A Manager's Guide to Self-development
7th Edition
Published on 9. December 2025
356 pages
978-1-040-53302-4 (ISBN)
Description
This book is an indispensable guide to building your management and leadership skills and abilities. It includes activities which can be undertaken alone, in a group or as part of a programme.
In its seventh edition, the book is a carefully designed self-development programme aimed at helping leaders improve their performance, advance their careers and achieve their full potential. You are invited to complete a diagnostic career and life-planning activity first, before making a self-diagnosis of learning goals and priorities. Choose from 56 self-development activities covering a range of skills and competencies, including change management, coaching, collaborative working and emotional resilience. New activities include environmental scanning, using artificial intelligence, mindfulness and working effectively with groups. This new, updated edition reflects key changes in management and leadership practices over the last decade and is aligned to relevant professional frameworks.
This book encourages people to believe in themselves and their abilities. It aims to empower you to reflect on your experiences of tackling challenges in the workplace and shows you how to move to the next level in your career, to become the best leader and manager that you can be.
In its seventh edition, the book is a carefully designed self-development programme aimed at helping leaders improve their performance, advance their careers and achieve their full potential. You are invited to complete a diagnostic career and life-planning activity first, before making a self-diagnosis of learning goals and priorities. Choose from 56 self-development activities covering a range of skills and competencies, including change management, coaching, collaborative working and emotional resilience. New activities include environmental scanning, using artificial intelligence, mindfulness and working effectively with groups. This new, updated edition reflects key changes in management and leadership practices over the last decade and is aligned to relevant professional frameworks.
This book encourages people to believe in themselves and their abilities. It aims to empower you to reflect on your experiences of tackling challenges in the workplace and shows you how to move to the next level in your career, to become the best leader and manager that you can be.
Reviews / Votes
"The Senior Leadership Apprenticeship programme at Henley Business School introduced me to this book, A Manager's Guide to Self-development. The book made me realise that I had never correctly answered the "what are your weaknesses" questions before! The knowledge and wisdom provided and the 'cookbook format' to discover self and team development needs make this book invaluable. I bought it electronically and as a paperback. I also gave it to a couple of manager friends as a Christmas present." Najib Coutya, Senior Cloud Transformation Architect, Financial Services at Wipro Digital."Engaging, innovative and exciting to use in anyone's self-development. The exercises are fun and illuminating, and the pace is fast and energizing. A must read for any manager wanting to be 'the best'". Professor Sir Cary Cooper, CBE, ALLIANCE Manchester Business School, University of Manchester
"For several decades the MGSD has been the 'go to' book for individuals committed to their self-development, and to learning and development professionals who guide them along the way. This new edition has been adapted to reflect the contemporary work context, but retains the underpinning learning philosophy and core principles developed by the book's original authors. It encourages managers and leaders to situate their development in the context of collective efforts to bring about better outcomes, and to develop transferable skills that can be applied to understand more deeply a range of organisation sectors. I recommend this book to anyone interested in developing themselves for work, or to prepare themselves for any new challenge." Carole Elliott, Professor of Leadership Development, University of St Andrews Business School.
More details
Edition
7th edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
44 Tables, black and white; 21 Line drawings, black and white; 21 Illustrations, black and white
File size
161,43 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-53302-4 (9781040533024)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Mike Pedler | John Burgoyne | Tom Boydell
A Manager's Guide to Self-development
Book
approx. 12/2025
7th Edition
Routledge
€188.10
Not yet published
Mike Pedler | John Burgoyne | Tom Boydell
A Manager's Guide to Self-development
Book
approx. 12/2025
7th Edition
Routledge
€45.00
Not yet published
Persons
Mike Pedler is Emeritus Professor at Henley Business School, University of Reading. He is the founding editor of the journal Action Learning: Research and Practice and has written many papers and books on management and leadership development and organisational learning.
John Burgoyne was a co-author of the original and earlier editions of A Manager's Guide to Self-development, and is now sadly deceased. He was a leading thinker and researcher in the field of management learning and Professor Emeritus at Lancaster University Management School.
Tom Boydell was Principal Lecturer for 20 years at Sheffield City Polytechnic/Hallam University, where he specialised in action learning and self-development. Since then, he has run two consultancy organisations and is now a Senior Associate with the Centre for Action Learning.
