Book recommendations for business leaders: 6/28/18

Jun 28, 2018 | Reading Lists

Stephen King says that if you want to be a writer, there are two things you must do: read a lot and write a lot. This is about the “read a lot” part. I include reading lists and book reviews that will help you do business more effectively and write better for business.

In this post, I point you to reviews of Build an A-Team: Play to Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve, Go Long: Why Long-Term Thinking is Your Best Short-Term Strategy, This Is Now Your Company: A Culture Carrier’s Manifesto, Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World With OKRs, and Co-Active Leadership: Five Ways to Lead.

From Skip Prichard: How to Build an A Team

“One way to tell whether you are growing is to look at where your team falls on the S curve. Based on Whitney Johnson’s proprietary research around disruption, every organization is a collection of individual S – or learning – curves. You build high performing team by optimizing these individual curves, including yours. In her book, Build an A-Team, you will learn how to manage people all along the S-curve and what to do when they reach the top of the curve. As employees are allowed, even required, to surf their individual S-curve waves, disrupting themselves, you will not only be less vulnerable to disruption, you’ll also be a boss people want to work for.”

From Wharton: Why Leaders Should Focus on Long-term Growth

“Pressure from Wall Street often compels CEOs to focus on the next quarter so that they can meet short-term expectations. But while it is important to meet short-term goals, it is equally – if not more – important to emphasize longer-term objectives. CEOs who adopt long-term strategies eventually help their companies become more profitable, have happier employees and shareholders, and become better corporate citizens, according to a new book titled, Go Long: Why Long-Term Thinking is Your Best Short-Term Strategy. CEOs who go long in their outlook have natural allies among institutional shareholders who not only tend to have dominant voting power but are also long-term investors, the book contends, with supporting evidence from companies such as Ford, Unilever and CVS Health.”

From Chad Gordon: Mike Rognlien on This Is Now Your Company

“In his new book, This Is Now Your Company: A Culture Carrier’s Manifesto, Rognlien shares that every person must own their contribution to the organizational fabric of a company, no matter what role they are stepping into. It begins by owning your role.”

From Bill Gates: Management tips from a brilliant business leader

“I’d recommend John’s book for anyone interested in becoming a better manager (and I’d say that even if I hadn’t been interviewed for a super-nice chapter about the Gates Foundation). In the excerpt below, John tells the inside story of how Andy inspired the idea of OKRs.”

From Michael McKinney: Co-Active Leadership

“In Co-Active Leadership, Karen and Henry Kimsey-House define leadership as ‘those who are responsible for their world.’ So much of leadership is about initiative—taking responsibility. In this sense, anyone can choose to lead. ‘Leadership development, then, becomes about growing the size of the world for which one is able to be responsible.’ Naturally, this would mean not only becoming ‘first-class noticers’ but increasing one’s competence.”

Reading recommendations are a regular feature of this blog. Want more recommendations about what to read? Check out my Three Star Leadership blog, Michael McKinney’s LeadingBlog, and Skip Prichard’s Leadership Insights.