Gung Ho!: How To Motivate People In Any Organization (The One Minute Manager)

excellent read

This is an all American blockbuster were the native indian runs the no good cowboy industrialists out of town and at the same time saves the first lady from being fired. Coming to the rescue, Andy (native indian) shows his boss the ways of the wild. If David Attenborough and brother Richard had ever considered making leadership and management films this would have been an opportunity to work together and utilise their talents. The behaviour of the squirrels, beavers and geese is replicated back in the factory so production can be increased and the factory and workforce saved. It is a nail biting, rollercoaster ride, set against a backdrop of the American wild and the seasons, will they have time to learn the way of the squirrel, before the bosses shut those factory gates, will we ever understand the way of the beaver and will we ever be able to implement the way of the geese, before time runs out! When you open the last page of this book the star spangled banner plays loudly. The book is a great metaphor for leadership and management within a team environment. God Bless America

Another Ken Blanchard classic this time about motivation and how to get the best out of your work force. Again written as a simple to follow story to emphasise the learning points. This book can be read and understood by anyone in 2 - 3 hours.

I first read this book some15 years ago and have successfully used the key messages to engage employees in my teams and the organisations I have worked in ever since. Ken Blanchard is a superb story teller and this simple parable offers great insight into how to engage people at work. I now run my own training and coaching company that provides guidance and support to companies and organisations on how to improve business performance through employee engagement. This book is constantly in my mind as a reference tool. Thoroughly recommended!

I have bought this book around 6 times and give it to people occassionally (well 'lend' it, which is in effect giving it isn't it !!) I love the simplicity, and the power of the messages. I read this once every 2-3 years to remind myself, takes a fwe hours to read and breathes fresh motivation into me again. I genuinely recommed this book, for everyone.

Call me crazy but I believe in Synchronicity. Basically I think that coincidences happen for a reason and that you should take note of them. Most commonly this occurs to me when I seem to cast my eye to clock at 11:11 each day. Other things happen too. Last week I had been discussing the “One Minute Manager” series of books for the first time in years. That night a pile of books in my office fell over leaving none other than a book by One Minute Manager author Ken Blanchard right at the top. Naturally I took this as a sign! The book was called Gung Ho!: How to motivate people in any organisation. Gung Ho is a thin book which is easy to read and to digest. You can finish it in one sitting if you wanted to. It takes the form of a story. The plot is that a lady called Peggy has been sent down from Head Office to save a factory in a provincial American town. The factory is failing and has less than a year to turn around before it is shut down. Peggy thinks this is Mission Impossible but is given some hope by an employee called Andy Longclaw. Andy is a Native American and the book rather cheesily has him doling out Native American wisdom. If you can handle the cheese then the underlying messages are sound. In a nutshell, Andy recommends 3 moves: 1) The spirit of the Squirrel – people should be working to a worthwhile goal. 2) The way of the Beaver – people should know their job and the boundaries of their job. 3) The gift of the Goose – things move faster when everyone is cheering each other on. Towards the end of the book the author expands into how the above can be remembered via the formula E = MC2 but in this case we’re not talking Einstein but rather – Enthusiasm = Mission x (Cash x Congratulations). Overall this is a fine and enjoyable little book very much along the same lines as the other books by the author and his collaborators. It’s a little light on actionable advice but I don’t think that’s what its aim is. It’s a primer rather than a textbook and it does its job well. The messages put forward in the book remind me a lot of the books by Simon Sinek and also of “Turn this ship around” by David Marquet.

If you are a manager of people, read this. It will help you to get more from your team. It's not rocket science - but is beautifully simple and pretty obvious really. Doesn't mean it's obvious until it's pointed out though! I'm not sure about UK team members readily accepting the phrase 'gung ho'. The theories behind the phrase will apply to UK teams though. I can't recommend Ken Blanchard books enough - for their clarity and simple ways of explaining complex issues. The ways of putting the theories into action aren't explained, however you know your staff - work it out! I have - and, believe me, it works!

I chose this book because someone else had recommended it. To begin with I thought it was going to be one of those management books wrote by management people in management speak. It isn't. It reads in the same order as a story book not a management book and has you gripped from the start. Don't get me wrong, this is a management book but it's a story first and I can't rate this book highly enough.