Book Review: The One Thing You Need to Know...

The One Thing You Need to Know: ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success by Marcus Buckingham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Since I truly believe you should read this book, or at least the two-page summary of it I posted here, the only thing I will tell you about the "one thing" is that it is actually three things: one for managing, one for leading, and one for success as an individual. 

Buckingham has put the lid on the question of the difference between managing and leading.  I suppose the debate will go on, but I am now clear in my own mind.  Great managers are not necessarily great leaders and vice versa.  Each requires a different skill set and different talents (also known as strengths to those of us who have read Buckingham's other works.)  People may be more naturally suited to one role or another, but skills can be learned and anyway it is always best to have a clear understanding of what we are already good at. 

So, if I have a natural aptitude for reading people's unique characteristics and how they like to be treated, I might make a good manager.  On the other hand, if I am very good at tapping in to what is universal among all people, I might be a better leader.

Oops.  Have I said too much?

The One Thing You Need to Know About Sustained Personal Success has been my permission slip to have a great life of my own choosing.  It'll be that for you, too. If you haven't read this one, add it to your list.  You will be glad you did. And so will anyone you manage or lead.

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I Love Ken Blanchard!

Sometimes the best way to get a simple idea across is with a simple story.  The practice of delivering business or leadership lessons in a fable is more common today than it was when Ken Blanchard first started kicking out his timeless little tales of success in the workplace.  Here are some of my favorite Blanchard tales, each of which I recommend.  Clicking on the title of each will take you to a free downloadable summary of the book written by me. 

The One Minute Manager; The Quickest Way to Increase Your Own Prosperity (with Spencer Johnson, author of Who Moved My Cheese, Berkley Books, 1981.)  Here's a quick primer for anyone who finds themselves in a management role at work even though they've never had any training.  The basic premise is that successful leaders know to moderate their style depending upon the needs of the person being managed, and upon the specific situation.  People need different things at different times from their managers... but no one should ever need more than a minute to set goals, receive praise or take in a reprimand.  I'm not sure what the subtitle is about. This book is not about personal wealth. It is about managing others.

Leadership and The One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership (with Patricia Zigarmi and Drea Zigarmi, William Morrow and Company, 1985.)  Though this one involves the same fable character as in The One Minute Manager, this book is denser and more complex than the others in the series.  Here Blanchard and his co-authors take the "Different strokes for different folks" theme a little further to describe how managers and leaders can determine what level of guidance their employees require.  By the time we get to page 94, a fairly sophisticated flow chart is presented, detailing the steps in the "Contracting for Leadership Style" process.  Once again, each employee will get the level and intensity of management they need according to their skills, motivation, and work goals.


Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service. (with Sheldon Bowles, William Morrow and Company, 1993.) Truly, truly I would like to live in a world where every business I encounter is eager to make a raving fan of me!  The strategies spelled out in this fun little tale (including a Fairy Godmother named Charlie) could be applied by any restaurant owner, nurse, cashier, case manager, realtor, or consultant.  Anyone who ever has to serve another person's needs would benefit themselves and their customers by picking this one up.  It's so easy to make the people who pay us wildly happy... why doesn't everybody do it?

Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization (with Sheldon Bowles, William Morrow and Company, 1998.)  What do squirrels, beavers and geese have in common? They all have lessons to teach us about motivation and how it influences the quality of the work we do in groups and organizations.  Squirrels busily gathering food for the winter are engaged in the worthwhile work of preparing for their future.  Beavers take on different roles and seem to leave each other to organize their work however they like.  And geese are famous for the noisy way they cheer each other on.  Unlike other Blanchard classics, this one is based on a true-life story of a factory that was saved from closure because of the business learnings embedded in the stories one middle-manager's Native American grandfather told. (And because the top manager was wise enough to listen.)



Whale Done! The Power of Positive Relationships. (with Thad Lacinak, Chuck Tompkins, and Jim Ballard, The Free Press, 2002.)  Whales don't learn to jump through hoops because they are punished when they fail to jump through hoops.  Whales learn to jump through hoops when they are rewarded for jumping through hoops.  Can it really be that simple?  Well, not quite.  But the truth is that people respond to and perform better for managers who guide them toward the actions and behaviors they seek, rather than only ever steering them away from the actions or behaviors they dislike.  Tell me what you DO want and not just what you DON'T want.  I'll get it done! 

