Relationship Geek Meets Mark Horstman

Mark Horstman and Phil Gerbyshak

Tonight was quite a night! I enjoyed a feast of pizza and amazing conversation with Mark Horstman, one half of the genius behind the Manager-Tools podcast. Mark was in town for a client meeting, and was cool enough to share 2 hours of his time with me and 8 other listeners.

I love to listen to people smarter than me (yes, that means I love to listen to everybody, smart aleck), and Mark and the rest of the group had some awesome insights and questions. I am still processing some, but I'll share a bit of what I learned.

Mark shared the 3 "secrets" of great managers

• Coach your people
• Have one-on-ones with all your direct reports
  
• Give your direct reports direct feedback

I'm good with the one-on-ones, I enjoy coaching the incredible people I serve as manager, and I'm working on being more direct in my feedback to my team.

Mark Horstman conferences in Mike Auzenne

As if just having Mark live and in color wasn't enough, he called his podcast partner Mike Auzenne to talk about a potential upcoming Manager Tools conference. It's just in the planning stages, but when it gets "real," you can count me in! I know if it's even half as good as the podcasts, it will be the most valuable conference I will ever attend as a manager...PERIOD!

Mark also mentioned 2 tough questions that define how successful we will be in our lives:

1. Who do I want to be?
2. How hard do I want to work to accomplish my goals?

Tough questions that definitely got me thinking.

All in all, I had a wonderful evening, Mark is a heckuva nice guy who has SO MUCH KNOWLEDGE to share that 2 hours was not enough time to scratch the surface. The good news is he freely shares all of his knowledge, and Mike shares all of his knowledge, on their amazing Manager-Tools podcast.

Thanks for the pizza Mark. I can't wait to learn more from you in the coming months by listening to your show and reading all the knowledge you so freely give to all of us.

[Phil Gerbyshak is an effective manager, and is always on the lookout for ways to improve. Listening to the Manager Tools podcast is one way he does this.]

Technorati Tags: manager tools, mark horstman, feedback, one-on-one, coaching

Comments

[Troy Worman]

Awesome post, Phil. I am a big fan of listening to smart people.

[Warren Allan Johnson]

Manager Tools is an awesome business resource. They don't teach you this stuff in college or grad school, but Mark and Mike give it away for free. It's almost crazy.

You and your readers might be interested in a new "fan club" page designed to introduce newbies to the riches of Manager Tools and to point disciples like us to some of the hidden gems found through the podcast. The fan page is at http://www.squidoo.com/managertoolsfanclub.