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Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute
""Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute"" explains that empowerment is not ""giving power to people."" Rather, it is ""releasing the knowledge, experience, and motivation they already have.""
96 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
About the author
Kenneth H. Blanchard
323 books1,870 followersKen Blanchard, one of the most influential leadership experts in the world, is the coauthor of the iconic bestseller, The One Minute Manager, and 60 other books whose combined sales total more than 21 million copies. His groundbreaking works have been translated into more than 27 languages and in 2005 he was inducted into Amazon’s Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time.
Ken is also the cofounder and chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Margie Blanchard, began in 1979 in San Diego, California.
When he’s not writing or speaking, Ken also spends time teaching students in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership Program at the University of San Diego. Ken can be found at www.kenblanchard.com.
Ken is also the cofounder and chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Margie Blanchard, began in 1979 in San Diego, California.
When he’s not writing or speaking, Ken also spends time teaching students in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership Program at the University of San Diego. Ken can be found at www.kenblanchard.com.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 5, 2020
Even if this is dated, the information is very important and very fast to understand
May 7, 2020
"Empowerment means you have freedom to act. It also means you are responsible for results."
This book provides a framework for empowerment, from making all organisational information widely available to enabling self-monitoring to complementing freedom with the guideposts of very clear values, goals and rules and devolving power incrementally (e.g. starting with leadership, then rotating leadership). The recipe itself is a little vague but certainly inspiring!
This book provides a framework for empowerment, from making all organisational information widely available to enabling self-monitoring to complementing freedom with the guideposts of very clear values, goals and rules and devolving power incrementally (e.g. starting with leadership, then rotating leadership). The recipe itself is a little vague but certainly inspiring!
July 1, 2008
This book was an invaluable gift from a friend, the director of a successful, empowered organization. It's short, easy to read, and full of ideas worth slowing down to digest. Put it in action, and your workplace will be transformed. (It works well for families, too, btw.)
Just ignore the typically inane plot, of course. Why do most management books seem to rely on the same weak fictional framework, as if we want to read about another manager-in-crisis who happens to find himself on a train with just the perfect guru?
Just ignore the typically inane plot, of course. Why do most management books seem to rely on the same weak fictional framework, as if we want to read about another manager-in-crisis who happens to find himself on a train with just the perfect guru?
October 13, 2012
Brief, practical and easy to understand. This is geared towards people who manage other people.
March 31, 2013
This book has a great way if sharing key empowerment skills. It is a book that I'll be re-reading at least once a year.
October 22, 2020
In many ways, this is a very good book, but there is something missing from it that makes it not as good and not as useful as it could have been. A great many business books like this one are told as fables, where instead of explaining a concept the way a textbook would, the author creates a fake but "realistic" scenario where people discuss a situation and show the principles of empowerment in action as a way of making it more relatable and easier to copy. In this case, as is often the case with this sort of book [1], the story doesn't really ring true as being fully fleshed out and realistic, and is clearly fictional in nature even if it is a composite picture of the way that consulting has gone for at least some businesses that have sought to use the power of empowerment to create better businesses and wrestled with the cultural and political changes within the organization that were required to get there. I found the story itself easy to follow and would certainly agree with the authors--in a knowing wink to previous books on the "one minute manager"--who comment that empowerment takes more than a minute.
This particular book is a short one at between 100 and 125 page. The authors begin with a discussion of the challenge of empowerment, a presentation of what an empowering manager looks (and acts) like, and a discussion of the land of empowerment by giving the protagonist, a CEO who feels the need to empower his company but who has no experience in what the land of empowerment looks like, likely a stand-in for the intended readers of the book. This leads to a discussion of three keys of empowered organizations, namely that information is to be shared with everyone, autonomy is created through boundaries, and hierarchies are to be replaced by self-directed teams. This is obviously something that would be a hurdle for many organizations, and this is then followed by a look at the three keys in dynamic interaction, and an explanation of the importance of the three keys, in that information to act is essential for people to be able to act in the best interests of the company, that boundaries are guidelines for action, and teams are to be allowed to be self-directed so that everyone owns and commits to what is done. This is followed by a discussion of the need to persist in one's belief in empowerment, as well as the empowerment game plan, which ends the book somewhat abruptly, as well as acknowledgments, information about the authors, and services available to the readers.