Book Review: The Peter Principle

The Peter Principle by Laurence J. Peter

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Some books develop a life of their own outside of what is actually in the pages.  Machiavelli's The Prince is like that... people think they know what it says, but then when you read it you find out it is actually quite different from what you'd heard.  A more recent example is Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In, which, contrary to what I've seen in the news or on social media, neither bashes men nor criticizes women who work at home. 

The Peter Principle, on the other hand, is exactly what the popular culture holds it to be: a not-completely tongue in cheek disquisition about one of the Western world's most vexing problems: incompetence in the work place.  First published in 1969, the book is full of delightful anachronisms, but the truth of the basic thesis is - I am afraid - far too commonly observed in modern life: In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence.

We all know how this happens.  When management needs to hire the foreman for a group of construction workers, they elevate the man who is distinguishing himself as a construction worker.  Doesn't matter that a foreman needs a completely different skill set. Doesn't matter whether he has any aptitude for supervising others.  So now the construction workers are being managed by someone who has no ability to do it.  (Or maybe he does... which means that he will soon be promoted to project leader, and the cycle continues.) All real work is accomplished by people who have not yet risen to their level of incompetence.

Professor Peter (yes, the book and the principle are named for the author) offers no solutions. He considers the situation incurable.  Some of the book is dedicated to advising individual workers how to avoid the fate of rising to their own incompetence.  Strategies include feigning incompetence where you are, refusing the next promotion, and side-stepping to a different hierarchy. Mostly though the professor bloviates on a series of additional, less-famous principles:

            *Peter's Corollary: In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties.
            *Peter's Inversion: Internal consistency is valued more highly than efficient service.
            *Peter's Paradox: Employees in a hierarchy do not really object to incompetence.
            *Peter's Placebo: For achieving personal satisfaction, an ounce of image is worth a pound of performance.

The glossary in the back of the book is funny. "Coordinator" is defined as "an employee charged with the task of extracting competence from incompetents" and "promotion" is "an upward movement from a level of competence."  That's good for a chuckle.

As with all books I review here, I am glad I read this one, but that's all.  Nothing terribly enlightening.  Maybe someday at a party when someone refers to the Peter Principle I'll be able to honestly claim that I read the book. Probably, though, I'll just keep that to myself. 






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Change Management

Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John P. Kotter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've been reading quite a bit on change management again lately, and I still keep coming back to John Kotter.  Maybe it's the simple eight-step process, and maybe it's just the characters in the fable.  (Haven't we all met people we would nick name "No-No?")   Maybe I just like his writing style.  Either way, though I've reviewed Our Iceberg is Melting and Leading Change before, both are worth another go.  In the next few weeks I'll post reviews and summaries of three more books by Kotter, but for today let's look again at the eight steps and remember - we can't blow past any of these if we want our effort to succeed.  

1.     Establishing a Sense of Urgency

§       Examining the market and competitive realities

§       Identifying and discussing crises, potential crises, or major opportunities

2.     Creating a Guiding Coalition

§       Putting together a group with enough power to lead the change

§       Getting the group to work together like a team

3.     Developing a Vision and Strategy

§       Creating a vision to help direct the change effort

§       Developing strategies for achieving that vision

4.     Communicating a Change Vision

§       Using every vehicle possible to constantly communicate the new vision and strategies

§       Having the guiding coalition role model the behavior expected of employees

5.     Empowering Employees for Broad-Based Action

§       Getting rid of obstacles

§       Changing systems or structures that undermine the change vision

§       Encouraging risk taking and nontraditional ideas, activities, and actions

6.     Generating Short-Term Wins

§       Planning for visible improvements in performance, or “wins”

§       Creating those wins

§       Visibly recognizing and rewarding people who made the wins possible

7.     Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change

§       Using increased credibility to change all systems, structures and policies that don’t fit together and don’t fit the transformation vision

§       Hiring, promoting, and developing people who can implement the change vision

§       Reinvigorating the process with new projects, themes and change agents

8.     Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture

§       Creating better performance through customer- and productivity-oriented behavior, more and better leadership, and more effective management

