TECF
asked coaching clients for the ONE book each of them found
most useful so that we could give you some specific book recommendations
vs. a catch all bibliography. Below are the first entries.
If
you’re an executive and would like to contribute the
one book you’ve found most useful in your leadership
role, click here.
Executives
recommend:
Julian
Adams
Chief Scientific Officer, Infinity Pharmaceuticals
Shackelton’s Way
Salient point: Inspired leadership even when the goal is not
met creates the desired culture of teamwork.
Stephen
Leichtman
Vice President, Management Effectiveness, Fidelity
Investments
The Heart of Change by John Kotter
Salient point: Getting people to change their behavior requires
engaging them at an emotional/personal level (not just using
logic).
Paul
Hogan
Former Vice Chair and Chief Risk Officer at Fleet Boston
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker
Salient point: The advice is to focus on contribution, and to
continually ask, "What can I contribute?" It's the
only book I continue to look back into even after 30 years.
The sole reservation I've come across recently, is that it was
written before we were sensitized to use gender-inclusive language
and some women may react negatively to this. But is still a
great book. If I could only read one this would be it.
Peter
D. Stoner
Tufts Health Plan, Retiree Products Sales Manager
John Adams by David McCullough, Truman
by David McCullough, With Malice Toward None by
Stephen B. Oates
Salient points: I think I learned more about leadership reading
about Harry Truman, John Adams, and Abraham Lincoln. Adams and
Truman were both were relatively small men, who idolized their
wives, fought the prevailing wisdom of the day and were ultimately
regarded men of great wisdom and leadership, had great perseverance
and had a temper that they used to their advantage. The Oates
book is about Lincoln who had more trials and tribulations than
most, but still prevailed to become a great leader. I have read
numerous other biographies and favor them over leadership books
because they teach by example.
Angie
Forde
Johnson & Johnson
Servanthood by Bennett J. Sims
Salient point: "The work of the servant leader is to honor
the personal dignity and worth of all who are led, and to evoke
as much as possible their own innate creative power for leadership."
Bill
Koteff
Senior Principal, Flagship Ventures, Inc.
Schwarzkopf On Leadership by George
Gendron
Salient points: Inc.'s founder, Bernie Goldhirsh, recently attended
a conference at which he heard General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
discuss the principles that guided him to victory in the Persian
Gulf. They may seem like truisms, but we'd all be better off
if more companies followed them.
-
You must have clear goals. And you must be able to articulate
them clearly. One of the advantages we had in Kuwait, said
the general, was the clarity of the mission: "Kick Saddam
Hussein's butt out of Kuwait. The goal was clear and simple,
and something that every one of our troops understood."
-
Give yourself a clear agenda. Every morning write down the
five most important things for you to accomplish that day.
Whatever else you do, get those five things done. Insist that
the people who report to you operate the same way.
-
Let people know where they stand. Everyone knows you do a
disservice to a B student when you give him or her an A. That
applies not just to schools. The grades you give the people
who report to you must reflect reality.
-
What's broken, fix now. Don't put it off. Problems that aren't
dealt with lead to other problems. Besides, something else
will break and need fixing tomorrow.
-
No repainting the flagpole. Make sure all the work your people
are doing is essential to the organization.
-
Set high standards. Too often we don't ask enough from people.
At one point in Schwarzkopf's career, he was placed in charge
of helicopter maintenance. He asked how much of the fleet
was able to fly on any given day. The answer was 75%. "People
didn't come in at 74 or 76, but always at 75, because that
was the standard that had been set for them. I said, 'I don't
know anything about helicopter maintenance, but I'm establishing
a new standard: 85%.' " Sure enough, within a short time
85% of the fleet was available on any given day. The moral:
people generally won't perform above your expectations, so
it's important to expect a lot.
-
Lay the concept out, but let your people execute it. Yes,
you must have the right people in place. But then step back.
Allow them to own their work.
-
People come to work to succeed. Nobody comes to work to fail.
It seems obvious. So why do so many organizations operate
on the principle that if people aren't watched and supervised,
they'll bungle the job?
-
Never lie. Ever. Schwarzkopf said there had been a big debate
about whether to use misinformation to mislead the Iraqis
during the Gulf War. "We knew they were watching CNN.
Some people argued that we could save American lives by feeding
incorrect information to our own media." Schwarzkopf
vetoed the idea because he felt it would undermine the military
leadership's credibility with the American public.
-
When in charge, take command. Leaders are often called on
to make decisions without adequate information. As a result,
they may put off deciding to do anything at all. That's a
big mistake, said Schwarzkopf. Decisions themselves elicit
new information. The best policy is to decide, monitor the
results, and change course if necessary.
-
Do what's right. "The truth of the matter," said
Schwarzkopf, "is that you always know the right thing
to do. The hard part is doing it."
Andy
Snider
President, Snider Associates Learning &
Technology Strategy Consulting
Global Literacies: Leadership in the 21st Century
by Robert Rosen
Salient point: Makes the case that the challenges and skills
for success in the 21st century will be different.
Brian
D. Amos
Global Process Engineering Manager, Shipley Company
The Contrarian's Guide To Leadership
by Steven B. Sample
Salient point: "Think Gray." The world is not black
and white.
Kenneth
H. Cohn, M.D., MBA, FACS
Director, Cambridge Management Group
Leading the Revolution by Gary Hamel
Salient points: The future is something you create, not something
that happens to you. For the first time in history, we can work
backward from our imagination, rather than forward from our
past. In a non-linear world, only non-linear ideas will create
new wealth. Business concept revolution will be the defining
competitive advantage in the age of revolution. Dream, create,
explore, invent, pioneer, imagine. You are already irrelevant
and your company is becoming so.
Arthur
Kiegler
President & CEO, All Wet Technologies Inc.
Productive Workplaces by Marvin Weisbord
Salient point: Many details of how to pay attention to listening
and empowering workers, goes beyond the hype of the simple,
obvious and fashionable idea of empowerment; also puts management
in a historical context.
Patricia
E. Potter
Vice President for Regional Operations and Marketing, National
University
Good to Great by Jim Collins
Salient Advice: "in two thirds of the comparison cases
[publicly-held companies with long-term, quantifiable measures
of continued success in the marketplace]...the presence of a
gargantuan personal ego contributed to the demise or continued
mediocrity of the company." In describing what he calls
"Level 5 Leadership", Collins says clearly that it
is "the combination of personal humility and professional
will" that has created the
most successful companies in the United States. Level 5 leadership,
as described by Collins, means "demonstrating a compelling
modesty, shunning public adulation, relying principally on inspired
standards, not charisma" and "setting up successors
for even greater success in the next generation." These
are the hallmarks of measurably great executive leadership.
