Shifting the Monkey: The Art of Protecting Good People From Liars, Criers, and Other Slackers (A book on school leadership and teacher performance)

Mr. Whitaker continues to share the same management advice in this book that he has shared in his other books: take care of your best people. It is good, sound, common sense advice. It sells books because so few people follow that advice. The employers who create new policies and rules, governments which create new laws because of the actions of a few, store owners who post threatening signs about shoplifting, and other examples like this show that very few people put the best first. There is even an old saying: the squeaky wheel gets the grease.So, I agree with Mr. Whitaker. This book differs from his others in two ways. The first is that it is written to apply to the business world rather than the education world. That's good because the same message applies. Our policies and behavior should be driven by the best, not the worst.I found Mr. Whitaker's overuse of the "monkey" device to be really annoying. I know that the monkey is a gimmick to make this book unique and memorable. To me, it got in the way of the message. It didn't help that in my world "a monkey on your back" is an implication of drug use. The book would have been clearer without the monkey. Secondly, I think Mr. Whitaker could have really used an editor. I didn't catch any grammatical or spelling errors. I caught a lot of repetition. Some repetition drives home a point. More is padding. Too much is insulting. Mr. Whitaker was insulting.The message in the book is good. But, the monkey gimmick and the repetition overshadowed the good.

As I am In a slump at work with some very lazy monkeys, I found myself developing new tactics for dealing with their poor behavior.

Problems & the urgency to correct them sets up leadership to take advantage of good employees resulting in burn out. Leadership must recognize the impact of knee jerk management decisions & how they routinely enable poor performers at the expense of star players. Everyone in management should read this once a year to keep from such a subtle yet destructive management tactic.

I read this for a leadership class at my university. I like it because it's short and get's to the point. Don't really like that there are little boxes to highlight key messages, since it's literally a copy and paste of what I just read a paragraph ago. I read it off the kindle, so maybe the format was different than the novel. It was enjoyable because it made me aware of the different monkeys on everyone's backs. It was helpful for office/business conflicts.

I work for the U.S. Government, which is a hotbed for management "shifting monkeys." I have worked for the U.S. Government for 47 years. The person who is the slacker or breaks the rules is never dealt with - management calls us all in to a general staff meeting or sends out e:mails reminding us of the rules. This book was written for my management to read. Even if they read it, they wouldn't do anything about it, but I plan to put a route slip on it and route it around to our management the day I retired (at the end of this year).This book is a terrific book and EVERY person in supervision should read it and heed it. LOVED IT!!!!!!

This is a thoughtful quick read for any manager, leader, or school administrator. Its not bad for a worker in an office either. It clearly explains a dynamic that can occur in any working relationship where someone takes on responsibilities that really belong somewhere else. It is well written and I found it humorous - I could identify people that I work with that fall into roles that were described.It was a good read, and would make a good gift for a stressed out boss.

I can't say I didn't like this book because I did. I read the whole thing quickly, anticipating some revelation in dealing with difficult people, which I never really got, but more of validation of the techniques I was already employing. Basically, this book's central them is kill them with kindness and never engage in confrontational outbreaks. If you are new to management or are dealing with difficult co-workers, this book definitely has some good tips, and is an easy and pleasant read.

Todd Whitaker is a great author and this newest addition to his collection is no exception! Other books I have read by this author focused on education, but this book is applicable to anyone who currently manages people either professionally or as a volunteer. It is easy to read and apply and the topic is very much needed to help organizations run more efficiently and to keep and encourage the best employees or volunteers. Monkeys are a good thing as long as they stay with their rightful owner. Whitaker gives managers tools to keep monkeys where they belong, not pushed off on the shoulders of those who have plenty of their own monkeys.

Simple when you read it. This book has made a huge impact on my teaching practice and leadership within my department.

If you are in a leadership/management role, this is an excellent read! I've passed my copy on to a few people, who have benefited from the mentoring/learning around how to "shift the monkey"!

Excellent, quick read. Easy to understand but requires thinking and processing. The suggestions and scenarios are practical.

Could have been summed up in 1 page

A book with some simple strategies to adopt in your area of leadership. A language to put around difficult working relationships.