More than 11,000 business books are published every year—an overwhelming choice for busy professionals. Therefore, in partnership with getAbstract, Training brings you March’s top three business books recommended to our readers.
“Before Happiness. The 5 Hidden Keys to Achieving Success, Spreading Happiness, and Sustaining Positive Change” by Shawn Achor (Crown Publishing Group, 2013, 272 pages, ISBN: 9780770436735; $18.17)
Best-selling author Shawn Achor, a psychologist who teaches and conducts education-related research at Harvard University, discusses five basic skills you need to make sustainable positive changes in your life. He explains that happy people live longer and enjoy better health, higher productivity, and greater success. These people generally see obstacles as temporary, while unhappy people tend to see roadblocks as permanent. Achor describes how to create an environment conducive to personal happiness that fosters lasting, satisfying change. He offers thorough data to back up his main points, and most of his text is interesting, though some readers may find it somewhat academic. Nonetheless, presenting five concrete steps toward achieving happiness is a great practical achievement. getAbstract recommends Achor’s method to busy people who seek actual measures they can take to become happier.
Rating (out of 10): 9
Applicability: 9
Innovation: 9
Style: 7
“Fix It. Getting Accountability Right” by Roger Connors and Tom Smith (Portfolio, 2016, 416 pages, ISBN: 9781591847878; $20.49)
Despite leaders’ efforts to engage employees, an “accountability gap” threatens organizational productivity and growth. Management experts Roger Connors and Tom Smith help you determine whether you, your team, or your organization face an accountability gap and offer answers enabling you to “fix it” by building “16 Accountability Traits,” such as using feedback, learning from experience, owning problems, and keeping your word. Analyzing a three-year study involving more than 40,000 poll responses, this practical sequel to the authors’ 1994 bestseller, “The Oz Principle,” offers hundreds of ideas based on real-life situations to help you close accountability gaps for yourself, your team, and your firm. Though the text is rife with too-cute terms and consultant jargon, getAbstract recommends this useful manual to leaders, managers, or employees who seek to do what they say and encourage others to do the same.
Rating (out of 10): 7
Applicability: 9
Innovation: 7
Style: 7
“All the Single Ladies. Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation” by Rebecca Traister (Simon & Schuster, 2016, 352 pages, ISBN: 9781476716565; $16.87)
Journalist Rebecca Traister provides a thorough historical overview of the role single women played in forming the contemporary United States. She draws on extensive research and personal interviews to create a quantitative and qualitative assessment of issues unmarried women face at all income levels and across racial and geographic borders. Traister organizes chapters by distinct topics—class, economics, marriage, and sex—to make information readily available. While always politically neutral, getAbstract recommends her examination of a rising demographic to consultants, HR professionals, and business leaders seeking valuable background on the power and challenges of unmarried women.
Rating (out of 10): 8
Applicability: 7
Innovation: 9
Style: 8
For five-page summaries of these and more than 15,000 other titles, visit http://www.getabstract.com/affiliate/trainingmagazine
