Leadership The Barack Obama Way. Make Change Happen.Lessons on team building and creating a winning culture in challenging timesShel Leanne. 2010. ISBN 9780071664028. This is a thoroughly researched book. If you, like me, wondered how Obama seemed to sweep his way to the top so quickly, you will want to read this book. Dr. Leanne has looked at Obama’s history, background and the systems he put in place over the years. What we learn is fascinating.  Obama is likely a singular leader for our time who  truly understands how to release the talents of those around him. If you aspire to lead or have it thrust upon you, this is a very useful book.  A great coast to coast read, it flows very well.  You just may become a fan.

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Switch. How to change things when change is hard. Chip & Dan Heath.2010. ISBN 9780307357274.  The best selling authors of Made to Stick have another winning book. I am going through several books on change at the moment and this one is so far the best.  A couple of early insights set the tone:

• Change requires the exertion of self control
• Self control is an exhaustible resource
• Change is hard because people wear themselves out.

The book then goes on to very simple lay out the critical steps in making change easier, and what one needs to look for.  Also by imbedding case studies that encourage you to use their ideas before reading their suggested answer,  your learning grows.  (The design of the book follows their own findings! ) Lots of great information at www.switchthebook.com/resources.  The ideas that we are driven at the same time by a logical driver ( The Rider) and an emotional one (The Elephant) is a very useful metaphor. Its an easy read but as very valuable one.  C-suite required reading for sure.

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SWAT. Systems working all together. Timothy L. Johnson. 2010 ISBN 9781934417027.  A very good book on using systems thinking. This is a great application of many of the most useful parts of lean and six sigma thinking. I enjoyed how the author has boiled this to a simple to digest and apply process. By using the business fable format, he draws you in as the reader. I read this at one sitting, I could not put it down.  If you run  a business, conduct meetings and want to accomplish things in your life with groups, this is a very useful book!

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Prisoner’s Dilemma. John van Neumann, game theory, and the puzzle of the bomb.William Poundstone. 1992. ISBN 9780385415804.  If you use a computer – you owe so much to Jon Van Neumann.  I confess we called number theory mystery math in university.  No longer – I understand it now.  This little book does a great job on the subject.  The story of van Neumann is fascinating, then you have the explanation of many games like the prisoner’s dilemma and how they apply to nuclear proliferation.  Many world leaders should read this book, but of course politics and ego overshadow logic and rationality.  Well worth the read, but this is not a trivial book but it will help anyone in negotiations.

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Priceless. The myth of fair value (and how to take advantage of it). William Poundstone. 2010 ISBN 9780809094691.  A fascinating, useful and well written book.  This author is an expert in this area.   If you have ever bought a car, negotiated with your child or been to an auction, the author is talking directly to you.  The field is called psycophysics and Poundstone brings it to life.  After you read this you will understand how anchoring your sell with a very high price is better for getting the highest price, why he who sets his price first has the advantage, how web pages are using background images to prime readers to make decisions and where union negotiators have a winning plan regardless of the outcome.  Ever wonder how the Sierra Club negotiates and will always come out ahead of the resource companies?   He tells you why you ignore what clients say they want and watch what they do.  This is a must read for the CEO, CFO, CMO  and every consumer.

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Time to look for a new sales job?.

I am devouring a book called Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager. (www.wbusiness.biz) by Lee B. Salz. (Maybe a theme developing?) This is a good book (Review will follow)  His second chapter is all about finding the right sales job and I loved it.  He talks about interviewing  the company while they interview you  since you have as much to lose as the company by signing up for the wrong job.

Its usually the wrong job if:

• The company has no proven plan in place to help salesmen succeed
• The company hires  hunters but you see they need farmers
• They want strong salespeople with no idea what strong really means
• The manager is stuck in ABC thinking
• There is no demand for the product, yet no plans to develop it.
• Or there is no name recognition, no brand, few marketing dollars, no prospects calling in

Sound familiar? It rang my bell a few times. we have seen all this and more in helpin gtech companies through the year.  Here’[s a clue, if you do not see why this is a costly problem for you, do not worry, your company will not make it anyway.

