If you look at the bottom of the left rail of this SuperVision blog, you'll see "
Jill's Book Picks." I placed it there for all those managers who can't regularly participate in formal training, or who prefer to learn from books.
I've collected about 300 books in my home office dealing with all facets of leadership and management. I'm pretty picky about what I'll plunk down some dollars to read. I start with the idea that I'm learning on behalf of others -- most of whom are journalists. And if I am going to quote leadership literature, it better be credible. To that end, I avoid "parable" books. Sorry, "
Who Moved My Cheese?" fans, I know this book is a monster best seller. But parables are just that, amusing and even inspiring tales that work for some people. I think the folks I teach -- skeptical journalists -- respond better to facts than fables.
I also take a cautious approach to self-celebratory books by business or sports leaders who enlarge their individual successes into all-purpose leadership philosophies and advice. This is not to say that there aren't some good ideas and examples in those books. But I harvest them with care. As Keith Sawyer writes in "
Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration":
"We're drawn to the image of the lone genius whose mystical moment of insight changes the world.
But the lone genius is a myth; instead, it's group genius that generates breakthrough innovation."
And there's the sage advice from two Stanford professors, Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton, whose book, "
Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense," explains that too many business people latch on to untested theories. They may read a book about another person's success and assume it will work for them. But the authors argue for "evidence-based management," that is, ideas that have been researched, not just written about. Otherwise, managers latch onto strategies or styles for the wrong reasons, often because what they read about is something they already agree with!
That's why I collect, teach from, and recommend research-based leadership and management books. It's fun to see how publishers have to dress them up with sexier titles than academics would choose. Imagine my surprise (and humility) when I discovered that "
Getting to Yes" wasn't the slick salesperson's guide I always assumed it to be, but rather a fascinating work by the respected researchers at the
Harvard Negotiation Project -- and now something I put on a must-read list for managers who want to improve their conflict resolution skills.
So, enjoy the
list of recommended readings you can always access from the left rail of the blog. I'll add new books as I discover them. Meanwhile, if I had to suggest just ONE book for managers wanting to improve -- or for folks wanting to discover whether they'd be good at managing, what would it be?
I reveal the answer in this SuperVision video:
