everyone knows what the main thing is that they have to accomplish and keep their faith in you as a leader.
3. Get closer to your people and help your top performers improve.
4. Act with integrity and prepare for how to handle problems before they occur.
5. Improve the team you have by only hiring high performers.
6. Manage your time carefully by looking for ways to save minutes wherever you can and by being more effective at whatever you do.
7. Encourage, recognize and respect your people.
8. Advance your learning by reading, being open to trying new things, listening, helping others, setting goals and always being professional and positive.
Those points make it sound like you don't need to read the book. You already knew most of those things, didn't you? But the story will embed the learning into your mind in powerful ways. Don't miss it!
I was especially impressed by Mr. Cottrell's ability to turn a phrase. The book abounds with aphorisms that you will find yourself remembering and possibly quoting as you coach your replacements. Many of the best ways are repeated on pages 97-101. Here's one of my favorites: "People quit people before they quit companies." Key principles are also summarized on pages 102-103.
This book would also make a great gift to some you know who is just starting out as a manager. The gift will be even more meaningful if you offer to coach that person as well.
Make a difference!
8 "I wish my supervisor would read this"
I generally avoid these "allegory" type books, feeling that they are written for beginners rather than for those who have read volumes of self-help jargon. This book kicks butt. The story part doesn't take the weird twists characteristic of this type of book. The advise is easy to understand and instantly usable.
I highly recommend this book.
9 Worth Buying!
This book is worth buying! It has digestable nuggets of good, common sense wisdom. It is easy to read and every person that I have bought this book for has found it to be entertaining and useful.
It is a permament part of my company's new manager circulum.
10 Monday Morning Leadership
Monday Morning Leadership is a quick read that any leader from business to education can read for knowledge, but maybe more importantly - reflection! The personal story leads the reader through his own personal re-discovery of strengths and weaknesses in business and personal life. The mentor, Tony, leads "Jeff" through 8 mentoring sessions that guide Jeff through his personal discovery of his own leadership style. These sessions with Tony helps him to re-discover changes that he can make to be the leader he once was, or could be - only new and improved with Tonys reflective questioning guidance.
11 OUTSTANDING!!!
This book is outstanding.
The author spoke at one of our management meetings and our company gave us the book. He was fantastic.
This book hits home with me ... it is not rocket scientist stuff but it is filled with information that I can use.
I recommend it highly.
12 Where has this book been?
Monday Leadership is the best book I have read on management. It is simple, short, and relative. I need a mentor like Tony myself and unfortunately I have never had one in my twenty year business career. Monday is earmarked and torn because I cannot get some of the sessions out of my mind ... I am there myself.
Thanks to Tony for sharing his wisdom.
13 Mandatory Reading for anyone in a leadership pos
This says it all. I wouldn't promote someone without making them read this book.
14 Simple yet eye-opening
This book was sent to me as a gift. My first thought was to set it aside but I began reading and could not stop until I finished the book. It is written in story format that makes it interesting, and it opens your eyes to ways of becoming not only a better manager but a better person.
15 Terrific Book
This book has it all. A great story, excellent learning points, and it is a short read. Monday Morning Leadership will be a staple of management books for a long, long time. It is that good.
16 Monday Morning Leadership
Our management team read this book and loved it! The length is perfect (short) but it contains valuable insite for all management levels: good reminders for the experienced and items to consider for those getting started.
17 Excellent
Very Good Read. Not rocket science, just common sense leadership. Required reading for all my managers and future managers.
18 To Monday Morning Quarterbacks
Are you a Monday morning quarterback, like me? You don't need to be with this one. David Cottrell has eaten our lunch. His book, Monday Morning Leadership, is a story that called all the right plays. If you are a leadership fan, you simply should not miss this one. This is a great story that shows the value of a creative overall team strategy and invaluable pre-game planning for achieving success and putting up lots of W's. Whatsmore, it's actually enjoyable! As you can see, I'm rooting for it.
To get into all the X's and O's behind leadership I also recommend going on to read, West Point: Character Leadership Education, by Norman Thomas Remick, another one I'm rooting for along with Monday Morning Leadership.
19 Applicable to All Managers
Was given this book to read from our company president. Boy, am I glad he did. I've read many Leadership/Management books in years past, and often they repeat themselves with best practices like, "People are your greatest assets" or "Communication is most important". While Monday Morning Leadership is not immune to dipping into these best practices, the book takes it a step further by telling a story of a mentor and mentee, and how implementing best practices had an impact on his organization. 8 lessons are provided and what stuck out for me was the key tips for managing Meeting time more effectively along with the root cause analysis of what really are important factors for departments/companies/employees. The book is a lunch-time read (95 pgs.) so it makes it easy for each lesson to digest throughout the days ahead.
20 Wonderful!
Mr. Cottrell gives enlightenment to those of us who are baffled by change in the workplace. Whether the change is in personnel or organizational in particular. Thanks for the identification process.
21 A must read for anybody that wants to lead effectively
Wow, I was impressed. The book is not that big, but it sure packs a lot of sensible information. I smiled and pounded my fist in excitement while I read it because my work environment is almost a mirror image of what he discusses. If my boss could only find the time to read it!
22 Simple yet profound
This book hits home. It addresses many of the challenges I face in management. It is simple, yet profound...I recommend it highly. Terrific short read.
23 Common sense goes a long way
Monday Morning Leadership is a quick easy read that guides the reader through the practicalities and meaning of leadership. Buy it and give it to your staff. While you're at it, get a copy of Optimal Thinking: How to be Your Best Self to OPTIMIZE thinking, leadership and performance throughout your organization.
