“Karen provides practical methods that enable managers to help their staff grow, and shed the obstacles that are holding them back. If you have employees who are not living up to their potential, you must read this book!”

      Kathy B. Dempsey

      Award-Winning Author of Shed or You’re Dead™:

      31 unConventional Strategies for Growth and Change

      “Karen emphasizes the importance of hiring the right people and her book gives you great tips and tools to help you identify the people with those personality traits that make your business grow and mesh with the staff you already have.”

      Joel L. Schwartz, MD

      Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Abington Memorial Hospital

      “Karen uses her experiences to back up down-to-earth, practical advice to get the best out of the people who work for you.”

      Karen Lawson, PhD, CSP

      Author of Improving Workplace Performance Through Coaching

      “Karen takes challenging management tasks like hiring staff and breaks them down into easy to understand and implement steps.”

      Ronald D. Luther

      Director - Accounting Policy, Cummins, Inc.

      “Karen Jett presents the power of ethical behavior in a most unique, practical, and insightful way. This book is a must-read for anyone, particularly in a leadership position. Her down-to-earth examples, combined with practical techniques and wisdom, make this book a great read!”

      Frank Bucaro

      Author of Trust Me! Insights Into Ethical Leadership

      “I find the contents to be a treasury of wisdom and usable suggestions that will be of huge benefit to new managers. And yet, it includes a fresh perspective that will appeal to even experienced managers.”

      I. Ross Dickman

      Philadelphia Flower Show Market Vendor and Large Booth Manager

      “Karen has learned much of value from her experiences, and she shares her insights in a direct, readable, and enjoyable way. Anybody who manages, or will manage, people can gain much of value from this book.”

      Joel Wagoner, CPA, CMA, CFM

      Assistant Professor, Arcadia University

      “Clearly written and very relevant. Karen Jett possesses a depth of knowledge which reinforces tried and true business principles. You must read this book!

      Steve Coscia

      Customer Service Expert, Coscia Communications Inc.

      “There are few books about managing people that give such practical and visually provocative examples of basic principles and everyday, working-environment situations. I will remember the effectiveness of trust and values-based leadership long after I finish this book.”

      Constance M. Romer-Quirin

      Licensed Psychologist

      Dedication

      To my husband, the wise farmer Thad, who knows when to fertilize, when to weed, and when to leave the plant alone to grow strong on its own. I love you!

      Foreword

      At first glance, you may think this is a lawn and garden book, but when you read beyond the chapter titles, crafted from an agricultural model, to the subtitles, you soon find out that this book is really about successfully growing people, not plants. It seems that growth cycles for plants and people are remarkably similar. In 24 concise chapters, Karen Jett uses these similarities to vividly demonstrate how you, as a leader, can successfully “grow” your people.

      Agriculture has shaped the growth of our civilization for 10,000 years and it is still one of our largest, and, arguably, most important industries. Where better to find a cornucopia of growth examples, and what clearer, simpler, comparisons than these could be possible? It’s all in here: till the soil; plant healthy seeds; water generously; supplement with nutrients; provide personal support; rotate your crops; harvest thoroughly. The book’s message is simple – manage your “farm” and your people will grow.

      Peter Drucker, who I was fortunate enough to have as a mentor during and after my time as a vice president with the American Management Association, once said, “Our challenge (in management) is not in getting results from extraordinary people, it is in getting extraordinary results from ordinary people (and that’s almost all of us).” We all have to be cultivated.

      In one of my favorite chapters, “Chemical Fertilizer or Natural Fertilizer? - Bases of Power,” Karen breaks down the exercise of power within organizations into five archetypes that cover the power, authority and influence “territory” admirably. They are: legitimate, coercive, reward, expert, and referent power.

      This book is a fertile field of real-life experiences, taken from both research and from Karen’s own career and daily life experiences. Her husband, after all, is a farmer.

      “Managers have a multitude of powerful ways to promote growth or get the work done. They, like farmers, need to have a complete understanding of both the fertilizer (power) and the plant (employee) in order to produce the most work.” It doesn’t get much simpler, or more powerful, than that.

      “Building Up The Soil – Trust and Respect” is another favorite chapter. Here, Karen recognizes that “building up the soil doesn’t end with nourishing the plant.” And building up an employee doesn’t stop at the end of the workday. It’s an ongoing process, rooted in mutual benefit in which a glimmer of hope satisfied leads to greater trust. To have healthy, productive workers, we need healthy organizations.

      Finally, one of the most impressive aspects of this book is its well thought through grounding in successful leadership techniques and personnel development tools, presented in such a way that you can adopt any one (or more) of them almost immediately.

      It is not a book best buried among corporate reports, or left sitting on a shelf. It is a book you can use, and take with you anywhere you go. It is a book that provides ready reference for some of organizations’

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