Bart Wendell recognizes that meetings provide a public display of leadership abilities, both good and bad, that can make or destroy a leader’s career. The author considers the meeting to be a true test of a leader’s skills. As a result, Bart Wendell offers the insightful advice that conducting a successful meeting goes far toward the development of an outstanding leader. Because of the nature of meetings, and why they so often fail to produce positive results, alert leadership is a necessity. People drawn into meetings bring their silos, and not solutions, along with them. Meetings include diverse participants with a wide variety of abilities and agendas.

Bart R. Wendell (photo left) understands that leaders must be able to gauge how a meeting is progressing, and time when to look for a needed breakthrough, in order too achieve a positive outcome that benefits the organization. This skill requires practice and is as much an art as a science. The author points out that leaders very often demonstrate their lack of skills when they want and need to perform their best. What Bart Wendell calls Hot leaders overheat the meeting and cause impulsive and rash responses and decisions. The author describes Cool leaders as too calming resulting in a lack of action or decision making.

To counter these three observations, Bart Wendell proposes a framework built of five leadership principles. Those five principles are as follows:

* Meetings reflect leadership ability. Great leaders run great meetings
* A leader changes through the act of running a meeting, both good and bad
* Good leaders use Hot and Cold effectively to guide the meeting
* Great leaders understand themselves; their own strengths and weaknesses
* A great leader is not afraid of uncomfortable but right decisions

For me, the power of the book is how Bart Wendell combines a deep understanding of the subtle human characteristics of meetings, with a practical guide for developing leadership skills, through running effective meetings. The author considers meetings to be the crucible in which skilled leaders forge their best qualities. For the author, this testing of leadership is both an internal struggle with oneself and one’s fears, as it is an external discovery of effective leadership techniques. Bart Wendell devotes an entire chapter to each of the critical aspects of leadership in meetings, underlining both the inner journey to self realization, as well as the skills visible to those attending the meeting.

The idea that meetings, with the need to lead and guide others to a worthwhile result, forms the basis of great leadership is a good one. Understanding the many implications of this important leadership concept alone makes this book a very worthwhile read. The author’s experience as a business consultant, meeting leader and facilitator, as well as a psychologist bring a unique and valuable perspective to this book that is rarely found in leadership books.

I highly recommend the insightful and leadership building book Hot Leaders Cool Facilitators: Learning to Lead One Meeting at a Time by Bert R. Wendell, Ph.D., to anyone seeking to become a better leader and to conduct more effective meetings. The author demonstrates how intertwining the concept of great leadership with running great meetings is a powerful connection. This book will change the way that you view both leadership and meeting management.

Screw Business As Usual

By: Richard Branson

Published: December 8, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
ISBN-10: 1591844347
ISBN-13: 978-1591844341
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin

Richard Branson understands deeply that despite his successes, and those of his many well known companies, their employees, and their customers, so much more good can be done in the world beyond the current levels. Richard Branson points out readily that while business has provided an outstanding engine of growth in the world, his own companies and others have not stopped the global downward spiral into economic decay. Indeed, the author recognizes that traditional and narrowly focused business practices have accelerated that economic downward spiral. For Richard Branson, the exclusive concentration on profit has caused serious and damaging unintended consequences for people, countries as a whole, economies on all scales, and for the environment.

Richard Branson advocates a fresh business approach of behaving differently, changing the focus, solving real problems, and turning work and business into a mission for good. While capitalism has brought many benefits to society, Richard Branson states that there have been many costs that haven’t appeared on balance sheets as well. The damage to the environment and to lives were considered irrelevant when compared to the balance sheet only focus of the past.

Richard Branson offers evidence that narrow viewpoint is changing into a new form of capitalism that works toward to good of everyone in the world. The author suggests fresh thinking on how all aspects of business are conducted in all countries, how to solve major challenge sin new and creative ways, and how to create work that is part of a larger positive mission beyond only profit. For Richard Branson, the evidence that a new form of capitalism will supplant the previous form is that simply doing good is also good business. Benefiting others works for the company as well.

