Harmony at Work

Author Lisa Sansom

Some of the latest books of 2009 cover a wide range of topics. But all point to the importance of listening to our human side to be successful in the workplace. These books cover topics from great leaders to detrimental, bad behaviour at work, creating a harmony between earth and economy and listening to your intuition in an uncertain world.

Hit the Ground Running – A Manual for New Leaders
Author: Jason Jennings

Jason Jennings, leadership and management author, introduces readers to top CEOs—those who have “terrific” instincts, challenged conventional thinking, and spelled success for their companies and employees. Through interviews with numerous CEOs, Jennings has come up with 10 rules to help you “hit the ground running” and he accompanies each rule with a solid case study from organizations such as the JM Smucker Company to Goodrich. Although EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization—an approximate measure of a company’s cash flow) performance was a criterion for finding the highest performing CEOs, Jennings’ stories focus instead on the people—who they are, what made them stellar leaders, and what they did to excel. The case studies are easy to read, yet thought-provoking and, at times, inspirational. While I enjoyed reading the book, I am not sure that there is anything ground-breaking here. Jennings chose his leaders based on history since 2001, as the world has changed so much since then, but I’m not convinced that the top leaders are really doing things much differently. Great leaders seem to stand out, regardless of the times.

Published by: Portfolio (a division of Penguin Group), 2009 | 246 pages | ISBN: 978-1-59184-247-7 (hardcover)

The Cost of Bad Behaviour – How Incivility is Damaging your Business and What to Do About It
Authors: Christine Pearson and Christine Porath

You know all those little things that we laugh at in Dilbert? Like how the boss is so demeaning? Like how the co-workers are so rude? Possibly the reason we laugh is because we recognize those situations—maybe in our own workplace—and we should take a moment to pause—seriously. Pearson and Porath argue that incivility like this is costing our businesses potentially billions of dollars every year in turnover, loss of productivity, stress leave, and other less tangible effects. The authors spend the first 120 pages of their book putting forth the case that incivility is prevalent and damaging. But the truly interesting pages come in “The Solution”—best practices exemplified by organizations such as Starbucks and Microsoft. The authors also base their top 10 recommendations in “hard evidence—interviews and survey results”, and tackle the weedy topic of what leaders should be doing in the face of difficult behaviour and subversive cultures. Eventually, it all comes down to this: take a stand. We know that we don’t want bad behaviour at work—no matter what the costs are. Each person needs to stand on a higher ground and, as the book says, “look in the mirror”. Start with yourself—start today. Create something better. Make civility part of your—and your organization’s—DNA.

Published by: Portfolio, July 2009 | 214 pages | ISBN: 978-1-59184-261-3

Right Relationship – Building a Whole Earth Economy
Authors: Peter G. Brown, Geoffrey Garver

Every day on the news, the highlights always seem to point to various global disasters: famine, drought, floods, fires—the veritable Book of Revelations. Not to mention all of the “man-made” economical meltdowns, peak oil and the like. Then along comes a book, such as Right Relationship, that seems so simple in its solution that you wonder, why hasn’t anyone implemented this yet? Brown and Garver start from Quaker principles, examining five key questions: What’s the Economy for? How does it work? How big is too big? What’s fair? What is the appropriate governance structure? The answers are not easy, but they are profound and humane. The authors point out, for example, that in the current economic model, environmental disasters, such as the famous Exxon Valdez oil spill, is actually beneficial to the Gross Domestic Product because it generated economic benefits due to jobs and money spent on the clean up. How does that make sense? Brown and Garver argue that it doesn’t–and the flaw lies in our fundamental economic models that we all take for granted. The “right relationship” is a mix of our current model with some new and old thinking—ensuring that we live in balance and in harmony, not just with the earth, but also with each other. While this book may not hold all of the answers, it’s definitely a start. Policy-makers, take note.

Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc, 2009 | 216 pages | ISBN: 978-1-57675-762-8

Luck by Design – Certain Success in an Uncertain World
Author: Richard E. Goldman

On the back cover, Goldman apologizes “on behalf of my entire generation”—the Baby Boomers. You have to love a book that openly advertises humility, humour and encouragement. Goldman, a wealthy retiree through hard work and corporate insight, shares his own story, and also shares wisdom along the way—wisdom that every reader can learn from, notably in today’s “uncertain world”. For example, Goldman champions the role of intuition. This is not exactly something that most Fortune 500 CEOs would tell you is critical to success, yet it has worked for Goldman, and likely for many more successful people than you might guess. And so Goldman shares tips on how to listen to your intuition, and how to give your intuitive voice its due, which doesn’t mean letting it run the show. However, Goldman is coldly realistic as well, exemplified by his chapter titled “You are going to have to work”. As with all books that are part-memoir, I find myself wondering if the author’s highly personalized lessons can really work for everyone. However, I did notice that I was drawn to Goldman’s style—his ability to be warm and friendly, yet sensible and direct at the same time. He encourages personal accountability and self-knowledge, and ultimately that’s something that anyone can benefit from.

Published by: Morgan James Publishing, 2009 | 212 pages | ISBN: 978-1-60037-432-6

Article originally published in Your Workplace issue 11-5