How does your company train its operational-level managers? Do they go offsite, learn new information from a management expert, receive a training manual, or something similar? Most businesses fall into this development category, treating managers as our academic system treats students. The results, unfortunately, consist of short-lived bursts of enthusiasm and little measurable improvement, in part due to the lack of day-to-day applicability and personal accountability.

Thriving in the Middle looks to replace this ineffective version of management development with a more culturally founded, experience-dependent model. Based on decades of leadership experience and breakthrough studies, Mike Cook establishes the case for "Distributed Development Communities," in which application takes place in a near-real-time, experiential environment using actual situations faced. In this model, process-driven development is more frequent and delivered in small doses, and operational-level managers are coached and groomed to become great operational-level managers without the subtext of upward advancement. Learn the attributes and processes of better management improvement. Your bottom line and your front line will thank you for it.