§       Articulating the connections between new behaviors and organizational success

§       Developing means to ensure leadership development and succession

Book Review: Smart Trust

Smart Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It is probably not fair to compare this book to the one that preceded it, but I just cannot give this one four stars when The Speed of Trust was such a life-changing revelation.  I wanted the same lift, the same sense of epiphany, and am somewhat disappointed.  Still, I was glad for an opportunity to spend more time thinking about the all-important subject of building and maintaining trusting relationships, and in fairness there was some solid new stuff in here.  I have even used some of the new material to help a client group I have been working with.  But what might have been an excellent journal article was stretched out to 258 pages and that makes for some dull reading.  My two-page summary will be all that is needed by most and I really don't say that very often.

I can appreciate the challenge Rebecca Merrill (the actual writer) had, crafting a book out of very little material.  In fact, I think the book gains from her regular repetition of the phrase "prosperity, energy, and joy" because it is an ever-present reminder of why we should work so hard to earn and extend trust.  She does well with that.  It's all the examples and stories that don't really contribute much that I struggled to slog through.

One important take away for me comes in the form of another Covey matrix with four quadrants.  It is helpful to understand how lower or higher levels of a propensity to trust combine with more or less analysis of a specific person or situation to produce no trust, blind trust, distrust, or Smart Trust.  We learned in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (by Stephen M. R. Covey's father) that a whole lot of the sweet life is found in Quadrant 2 and so it is with Smart Trust as well.  I want to think about every situation and I want to extend trust where and when I can. I want to take the five action steps that build trust.  If I am successful with that then prosperity, energy, and joy are sure to follow.



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Book Review: One Minute Manager

The One Minute Manager: The World's Most Popular Management Method by Kenneth H. Blanchard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Such a simple idea - those who supervise others see great success if they apply tried and true principles to their management tasks.  Meet people where they are. Care for and about them. Be clear when delivering instruction. Focus on what they are doing well.  When you have to correct a behavior, be specific, do it right away, and follow up with something positive.  Easy peasy.

These methods have been proven to bring results.  Why, then, are there so many truly horrible managers everywhere? 

One of the myths busted by this simple little book is the idea that one size fits all in management - that fairness requires everyone to be treated exactly the same.  No one is ever given extra time, or an additional bit of instruction. Each person is rewarded and punished like everyone else, whether that is motivating to them or not.  And heaven forbid if someone on the team needs a bit of accommodation... we'll just holler louder.  But that simply does not work.  Some people don't respond well to anger.  Some really hate to be recognized publicly.  Some people want to be told exactly how to do something. Others want to understand the goal, and figure the method out on their own.

The truth is that managers need to invest a little bit of themselves into every person whose work they oversee. It turns out that is easily done.  It only takes a minute.  One minute to establish work goals with someone.  One minute to catch them doing something well (or, during the training phase, almost well) and offer them sincere praise and positive feedback. One minute to explain to someone what mistake they have made and develop a solution.  One minute.

I see why this one was on the bestseller list for so long... short, concise and compelling.  The fable is lame, of course, totally forced and silly, but who cares?  It still delivers the learning in an easy-to-digest form that is more pleasant to read than a journal article of the same length. The authors - whom we know well from their numerous other works - posit that good managers follow these three basic strategies, one minute goal setting, one minute praisings, and one minute reprimands. Meet people where they are. 

My hope is that anyone who finds themselves supervising the work of others will find an hour to read this and apply the techniques. Many other books came from this one and I will post reviews and summaries in the next few months because I think the series is hugely important. My short summary for this one is paired with a summary of Leadership and the One Minute Manager.  Download them for free by clicking here.   



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Social Sector Greatness

Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by James C. Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Sometimes I like to argue with authors, often scribbling “yeah, but…” comments across the margins of their books. Other authors make such tight, well-researched cases for the points they make, they are hard to argue with. Jim Collins is in this last category. A business professor, Collins’ books are reports on in-depth university studies about his subjects. Built to Last and Good to Great have become essential business reading.

(I did a two-page summary of Good to Great a while back. You can download that by clicking here.

