Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright
Winning Workplaces review:
Tribal Leadership's premise is that modern work gets done through tribes, which consist of groups of no more than 150 people. The authors identify five stages of tribes, from Stage One, consisting of anarchists, to Stage Five, made up of truly enlightened thinkers who understand that they are at once their own leaders and also indebted to their leader-in-title.
The authors argue that most U.S. organizations fluctuate between Stage Two and Stage Three, and the real challenge for leaders who want to move into the highest stages – and reap the associated benefits of higher profits, better-performing talent, improved health statistics and stronger retention – is to move the "critical mass" of their employees, one at a time.
The authors say leaders can do this by using many of the techniques Winning Workplaces has identified among our Top Small Workplaces, including setting up the culture to weed out "bad eggs," telling people how much they're valued, and surveying them often and heeding their feedback.
The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly
Winning Workplaces review:
Retaining top talent has become a strategic priority for many business leaders. But what about the employees that "quit and stay"? These are the disengaged employees that are essentially checked out a portion of every work day. In his 2007 book The Dream Manager, author and international consultant Matthew Kelly maintains that "No single factor is affecting morale, efficiency, productivity, sustainable growth, customer intimacy and profitability more than disengagement."
In this compelling, quick read, Kelly tells the story (based on an actual firm but told in parable fashion) of a fictional janitorial company struggling to remedy its debilitating turnover problem. The leader, desperate for a solution, allows his inspired General Manager to implement his "Dream Program." They hire outside coaches whose sole job is to first understand, then help employees fulfill their dreams – be it buying a house, learning a new language or taking that fantasy excursion to Paris. Money and decent benefits are important, but not enough. Employees' engagement, loyalty and commitment to their company increases when they feel they are making a difference and progressing in their life.
A moral of the story is that a company can only become the-best-version-of-itself to the extent that its employees are becoming better-versions-of-themselves. Their destinies are closely linked so managers need to make it their business to understand what "drives the people that drive the business."
Generation Ageless by J. Walker Smith and Ann Clurman
Winning Workplaces review:
In modern American history, the Baby Boomers have been a legendary generation. Today, the generation may be aging, but they do not seem to be getting old. They are still searching for the meaning of life and defining a strong sense of mission to change the world. Our common understanding of the concept of retirement does not apply to Baby Boomers; they are still working to matter, as always.
The co-authors of Generation Ageless are the leadership of Yankelovich, Inc, a leading consumer research company which has spent decades studying Baby Boomers' life attitudes and buying decisions. Their fine work here helps readers understand how the Boomer generation will shape the future of the marketplace.
Generation Ageless is much more than just a marketer's handbook. Today, most of the decision-making positions in our society are occupied by this incredibly powerful generation. For anyone who hopes to work with and impress these decision makers, this book is essential reading.
A Bull in a Glass House by José Astorga
Winning Workplaces review:
Power plus temperance equals wisdom is the theme of this book by José Astorga, a former U.S. Marine who has been working, surviving and managing his passion in a workplace with more or less unethical leaderships for more than two decades. When the plant he worked for was being closed because of reorganization, he rejected the opportunity to relocate. Instead, he finished this book, encouraging employees in Corporate America to step up to the challenge of navigating potentially treacherous career avenues by embracing change and relationships. The book outlines Astorga's building blocks for achieving success in any endeavor.
However, this is not just a handbook on employee survival. Rather, it is a former manager's discussion about how to build a winning workplace. "A combination of the firm leader who leads with empathy and compassion and the employee that performs with integrity and commitment will take the individual and the corporation to new heights," the author says. Current workplace leaders and people who see themselves as future leaders would especially benefit from reading this book.
The No Asshole Rule by Robert I. Sutton, PhD
Winning Workplaces review:
Almost every office has workers who are flat-out rude, selfish, uncivil, mean-spirited or who really don't seem to care on whom they step. Unfortunately, these people, with their strategic use of anger and blame, can be successful in pushing themselves up the hierarchy and knocking others down in a number of workplaces.
