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!
I think it will be more than a “cup” of coffee… but thanks!
Good timing given the current economic condition to dig in much deeper into our craft.
It is highly likely, just as marketers are dismissing programs/vehicles with no tangible return, leaders will be forced to dig deep and focus on the fundamentals to weather this storm.
What got leaders to where they are, will not get them through the market of today.
It starts with an understanding of the market, an assessment of their teams’ capabilities and distinctive competencies, and then mapping their capabilities to market needs while filling in the gaps ( if any) .
Thanks again for the reading list,
Mark
There seems to be an interesting correlation between economic times getting tougher and Deming getting more popular. I guess he appropriately titled his book “Out of the Crisis”.