Books

Winter 2011-12

 

The Anywhere Leader

Author: Mike Thompson
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Price: £16.99/$24.95

An “anywhere leader”, according to Thompson, is someone who can lead through the disruption and uncertainty we have had to become used to in the 21st century and “move forward no matter what the setting or situation presents”. Examples include Amazon’s Jeff Bezos or Bill and Bob Gore of Gore-Tex.
There are three core traits: being driven more by the push for progress than by politics; being sensationally curious; and being vastly resourceful. The book has sections dedicated to each of these areas, including clear recommendations designed to help the reader develop these goal characteristics.

So how do you develop and foster the drive that can make you a successful “anywhere” leader? You need to become daring by not always playing it safe and discerning by having uncompromising values, but compromising behaviours.

Admittedly, some of the behaviours Thompson – who leads an organisational development company – advocates did make me wonder if these things can be learned. Aren’t some of these traits just innate? This argument is briefly touched upon. But “research shows that anyone can develop a drive for progress”, the book says.

Pros: Clearly set out and 
easy to read
Cons: Can all these traits 
really be learned?

---

 

The Social Organization – 
how to use social media to tap the collective genius 
of your customers and employees

Authors: Anthony J Bradley and Mark P McDonald
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
Price: £24.99/$35

While we know many CPO Agenda readers are comfortable and au fait with the benefits of social media (as the popularity of our LinkedIn group testifies) many misconceptions and myths still surround the effective use of these new technologies. These include the belief that there is no real business value to social media and it just wastes employees’ time; or that it’s too much of a risk in terms of IP protection, customer service, privacy or regulatory compliance.

The authors of this book, both lead analysts at Gartner, label these misconceptions (and others) as actively “dangerous”, aiming to provide guidance on how best to harness social media so it delivers substantial, tangible business value. The book includes useful examples 
of companies that have transformed themselves into “social organisations”– firms such as Cemex or Ford that are applying social media in an integrated and planned way and thus reaping benefits such as increased customer satisfaction and higher productivity.

Pros: Excellent glossary 
of terms
Cons: Hard going in parts

---

The Intuitive Compass – why the best decisions balance reason 
and instinct

Authors: Francis P Cholle
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Price: £16.99/$27.95

In business, there is usually 
not much room for making decisions on ‘gut instinct’ or hunch (at least not that anyone would admit to). The quest tends to be for rational, 
logical solutions and evidence based decisions.

Yet Cholle’s research demonstrates that instinct plays a leading role in complex decision making; that imaginative play is the most direct means of activating our creativity and problem-solving skills. To this end, this book advances the concept of Intuitive Intelligence and 
aims to dispel some of the prejudice against using 
instinct and intuition.

The author also describes an alternative model for applying in business – the “intuitive compass”, which balances and integrates “the best of what both logic and instinct have to offer”.  This compass is made up of four tenets: thinking holistically, thinking paradoxically, listening for the unusual and leading by influence. Each are described in detail with useful case studies.

Pros: Puts forward a genuinely different business theory
Cons: Fairly complex; how 
can you convince the rest of 
the organisation this is the 
way forward?

---