Collins has convinced me that there are identifiable characteristics separating businesses that have sustained greatness from those that have not. He believes his theory is applicable to all kinds of organizations, including social sector entities like schools, hospitals, non-profit organizations, etc. He doesn’t really flesh out that idea in Good to Great, but fortunately for all of us, Collins wrote a follow-on article called “Good to Great and the Social Sectors.” Here is the first paragraph:

"We must reject the idea – well-intentioned, but dead wrong – that the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to be ‘more like a business.’ Most businesses – like everything else in life – fall somewhere between mediocre and good. Few are great… So, then, why would we want to import the practices of mediocrity into the social sectors?”

Good question, Professor. Why would we do that?

Greatness is a product of certain dynamics that have been researched and described. Import those to your social sector organization, Collins teaches us, and make them relevant to your organization.

Here are a few keys of the Good to Great framework, with the updates relevant to the social sectors. I’ll be using these with government and non-profit clients from now on:

1) Defining and Measuring “Great”: In business, the primary measure of greatness is profits. Not so in the social sectors where money is rarely an output of the organization. Mission-based outcomes can be more difficult to quantify and measure, but it is nonetheless important to do so effectively. Performance against clearly identified mission-based goals must be meticulously monitored and continuously improved.

2) “Level 5” Leadership: Leaders who possess all the usual leadership skills are Level 4 leaders. To be a Level 5 leader, one must be focused on the organization, rather than on oneself, and be working to groom the next generation of leaders. Social services organizations tend to not have the top-down chains of power and control more prevalent in the business sector, so leaders must be facilitative and possess the ability to build consensus.

3) First Who – Get the Right People on the Bus: Without the right people, no organization can hope to survive, let alone thrive. Good people who are mission-focused and present for all the right reasons don’t need “motivation” or “alignment” or spectacular compensation packages. Getting the wrong people off the bus is complicated in the social sectors by tenure and a high degree of volunteerism. But – an organization can’t be great if the people in it are not internally motivated to make it so.

4) Confront the Brutal Facts without Losing your Vision: Greatness requires managers who resist any temptation to stick their heads in the sand or gloss over the hardest-to-deal-with aspects of their reality. At the same time, that clear-eyed focus can’t come at the expense of hope or willingness to dream up a better reality. Take a good look at where you really are, be clear about where you want to go, and move forward with purpose.

I love Collins’ concluding sentence as much as I love the opening one: “Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.” The 30 pages in between are pretty good, too. As someone who believes passionately in planning for success, I highly recommend the studies Jim Collins and his colleagues have made of the attributes of greatness. If it is true that you can’t learn about the light by studying the darkness (and I believe it is) then here is a study of the light. Good luck!



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Book Review: Drive

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've said this before and I will say it again: little is more fun than finding ways to pierce the power of conventional wisdom.  Let's add Daniel Pink to the pantheon of wonderful writers who take the time to read and digest the dense material published by social scientific researchers and then spin it into stories the rest of us can read and understand.  In this entertaining and thought-provoking work, Pink takes us on a journey to understand what truly motivates us. He suggests ways - backed by data - of motivating ourselves and others.  It turns out all the things we've always thought was helpful - carrots and sticks - are way wrong.  The key is to get out of the way of a person's internal motivation.  I recommend Drive for anyone who manages, teaches, or parents others. Don't believe me? Have a look at my two-page summary (it's free!) Just click here to download it.



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Book Review: First Break All the Rules

First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A few years back, in a fit of misguided patriotism, I took a J.O.B. in a government agency with a mission to help people who would otherwise struggle to get by. Two weeks in, I realized I was reporting to a supervisor who knew nothing about being a supervisor. Worse, one of her colleagues decided to "help" by inserting himself into everything our unit did. I had two bosses, and I had no idea how to make either of them happy.

Then one day, I spotted this book on Boss #2's shelf. I'd already enjoyed others by Marcus Buckingham, and I knew that one way to connect with someone is to read something they recommend. So I asked to borrow the book. He agreed, but was clearly annoyed. He didn't like anything about me and he made sure I knew it.

