About the author
Mark Schwartz, MBA, has been part of the management/leadership of small as well as quite large employee teams over more than 25 years. During that busy, productive and demanding period, Mark successfully planned, oversaw and worked along with the various teams he managed, to bring in many large and complex efforts - invariably on-time and within-budget. He also served on numerous senior-level divisional and corporate steering committees and mentored many new managers as they developed into true professionals. As a major by-product of that very active period, Mark polished and documented dozens of unique insights into the essential techniques associated with successfully leading and managing.
Having acquired early management experience in both accounting and information technology (IT) venues, Mark later took on IT/Programming vice presidential responsibilities for a large, multi-branch commercial bank. From there, Mark went on to direct sizeable technical staffs with a pair of large consulting organizations. Two highly valuable by-products of Mark’s 25 years in leadership and management are: (1) a full understanding of the trials facing anyone involved in just about any kind of management and leadership career, as well as (2) the ability to effectively coach, mentor, and motivate others. Based upon that solid foundation, Mark has assembled "The Manager’s Oracle: 125 Key Lessons NOBODY EVER TAUGHT YOU About Leading and Managing," alive with dozens and dozens of essential messages, useful for leader/managers at all levels.
Career highlights:
• Mark stepped in to save a failing commercial data center that had been established specifically to serve a very large U.S. Government agency. Over a very short timeframe, Mark transformed his small group of very talented – but previously mismanaged – technicians, into an aggressive, teamwork-oriented, and extraordinarily productive set of project teams. By way of a rapidly burgeoning workload (stemming from now – well-pleased clients) Mark’s group more than doubled its staff size in the course of just about two years.
• Within another short two-year period, Mark transformed a large commercial bank’s IT department from a loose confederation of inward-looking, isolated and self-concerned groups – into a unified and farsighted team of corporate achievers.
• Mark successfully established a large new Pricing-Billing department within a quasi-governmental organization that had never previously engaged in commercial customer billing. For their cooperative and exceedingly successful efforts, Mark and his staff won a stream of accolades.
Mark has always enjoyed using a close interpersonal approach and a touch of humor in both his leadership efforts as well as his writing. He assembled "The Manager’s Oracle" to reflect the full range of his experience, aiming to share with others the many insights and skills he amassed over his busy career.