More than 11,000 business books are published every year—an overwhelming choice for busy professionals. Therefore, in partnership with getAbstract, Training brings you August’s top three business books recommended to our readers.
“Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work…and What Does: The New Science of Leading, Energizing, and Engaging” by Susan Fowler (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2017, 232 pages, ISBN: 9781626569454; $18.95)
Drawing on years of extensive motivational research, consultant Susan Fowler explains how managers can unleash employees’ maximum potential without resorting to a mindless carrot-and-stick approach that creates more problems than it solves. When it comes to motivation, she explains, conventional approaches don’t work. She offers an optimum motivation approach you can use to help your employees reach higher levels of satisfaction and performance. getAbstract recommends Fowler’s iconoclastic ideas to leaders, small business owners, and start-up entrepreneurs who are ready to move beyond traditional motivational techniques.
Rating (out of 10): 8
Applicability: 8
Innovation: 8
Style: 7
“The Tyranny of Metrics” by Jerry Z. Muller (Princeton University Press, 2018, 240 pages, ISBN: 9780691174952; $24.95)
Professor Jerry Z. Muller says today’s society has a “metric fixation”—an obsession with measuring, ostensibly to fuel improvements and publicize the results of their tallies in the name of transparency and accountability. Muller exposes how metrics can mislead and distort, and he details how education, health care, law enforcement, the military, business, finance, and nonprofit entities use metrics improperly. Muller makes a compelling case for why you shouldn’t substitute measurement for personal experience or sound judgment. getAbstract recommends his practical insights to executives, policy experts, and organization leaders trying to escape the metrics trap.
Rating (out of 10): 8
Applicability: 8
Innovation: 8
Style: 8
“Make Mentoring Work” by Peter Wilson (Major Street Publishing, 2015, 338 pages, ISBN: 9780987542991; $24.99)
Now in its second edition, this guidebook by Peter Wilson, chairman of the 20,000-member Australian Human Resources Institute, remains the established go-to resource for mentors and those they mentor. Organizations depend on it when they set up mentoring programs, since today’s employees expect mentoring as a basic job benefit. Wilson’s manual features a fascinating historical review of mentoring; a comprehensive, detailed background overview of mentoring; and easy-to-apply, how-to guidance. getAbstract recommends Wilson’s classic to everyone involved in mentoring. It also will serve those whose organizations might wish them to become mentors or who might seek mentoring.
Rating (out of 10): 8
Applicability: 9
Innovation: 7
Style: 8
For five-page summaries of these and more than 15,000 other titles, visit http://www.getabstract.com/affiliate/trainingmagazine
