Peanut Butter and Jelly Management

Pay attention to your kids and you'll be a better manager, write Chris and Reina Komisarjevsky, who argue managing people requires some of the same skills as being a good parent. The two authors charmingly use family anecdotes to provide important management lessons for leaders, lessons they say are as natural as peanut butter and jelly.

Daughter Angelica's big softball play shows the need for flexibility, practice, and proper coaching. Their kids' trips to the ice cream truck and the ensuing difficulty of choosing a flavor tell them to let the entrepreneurial spirit loose. When Nicholas gets lunch detention for a slight offense, they understand the need for a culture where employees accept responsibility, not place blame, and act in a straightforward manner.

Don't let the family anecdotes fool you, the Komisarjevskies have plenty of management practice, both at home and in the office. Chris is president and CEO of public relations firm Burson-Marsteller Worldwide and Reina stays at home with their six kids (and there's three more from a previous marriage for a total of nine). And that's a lot of PB and J.

—Jon Groat

(AMACOM, 2004)
$9.71