Howard G. Awbery

Pixie Dust: A Tale of Recruitment Problems in Ten-Tree Wood Howard G. Awbery

Motivation. Easy. Leadership. No problem. Performance management. Simple. All of these statements are true if and only if you have the right people. That's the really hard bit: choosing the right people. A chief executive's dream is to have scientific help when choosing key people and Pixie Dust is that help a book written as a fable from the heart. The fable starts when all is well in a community; then, a recruitment exercise ends in the not-unfamiliar 'appointment from hell'. The fable concludes with that fabulous feeling when a selection panel gets it right that almost spiritual satisfaction when managers come together and it works. The problems encountered when selecting a senior manager are herein set in a woodland community. However, Pixie Dust is far from being a fairy story. It is a vehicle to convey cutting-edge management practices which come from the most up-to-date management research at doctoral level. Pixie Dust is a critical look at the outmoded management selection practices of today and an explanation of what could be achieved by the application of a high-performing management model. Pixie Dust will make you think and change the way you select managers for ever. The book will take about an hour to read and a lifetime to be grateful.