A Better Workplace - Recommended Books for Building a Better Workplace

Daniel Robin & Associates

Making Workplaces Work Better

Featured "Better Workplace" Reading for 2004

Haig Halbantain, Richard Guzzo, Dave Kieffer, and Jay Doherty, Play to Your Strengths: Managing Your Internal Labor Markets for Lasting Competitive Advantage, 272 pages, hardcover, McGraw-Hill Trade (Sept. 12, 2003). Synopsis: Organizations that select, develop, deploy, manage, and motivate their people to produce outstanding business results have an extraordinary competitive advantage that others can't copy. Backed by Mercer's nine-year, $10 million study of leading companies around the world, Play to Your Strengths shows how to leverage a company's "human capital" strategy into business results that are measurable and profitable and that will create exceptional, enduring competitive advantages.

Though not every company needs to justify their HR decisions with the latest science, this book will certainly provide enough insight and tools to involve top management in seeing "human resources" at an asset to be developed, not as an expense to be minimized. This shift alone is worth it's weight in gold to guide workforce decision-making. This is also the first book we've seen that gives a practical (though somewhat elaborate) scientific approach to developing "human capital." The concept has been around for awhile, but now it can be understood and implemented with expert guidance.

This book gives managers, senior executives, and consultants the theory, tools, and processes they need to:

Measure the effects of people on business results
Determine the impact of strategies before making them
Focus on the organization's most effective people strategies
Deliver more money to the bottom line in a sustainable manner
Create enduring, copy-proof competitive advantages

We highly recommend this book to CFOs, HR directors, and others who wish to understand the systems and scientific basis for much of the workforce strategy being discussed these days. The statistical modeling section may seem a bit intimidating, but there are still lots of tools and potential "Aha's!" to be gained from these materials.

Bill George, Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value, 240 pages, paperback (also in hardcover ), Jossey-Bass; 1st edition (July 2003).Synopsis: George, a former Medtronic CEO, sets the tone early in his book: "Somewhere along the way we lost sight of the imperative of selecting leaders that create healthy corporations for the long term." George's call for "authentic leadership" -- finding a leader who doesn't try to emulate the greats, because such copycatting will never result in authenticity or honest leadership -- pulls from his trail-blazing experience at Medtronic (BusinessWeek recognized him as a top-25 manager in 1998). Although George's company seems a good example of what he's talking about (he once made headlines by boldly declaring "Shareholders come third," after customers and employees), there's not a rigorous enough attempt here to make that example universally applicable. Though superbly moral and inspiring, this volume is not likely to grab attention as it would if it spoke to the principles that drove his decisions, and the results he obtained because of them. Still, it is a useful and fascinating look at one CEO's experiences and the beliefs that guided his successful efforts at pushing his company toward a more humane workplace that balances the demands for fiscal performance with the interests of the workforce, customers, and greater society.

Halpern, Belle Linda & Lubar, Kathy, Leadership Presence: Dramatic Techniques to Reach Out, Motivate, and Inspire; 288 pages, hardcover, Gotham Books (October 9, 2003).Synopsis: There's only one thing worse than a boss that doesn't listen -- one that is boring, absent, and doesn't seem to care. Leadership Presence is the antidote to "zomby leadership," and is valuable reading for anyone wanting to be more effective with people.

Authors Belle Linda Halpern and Kathy Lubar, cofounders of The Ariel Group, bring their considerable experience in theater to help executives become more present, engaging, and effective in this important social dimension of leadership. The book will show you how to

* express yourself dynamically to motivate for results
* build relationships to enhance collaboration and business development
* handle tough situations with heightened confidence and flexibility
* integrate personal values into leadership communication to inspire those you lead

There is a certain charisma to those leaders that inspire others. A "commanding presence" is also a quality of actors and others who manage to get people's attention and earn their respect without having to constantly be the center of attention. This is what this book is all about.

The authors define presence as "the ability to connect authentically with the thoughts and feelings of others". While business has generally ignored this sense of presence and assumed that people will be led simply because they are employees and want to get along, the acting profession must earn this respect. As businesses struggle to create loyal employees who think for themselves and have a sense of being a part of a larger community, leaders that can inspire such loyalty and innovation are in great demand.

The author's approach goes beyond techniques and gets to the soul of leadership; you cannot teach what you don't know, and people won't follow where you won't go. To reach people where they are, and get them to feel something, leaders must genuinely feel their own "motivation" (as they say in the acting profession). Thus, to make an emotional connection with others, start by first connecting deeply with yourself and where you feel most passionate This, in turn, will translate into a solid connection with others.

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