Chapter 1

Introduction and summary: real managers for the real world

Management used to be much simpler: bosses bossed and workers worked. Managers used their heads and workers used their hands. Thinking and doing were separate activities. Those were good times for managers, but bad times for workers.

Somewhere, it all started to go horribly wrong for managers. Workers slowly acquired more rights while managers lost their perks; workers got shorter working hours, managers had to work even longer hours. And while workers got the benefits of the 24/7 economy, managers got the stress of being constantly shackled to the electronic fetters of email, texts and phone.

Management has become harder. It has also become more ambiguous. Think for a moment ...

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