More than 11,000 business books are published every year—an overwhelming choice for busy professionals. Therefore, in partnership with getAbstract, Training brings you February’stop three business books recommended to our readers.
“What Are Your Blind Spots? Conquering the 5 Misconceptions that Hold Leaders Back.” By Jim Haudan and Rich Berens (McGraw-Hill Education, 2018, 192 pages, ISBN: 9781260129236; $24)
Statistics say that approximately 70 percent of your employees suffer disengagement from their jobs. Unfortunately, many leaders have no idea how to engage their employees, often because of insidious “blind spots” in their thinking. These faulty management ideas rest on inaccurate information masquerading as business philosophies, and they’re destructively resistant to facts. Seduced by the attractive simplicity of these blind spots, leaders mistakenly use them as foundations for planning and strategizing how they and their firms should relate to their employees. Root Inc. consultancy co-founder Jim Haudan and CEO Rich Berens warn that failing to recognize these blind spots can cause you to stifle your best employees instead of giving them the autonomy to do their finest and most engaged work. To transform your organization and unlock the potential of your employees, the authors say, just open your eyes.
Rating (out of 10): 9
Applicability: 9
Innovation: 8
Style: 9
“Humble Leadership. The Power of Relationships, Openness, and Trust.” By Edgar H. Schein and Peter A. Schein (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2018, 192 pages, ISBN: 9781523095384; $19.95)
When leaders follow outmoded autocratic models, their organizations may stumble into becoming joyless, transactional, coercive, and deadening shells. These leaders perpetuate a culture that lacks trust, candor, and amity. In today’s VUCA world—characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity—versatile leadership makes more sense than the shopworn model of lofty corporate “heroes and disruptors” who are supposedly invincible. Edgar H. Schein, a management scholar, and his son, Peter A. Schein, an expert on organizations, explain how to achieve cultural change through “humble leadership.” The theme picks up on their previous books, “Humble Consulting” and “Humble Inquiry.” They guide leaders to create a culture of collaboration, engagement, and trustworthiness. Their guidance will be especially useful to coaches, mentors, and HR officials who work on leadership development. The Scheins’ advice can help all leaders and may have special utility for coaches, mentors, and HR officials who work on leadership development.
Rating (out of 10): 8
Applicability: 9
Innovation: 7
Style: 7
“Consistency Selling. Powerful Sales Results. Every Lead. Every Time” by Weldon Long (Greenleaf Book Group, 2018, 302 pages, ISBN: 9781626345454; $24.95)
Best-selling author Weldon Long asserts that you can get sales prospects to commit to your price, make timely decisions, and agree not to solicit competing proposals—all by using his proven “consistency-selling” process. By age 40, Long was a high school dropout and three-time convicted felon. Since then, he’s written two books—“The Power of Consistency” and “The Upside of Fear”—and developed a psychologically powerful selling system for salespeople and sales managers. Long, who has taught his psychology-based sales system to thousands of sales professionals over the years, tells you how to use it to eliminate objections in advance and close new business. He offers detailed, practical advice for salespeople who wish to improve their closure rates and earnings.
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
