More than 11,000 business books are published every year—an overwhelming choice for busy professionals. Therefore, in partnership with getAbstract, Training brings you December’s top three business books recommended to our readers.
“All the Leader You Can Be. The Science of Achieving Extraordinary Executive Presence” by Suzanne Bates (McGraw-Hill Education, 2016, 304 pages, ISBN: 9781259585777; $30)
When most businesspeople try to define “executive presence,” they say, “I know it when I see it!” A formal definition of executive presence might not matter to everyone, but managers stymied in their quest for promotion need to know what to do if their bosses think they lack this crucial quality. Unable to articulate a more concrete reason for blocking your path, bosses likely think, “I can’t promote you because you’re missing a special quality, but I can’t tell you what it is.” Consultant Suzanne Bates helpfully explains the essence of executive presence, why it matters, and how you can develop it. She breaks executive presence down into three “dimensions” with 15 behavioral “facets.” getAbstract recommends her insightful, practical manual as a helpful backgrounder for ambitious executives, start-up founders seeking investors, and HR hiring officers wondering how to define what they know they’re seeking.
Rating (out of 10): 8
Applicability: 9
Innovation: 7
Style: 8
“Integrity. The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality” by Henry Cloud (HarperBusiness, 2009, 309 pages, ISBN: 9780060849696; $24.99)
Clinical psychologist and leadership consultant Henry Cloud opens his book with a personal anecdote. A friend asked him to advise her two sons about what it takes to be a big success in life. He told them that successful people have areas of competence and can connect with other people to build alliances, but that the third ingredient of success is harder to define: character. Using examples from his extensive consulting work with successful people, Cloud explains why integrity is necessary to them, explaining that to succeed, people must have the ability to gain the trust of others, confront reality, produce expected outcomes, deal with problems, create growth, and transcend self-interest. Although some of Cloud’s truths seem self-evident and he can become repetitive, getAbstract recommends his highly readable, timely moral lesson to current and aspiring business leaders.
Rating (out of 10): 8
Applicability: 8
Innovation: 8
Style: 7
“Gen Z @ Work. How the Next Generation Is Transforming the Workplace” by David Stillman and Jonah Stillman (HarperBusiness, 2017, 320 pages, ISBN: 9780062475442; $28.99)
Generational researcher David Stillman and his Gen Z son, Jonah Stillman, conducted extensive research about the Generation Z age cohort. They couch their book as a running conversation between father and son about this age group. Many people incorrectly assume that Gen Zers are just like Millennials, so to dig out better information, the Stillmans commissioned two national surveys about Gen Z from the Institute for Corporate Productivity. David Stillman collaborated with the Gen Zers in Jonah Stillman’s high school “business immersion program.” getAbstract recommends this analysis as a useful tool in understanding how to motivate younger workers and how to promote harmonious workforce relationships.
Rating (out of 10): 7
Applicability: 8
Innovation: 7
Style: 7
For five-page summaries of these and more than 15,000 other titles, visit http://www.getabstract.com/affiliate/trainingmagazine
