How to Swim with the Sharks: A Survival Guide for Leadership in Diverse Environments - Paperback

by Vickie L. McCray (Author)

How to Swim with the Sharks: A Survival Guide for Leadership in Diverse Environments, provides real-life vignettes of personal and professional triumphs. Each story offers tried and proven leadership techniques for use in challenging business or personal environments. The book also addresses management styles useful for building and managing teams. While the book covers situations in professional environments, it could easily be adapted to situations in community organizations or in schools. Unique to business management literature, this book covers a key element often overlooked in other books: office politics. The book is written for those who, despite being highly skilled and qualified, encounter setbacks due to office power dynamics. The book is organized in a very easy-to-read format. Each chapter begins with a dilemma, followed by a strategy, advantage and reflection to help one tackle the dilemma. Then, the chapter concludes with brief "take-away" tips that will help readers successfully swim with the sharks.

Author Biography

Vickie L. McCray has more than 20 years of leadership and management experience in the U.S. Government (Agriculture and State Department)and private industry (KPMG, ManTech, Pragmatics, and E-9 Corporation). She has held senior level positions as audit manager, IT manager, technical advisor, executive director, and project/program managers. She is the President and CEO of The McCray Group, Inc., a women/minority owned company that specializes in providing executive leadership and oversight services to the federal government and private sector. A strong believer in lifelong learning, McCray's educational background includes a B.S. in Accounting from Chicago State University and a M.S. in Information Studies from Syracuse University. She also holds certifications as Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM), and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) designation. Vickie and her husband Patrick reside in Alexandria, VA.