Nine Minutes on Monday: The Quick and Easy Way to Turn Managers into Leaders

by James Robbins

Quick and simple leadership lessons for boosting performance, morale, and engagement

"Nine Minutes on Monday" helps supervisors stay focused at all times on their number-one priority, leading and managing those who report to them--and avoid being distracted by other tasks. It includes a nine-minute template for staying focused, numerous action-oriented tips, scripted questions, formulas, and simple truths that motivate leaders to stay on mission.

James Robbins founded The Robbins Group to help organizations increase their productivity and lower their employee turnover. He is also the creator of Help Me Lead TV, a weekly web-show for managers.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Management, Nonfiction, Professional Development, Self Help, Audiobook

250 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2012

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent read. Seems simple to implement. Didn't need to be as long as it is.

Also, why does every leadership writer feel the need to discuss mountain climbing? It's not original any more.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for managers, with great points about how to be successful leading teams.

[Marleny Ciriaco]

Buenisimo

[Lance Willett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and quick read, I love the format of personal storytelling mixed with practical examples. Biggest takeaways are awareness is the most valuable trait of a great manager; nothing works without trust; and to build a habit of "9 minutes" you need practice and intent. A bonus chapter on applying the concepts to remote teams, very applicable to my situation.

Here's a longer review (not by me): http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report....

[Cheryl Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED listening to this as an audiobook. I learned so much and was totally engaged the whole time. I think I've officially been convinced that listening to business books is a great option for me! On to the next one...

[NastyCoCo · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is probably remarkably insightful, since the author is very busy this morning trolling people expressing their concerns over politics on Twitter. It's the social media equivalent of "never trust a skinny chef." If your life coach is a Twitter troll, you've made a terrible mistake.

[Bob Wallner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was asked to read 9 minutes on Monday so I could help my HR Manager facilitate a leadership learning lesson that was easy and practical.

Although the author James Robbins doesn't offer anything new to the world of leadership (in terms of theories) he absolutely adds a very practical approach to planning key leadership goals. This has been a challenge that many of the leaders I find most influential have had issues with is the approachability. Ziegler, Covey, & Maxwell, for whom I consider the best leadership development thinkers of my time, talk about how you have to think and how you have to change in order to be a successful leader. And very few instances do they give you a guide on how to do this.

I see 9 minutes as a good tool to start getting my team to think about how to lead properly. After reading this I understand why my human resource department recruited me to help guide this as many of the minutes, I already do instinctively.

I see the challenge being sustained. Going along with this is going to have to include some individual one-on-one coaching to ensure it sustains and becomes a habit. This is going to have to take the form of not only coaching, but accountability to the system from the top leader down.

I would be interested in trying this myself personally before I decide that I'm going to help HR make this a requirement among my peers and include me in on coaching this. The system season simple to implement but a challenge to do.

[Jenn Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has some really good ideas on how to lead your staff and not just manage people. I like the idea of coaching staff and leading them to professional victory. I like helping them find their passion and why they want to be at work. Or helping them find their passion and assisting them in moving into that line of work instead. I like learning "vital statistics" and remembering personal details to chat during a walkabout. I like celebrating corporate birthdays, but will put more "umph" into acknowledging it now. I think this is a great book for beginning leaders and a great re-fresher for experienced ones.

[Elizabeth Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me pareció un libro con consejos prácticos y efectivos para lograr mejorar la sinergia en los equipos de trabajos. Tiene una visión enfocada en un liderazgo moderno, capaz y sobre todo sincero que de verdad nos conecte hacia la consecución de las metas de los proyectos al dotar al lector de un conocimiento de las necesidad básicas de los seres humanos y como satisfaciendolas podemos lograr mayor compromiso de parte de los colaboradores de nuestros equipos. Super recomendado para todos los que aspiren a ser líderes.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding management/leadership book with practical advice that can be implemented immediately. It also provided one with a long-term view of how these nine items fit together and the importance of each especially the top four. I highly recommend it.

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Succinct steps to do your job as a manager of people. Like all management training, the steps appear simple while reading. Implementation is another story with a higher level of difficulty. At least Robbins lays out a plan that's doable for those who are determined to execute it.

[Stephanee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because it makes being a great manager doable for even the busiest person. It has a great section on why feedback is so important and how to give useful feedback. I plan to use this as a reference for a long time to come!

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read

Good practical suggestions on improving leadership at any level. Added links are a nice bonus to put the book into practice

[Kindle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an interesting read and had some very good points. I found it to be engaging and applicable to professional experience.

[Alexis Aghbashian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I honestly read this book to get credits for my PHR certificate but it was a quick easy read with a good game plan on how to be a good manager.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good management book. Easy to implement.

[Jerry Mahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book on leadership

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some solid concepts and principles covered in this one.

[Alvaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good program

This is a good program to be a better leader. With nine points to follow and with examples that show easy ways to put the program in practice.

[Magan · Rating 4 out of 5]

9 Minutes for Motivation

Often times reading a motivating book gets you in the mood to get stuff done. This book has a great framework for how to actually make it happen.

[Stacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book to so many people whether in leadership, manager, or team positions. This is a great method to round with your employees and effectively manage them in an efficient way. I also recommend this book any time I teach a performance management class. James Robbins has a wonderful knack for storytelling and using that to illustrate his points. One of my favorite all time business and development books.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every once in a while I like to read a blueprint style book, and this one fit the bill. Great reminders on leadership, but more importantly he provides a method of effectively utilizing them each week. All managers and leaders would benefit from this. The chapter summaries, along with the workbooks, help you to solidify a plan. The only things I didn't care for were the analogies - way overdone and unnecessary. Outside of that he did have some other great business stories that were quite relevant.

[Kevin Eikenberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a great title, doesn’t it? As good as the title is I’m not sure it does the book justice. Here’s the premise – that if you really want employee engagement, as a leader you need to strategically focus on the … - See more at: http://blog.kevineikenberry.com/leade...

[Cindy (BKind2Books) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, if somewhat predictable, business book - this one poses that it's the small, incremental steps that good leaders take on a routine basis that make the difference. Thus, the nine minutes represents nine questions or steps that you look at and take small actions on every week. A good recommendation.

[Tammy Cravit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

A lot of this wasn't new to me, but the nine concrete, tangible, bite-sized tools are fantastic. Anyone in a leadership position, and anyone who wants to be, should consider this a must-read! You don't have to be a manager to be a leader, and these are excellent tools for cultivating leadership.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no new information here but I liked how it was presented. It is a quick overview of things leader's need to remember about working with others. Very common sense. It's a concrete strategy that should be simple to use.

[Melissa E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly decent read. I was expecting a stuffy, highbrow, has-all-the-answers sort of management book, but this was actually quite accessible and full of real world examples. If more business books were written in this style, they wouldn't be so painful to get through.

[Don Lett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Does a very good job of relating the conceptual thoughts and then provides an way to implement these ideas in a practical way. The book is fascinating to read - full of anecdotes, stats, studies and quotes.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good read. I like the analogy of preparing and motivating for the mountain climb vs preparing employees to achieve great things. The nine minutes is easy to implement. I will get this for the managers on my team.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Great book with lots to say and good suggestions. However, some of the writing and examples were just bizarre. Still worth the read.