2015 introduced me to many more interesting employee engagement – related books. Of the 38 books I completed (2015 full reading list), I have selected my 10 favorite books to share with you.
Like last year, let me exhort the benefits of using your local public library. This free and accessible public service is paid for, in part, by your tax dollars and offers a wealth of interesting and informative selections. If, by chance, the book you wish to read is not available through the library, please be environmentally responsible and purchase a used or electronic version.
Rather than try to rank these selections, I’ll discuss them in the order in which they were read.
The 5 Choices: The Path to Extraordinary Productivity
Kory Kogon, Adam Merrill, and Leena Rinne
Completion date: 1/7/2015
Even with all the demands we face, “everyone has the capability to do extraordinary work.”1 “These five choices, when consistently made, will help individuals personally and professionally feel more accomplished at the end of the day.
- Act on the important, don’t react to the urgent.
- Go for extraordinary, don’t settle for ordinary.
- Schedule the big rocks, don’t sort gravel.
- Rule your technology, don’t let it rule you.
- Fuel your fire, don’t burn out.”2
Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney
Lee Cockerell
Completion date: 2/14/2015
Mr Cockerell conveys the most important lessons he learned during his sixteen years at Disney and prior tenure at Hilton and Marriott. Of the 10 Strategies detailed in the book, the one that most resonated with me was also the 1st discussed: Remember, Everyone is Important.3
Related blog post: Employee Engagement and “Creating Magic”
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t
Simon Sinek
Completion date: 7/1/2015
I finished this engaging book at the beginning of July (2015). My head has been spinning ever since. Leaders Eat Last is packed with great information on leadership and employee engagement. It is a combination of lessons in history, chemistry, and management enhanced with examples from Congress, Presidents, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Merrill Lynch, the military, GE, Cosco, Next Jump, etc. Basically, it all comes down to enhancing trust and cooperation in the workplace.
Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts – Becoming the Person You Want To Be
Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter
Completion date: 5/31/2015
This book confronts the subject of change and how we can improve our odds of successfully achieving the goals we set for ourselves. As a leadership coach, Mr. Goldsmith takes an established approach with all of his clients. Once he learns about the changes his clients want to make. He helps them establish a daily routine that focuses on a series of questions written in the active voice. Clients rate themselves on these questions each day. This process helps to maintain a daily focus on goals while the ratings show progress over time.
Take advantage of Mr. Goldsmith’s experience and insights to make the changes you want/need in your life. Change isn’t easy. With Mr. Goldsmith’s help, you can reach your goals (faster) and avoid the normal pitfalls along the way.
Related blog Post: The Engaging Questions
Power Score: Your Formula for Leadership Success
Geoff Smart, Randy Street, and Alan Foster
Completion date: 8/13/2015
The authors have developed a way to calculate your company, department, or team’s Power Score by focusing on three areas: Priorities, People (Who), and Relationships. With your score, you can begin to learn where improvements can be made.
The Type B Manager: Leading Successfully in a Type A World
Victor Lipman
Completion date: 8/13/2015
Author Victor Lipman discusses the impact managers have on employee engagement. “While management has long been considered the realm of Type A individuals—hard-driving, competitive high achievers—all too often these high-intensity traits aren’t effective when it comes to motivating your employees. Many characteristics of Type B individuals—being more relaxed, less competitive, more reflective, slower to anger—can be considered “people skills” that better influence motivation and productivity. And successful management after all is the practice of accomplishing work through other people.”4
After discussing “The Big Picture” about managers and employee engagement, Mr. Lipman offers insights on how Type B Manager qualities can impact employee productivity. “Putting It Together,” he concludes by focusing on how Type A and Type B Managers can enhance their management abilities by adopting some of each other’s characteristics.