What a belly laugh I had when I discovered that Buckingham had written a how-to manual for being a good manager! Treat people the way they want to be treated... define outcomes for your staff... focus on their strengths...match the people to the work... all the things neither of these two supervisors were doing. Of the 12 questions that predict employee satisfaction and performance, my peers and I could answer only one or two positively. LOL.

I read the book in a few days and returned it to Boss #2 right away. "Here's your book back. Thanks for letting me borrow it. Have you read it?"

"Of course I've read it!" he practically snapped. (God, Cathy, you are so stupid.) End of discussion.

So, here is the thing about books: they are excellent tools for learning. If someone wants to change and grow and gain a new skill, there is probably a darn good book about whatever they want to learn. But books are not magic bullets. They can't make people change or improve their skills. If they could, I might still be in that job. As it was, I lasted only a few months before happily returning to consulting, where I still use the book to help clients who want to learn how to be better supervisors.

To download a two-page summary of the book, written by me, click here.

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Book Review: The E-Myth Revisited

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Here's the one I wish I had read BEFORE I started my own consulting practice, BEFORE I had spent $42,000 to have an assistant doing all the tasks I dislike, BEFORE I fell flat on my face trying to be all things to all clients. 

The "E" for those who haven't read this one stands for Entrepreneur.  And the "E-Myth" is the belief that everyone who opens their own business is an entrepreneur at heart.  Turns out, most of us aren't... but we need to be.  Or, at least, we all need to perform that function if we want to avoid becoming a statistic. 

I am a big believer in self-employment.  The freedom, the income potential, the quality of life are superior to any way of earning a living I know of.  I've told anyone who asked that they should do it.  Figure out what you are good at.  Figure out how to get others to pay you for doing what you are good at.  Set out a shingle and go.  Just do it.

Now I tell them to run to the bookstore and get The E-Myth Revisited.  Gerber spells out all the classic mistakes, describes all the things a new business owner must think through, all the roles that must be filled - even in one-person operations.  It's an MBA, mother's advice, and 10 years of on-the-job training all rolled into one.  Thanks Mr. Gerber! 

Download a two-page summary, written by me, by clicking here. 

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Book Review: Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


So let me say that at the start that I am not an Apple person.  I am not an anti-Apple person, either.  It's just that when I got my first computer in 1995 it was a PC.  I still don't have a need for a smartphone... and my fourth desktop PC works just fine. 

But Jobs is an icon of American business, and Apple is off-the-charts successful.  The book was much in the news the year it came out, which co-occurred with Jobs' death.  It was to be an easy, breezy winter curl-up read. 

Oh, but it wasn't. 

The author has provided us with a book which is meticulously researched, painstakingly organized, and well-crafted.  The writing is clear and clean and the narrative moves along.  It's just that the subject matter was so disturbing to me that I couldn't enjoy it or recommend it to others. Jobs' personal story is really only useful as a cautionary tale.  It shows us that in our society someone can be highly regarded and hugely successful even when they treat others like dirt.

From beginning to end Steve Jobs was mean.  He belittled, abused, snarled, badgered and humiliated people.  He seems to be have been humble or charming only when it served some agenda he was working.  In scene after scene the author quotes Jobs' associates talk about the horrid behavior they and others tolerated in order to have access to the golden, inventive mind.  A thick skin was a requirement and withstanding regular verbal assault was the price of admission to the inner circle.

Isaacson concludes, "The nasty edge to his personality was not necessary. It hindered him more than it helped him.  But it did, at times, serve a purpose.  Polite and velvety leaders, who take care to avoid bruising others, are generally not as effective at forcing change."

I say "horse feathers!"  There is miles of distance between "velvety" and where Jobs was.  He wasn't merely insistent on his way, or sternly holding people accountable for achieving at a high level.  He was a tyrant of the highest order.  Did Apple grow to be ginormous with legions of raving fans around the world? Yep.  Did a few dozen people get fabulously wealthy?  Yep.  Was putting up with Jobs' behavior the thing to do?  No way.  There is no standard of excellence so high to justify abuse.  The world will never know what might have been created by Jobs and his colleagues if he had been kind, collaborative, affirming, partnering, nice.  He robbed us of that - and so did the people who made his excuses for him.