Enter Sutton and his "No Asshole Rule" that helps prevent mean-spirited people from doing damage to victims, bystanders who suffer the ripple effects and even organizational performance. As is the case with many successful workplace practices, Sutton's rule needs to be implemented, enforced and kept alive by leaders in order to have lasting positive impact. "Having all the right business philosophies and management practices to support the no asshole rule is meaningless unless you treat the person right in front of you, right now, in the right way," he says.
Get Ahead by Going Abroad by C. Perry Yeatman and Stacie Nevadomski Berdan
Winning Workplaces review:
International experience differentiates you from your peers. Going overseas can fast-track your career and expand your personal horizons beyond your wildest dreams. And this is not an opportunity just for men. According to the book's co-authors, women are endowed with qualities to succeed in working overseas including adaptability and flexibility, the ability to listen and communicate well and skill at building teams and relationships.
The book guides you to land an international assignment, to arrange you and your family's lives as expats and to handle difficulties during the process of exploring unfamiliar countries. This guide will also help human resource professionals and all those in organizations who need to successfully manage employees working overseas.
Your Leadership Legacy by Robert M. Galford and Regina Fazio Maruca
Winning Workplaces review:
Leadership legacy is the enduring impact leaders have on the people with whom they work. It can be seen in the thoughts and actions of the people who have worked with or for you long after your professional affiliation has ended.
Galford and Maruca developed the book based on their experiences at the Center for Executive Development in Boston, working with and talking to CEOs, professionals and executives from a wide range of organizations. For leaders young or seasoned, they argue, if you start thinking about your leadership legacy now, rather than just before you change jobs or retire, you will have every day in the future to build a legacy, thus greatly increasing the odds of leaving one that reflects your best qualities, those you would like to see embedded in the fabric of the organization you leave behind.
This book provides step-by-step guidance to help you look toward the future while making you a better leader today.
Crazy Bosses by Stanley Bing
Winning Workplaces review:
Humorous business author Stanley Bing's abridged edition of his 1992 book is a little bit Kurt Vonnegut (think Breakfast of Champions, complete with illustrations – in Bing's case, one-of-a-kind charts) and a lot Lewis Black. In a completely original, apolitical way, Bing states what many business scribes have before him: The gamut of bad bosses, from amoral to zealot, are not so much a product of their own shortcomings as of those of the corporate world.
Bing's twist is in the ways he argues that the workers can avoid these bosses on the way up the ladder, including becoming one of them once at the top. Regardless of the delivery method, the solution, Bing says – having used it himself – is to "aspire to the most potent level of craziness you can personally achieve in your lifetime." After all, the author says, a sane person in a crazy environment will stand out much more than a crazy person (a crazy boss) in a sane environment.
The Real Wealth of Nations by Riane Eisler
Winning Workplaces review:
Creating an addendum to Scottish economist Adam Smith's classic treatise on free trade and capitalism, which was published just as America declared its independence, is no small feat. Yet, Eisler, who is president of the Center for Partnership Studies, adds a worthy and timely perspective – namely, that in addition to market forces, people and our natural environment enable nations to realize their full economic potential.
In her third of 10 chapters in this insightful book, Eisler writes that investment in people "is the best way of enhancing their productive capacities – and hence ensuring business profits and economic effectiveness." Ideally, the author argues, this investment "should start before birth, with prenatal care for mothers and health care, high-quality child care, and education for children."
Business Innovation in the 21st Century by Praveen Gupta
Winning Workplaces review:
Few books deliver on the promise of their subtitles like Praveen Gupta's latest book, which touts the work as a "Comprehensive Approach to Institutionalize Business Innovation." The Illinois-based consultant and author of several other books, including those exploring the Six Sigma defect-elimination process, begins his look to the future with a detailed history of innovation.
