Welcome to OPEN BOOK, where we open the book on our authors and discover their literary stories!
In this edition, we'd like to introduce S. J. Wougshall, author of Reflections of a Manager: Lessons from the Warehouse Floor.
Reflections of a Manager offers an unvarnished look behind the scenes of leadership in the fast-paced, high-pressure world of warehouse operations. S. J. Wougshall shares lessons learned not from theory, but from real experience: the triumphs, mistakes, and human stories that never make it into HR reports or LinkedIn updates.
What was your planning process for writing this novel like?
There wasn't really a grand plan.
I started with experiences that had stayed with me from years in management — difficult conversations, mistakes, unusual characters, successes, failures and those small moments that probably meant nothing to anyone else but taught me something.
Once I started writing them down, patterns appeared. People, decisions, pressure, mental health, office politics, accountability and my own development as a manager.
Eventually I realised I wasn't writing a traditional management book at all. I was writing a journal of what management actually feels like from the inside.
That is very much how the finished book describes itself: a record of growth through the long nights, difficult conversations, mistakes and wins rather than an attempt to present yourself as having management completely figured out.
What is the story behind the title?
I wanted the title to be simple and honest.
Reflections of a Manager because that's exactly what the book is. I'm looking backwards at situations I've experienced and asking myself what I learned from them.
Lessons from the Warehouse Floor represents where many of those lessons came from.
Some of the most valuable lessons I've learned about leadership haven't come from courses, textbooks or meeting rooms. They've come from people, conversations and situations while actually doing the job.
Who or what inspired your characters?
Years of working with people.
Anyone who has spent long enough in a workplace starts recognising certain personalities — the quiet grafter, the natural leader, the person who creates chaos, the person everyone relies upon but nobody really notices.
The characters are fictionalised and aren't intended to represent particular individuals. They're inspired by the behaviours, personalities and situations I've encountered throughout my working life.
That's actually how Chapter 1 opens: after enough time in management, you begin recognising recurring human patterns.
Where do find your writing inspiration?
People.
I'm fascinated by why people behave the way they do, particularly when they're under pressure.
Two people can experience exactly the same situation and react completely differently. As a manager, you're constantly trying to understand what's happening underneath the behaviour you're seeing. A lot of my writing starts with a simple thought: Why did that person react like that? Quite often, the answer becomes a story.
Where do you find it easiest to write?
Somewhere quiet, usually when I can disappear into my own thoughts without interruption, although once I get going I can get the majority of the detail in one sitting for a chapter.
Once I start replaying a situation in my head, the writing tends to come quite naturally. I'm not trying to make it sound like a management textbook. I'm trying to think what the situation actually felt like and what was most memorable from it.
Where and when do you get most of your writing done?
Usually in bursts.
I'll think about something for days and write almost nothing, then suddenly the pieces connect and I'll write several pages.
I've learned not to force it too much. Sometimes stepping away from something is actually part of the writing process.
What piece of writing advice have you found the most helpful during your writing career?
Write in your own voice.
Initially there's a temptation to make everything sound more intelligent or "author-like".
Eventually I realised the strongest parts were the ones that sounded like me telling someone the story.
If someone finishes a chapter feeling as though they've just had a conversation with another manager rather than attended a leadership seminar, I've achieved what I wanted.
Did you encounter Writers Block? If so, how did you overcome it?
Definitely.
Usually I stopped trying to write.
I went back to my brainstorming board where i had written and linked certain characters or events, sometimes starting a new chapter by just expanding the information on a group that fit together.
Are there any books which have inspired your writing?
I've read plenty of books around leadership, psychology and decision-making, but ironically part of my motivation came from wanting something slightly different.
I didn't want another book telling managers what great leadership should look like.
I wanted to write about what happens when leadership gets messy.
When you're unsure.
When you get something wrong.
When someone's behaviour makes absolutely no sense until you understand what's happening behind it.
And finally… Why should people read your book next?
Because it's not written by someone claiming to have perfected leadership.
It's written by someone who is still learning it.
There are successes in the book, but there are also mistakes, difficult people, bad decisions, self-doubt, office politics and situations where there simply wasn't a perfect answer.
If you've ever managed people — or been managed by someone else — I think you'll recognise something in it.
And hopefully occasionally you'll think:
"I've worked with that person."