Despite the agreement that I have with the author's general perspective of what is related to empowerment, I found something missing about this book. Business fables are written in the way that they are because the barriers to applying truth in business (and in many other areas of life) are not so much a lack of intellectual knowledge about what are the right things to do but the native human resistance to change that makes it hard to apply such knowledge as we possess. It is easy to know what is right, and hard to do what is right, and successful business authors, as these people surely are, try to solve the issues that make application of their principles difficult. The problem, in this book, is that the entire contents of the book show the CEO learning about how empowerment worked for a company by talking to empowered associates of that company, and the entire process of working out empowerment in the CEO's own company is quickly brushed aside in the last couple of pages of the book, making it seem as if once a CEO is sufficiently convinced of the need for empowerment and of the roadblocks that must be dealt with, that a company will be empowered so long as it pushes hard enough for it with support from the top. Is that the message that the authors were trying to send?
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2019...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
This particular book is a short one at between 100 and 125 page. The authors begin with a discussion of the challenge of empowerment, a presentation of what an empowering manager looks (and acts) like, and a discussion of the land of empowerment by giving the protagonist, a CEO who feels the need to empower his company but who has no experience in what the land of empowerment looks like, likely a stand-in for the intended readers of the book. This leads to a discussion of three keys of empowered organizations, namely that information is to be shared with everyone, autonomy is created through boundaries, and hierarchies are to be replaced by self-directed teams. This is obviously something that would be a hurdle for many organizations, and this is then followed by a look at the three keys in dynamic interaction, and an explanation of the importance of the three keys, in that information to act is essential for people to be able to act in the best interests of the company, that boundaries are guidelines for action, and teams are to be allowed to be self-directed so that everyone owns and commits to what is done. This is followed by a discussion of the need to persist in one's belief in empowerment, as well as the empowerment game plan, which ends the book somewhat abruptly, as well as acknowledgments, information about the authors, and services available to the readers.
Despite the agreement that I have with the author's general perspective of what is related to empowerment, I found something missing about this book. Business fables are written in the way that they are because the barriers to applying truth in business (and in many other areas of life) are not so much a lack of intellectual knowledge about what are the right things to do but the native human resistance to change that makes it hard to apply such knowledge as we possess. It is easy to know what is right, and hard to do what is right, and successful business authors, as these people surely are, try to solve the issues that make application of their principles difficult. The problem, in this book, is that the entire contents of the book show the CEO learning about how empowerment worked for a company by talking to empowered associates of that company, and the entire process of working out empowerment in the CEO's own company is quickly brushed aside in the last couple of pages of the book, making it seem as if once a CEO is sufficiently convinced of the need for empowerment and of the roadblocks that must be dealt with, that a company will be empowered so long as it pushes hard enough for it with support from the top. Is that the message that the authors were trying to send?
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2019...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...
June 7, 2021
While I am not a fan of the narrative business or leadership book, I appreciate many of them because they focus on providing a big picture understanding of the concepts presented. I found this book to be a good example. I read this at the same time I am reading Teaming by Amy Edmondson - and I found them to be good companions to each other. Empowerment Takes More than a Minute provides a summary of the big issues, which makes it good for strategic discussions and thinking.
The book highlights a lot of the big issues my organization is experiencing as it (again) tries to implement empowerment and teaming concepts.
The book highlights a lot of the big issues my organization is experiencing as it (again) tries to implement empowerment and teaming concepts.
February 21, 2017
“Facultar no es magia, consiste en unos pocos pasos sencillos y mucha perseverancia”
Corto.
Conciso.
Y al punto.
