Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Dan’s Biz Bookshelf: ‘The First-Time Manager’

If there were ever a book that should go along with every promotion, it’s The First-Time Manager by Loren B. Belker, Jim McCormick, and Gary S. Topchik. Now in its seventh edition, it’s a timeless book that is straight-talking, no-fluff, and packed with a lifetime of useful lessons.

This isn’t a “rah-rah” leadership book full of slogans and theory. It covers the awkward, messy, everyday realities of leading people for the first time. It’s about learning to manage peers who were once your equals, earning respect instead of demanding it, and discovering that trust, not authority, makes you powerful. Every chapter feels like a mentor pulling you aside and saying, “Let me tell you what really happens.”

The authors don’t sugarcoat the truth. Most first-time managers fail not because they’re incompetent, but because they don’t understand what management is. It’s about clarity, not control. It’s about helping others do their best work rather than knowing everything. This perspective makes this book worth rereading every few years, even after you’ve climbed the ladder.

Here are eight key takeaways:

1. You manage people, not tasks: Delegation isn’t dumping work; it’s developing people.
2. Listening is your superpower: The best managers talk less and hear more.
3. Feedback is a gift, even when it stings: Silence kills performance faster than criticism.
4. Your success depends on your team’s success: Lone heroes don’t last long in leadership.
5. Consistency builds credibility: People can forgive mistakes, not double standards.
6. Emotions matter: EQ often beats IQ when leading humans.
7. Never stop learning: The day you think you have management “figured out” is the day you slide backward.
8. Respect is earned through example, not entitlement: Titles fade, character doesn’t.

The First-Time Manager is both practical and profound. It should sit on every desk as a daily reference. Whether you’re leading your first team or your 50th, the truths don’t change: Leadership isn’t about being in charge; it’s about being responsible. You don’t become a true manager when you receive the title, but when your people believe in you.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.

Title: The First-Time Manager
Author: Loren Belker, Jim McCormick, Gary S. Topchik
Copyright: HarperCollins Leadership, 2021
Pages: 304 
Price: $28.99