andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

The Shaping of an Effective Leader


The Shaping of an Effective Leader: Eight Formative Principles of Leadership
by Gayle D. Beebe

Westmont College president Gayle Beebe presents his eight principles of effective leadership and weaves in the wisdom of Peter Drucker, under whom he studied. The eight principles are character, competence, chemistry, culture, compatibility, convictions, connections, and commitment.

“Character is the foundation of all leadership responsibilities for all our life.” However, “without threshold competencies, even the most well-meaning individual can do real harm.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

More Human


More Human: How the Power of AI Can Transform the Way You Lead
by Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter

“More human means leveraging AI to unlock the best of our humanity and, simultaneously, to help us overcome some of our limitations. This is the art of the toggle, where we skillfully navigate getting the best of both human capabilities and AI. In this way, we can develop ourselves as better human leaders and thereby create better and more-human workplaces.”

The authors quote Tim Cook, CEO of Apple: “I’m not worried about artificial intelligence giving computers the ability to think like humans. I’m more concerned about people thinking like computers, without values or compassion, without concern for consequence.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

Systems Thinking for Business and Management


Systems Thinking for Business and Management
by Umit S. Bititci and Agnessa Spanellis

Organizations, markets, and economies are systems, analogous to ecosystems. This clearly-written, 278-page textbook written by professors from Edinburgh Business School and the University of Edinburgh introduces key concepts in systems thinking, including methods for modeling them and analyzing their behavior.

It is said that the purpose of higher education is to teach students to think. In this spirit, I believe future decisionmakers and policymakers would be well served by a course in systems thinking. I think every business school should include this subject in its curriculum.

“To understand the real value of systems thinking, we need to recognize that nothing in this world exists in isolation and that everything is connected to something else. Everything is affected by something and potentially affects something else. With systems thinking, one can begin to understand, explain, and predict why complex systems such as organizations, people, and societies behave the way they do.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

Managing Oneself and What Makes an Effective Executive


Managing Oneself and What Makes an Effective Executive
by Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005)

Peter Drucker is often referred to as the leading management thinker of the 20th century. His seminal works include Concept of the Corporation (1946) and The Practice of Management (1954). This short volume includes two of Drucker’s articles: “Managing Oneself” and “What Makes an Effective Executive.” Here are some highlights.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout


Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout
by Cal Newport

Slow Productivity is “a philosophy for organizing knowledge work efforts in a sustainable and meaningful manner, based on the following three principles: 1. Do fewer things; 2. Work at a natural pace; 3. Obsess over quality.”

Newport defines knowledge work as “the economic activity in which knowledge is transformed into an artifact with market value through the application of cognitive effort.”

“Concrete productivity metrics of the type that shaped the industrial sector will never properly fit the more amorphous knowledge work setting… In knowledge work… individuals are often wrangling complicated and constantly shifting workloads… In this setting, there’s no clear, single output to track.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists


The Crux: How Leaders Become Strategists
by Richard P. Rumelt

In rock climbing “there are many mountains and boulders, each promising a different mixture of difficulty and reward… Climbers call such boulders ‘problems’ and describe the toughest parts as ‘the crux’… The first climber said that he chooses the climb having the greatest expected reward and whose crux he believes he can solve.”

Rumelt observes that strategists do the same. “Whether facing problems or opportunities, they focused on the way forward promising the greatest achievable progress—the path whose crux was judged to be solvable.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

Understanding Organizations Finally!


Understanding Organizations Finally! Structuring in Sevens
by Henry Mintzberg

The four forms of organization are Personal (autocracy), Programmed (bureaucracy), Professional (meritocracy), and Project (adhocracy). Respectively, the coordinating mechanism of each form is direct supervision, standardization of work, standardization of skills, and mutual adjustment.

That last term should be defined before going further, as Mintzberg uses it throughout the book. “Coordination and control are two different concepts. Mutual adjustment is coordination without control… Currently, the literature of management gives considerable attention to teams, task forces, and networks, all manifestations of mutual adjustment.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

Purposeful Enterprise


Purposeful Enterprise: Design Your Organization to Change the World
by Roger Mader

“Purposeful enterprise means doing work that makes a difference, work that helps others, and aspires to make the world a better place. As a happy consequence, you’ll find you take pride in your accomplishments and discover that you love your work more deeply.” The premise is compelling, in theory.

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