Robert Dittmer

Research and experience demonstrate two areas with which many new managers are completely unfamiliar: delegating tasks and work and making decisions. Some struggle with this for years. But it doesn't have to be hard.

Do you work with other people? Fellow employees; your boss; customers; vendors; colleagues?

Too many of us live our lives trying to shoehorn our many activities and responsibilities into too few time slots available. Increasingly for business people, fathers and mothers, even kids, (ineffectively) managing the myriad of activities has become an all-consuming chore. And we're so stressed that our relationships and job performance suffer. Why? Because we organize our time and our lives poorly: We spend five years of our lives waiting in lines, three years in meetings, and two years playing telephone tag!