For me, the power of the book is how Richard Branson combines his vision for a new and positive form of capitalism with a blueprint for making that transformation a reality. Through examples from his own business experience and travels, and from the examples of others, Richard Branson provides examples of the success of his fresh new approach to a more humane and sustainable capitalism.

The author demonstrates clearly that caring about employees, customers, the environment, and the entire planet is not only the right thing to do,but that it’s also good business. Richard Branson proves that ethical and sustainable business, are not only about doing good, but that they are even more profitable than the older, and now failing business paradigm.

I highly recommend the brilliant and landmark book Screw Business As Usual by Richard Branson, to any leaders and decision makers who are seeking an alternative to the failed model capitalism, and are seeking a renewal of ethical capitalism that works for everyone. This book will form the basis for creating a better future for the entire planet and all of its residents.
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The Yes Factor

Get What You Want. Say What You Mean.

By: Tonya Reiman

Published: June 28, 2011
Format: Paperback, 320 pages
ISBN-10: 0452297214
ISBN-13: 978-0452297210
Publisher: Plume

Tonya Reiman demonstrates how sending mixed messages, where the speaker’s movements and body language don’t match their words, will result in mistrust, loss of credibility, and a failure to receive a yes answer. The author understands that effective communication is more than simply the spoken words, but also depends upon the entire impression created by the speaker. A mismatch of words and body language will be picked up by the listener, resulting in a loss of that important affirmative response. Tonya Reiman provides a complete overview of the concept of non-verbal communication, including how to improve your own body messages, and how to read the unspoken messages sent by others.

Tonya Reiman recognizes that effective communication is a whole body experience. As a result, the author offers advice on dressing appropriately, speaking clearly and effectively, and ensuring that the body movements match the overall message. For the author, this total communication approach is not manipulative, but rather is one that builds rapport between people, and sets them at ease. Instead of antagonism, the approach leads to bonding. People are much more collaborative with people who they like and trust.

Sending the right complete message, and creating that crucial positive first impression, builds that comfort and trust factor with others. The author divides her complete message approach to persuasive communication as follows:

* Understand the Alpha You
* Recognizing the real power of words
* Knowing the non-verbal advantage
* Putting the entire communication together

For me, the power of the book is how Tonya Reiman combines the theory of persuasive communication with practical, hands on lessons for understanding how words are not the only factor in conveying a message. The author points out the critical concept that people are selling themselves at all times, including those moments when they least suspect it. As a result, Tonya Reiman provides a clear description of how and why people often send unintentional conflicting messages, resulting in a negative or indifferent response. To demonstrate the key aspects of non-verbal communications, the author provides numerous photographs that illustrate the concepts in action. As an added, and very valuable feature, Tonya Reiman also includes her twenty-one day plan for mastering the principles of persuasive communication.

I highly recommend the very straight talking and engaging book The Yes Factor: Get What You Want. Say What You Mean. by Tonya Reiman, to anyone seeking to improve their overall communications skills. This useful book will help to present the Alpha You in all circumstances, resulting in many more yeses, and a vastly improved business, professional, and personal life.

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Make Talent Your Business

How Exceptional Managers Develop People While Getting Results

By: Wendy Axelrod, Jeannie Coyle

Published: June 6, 2011
Format: Paperback, 210 pages
ISBN-10: 1605099317
ISBN-13: 978-1605099316
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Wendy Axelrod and Jeannie Coyle understand the value of employees to the overall growth and productivity of a company. While most executives and managers will say that their employees are the key to their organizational success, those same managers will point out that they lack the time, skills, or resources to ensure continual staff development.

The authors point out that while many managers are unable to provide their desired level of employee development, other managers are succeeding in that personal building and learning area very well. Wendy Axelrod and Jeannie Coyle highlight the common traits and techniques, these successful development managers have in common, and demonstrate how these same practices can be utilized in any organization to enhance peak performance.

