Grading the Books

I've finished the 3,000 pages. Feels pretty good. I have finished a graduate degree. Yea!

Although not required, I just have to write, at least a little, about all I've read. And, having found a few excellent reads, I need to recommend them! I personally feel confident that nearly any average person would find the A+ books engaging and worthwhile (and maybe the B books). Beyond that, personal interest in the subject is probably necessary to enjoy them.

A+
How the Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins
Still my favorite of all the books I read. See previous post here for a description and commentary.





A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink
Mr. Pink is reminds me of author Malcolm Gladwell in that his topics are extremely timely and fundamentally interesting; his examples stretch the breadth of humanity and experience which adds depth, intrigue and credibility to his case; his writing style is smart but accessible; and nearly anyone would enjoy reading his work.

This book argues that possessors of both right-brain skills (e.g. creativity, empathy, artistry, interpersonal skills) and left-brain skills are becoming more important, and thus more successful professionally, than sole possessors of left-brain skills (e.g. logic, math, science). As more and more once-high-paid skills such as accounting and web design are accomplished with great skill, for much cheaper in India, China and the Philippines, first-world western educated workers are finding their edge in right-brained skills. For example, doctors who not only can diagnose an illness, but can treat patients with genuine care, interest and empathy are more successful than doctors who just know the books. The books alone are online anyways!

He also discussed ways to develop right-brain skills, a large part of which is through religion. Religious persons generally possess more of these qualities. He advocates daily prayer or meditation, keeping the law of the sabbath and more. His motive here is business, not religion, but I love it when science shows just how healthy and productive religion can be.

Very interesting and thought-provoking, especially for young professionals in the US, Canada and western Europe.

The Fred Factor by Mark Sanborn
See http://tylerandnicolejohansen.blogspot.com/2010/03/fred-factor.html for all the details.





Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry & Jean Greaves
I barely scratched the surface of this book. I borrowed it from the library, but it really should be purchased, and not even primarily so that you can take the online emotional intelligence (EQ) test, but so that you can reference the book over and over again.

You see, it's really a guide book to increasing your EQ. For each of the four parts of EQ (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management) about 20 practical, real strategies for improvement in that area are explained. All of us can do better at understanding and appropriately using and expressing our emotions. And that's what this book teaches you. I want to buy it and work on one strategy at a time. Very succinct, very real, very useful - for anybody!

B
Good Business: Leadership, Flow and the Making of Meaning by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
I think the title is the weakest part of the whole book... generic title, but cutting-edge, great ideas. First I should say that this is not his first book. He's really famous for his book, Flow. Again, the name doesn't do it justice. By flow he means being fully engaged in your work, reaching some kind of working nirvana almost, where one is 100% focused, efficient, and really there which creates incredibly satisfying work.

He explores was in which we can experience flow, help others to as well, and a lot about corporate social responsibility. He argues that corporate America is changing at the core. An example, you may have heard of them, is TOMS Shoes. Are they for-profit or not-for-profit? For tax purposes, they are organized as a for-profit corporation, but for every pair of shoes they sell, they give one away to a person in need. Suddenly the meaning of things like stake-holders and share-holders and dividends and corporate success are being redefined. Csikszentmihalyi argues the change is for the better, and I have to agree. It's thought-provoking and makes me excited for the future.

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die... by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
This explores exactly why some ideas, sayings, mottos, lessons, etc stick in our heads, while others pass right through. These brothers are highly educated in seemingly seperate fields: organizational behavior/business management and education/curriculum development. One day they realized they were both researching the same question: what makes things stick in your brain? So they decided to pool their resources, research together, and eventually write a book about what they found.

Their research breaks down the parts of a "sticky idea." The application of such knowledge is everywhere: teaching a Sunday School class, writing a memo at work, telling a story, influencing an elected public official with your opinion, etc. The list goes on and on. If you're interested in teaching, leadership, politics, or generally being more than a fly on the wall, you'd probably find this an interesting and useful read.

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
I already told you how much I enjoy reading Pink, so I won't repeat myself except to say this is quality writing.

Pink, like many others, challenges the theory of rewards that Skinner and Pavlov have entrenched in our society. Is the hope of a raise really what motivates us to be the best employees possible? Or are there other motivators? It isn't new news that immediate tangible rewards do increase production for linear-process activities (like assembly lines), but actually decrease production for creative-process activities (like advertising or teaching). As our country sends more and more of our linear processes oversees, a ever-growing portion of our workforce is engaged in creative activity. And immediate tangible rewards actually deter from success.

