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Book Blog

Curious Mind

12/4/2016

 
Even before Brian Grazer became a famous and successful Hollywood producer, he was seeking out interesting people for his “curiosity conversations.”

The book provides an in-depth understanding of the role that curiosity has played in Grazer’s life. The premise of his argument is that you are a better leader if you approach your work (and life) with a health does of curiosity. This means learning about things outside your area of expertise. For example, Grazer had a curiosity conversation with Jonas Saulk, the inventory of the Polio vaccine. No, he didn’t meet with him because he was doing a movie about Polio. He met with him because he was curious to know what it felt like to be responsible for saving so many lives.

By expanding your knowledge to other areas, you improve your ability to solve problems because you have a wider vantage point from which to draw.

Gazer also discusses the need to use curiosity with your own team. Using curiosity allows you to ask questions rather than give direction. It opens your eyes to things that you may be taking for granted. It creates a culture that allows people to questions, in a safe environment, why you are doing the things you are doing. He gives examples of how he uses it with his team when a movie isn’t going the direction he was expecting.
If you are wondering about the role curiosity should play in your business, or how to get more curiosity into your life, A Curious Mind is a good place to start.

The Advantage

3/27/2016

 
The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else In Business
​The Advantage is a tactical book focused on improving the health of your company. The premise is that a company must be healthy in order to be successful. Healthy means that there is a cohesive leadership team who is clear on its objectives and operates as a team rather than a collection of department heads.
The book very clearly and concisely lays out the case for building a healthy leadership team and gives very detailed instructions for how to accomplish it.
This is a great book for anyone who feels that there is room to improve a leadership team in their organization. 

Link Out

3/27/2016

 
Link Out: How to Turn Your Network into a Chain of Lasting Connections
​This is a fairly basic book on the tactical details of networking. It’s primarily focus is on the concept of creating an entourage that you can draw on when you need to get something done.
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The book includes a few exercises that will help you get clear about what it is you are trying to accomplish, which will help you better identify the people you should be networking with.

It is a very quick easy read that will remind you of some of the finer points of networking that you may have lost track of in your daily life.

Whistling Vivaldi

3/27/2016

 
​Whistling Vivaldi should be ready by every leader or want-to-be leader in Corporate America. At its core, it is a book about how our stereotypes impact us.
Most conversations about stereotypes are about how our stereotypes are projected on others. This book is about the impact of the stereotypes on the person being stereotyped. It is about how female math scholars are impacted by the stereotype that women aren’t as good at math as men.
The information is eye-opening and will provide leaders with a better understanding of what their teams are dealing with when it comes to the stereotypes that they are a part of. They are impacted by the stereotype even if there isn’t anyone else present to stereotype them. When you come to realize this, you realize that it isn’t just your job to ensure a diverse workplace. It is also your job to understand the stereotype pressures that people face and how these impact their ability to do their job. 

Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work

2/20/2016

 
Carrots and Sticks Don't Work: Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles of RESPECT
If you are responsible for a group of people, figuring out how to motivate them is something that is probably constantly on your mind. This book outlines the latest research on what really gets people to go the extra mile.
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Each chapter ends with a set of specific, low-cost ways to motivate employees for certain common issues that employers face. It provides you with the answers so that you don’t have to spend time trying to figure out how to implement them.
This is a quick read – I read the entire book on a single trip – during the flight out and back home.

Intentional Living by John Maxwell

2/20/2016

 
Intentional Living: Choosing a Life That Matters
​This is a motivational book that challenges you to take a fresh look at your life and determine if you are getting everything you want out of it. If you are feeling stuck or like you aren’t making the most of your life, this book can get you moving in the right direction.
A significant portion of the book focuses on the importance of relationships. If you feel that you are lacking significant relationships in your life, Maxwell lays out some very actionable ways that you can meet like-valued people and create relationships that matter.

Power

2/20/2016

 
Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't
Have you ever wondered how some people have gotten into the position they have? It might be someone you think is really bad at their job, yet they keep getting the plumb assignments.

That is actually what led me to pick up this book. Power – why some people have it and other’s don’t, is a look at what characteristics drive people into positions of power. It isn’t about performance. It is about getting noticed, getting your foot in the right door, and then doing things strategically that keep you there.
This book is a very practical guide to accomplishing these things, whether you are trying to take a power position at the top of a company or within your own department or team. It provides some counterintuitive advice that may allow you to make major gains through small adjustments. It also provides a no-holds-barred discussion of the price you pay for holding power.
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Whether your goal is to become powerful or not, this book can provide you with a great understanding of human and corporate dynamics that will make you more effective at getting what you want.

The Alliance

11/25/2015

 
The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age
​There is no such thing as working for one company for the rest of your career and retiring with a pension. But, what is there to take its place? This book takes a stab at defining the new relationship between a company and its employees.
The foundation of the book is that there is a responsibility on both sides of an employment relationship – and we should treat it with respect. Although we live in a world where neither employers or employees feel obligated to maintain a long term working agreement, it doesn’t mean that they are not both benefiting from it while it lasts.
There are some really good concepts that anyone in business should consider and look for ways to implement within their own organization. For example, the tour of duty concept, which isn’t new by any means, is laid out in a manner that allows you to easily understand how to implement it at your company. As employees are looking for challenges and the ability to make an impact more than raises and bonuses, this concept is easy and cheap to implement and would go a long way toward benefiting both the employee and the company.
This book will help shift your perspective on the way employers should be looking at their relationship with employees. If you have a culture problem, a recruiting problem, or a turnover problem, you will find something in this book that will help you.

never eat alone

9/6/2015

 
Its no secret that we usually get things done because of who we know. Never Eat Alone teaches you how to build a network so that you can leverage it effectively when you need it.

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