Jeannie Coyle and Wendy Axelrod recognize that managers want to develop their employee skill levels, and that staff people want to learn new skills to better perform their jobs as well. The authors emphasize that huge amounts of time and money are spent in development programs that are ineffective and fail to achieve the desired results. For the authors, those programs fail because they are treated as separate, compartmentalized events from the daily work assignments.

Instead of isolating development from actual tasks and assignments, the authors propose an integrated approach to staff development that combines work duties with additional training and coaching that stretches the employee’s abilities and adds fresh skills to their knowledge base.

To create this unified approach to staff development, Wendy Axelrod and Jeannie Coyle share the five practices shared by managers who excel at staff development. The five practices are:

* Make every day a development day
* Tap the psychological side of development
* Connect people with development partners
* Teach skills to navigate organizational politics
* Shape your environment to drive development

For me, the power of the book is how Jeannie Coyle and Wendy Axelrod combine the importance of staff development with a holistic and effective process fro enhancing the skill levels of employees. The authors describe how the recommended practices have worked effectively for managers in a wide range of companies and industries. With the positive, real world data and experiences of effective development managers as support, the authors provide those proven practices for other managers. Not only do managers find their own jobs more effective, but the employees discover and learn new skills while working on their own assignments. The company benefits as well, through better performance, a more engaged workforce, and higher productivity.

I highly recommend the research based and pragmatic idea filled book Make Talent Your Business: How Exceptional Managers Develop People While Getting Results by Wendy Axelrod and Jeannie Coyle, to any business leaders, executives, managers, and business owners who seek a useful and hands on guide to developing their employees, and increasing their overall skill levels. This book will help companies engage both managers and employees as they develop their skill levels and boost the overall productivity of the company.
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William Luyben understands that the role of a chemical process is to take chemical discoveries and transform them efficiently and safely into a marketable product. The process involves scaling up small scale experiments and scaling them up into manufacturing sized quantities. William Luyben points out that how a chemist conducts small scale projects may be very different from the application of the concept in product development. The chemistry and physics of scaling up a small batch to a large scale often poses a problem for engineers. As a result, William Luyben provides the tools, formulas, and mathematics necessary for scaling a small experiment into a full manufacturing scale operation.

William L. Luyben (photo left) recognizes that scaling up a process from the laboratory to the large sale product building process is really a synthesis problem. The designer faces many challenges within the process, and some of those challenges are very often in direct conflict with one another. For the author, the chemical design process is a crucial area of chemical engineering. With concerns of energy and environmental issues and how they interact, reviving interest in energy efficient processes and plants, the author focuses on achieving the goals of developing process designs in a safe and environmentally sound manner.

William Buyden provides the principles of general design in a concise way to develop an effective and efficient flowsheet and control structure. The development of a chemical process requires consideration of both the steady state economic and controllability parts of the process. That is the simultaneous design concept that is addressed so effectively in this book.

For me, the power of the book is how William L. Luyben combines the theory of simultaneous design with the mathematical formulas and chemical engineering reactions to guide students, chemists, and engineers in developing a process. The author reinforces the principles outlined in each chapter with real world case studies of those same principles in action. William Luyben provides a service to industry as well, through the recognition of the need for developing new products, refining their processes, and for ensuring a safe and environmental quality control.

The author shares the crucial technical information that is understandable for the engineering student, practicing engineer, and for chemists and designers in the scaling up of small scale tests into large scale processes. Non-engineers and students are reminded that this book is very technical in nature and requires some understanding of mathematics and chemistry.

I highly recommend the important and all encompassing book Principles and Case Studies of Simultaneous Design by William L. Luyben, to any chemistry or engineering students, practicing chemical engineers, product designers in industry, and business leaders looking for a fresh approach to simultaneous design issues. This book will transform your company’s industrial processes and product design into one of a leader in process design.

Drinking from the Fire Hose

Making Smarter Decisions Without Drowning in Information

By: Christopher J. Frank, Paul F. Magnone

Published: September 1, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1591844266
ISBN-13: 978-1591844266
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin

Christopher Frank and Paul Magnone recognize the problems and challenges, presented to business leaders, by the huge amount of data generated in today’s companies. as a result, the authors suggest that decision makers pose probing questions about the nature and value of that heavy data stream. Every piece of data tells a story, and the numbers only provide part of that narrative.

