Ken Blanchard

Since its initial publication in the early 1980s, The One Minute Manager has taught generations of leaders about effective, person-centered management. It's a quick book to read (I read it in under an hour), and is filled with wisdom regarding dealing with others, both at work and outside it. This original edition is a little dated (today, one would hope that managers would refrain from touching subordinates while giving reprimands) but is still recommended.

I generally don't like to spoil someone's read in my reviews, but let me save you some time with a BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front):

Different people in different situations at different times require different leadership approaches.

There. Summarized in one sentence what Blanchard's 140 pages of white space (times how many different versions?) could have said in an at most a three page background description, and what the trio of credited authors of this book started with 625 pages.

Every now show more and then I entertain the thought of getting an advanced degree in management theory. Then I read a book like this, which sobers me back to reality and a deliberate "are you sure?" I am a lot less impressed with Ken Blanchard's One Minute Manager books than what seems like most people. I had to read another one for a manager's round table and thought yet again that Blanchard has a gift for fluffing out simple concepts. I decided to see if there was any substance behind the too common sense to be branded "Situational Leadership" business and requested an inter library loan of this book.

I should admit that I do think Blanchard's books, unlike a lot of business books I've read, actually have some (albeit very simple) value at the core. That I also find them to be overly thin and incredibly annoying doesn't change that. I'm not sure how much of this book, though, is Blanchard; it seems likely to be largely Hersey - Blanchard appears to have lusted for the golden calf and split to make some big bucks. Be warned...this a text book, and as such, cumbersome. I was 188 pages in - lots of management theory history - before they got to Situational Leadership. This is tedious and repetitious, and props to Blanchard for condensing it.

Most of the time, I don't get as much out of these management books as others seem to. I might grab one or two thoughts to stick in the toolbox, but that more often than not is enough to justify the tedious reads. Maybe this stuff just comes naturally to me, but the concepts expounded here are no-brainers. Slapping a registered trademark on "Situational Leadership" is like the guy wanting to patent the double mouse click.

This might work for some, but it is a textbook and not a fun read (it's not difficult...just not fun.) For something more obvious, go find one of Blanchard's One Minutes - so, so far from difficult, and also ... not fun. show less

Where was this book when I was eagerly devouring every Arthurian, Celtic, or intensively-recomplicated adventure story I could find, when I was in my early-to-mid teens? I strongly suspect that this would have become a favorite had I read it in my youth. But now, as my tastes have matured and I have more books to read and less time to read them in, I found this book less appealing. The beginning was fairly engrossing, and the end picked up and grabbed me just as I was beginning to waver show more toward the Eight Deadly Words ("I don't care what happens to these people!") ... but if not for the last four or so chapters, which are strong enough to keep me wanting to read the next volume, I would be glad to have read this only to have an opinion from knowledge rather than from the opinions of other readers. Unfortunately, I'm too old (or at least too distracted) to appreciate it properly. show less

The concepts within are sound. They make great sense to anyone who understands leadership...and isn't locked into one style. And...they also could have been conveyed in three to five pages. But, tracts don't sell and certainly don't make money, so Blanchard tends to repeat his basics until he has 15-20 pages, writes them on the outside of a balloon and inflates said balloon with enough fluff to get to a publishable (and salable) 135 or so pages.

Am I hard on Blanchard? Yes. I've read a lot of show more business books in the last four or five years, and the parable gimmick annoys me. As does the utter lack of references. I get to page 143 without at the very least a bibliography, and I'm thinking "this is an opinion, nothing more". Whether or not I agree with the opinion is immaterial...that might serve to fulfill a confirmation bias, but the skeptic in me wants to know the meat of the claims. I plan to read Management of Organization Behavior, by Blanchard Paul Hersey and Dewey Johnson to see if there is any research to back their "theory".

This was an assigned read (I don't get too many of those anymore) for a management course. For me personally, and given my military background, the points are intuitively obvious. Now, I'll be curious to see the responses of course-mates. And... I'll try not to be an ass when discussing the book.

I do subscribe to the concepts...I just don't like the format. show less