I have been asked a lot lately about my favorite management books. This is a tough task to narrow down my favorites. There are a lot of great books from Peter Drucker to Tom Peters and everything in between.
However, there are a few books that I have read over the last decade that I have been able to implement effectively and has given me and my teams a big lift as a result.
Here are my top 5 without further ado and in no particular order.
1. First, Break All The Rules- Marcus Buckingham– This book really helped shape the way that I thought about management. There is a specific set of ten questions that I still use with my own team and that I recommend to clients as well. It’s the first book that I encountered that bucked conventional wisdom about how employees should be treated.
2. Everyone Communicates, Few Connect- John Maxwell– The majority of great management comes from the ability to connect and communicate with your team effectively. I love books because it illustrates how important connecting people with your message is. You can read my review here.
3. Fake Work- Brent Peterson and Gaylen Nielsen– So many companies forget to align their employees with what’s really important in their organizations. I love the message and the case studies that they use to illustrate how “Fake Work” damages morale. You can read my review of this book here.
4. The Oz Principle- Roger Conners, Tom Smith, Craig Hickman– This e a books talks about accountability. The authors give a great definition of what accountability is and how you can implement accountability in a healthy manner. There are self tests in the book and a lot of great management tools.
5. Good To Great- Jim Collins– This is like the grand daddy of them all, There are so many great pieces on management from selecting your team to having the right leadership traits. This book does not skip on great content. I am sure most of you have read this book already but in case you haven’t then definitely check it out.
These are just 5 books that have a made a huge impact on my management style and leadership ability. To get the most of these books, I would suggest just taking a couple of concepts to implement at a time as most of these books are content rich.
Let me know what you think of these books and which books make your top 5.
Thank you for compiling this list and for giving your readers the opportunity to share a leadership book that stuck with them this year! I do hope you get more responses because as a new business owner I am always looking for new books about business owners and their methods in running an effective/successful work space. In my research I was lucky to come across the book by author Bill Sims Jr. Green Beans & Ice Cream (http://greenbeanleadership.com/). The author clearly explains the best and the worst ways to motivate people, how to use positive reinforcement correctly *in all facets of life*, and most importantly how a behavior change can turn around your whole business. The author backs up these practices with anecdotes, examples, and official research. I think an essential leadership trait would be to treat your employees how you would want to be treated. Teach them how you would like to be taught. Lead them how you would like to be lead. Bill Sims Jr., shows there are three different kinds of positive reinforcement. There is tangible reinforcement in the form of money. There is social reinforcement in the form of verbal praise. There is also self positive reinforcement; this is motivation to do a good job for the pure love of the job. Green Beans & Ice Cream is the kind of book that motivates me to strive for excellence in my career 🙂 Hope you give it a read!
Deborah,
Thanks for stopping by. The book sounds interesting, I will definitely check it out.