A curated collection of tools, sites, and resources I personally use and recommend. Everything here has been tested in real management workflows.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools I actually use.
AI Assistants
ChatGPT
Daily Driver
The tool that started the AI productivity revolution. Best for drafting, brainstorming, and working through complex problems conversationally.
Claude
Best for Writing
My go-to for longer documents and nuanced writing. Particularly strong at understanding context and maintaining tone.
Grammarly
Essential for Managers
Catches grammar and tone issues everywhere you write — email, Slack, docs. The tone detection alone is worth it for managers who write all day.
Google Gemini
Google’s Contender
Google’s AI assistant with strong integration into Google Workspace. If your company runs on Google Docs, Sheets, and Gmail, Gemini’s built-in features are worth exploring.
Perplexity
AI-Powered Research
An AI search engine that provides sourced answers instead of a list of links. Great for quick research questions where you need facts, not creative writing.
Management & Leadership
Ask a Manager
Must Read
Practical, no-nonsense advice for workplace situations. Alison Green has seen it all.
Harvard Business Review
Gold Standard
The gold standard for management thinking. Their free articles are worth the occasional paywall dance.
Lara Hogan
Leadership Growth
Practical resources on management fundamentals: giving feedback, running meetings, navigating difficult conversations. Her ‘resilience’ framework for handling management stress is especially useful for new managers.
Manager Tools
Podcast Must-Listen
The longest-running management podcast with hundreds of episodes covering every situation you’ll face. Their ‘trinity’ of one-on-ones, feedback, and coaching is a proven system.
Productivity
Otter.ai
Meeting Essential
Transcribes meetings so you can actually be present instead of taking notes.
Notion
All-in-One Workspace
Combines notes, docs, wikis, and project management in one tool. Their AI features help summarize pages, draft content, and extract action items. A solid choice for managers who want everything in one place.
Todoist
Simple Task Management
Clean, fast task management without the bloat. If your team doesn’t need a full project management platform, Todoist keeps everyone’s action items organized and visible.
Books & Reading
The Making of a Manager
For New Managers
Julie Zhuo’s guide to figuring out management, written from the perspective of someone who was promoted into it and had to learn on the job. Honest, practical, and refreshingly free of corporate jargon.
Radical Candor
Feedback Framework
Kim Scott’s framework for giving feedback that’s both caring and direct. If you struggle with being too nice or too blunt, this book gives you a practical system for finding the balance.
Tech & Tutorials
My Computer Tips
Deep Dives
Tech tutorials and guides for getting more out of your computer — useful if you want to go deeper on the tools behind the tools.