Business Builders Recommended Reading List
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Leadership
Barbara KellermanWe live in a time where the news is filled with countries, corporations, and other organizations that are failing to perform as they should. Ms. Kellerman has analyzed several of these and identified fundamental seven types of leadership that are prone to failure.
INCOMPETENT: The leader and at least some followers lack the will or skill to sustain effective action.
RIGID: The leader and at least some of his followers are stiff, unyielding, and unwilling to adapt to new ideas, new information or changing times.
INTEMPERATE: The leader lacks self-control and is aided and abetted by followers who do not intervene.
CALLOUS: The leader is uncaring or unkind, he ignores or discounts the needs of the rest of the organization.
CORRUPT: These people lie, cheat, or steal. They put self interest above all else.
INSULAR: They disregard or at least minimize the health and welfare of those outside the small center group.
EVIL: Some leaders and at least some followers commit atrocities.
In each of these categories, she identifies leaders that illustrate her point. This leads to an understanding of why such bad leadership is harmful to the organization, and if the organization is the political leadership of a country, it is bad for the world.
Chris ZookAll companies must grow to survive-but only one in five growth strategies succeeds. In Profit from the Core, strategy expert Chris Zook revealed how to grow profitably by focusing on and achieving full potential in the core business. But what happens when your core business provides insufficient new growth, or even hits the wall?
Ram CharanUnleash one of your company's greatest competitive weapons. In this timely new work, ace consultant Ram Charan takes an eye-opening look at how many boards are transcending tradition by becoming dynamic partners in corporate governance. He also shows CEOs how they can go about tapping the vast storehouse of experience and wisdom a board's membership represents. Filled with specific instructions and strategies, Fortune 500 examples, and real-time tools for initiating board transformations, Boards At Work takes readers to the front lines of the American board revolution.
James C. Collins, Jerry I. PorrasGroundbreaking research into the development of America's most enduring and successful corporations that shatters myths, provides new insights, and gives practical guidance for companies that would like to follow in their footsteps.
Marshall Goldsmith, Laurence Lyons, Alyssa FreasPut coaching into practice in your organization!
Executive coaching is dramatically increasing in popularity. Leaders around the world are both using coached and becoming coaches. But, the understanding of what executive coaching is and how it can increases leaders' effectiveness has not grown as fast as the application of this process.
John C. Maxwell
In the Developing the Leader Within You Workbook, John Maxwell examines the differences between leadership styles, outlines specific ways each reader can apply principles for inspiring, motivating, and influencing others. These principles can be used in any organization to foster integrity and self-discipline and bring a positive change.
Developing the Leader Within You Workbook also allows readers to discover how to be effective in the highest calling of leadership by understanding the five characteristics that set “leader managers” apart from “run-of-the-mill managers.”
In this companion to the bestseller, John Maxwell shows readers how to develop the vision, value, influence, and motivation required of successful leaders.
Marshall J. CookResearch proves that employees will work harder and produce more when they feel appreciated, valued, and understood. Easier said than done?
Effective Coaching explains how you can:
Apply good coaching methods in the workplace;
Quickly establish the discipline you need in a cooperative, non-threatening atmosphere
Instinctively use effective problem solving strategies in every situation
Daniel GolemanIs IQ destiny? Not nearly as much as we think. This fascinating and persuasive program argues that our view of human intelligence is far too narrow, ignoring a crucial range of abilities that matter immensely in terms of how we do in life.
Larry Bossidy, Ram CharanThe book that shows how to get the job done and deliver results... whether you’re running an entire company or in your first management job.
Larry Bossidy is one of the world’s most acclaimed CEOs, a man with few peers who has a track record for delivering results. Ram Charan is a legendary advisor to senior executives and boards of directors, a man with unparalleled insight into why some companies are successful and others are not. Together they’ve pooled their knowledge and experience into the one book on how to close the gap between results promised and results delivered that people in business need today.
Michael Watkins
Whether challenged with taking on a startup, turning a business around, or inheriting a high-performing unit, a new leader's success or failure is determined within the first 90 days on the job.
In this hands-on guide, Michael Watkins, a noted expert on leadership transitions, offers proven strategies for moving successfully into a new role at any point in one's career. The First 90 Days provides a framework for transition acceleration that will help leaders diagnose their situations, craft winning transition strategies, and take charge quickly.Practical examples illustrate how to learn about new organizations, build teams, create coalitions, secure early wins, and lay the foundation for longer-term success. In addition, Watkins provides strategies for avoiding the most common pitfalls new leaders encounter, and shows how individuals can protect themselves-emotionally as well as professionally-during what is often an intense and vulnerable period.
