Summer Reading List

Summer is a great time to catch up on your reading. Yeah, right! Who wants to read on vacation, you say? Well, whether you are a prodigious reader like us or not, these are the books we recommend this summer. We prefer books that are easy reads that challenge our assumptions and give us tools we can use in our everyday leadership. These definitely fit the bill:

How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In
by Jim Collins

·Whether your company is on the way up, way down, or stagnating, this book will let you know the warning signs of failure and how some organizations stay successful. Hint: a lot of it has to do with your senior leadership team.

The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You
by Jack Covert, Todd Sattersten

·This is my kind of book - pick it up anytime you have a few minutes and read the 2-3 page summary of a book you have perhaps read before but want to be reminded of the key concepts.

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
by Seth Godin
·Puts a whole new perspective on how leadership develops on blogs and social networking sites.

Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else
by Geoff Colvin

A Sense of Urgency
by John P. Kotter


Here are some books that aren’t as new as the titles above, but ones that we definitely recommend:

Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound After Career Disasters
by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward
·I picked this one up at a used bookstore just because I hadn’t remembered seeing a book on this topic before. At about 300 pages, there is a lot there, but it is a tremendous look at what it takes to recover from setbacks.

The Servant
by James Hunter
·A nice little fable that illustrates that the greatest leader is the greatest servant. This one changed my life.

Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers
by Robert Kriegel
·Funny and provocative look at innovation and shaking up your business.

The Transparency Edge
by Barbara and Elizabeth Pagano
·This isn’t just a leadership book – it will teach you how to live.

Of course, we recommend that you read anything ever written by Patrick Lencioni. Also, any of the “Little (Color) Book of ____________” by Jeffrey Gitomer. Both of these authors are especially good choices for people who don’t like to read traditional business books.

Any that you would add to your summer reading list?

Get More Done By Saying Less

Good article by Carmine Gallo on the Business Week small business site on the value of being more succinct when communicating. http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2009/sb20090616_017396.htm

Contains a great quote by New York real estate queen Barbara Corcoran. "Nobody is as interested in you as you think they are." This can be applied to our communication strategy as well. People probably aren't as interested in our message as we think they are, but we can improve our communication effectiveness.

We coach leaders to use two strategies: elevator speeches and over-communication.

When introducing a new concept or message, employ an elevator speech. Elevator speeches should answer four questions about our topic:

1. What is it?
2. Why is it necessary?
3. What will success look like?
4. What do I need from you?

The idea behind the elevator speech is that if you can't describe your idea, product, or message in four sentences or phrases, it's too complicated and will probably not be retained by the hearer.

Then once the elevator speech is prepared, you can't just say it once. You have to absolutely pound the message over and over and over. Dont' be afraid to repeat yourself. Repetition is how people remember.

This Summer, Don't Be Camouflaged

I chuckled when I saw the "uniform" satirist Stephen Colbert wore when he went to Iraq recently to entertain the troops. I didn't know Brooks Brothers custom-made camouflage suits. Then I really cracked up when I saw the clip of him getting his hair cut by order of the President: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31183492#31183492

Camouflage makes for a funny suit for Colbert, but fading into the background is something every leader should avoid this summer. Summer is already a time of vacations and time away from work as it is. The thing to remember this summer is visibility. In our book "Ordinary Greatness," we talk about the importance of leaders being as visible as possible in order to find the greatness that exists everywhere in the company. So instead of staying in the office doing e-mail or spreadsheets, get out and spend time with staff. Here are the benefits:

1. Builds trust between staff and management


2. Provides opportunities for the leader to identify and recognize
   ordinary greatness occurring during the course of the workday


3. Lets staff know that you care about the work that is being done
   and appreciate its importance to achieving organizational goals


4. Encourages staff to make suggestions and offer opinions to improve
   the organization, creating a stronger sense of ownership


5. Provides the context for identifying opportunities for improvement
   and understanding the dynamics of decision choices


6. Helps the leader recognize obstacles or barriers that need to be
   removed to achieve better outcomes

However, the myriad benefits of visibility are often lost on executives. They have given us many excuses for not being visible. Here are some we have heard over the years:

1. Too busy


2. Didn't I just do that last month?
   
3. I don't know what to say when I am with staff.


4. They don't want me around anyway.

Entire books can be written to debunk each of those excuses, but if you are interested in improving your visibility, here are some tips:

1. Commit to just getting started and doing it. It's always scariest right before you get started.


2. Schedule it. Be sure your schedule is not so overburdened that you miss out on being visible to your staff and customers.


3. Use your visibility time as an opportunity to over-communicate key messages. Don't be afraid to repeat yourself.


4. If you are interacting with staff layers down in the organization, don't forget to manage up their leader to them -- be positive. This is what we call a win-win-win-win.

So next time you are tempted to hide out in your office, remember Colbert's camouflage suit. Be sure this is one article of clothing that you never wear. Stand out and get out. Now about that haircut...

Any visibility tips that have worked well for you? How do you stay visible to your customers and staff?