Amazon.com updates its list of the bestselling business books every hour. Here is a snapshot of what is hot right now, this Monday morning, January 19, in the “Organizational Behavior” category.
1. Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Teal Book of Trust: How to Earn It, Grow It, and Keep It to Become a Trusted Advisor in Sales, Business and Life (Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Books)
by Jeffrey Gitomer. Gitomer advises that trust is not the product of any secret formula. It’s not something you can lay there and wait for it to happen to you. Gaining, building, and maintaining a high level of trust involves thinking, and requires reading, a clear mind, a focus on becoming a world-class expert, studying, risking, failing, the right attitude, and lacing your boots straps tighter when times are tough.
2. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
by Patrick Lencioni. The author targets group behavior in the final entry of his trilogy of corporate fables. When the instructional tale is over, Lencioni discusses the “five dysfunctions” (absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results) and provides a questionnaire for readers to use in evaluating their own teams and specifics to help them understand and overcome these common shortcomings.
3. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox. Alex Rogo manages a failing manufacturing plant. When his district manager tells him that profits must increase or the plant will be closed, Alex turns to Jonah, a former professor. With the help of the enigmatic Jonah and the plant staff, Alex turns the plant around while at the same time abandoning many management principles he previously thought were ironclad.
4. Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard . This story is about adjusting attitudes toward change in life, especially at work. Change occurs whether a person is ready or not, but the author affirms that it can be positive. His principles are to anticipate change, let go of the old, and do what you would do if you were not afraid.
5. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, and Stephen R. Covey. Mainly about resolving conflicts and influencing people, this guide covers every conceivable aspect of talking with others. People hear facts and stories and turn them into shared knowledge when they’re not attacked or overpowered- – in other words, when they feel safe. No mushy mental health lesson, the program explains many types of communication errors and describes the best ways to achieve mutual purpose.
6. The Leadership Challenge, 4th Edition
by James M. Kouzes. In the 1980s and again in the ’90s, James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner published The Leadership Challenge to address issues they uncovered in research on ordinary people achieving “individual leadership standards of excellence.” The keys they identified–model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, encourage the heart–have now been reexamined in the context of the post-millennium world and updated.
7. Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life
by David Allen. His Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
hit a nerve and ignited a movement with businesses, students, soccer moms, and techies all the way from Silicon Valley to Europe and Asia. Now, David Allen leads the world on a new path to achieve focus, control, and perspective.
8. Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership (JOSSEY-BASS BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT SERIES)
by Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal. This new edition introduces the bestselling authors’ clear and insightful approach to “big picture” management. Updated examples add to those previously drawn from business, education, health care, and the public sector to help today’s leaders prepare more creatively for tomorrow’s needs.
9. Leadership: Theory and Practice
by Peter G. Northouse. The book seems to have been sprung from the author’s experiences of teaching and consulting on leadership issues. This is evident from the way in which the approaches and theories to leadership are structured for easy application and practice in active scenarios. A clear positive aspect of the book is the summary at the end of each chapter with serves the purpose of integrating several dimensions that the chapter deals with.
10. Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance
by Marcus Buckingham. Buckingham answers the question, “How can you actually apply your strengths for maximum success at work?” Research data show that most people do not come close to making full use of their assets at work. This book reveals the hidden dimensions of your strengths through a six-step, six-week experience.
