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Reviewed by admin Thu 19 Mar 09

Bob's Rating:

In the “New Boss”, author Peter Fischer sets out a transition plan for moving into a new management role – a senior management position. From the outset, he posits his seven building blocks of a successful leadership transition – Managing Expectations, Building Key Relationships, Analysing the Situation, Clarifying Objectives, Creating a Climate for Change, Initiating Changes and Using Symbols and Rituals. All of these are eminently practical and from Fischer’s perspective, quite applicable. The one that I found particularly useful and is seldom covered in books of this nature - Using Symbols and Rituals.

The book is in two parts. Part I outlines the seven building blocks and Part II has seven case studies. Some of the case studies are written in the present tense which enables the reader to consider what he or she would do in this situation. It also enables the author to outline the challenges and suggest ways to master them. This is a nice way of involving the reader in the topic.

The book is well set out with plenty of diagrams (to provide overview and structure), good checklists and simple analytical tools, plus many short vignettes to illustrate points. It is well written and the author is obviously very experienced in this field.

I thoroughly concur with Fischer’s seven building blocks. For me, the one that is still missing is one on “teams and groups”. As this book is written for senior managers, it would have been useful to have an explanation on leading and managing teams and/or groups. That aside, the book is another excellent addition to the management literature.

I would recommend the book for senior executives and CEOs moving into a new role. Although a novice manager would gain some insights from this book, it is really more suited to senior executives.

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Bob's Rating:

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