As I read, knowing Jobs had died only weeks before the book's publication, I kept waiting for the redemption moment... an indication Jobs acknowledged to Isaacson that he was sorry for the hurt he caused people.  But it doesn't happen.  Up to the last Jobs was a self-absorbed and hateful bully, the kind of person we tell our children to avoid.

There are some business lessons in here and I did my best to pull them into a summary which is available for download by clicking here.  Read Steve Jobs if you like, but I am going back to Richard Branson.(I'll embed summaries in an upcoming blogpost.)



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Book Review: The No Asshole Rule

The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't by Robert I. Sutton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When I featured this one in my monthly column in the North Coast Business Journal* I checked with my editor before starting the draft.  "Will you accept a column from me about a book with this title?"  I asked.  He said he would, but probably wouldn't feature it too boldly in a headline.  That's OK... I figured he was running a risk just publishing the column.  Of course, I pushed the boundaries a little further and paired my summary of this book with a summary of the Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs.  After reading them both, I knew they went together... but I worried NCBJ would get some blow back from unhappy Jobs admirers.  They didn't.

To be clear, Professor Sutton makes a distinction between assholes and office jerks, bullies, and backstabbers.  To qualify as exhibiting asshole-like behavior one must make a regular practice of belittling, humiliating, and oppressing people of lower status or power.  That's a relatively high bar, though one all too often accomplished in our workplaces.

The No Asshole Rule is a zero tolerance policy... zero.  Assholes are costly, demoralizing to coworkers, offensive to customers, and leave havoc in their wake.  What talent or experience they have is never worth it, never. Sutton hesitantly includes a chapter called "The Virtues of Assholes" but he doesn't convince me that there is ever an upside to tolerating this kind of behavior.  As I say, I read the Steve Jobs book and I see that he was a genius. But he also relied heavily on collaborative partners who shaped his thinking and helped shape Apple.  Sure, he had success in the end... but what might he have been able to create if instead of hatefully berating people who didn't meet his standards, he nudged them kindly or quietly let them go?  How many great partners and ideas did he shove away with his bottomless vitriol?     

The points made in the fourth chapter, called "How to Stop Your 'Inner Jerk' from Getting Out" are well-placed and well-taken.  We won't build civilized workplaces by always focusing on the other guys.  We all have to monitor our own behavior and seek to have a positive impact on others. 

*The Well-Booked Business, a summary of a business-related book written by yours truly appears each month in the North Coast Business Journal.  Those within the Ohio counties of Erie, Ottawa, Huron, Sandusky and Seneca can pick it up at most local grocery stores or subscribe via their local Chamber of Commerce.  Others can see it online at www.ncbj.net.  The column about The No Asshole Rule appeared in the March 2012 edition. A downloadable, two-page summary of the book, written by me, is available by clicking here.



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Book Review: Leading Change

Leading Change by John P. Kotter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Yep.  I see why this one rose to the top of the must-read list for the organizational change practitioners and the consultants to nonprofits LinkedIn groups I follow.  It is a classic, a one-stop shop for anyone interested in understanding the process of change within organizations.  Focused largely on business (Kotter's examples and "reasons for" tend to be about competitive advantage,) the book is clearly applicable in nonprofit and governmental contexts. 

Of particular interest to me, and of real importance I think, is Kotter's clarity with regard to the different functions of management and leadership.  I have already used some of this material with clients - even before I finished the book - and I assume I will do so over and again.  The narrative is clear and concise, and the exhibits support an additional level of understanding.  Every chapter is an eye opener, building on the chapter before. 

I usually prefer to cherry pick good ideas from authors, leaving "take it all" prescriptive stuff for those who need an orthodoxy.  But I can see how the eight stages of Kotter's change management process hang together in a cohesive whole.  He makes his case for not skipping any of the steps in a convincing fashion.  With such a large percentage of the world transforming itself every year... this how-to guide is essential reading.  Good stuff.

A two-page summary, written by me, is available to those who click here.

