Will you read one business book this summer? Please!
June 28, 2008 by David Zinger
Filed under Business
Books…Books…Books: Read Your Way to Better Managing.
by David Zinger
Read the following disconcerting snippet from Ryan Wall’s blog, RyanWallPaper:
A study done a few years back (American Booksellers Association) revealed that the average business person with 6 or more direct reports above the age 40 reads .7 business books every 5 years!
YIKES!
Please tell me you are above this average!
Better yet, what business book or books are you planning to read this summer? Let me know and maybe I’ll join you in reading it too!
Photo Credit: Pile of Books by http://flickr.com/photos/ktheory/21905281/
Yikes! How many blogs equal a book?
I do read both but blogs are getting more of my attention these days.
I’m going to read Growing Great Employees by Erika Andersen. It’s been in my stack for a while.
I’ve got the following books on my bookshelf:
Moose on the Table – Jim Clemmer
Tactical Entreprenuer – Brian Hazelgren
The Milkshake Moment – Steven S. Little
The Radical Leap – Steve Farber
Robin: Blogs are nice and bite size so that seems darn good to me.
Jon: As I specialize in employee engagement, I better check this one our right away.
Eric: Jim Clemmer is a fellow member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers. I have not heard of Hazelgren’s book. I will check it out.
I made it my NY Resolution (and I only make one per year so I can accomplish it!) that I will read one business book per month. I am not quite done with June yet, but the others are:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Jan
The Leadership Challenge, 4th Edition – Feb
The Servant Leadership Training Course – Mar
The Invisible Employee – Apr
The Carrot Principle – May
They have all been great, but the Carrot Principle and the Invisible Employee were particularly good as they were all about employee rewards!
This summer I am planning to read these:
- The Toyota Way by Jeffrey Liker
- Kaizen: The Key To Japan’s Competitive Success by Masaaki Imai
YTD or so I’ve read 20 books (not necessary biz book, the list is on my sidebar, need to add two more just finished).
The more I read the more I become hungry for reading and hungry for blogging ;)
When I was working on my MBA I would average about 6 per year on top of the text books now my total depends upon the amount of travel I am doing.
This week I read most of Balancing Agility and Discipline during my cross country flight. I will probably finish it over the weekend since it seems to be a good read on how to merge Agile development techniques with traditional development techniques. Since it applys to my current work there are a number of relevant techniques.
It is inspiring and refreshing to hear from such a good group of readers who are offering books I have not read and now feel more motivated to start reading them. Thank you for restoring my faith in reading and management.
David
Great challenge David. I’m going to try to post 1 review here at Slacker Manager too, so even if folks don’t read they can still learn. I challenge you to do the same.
What am I planning to read this summer? I’ve got Timothy Johnson’s new book SWAT on my list (I’m providing some advance praise for it and recommend ALL of his stuff), Jon Gordon’s new book The No Complaining Rule, and Lisa Haneberg’s 10 Steps to be a Successful Manager in my pile.
Here’s my recommendation. My guess is that it will change the way you read (and think about) other management books.
Jeffery Pfeffer & Robert Sutton (2006). “Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management.” Boston: HBS Press.
Next on my reading list;
The 4 hour work week. I read Tims blog, finally got the book!
Where Underpants come from – Joe Bennet – A book about big box retail and China
Some more good books.
Luke: Pfeffers and Sutton’s book. Well done. We could all use a little more evidence.
Robin: The 4 hour work week will give you more time for reading!
Phil: I like Jon Gordon…I will have to check out his new book.
