Honour to whom honour is due – Leadership Literature
For my special “Hall-of-Fame” bookcase, I have demands: Fascinating, inspiring, applicable and to the point. And looking back, it should have been a game-changer for my professional career.
I have included three books that I have kept on the shelf for more than twenty years.
✳️ Peter Kline, Bernard Saunders, “Ten Steps to a Learning Organization” in its German edition of 1996
✳️ Fredmund Malik, “Leading, Performing, Life”, in its 13th edition from 2002
✳️ Stephen R. Covey et al., “First Things First” in its 5th German edition from 2003
⏭️ “A learning environment depends on safety,” ⏮️ reads a subchapter on page 100 (German ed.) of Kline and Saunders’ book. A “thinking-confident” workplace is required, non-knowlegde and mistakes are allowed, methods for attenuating fear reactions are explained.
That sounds like a precursor to the topic of psychological safety. I both recently read Amy Edmondson’s “The Fearless Organization” from 2018 and the playbook by Karolin Helbig and Minette Norman from 2023. Hall-of-Fame suspicious!
Malik’s work describes seven tools for effective management. And I have used the seventh of them consistently since then. The aim of ⏭️ “systematic waste collection” ⏮️ is to install a process of eradicating the old, the outdated and the superfluous.
I found the recent article here by Monika Hesse-Haake and the book by Martin Gaedt very appropriate in this regard (https://lnkd.in/gc2p_Vkt).
⏭️ “When we achieve goals in our sphere of focus, we maximize the use of our time and energy. Interestingly, our sphere of influence then automatically expands” (page 139, German ed.). ⏮️ An absolute learning from Covey’s book, which has been 100% confirmed over all my professional years.
It’s fascinating that I came across this book at the time on the recommendation of an employee at a development meeting. It was about preparing him for a management position and my associated offer to be able to take advantage of external coaching for it. And not only the book, but also the coach, Sonja Förste, he suggested to me. I am still grateful to him for both.
➡️ Which leadership book is suspicious for a “Hall-of-Fame” shelve from your point of view?
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I am Bernd Scharbert and I accompany and advise when it comes to intercultural leadership, diversity & inclusion and work having a ssutainable effect in general. If you are interested, feel free to follow me at LinkedIn, #Prepare4Landing or contact me directly.
