Motivation Books

The Premise: When Laura Hillenbrand wrote her book Seabiscuit, she thought it would be hard to find a story as intriguing as that of the Depression-era racehorse team. Find it she did in the story of Louie Zamperini. Unbroken follows the unbelievable story of Zamperini, a former Olympian who is drafted into World War II, gets shot down over the Pacific ocean, is captured by the Japanese, spends years in horrendous POW camps, and emerges to reclaim his life. Hillenbrand combines her knack for storytelling with impeccable research and historical details. Following Zamperini’s life from childhood through to present day, the book provides a glimpse into the realities of war and how average people were forced into exceptional circumstances. More than an autobiography, Zamperini’s story is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the resilience of the human mind.

The Bottom-line: I have to start by saying that World War II is NOT my genre. I have zero interest. But from the opening chapter of this book, I was hooked. How can you not be when 3 men are floating in a raft in the middle of the Pacific Ocean while being circled by sharks? And you think you’re having a bad day! This is truly is a must-read book for leaders everywhere on so many fronts. Reading about the conditions that POWs faced, in what can only be described as hell-on-earth, made me think that I truly have nothing to complain about…ever. It’s a great perspective changer. Louis Zamperini also embodies the power of the human mind and how, even when tested to extreme lengths, one can emerge from the most vile situations and survive. I really could go on and on about this one. This book was inspiring on so many levels. It encouraged me to think positively, appreciate what I have, and ultimately recognize that no matter what others may do to you, you’re stronger than you think.

The Premise: Thanks to the advent of social media, it’s never been easier to pursue your passion – so chants businessman, entrepreneur and wine guy Gary Vaynerchuk. Vaynerchuk quit his family business (liquor stores) to launch Wine Library TV, his online video blog. In Crush It, Vaynerchuk reveals the steps he took to build his personal brand and transform his life and earning potential. The book takes you step-by-step through the crucial elements of building your brand from identifying your passion, to monetizing your efforts. Written in blog style chapters and in a style that makes you feel like Gary Vee is sitting across the bar from you, this slim read is packed with tactical advice on how to turn your passion into a decent living.

The Bottom-line: This is the kind of book that should make anyone who’s worried about “retaining and engaging” smart talent really nervous. Although positioned as a book that anyone can benefit from reading (even people who want to stay as a mid-level manager in a giant corp), the entrepreneurial attitude that screams through the pages will definitely light a fire under frustrated high performers. If you’re waffling about whether making the jump from your cushy corporate gig to free agency is right for you, then this book will either encourage that leap or scare you straight. For sales and marketing types born before 1970, the tips on leveraging social media are definitely interesting and Vaynerchuk lays out a very clear set of tactics that have obviously worked for him. And, I suppose, that’s the kicker – Vaynerchuk is a pretty exceptional person. He’s turned wine appreciation on its head and is truly one of a kind. He’s bold, brash and no-holds-barred. He preaches authenticity and certainly seems to walk that talk in how he operates (when I mentioned his book on Twitter, he did DM me, like he says he will). And, more than the tactics in his book, what I learned from Gary Vee is to be bold and to not compromise my vision. And everyone can benefit from that lesson.

The Premise: Re-quoting the popular song “love the one you’re with,” author Nina Spencer pens “If you can’t be in the job you love, love the job you’re in” and provides some straightforward strategies to help you reignite your passion for your profession. Spencer asserts that loving your job can be a conscious decision and provides eight key ways to reinvigorate your relationship with your work. Strategies include: practicing positive word choice (think “challenge” versus “problem”), reconnecting with a “higher purpose” or meaning for your job, keeping a sense of humour and challenging yourself to look at situations through different perspectives. Like any long-term relationship, the one you have with your profession will experience its own ups and downs and it is your choice as to how you will work through each bump in the road.