Joan Keevill is Director of Designs on Learning Ltd and is currently lecturing and coaching leaders on Senior Leader Apprenticeship Programmes at Henley Business School, University of Reading. Joan has extensive experience in leadership development and learning design in general and virtual facilitation in particular.
Kevin Roe is Associate Professor at the Leicester Castle Business School, De Montfort University. His research is focused on understanding how successful teams coordinate their activities.
Jean-Anne Stewart has over 20 years' experience of research and teaching at Henley Business School where she is Programme Director for the innovative MA Leadership programme and Professor of Leadership Development.
John Burgoyne was a co-author of the original and earlier editions of A Manager's Guide to Self-development, and is now sadly deceased. He was a leading thinker and researcher in the field of management learning and Professor Emeritus at Lancaster University Management School.
Tom Boydell was Principal Lecturer for 20 years at Sheffield City Polytechnic/Hallam University, where he specialised in action learning and self-development. Since then, he has run two consultancy organisations and is now a Senior Associate with the Centre for Action Learning.
Joan Keevill is Director of Designs on Learning Ltd and is currently lecturing and coaching leaders on Senior Leader Apprenticeship Programmes at Henley Business School, University of Reading. Joan has extensive experience in leadership development and learning design in general and virtual facilitation in particular.
Kevin Roe is Associate Professor at the Leicester Castle Business School, De Montfort University. His research is focused on understanding how successful teams coordinate their activities.
Jean-Anne Stewart has over 20 years' experience of research and teaching at Henley Business School where she is Programme Director for the innovative MA Leadership programme and Professor of Leadership Development.
Content
Part 1 Introduction, Chapter 1 The Philosophy of This Book, Chapter 2 How This Book Works, Part 2 Planning Your Self-development, Chapter 3 Career and Life Planning, Chapter 4 The Qualities of Successful Managers and Leaders, Chapter 5 Where to Start? Choosing Your Learning Priorities, Chapter 6 How to Select and Use the Activities, Part 3 Activities for Leadership and Management Self-development, Activity 1 Know Your Facts, Activity 2 Networking, Activity 3 Managing Your Time, Activity 4 Keeping Up to Date, Activity 5 Find a Mentor, Activity 6 Communication Tools, Activity 7 Facts and Assumptions, Activity 8 Reflective Practice, Activity 9 Use Your Power, Activity 10 Action Learning, Activity 11 Political Awareness, Activity 12 Active Listening, Activity 13 Decision Making, Activity 14 Environmental Scanning, Activity 15 Role Set Analysis, Activity 16 Planning Change, Activity 17 Crisis Management, Activity 18 Critical Thinking, Activity 19 Risk Management, Activity 20 Asserting Yourself, Activity 21 Handling Conflict, Activity 22 Working Effectively with Groups, Activity 23 Exploring Your Core Values, Activity 24 Getting to Know You, Activity 25 Getting to Yes, Activity 26 Collaborative Working, Activity 27 Be a Coach!, Activity 28 Virtual Leadership, Activity 29 The Saturated Life, Activity 30 Dealing with Difficult Situations, Activity 31 Are You Stressed?, Activity 32 Managing Stress in Your Team, Activity 33 Meditation, Activity 34 Mindfulness, Activity 35 Manage Your Feelings, Activity 36 Stability Zones, Activity 37 The Virtual Revolution, Activity 38 Using Artificial Intelligence Tools, Activity 39 Who's the Boss?, Activity 40 Practising Change, Activity 41 Action Planning, Activity 42 Imaging, Activity 43 Managing Upwards, Activity 44 Beyond 'Yes... But...', Activity 45 Generating New Ideas, Activity 46 Approaches to Creativity, Activity 47 A Helicopter Mind, Activity 48 Your Multiple Intelligences, Activity 49 Coping with Complexity, Activity 50 Just a Minute, Activity 51 Where To Next?, Activity 52 Managing Your Dependency, Activity 53 Learning to Learn, Activity 54 Study Skills, Activity 55 Your Learning Cycle, Activity 56 Backwards Review, Part 4 Notes for Facilitators, Notes for Facilitators, Appendix Part 1 CMDA Standard Level 6/MGSD Mapping Matrix, Part 2 SLA Standard Level 7/MGSD Mapping Matrix
