Leadership Books

The Premise: Cathie Black is CEO of Hearst Magazine and the woman who convinced Oprah to launch “O” magazine – the most successfully magazine launch in history. Black walks us through her career milestones from Ms. Magazine to USA Today and provides insights and advice on what she’s learned along the way.

The Bottom-line: The book is in the genre of the “Pocket-Mentor” approach. Black provides a number of Career 101 lesson points – such as “make your boss look good” – and then backs them up with her own stories and experiences. Some of the tips (like the aforementioned) feel a bit basic, but maybe that’s the point. As with most things, what separates people who are successful from everyone else is the fact that they don’t just know the basics, they actually stick to them and execute. Black is refreshingly open and honest about her own shortcomings and provides a glimpse into C-suite decision making. Most of the book’s marketing seems to suggest women would enjoy this book. But really – do we suggest only men would enjoy Jack Welch’s Winning? Executive excellence is executive excellence, gender aside.

The Premise: Bruce Tulgan’s latest offering flies in the face of the current trend in management practices (emphasizing talents and focusing on high performers) and puts his finger on a huge issue for corporations: under-management. He challenges bosses everywhere to step up to the plate, outline expectations, follow-through on performance issues, correct failures and reward successes. The advice is practical, useful and easy to implement.

The Bottom-line: Consider this one mandatory reading for new managers and for those of us who need to remind ourselves about the things we should be doing, but may not be doing consistently!

The Premise: A compilation of business lessons garnered from the experience of some of big business’ top players and thought leaders, this is one of a series produced in cooperation between HBS Press and 50 Lessons. Executives from Virgin, Tesco, KPMG, Sky Networks and others dig into their past to bring forward some of the key moments that have defined their leadership philosophies and approach. A common theme throughout is the universal truth that leadership starts with what’s inside. Walking the talk, setting the tone, listening and being humble are all key themes throughout this book. So, the “to-do” after reading it is to dive into some self-assessments and continually look in the mirror to see where you need to go to take your leadership to the next level.

The Bottom-line: As with all of this type of genre of books, the lessons cited by these senior executives seem painfully obvious. It appears it doesn’t really matter where you fall in the leadership hierarchy, certain truths about what it takes to be successful will endure. One has to wonder if there isn’t something else that we’re not being told that separates the C-suite from the “also rans.”

The Premise: For the first time since her very public firing from the Chair and CEO role of HP in 2005, Carly Fiorina shares her thoughts on the path that got her there, and her transformation since. This is a candid and insightful read into how she chose to think, act and move since fairly early in her career. Carly shares how she spotted opportunity, looked for potential in others and dealt with conflict head-on when required.

The Bottom-line: Whether you knew anything about Carly Fiorina or HP before you read this book, by the end you feel like you’ve had the pleasure of sitting down over coffee and hearing about the choices she has made in a way that inspires recognition and learning for your own career.

The Premise: By Godin’s definition, a tribe is a collection of people who are connected to one another, a leader and an idea. For thousands of years, humans have joined tribes – we like belonging. In the age of the Internet, it’s become easier and easier to create and grow new tribes.

And, these tribes need leaders. Godin’s book creates a provocative challenge to existing thoughts about what is leadership. Forget about hierarchy and old notions about “management.” To be a “leader” today, title becomes irrelevant and passion rules. Leadership is about spotting the trends and initiating change (not responding or reacting to it). Godin calls for more leadership “heretics” – people who are willing to step up and take a stand. The flip side is to take the safe route and become a “sheepwalker” – someone who fights to protect the status quo at all costs, never asking if this obedience is doing you (or your organization) any good. Industries can be “sheepwalkers” (think about the music industry) and individuals can be “sheepwalkers” too. And, neither have a strong prognosis for survival in the new world.