Concise and actionable, this is the survival guide no new leader should be without.
Patrick LencioniIn this stunning follow-up to his best-selling book, The Five Temptations of a CEO, Patrick Lencioni offers up another leadership fable that's every bit as compelling and illuminating as its predecessor. This time, Lencioni's focus is on a leader's crucial role in building a healthy organization--an often overlooked but essential element of business life that is the linchpin of sustained success. Readers are treated to a story of corporate intrigue as the frustrated head of one consulting firm faces a leadership challenge so great that it threatens to topple his company, his career, and everything he holds true about leadership itself. In the story's telling, Lencioni helps his readers understand the disarming simplicity and power of creating organizational health, and reveals four key disciplines that they can follow to achieve it.
Patrick LencioniIn The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Patrick Lencioni once again offers a leadership fable that is as enthralling and instructive as his first two best-selling books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive. This time, he turns his keen intellect and storytelling power to the fascinating, complex world of teams.
Patrick LencioniAbsorbing, compelling, and utterly memorable, The Five Temptations of a CEO is like no other business book that's come before. Author Patrick Lencioni -- noted screenplay writer and sought-after executive coach -- deftly tells the tale of a young CEO who, facing his first annual board review, knows he is failing, but doesn't know why.
Warren G. Bennis, Robert J.Thomas
Today's young leaders grew up in the glow of television and computers; the leaders of their grandparents' generation in the shadow of the Depression and World War II. In a groundbreaking study of these two disparate groups-affectionately labeled "geeks" and "geezers"-legendary leadership expert Warren Bennis and leadership consultant Robert Thomas set out to find out how era and values shape those who lead. What they discovered was something far more profound: the powerful process through which leaders of any era emerge.
Geeks and Geezers is a book that will forever change how we view not just leadership-but the very way we learn and ultimately live our lives. It presents for the first time a compelling new model that predicts who is likely to become-and remain-a leader, and why.
At the heart of this model are what the authors call "crucibles"-utterly transforming periods of testing from which one can emerge either hopelessly broken, or powerfully emboldened to learn and to lead. Whether losing an election or burying a child, learning from a mentor or mastering a martial art, crucibles are turning points: defining events that force us to decide who we are and what we are capable of.
Through the candid and often deeply moving crucibles of pioneering journalist Mike Wallace to new economy entrepreneur Michael Klein, from New York Stock Exchange trailblazer Muriel Siebert to environmental crusader Tara Church, Geeks and Geezers illustrates the stunning metamorphoses of true leaders. It also reveals the critical traits they share, including adaptability, vision, integrity, unquenchable optimism, and "neoteny"-a youthful curiosity and zest for knowledge.
Highlighting the forces that enable any of us to learn and lead not for a time, but for a lifetime, this book is essential reading for geeks, geezers, and everyone in between.Getting Your Shift Together; Making Sense of Organizational Culture and Change : Introducing Cultural Due Diligence
P. J. Bouchard, Lizz Pellet, Sally S. Stamp (Contributor), Andrew J. Riddell (Contributor), Sal Caputo (Editor)In today's business environment, changes come in staggering succession: mergers, acquisitions, rightsizing, downsizing, restructuring. As accountants, lawyers and executives scrutinize these changes for bottom-line impact, they pay little attention to how change will affect an organization's culture or how its culture will affect change. This dooms many corporate change initiatives before they even start. A whopping 75 percent of change initiatives fail within the first three years. Getting Your Shift Together: Making Sense of Organizational Culture and Change explains - in plain English - why companies need to conduct a cultural assessment like Cultural Due Diligence before embarking on any change initiative.
Bouchard and Pellet say that nothing can be more deadly to an organization's long-term ability to sustain change and grow than a dysfunctional "incongruent" culture that depends on the old "do as I say, not as I do" method of leadership. An "incongruent" culture destroys morale, decimates productivity and encourages workers to resist and even sabotage change. Therefore, the authors offer techniques and tools, such as their own Cultural Due Diligence process, to measure the congruence of an organization's culture and to reshape it into a healthy - and successful - congruent culture.
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Jeff Cox GoldrattOver 2 million copies sold! Used by thousands of companies and hundreds of business schools! Required reading for anyone interested in the Theory of Constraints. This book, which introduces the Theory of Constraints, is changing how America does business. The Goal is a gripping, fast-paced business novel about overcoming the barriers to making money. You will learn the fundamentals of identifying and solving the problems created by constraints. From the moment you finish the book you will be able to start successfully addressing chronic productivity and quality problems.
