andreweverett360 Book Review, Nonprofit

The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization

the-five-most-important-questions


The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization
by Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005) et al

This book offers a strategic planning framework for nonprofit organizations. It can help board members set the direction by asking five questions.

What is our mission? The mission must reflect opportunities, competence, and commitment. Drucker cautions, “Never subordinate the mission in order to get money. If there are opportunities that threaten the integrity of the organization, you must say no.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Creativity

Six Thinking Hats

six-thinking-hats-edward-de-bono


Six Thinking Hats
by Edward de Bono, M.D.

The Six Thinking Hats offers “an alternative to the argument system, which was never intended to be constructive or creative.” The emphasis is on “how we design a way forward—not on who is right and who is wrong.”

A major benefit is time savings. De Bono claims that ABB reduced their multinational project team discussions from 21 days to two days using the Six Hats method. “In the United States, managers spend nearly 40 percent of their time in meetings… Instead of rambling, ego-driven meetings, meetings are now constructive, productive, and much faster.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

Power Questions

power-questions


Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence Others
by Andrew Sobel and Jerold Panas

“You’ve heard about people who talk too much. You never heard about a person who listens too much.”

Power Questions is about the productive use of questions in a variety of contexts. Co-authors Andrew Sobel and Jerold Panas are experts on client loyalty and fundraising, respectively.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Finance

Seeing the Big Picture: Business Acumen

seeing-the-big-picture-business-acumen


Seeing the Big Picture: Business Acumen to Build Your Credibility, Career, and Company
by Kevin Cope

The premise of this book is that an employee who understands business fundamentals will be taken more seriously by management. “If, through your questions, ideas, comments, analysis, proposals, and performance, you exhibit business acumen, you will be seen as a more valuable contributor. You will demonstrate your worth to the company, and other people will notice.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

The Power of Nice

the-power-of-nice


The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World With Kindness
by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval

You may not be familiar with the authors’ names, but you are probably familiar with their work. They are the founding partners of the advertising agency responsible for the Aflac duck campaign.  One of them wrote the “I want to be a Toys R Us Kid” jingle earlier in her career.

Their message is that being nice (but not phony) in personal and professional encounters builds goodwill, which can lead to big and small rewards.  Many examples are included in the book.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Law

Contracts in the Real World

contracts-in-the-real-world


Contracts in the Real World: Stories of Popular Contracts and Why They Matter
by Lawrence A. Cunningham, J.D.

In this highly-informative book, Lawrence Cunningham explains contract law by analyzing contemporary cases, many involving well-known names such as Lady Gaga, Conan O’Brien, Eminem, Michael Jordan, Frank and Jamie McCourt, JP Morgan Chase, and Sprint. The author is a law professor at George Washington University.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

The Balance Myth

the-balance-myth


The Balance Myth: Rethinking Work-Life Success
by Teresa A. Taylor

Teresa Taylor is a former COO of a Qwest Communications. She writes about how she navigated her career while also juggling the demands of her personal life as a wife and mother of two boys.  As the title implies, she found that “trying to achieve this mythical ‘balance’ simply causes us endless frustration.” She uses layers of clothing as an analogy. You can add or remove layers to adapt to changing circumstances. “Thinking in layers allows you to integrate your work and your personal time to create one life and one family.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

Confessions of an Accidental Businessman

confessions-of-an-accidental-businessman


Confessions of an Accidental Businessman: It Takes a Lifetime to Find Wisdom
by James A. Autry

James Autry worked his way up from copy editor of Better Homes and Gardens to president of the magazine division. This memoir gets off to a slow start talking about his childhood and military service, but it gets more interesting when he starts to focus on his publishing career.

There are some memorable lines in this book:

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management, Psychology & Neuroscience

What Keeps Leaders Up at Night

what-keeps-leaders-up-at-night


What Keeps Leaders Up at Night: Recognizing and Resolving Your Most Troubling Management Issues
by Nicole Lipkin

In this excellent book, clinical psychologist Nicole Lipkin explains the psychology behind many of the human behaviors that affect productivity and sound decision making in the workplace. “Good leadership requires dealing effectively with messy, quirky, unpredictable, confusing, irrational, and clumsy people. That is what makes the business of leadership so insanely difficult and complex.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

The One Thing

the-one-thing


The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan

This book is about finding your focus and making it your top priority in order to achieve extraordinary results.  Identifying your focus comes from asking The Focusing Question: “What’s the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?”

“The Focusing Question is a double-duty question. It comes in two forms: big picture and small focus. One is about finding the right direction in life and the other is about finding the right action.”

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