Steven Manchel releases “I Hereby Resign”

Steven Manchel’s “I Hereby Resign” Job Transitioning: How Individuals Properly Prepare, Resign and Move to the Competition, and How Companies Best Manage that Process is a sparkling addition to business literature. The book’s subject, how companies on both sides can handle the transition of one employee when competing interests exist, is a timeless topic in the corporate world and Manchel’s extensive experience with the issue makes him an ideal author for such a work. It is Manchel’s first mass marketed book, but he writes with the calm assurance of someone well versed in the ins and outs of his subject and the reading experiences assures you at every turn of his confidence in the guidance contained within. His decision to close any potential distance between writer and reader is an intelligent approach to the subject; it accomplishes a number of things, but paramount among them is reassuring readers facing this possibly thorny process they are not alone and others have faced similar conundrums.

I feel the first part of the book is its most important. Manchel explores the topic of transitioning out of a company by setting up a fictional case study. The “case study” is credible and Manchel peppers it with a number of the concerns and possible mistakes arising when an employee is on his way out the door and hired by a competing business. Manchel frames his dissection of this scenario around observing a series of rules when you are preparing to leave one position for another in the same market and lays it out in clear and lucid terms. There are psychological and legal considerations when such events occur and failing to heed their importance can create unforeseen issues and, in extreme cases, even detail careers.

PURCHASE LINK: https://www.amazon.ca/Hereby-Resign-Transitioning-Individuals-Competition/dp/1733040846

There are instances in the book when Manchel strikes a personal note and these moments lend even more credence to Manchel’s ideas and concepts rather than reading like extraneous additions. He makes no bones that he has been in a similar position as his fictional case study of “Don Jenkins” and the lessons learned from those experiences served him in good stead. The book’s second half contains a wealth of valuable guidance as well. It focuses on how new companies best equip themselves to handle incorporating new employees from direct competitors into the own culture and structure. Manchel advocates smart ideas like establishing a transitioning program focused on micro-managing these moves so that each t is cross and i dotted in a proper and legal way.

“I Hereby Resign” Job Transitioning: How Individuals Properly Prepare, Resign and Move to the Competition, and How Companies Best Manage that Process will stand the test of time as one of the most penetrating books on this subject. Steven Manchel does an exceptional job of bringing nearly three decades of experience in the area to practical life for his readers and doesn’t pad the text with useless asides or digressions dulling its overall impact. This is a quick read but one you can revisit often if it falls within the wheelhouse of your professional concerns.

Nicole Killian