Harvey Robbins & Michael Finley 
The Accidental Leader [PDF ebook] 
What to Do When You’re Suddenly in Charge

Who gets called to accidental leadership? Just about anyone.
Introduction: What’s an Accidental Leader?
Part One: Managing Oneself.
Three ways to cope with leader’s anxiety.
1. Coming to Terms with Responsibility.
Three steps to establish where you are–and where you needto be.
2. The First Day.
Seven things you need to learn about your team members and theyneed to know about you–and two warnings.
3. Meeting the Team.
Ten ways to feel better about your leadership.
4. Deciding What Kind of Leader to Be.
Eight things you can do to negotiate your own learningcurve.
5. Becoming a Quick Study.
Four tough questions you need to ask yourself.
6. The Perfect Person for the Job.
Part Two: Managing the Technical Side.
Five things to spend at least a week learning about.
7. What They Expect You to Know, and What You’d Better Figure Out on Your Own.
Five measures of planning success.
8. Planning to Succeed.
Six stages of bringing an idea to completion.
9. How a Little Orderliness Can Extend Your Shelf Life.
Nine things you can do to bring people into your circle.
10. Who You Can Turn To.
Seven ways to get out of the box, and stay out.
11. Set Fire to Your Credenza.
Six ways to create a learning environment.
12. Leading by Learning.
Part Three: Managing People.
Six things to remember when your team is hovering on the brinkof dysfunction,
13. Living with Teams,
Five rules for successful succession,
14. Packing Up Your Predecessor,
Seven truths about effective team process,
15. The Right (and Wrong) Way to Make Up Your Mind,
Ten el-cheapo ways to motivate people.
16. Motivating People.
Five ways to effect change in the face of resistance.
17. Locating the Levers of Change.
Nine ways to break an ice-jam in negotiations.
18. Learning to Negotiate.
Four kinds of people, and how to work with each.
19. Dealing with Other People.
Three ways to give people information so it is real to them.
20. How to Give Feedback.
Three ways to make empowerment work–and make your teambless you.
21. Set Limits to Freedom.
Five rules for dealing with conflict.
22. The Importance of Being Frank.
Five broad characterizations of the working generations.
23. Bridging the Age Gap.
Four of the worst and six of the best ways to communicate badnews.
24. How to Discipline and Fire.
Nine parting shots of managerial wisdom.
25. Confession and Conclusion.
Appendix: Best Books.
Acknowledgments.
The Authors.
Index.

Harvey Robbins is a psychologist, business consultant, trainer, andauthor. He has consulted to numerous organizations including American Express, Allied Signal, General Dynamics, AT&T, 3M, Honeywell, Johnson & Johnson, Nabisco, Target, and US West.
Michael Finley is a prolific author and journalist whose work hasappeared in hundreds of publications. He is well known for hiswriting on technology, and was chosen as one of the ’Masters of the Wired World’ by the Financial Times. Robbins and Finley havewritten several books together, including the best-selling Why Teams Don’t Work, which won the Financial Times/Booz-Allen& Hamilton Global Business Award in 1995.