Winning Em' Over

Selected in 1993 by Business Week as one of the best teachers of business management in the world, Jay Conger explains the current revolution in management that is radically reshaping the way we work -- and shows managers on all levels how to thrive in its wake.pIn today's business world, an historic shift is taking place in the nature of management. Until recently, bosses could direct and order their subordinates simply through the power of their position. But this approach of command authority no longer works.pThere has been a generational change in our attitude toward authority. Baby Boom and Generation X employees are far less willing than previous generations to obediently follow orders from the top. In addition, the work unit of the future -- the cross-functional team -- is a place where no one has formal authority over anyone else. Instead, as Jay Conger explains with insight and conviction, today's most effective managers are influencing others through novel forms of persuasion -- and are getting levels of commitment and motivation from their employees that their predecessors could only dream of.pConger exposes the most commonly held myths about the art of persuasion and shows how to constructively influence others without manipulating them. Most important, he details the four keys to becoming an effective persuader: building credibility, finding common ground so that others have a stake in your ideas, developing compelling positions and evidence, and emotionally connecting with your coworkers so that your solutions resonate on a personal level.

iWinning 'Em Over: A New Model for Managing in the Age of Persuasion/i, by University of Southern California management professor Jay A. Conger, champions the cause of "teamwork" over "hierarchy" as the proper paradigm for effective leadership in our changing corporate environment. The key, he writes, is using constructive forms of persuasion rather than old-style methods of command to gain levels of commitment and motivation that otherwise might prove unattainable. Conger lays out four steps--building credibility, finding common ground, developing compelling positions, and connecting emotionally--that he contends will help managers more effectively direct their employees toward this goal. I--Howard Rothman/I