The Bottom-line: This book is a terrific read for anyone who may be feeling in a rut with their current role. The strategies outlined are very practical, but more importantly, the perspective to think about how you can consciously reengage with your work is highly valuable. I found it interesting to parallel the idea of work being like any relationship that requires constant work and effort to maintain its vitality. We spend a great deal of our life “working” and to approach it with a more conscious effort seems to make an abundant amount of sense. As I read this book, I reflected on prior work experiences I’d had and realized how many missed opportunities there had been because of the perspective I had become stuck in. For those of you who, at the core, enjoy what you do but may be feeling trapped in a negative perspective, Spencer’s provocation that job satisfaction is a personal choice is one definitely worth exploring.

The Premise: We all have heard the argument about the effects of nature versus nurture, but Peter Jensen throws out a third factor: choice.
The key concept behind the book is the opening question: How do you get someone else committed to reaching their full potential? This is a question that most leaders face on a daily basis!

Using a “five ring” model, Jensen walks us through how to build our coaching abilities and help “ignite the 3rd factor” by working the pillars of: build trust, encourage and use imagery, uncover and work through blocks, embrace adversity and manage yourself. The book provides numerous examples, drawn from Jensen’s impressive expertise in coaching world-class athletes and executives. He even includes a chapter on how to bring the skills and concepts into other relationships at home.

The Bottom-line: Peter Jensen is currently in Vancouver celebrating with the gold medal winning Canadian Women’s Olympic hockey team as their sports psychology trainer, so it seemed highly fitting to review his book this month. And that’s probably one of the most compelling things about the book.

Jensen peppers it with examples from his decades of experience working with athletes (yes, he was the guy who worked with Liz Manley and helped her get to the podium in ’88). It also lends some serious “street cred” to his coaching philosophy and approach. His “five ring” model is easy to follow, although the seeming simplicity of some of the elements perhaps don’t do justice to how much work it takes to become an exceptional coach. Some of the concepts (like using imagery) may be new to line executives who haven’t been exposed to the idea, but it’s a powerful technique and worth giving a try. For anyone who is really interested in getting serious about moving beyond performance “management” to performance “coaching,” this is a great read. Sports fans will get an added buzz from the insider stories and examples used throughout.

The Premise: In follow-up to his best seller, What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There, uber coach Marshall Goldsmith explores mojo: the moment when we do something that’s purposeful, powerful and positive and the rest of the world recognizes. In a departure from his previous book, Mojo explores two new ingredients that highly successful people seem to have in common: happiness and meaning. Goldsmith looks at four key factors that impact our professional and personal mojo: identity (who do you think you are?), achievement (what have you done lately?), reputation (who do other people think you are – and what have you done lately?) and acceptance (what can you change – when do you need to just “let it go”?). The book encourages you to explore which aspects of your job meet your mojo needs and which are lacking. For anyone who once loved their job and now finds themselves dreading Monday mornings, the Mojo Toolkit is filled with tips on how to regain your mojo. Whether it’s about changing yourself, or the situation you’ve found yourself in, there’s a strategy in there for everyone who wants to enjoy what they do.

The Bottom-line: Marshall Goldsmith specializes in helping smart leaders who want to be more successful be more successful. The key component of that statement is smart leaders who want to be more successful. As a highly-paid executive coach, Goldsmith spends most of his time helping people break behavioural habits that diminish their leadership efforts (often unwittingly). In Mojo, Goldsmith actually goes a step beyond helping you “say or do” the right thing. After all, knowing who you need to schmooze and how you need to schmooze them may get you the promotion, but isn’t going to make you love a job that drains you enthusiasm. The four pillars of your mojo (identity, achievement, reputation and acceptance) offer fascinating insights into self-limiting behaviours that we are all guilty of (eg: related to identity – how many of you are still hanging onto to feedback that your Grade 5 teacher said about you?). For busy, mid-career leaders, Mojo is a great forced-reflection exercise that makes you check in to see if what you’re chasing is what you really want.

The Premise: Richard Branson takes us on a conversational journey through his life and career in this newly revised edition. From being left in a field to find his own way home at the age of four, to funding the first charter flight to outer space, this man has led anything but an ordinary life. Branson shares his passions for social causes and the environment, and the very personal and key lessons that have shaped how he approaches business. In spite of his unconventional approach, each anecdote is filled with some simple, straightforward pieces of advice (e.g., don’t do anything illegal; believe in yourself; there are no problems only opportunities; and – as the title implies – weigh the risks, but take a risk). It’s also interesting to hear his side of some of the bigger blow-ups in his career such as the highly confrontational feud with British Airways and how he once landed himself in jail.

The Bottom-line: Branson is the quintessential “Rock Star” CEO. Despite the larger-than-life persona, execs who don’t fly in balloons or climb mountains can still take away a key message from his life tales: believe in yourself and your own abilities. Many executives walk around with shadows of “imposter syndrome” and “fear of failure” hanging over their heads. Branson’s approach to life is a great lesson in what has happened to one man who made a conscious choice to push himself to his limits while at the same time keeping a tight grip on his self-confidence. So, to channel your inner “Branson”, add one thing into your schedule this week that scares you – whether that be bungee jumping off the CN Tower or confronting that direct report who’s sabotaging your efforts. You can do it!

The Premise: Attitude, Aptitude and Action are the key to achieving your goals and the life you want and deserve, says Toronto author and “netgiving” guru Tim Cork. Divided into the three anchor sections (Attitude, Aptitude and Action), Cork draws on a lifetime of lessons learned to provide practical strategies for facing and vaulting the various curve balls life can throw at you. With each chapter averaging around 2.5 pages, Tapping the Iceberg is a quick read and the format lends itself to diving in and out of the topics that resonate most with each reader. Filled with self-reflection exercises and practical tools, time challenged leaders can quickly pick up ideas, strategies and a boost of inspiration in 3 minutes or less.

The Bottom-line: If books are the “new business card”, then Tapping the Iceberg is a great representation of the man behind this book. Tim Cork’s personal mission is to Touch, Inspire and Motivate people and his book is packed with personal observations, quotes and stories that do just that. From my perspective, this isn’t a book that offers ground breaking new ways of thinking. On the contrary, much of the lessons and ideas in the book are a combination of solid common sense and the best practices of successful people. The problem is most of us just don’t do them! What makes this book worth having is that it’s not only a great read but a useful tool to help you stay on track. It’s kind of like having Tim Cork as your own personal coach… at a fraction of the cost! When you’ve hit a wall, you can dive into Tapping the Iceberg and get a quick boost of inspiration, motivation or the kick in the pants you need to get back in the game.

The Premise: Workplaces today are drowning in antiquated processes, policies and controls that are based on models used when workers were pushing widgets down an assembly line. Practitioners turned authors Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson have taken their lessons learned from the grassroots at Best Buy to share a new roadmap for how to make work “work” in a knowledge-driven economy. The book breaks down how we’ve managed to box ourselves into workplace mentalities that make us miserable and shares a simple premise that can change everything: people should be paid for results… not for the time they spend in their seats at work. Dubbed the Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE), employers move away from a paternalist approach and drive a more collaborative, partnership-based approach with their employees. ROWE started as a covert operation within Best Buy’s corporate offices, Ressler and Thompson share their lessons learned, hurdles jumped and the candid challenges that come with moving to a ROWE. Laced with data on productivity and engagement, the book reinforces what we already know… happier people deliver more and better results.

The Bottom-line: There is no question that we need to work differently. The back cover of the book sums it up best: “Imagine a workplace where employees can do whatever they want whenever they want, as long as the work gets done. No more pointless meetings, racing to get in at 9:00 or begging permission to watch your kid play soccer. You make the decisions about what you do and where you do it.” Too good to be true, right? But here’s the reality: if organizations want to retain key talent, then looking closely at the ROWE model is a smart strategy. That being said, as a manager who’s on the ROWE fan bus, I found myself wondering if, as a manager, I would be able to relinquish some of my own control issues. The key to a ROWE is that employees understand exactly what’s expected of them and can deliver to those results. And, ultimately, this will come back to how well you – as manager/leader – are articulating those expectations and addressing performance issues if you need to. Going ROWE requires vision, commitment and courage plus a real belief that work doesn’t have to suck. I can get behind that ideal. Can you?