Rating: 
Summary: Check out Watkins's new book, older stuff good too.
Review: I work for a leading health care company and went through one of Watkins's transition forum programs here. If really helped me get off to a running start. We used his newer book on transitions, The First 90 Days. We also got his negotiation book, Breakthrough Business Negotiation, which also was very helpful. I've since also read his book on influencing government and business strategy, Winning the Influence Game. Definitely helpful if you are dealing with issues of regulation and reimbursement as we are. It's nice to see him getting recognition for the First 90 days, but his earlier stuff is just as good, if negotiation or influence are important to what you do.
Rating:
Summary: Get off with a Great Start
Review: No doubt, this book clearly shows the way for a new supervisor on the job. It alerts the reader, in a progressive and learning manner, to the upcoming challenges and pitfalls that await a manager. The book does a super job in laying out a plan, particularly in the areas of subordinate relationships and office politics.Also recommend a follow-on book that my company uses for management training and has been successful with: The Leader's Guide: 15 Essential Skills.
Rating: 
Summary: Flawed Yet an Important Book
Review: Our firm provides outplacement and retained search services. We are providing this book for all our successful job candidates. The focus of this book is to help new manage successfully navigate the first six months of an assignment. It begins with the fuzzy beginnings, when job candidate and recruiter first talk with each other. The Tables beginning on pages 134 are quite useful. When two authors write a book together, a reader should have the right to expect a duet unless the authors explicitly state otherwise. The book suffers lack of coordination between the authors. Chapters 8,9,10 are written in a different voice and lack the practical, time- sensitive punch of the first half of the book. Indeed Chapters 8, 9, 10 don't appear to be written from the perspective of the reader of this book. It is more like a major cut-and-paste job from a Management 101 text, with superficial references to earlier chapters. The reality is that Chapters 8,9, and 10 could have been easily deleted from the entire book. Laurence J. Stybel Stybel Peabody Boston, MA
Rating: 
Summary: Don't get the "digital version"
Review: Pretty disappointing that Amazon didn't make it clear to me that I was paying $5.00 for only eight pages of text in the "eBook".
Rating:
Summary: Content of the Digital Version
Review: Thanks to the other reviews I knew I would be buying a summarized version of the book. I was hoping it would still provide the essence and condensed insights supposedly in the full version; however, I was quite disappointed. I was a CEO of a tech company and have recently been asked by the venture capitalists to CEO a growing company in the same industry (as opposed to a turnaround effort). I was hoping to find nuggets of advice on how to effectively and sensitively assume the leadership position from the current co-founder & CEO who has done well up to this stage and is respected by his loyal staff. Either the full version lacks the insightful information I am looking for, or the summarized version by Execubook is simply too high level. In fact, the cover page advertises: "Buy the Full Book". I guess it's purpose is pretty clear. Nevertheless, the summary makes you wonder if the full book also suffers from 'common sense' type of advice. For example: the Table of Contents:
Introduction p.2
Four Pieces of Advice p.2
The 5 Primary Challenges p.3
Traps to Avoid p.5
Taking Action p.6 Briefly, the content of the book:
Four Pieces of Advice
1. Take advantage of the transition period into the new job
2. Don't underestimate the importance of advice and counsel
3. Show some empathy for the person you're succeeding 5 Primary Challenges
1. Acquire needed knowledge quickly
2. Establish new relationships
3. Juggle organizational and personal transition
4. Manage expectations
5. Manage personal equilibrium Traps to Avoid
1. Falling behind the learning curve
2. Becoming isolated
. . . Taking Action
1. Plan on taking 2-3 years to make measurable progress
2. On arrival, you should understand the organization's existing strategy, goals and challenges and shoul have formed hypotheses about operating priorities.
. . . Each numbered item was followed by a paragraph or few lines of description, but those explanations left me saying, 'no duh.' In fairness, it is hard to summarize without sounding too general, but there was very little in terms of new or provoking frameworks & mindsets, assumption challenges, or interesting insights. Buy the original or look for something else altogether. One last comment. I've now seen several unfavorable reviews on Amazon about the digital versions of what are supposed to be good books. I believe the concept of eBooks is great, but it looks like it's still in an immature, buyer-beware stage.
Rating:
Summary: Content of the Digital Version
Review: Thanks to the other reviews I knew I would be buying a summarized version of the book. I was hoping it would still provide the essence and condensed insights supposedly in the full version; however, I was quite disappointed. I was a CEO of a tech company and have recently been asked by the venture capitalists to CEO a growing company in the same industry (as opposed to a turnaround effort). I was hoping to find nuggets of advice on how to effectively and sensitively assume the leadership position from the current co-founder & CEO who has done well up to this stage and is respected by his loyal staff. Either the full version lacks the insightful information I am looking for, or the summarized version by Execubook is simply too high level. In fact, the cover page advertises: "Buy the Full Book". I guess it's purpose is pretty clear. Nevertheless, the summary makes you wonder if the full book also suffers from 'common sense' type of advice. For example: the Table of Contents:
Introduction p.2
Four Pieces of Advice p.2
The 5 Primary Challenges p.3
Traps to Avoid p.5
Taking Action p.6 Briefly, the content of the book:
Four Pieces of Advice
1. Take advantage of the transition period into the new job
2. Don't underestimate the importance of advice and counsel
3. Show some empathy for the person you're succeeding 5 Primary Challenges
1. Acquire needed knowledge quickly
2. Establish new relationships
3. Juggle organizational and personal transition
4. Manage expectations
5. Manage personal equilibrium Traps to Avoid
1. Falling behind the learning curve
2. Becoming isolated
. . . Taking Action
1. Plan on taking 2-3 years to make measurable progress
2. On arrival, you should understand the organization's existing strategy, goals and challenges and shoul have formed hypotheses about operating priorities.
. . . Each numbered item was followed by a paragraph or few lines of description, but those explanations left me saying, 'no duh.' In fairness, it is hard to summarize without sounding too general, but there was very little in terms of new or provoking frameworks & mindsets, assumption challenges, or interesting insights. Buy the original or look for something else altogether. One last comment. I've now seen several unfavorable reviews on Amazon about the digital versions of what are supposed to be good books. I believe the concept of eBooks is great, but it looks like it's still in an immature, buyer-beware stage.
Rating: 
Summary: Digital Version is NOT the same as the Hardcover
Review: This is a great book for those who are new to a CEO position in a large corporation. It's only marginally useful for anyone else. Otherwise it was well written and interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: For CEO only
Review: This is a great book for those who are new to a CEO position in a large corporation. It's only marginally useful for anyone else. Otherwise it was well written and interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Good advice for new senior executives
Review: This is an ok book if you're going to be a board member of a bigger company very soon. However it will not help you very far, if you get a new position in 2nd line (or even deeper down) - want to start your own business - are not going to move in the coming months anyway And even if you're climbing to the top: There are more things to remember and better books to read: Or do you need a book to tell you that you should look after your new colleagues, your employees etc. ? For these insights an simple checklist would do.
Rating:
Summary: For CEOs only
Review: This is an ok book if you're going to be a board member of a bigger company very soon. However it will not help you very far, if you get a new position in 2nd line (or even deeper down) - want to start your own business - are not going to move in the coming months anyway And even if you're climbing to the top: There are more things to remember and better books to read: Or do you need a book to tell you that you should look after your new colleagues, your employees etc. ? For these insights an simple checklist would do.
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