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 Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Organizations Need and Employees Want, Unlocked: Keys to Improve Your Thinking, Bedtime Stories for Managers: Farewell, Lofty Leadership . . . Welcome, Engaging Management, Win. Change Your Thinking, Change Your Destiny, and Decisive Intuition: Use Your Gut to Make Smart Business Decisions.
From Mike McKinney: Creating the Conversations That Help Them Grow
“‘Success today,’ say Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni in Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go, ‘rests upon finding ways to continuously expand everyone’s capacity, engagement, and ability to contribute to the organization.'”
From Wharton: How Developing Critical-thinking Skills Can Help Your Business
“Many people work on their goals by engaging in positive actions — hitting the gym, planning a trip or taking guitar lessons. But they may be overlooking one of the most important tools for effecting change – the power of thought. Harvard Business School professor emeritus Gerald Zaltman recommends exercises called ‘think keys’ to tap into the conscious and unconscious dynamics of the mind. He has used these techniques to help business leaders around the world, and he’s now sharing them in a book titled Unlocked: Keys to Improve Your Thinking.”
From Bob Morris: Bedtime Stories for Managers: A book review
“‘Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done.’ Peter Drucker I agree with Peter Drucker’s assertion as well as with this observation by Henry Mintzberg: ‘management has to come down from lofty leadership to grounded engagement.’ He has selected 42 of his blog posts, those that seem to speak most meaningfully to managers. Some will welcome them as a reassurance; others will (he hopes) react to them as a reality check. He marinates his reader in metaphors — ‘cows and gardens, cutting cookies and scrambling eggs, get ready for the maestro myth of managing, the soft underbelly of hard data, the board as bee, and downsizing as bloodletting.’”
From Kevin Eikenberry: Win. Change Your Thinking, Change Your Destiny
“In Win, Rabbi Baars changes the construct a bit. He isn’t espousing positive thinking. Instead, he is pointing the reader, through research and thought-provoking examples, to a change in how we think that will practically help us change our destiny. I know that at some level you understand the power of our thoughts and that how we think makes a big difference. This takes your understanding of that principle to a whole new level.”
From Skip Prichard: Use Your Gut to Make Smart Business Decisions
“Intuition is distinct from instinct, thought, or bias, and is a critical skill to build. It’s a differentiator. In Rick’s experience, intuition can be taught. In his new book, Decisive Intuition: Use Your Gut to Make Smart Business Decisions, Rick shares his research and techniques to master intuition.”
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.