Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

FYI: For Your Improvement, A Guide for Development and Coaching

Rate this book
Updated forth edition of the 1996 title (see ISBN 0965571203 for further information)

630 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

99 people are currently reading
3639 people want to read

About the author

Michael M. Lombardo

43 books14 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
335 (49%)
4 stars
226 (33%)
3 stars
75 (11%)
2 stars
27 (4%)
1 star
8 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
Profile Image for Brian.
47 reviews
July 21, 2009
This is not a book that you would read cover-to-cover, but it is definitely a great reference book to keep on your shelf. Anyone who manages others, mentors, or provides feedback should glance through this book in the store to see what they think.

This book lists 160+ competencies of which it provides ideas on how you might improve. For example, if you feel that you might need help with delegation, then you would look up that competency and then you can read through points to determine if that competency for you is one that is unskilled, skilled, or overused. You can then read about some causes and some remedies for issues that you might be experiencing with that competency.

This is a book that I would most likely pull off the shelf a few times per year as I am trying to review my personal progress and trying to set goals for the upcoming months. It has plenty of great ideas.
Profile Image for Anisa Aven.
18 reviews3 followers
July 5, 2011
I have the 5th edition. It's unbelievably thorough and delivers everytime I pick it up. Let's say you want to improve your comfort with executive conversations - the chapter answers all sides of the equation - what happens when you use this skill too much, what happens when you are deficient, what specifically you can do to compensate or stretch yourself in that area etc. Think of a professional comepentcy that you want to develop and a well-thought-out plan of how to go about it, is in this book. It's an important resource for executive development and in my career, executive coaching it's a must-read, use, abuse, and read again.
Profile Image for Laleh.
248 reviews140 followers
October 20, 2013
An extensive self-evaluation manual on personal and interpersonal skills. I liked how the book is structured. The most interesting part is where correlations between various skills are projected into how one can improve a skill by compensating it by other skills.
Profile Image for Molly.
51 reviews22 followers
December 8, 2011
I have the 5th edition. Very insightful book gives tips on how to work on our weaknesses & play to our strengths while at the same time not become overbearing and monotone in our talents. A must read for anyone working in a team environment or those with careers in today's corporate America or middle-management.
Profile Image for Jane Andelman.
760 reviews3 followers
November 15, 2014
I love this book. It is a great resource for handling HR issues and for self-improvement.
Profile Image for Ruth Vanhoven.
17 reviews1 follower
January 17, 2015
Excellent resource for professional development: both for your self and those you work with.
20 reviews
May 19, 2012
This is a fantastic resource for anyone wanting to work on their career. This is a very comprehensive guide for assessing your professional strengths and weaknesses. And then it provides a fantastic list of improvement ideas and further reading to address any aspect of your professional life that you'd like to work on. Again, a fantastic resource for any professional.
101 reviews
January 1, 2015
I have this book and love it! I was given an edition as a gift and I had to buy a more recent edition because the one I was given was constently being lent out. I use it as a reference and resource for myself, my employees and anyone I'm mentoring. Great book, wonderful resource!
Profile Image for Benoit Marinoff.
146 reviews5 followers
April 23, 2013
Great book to help you when you reach a point and you wonder what is next and how you can grow. Large list of valuable skills explaining each of them in depth and advising on how to becoming better with them. from there it is up to you to apply it or not!
Profile Image for PeterBlackCoach.
146 reviews8 followers
Read
January 26, 2016
Recommended to me by a client - ties in nicely with job right job design, effective and ineffective performance in a role and the use of Hogan Assessments to ascertain the personality, potential derailers and values in a person. Will be an invaluable coaching resource.

PB
12 reviews1 follower
December 20, 2007
Great help for managing people.
Profile Image for Alisa.
476 reviews76 followers
Want to read
February 9, 2011
6oo page tome on core competencies. looks like a handy reference. clearly not something you would sit down and read cover to cover.
Profile Image for Michael Graber.
Author 4 books11 followers
Read
September 26, 2011
a great field guide to the inside traits and challenges of leadership
Profile Image for Chadster.
6 reviews
May 15, 2012
This book is really a great resource for developing your self - highly recommended
Profile Image for G. Fox.
30 reviews
January 5, 2015
This is a rather extensive tome of HR and development. Good place to start for odd issues. I feel people could live in this book and never get outside of it, that'd be the only downfall I see.
Profile Image for Wendy Homan.
129 reviews
December 29, 2016
I'm not sure you can actually ever be done reading this book. Very informative and helpful in personal growth and development.
Profile Image for Holden Roy.
122 reviews2 followers
December 19, 2023
This books is like a boring self help guide for business people with top level wishy washy advice. It's advantage is that it direct you to Googling other stuff. It's disadvantage is that it's really for old timey men with ego issues.

A lot of the advice in the book is practical per se, but there's very little action to work on beyond, well if you suck at this, look into that. Here's like 10 reasons why you may suck at self-learning or wtv.

I just heard this was a rare find and was like, really? There are so many better books out now that do what this book does. I found this for free and am glad I didn't buy it.
Profile Image for sachinchakote.
3 reviews
July 25, 2017
This book is like a crash into the competency you want to quickly work upon.
No more than 3 / 4 page per competency , has good reference to read further and very crisp guide into improving competency.

I somehow feel this is more for an advanced training than a beginners guide to improving competencies
Profile Image for Heather Kernan.
45 reviews22 followers
March 14, 2019
This book is fantastic for identifying perceived négative traits as overused skills.
This is powerful information paired with Brene Brown's work on empathy and shame can provide a scaffolding for becoming thé person you want to be.
FYI does this by providing tangible actions To overcome behaviors that are considered négative i.e. "I am not bossy...I am thé boss"
Profile Image for Kym Masera Taborn.
124 reviews
May 17, 2025
This book. This edition (not the earlier or later ones). Good as gold to a new or seasoned leader. This covers almost everything thing you could think of about how to develop strengths and mitigate challengers with just about anyone and any situation. It gives diagnostic help, developmental ideas, cross-references related topics. No manager/leader should be without this book.
Profile Image for James Martin.
Author 3 books2 followers
August 28, 2019
Essential tool for anyone who wants to rise in leadership. I've used this guide for 25 years to sharpen the saw. Highly recommend for new business grads entering their first role, for newly promoted leaders, and for leaders who want to restart their career momentum.
28 reviews
October 7, 2018
Great ideas to share with others you manage, mentor or coach re: how to develop in key areas of leadership.
5 reviews
December 13, 2018
Some useful tips for self improvement, somewhat undermined by the constant references to the Lominger Leadership Architect® throughout the book.
30 reviews
March 28, 2019
I still use this book for coaching and personal development - it is a great tool for understanding strengths and weaknesses!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.