Related blog Post: The Type B Manager: Insights for Improved Employee Engagement
Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World
Brian J. Robertson
Completion date: 9/9/2015
Mr. Robertson finds that, “the traditional hierarchy is reaching its limits, but “flat management” alternatives lack the rigor needed to run a business effectively. Holacracy is a third-way: it brings structure and discipline to a peer-to-peer workplace.” 5
Related blog Post: Is Holacracy the Answer to Employee Engagement?
SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient–Powered by the Science of Games
Jane McGonigal
Completion date: 10/10/2015
Based on her own struggles with recovering from a concussion, the author, a noted gamification expert, used her knowledge of games to help herself heal faster. This book isn’t just about her journey. It is about the combination of positive psychology, research, and game design as a method to face any challenge.
Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees As If They’re Real People
Rodd Wagner
Completion date: 11/3/2015
This book is “a guide for ferreting out and fixing all the ways your company treats its people like widgets.”6
Related blog Post: [Book Summary] Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees As If They’re Real People by Rodd Wagner
Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead
Laszlo Bock
Completion date: 11/24/2015
As the SVP of People Operations at Google, Mr. Block offers insights into how his company thinks about talent and offers many stories and examples to illustrate his 10 rules7:
- Give your work meaning.
- Trust your people.
- Hire only people who are better than you.
- Don’t confuse development with managing performance.
- Focus on the two tails.
- Be frugal and generous.
- Pay unfairly.
- Nudge.
- Manage the rising expectations.
- Enjoy! And then go back to No. 1 and start again.
What are your thoughts on these selections? What were your favorite books of 2015? Which books would you recommend to fellow “Agents”?
1 “5 Choices | FranklinCovey.” The 5 Choices Book| Franklin Covey. Franklin Covey Co., 2014. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. <http://www.franklincovey.com/books/the5choices/>.
2 ibid.
3 Cockerell, Lee. Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney. New York: Currency Doubleday, 2008. 32. Print.
4 Lipman, Victor. The Type B Manager: Leading Successfully in a Type A World. Prentice Hall, 2015. Front Inner Flap. Print.
5 “How It Works.” Holacracy. HolacracyOne, LLC. Web. 23 Sept. 2015. <http://www.holacracy.org/>.
6 Wagner, Rodd. “Human Resources.” Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees as If They’re Real People. New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2015. 9. Print.
7 Bock, Laszlo. Work Rules!: Insights from inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead. Hachette Book Group, 2015. Print.
For reference:
Reading Lists: Click here for a complete list of the employee engagement-related books I read from 2013 – 2015
Pinterest: Reading List Boards 2013 | 2014 | 2015
Other book-related blog posts from 2015:
The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace
The Hortons and The Whos of Employee Engagement
Employee Engagement Requires ‘A Curious Mind’
Engage Yourself With the Gift of Productivity
Let’s Engage!
I’m Agent in Engagement Simpson…Gregory F Simpson.
Employee engagement is a critical mission. I hope I can count on your help! Subscribe to the RSS Feed to receive the latest intelligence/insights and/or register to make entries in the comments log.
You can follow me @agtinengagement.
Email me at g…@a…t.com.
Connect via LinkedIn at LinkedIn.com/in/GregoryFSimpson.
Learn more about me at gregoryfsimpson.com.
P.S. First contact? Welcome to the Agent In Engagement community. Explore and join fellow employee engagement operatives in targeting a known thief – alias: Disengagement. Together we can bring this thief to justice and make the world a better place for all companies and their employees.
Other recent Agent in Engagement data/reports by Agent Gregory F Simpson:
- Employee Engagement Intelligence Briefing: 2016.01.04 – 2016.01.08
- Veteran Employee Engagement Operative Insights: 01.04 – 2016.01.08
- Top 5 Most Viewed Agent In Engagement Posts of 2015
- Cheers to Engaging in Twenty Sixteen!
- Give Yourself the Gift of Productivity
- The Gift Your Employees Really Want!
- Employee Engagement: Is It Just Window Dressing?
Disclosure of Material Connection: The links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only reference products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