The authors advise leaders to look deeper into the numbers, and into the overall data, through questions that seek well researched answers. For the authors, data that offers real solutions to problems facing the organization will very often be overlooked due to the bias of supporting the existing strategic plan. Instead, the authors share the idea of asking where the surprises in the data were found, and to dig more deeply into the those surprising bits of information. The result may be a business transformational concept simply awaiting discovery.

Paul Magnone (photo left) and Christopher Frank understand the difficulty of sorting the useful and game changing information from the deluge of misleading or status quo supporting data. Their solution is to ask challenging questions. The the use of smarter questions, the difference making data, and especially the unexpected surprise data, will present itself to decision makers. Instead of offering prescriptive answers, the authors propose the asking of challenging and information seeking questions.

The authors offer seven specific questions to ask of the data:

* What is the essential business question?
* Where is your customer’s North Star?
* Should you believe the squiggly line?
* What surprised you?
* What does the Lighthouse reveal?
* Who are your swing voters?
* The three W’s: What? So What? Now what?

For me, the power of the book is how Christopher Frank and Paul Magnone turn traditional data concepts upside down. The authors start by dividing the data stream into data that measures, and data that informs. The ability to understand the differences between these two types of data is critical for developing breakthrough strategies. Unlike most business books, the authors decline the opportunity to offer advice and to provide answers to problems. Instead, they take the opposite approach of asking their seven fire hose questions.

Through this informed questioning process, the previous assumptions about the data, what it measures, and the level that informs decisions, comes into sharp focus. With each question, an entire chapter is devoted to understanding the reasoning behind the questions, and how to apply the question to extract the most meaningful and informed responses.

I highly recommend the thought provoking and profound book Drinking from the Fire Hose: Making Smarter Decisions Without Drowning in Information by Christopher Frank and Paul Magnone, to any business leaders who are seeking a fresh approach to understanding and utilizing the steady downpour of data that floods into their offices each day. Through the discerning questioning technique, the useful and informing data can be separated from the data that merely measures, and very often measures the wrong things. This book will change your organization from one that looks for easy answers, and instead asks the difficult and challenging questions.

Harvesting Intangible Assets

Uncover Hidden Revenue in Your Company’s Intellectual Property

By: Andrew J. Sherman

Published: October 20, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 270 pages
ISBN-10: 0814416993
ISBN-13: 978-0814416990
Publisher: AMACOM

Andrew J. Sherman compares the concept of intangible assets to farming, and offers a compelling analogy to the growing of crops to the development and revenue creation from intellectual property. The author understands that simply being an innovative company is no longer enough to succeed in today’s highly competitive marketplace. The innovation process is all too often isolated from the revenue building side of the organization, creating a disconnect between the innovation and the monetizing of the resulting intangible assets. To bridge this gap, Andrew Sherman provides readily applicable strategies and tactics for transforming intellectual property from the idea stage to valuable, revenue producing products and services.

Andrew J. Sherman recognizes that companies that fail to capitalize on the full revenue potential, to be gleaned from their intellectual property, are missing out on some tremendous growth opportunities. The author points out how companies have all too often failed to benefit fully from their many intangible assets ranging from patents and processes to personnel expertise. All too often, these potentially high revenue and high profit assets are neglected or considered not worth monetizing. Andrew Sherman demonstrates how to develop a strategy for capitalizing on intellectual property, and how to execute that strategic plan effectively and profitably.