The Bottom-line: This is a book that you’re either going to “get” or not. Seth Godin is a marketing guru whose vision is so out there, it’s sometimes hard to catch up. The ideas laid out in Tribes are both provocative and thought provoking. This is the kind of read that bends your brain on what the implications are for organizations that are mired in “old” hierarchical structures. What I loved about this book is the challenge made to our traditional views on what it takes to lead.

Thanks to the Internet, the common barriers of creating a “tribe” – cost, geography, time – are being eliminated. There are some fantastic lessons in here for anyone in sales and marketing who’s looking to build a tribe of clients and some interesting ideas on how team leaders can create a “tribe” within their organizations. Also, Godin’s definition of “sheepwalking” is bang on and is something everyone should read to make sure they’re not doing it. Watch our blog for an upcoming post on this topic. Like many of Godin’s books, Tribes is written in almost a stream of ideas versus a structured flow. It’s a small book with some big ideas and, for those who “get it,” it’s guaranteed to make you really think about the opportunities you have as a leader. Powerful.

The Premise: Even the most successful people can be guilty of bad habits that have the potential to limit (at best) or derail (at worst) their careers. In this 2007 offering, “uber” executive coach, Marshall Goldsmith shares his “Top 20 annoying executive habits” and his tested process for creating real (and recognized) behavioural change. Goldsmith asserts that once you achieve a certain career level, it’s not your knowledge that gets in the way of future success – it’s your interpersonal skills (or lack of). Goldsmith coined the phrase “feed forward” and, in the book, shares the steps you need to take to replace your bad habits with more effective ones.

The Bottom-line: This is an excellent read for anyone who thinks they’re already a pretty effective leader. I challenge you not to identify with at least ONE annoying habit out of Goldsmith’s list of 20. The Top 20 list contains things that you can easily dismiss as being more asset than liability until you read the more detailed description.

Think winning too much can be a negative behaviour? You bet it is. How about adding too much value (guilty as charged!), failing to give proper recognition and refusing to express regret? Goldsmith’s list is squirm-inducing. But what’s even more interesting (or depressing) is that once we’ve identified the annoying behaviour we want to fix, how challenging it is to convince those around us that we’ve truly changed! It can take anywhere from 12-18 months for people to believe that you are no longer, for example, such a bad listener. This explains why reputations – once created – are so hard to shake.

What’s great about this book is Goldsmith’s play-by-play on what you need to do to fix yourself. The downside is that you probably need to enlist others to help. Not the least being an advocate to help you convince your cynical co-workers that you are making progress and are committed to change. No small feat!

The Premise: The tagline of Susan Scott’s second installment shouts: A bold alternative to the worst “best” practices of business today. With the gauntlet thrown down, Scott – in her fantastically “straight between the eyes” style takes aim at some of the sacred cows grazing in our organizations. From “360″ reviews, to employee “engagement programs to hiring talent for smarts, Scott asserts that most of these structures simply mask what we really need to do to make our organizations better which is to have better, more meaningful (read “fierce”) conversations. Building on her first book “Fierce Conversations” (which is a management bookshelf essential),
“Fierce Leadership” throws out this challenge: “If you want to become a great leader, gain the capacity to connect with colleagues and customers at a deep level… or lower your aim.” The book helps you identify the practices that are holding you back and replace them with practices that will significantly improve your performance and the pleasure you get in what you do. Each practice can stand alone so that you can read the one you’re most interested in and go from there.

The Bottom-line: I really loved this book. It’s that great combination of practicality of tools and ideas that challenge my beliefs and build my personal awareness. If you’ve read Scott’s previous book, then you are familiar with her direct, no-nonsense style. In this book, Scott does something I love, which is to remind us of what an amazing opportunity leadership can be. Her messages are both motivating and daunting at the same time. Eg: “A leader’s job is to engineer the types of conversations that produce epiphanies.” Gulp. And you thought you just had to communicate the goals and objectives for your unit. This is a great book for any leader who’s really and truly interested in making a deep and lasting impact. And, it’s a terrific roadmap to help you challenge some of the antiquated HR and business processes that are stifling our organizations. Much of what Scott draws on comes directly out of the world of coaching which cannot be overemphasized enough as a “price of entry” skill for today’s leaders. In Scott’s own words: “A fierce leader commits to a way of life, not a business strategy.” Are you ready to get fierce?