After carrying the discussion to the present day, including examining the Internet's role in innovation, Gupta takes a detailed look at how creativity plays a hand. The author argues that leaders should not abandon the seemingly simple school-age games of their youth when it comes to fostering creativity, which begets innovation, including role playing and drawing. The author provides a sufficient amount of flowcharts and key research and data to help readers "understand the purpose of innovation, its environment, and the input, in-process, and output parameters" (Take Away, Chapter 10) to help their organizations truly benefit from it.
Related: Read our interview with author Praveen Gupta
The Success Effect by John Eckberg
Winning Workplaces review:
In his 2005 book The Success Effect, Eckberg, a veteran Ohio newspaper columnist and business reporter, takes a no-holds-barred approach to asking questions of noted success-seekers. His interview subjects range from Deepak Chopra to Donald Trump. His questions range from the mundane ("CDs in the Changer" is a recurring one for all subjects) to the edge-of-envelope (he asks Doobie Brothers guitarist and little-known technical maven Jeff "Skunk" Baxter what he "brings to the table that West Pointers otherwise can't see").
Small business owners and leaders will be delighted by Eckberg's truly conversational nature – as if he happened to run into these folks at a bus stop and also happened to be acquainted with their friends, colleagues and exploits. He asks financier and recent Chicago Tribune acquirer Sam Zell about his reputation as a "vulture investor," and learns from him the difference between being an eccentric and a schmuck (hint: it has to do with both talent and apparel).
Related: Read our interview with author John Eckberg
The High-Purpose Company by Christine Arena
Winning Workplaces review:
Formerly the managing director of Boston-based integrated marketing firm Polese Clancy, Christine Arena now lives in San Francisco. The High-Purpose Company: The TRULY Responsible (and Highly Profitable) Firms That Are Changing Business Now is Arena's second book, after 2004's Cause for Success. An acknowledged fan of author Jim Collins, Arena recalls two of the overlapping circles/questions from his "hedgehog" model from Good to Great ("What are you deeply passionate about?" and "What can you be the best in the world at?") in developing a ladder system going from the "accepts the status quo" stage to the sixth and final "anchor" stage, at which point Arena writes that "companies 'become' their higher purpose."
In developing her "litmus test" to gauge companies with a higher purpose, Arena engaged 10 MBA students at McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management. Using the test – the simple question: Is purpose invaluable to the company? – Arena and her team identified 75 companies that passed the test, were poised to pass the test, or failed the test. Unsurprinsingly, large companies that have made headlines based mostly on what they don't say or disclose, such as Merck & Co and Halliburton, failed Arena's test. Companies who passed the test included some Winning Workplaces-featured organizations: Eileen Fisher, Patagonia and S.C. Johnson & Son. Arena writes that these companies are "driven by purpose to the extent where purpose becomes a dominant force for corporate performance and development."
Related: Read our interview with author Christine Arena
Make Their Day! Employee Recognition That Works by Cindy Ventrice
Winning Workplaces review:
Cindy Ventrice, a management consultant and workshop leader based in California who has worked in a wide range of industries, sprinkles the firsthand feedback of leaders and managers as well as front-line workers on the topic of effective recognition into Make Their Day! Although in assembling the book she spoke to managers at some large companies, she works under the assumption that most managers – especially those at small organizations – do not have access to a budget solely for recognition.
Therefore, the tips she provides center on the small but oh-so-powerful gestures that supervisors can implement immediately to boost their workers' morale, commitment and productivity. For instance, a support services manager of a software company champions motivating the team to recognize each other – which, in turn, makes the manager's job easier and provides the added benefit of improving employee communication and trust.
Overall, Ventrice makes the compelling case that recognition is something to be given and received on a personal level, and not merely another in-box item requiring the boss’s stamp. "Instead of adding recognition to your to-do list, make it the header," she writes.
