The Manager's Handbook

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Manager's Handbook began almost five years ago as a single “whitepaper” on what to do during the first 100 days after buying a company. From there Susan Pohlmeyer and Hannah Dodson helped me write one whitepaper after another, until one day I thought we'd accidentally written a book. But I was wildly naïve. The Manager's Handbook only became possible after hundreds of hours on my part (I am so glad I did not track my time) and the wisdom and guidance from many people—so much so that there is no way I can remember them all, but let me try my best ….

I owe a debt to the community of chief executive officers and entrepreneurs I know who are running companies, who read various chapters of this book and provided me with invaluable insights, and to the tens of former students who were also kind enough to read early drafts and provide feedback for a final version. So many that I must thank them as one terrific group …thank you, all!

Jeff Stevens, Phil Rosenbloom, Jon Herzog, Kevin Taweel, Karen Liesching, and Graham Weihmiller each contributed generously and directly to the content of the work.

My colleagues at Stanford, to whom I owe so much learning about the best practices of management: Coley Andrews, Jennifer Dulski, Jim Ellis, Peter Kelly, Joel Peterson, and Gerald Risk. Graham Weaver was especially helpful in developing concepts of hiring and onboarding, frameworks for coachability, and the best way to use a hiring scorecard. There was also my mentor in ...