A pesar de no ser un libro maravilloso, trata el tema de una manera que se hace rápida de leer a la vez que te deja muchas enseñanzas. Creo que cada persona ( estudie lo que estudie, se dedique a lo que se dedique ) debería leerlo porque esconde claves que pueden ser de aplicación en la vida diaria.
Corto.
Conciso.
Y al punto.
A pesar de no ser un libro maravilloso, trata el tema de una manera que se hace rápida de leer a la vez que te deja muchas enseñanzas. Creo que cada persona ( estudie lo que estudie, se dedique a lo que se dedique ) debería leerlo porque esconde claves que pueden ser de aplicación en la vida diaria.
January 31, 2021
Reread 2021. This book was printed in 1996. Most of it holds up well (Just ignore the - “There’s a woman Executive” gasp of surprise.)
Overall, this book gives good tips for empowerment. It’s a very quick read and glosses over one are that needs more depth which is the circle of team dynamics ... this definitely needs a companion book to cover that topic.
Overall, this book gives good tips for empowerment. It’s a very quick read and glosses over one are that needs more depth which is the circle of team dynamics ... this definitely needs a companion book to cover that topic.
May 8, 2018
Un ghid pentru implementarea unei culturi de responsabilitate in randul echipelor din organizatii. Concentrare pe transparenta informatiilor, dezvoltarea autonomiei prin setarea cadrelor de lucru si desfiintarea sistemelor manageriale bazate pe ierarhie.
May 12, 2020
Explained a complicated process that doesn't always work in a simple way to boil everything down to the essentials. Used a lot of analogies and metaphors and simple story telling that makes things easily understood. Changed the way I viewed the concept. Loved it <3
May 18, 2020
Empowerment is a resort to the managers that wants to improve ventures and profitability in their business. Everything you do, you work for them and not for yourself.
The book is novel-like explanation on the subject of empowerment. Quite banal material though.
The book is novel-like explanation on the subject of empowerment. Quite banal material though.
March 19, 2022
Tiene una manera curiosa de enseñar las claves para poner en practica y mejorar un negocio, lo cuál fue un punto a su favor.
La verdad esperaba que fuera con un lenguaje más orientado para los empresarios, pero lo dejan muy bien explicado.
La verdad esperaba que fuera con un lenguaje más orientado para los empresarios, pero lo dejan muy bien explicado.
April 24, 2019
Same as one minute manager, some good ideas, still don't like the writing style.
October 10, 2020
Way too much lame fable instead of just laying out principles of empowerment with clear and concise examples illustrating them.
April 26, 2021
This was exactly what I needed to learn
January 29, 2023
The information is good, but the presentation is boring. I know it’s hard to make dry information sound exciting, but not impossible.
August 25, 2015
This book is a must read for every manager. In the current reality we have no bosses any more, and when we are lucky we have leaders and not only manager. The book is, step by step, introducing the keys for empowering individuals and teams, and takes all the necessary steps to show how to get to the Land of Empowerment. You can't just tell people to be empowered, it's a process. And from the book - "Empowerment isn't magic. It consists of a few simple steps and a lot of persistence". The book is a bit redundant, but I found this very helpful, and quite necessary for most people, especially those who doubt that it is possible. If you want to have a team of people that are more independent, strong professionally and getting stronger, keep getting better and better, and continue to grow and develop new skills and abilities - then this is the book for you. Empowerment works! I wish more manager will find out and embrace this!
February 2, 2008
Best practice business tidbits in an annoying format.
November 8, 2015
Most interesting approach to management. I would very much like to see how well it goes once implemented.
December 19, 2015
I enjoyed it just as I did One Minute Manager. Quick easy read. Will be an effective tool in helping others to understand my goals.
Read
February 19, 2016It is written in a story format so it is a little harder to pick out the author's main points. The concepts maybe worth thinking about, but there the book is light on how to implement the concepts.
March 27, 2017
muy corto, pero muy bueno
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews