A modest bit of business leadership writing is aimed at the frontline manager — and thus at the craft of daily leadership. One of those books was “The One Minute Manager,” written awhile back by the academician-turned-consultant Ken Blanchard. Dr. Blanchard’s little book does at least two things that I think make a valuable contribution to the practice of daily leadership.
First, and most critically, it asserts that the task of leading well on a daily basis is not a mysterious, impossibly difficult task, requiring rare and special gifts, and years upon years of practice for its successful attainment. Indeed, a core premise of the little book is that brief (one-minute) interactions, following a couple of simple and easily mastered guidelines, add up to effective daily leadership.