Leading From the Middle

If you have a boss and are a boss, if you must lead from the messy middle, up, down, and across the organization, then you’ve found your definitive playbook for making a big impact as a middle manager.

You might not readily think of yourself as in “middle management,” but the odds are, by definition, you are (even if you don’t love the term). For certain, your role in the middle presents unique challenges, and yet very few choose to write about and guide middle managers given the subject’s seeming lack of “sexiness.” So, even as the backbone of your organization, you remain underserved, underappreciated, and with specific needs unaddressed.

Until now.

Scott Mautz shares, with great authority based on years of research, experience, and interviews with over 3,000 successful managers in the middle, a playbook that details:

• The powerful S.C.O.P.E. acronym, which encapsulates the set of unique challenges those operating in the middle must face (and how to overcome them)
• Advice for all the roles you have to play in the middle
• The specific mindset and skillset needed to thrive in the middle
• Specific advice for how to influence up the organization (including how to go beyond managing your manager to building a great relationship and how to disagree with your boss/give them feedback)
• Specific advice for how to influence down the organization (including how to have great coaching conversations, how to give transformative feedback, and how to pinpoint opportunity areas for employees to improve upon)
• Specific advice for how to influence across the organization (including how to lead teams with excellence and how to influence peers)
• A specific model for leading change (in a way that generates enthusiasm and commitment)
• How to create a personal Middle Action Plan (MAP). This includes tons of tools to help practice all of the above and create new habits

Being in the middle doesn’t mean being stuck in the middle. It means a chance to lead– in every direction. It’s a badge of pride. And now you have the tools to do it brilliantly.