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Book Review: What Got You Here Won't Get You There

What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


One day last summer I was approached by the senior leader of a client group about whether I could work with one of the members of the management team who was a valued employee but often rubbed people the wrong way.  I disclosed right away that I don't have any training in human resources or in executive coaching, but my client felt sure I could help, adding that the manager in question trusted me and would likely work with me. I took the contract with a degree of uncertainty... and after some time offered the manager a two-page synopsis of this book to read.  Three weeks ago she asked if she could borrow my copy of the book.  I bought her one of her own.  Honest to goodness... it is working!  I didn't have to do much in the way of helping her see how her manner of speaking to others was causing troubles... Marshall Goldsmith did it all.  This books is wonderful and I have used it before.  (Better consulting through reading!) 

The book also helped me directly.  I was shocked to discover that my habit of jumping in to expand on other people's ideas could be seen as dismissive or taking over! I really do try to "add value" less often now, or at least to offer a quick apology when I catch myself doing it.  I have a few trusted friends who understand that I am working on my manners and I will often ask them for honest feedback after meetings.  Sometimes they give it and sometimes they lie... but I am learning to tell the difference.  Thanks Dr. Goldsmith!  I reserve five star ratings for books that change my life... and this one qualifies!

Anyone who has ever been told by a co-worker or supervisor that they put others out with their behavior should jump on Abebooks today and order a copy of this book.  It helped me and my clients and it will help you too!

Click here to read a two-page summary written by me.

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Book Review: Good to Great

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I understand why this one is a classic!  It begins from a simple research question: what do companies that sustain excellence over a long period have in common?  To answer the question one must first define "excellence," then define "sustained." Next, send your graduate students and research associates out to conduct interviews with hundreds of business leaders in companies who meet those two definitions to see what they have in common.  Finally, compare the great ones to companies in their field who did not sustain excellence.  The results are fascinating, relevant, and easily accessible to a non-MBA reader.  I list it as a must-read for those who are interested in improving their organizations.

For the record, the secrets are:

1. Leaders must take care to bring others along to carry on when they are gone.
2. Get the right people on the team - first. Everything else is secondary.
3. Eyes wide open - look at hard reality and plan to overcome any adverse facts.
4. If there is something you can do better than anyone else, do that. 
5. Blend a culture of discipline (first things first) with a spirit of entrepreneurship.
6. Embrace the power of innovation and new technology.
7. Stick with it... great changes don't happen overnight.

To learn more from my two-page summary, download it here.



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Book Review: Speed of Trust

The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Powerful, powerful, powerful!  Before reading this book, I did not know anything about trust except that it is awfully difficult to rebuild once it has been violated.  I never thought about the nature of trust, when and how we come to trust and distrust others, or when and how others come to trust or distrust us.  But it turns out that this is very rich subject to explore.  Covey's breakdown of the component parts of trust is clear and memorable, the very essence of excellent teaching.  The action steps he lays out for building and rebuilding trust puts each of us in the driver's seat. 

The author's father published a book in 1989 that included the following passage I had turned into a poster for my office wall: "If I try to use human influence strategies and tactics of how to get other people to do what I want, to work better, to be more motivated, to like me and each other - while my character is flawed, marked by duplicity and insincerity - then, in the long run, I cannot be successful.  My duplicity will breed distrust, and everything I do - even using so-called good human relations techniques - will be perceived as manipulative. It simply makes no difference how good the rhetoric is or even how good the intentions are; if there is little or no trust, there is no foundation for permanent success. Only basic goodness gives life to technique."  Those sentences have haunted me since I read them... and deep down inside I know this is the root cause of any unhappy relationship (personal or professional) in my life.  I can embrace the Seven Habits and work on my character every day, and I do, but I never understood how I was affecting others until Covey, Jr. spelled it out in Speed of Trust.  Reading this was a life changing moment for me as I am sure it will be for anyone who seeks to understand themselves and their interactions with others.

A word of caution to fellow professionals who work with groups and organizations: I've twice tried to use the exercises in this book to help clients move through planning when trust has broken down among a group of colleagues. Twice it has backfired, once quite disastrously.  When people are feeling betrayed and angry with each other, they are looking for the outside consultant to come in and proclaim the others wrong.  Powerful as self-assessment was for me, it is clear that unless people are ready to receive the message they will reject the messenger.  I will continue to recommend the book and share the exercises in leadership development and training programs, or when asked about rebuilding trust, but otherwise keep what I have learned to myself.  That is where it is most powerful, anyway.

