WORKSHOPS THAT CONNECT

PEOPLE WITH STRATEGY FOR MEANINGFUL RESULTS

2015 Book Reviews

B O O K R E V I E W S

CONTENTS Hooked, Gabrielle Dolan and Yamini Naidu…………………………………………………………..2

Liquid Leadership, Brad Szollose……………………………………………………………………..3

Message Not Received, Phil Simon……………………................................................................4

The Social Employee, Cheryl Burgess and Mark Burgess…………………………………………5

Triggers, Marshall Goldsmith…………………………………………………………………………...6

Under the Hood, Stan Slap……………………………………………………………………………..7

B O O K R E V I E W

Hooked How Leaders Connect, Engage and Inspire with Storytelling

Gabrielle Dolan & Yamini Naidu

SYNOPSIS Hooked is designed to be a quick, easy-read primer for creating and sharing business stories, which they differentiate from traditional storytelling. Business storytelling is defined as sharing a story about an experience but linking it to a business message that will influence and inspire your audience into action. While the book gives a multitude of helpful storytelling tips, many of which are summarized in the sidebar at right, one of the more interesting ideas is the identification of four types of storytellers and tips on how each can improve. The types of storytellers are defined based on two criteria:

• The level of engagement – This ranges from a low level of engagement where people are hardly listening to a high level of engagement where people are hooked and hanging on a person’s every word.

• The strength of the purpose – This ranges from a low where people have no idea why a person is telling the story or what they want them to do to a high where the purpose is crystal clear and people know exactly what to do.

The four types of storytellers are: • The Avoider (low engagement and low purpose) – This person

sometimes doesn’t even tell stories or may focus primarily on stories that make him/her look good.

• The Joker (high engagement and low purpose) – While highly engaging, the primary purpose of the joker can simply be to make people laugh, rather than inspire action.

• The Reporter (low engagement an high purpose) – The most common business style, the reporter gives a lot of facts, figures and supporting data, but often is not engaging.

• The Inspirer (high engagement and high purpose) – The inspirer is comfortable telling stories and sharing personal information with a real purpose. People love to hear their stories and are often moved to action.

Once a person identifies their storytelling type, the book goes on to give tips to improve. This book is a great resource for corporate communicators or leaders who are interested in quick tips to become better business storyteller.

Quick Tips for Storytell ing The authors provide numerous tips for creating a good story, and many of them are summarized in this checklist: • Is your purpose clear and is there

only one purpose; could you put it on a bumper sticker?

• What is your audience; what motivates them and what are their concerns?

• Have you picked a personal or business experience to convert into a story?

• Structure your story so it starts with time and place.

• Who is the single key character in your story?

• Less is more…eliminate all unnecessary detail from your story.

• Feel it and see it. Is their emotional and sensory data in your story?

• The devil is in the detail so get all of your facts right.

• Does the story link back to the purpose without being directive?

• Have you written your story down?

• Check your story’s duration and timeline.

• Seek permission if necessary. • Credit your story if needed and

stay credible.

B O O K R E V I E W

Liquid Leadership From Woodstock to Wikipedia—Multigenerational Management Ideas

That Are Changing the Way We Run Things Brad Szollose

SYNOPSIS

For the first time, we have at least four generations in the workplace. And the cultural gaps between generations are wider than ever before, due to the quickening pace of technological change in the digital age. Each generation essentially grew up in a unique world, which deeply affects their perspectives on why, how, when and where we work. How can leaders, faced with this new reality, bridge the divides among diverse employee groups and engage them to do great work? According to Brad Szollose, the answer is Liquid Leadership—a fluid, adaptable approach that allows leaders to avoid getting caught up in workforce culture clashes and leverage employees’ differences to create more effective teams. This can be achieved, writes Szollese, through abiding by his seven immutable laws of Liquid Leadership:

1. A liquid leader places people first 2. A liquid leader cultivates an environment where it is free and

safe to tell the truth 3. A liquid leader nurtures a creative culture 4. A liquid leader supports reinvention of the culture 5. A liquid leader leads by example 6. A liquid leader takes responsibility 7. A liquid leader leaves a lasting legacy

The book makes a strong case for each law with interesting—and often amusing—anecdotes from the author’s experience as a consultant and tech entrepreneur. In addition, he cites numerous (albeit, in some cases, well-worn) case studies of organizations that have either championed or failed to embrace technology and culture shifts over the past half-century, tying them to the current challenges of leading multigenerational employees. Liquid Leadership is not a how-to guide on leading various generations or incorporating the seven immutable laws into your routine. The book’s aim is to redefine your perspective on leadership, with an emphasis on the “water-like” attributes of adaptability, transparency and strength. The book’s many examples and insights will certainly help point the way, but precisely how you’ll apply this new perspective is up to you to define.

KEY POINTS Here is a sampling of viewpoints, tips and food for thought that Liquid Leadership has to offer: • The idea of the CEO as messiah

has shifted. Leadership today is about sharing ideas and responsibility.

• Knowledge hoarding is out. Knowledge sharing is in.

• The family organizational chart was collapsed in the eighties, directly leading to the flattening of corporate hierarchy, because of the changed attitudes of the youngest, most vital workers.

• Because of readily available technology in their toys since birth, