Your First 90 Days as a Manager
Go from individual contributor to confident team leader, fast.
Built for brand-new or recently promoted team leads who need practical tools right away. This path takes you from understanding your new role to running great meetings, giving feedback and motivating your team.
Explore the first book →← All paths for this goal
Your reading order
8 books- 1
Start here. Lindsey Pollak's modern manual for first-time managers covers the change in identity from individual contributor to leader, the single biggest stumbling block for new team leads.
- 2
Now that you understand the change in mindset, Bringing Up the Boss gives you the hands-on playbook: how to have hard conversations, set expectations and build resilience in your team from day one.
- 3
With the basics in hand, Maxwell's 5 Levels of Leadership shows you the bigger path ahead. Real leadership is earned through relationships and results, not just your job title.
- 4
You've learned how to manage people; now learn what actually motivates them. Drive explains why carrots and sticks backfire and how autonomy, mastery and purpose bring out your team's best work.
- 5
Motivation means little without honest communication. Radical Candor teaches you to care personally while challenging directly. This feedback skill separates good managers from great ones.
- 6
Building on your new feedback skills, Glad We Met turns your one-on-ones from status updates into the strongest trust-building tool you have as a manager.
- 7
Once your one-on-ones are working, tackle the other meeting problem. Death by Meeting shows you how to make every team meeting purposeful, energizing and actually worth everyone's time.
- 8
As you settle into the role, Everyone Deserves a Great Manager brings the core practices together and shifts your focus from your own performance to your team's shared growth and success.