You can download a two-page summary, written by me, when you click here.

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Book Review: Five Dysfunctions of a Team

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I use a lot of books in my consulting practice... popular works I think will connect with whatever group or individual professional I am working with.  Over the years, I have turned to Patrick Lencioni's The Five Dysfunctions of a Team over and over again.  The concepts are quick to grasp and hugely familiar to just about anyone who has ever had to work with others to accomplish an objective.  We can all recognize ourselves in the fable's characters, and then learn some strategies and tactics for overcoming the problems we have created together.

Note that I am not crazy about the term "dysfunction."  It can feel judgey to people and it usually helps to show clients you are on their side when you are trying to help them.  Sometimes, I recast the "dysfunctions" as "characteristics of a high-functioning team" - High degree of trust, Ability to disagree with each other, etc.  Still, I always give credit to the authors whose work I use and Lencioni called it Dysfunction so dysfunction it is. 

If you can't get your colleagues to read the book (it'll take all of two hours), then draw them the pyramid at your next opportunity.  If just one lightbulb clicks on, you'll be ahead of where you were. You can also use a copy of the two-page summary I have posted here.



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Book Review: Whale Done!

Whale Done! : The Power of Positive Relationships by Kenneth H. Blanchard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I like how-to books, especially when they are fun little fables. Blanchard and his coauthors wrote a  story that can be read in an hour, but the lessons are likely to last a lifetime. 

Any manager or supervisor (or teacher or parent) who seeks to promote new behaviors in others, or train people how to do a task well, can apply the Whale Done! method.  In a nutshell, rather than getting after someone for doing something wrong, praise them for what they do right.  If they are learning a new skill, give an "Atta Girl" for their progress. It is so much easier for people to understand what you DO want than to continuously find themselves in trouble for doing what you didn't want. 

There's a reason we all know what "positive reinforcement" means.  The phrase entered the lexicon because it works.  And remember, if you make a commitment to changing your management style to include more "Whale Done!" moments with your team, and you slip up a time or two... that's OK!  Praise yourself for the progress you've made and keep trying!  The system will work, even on ourselves.

It only takes half a page to summarize this book... so I embedded my summary into a single document with summaries of three other fable-style books.  Click here to download it now.



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Book Review: The Checklist Manifesto

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Great!  I knew when I saw Dr. Gawande on TV talking about this book that I couldn't wait to read it.  And am I ever glad I did!  Such a simple device, the checklist.  But too often it is overlooked, ignored, even maligned.  Sometimes the solutions to the problems we face are right under our noses... Time to stop resisting!

Click here to download my two-page summary.

For the last couple of years I have been working with a client organization who hired me to facilitate a series of management team meetings as they redeveloped their policy and procedure handbook.  What to leave in and what to leave out has been the perpetual discussion.  At what point does descriptive narrative meant to train new employees become oppressive to those who must implement management's directives?  Is it possible to be the kind of manager who defines desired outcomes and leaves the "how to" part to staff - and still be in compliance with the federal, state, and local laws governing this particular client's activities?  It's been a fine line.

Enter The Checklist.  It's all the stuff people have to remember (and no one can remember everything about today's complex jobs no matter how long-serving) without stifling creativity or crushing personal motivation. The nearly 200 pages of The Checklist Manifesto are entertaining as well as informative.  Gawande has provided a robust analysis of the value of a simple checklist that is compelling and memorable.  From surgery, to skyscraper building, to the steps involved in posting a blog, we all benefit from writing it down.  Whatever the investment of time required to create a checklist on the front end of a task can be reimbursed a hundred fold by the time and effort saved correcting problems on the back end. 

A good checklist can saves lives, too.  Dr. Gawande and his colleagues at the World Health Organization are proving it.  Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who famously landed the airplane on the Hudson River in January 2009, gladly acknowledges that he and co-pilot Jeffrey Skiles used an emergency checklist to avoid disaster and save the lives of 155 people that day.  They had training and experience, yes, but no one on earth could have remembered what to do in the few seconds they had to decide what steps they needed to keep that plane from crashing.  Their experience provided the discipline to run the list and their training taught them how to do what was there.  But it was the list that prompted the right actions. What better argument can there be?



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