I started at the bottom. I mean the actual bottom.
My first job in this industry was driving a relief route for a bottled water company. I loaded the truck, ran the stops, and learned early that the people doing the work usually know more than the people in the meeting about it.
years, from the loading dock to the corner office.
Over the next forty years, I worked just about every seat there is. Operations. Sales and marketing. Logistics. Fleet. Customer service. Real estate. HR. Finance, with full profit and loss on my shoulders. I came up through companies across the United States, then spent years in the UAE, where I helped build Mai Dubai from a brand name into one of the market leaders in the region.
I have led through turnarounds, mergers, and the messy work of blending two company cultures into one. I have managed in union shops and non-union shops. I have made good calls and some that still make me wince. All of it taught me the same thing: management is not complicated, but it is hard, and almost nobody hands you the manual.
So I wrote the manual I never got.
So I wrote the manual I never got. Two of them, actually. Short chapters, because I know you are busy. Plain language, because I never trusted advice that needed a dictionary. Honest stories, including the times I got it wrong, because those are the ones that stick.
The name is a joke that happens to be true. These are things you can learn in one sitting. Keep the book somewhere handy. You will know when you need it.
Quick facts