I’ve never been a manager, but if I became one, I know where I’d turn for advice. Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby’s excellent new book, Behind Closed Doors is the first management guide I’ve read that makes me feel like I could learn to be an excellent manager. It even makes me want to try to be a manager, something I swore I’d never undertake. I have spent most of my career seeing managers as an obstacle to doing good work, but Johanna and Esther have painted me a picture of a manager that is an ally, not an obstacle. If nothing else, Behind Closed Doors gives me hope for managers and their reports everywhere. But it’s not just a fairy tale—it’s a practical guide to manager/report harmony.

One important step Behind Closed Doors takes is to both show respect for managers and hold them accountable for their own performance. Rather than simply advocating for managers as unappreciated people, it identifies what good managers ought to do, then guides the reader to do it. Instead of siding with managers against “those annoying reports”, Johanna and Esther emphasize what their readers can do to develop better working relationships with everyone around them. When I think about the managers I have respected throughout my career, I realize that they already do some of the important things that Behind Closed Doors recommends.

The authors also make the point of using systems thinking to solve problems. Not only is this approach highly effective, but it encourages managers to view their environment holistically, rather than focusing on their direct reports, their manager, their turf, and nothing else. It encourages the managers to be better citizens at work, and this can only rub off on the people around them, creating lasting positive change. That’s quite an accomplishment, compared to other books for managers.

Most helpful are the 35 pages of specific guidelines and techniques the reader can start using right away to improve their communication, to both plan and manage their projects and to bring spiraling problems back under control. There are even plenty of examples of what not to do, which are effective teaching in their own right. No management book can promise to make managing easy, but Behind Closed Doors certainly makes it look possible to me, and that’s about as high praise as I can imagine giving a book on the subject.

Some gems from Behind Closed Doors:

• Evaluations are different from feedback
• People don’t know unless you tell them
• Don’t blame the other person for wanting what they want
• Management exists to organize purposefully