Jim CollinsFive years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come.
Mark LiptonWhen it comes to sustained success, vision matters more than strategy. Scores of studies have proven this statement, and millions of business leaders believe it. Yet few executives understand what vision is. They embrace the idea, but ignore the implementation - a disconnect that threatens companies striving for growth in a volatile marketplace.
Warren BlankSome people appear to be "natural born leaders." But are they literally born that way? Or have they been taught, coached, rewarded, and reinforced in ways that enable them to be leaders?
According to The 108 Skills of Natural Born Leaders, no one is born a leader. But everyone has the natural born capacity to lead. We label people "natural born leaders" because they consistently and frequently model qualities that inspire others to commit to their direction.This book identifies the skill set that causes others to see people as natural born leaders, helps readers assess their current level of these skills, and coaches readers to master their weak areas.
Lynne Joy McFarland, Larry E. Senn, John R. ChildressThis book will change your life and your future! Hundreds and thousands of readers from every walk of life are finding inspiration, empowerment and truly effective solutions with this very important book of our time.
You are there- in person with 100 of America's greatest leaders, such as Billionaire Bill Gates, the outspoken Ross Perot, the legendary Lee Iacocca, many superb female leaders like Cathleen Black and Peggy Dulaney, top notch CEO's like Jack Welch of GE, futurist John Naisbitt, motivators Tony Robbins and Stephen Covey and Cabinet Members, Robert Reich and Donna Shalala.
As each leader shares their life stories and secrets for success, you will benefit with well-proven practical ideas you can use right away in your own life. You will learn how to really improve personally and professionally.
John C. MaxwellIn the tradition of his CBA bestseller The 21 Irrefutable laws of Leadership and his sell-out seminars, author John C. Maxwell now provides a concise, accessible leadership book that helps readers become more effective leaders from the inside out. Daily readings highlight twenty-one essential leadership qualities and include "Reflecting On It" and "Bringing It Home" sections which help readers integrate and apply each day's material.
John C. MaxwellDrawing from John Maxwell's bestsellers Developing the Leader Within You, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, and Becoming a Person of Influence, Leadership 101 explores the timeless principles that have become Dr. Maxwell's trademark style. In a concise, straightforward style, Maxwell focuses on essential and time-tested qualities necessary for true leadership —influence, integrity, attitude, vision, problem-solving, and self-discipline —and guides readers through practical steps to develop true leadership in their lives and the lives of others.
Michael Fullen"At the very time the need for effective leadership is reaching critical proportions, Michael Fullan's Leading in a Culture of Change provides powerful insights for moving forward. We look forward to sharing it with our grantees."
--Tom Vander Ark, executive director, Education, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. PosnerWhen it was initially written in 1987, few could have predicted that The Leadership Challenge would become one of the best-selling leadership books of all time. Now, faced with the new challenges of our unpredictable global business environment, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner--two of the country's premier leadership experts--have completely revised and updated their classic book. Building on the knowledge base of their previous books, the third edition of The Leadership Challenge is grounded in extensive research and based on interviews with all kinds of leaders at all levels in public and private organizations from around the world. In this edition, the authors emphasize that the fundamentals of leadership are the same today as they were in the 1980s, and as they've probably been for centuries. In that sense, nothing's new. Leadership is not a fad. While the content of leadership has not changed, the context has-and in some cases, changed dramatically.
Ken Blanchard, Mark MuchnickNow can you become a more successful manager, a stronger team leader, and a motivator who gets the best results from a group? Ken Blanchard and Marc Muchnick's The Leadership Pill provides the answer. In the best selling tradition of Whale Done! and The One Minute Manager, their entertaining and inspiring new book is a parable about the competition between two leaders with totally different management styles -- a story that reveals the ingredients of truly effective leadership.
Madelyn Burley-AllenA proven program for turning effective listening into a powerful business tool Managers and other employees spend more than 40 percent of their time listening to other people but often do it so poorly that the result is misunderstood instructions, misdirected projects, and erroneous actions—millions of dollars’ worth of mistakes just because most people don’t know how to listen. In this new edition of her classic guide to the art of effective listening, Madelyn Burley-Allen shows you how to acquire active, productive listening skills and put them to work for you—professionally, socially, and personally.
Alexander Hiam
Streetwise Motivating & Rewarding Employees teaches you that giving someone a jar of candy with their name on it is not what true motivation is all about. It's about making sure employees know what they're doing, why they're doing it, and then giving them some control. It's about giving employees appropriate challenges. And it's about creating a positive, informative feedback network that lets employees judge for themselves how well they're doing.