David
David
I think I fall into the other end of the spectrum. I think the wealth of business books available allows us to use other’s success strategies in our own management style…when you stop learning…you die :)
So far this year I have read:
The Dip A Little Book That Teaches You When To Quit (And When To Stick)
Never Eat Alone And Other Secrets To Success, One Relationship At A Time
Myself and Other More Important Matters (Charles Handy)
Radical Trust How Today’s Great Leaders Convert People to Partners
The Innovator’s Dilemma The Revolutionary National Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business
LeaderShock . . . and How to Triumph over It Eight Revolutionary Rules for Becoming a Powerful and Exhilharated Leader
Developing the Leader Within You
The Social Atom Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks Like You
Creating We Change I-Thinking to WE-Thinking Build a Healthy, Thriving Organization
The Effective Executive
Death by Meeting A Leadership Fable About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business
The Three Signs of a Miserable Job A Management Fable About Helping Employees Find Fulfillment in Their Work
The No Asshole Rule Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t
The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
I have a crazy reading list and here is what is on tap for the rest of the year…
Crazy Busy: Overstretched, Overbooked and About to Snap Edward M., M.D. Hallowell
Recruit or Die: How Any Business Can Beat the Big Guys in the War for Young Talent Chris Resto
Learned Optimism How to Change Your Mind and Your Life Martin E Seligman
Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs Kaira Sturdivant Rouda
The Complete Communicator Change Your Communication-change Your Life! William Lampton
The Powers to Lead Joseph S. Nye
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organization Clay Shirky
Remarkable Leadership Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One Skill at a Time Kevin Eikenberry
Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty The Only Networking Book You’ll Ever Need Harvey MacKay
Release Your Brilliance: The 4 Steps to Transforming Your Life and Revealing Your Genius to the World Simon T. Bailey
The Energy Bus 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy Jon Gordon
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter) Garr Reynolds
The Leaders at All Levels Producing Leaders for the Long Haul Ram Charan
Followership: How Followers Are Creating Change and Changing Leaders (Center for Public Leadership) Barbara Kellerman
New Players, Different Game Understanding the Rise of For-profit Colleges and Universities Guilbert C Hentschke, William G Tierney
The Anti 9 to 5 Guide Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube Michelle Goodman
Live First, Work Second Rebecca Ryan
Mastering the Rockefeller Habits What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Fast-Growth Firm
Verne Harnish
Competing on Analytics The New Science of Winning Thomas H Davenport, Jeanne G Harris
Barbarians at the Gate The Fall of Rjr Nabisco Bryan Burrough, John Helyar
Winning Suzy Welch, Jack Welch
Natural Capitalism Creating the Next Industrial Revolution Amory B Lovins, L Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken
The Bear Necessities of Business Building a Company With Heart Maxine Clark, Amy Joyner
American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury Kevin Phillips
One Person/multiple Careers Marci Alboher
Hidden Value How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results With Ordinary People Charles A. O’Reilly,Jeffrey Pfeffer
Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman
Earlier this year I read a PHENOMENAL book by Keith Ferrazzi called “Never Eat Alone” It has a bright orange jacket with blue lettering; you can’t miss it! And you SHOULDN’T miss it either. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in a long time!
I also finished a book called “Thinkertoys” which had some excellent idea generators in it. Along those same lines, I also like “Caffeine for the Creative Mind” by Stefan Mumaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield. Doing one of these exercises in the morning helps me center for the day and look at my challenges with a more creative approach.
And I highly recommend “How to Deliver Knock Your Socks Off Service” to anyone who’s in management, training or works the front lines in this service driven world. “The Tipping Point” is a great book for those of us in the marketing world. Also, anything by Seth Godin is a great read!
Currently, I’m reading “Even Monkeys Fall From Trees,” a smart little book about picking yourself up after big mistakes.
Nicole and Heather:
What an awesome list of books you have read or are reading. I recognize many of the book and loved a lot of them and I see a few I am unaware of and will have to break the spine and get into them. Thanks so much.
David
Dream Manager by Kelly next for me and then Better Than Good by Ziglar.
Mike,
You are going to LOVE The Dream Manager.
One of the most inspiring books I’ve read.
Dream manager is good, in the same class As Jim Rohn.
Happy reading everyone in the Northern Hemisphere for the summer and a good winter read in the Southern Hemisphere.
Hey Jon -
Hope you enjoy Growing Great Employees, and find it useful!
I’m reading Predictably Irrational (fascinating!). And a bunch-o-folks have recommended Tribal Leadership to me, so I’ll probably read that next.
Warmly,
Erika
Erika:
I liked Tribal Leadership, they have a very good website too. I have an interview with one of the authors at: http://www.davidzinger.com/tribal-leadership-an-interview-with-dave-logan-671/
David
David -
Thanks! I’ll check this out…
E