Getting Naked (A Business Fable) – Book Review
June 12, 2010 by Simon Oates (Admin)
Filed under Books
Getting Naked is the provocatively titled leadership book from Patrick Lencioni, the author that brought us The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Three Signs of a Miserable Job. The book sells itself as a ‘business fable’, and certainly sticks to that aim. ‘Getting Naked: A Business Fable‘ is told like a story. The ‘fable’ is medium-length tale narrated by a fictional partner of a management consulting firm in the USA called Jack Bauer. I found the length to be long enough to get ‘into’ the experience, but short enough that I didn’t feel the key messages were being laboriously repeated in every chapter.
The story begins as the arrogant yet insecure Jack is chosen to oversee the acquisition of a competitor with whom he openly holds a grudge. The competitor appeared so lazy, uncommited and blasé that their offices were referred to as ‘the playground’. None of this however angered Jack more than the discovery that this ‘childlike’ company had higher margins than his!
The book follows Jack as he reluctantly immerses himself in the culture of the other firm, and learns that big business can be done in a very different way, very successfully.
The theory of the book centres around vulnerability. In response to critical clients and demanding customers, most businesses set out to prove their competence and interlectual superiority. Patrick persuasively highlights that this is shockingly, the complete opposite of what leaders should be doing. He argues that his consulting firm, Table Group successfully won, wooed and retained clients extremely well due to the transparency and vulnerability he presented to them.
Patrick Lencioni writes with authority and makes some very excellent points. In my opinion, half were genuinely inspired, and half were the kind of behaviour we all know we should be doing, and therefore would benefit from being reminded of anyway! The book is most relevant to those who serve clients as a member of a professional services firm or similar, however I believe that the culture described in the book would be beneficial in any customer-facing organisation. The author neatly summarises the key message in the final chapters which adds further clarity and a surprising amount of detail.
If you’re looking for an outline of a fascinating culture that modern leaders should aspire to, I believe that you should treat themselves to this fable and see which practical tips you can apply from within its pages.
Management Book of the Year Competition from CMI
May 29, 2010 by Simon Oates (Admin)
Filed under Books
With the 100s of management books published each year it can be a daunting task finding the most helpful ones, so CMI and the British Library have teamed up to uncover the best that the UK has to offer as part of the first ever Management Book of the Year competition.
You might be interested to know that a survey carried out by CMI / British Library on professional reading habits found that, when it comes to topic choice, more people would like to read about how to achieve a good work/life balance (40 per cent) than how to get a pay rise (30 per cent). 31 per cent are interested in guidance on how to manage people while just 19 per cent would like tips on securing a promotion.
The competition aims to raise the profile of the great management writing being produced by UK authors. There are three competition categories: Practical Manager, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Digital Management Book. Management Book of the Year is the UK’s first competition to have a category dedicated to texts in a digital format.
The shortlist will be announced at CMI’s annual conference in October, with the overall winner selected by a panel of expert judges and announced in January 2011.
You can head on over to the Management Book Of The Year website to nominate your favourites right now! Leave a comment below also so that the Leadership Expert community can see what you’ve recommended!
The Pursuit Of Something Better – Review
July 7, 2009 by Simon Oates (Admin)
Filed under Books
Pursuit Of Something Better
If you’re looking for a review of “The Pursuit Of Something Better” then you’ve come to the right place. I’m currently reading an advance copy, and will be publishing LeadershipExpert’s official review within a week, so stay tuned!
Introduction
‘The Pursuit Of Something Better’ follows the story of US Cellular – a regional telecoms company, through its journey to becoming home to one of the most vibrant and motivated cultures in the USA. As an underdog in the telecoms industry – US Cellular has to fight to survive in the modern world, but the employees fight for it, due to their extreme loyalty and pride.
On one day every year, the managers from across the organisation leave their positions to attend a conference that announces the results of something very dear to them – the annual employee satisfaction questionaire. Grass-root staff rise to the challenge and the company ticks over just fine without them. The atmosphere at the conference is likened to that of a concert – not an annual review. What on earth has happened at this company to drive such enthusiasm?
Well, you’ll have to buy the book yourself to find out!
Review
Review is coming soon!
Purchase
Pursuit Of Something Better
This title was released on the 15th of August 2009.
You can pre-order this book on Amazon UK here
If you’d like to read a review of this book on other blogs, you can visit here and here.