24 A true treasure - common sense for any leader
This book was sent to me, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much the content was both relevant and outlined the skills in small digestible portions. In the fast paced world of business, common sense sometimes gets pushed to the back burner. This book brings it right back to the front. I was amazed to find how much the issues covered are basically universal issues and concerns to any type of organization. The concepts were presented in such a manner that reader knows how to implement them easily and quickly.
This book clearly exceeds the mark. It is an easy read, and makes an immediate impact.
25 Terrific Book - Need more stars to rate it!
I was skeptical when this book came across my desk. Another promotional piece, I thought. This time I was wrong.
Monday Morning Leadership is the best book I have read in a long time. The principles outlined in the book are timeless and apply to all areas of my life. Drivers and Passengers, Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing, Buckets and Dippers ... very creative and clever chapter titles but more importantly the principles are true. I even enjoyed the audio tape, especially where the author gave the story behind the stories.
Really good stuff in this short book. I recommend it highly.
26 Excellent!
This book is great.
Our managers are required to read several management books each year. Monday Morning Leadership is the best I have read - by far. The book has a great combination - the least number of pages combined with the most useful information- of any of the books we have read. No fluff- or bulla bulla as Tony would say - just good stuff that I can actually use.
Buy the book. I am sure you will enjoy the journey with Jeff and Tony.
27 Order this book NOW!
If you own a business, or work for one (small or large), do yourself a favor and get this book. It is short, sweet, and to the point. And the messages, quotes, and wisdom between the pages are worth thousands more than the cover price.
I am ordering the rest of the books written by Cottrell. If they are only half as good as this one, they'll be fantastic!
28 Wow!
This is the way books should be written. Short, easy to relate to, and teach things that you can actually use. Monday Morning Leadership is real world. I have faced every challenge faced by Jeff in the book. Unfortunately, I did not have a mentor like Tony to help me through the challenges.
This book should be a must read for all managers regardless of who or what you are managing. It has also provided a good track for me to conduct my Monday Morning Meetings with my staff.
I love this book!
29 Small Book with Great Value
This book is short and easy to read, yet very insightful, packed with valuable principles, and practical! Progressively, through 8 mentoring sessions, one for each Monday Morning, you will learn practical ways to apply essential leadership principles. This is an excellent book on leadership and mentoring that you can't afford to miss!
30 My first book on leadership and management
Book provides with 8 useful tips on how to change from just being a "fat, do nothing" manager into a successful leader. Tips emphasize importance on manager's responsibility and transparency as the main ingredients towards success for a team or environment.
31 Your Monday Mornings will Never be the Same!
I have read (I daresay) hundreds of books on management, the goods, the bads, and even the uglies! MONDAY MORNING LEADERSHIP is right up there on the top of my list now - for a couple reasons.
1. Its short. Let's face it: most of us barely have the time to do what's expected of us, much less pick up a book on management. TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT - I am betting that the time it takes to read this book (about one hour) will make a tangible difference in how you do business.
2. There's no fluff. It's just the meat, nothing but the meat. Sure, there are a few illustrations scattered about but only where a story might strengthen the message. I appreciate authors who appreciate that I have better things to do (namely supervising employees) than sit and read!
3. Finally, if any book comes close to teaching a manager "everything they need to know in one sitting", this does it. As a matter of fact, I teach management workshops for new managers, and have decided that MONDAY MORNING LEADERSHIP will likely become required reading.
32 Good stuff
I am half way through this book. I am impressed and I think I already learned quite a bit from this book. I am trying to get into a management position and thinking like a manager is essential to succeed. This book is a great help.
33 Easy to apply Leadership lessons
One could almost say this book is "Tuesday's With Morrie" meets "Leadership and the One Minute Manager". Monday Morning Leadership is David Cottrell's story of his struggles at work and the lesson's he receives from his mentor, Tony. Tony is a very successful and wise former turnaround specialist who is now an author and business coach. David spends eight Monday mornings with Tony learning easy to apply leadership theories. One of my favorites is the difference between drivers and passengers in the car. Most of all, I appreciated that Tony only ask of one thing for David to be his mentor, that he too passed these lessons on. And with this recommendation, I too shall pass it on.
34 Well written and easily digested
This book is one of the few leadership books which provides vital information without complicated, unnecessary filler material. I enjoyed it very much and recommend it.
35 Outstanding - Well Written Book
For all of us who work with individuals, want to advance in our careers and enhance our skills and knowledge, this is THE BOOK. Well written, easy reading and packed with good information. I would highly suggest this book to others.
36 Outstanding Book - Monday Morning Leadership
This book is refreshing and well written for those of us who continuously work with others, as well as those that strive to be a great leader. David Cottrell writes from a perspective that we can all understand. Best book I have read in a long time.
37 Concentrated wisdom!
Monday Morning Leadership is surprizingly simple yet amazingly profound! The lessons are presented in style and manner you can immediately apply to your business situation. You will read this book and immediately think of five people on your team you want to have read this book. It is concentrated wisdom!
38 Concentrated wisdom!
Monday Morning Leadership is surprizingly simple yet amazingly profound! The lessons are presented in style and manner you can immediately apply to your business situation. You will read this book and immediately think of five people on your team you want to have read this book. It is concentrated wisdom!
39 A Short Story with Valuable Information
This is a excellent book on leadership and mentoring. I read it in less than an hour- could not put in down.
It is in the One Minute Manager, Fish, Who Moved My Cheese catagory but it has many, many more teaching points. Have fun taking the journey with Jeff.
40 READ THIS BOOK!
This is a great book! Every Monday was a reminder of lessons that I know but tend to forget. Every manager,team leader, supervisor, and CEO should take an hour to read this book.
I have not had the luxury of a mentor like Tony and these eight mentoring sessions will be remembered and re-read for a long time.
