Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute

A timely new update of the classic empowerment fable (over 270,000 copies sold) from the coauthor of The One Minute Manager An all-new introduction locates empowerment in the current business climate A new epilogue offers practical guidance to overcome obstacles and implement ideas Releasing employees' full potential and instilling a responsibility-oriented culture remains the best way to compete in a ''do more with less'' business climate. In this new edition of one of the most effective business fables ever written, coauthors Blanchard, Carlos and Randolph illustrate three simple (although not easy-to-achieve) keys that organizations can use to effectively tap into the knowledge, experience, and motivation power that people already have: Share information with everyone Create autonomy through boundaries Replace the old hierarchy with self-managed teams Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute tells the story of a young manager whose attempts to turn his troubled company around through traditional top-down, command-and-control management are failing. Reluctantly, he contacts an expert in empowerment, even though he feels like he's already tried that too. Step by step, the expert helps him understand why his past and present efforts have fallen short and exactly what he needs to do to create an empowered workforce. The process as it unfolds is complex, paradoxical and counterintuitive -but well worth the effort. The new introduction dispels the notion that empowerment is a bygone fad. No matter what its name, the essential concept-that organizations can achieve extraordinary results by recognizing and taking advantage of the skills, experience, and knowledge already existing in the organization-will always be relevant. The new epilogue describes obstacles companies have encountered and overcome and outlines empowerment strategies that have proved successful during the fifteen years the authors have been consulting, researching, and refining these concepts. Although sometimes arduous, the journey to empowerment is well worth making. In fact, unleashing the power of people in an organization may be the only way to continue to do business in a competitive, complicated marketplace.

Ken Blanchard; Few people have impacted the day - to - day management of people and companies more than Ken Blanchard. A prominent author' speaker' and business consultant' Ken is characterized by friends' colleagues' and clients as one of the most insightful' powerful' and compassionate men in business today. When Ken speaks' he speaks from the heart with warmth and humor. He is a polished storyteller with a knack for making the seemingly complex easy to understand. Ken's impact as a writer is far reaching. His phenomenal bestselling book' The One Minute Manager' coauthored with Spencer Johnson' has sold more than ten million copies worldwide and is still on bestseller lists. The One Minute Manager has been translated into more than 25 languages and is regarded as one of the most successful business books of all time. Ken has received several awards and honors for his contributions in the field of management' leadership' and speaking. In 1991 the National Speakers association awarded him its highest honor' the ''Council of Peers Award of Excellence.'' In 1992 Ken was inducted into the HRD Hall of Fame by Training Magazine and Lakewood Conferences and received the 1992 Golden Gavel Award for Toastmasters International. In 1996 Ken received the Distinguished Contribution to Human Resource Development Award from ASTD. Ken is chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies' formerly Blanchard Training and Development' Inc.' which he and his wife' Dr. Marjorie Blanchard' founded in 1979 in San Diego' California. The Ken Blanchard Companies provides expertise in organizational change management through training programs and processes' seminars' and consulting. Ken is also a visiting lecturer at his alma mater' Cornell University' where he is a trustee emeritus of the Board of Trustees. Alan Randolph is an internationally known management educator and consultant. He is best known for his work in leadership' project management and empowerment' having consulted a