John Hagel III, John Seely Brown
Managers today are understandably skeptical of the promises of new technologies. During the 1990s, vendors of both enterprise applications and Internet platforms promised enormous benefits. Companies invested large sums, but the benefits either failed to materialize, or came at a high price. Managers sacrificed flexibility and struggled to collaborate with business partners—a crippling disadvantage in today’s marketplace.
Now, leading business strategist John Hagel III has a refreshing message for managers burned by over-hyped technologies, yet pressured to find innovative ways to deliver more value with fewer resources. He focuses on a new generation of technology—known as Web services. This technology connects existing IT platforms in more automated and flexible ways, leading to much lower operating costs.
The premise is practical and devoid of "change the world" promises. That very pragmatism, says Hagel, will drive enterprises to adopt it. In this book, he provides a clear view of the business implications of Web services: its distinct capabilities, its power to deliver near-term profits, and its potential to drive long-term growth.
Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKeeDaniel Goleman's international bestseller Emotional Intelligence forever changed our concept of "being smart," showing how emotional intelligence (EI)-how we handle ourselves and our relationships-can determine life success more than IQ. Then, Working with Emotional Intelligence revealed how stellar career performance also depends on EI.
Gerald Nadler, William ChandonSmart Questions offers an entirely new framework for creating solutions. Drawn from the authors' many years of research and field experience, the Smart Questions Approach reveals how the leading creators of solutions in almost every profession and walk of life—including business, government, education, and even in families—think and approach their assignments. The author’s holistic thinking approach shows how to use three “foundation” questions—focusing on uniqueness, purposeful information, and systems—which must be explored for every problem. These three questions, an essential starting point for exploring problems, in turn lead to other key questions that will ultimately create effective solutions.
Jon R. KatzenbachIt is common knowledge that CEOs declare their direct reports as a "team at the top." Yet with a culture of individual accountability and self-reliance pervading executive suites, few management groups ever function as real teams. Now, in a natural follow-up to his best selling The Wisdom of Teams, John Katzenbach moves his focus farther up the organizational ladder to offer practical guidelines for increasing leadership capacity at the highest executive levels. In Terms at the Top, he shows how even the strongest and most successful CEO can improve a company's performance by turning the senior executive group into a real team-without sacrificing each member's individual leadership capabilities. Teams at the Top explains how to recognize when a team effort at the management level is preferable and when a work group under single leadership will do. Then, the book shows how to develop the capability to shift into whichever mode is appropriate. With stories and examples from well-known companies including Enron, Ben & Jerry's, Champion, Citicorp, and Mobile, as well as lessons that are applicable for management groups anywhere in the organization, Teams at the Top will help companies of all sizes and in all industries maximize the full potential of their leadership.
John C. Maxwell
Maxwell (The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership) serves up his usual dose of uplifting advice. This book's message is broader than some of his earlier business tomes, in that he uses his marriage, work experience and anecdotes from people such as basketball coach John Wooden, businessman Armand Hammer and actor Christopher Reeve to explore his theme of the importance of making sound decisions on a daily basis. Too many people dwell on what happened yesterday, according to Maxwell, who believes that, instead, people can maximize what they accomplish every day by focusing on a dozen key areas including family, finances, faith, values and growth.
By having clear priorities in each of these areas, Maxwell says that people will actually have fewer decisions to make because their vision will be so clear. Maxwell's tone is straightforward and his advice is sound, if obvious. For example, he offers a list of negative phrases ("Maybe, I'm afraid, I don't believe ) that he thinks should be eliminated from one's vocabulary. As expected from this pastor, he also stresses religious faith and the importance of families. Readers hoping for creative and original advice in solving their problems are likely to be disappointed, but others may still find the book's message uplifting, especially amid today's corporate scandal and concern with declining ethical values.
Ram CharanRam Charan learned about business from his family's shoe shop in India before attending Harvard Business School and going on to advise senior executives in companies large and small. His experiences taught him that universal laws apply "whether you sell fruit from a stand or are running a Fortune 500 company," and that the business acumen that comes from understanding these basics can be applied throughout any operation. What the CEO Wants You to Know is Charan's primer on this point, which he illustrates with explanations filtered through the eyes of street venders and other small shopkeepers.
Jon R. Katzenbach, Douglas K. SmithTeams -- the key to top performance
Motorola relied heavily on teams to surpass its competition in building the lightest, smallest, and highest-quality cell phones. At 3M, teams are critical to meeting the company's goal of producing half of each year's revenues from the previous five years' innovations. Kodak's Zebra Team proved the worth of black-and-white film manufacturing in a world where color is king.
