Amazon.com updates its list of the bestselling books every hour. Here is a snapshot of what is hot right now, this Monday morning, February 14, in the “Organizational Behavior” section of the “Business and Investing” category.
1. Thank God It’s Monday!: How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love
by Roxanne Emmerich. Consultant and public speaker Emmerich writes that passion and creativity are the keys to changing a dysfunctional company into one with happier and more productive workers, as well as happier and more loyal customers.
2. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. The authors of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
contend that our minds are ruled by two different systems — the rational mind and the emotional mind — that compete for control. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort — but if it is overcome, change can come quickly. In Switch, the Heaths show how everyday people — employees and managers, parents and nurses — have united both minds and, as a result, achieved dramatic results.
3. Apples Are Square: Thinking Differently About Leadership
by Susan Kuczmarski and Thomas D. Kuczmarski. A primer on the personal and managerial strategies of 25 people from many walks of life.
4. Liar’s Poker
by Michael Lewis. A behind-the-scenes look at a unique and turbulent time in American business. From the frat-boy camaraderie of the forty-first-floor trading room to the killer instinct that made ambitious young men gamble everything on a high-stakes game of bluffing and deception, this is an insider’s account of an unprecedented era of greed, gluttony, and outrageous fortune.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels
by by Michael Watkins. Whether challenged with taking on a startup, turning a business around, or inheriting a high-performing unit, a new leader’s success or failure is determined within the first 90 days on the job. This hands-on guide offers proven strategies for moving successfully into a new role at any point in one’s career.
8. The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t
by Robert I. Sutton. Aims to show managers that by hiring mean-spirited employees – regardless of talent – saps energy from everyone who must deal with said new hires.
9. Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results
by Roger Connors and Tom Smith. Show how leaders can achieve record-breaking results by quickly and effectively shaping their organizational culture to capitalize on their greatest asset-their people.
10. Leading Change
by John P. Kotter. The methods managers have used in the attempt to transform their companies into stronger competitors — total quality management, reengineering, right sizing, restructuring, cultural change, and turnarounds — routinely fall short, says Kotter, because they fail to alter behavior. This book identifies an eight-step process that every company must go through to acheive its goal, and shows where and how people — good people — often derail.