The Premise: In Bob Sutton’s pre-release to his most recent book (Good Boss, Bad Boss) he zeroes in on the epidemic of bad (actually, abusive) behaviour in the workplace and its effect on individuals and the bottom-line. This easy-to-read book walks through the varying degrees of “assholeness” that are inflicting our workplaces: from borderline assholes to certified assholes and everything in between. Using psychology and research, Sutton shares his own personal experiences along with organizational horror stories of nightmare behaviour… typically exhibited by leaders. The book provides not only tips on how to deal with a bad boss, but also red flags for leaders who may find themselves crossing over into asshole territory – which is easier to do than one may wish to believe. Power corrupts! Sutton also shares stories of organizations that have embedded policies that limit “asshole” behaviour and even bravely looks at the virtues of being an asshole.

The Bottom-line: This is a very quick, conversational read that should make anyone in a leadership role gulp and look in the mirror to see where they may be falling on the “asshole” spectrum. Bad workplace behaviour, especially from people who get results, is so common place it’s depressing. An interesting factoid I got from this book was about Apple’s Steve Jobs. When Sutton wrote it in ’07, he googled “Steve Jobs” + “asshole” and got 89,400 matches. Do it now and you’ll get over 377,000. Unfortunately, there are some incredibly talented jerks out there but does that make it excusable to behave like one? My answer is quite simply “no”. Being an asshole who gets results isn’t the same as being a leader. And let’s face it, it’s not good for business in the long run either. Apple without Jobs is clearly at risk – every time his health seems to deteriorate, stocks take a hit. Leadership is about building the team, not being the smartest person in the room. Fortunately, with new anti-bullying legislation in effect (in Ontario it’s under Bill 168), employees have the law on their side. Whether you’re working for an asshole, want to bullet proof your team from assholes, or need to understand what the warning signs for becoming one are, this book is for you.

The Premise: First published in 2002, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team provides a framework to help identify and fix issues within groups that cause them to derail. Through a business fable, Lencioni takes you through the journey of a new CEO who’s tasked with turning around a failing business. She begins by realigning the executive team. The story walks you through the key dysfunctions that cause teams to fail: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, inattention to results. The executive composites used in the book (the arrogant technical expert, the lone wolf, the passive resister, the early adopter) are easily identifiable… we’ve all worked with these types of personalities. Through a simply told story, Lencioni effectively lays out the building blocks on how to improve team performance.

The Bottom-line: After recently seeing Pat Lencioni speak at the Art of Leadership event here in Toronto, I decided to pull this one off my bookshelf and bring it forward to our members. This is one of those timeless management books that everyone should skim through at least once in their careers, but particularly if you’re tasked with turning around a team. Personally, I’m not a fan of the business fable approach (it all seems too clich�), but this story moves very well and the characters in the book are all highly relatable. That being said, I do wonder if the people who’ll benefit from the book are those who are already sporting a particularly high EQ / people orientation. At the very start, Lencioni asserts that you have to have high trust on a team in order to be effective. In order to contribute to building trust, the leader needs to be able to show vulnerability. My question to Lencioni at the conference was this: “what if the leader in question has a phenomenally high IQ and sees zero value in EQ and the word “vulnerability” isn’t even in their dictionary? Then what?” The response I got was this: “Thanks for your question. A very interesting one.” In a follow-up email I was encouraged to buy his team assessment. Gotta love consultants. All this to say, it does reinforce my own observation which is this: people who tend to buy into and embrace the approaches suggested by Pat Lencioni also buy into and embrace the fact that people drive results (not the other way around).