Primal Leadership by Daniel Goldman, Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee
Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence

Business leaders who maintain that emotions are best kept out of the work environment do so at their organization's peril. Bestselling author Daniel Goleman's theories on emotional intelligence (EI) have radically altered common understanding of what "being smart" entails, and in Primal Leadership, he and his coauthors present the case for cultivating emotionally intelligent leaders. Since the actions of the leader apparently account for up to 70 percent of employees' perception of the climate of their organization, Goleman and his team emphasize the importance of developing what they term "resonant leadership." Focusing on the four domains of emotional intelligence--self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management--they explore what contributes to and detracts from resonant leadership, and how the development of these four EI competencies spawns different leadership styles. The best leaders maintain a style repertoire, switching easily between "visionary," "coaching," "affiliative," and "democratic," and making rare use of less effective "pace-setting" and "commanding" styles. The authors' discussion of these methods is informed by research on the workplace climates engendered by the leadership styles of more than 3,870 executives. Indeed, the experiences of leaders in a wide range of work environments lend real-life examples to much of the advice Goleman et al. offer, from developing the motivation to change and creating an improvement plan based on learning rather than performance outcomes, to experimenting with new behaviors and nurturing supportive relationships that encourage change and growth. The book's final section takes the personal process of developing resonant leadership and applies it to the entire organizational culture. --S. Ketchum

Read more at: Book Review: Primal Leadership

E-Myth Mastery (“E” refers to entrepreneur) by Michael E. Gerber
The Seven Essential Disciplines for Building a World Class Company

Michael E. Gerber explains that just knowing how to do the work of a business does not mean that you are building a business that works. You learn the key skills through practice and provided you are willing to adopt this discipline, you can be successful. You'll find practical guidelines, charts, and instructions on how to run, improve and manage a business of any size.

Read more at: Book Review: E-Myth Mastery

Big Winners and Big Losers by Alfred Marcus
Why do some firms win for long periods of time while other firms lose for long periods of time?

In an interview with the Minnesota Daily in November 16, 2005, Dr. Marcus said, “I wanted to think through one of the most basic questions of strategy, which is: Why do some firms win for long periods of time while other firms lose for long periods of time? I also was aware of, and read on occasion, a lot of the popular business books. On the one hand, the academic literature was not answering the question very well, and on the other hand, you had a lot of top business books that claimed to answer the question. And I thought they were very superficial and they were giving contrary advice. If I just was a little bit more rigorous, I would raise the standards.”

Read more at: Book Review: Big Winners and Big Losers

Mastering the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish
What you must do to increase the value of your fast-growth firm

I’m impressed with the practical, easy-to-implement tactics that Mr. Harnish recommends. Although the book is written to address management for overall business growth, the recommendations are extremely applicable to developing a high-performance sales culture. The solid management principles Verne outlines are principles that work in the new sales management environment that spans three generations.

Read more at: Book Review: Mastering the Rockefeller Habits

For those with sales management responsibilities, you'll pick up some valuable ideas on how to coach your sales team to reach first base more often, shorten your sale cycle using your "Speed on the Bases" and close more sales using "The Inoffensive Close."

Read more at: Book Review: Baseline Selling

The One Thing You Need to Know: …About Great Managing, Great Leading and Sustained Personal Success, by Marcus Buckingham. Over the last couple of decades, a fascination with “leadership” has eclipsed “managing” and the role of the leader and the role of the manager are utterly different. The talents required to excel at each are different. And the most important thing you need to know about each is the exact opposite of the other. This doesn’t mean that you can’t excel at both. You can, but, if you want to excel at one or both, you need to know the difference. And you need to know if you need a good manager or leader to complement your talents.

Read more at: Book Review: The One Thing You Need to Know

In the best-seller First, Break All the Rules, authors Buckingham and Coffman from the Gallup organization assert that great managers do four activities extremely well: select people, set expectations, motivate and develop.  Their research (in-depth interviews with over 80,000 managers in more than 400 companies) supports the findings of Baltimore consultants Objective Management Group, which concludes that a top manager with at least eight revenue-producing reports in a growing organization will focus 80% of their time on the following activities: recruiting, accountability, motivation and coaching.

Read more at: Rules for Successful Recruiting from the MedicalSuds™ Report©