Points about finidng the ideal company (like finding the ideal client right? ) :

1. Define what is the ideal company for you
2. Where and what are the opportunities for you?
3. What do they expect of a sales person? What do you expect of them?
4. What skills are they willing to teach? What do you want to learn?
5. What is their commitment to training and development? What is your commitment?
6. What won’t they teach?What don’t you want to be taught?
7. What do they feel can’t be taught?
8. Services sellers need to know how to customize, configure and create based on customer requirements. Are you that type?
9. Product sellers are limited by what the box does. Is that your success type?
10. Did you thrive on short cycle or long cycle sales?
11. Same with single buyers or multiple enterprise buyers?
12. What type of hunter are you? Do you generate your own leads or answer in-bounds?
13. Are you able to straddle the likable/driven divide of the farmer?
14. How do you adapt to change? How flexible are you? Is the comp plan overly  changable?
15. What is the size of your financial risk? Will your cheques clear?
16. Where do they stand with the competition; leaders. followers. laggards, off the radar?  Which do you prefer?
17. Are they boutique or low price?  Where do they win or lose sales?
18. What is the offering breadth? All of it, or just part of the puzzle?
19. How do they differentiate themselves? Do you believe it?
20. How is sales managed? Your preferance?
21. What sales support is there?  Proof materials?
22. The money; salary, recoverable/nonrecoverable draws, commission how does it all work together?  What defines revenue? What about chargebacks?
23. Any deal breakers such as ; pay is too low to survive on , commute too long, location?

Told you it was thorough. This is just Chapter 2!

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Escape From Cubicle Nation . From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur.  Pamela Slim. 2009. ISBN 9781591842576.  From the Blog of the same name, Pamela has penned the what colour  is your parachute book for 2009. directly targeted at those unhappy cubicle dwellers who just have to get out of there.  If you are in this state of mind, or want to explore it  the book  is clearly written, with some very useful advice on topics you may not have thought about.

The Art of the Apology.  How to apologize effectively to practically anyone.  Lauren M. Bloom.  The Fonz ( Henry Winkler ) to the contrary we see the need to apologize every day (Ter Woods to his wife, wonder that that went? ) This thin little book is very well organized and gives you very sound advice on the topic.  If you remember that the best  way to manage risk is to make your decisions with the best advice you have at hand at the time.  This  book will give you another dimension to manage your risk in life.  I really liked her inclusion of “How to best accept an apology. and how to build an apology friendly workplace.”

Grow From Within. Mastering corporate entrepreneurship and innovation. Wolcott & Lippitz. 2010. ISBN 9780071598323.  If you are one of those lucky birds who believes that your own company is ready to support “intrapreneurship” then this book speaks to you.  The tough thing is to align what the new business does with how “business as usual” works in the firm. Most often that does not work  and the “new” firm needs to be isolated from the old “culture”.  This text although” academic in style touches on the salient points. The case studies are larger firms.

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Why Teams Win. 9 keys to success in business, sport, and beyond. Dr Saul L. Miller. 2009. ISBN 9780470160435. At some time, I used to notice the large numbers of ex professional athletes I would meet in large multi-national sales forces.  I found their forces more organized, driven andconsistently our performed their competitors. Since then I have   compiled a sports coaching library which has been very helpful. This book is a great addition to my library.

Dr Miller lists the following nine qualities of winning teams:

1. A meaningful goal
2. Talent
3. leadership
4. Strategy
5. Commitment
6. Feedback
7. Confidence
8. Chemistry
9. Identity

He uses great examples from business, sport and life to reinforce the message. As well you will appreciate his easy to read organized style. See www.saulmiller.com

Awesomely simple. Essential business strategies for turning ideas into action. John Spence. 2009. ISBN 9780470494516.  Spence reveals the six key strategies that create a foundation for achieving business excellence:

1. Vivid Vision,
2. Best People,
3. A Performance-Oriented Culture,
4. Robust Communication,
5. A Sense of Urgency, and
6. Extreme Customer Focus.

