Irvin R. Katz

Available on Amazon

Rules for Reluctant Managers: Guidelines for People Who Never Wanted to Be in Charge

You're a skilled professional who never planned to manage people. Now you're responsible for other experts who value autonomy and resist micromanagement.

Rules for Reluctant Managers offers an approach to leadership grounded in service, influence, and respect rather than authority and control. Drawing from years of leading scientists and engineers, Dr. Irvin R. Katz distills twenty rules organized around the core challenges reluctant managers face: responding to crises, persuading colleagues, building trust, and handling day-to-day decisions.

If you're a technical professional thrust into management, these rules will help you move from uncertainty to confidence.

Biography

Irvin R. Katz retired from Educational Testing Service (ETS) in 2020, where he was a Senior Director of the Cognitive and Technology Sciences Center in Research and Development. Over his thirty-year career, he authored more than eighty publications and spoke at national and international conferences on topics such as educational assessment, digital literacy, software engineering, user experience design, and assessment validity. He has also held positions at George Mason University, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Publication: Fall 2025