(My eldest son told me to write “I’m a legend!”)

This book has been written by a highly qualified and very experienced manager, who worked in various private customer service and public service roles, over several decades.

Some of the staff managed by the author could be described as judgmental, wilful, authoritarian, stubborn, confident, assertive, entitled, para-legal, para-military or litigious. (We can only imagine how they would describe the author!)

The author completed all of the high-level leadership courses offered by their well-established, public organisation. One course was an interstate senior management leadership development course, with international attendees. Another course matched the author with a rotary and business mentor. The author also mentored numerous people within the author’s workplaces.

The author seeks to assist other managers, by providing “pearls of wisdom”, and sharing observations and lessons learnt from experience (generally the hard way!).

The author wishes:

• to save managers from embarrassment and frustration;
• to assist managers to be more productive and avoid pitfalls;
• they had been able to read this book, before embarking on their management career (as that might have led to skyrocketing promotions!); and
• that all who read this book have fruitful management careers.