I am quite critical of business books, which over the years, I have repeatedly said are a dime-a-dozen and I keep waiting for one to come in a truly teach me something that didn't already feel like either common sense or an individual's memoir. So, perhaps I didn't go into this book with the highest expectations, but I was beyond pleasantly surprised!

While I still think that this was miss-titled, and should be more aptly named "The Specialist Pipeline: How to Best Utilize Your Strategic Industry Specialists," I am glad that I listened to this in-depth take on the role of the specialists in a high functioning organization, how to find the best fit, stretch your talent, and balance your people leaders and your specialists in a way that grows them both and celebrates each of them for their unique talents. I especially appreciated the basics around how to manage and tackle important issues around the roles of specialists. We were provided examples of use cases to illustrate points made around the hierarchical system built around specialists, pitfalls in execution and management, with basic questions to build out your own specialist systems.

Honestly, I'm about to go buy copies of each of these for my own employees to read as well as managers in my department. We've undergone quite a bit of growth in our department over the last couple of years and I think this could help refine our thinking as we try and be strategic about titles, duties, and overall fit within our overall institution and the industry in which we operate.

Thank you so much to Advantage Media Group, Forbes Books via NetGalley for the advanced audiobook copy to listen to in exchange for an honest review.