The Monroe Doctrine: An ABC Guide to What Good Bosses Do

Book: The Monroe Doctrine: An ABC Guide to What Good Bosses Do

Author: Dr. Lorraine Monroe

Read: 2009

219 pages

Rated: 2½ out of 5

I first came across Dr. Monroe at the FUSD Administrative Conference in August 2008. She was the second person who spoke at one of these events which made me take notice. So I bought her book. It is hard to be a great speaker and a great writer. Dr. Monroe is a great speaker.

Thoughts:

• A sign of real success is when it is passed upon institutional change rather than personality. Build-Pg 29
• Give of yourself as a listener, a shoulder, and a hand. Give of yourself—but always move the mission. Give-pg 84
• Reduce gossip, phone calls and drop by’s
• Make sure staff have time to reflect on the work they are doing.
• Save a day so that you can rest—no work.
• Retreat so you can learn the big value work which we are doing.

Evaluation:

But there is a lot in her book which makes sense. She organizes her thoughts A through Z, 88 thoughts. Topics such as Ask, Escape, Joke and Wait. So it is a good book to go through a day at a time.

There are some specific things she talks about—Be prepared, to be growing and learning today, you are getting prepared for tomorrow; or reflect—Does your staff have time built into their schedules to reflect on their work?

But there are a lot of times which she talks about things which do not resonate with me. Such as breaking the rules-if you are not breaking the rules once a day, you are not doing your job. This just does not make sense to me. Sounds like an undisciplined approach to management.

I think if you read the book like a devotional, picking and choosing what hits you to change about yourself, it is a good book. But it is not a 1-2-3 book to being a better manager.

Good Quotes:

• He was born with a gift of laughter, and a sense that the world was mad. Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche,
• You may not know what the next challenge will be—but if you are growing and learning today, you are getting prepared for it. Pg 145
• Sanctify your work by inspiring people to do their best in order to make a difference in the world. Pg 172
• The wildly successful organizations are led by surprisingly old-fashion individuals—what I call Radical Traditionalists. As a Radical Traditionalist, I see my job as sheltering my organization from crazy pendulum swings. Pg 178

References:

- The Meditations By Marcus Aurelius