Andrew J. Sherman covers the various management, accounting, and legal aspects of monetizing intellectual property. These ares include:

* Building an innovation focused culture
* Harnessing the power of intrapreneurship
* Intellectual Asset Management (IAM)
* Developing a comprehensive legal strategy
* Preparing the innovations for market
* Examining the various strategic alternatives
* Cooperatives, partners, licensing, joint ventures and franchises
* Taking the ideas global

For me, the power of the book is how Andrew J. Sherman combines a strong theoretical framework for understanding the potential offered by intellectual property, with actionable strategies for monetizing the company’s intangible assets. The author employs an analogy of farming, from planting to harvest to marketing the crops, as a guide to the steps for developing and marketing the company’s intellectual property effectively to boost the organization’s overall revenue.

Andrew Sherman makes the important connection, between innovation and monetizing the resulting intangible assets, that is so often missing from many corporate business models. The author strengthens his analysis by providing real world examples of companies who are marketing their intellectual property effectively to grow their revenue and profits.

I highly recommend the breakthrough creating book Harvesting Intangible Assets: Uncover Hidden Revenue in Your Company’s Intellectual Property by Andrew J. Sherman, to anyone seeking a comprehensive and very engaging guide to uncovering and monetizing their company’s important intellectual property. This book will move your company beyond being merely innovators to monetizing the profits within that bumper crop of innovations.

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The Diversity Index

The Alarming Truth About Diversity in Corporate America…and What Can Be Done About It

By: Susan E. Reed

Published: August 29, 2011
Hardcover: 294 pages
ISBN-10: 0814416497
ISBN-13: 978-0814416495
Publisher: AMACOM

Susan E. Reed presents compelling evidence that racial diversity has taken a back seat in the corporate agenda, and in the public mind, to environmental sustainability. The author points out that sustainability is not possible without developing and implementing diverse employment and advancement strategies. Susan Reed acknowledges that men and women, from racially diverse heritages, have made tremendous strides and have advanced within corporate America. For the author, the advances have not gone far enough in providing racially diverse representation in all of America’s largest companies. Women of color have even farther to go toward achieving top management positions than their male counterparts.

Susan E. Reed demonstrates, through her in depth research, that white women have moved up within company hierarchies, but even the corporate female diversity levels have only achieved partial application. The incomplete diversity activity, on the part of corporations, has advanced many racially and gender diverse people, while creating a ceiling for others. Susan Reed shows how these ceilings are not simply a civil rights issue, to be addressed through laws and the courts, but are also a serious impediment to overall company performance. The author’s comprehensive study shows clearly how racially and gender diverse companies consistently outperformed their non-diverse competitors on the bottom line.

To achieve the goals of a fully integrated and diverse work force, while achieving gains in overall business performance, the author recommends several steps:

* Combine diversity and ethical goals with overall business strategy
* Create a communications system to share feedback and concerns with leaders
* Provide diversity training and ongoing learning as part of the company culture
* Have diversity as part of management compensation
* Reach out to and develop new sources of diversity talent within communities
* Invest in local communities, public schools, and opportunities

For me, the power of the book is how Susan E. Reed combines her groundbreaking research findings with practical steps to facilitate real change, not only within companies, but within the entire community as well. The author provides solid data to back her important statements about the shortcomings in corporate diversity programs, and to point out how many companies are failing to address the critical issue of diversity at all.

The crucial research finding that diverse companies were more competitive, productive, and out performed their non-diverse counterparts, offers a powerful incentive for corporations to reconsider and re-evaluate their own diversity efforts. To help guide all companies, regardless of their progress in the area of diversity, Susan Reed shares an excellent ten step plan to build a more diverse and top performing company.

I highly recommend the landmark and must read book The Diversity Index: The Alarming Truth About Diversity in Corporate America…and What Can Be Done About It by Susan E. Reed, to anyone in corporate leadership who is serious about developing and implementing a racial and gender diversity initiative to sharply increase the number of women and people of color in their executive ranks and in their boardrooms. The author shows clearly as well how more diverse companies are also more profitable than their less diverse counterparts.

Read the important and company transformational book The Diversity Index: The Alarming Truth About Diversity in Corporate America…and What Can Be Done About It by Susan E. Reed, and out the power of diversity to work for your organization. Gender and racial diversity is not only the right moral and ethical choice, but it’s the most productive and profitable one as well.
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