Related: Read our interview with author Cindy Ventrice
It's All Well & Good by Beth Moses
Winning Workplaces review:
It's All Well & Good is Indiana-based workplace stress management therapist Beth Moses' Second Edition of her 1997 CD-size book. Moses tells us the small size is purposeful; employees should want to keep the book handy on their desks. And for good reason – if stress has a worker feeling unproductive, he or she can turn to any page to find a quick self-healing remedy. Moses' voice as a therapist comes through as she advises modern remedies to curb stress while providing the ancient foundations they're based on. Moses' Guide to Healing, an index based on what ails you, is color coded and extremely helpful for finding quick fixes for particular mental and physical issues. For instance, for workers who are feeling the burden of taking on new responsibilities, the author provides massage, meditation and visualization techniques.
As Moses says, it all goes back to breathing, in whatever fashion works best for the individual, and that is an underlying theme in It's All Well & Good. For employees who need to take a moment to center and heal themselves, this book is an indispenable guide. What's more, it's a complete stress management system – witness the "30 Days to Total Enlightenment" chapter, a day-by-day guide to wellness that provides readers interested in making gradual but substantial improvements to their lifestyles the inspiring fodder to do just that.
Related: Read our interview with author Beth Moses
Monday Morning Mentoring by David Cottrell
Winning Workplaces review:
Monday Morning Mentoring, published in August 2006, sets as its protagonist a fictional mid-level manager named Jeff, who is experiencing some hardships at work: Two of his superstar employees recently quit, he's not getting along as well as he would like with his boss and his team seems to meander under his direction. Luckily, Jeff looks up Tony, a friend of his father who ran a highly successful business. Over the course of 10 weeks, Jeff meets with Tony every Monday morning over coffee, laying out his problems and receiving Tony's astute advice, which often takes the form of questions that provoke Jeff's thought and action involving his team in the interim of the meetings. Cottrell successfully skates the fine line between presenting Jeff's comeback plot and presenting Tony's why-didn't-I-think-of-that observations to the manager-reader through the use of quotes, Jeff's post-meeting notes and follow-up of these points in subsequent meetings/chapters.
The New American Workplace by James O'Toole and Edward E. Lawler
Winning Workplaces review:
Recently the follow-up to 1973's Work in America, The New American Workplace, was published. Featuring new research by the original report's authors, James O'Toole and Edward E. Lawler, III of the University of Southern California's Center for Effective Organizations, the updated report is less academic and more urgent in tone than its predecessor. Among other conclusions, the authors argue that, "America cannot look to its large, global corporations to provide enough new, good jobs." Instead, they point to entrepreneurs and "High-Involvement" (HI) small businesses as the harbinger of the best new jobs.
Related: Read our interview with co-author Edward E. Lawler
Small Giants by Bo Burlingham
Winning Workplaces review:
All of the companies Bo Burlingham profiles work hard to both define their internal community and strengthen their ties to the external community, typically on a local scale with a strong emphasis on personal relationships. The author argues that a sense of community hinges on maintaining three pillars: integrity, professionalism, and human connection. "Indeed, the relationship between the employees and the company is the entire basis for the mojo they exude. You can't have the second without the first," Burlingham writes. "Everything ... that makes a company extraordinary ... depends on those who do the work of the business, day in and day out."
Related: Small Giants website cites Winning Workplaces review
Alpha Dogs by Donna Fenn
Winning Workplaces review:
Donna Fenn outlines the strategies for success that eight small businesses have used to come from behind to outperform the competition. In explaining one of the steps, 'convert your employees into true believers,' Fenn profiles Dayton, Ohio-based upscale grocer Dorothy Lane Market. She notes the unusual practice the company’s CEO, Norman Mayne, has undertaken for the past 20 years, based on a suggestion from a 16-year-old cashier: talk to each new hire about Dorothy Lane’s company culture, customer retention and competition. Fenn notes that although this training program costs the organization $25,000 annually, it results in a part-time employee turnover rate of 20 to 30 percent – far below the industry average of 100 percent.