If you are on track to become an accountant, a finance professional, an engineer, a salesperson, a creative marketer, you may wonder, "Why am I studying management"? The answer is straightforward: If you are successful as a functional specialist within an organization, it is almost inevitable that you will be offered a management position. If you have ambition, you will see that offer as a route to career advancement. As you transition into the job of management, however, you will discover what many others before you have realized—management is a very different and challenging job. Being a good manager requires more than technical skills. It requires an ability to get work done through others; planning and strategizing; organizing; controlling; and developing and leading a team, unit, function, or entire organization. It requires you to perform multiple roles effectively. You must be a good leader, figurehead, and liaison; be able to collect, analyze, and disseminate information; and function effectively as a negotiator, resource allocator, disturbance handler, and entrepreneur. It requires that you have the right human and conceptual skills, the right values, and the right motivations. It requires that you know how to craft a strategic vision, energize others through communication, build networks, accumulate power, and use that power wisely and constructively. Some people may be born with these skills, but many of us have to learn them. This book is designed to help you do that. It represents the first step on the road toward becoming a successful manager.