The book has lots of case studies and clear action items, and easy-to-follow guidelines for implementing the strategies in any organization no matter its mission or size
After breaking down each strategy, Spence gives specific examples, tips, tools, discussion questions and exercises for how to execute them successfully.  He has an easy personable writing style, which makes this a pleasure to read. See www.awesomelysimple.com

The Supervision Solution . Manage performance-not people. John Roulet. 2009. ISBN 9780981683768.  This is a two part book. The first half of the book provides you with a clear understanding of organizational leadership, covering such topics as:

• what leadership is;
• how to measure leadership;
• the leadership system; and
• the universal problem-solving method.

The second half offers the information, tools and methods leaders need to effectively address the supervisory issues they face every day. Those issues include:

• establishing clear employee performance requirements;
• measuring performance; analyzing and resolving performance problems;
• structuring work environments that do not de-motivate employees;
• eliminating policy violations and; and hiring the right people.

The book has  examples from psychology, history, and politics to explain and illuminate key leadership concepts. Easy to read with good graphics and use of white space all assist you in your learning.  I likes the chapter on job performance evaluation a lot. See www. thesupervision solution.com.

Oops! 13 Management Practices That Waste Time and Money.  Aubrey C. Daniels. 2009. ISBN 9780937100172.  The author is a seasoned veteran of this space. He has seen more than his share on errors in mergers & acquisitions, downsizing, stretch goals and performance appraisal.  He is adamant that you should really stop, promoting people nobody likes, overrating smart people, and upsetting everyone with employee of the month programs.  Its a good read as he pulls no punches and has the data to prove it. His 13 targets are:

• Employee of the month
• Stretch goals
• Performance appraisals
• Ranking
• Rewarding things a dead man can do
• Salary and hourly pay
• “You did a good job but,”
• The sandwich
• Overvaluing smart, talented people
• The budget process
• Promoting people no one likes
• Downsizing
• Mergers, Acquisitions and other forms of reorganizing

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socialnomics. how social media transforms the way we live and do business. erik qualman. 2009. ISBN  9780470477236.  I confess my first thought  was  not another fluffy book on social media.  This is anything but that. I consider this the sober second wave type of book that helps us determine where a technology change will really make a business difference. Examples:

The impact of having your profile available to the many and how that impacts your social behavior (What foes on in Vegas stays on Facebook)

LinkedIn is a defacto monopoly on business social networking. Once you have collected a set of references on LinkedIn why would you ever go to another site?

It is no good railing against the walled garden approach of Facebook, companies need to embrace it as another venue to meet and communicate with its target market.

Google is right to be scared of Facebook, people care less what Google thinks and more what their ‘friends” think about products etc. I just bought two items from Facebook marketplace that a few years ago I woudl have looked to ebay for. Facebook was easier, much faster and now I know the seller.

Books are being written as a crowd sourcing experiment – ask your followers a question on Twitter and write down what comes back.

Robert Murdock wanting to get his stuff not as easily searched by Google is another example of “Its my ball and I will play with it my way” thinking.  Did not work for AOL, Hasbro and Scrabulous won’t work for him

I advise you to pick this book up, it will help us dinosaurs come to grips with why the youth are embracing this media. You will enjoy his easy reading style and thoughtful analysis.

Inside the Mind of the Turtles. How the world’s best traders master risk. Curtis M. Faith.  2009. ISBN 9780071602433.  The follow up book to the Way of the Turtle, takes a more rounded view of the role of risk and the impact of risk avoidance on modern life.  He believes one should take control of risk before it takes control of you. This is an  important book. You may remember my review of Covel’s book on Turtles.

Faith followed-up his success as a trader to continue as a software entrepreneur and then a venture capitalist. He found that many decisions in life worked out well if he used the same thought processes he developed as a trader. If you are looking to talk to a venture capitalist his analysis of their approach to risk is mind changing.

Later in the book he points out the reasons why this process would work in education and rebuilding US infrastructure, but that the status quo greatly prevents this.  He even makes a very good case as to why companies buy the “wrong” products, despite many people knowing better.  He has seven guiding principles:

1. Overcome fear
2. Remain flexible
3. Take reasoned risk
4. Prepare to be wrong
5. Actively seek reality ( my personal favorite)
6. Respond quickly to change
7. Focus on decisions, not outcomes (also a favorite)

Well written, just the right length, this book will hold your attention.  Politicians and young people would especially benefit from the insights. Thank you McGraw Hill again.

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