Heading out to the beach, the mountains, or the sailboat for that long-deserved
getaway vacation? Although the last thing you may want to do is think about work,
it might be a great time to catch up on some new business books that you've
been meaning to read, or even download to your Kindle.
Here's a sampling of five new titles that will help you strategize your plans,
collaborate better with peers, and even offer some humor and fresh insights that
help you recharge once you're back in the office. Happy reading!
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Before you unwind too much, you may want to start with the high-energy, Left on
Red: How to Ignite, Leverage and Build Visionary Organizations, (Wiley,
June 2008), an irreverent look at how visionary thinkers and risk-takers throw out
the rules and build great companies. Venture capitalist and author, Bill Glynn,
"provides an insider's view into some of the world's coolest deals
in a refreshingly politically incorrect, intelligent manner," according to
an Amazon.com review.
The book offers some pretty standard examples, such as Google, Apple, and YouTube,
as the products of leaders who break the old rules of business to bring their radical
ideas to life. But Glynn shines when he shows entrepreneurs and executives "how
to navigate a business landscape often littered with great ideas and innovators
who are unprepared to lead." In the words of Thomas Tull, CEO of Legendary
Pictures, Glynn "can be brutally frank and about as subtle as a sledgehammer,
but it is impressive how many times he turns out to be right."
As your business ventures into new territories, Glynn's notions of: "constant
innovation, and ideation; an obsessive, almost insane sense of urgency; and Business
Velocity and IQ," may not seem so wild after all. And even if you're not
leaning over the edge at your business right now, some of his premises will surely
resonate. For example: "Most companies stifle and discourage their most creative
employees and leaders. Only today's best companies constantly and perpetually
seek out visionary employees, encourage ideation, and use every means necessary
to improve their business and products. Left on Red shows how they do it, revealing
the way today's best business leaders implant innovation and change into the
very DNA of their businesses."
Still not convinced? Another Amazon reviewer concluded that: "Whether you are
looking for inspiration, validation, or just a dose of courage, Bill Glynn runs
you down a compelling path of the mindset needed to win big in today's hyper-competitive
environment... This book is for anyone who is in the business of thinking ahead,
or should be."
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On a quieter and more tactical note, Financial Intelligence for IT Professionals:
What You Really Need to Know About the Numbers, (Harvard Business School
Press, 2008) should definitely find a place on your bookshelf. It's written
by John Case, Karen Berman, and Joe Knight, authors of a series of books about finance
for business professionals. You may want to skim over some of the basics about ROI
calculations and income statements-or pass them along to your direct reports-but
then you can move on to the advanced principals about supporting business units
and working with the finance team that today's IT executives need to know. There
are hands-on practices and advice that aims to "empower you to 'talk numbers'
confidently with your boss, colleagues, and staff-and understand how the financials
affect your part of the business." This could be great reading while waiting
for tee-time or lounging at the pool.
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Every B-school student is familiar with Clayton Christensen's breakthrough book
The Innovator's Dilemma which, more than a decade ago, illustrated how
disruptive innovations drive industry transformation and market creation.
Now, his protégés offer a new book that follows Christensen's
footsteps. In The Innovator's Guide to Growth, just published
by Harvard Business School Press, Scott Anthony, Mark Johnson, Joseph Sinfield,
and Elizabeth Altman "take the subject to the next level: implementation. The
authors explain how to unlock disruption's transformational power," according
to the publisher.
Growth in these tough economic times is certainly a challenge. And even if there's
no silver bullet, CIOs will surely benefit from the "market-proven tools and
approaches to innovation that have been honed through fieldwork with innovative
companies like Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Pepsi, Intel, Motorola,
SAP, and Cisco Systems."
The authors are the real deal representing the next phase of Christensen's thought
leadership: Anthony is president and Johnson chairman and co-founder (with Christensen)
of Innosight consultancy. Sinfield is a senior partner at Innosight and an assistant
professor at Purdue University. Altman brings the real-world industry expertise
to the table as vice president of strategy and business development in Motorola's
Mobile Devices business. You'll want to have a highlighter handy for this one.
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If you really want to make some waves at the next country club party, you can discuss
your impressions of Executive Warfare: Pick Your Battles and Live to Get Promoted
Another Day, just published by McGraw-Hill.
David D'Alessandro, former chairman and CEO of John Hancock Financial Services
and former president and COO of Manulife Financial Corp., pulls no punches in his
cynical account of life at the corporate top echelons. It should be a good read
for you and it's a book you'll want to give your niece before she heads
off to her MBA program in the fall.
"The rules are different at the top..." he begins. "It's not
enough anymore to be smart, hard-working, and able to show results; At this level,
everybody is smart, hard-working, and able to show results. Now it's a game
for grown-ups. What really sets you apart are the relationships you build with people
of influence. These people can include your peers, your employees, your organization's
directors, reporters, vendors, and regulators-as well as the people directly above
you in the organizational hierarchy."
D'Alessandro reveals tidbits like: "In senior management, you no longer
answer to just one boss. There is now a hazy matrix of hundreds of bosses both inside
and outside the office, any one of whom can stop you cold or give you a tremendous
push forward." Executive Warfare offers cheeky and useful advice for
handling all of them.
The publisher says that "In his previous books, Brand Warfare and Career
Warfare, D'Alessandro offered sharp advice for building a brand and
building a career. Now Executive Warfare is the advanced class for the truly
ambitious. Learn what it takes to rise to the top-and to do the even harder thing,
which is to survive there."
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Finally, if you haven't yet reserved your copy of Crowdsourcing: Why the Power
of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business, coming out from Crown
Business in August, head to the local bookseller and do that now. You'll want
to cite author, Jeff Howe, when you have that next conversation with the chief marketing
officer or when you're in a meeting about bringing wikis and mashups to your
data center. It's sure to spark lively conversation on the tennis courts (or
with your kids!).
The best reason to read it may be this comment from Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes
Everybody: "Jeff Howe has captured a complex and vital change in the
business landscape: in the next few years, your customers could become your collaborators,
or your competitors. His ability to weave story and strategy together makes Crowdsourcing
a readable and indispensable guide to this new world."
There are lots of books about Web 2.0 technologies, but journalist Howe-who first
coined the word Crowdsourcing in a June 2006 Wired magazine article-has done his
homework. Howe examines the positive and negative consequences of this phenomenon.
He explains, for example, how a bunch of financial part-timers helped an investment
company consistently beat the market. Why Procter & Gamble repeatedly calls
on amateurs to solve technical challenges, and how companies as diverse as iStockphoto
and Threadless generate millions of dollars in revenue every year with very few
paid employees. The ideas seem revolutionary now, but your next-gen workers will
find them intuitive. This book will keep you on top of your game.
