THE MAKiNG OF A MANAGER.

Have you noticed that recently, the narrative has been shifting to becoming a  leader over being a manager? Or maybe I have been playing into this narrative myself?  

In preparation for a workshop I was designing for a client, I recently stopped to remind myself that manager and leader are job titles that can be interchangeable and management and leadership are both skills, that can be developed. 

Both skill sets needed, both skill sets important.

Now, I get that as leaders become more senior, they spend less time managing tasks directly, and more time leading through others. But they will continue to manage, just at a more systemic and strategic level. Therefore if they have not mastered these skills at a foundational level when managing is more task focused, then they may struggle at a more senior level.  If a senior leader was to focus only on vision and forget about executing things to a high standard or they weren’t holding their team accountable for their work, then I am not sure what the future of that business (or team) would be over time.

With all that said, I came to The Making of a Manager with a genuine curiosity.  I really wanted to ground myself into reconnecting with the importance of management and the management skills that are necessary throughout your whole “leadership” career.

As a leadership development specialist and coach, with more than 30 years developing “leaders” I wondered if the content would feel obvious and another well‑meaning but lightweight take on management fundamentals.

Instead, I found myself looking ahead at what the next chapter would focus on as I wanted to race ahead and read it! I genuinely enjoyed it.

Julie Zhuo has written a book that is pragmatic, grounded, and refreshingly human. It doesn’t try to be clever, academic, or exhaustive and that is very much its strength. I wanted to keep reading because it was well told, easy to digest, and balanced personal experience with relatable case examples. It felt less like being lectured and more like being reminded, thoughtfully, of what actually matters when you’re responsible for people.  I loved how she talked about where she started and how she’s grown and matured in her roles with experience.

Much of what Zhuo covers reflects my own lived experience of managing teams. The book acts almost like a playbook: a set of clear, practical steps that help someone become more effective in the role of people manager, right from the beginning.

As an experienced manager, it won’t teach you everything and it doesn’t try to! But it will serve as a powerful refresh. A reminder of good practice, sound judgement, and the basics done well.

What I particularly appreciated was the emphasis on the three core elements of good management: purpose, people, and process. In environments where leaders are bombarded with ever‑expanding expectations, frameworks, and new models, it’s easy to lose sight of these fundamentals. This book creates space to step back and refocus. Not by stripping things down to oversimplification, but by re‑anchoring the role in what actually creates healthy, effective teams.

My favourite reminder came early in the book;

”Your role as a manager is not to do the work yourself, even if you are the best at it, because this will only take you so far.

Your role is to improve the purpose, people and process of your team to get as high a multiplier effect on your collective outcome as you can.”

If I had been given this book early in my management journey, it would have set me on the right path much more quickly. That doesn’t mean it covers everything, it doesn’t. There are many complex topics leaders must grapple with that sit outside its scope. But as a starting point, or as a way back to centre when management feels overwhelming, it does exactly what it needs to do.

I would strongly recommend The Making of a Manager to:

• emerging and first‑time managers

• leaders who have recently stepped into people responsibility

• experienced managers who could benefit from a reminder of why they do what they do.  You never know, you might also learn something new!

This is not a flashy or theoretical leadership book. It’s realistic, reassuring, and refocusing, and sometimes that’s exactly what’s needed.

If I had to sum it up in one sentence, it would be this:

Don’t assume you won’t need this book - read it, and remember what’s truly important about managing your team.