Your “Weekend Reading List” from Management Excellence

December 5, 2008 By 2 Comments
Suggestions from Management Excellence to Recharge and Refresh

Weekend Reading Suggestions to Recharge and Refresh

Beginning with this post, I intend to make “Your Weekend Reading List” a regular Friday feature.  Most professionals that I know are too busy to carve out quality reading time during the week, and many have confided that they wish they would be more diligent about reading on the weekend.  While I won’t be there to help you pick up the book or click on the link, I can at least try and remove the “I’m not sure what to read” excuse from your arsenal.

In what I promise will be (maybe) my last attempt to nag your conscience about this topic, I view reading as  critical for self-development as well as for recharging your intellectual batteries.  And I don’t suggest limiting your selections to those items in the business section of the magazine rack or the bookshelf.  As evidenced by my Recommendations List at Management Excellence, I encourage leaders and business professionals to read histories, biographies, books on physics and the classics.  Sneaking in an occasional mystery is also a good way to stimulate your divergent thinking skills!

OK, enough preaching and on to this weekend’s suggestions.  I’ll keep it short and this week, I’ll stay business focused.

The December 6 Issue of the Leadership Carnival at Great Leadership

The carnivals bring together some of the best minds and leading bloggers in management and human resources to cover a wide range of topics.  Instead of seeking out the best posts of leading consultants and bloggers, they are here under one umbrella for easy reading.  This is scheduled to go live on the 6th, so be sure to check it out.

Article: Where GM Went Wrong at Fortune.com

Like traffic slowing to pass a wreck, it’s almost impossible to not look on in both horror and fascination as this company which once was Master of the Universe now teeters on the brink of oblivion.  (Did you know that GM’s market cap is just over $1 billion and Toyota’s is some 160X greater.  How did this happen?)

Senior Editor, Alex Taylor III, covered GM for the past few decades and shares his fascinating insights into the culture, the leaders over time and the slow and methodical unraveling of this insular and grossly misguided company.  As we all face the reality of letting GM go or propping the firm up with our tax dollars, Taylor’s lengthy article (8 pages) is must reading.

Article: Big Blue’s Big Plan at Fortune.com

OK, this is a good issue of Fortune.   The sub-header, “IBM is drooling over the coming infrastructure boom.”  and IBM CEO Palmisano’s opening statement of, “We’ve been given this on a silver platter,” give you some clues to how IBM is looking at the global recession from a glass half-full perspective.  Another must-read article I guarantee will get you thinking about how you and your firm can find opportunity in chaos.  Pass this link along to your associates and fire up the divergent thinking!

Book: Winning, by Jack Welch with Suzy Welch

I’ve had this one in inventory for a couple of years and recently cracked the cover and remembered why I like Welch so much.  He cuts through the baloney and mysticism of topics like leadership, mission, vision, values and strategic planning, offering the reader practical, common-sense perspectives on driving results.  While his day at GE is over, like Drucker, the guidance is timeless.  In my opinion, the world would be better off with a few more like Welch in command today.

Book I’m Reading: Thinking About Quality, Progress, Wisdom and the Deming Philosophy, by Lloyd Dobyns and Clare Crawford-Mason.

Fresh from a great session teaching Quality Management to MBA students at DePaul University in Chicago, I’ve rediscovered my thirst for knowledge about Deming, his life and his philosophies.  This man gets too little credit for shaping the post World War II business world, and his “Theory of Profound Knowledge” is appropriate reading for these difficult times.

I just started this one from the hosts of the TV special, “If Japan Can, Why Can’t We,” that launched Deming into mainstream America 40  years after he had established himself as a near-god in Japan and other countries.  (I highly recommend the video…you can click on this YouTube link to the Deming special or search for Deming on the site to see the original program yourself.)  My early feedback on this 1994 (but timeless) book is, great!  I’ll keep you posted with a full review after I complete my “weekend reading.”

Now Grab a Cup of Coffee, Find a Comfortable Spot and Enjoy Your Reading Time!

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Vacation Reading

June 30, 2008 By Leave a Comment

One of the biggest challenges that I face every vacation is trying to decide what I’m going to read.  Usually, I don’t decide and I end up lugging 40 pounds of books with me just in case I might be in the mood for a certain work.  (Note: I know that the Kindle from Amazon will solve this problem…I just can’t get beyond my “I don’t buy the first generation of any consumer electronics” rule.)  Eventually, I thrift my choices down to a full duffel bag (for driving trips), and when my wife is not looking, I sneak a few additional volumes into someone else’s bag or under the seat.  I guess I’m a book smuggler.

Here’s the latest list of great reads that will make it into my traveling book bag this season: 

  • The Glorious Cause, volume two in the Revolutionary War series by historical fiction writer, Jeff Shaara.  If you like historical fiction, you’ll love Jeff.
  • The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement,  by Eliyahu Goldratt…a classic business novel and something I’ve been meaning to revisit for the last decade.
  • Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand.  I re-read this classic of objectivism every few years and it’s time.
  • A biography of one of the founding fathers to match up to Shaara’s book.  I’ve always enjoyed pairing a good piece of historical fiction with the real thing.  It’s kind of like Stilton Blue Cheese and a glass of vintage port…they just go together.
  • Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch and Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss…both authors and both books are must-reads for the independent professional and invaluable reference tools for me.
  • The last two issues of Harvard Business Review.  In particular, the July/August issue is themed as “Honing Your Competitive Edge” and has some great looking articles.

I’m probably approaching a stuffed duffel bag of books at this point, so I’m pushing my luck (and the limits of my time), but if I can slide a couple under the back seat, they will be:

  • Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, the story of Lincoln’s challenges and successes in managing his less than friendly cabinet.
  • Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.  I started reading this unique take on the development of cultures and societies last year and got sidetracked.  It’s been on my to-read list for some time and it’s time to finish it. 

The Bottom-Line for Now:

I’ll keep you posted on my progress and I’ll look forward to the incredible material for blogging that I will gain from the list above.  I love great business books, but I’ve always believed that the best leadership and management material is found somewhere other than the business aisle in the bookstore.  I look forward to reporting back to you after vacation. 

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