More than 11,000 business books are published every year—an overwhelming choice for busy professionals. Therefore, in partnership with getAbstract, Training brings you November’s top three business books recommended to our readers.
“Strategic Internal Communication. How to Build Employee Engagement and Performance” by David Cowan (Kogan Page, 2014, 176 Pages, ISBN: 9780749470111; $35.65)
David Cowan, a 25-year veteran of the communications profession, describes a new model of communication within organizations based on collaboration, information sharing, values, employee engagement, and “emotional management.” He discusses the power of feelings over facts, the myth of “corporate culture,” the damage done by unclear values, the significance of difficult conversations, and the need for empathy. He explains the relationships among “intelligence, emotion, interpretation” and “narrative” in internal communications. His ideas are challenging and innovative, though hard-bitten internal marketers who are veterans of the corporate battlefield might question his idealistic goals of achieving a transparent communications environment and a company with no culture except empathy. Nonetheless, getAbstract recommends his fresh thinking to corporate communications professionals and the executives who establish corporate values.
Rating (out of 10): 8
Applicability: 8
Innovation: 8
Style: 7
“Worldly Women. The New Leadership Profile; How to Expatriate With Excellence” by Sapna Welsh and Caroline Kersten (iUniverse, 2013, 252 Pages, ISBN: 9781475983012; $17.86)
Increased globalization, a worldwide talent shortage, and a general acknowledgment of the need to develop more female executives combine to create new opportunities for women pursuing international leadership roles. “Your time is now,” say international HR professionals and authors Sapna Welsh and Caroline Kersten. Not only is the glass ceiling breaking, international “glass borders” are showing some cracks, as well. Basing their global leadership model for women on in-depth interviews with 62 “Women in Senior-level Expatriate Roles” (WiSERs), Welsh and Kersten identify the barriers to expatriate assignments and offer strategies for succeeding in overseas jobs. Although the authors’ persistent reliance on statistics makes for occasionally tedious reading, they include enough in-her-own-words case studies to hold your interest. getAbstract recommends their advice to professional women who are considering an expatriate assignment or are about to leap into one. Bon voyage.
Rating (out of 10): 8
Applicability: 8
Innovation: 9
Style: 7
“The Inclusion Imperative. How Real Inclusion Creates Better Business and Builds Better Societies” by Stephen Frost (Kogan Page, 2014, 333 Pages, ISBN: 9780749471293; $21.43)
Stephen Frost provides a brilliant, if somewhat long and repetitive, case for a new approach to diversity and inclusion (D&I). Drawing on his experience leading the Diversity and Inclusion team of the “London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games” (LOCOG), he implores you to stop forcing diversity upon your workplace. Stop creating a separate, expensive, and often annoying parallel organizational process. Instead, weave diversity and inclusion into your business plan so it aligns with and supports your business objectives. Instead of compliance and policing quotas, use evidence to convince your colleagues that diversity and inclusion are the right values to carry out and the best course for your business. The 2012 London Olympics were the most diverse and inclusive in history; the congruence of those two factors is not a coincidence. getAbstract recommends this inside account of how the London Committee developed its proven, flexible methodology to any leader seeking concrete, immediate applicable ideas and tactics for diversity and inclusion.
Rating (out of 10): 8
Applicability: 9
Innovation: 9
Style: 6
For 5-page summaries of these and more than 10,000 other titles, visit http://www.getabstract.com/affiliate/trainingmagazine