Yet, corporate America still does it. Parents still do it. (Yes, this totally applies to parenting!) Pink argues that allowance is great way to teach kids about money, but it shouldn't be connected to the completion of tasks, but chores should be completed without expectation of reward.

So what motivates us then, if not money or a cookie or something like that? Well the research shows more and more that things like meaning, progress, learning, and significant contribution are the real motivators, especially in creative endeavors. I totally agree and love the exploration of these ideas. If you're interested in teaching, parenting, leading, or accelerating personal achievement, I think you'll like this one.

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury
The advice of this book isn't as cut-throat as the title makes it sound. It's extremely practical advice for talking through tough situations. It's a classic that still tops the charts after decades. It's written in a scenario-based format that makes for easy, quick reading. The main ideas are excellent, I just felt like a repeated itself a few too many times to earn an A.

C
The Leadership Challenge, 4th Ed. by James Kouzes and Barry Posner
The content of this book deserves a better grade. It does. It was just so hard for me to read, I can't grade it any higher! This book is a reference, not a read. It's infallible advice, but so dense. Major ideas and skills in good leadership are spelled out. Of course leadership skills are valuable to anyone who associates with other human beings (not just leaders by title), although not everyone finds them interesting. If you do, buy this book. (Don't borrow it from the library.)

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu Goldratt
Written in fictional story format, this book keeps you turning the pages. The trials faced by a plant manager have a lot to do with production management and accounting. Not exactly the side of business I hope to be heavily involved in, but certainly still worthwhile and interesting. A lot of great thinking and team dynamics are also portrayed in the book. I would have given it a higher grade had the epilogue not clearly stated that the implementation results of their proposed ideas were not as successful as they hoped. It kind of ruined the whole thing, at least to a degree, as you can imagine.

The One-Minute Manager by Blanchard & Johnson
This is also written as a story, as well as a short 100 pages, making it a very accessible read. If it were any longer though, it wouldn't be worth reading as its ideas are also very short. Basically it advocates the habit of telling the truth. Simple, isn't it? Managers should tell their subordinates what they've done right and what they've done wrong. They should decided on goals together and write them down. They should be absolutely straight-forward in their conversations. And of course the authors are right. The more honestly we communicate the more clear expectations, job roles, and assignments are.

All this honesty makes for quick conversations supposedly - ie ONE MINUTE. I'm just not sure that is always true, especially when the truth hurts. However, as one creates a culture of straight-forward conversation, I would imagine that conversation efficiency would slowly increase.

Now Discover Your Strengths by Donald Clifton
I really expected more out of this book as the author's last title "First, Break All the Rules" was a real hit. Still this was a nice book. Again, it requires much self analysis which is good, but takes a while to fully digest it's meaning for you personally. But if you can impliment some of his ideas, it could make a great impact. He advocates primarily the idea of focusing on your strengths rather than your weaknesses and seeking employment where your strengths will be heavily used and your weaknesses won't. Often "to improve" we work on our weaknesses. While this makes sense on one level, Clifton argues that we will improve as a whole more rapidly and increase our personal profitability more if we spend that time actually improving our strengths even more. You just need to REALLY excel at a few things, not be okay at many things. While I certainly agree with him, especially when it comes to job skills, I can't entirely join his party when it comes to social skills and character virtues. There I believe we should all keep working on our weaknesses sometimes.

D
Confronting Reality by Bossidy & Charan
Co-written by a retired CEO and a business consultant of sorts, this book draws all of its examples and anecdotal evidence from one company - the one Bossidy used to run. While some might find this a fluid approach to disseminating ideas, I find it untested and unproven. One company's experience is so small. How can we be sure the lessons learned there are worth everyone else's time?

Their main idea is to focus on the basics: external realities, financial targets and internal realities. I do think they make a good point. Keeping the most basic truths and goals in the forefront of your mind is important. Again though, it was repetitive and fairly unsubstantiated leaving me disinterested and uninspired.

The Managerial Moment of Truth by Bodaken & Fritz
This is the one book I just picked off the library shelf without a recommendation. And this is why I don't read books without some kind of recommendation! This book teaches one valuable concept (much the The One-Minute Manager), which is: tell your employees the truth. Tell them what they did right, tell them what they did wrong. Be clear. Discuss. Set goals, make plans. That's that. The idea is good and worth about a 15-page article, not an entire book!

Conclusion
If you're still reading, I'm amazed at you. It took me weeks to write this post.

It was sad to end with the bad books, so I have to clarify that I learned a lot from all of this reading. It was enriching and thought-provoking and created lots and lots of interesting conversations with Tyler. I am grateful for opportunities to explore new ideas and how that process makes me feel and think.