What is the main message of Serve Up, Coach Down?

The main message of Serve Up, Coach Down is to lead with humility and empower others to succeed.

How long does it take to read Serve Up, Coach Down?

Reading time for Serve Up, Coach Down varies. The Blinkist summary can be read in under 15 minutes.

Who is the author of Serve Up, Coach Down?

The author of Serve Up, Coach Down is Nathan Jamail.

Management & Leadership

Serve Up, Coach Down Book Summary - Serve Up, Coach Down Book explained in key points

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Serve Up, Coach Down summary

Name: Serve Up, Coach Down
Rating: 4.2 (173 reviews)
Author: Nathan Jamail

Nathan Jamail

Mastering the Middle and Both Sides of Leadership

4.2 (173 ratings)

25 mins

Brief summary

Serve Up, Coach Down by Nathan Jamail is a guide for leaders to create a winning team by empowering them to make decisions, take ownership, and be accountable. It emphasizes the importance of serving and supporting employees to achieve success at work and in life.

Topics

Teamwork Coaching

Table of Contents

Serve Up, Coach Down
Summary of 8 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Impress your boss and inspire your team by “mastering the middle.”

Do you manage a team? And do you also report to someone higher up the corporate ladder? Then you, like so many workers, are in “the middle.” There are skills and strategies you need to master in order to make the most of your position.

Successful middle management is demanding and exacting. Middle managers are required to both take and give direction. They need to nurture their team and protect their boss’s interests. It’s their job to explain frontline needs to senior leaders. And it’s also up to them to translate the firm’s vision for staff on the shop floor.

These blinks are filled with inspiring and helpful advice, not to mention strategic tips about how to meet the unique challenges of managing in the middle.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

the difference between serving up and sucking up;
how serving up can combat silo mentality; and
the secrets of effective time management.

Serving up means trusting your boss’s vision.

Juanita is a middle manager, and she’s about to make a huge professional mistake.

One of the best members of Juanita’s team has just quit, and Juanita’s boss has decided not to hire a replacement. Now Juanita’s staff feel overworked. She has even been taking on some of the workload herself, and she’s proud of being a great team leader. What’s more, Juanita has her colleagues’ best interests at heart. That’s why she’s going to demand that her boss replace the departed employee.

But what’s wrong with Juanita’s approach? Well, as the author puts it, she isn’t serving up.

The key message here is: Serving up means trusting your boss’s vision.

Juanita’s boss has decided a leaner team can deliver the same results. But Juanita hasn’t shown faith in this decision. She hasn’t consolidated her team’s workload or encouraged colleagues to develop new workflows. In short, she’s dismissed the logic of her boss’s decision and failed to streamline the team.

Juanita thinks she’s acting in her team’s best interest. But what’s actually happening is this: she’s missing an opportunity to give her staff new challenges and more responsibilities. Instead of encouraging their professional development, she’s giving in to their complaints.

It isn’t her job to relay the team’s frustration to the bosses. Her job is to translate the management’s vision to the team. If you’re in the middle, it’s not really up to you to strategize. But it is up to you to put strategy into action.

Serving up – trusting the boss’s vision – means accepting decisions with enthusiasm and conviction. And this allows you to perform your role with conviction, too.

Many middle managers are loath to serve up because they confuse serving up with sucking up. But there’s a huge difference. Sucking up is manipulative. A suck-up is a ‘yes-man’ – or a ‘yes-woman’ – who only ever says what they think people want to hear. Why do they do it? Usually to further their own agenda.

Serving up, on the other hand, has no agenda. Someone who serves up is a team player. This person supports the mission and objectives of the firm.

For you as a middle manager, this can occasionally entail supporting decisions you don’t fully understand or agree with. But that support doesn’t need to be uncritical or unquestioning.

Serving your peers sets you, and your firm, up for success.

Ever seen a tennis pro play in a championship match? Players like Serena Williams and Roger Federer have killer serves. But to win the point, they can’t play the same serve every time. If they want to keep opponents on their toes, they need to mix things up.

The same applies to managing from the middle. It’s not enough to serve up by supporting your immediate manager. You need to serve out and across, too. This means you need to serve your peers in middle management.

Divide your energy equally between your boss and your team.

Charles is a middle manager who’s made himself invaluable to his boss. He accepts her strategic decisions and implements them with conviction.

His team, on the other hand, are far from exceptional. They complete their tasks, sure. But, unlike Charles, they don’t fully support the company’s mission. Charles can’t be blamed for their mediocre performance. Or can he?

You can embrace change even when you don’t fully understand it.

We all know change is unavoidable, but it can still be challenging to deal with. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s a big shift, like moving to a new city or starting a new career, or just a small adjustment – even making the switch from coffee to tea can be hard.

It’s no different in the corporate world, which is influenced by the constant flux outside of the office. Things like technology, demographics, and market forces never stop reshaping our businesses.

Middle managers are crucial to bridging the knowledge gap.

Knowledge is power – but only if you put that knowledge into practice!

The knowledge gap, which is the distance between what workers know and what they do, is a huge problem for the modern workplace.

Effective time management is all about priorities.

Have you ever heard of “middle child syndrome?” Middle children are often people pleasers because they’ve always had to mediate between elder and younger siblings.

When you work in the middle, you might feel the same way. You’re pulled in different directions, and you want to please everyone. Bosses, clients, heads of other departments, your own team – there’s so much to do, and so little time!

Prize your team members for the contribution they make.

Which of your team members deserves the most of your loyalty? The most senior? The most skilled? The most loyal? The one who drives the most sales, nets the most deals, wins the most pitches?

The answer is: none of them. Your loyalty should lie with whoever is making the greatest contribution to the team right now. Last quarter’s results, last year’s numbers – they don’t come into the equation.

The middle is a powerful place to be – if you play your cards right.

Middle management has a bad reputation. In the corporate world, it’s often seen as a refuge for pencil pushers, bureaucrats, and people who don’t hold any power or influence.

Of course, many do fit this stereotype. But – news flash! – some of the most powerful people in business are middle managers. After all, what’s the definition of a middle manager? It’s a professional who both reports higher up the chain and manages further down the chain. That definition fits some of business’s most influential VPs, CFOs, and COOs.

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What is Serve Up, Coach Down about?

Serve Up, Coach Down (2018) is a corporate leadership guide for middle managers. It empowers workers to “master the middle” by sharing the strategies they need to effectively manage both their team and their boss.

Serve Up, Coach Down Review

Serve Up, Coach Down (2012) by Nathan Jamail is a valuable resource for leaders who want to improve their coaching skills and create a positive work environment. Here's why this book is worth reading:

It provides practical strategies to effectively manage and motivate teams, empowering leaders to bring out the best in their employees.
Backed by real-world examples, the book offers actionable advice on communication, accountability, and creating a culture of success.
With its engaging storytelling and relatable scenarios, the book is far from dull, making it an enjoyable and insightful read.

Who should read Serve Up, Coach Down?

Middle managers hungry to hone their leadership skills
Team leaders who want to inspire their staff to do great work
Employees aiming to get the most out of their professional relationships

About the Author

Nathan Jamail is a management consultant, corporate coach, and former sales professional. Through his best-selling business books, workshops, and keynotes, Jamail shares his strategies for corporate success.

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