On the High Wire - by Robert Gunn & Betsy Gullickson (Paperback)

About the Book

You've just been promoted and find yourself questioning your ability to pull off the new job. Now what? Virtually every leader recalls that make or break promotion when success depends on accessing inner capacities that lie just beyond prior experience. Taking on new challenges and responsibilities as a manager can be one of the most exhilarating and rewarding transitions in a businessperson's career. It can also be fraught with stress, self-doubt, isolation, and frustration. Bob Gunn and Betsy Gullickson draw on decades of executive coaching and human resource consulting experience to characterize the process of management promotion as walking the high wire-venturing into the unknown without a safety net. In this highly accessible guide, Gunn and Gullickson address the challenges and opportunities head-on and offer specific strategies and tactics for navigating the transition into leadership, delegation, conflict management, motivation, project management, and problem solving. Featuring thought-provoking questions and a listing of helpful resources, On the High Wire will engage and inspire new managers to become even more creative and effective leaders.

At the heart of the book is the notion that productive and fulfilling management is not simply a collection of skills and techniques, but a mindset. Illustrating this theme through many powerful first-hand examples, the authors guide you toward achieving the clarity of vision and purpose that comes from being aware of context, attuned to the feelings that influence behavior, and respectful of multiple points of view. Featuring thought-provoking questions and a listing of helpful resources, On the High Wire will engage and inspire new managers to become even more creative and effective leaders.

Book Synopsis

You've just been promoted and find yourself questioning your ability to pull off the new job. Now what? Virtually every leader recalls that make or break promotion when success depends on accessing inner capacities that lie just beyond prior experience. Taking on new challenges and responsibilities as a manager can be one of the most exhilarating and rewarding transitions in a businessperson's career. It can also be fraught with stress, self-doubt, isolation, and frustration. Bob Gunn and Betsy Gullickson draw on decades of executive coaching and human resource consulting experience to characterize the process of management promotion as walking the high wire-venturing into the unknown without a safety net. In this highly accessible guide, Gunn and Gullickson address the challenges and opportunities head-on and offer specific strategies and tactics for navigating the transition into leadership, delegation, conflict management, motivation, project management, and problem solving. Featuring thought-provoking questions and a listing of helpful resources, On the High Wire will engage and inspire new managers to become even more creative and effective leaders.

At the heart of the book is the notion that productive and fulfilling management is not simply a collection of skills and techniques, but a mindset. Illustrating this theme through many powerful first-hand examples, the authors guide you toward achieving the clarity of vision and purpose that comes from being aware of context, attuned to the feelings that influence behavior, and respectful of multiple points of view. Featuring thought-provoking questions and a listing of helpful resources, On the High Wire will engage and inspire new managers to become even more creative and effective leaders.

Review Quotes

"Gunn, a human resources consultant, and Gullickson, an executive coach, offer strategies for tackling leadership issues such as delegation and conflict management. At the heart of the book is the idea that productive and fulfilling management is not simply a collection of skills and techniques, but a mindset. Illustrating this theme with first-hand examples, the authors guide readers towards the awareness of feelings that influence behavior and respect for multiple points of view." --Reference & Research Book News

"[A] manual for achievers who have reached their goal and need to transition to new responsibilities and challenges. The authors have decades of management leadership and executive coaching on their sides, and use their experience to outline common pitfalls and solutions managers face in their new position. From how to motivate people to identifying new resources and strategies. On the High Wire covers it all." --MBR Bookwatch

"This book provides a guide to obtaining the skills, techniques, and, more important, the mindset of a great leader." --T+D Training & Development

About the Author

Robert W. Gunn is co-founder of Accompli, an advisory firm that helps executives achieve transformative goals while accelerating leader effectiveness. A pioneer in human resource outsourcing and a long-time executive guide, he created the administrative consulting practice at AT Kearney, and, in 1991, co-founded Gunn Partners, based on the principle of lean consulting. With Betsy Gullickson, he writes a monthly column for the executive-level magazine, Strategic Finance.

Betsy Raskin Gullickson is an executive coach and communications consultant. Previously, she was a partner at Ketchum, Inc., one of the world's largest PR firms, where she directed the San Francisco business unit and the Global Food & Nutrition Practice. She has also served as a writer/editor at several trade magazines. With Robert Gunn, she writes a monthly column for the executive-level magazine, Strategic Finance.