Work Happy: What Great Bosses Know

Geisler, head of the Poynter Institute’s leadership and management faculty and the voice of the popular podcast What Great Bosses Know, has distilled years of management experience and study into this practical step-by-step guide to improving leadership skills. Covering topics including types of power, how to give and receive constructive feedback, coaching versus fixing, self-awareness and self-management, Geisler provides useful quizzes and assessments to help the reader translate the concepts into personal learning. Rather than a prescriptive, academic book on leadership, Geisler humanizes the text with anecdotes from her own leadership development as a broadcast news director in Milwaukee, sharing her revelations, corrections, and progress. In addition, she offers insightful observations about leadership, such as how each strength may be accompanied by an “Evil Twin” of perception, for example, high standards may be perceived as being impossible to satisfy and integrity perceived as a “holier-than-thou” attitude. This positive, useful work is sure to be a go-to manual for those new to management. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (June)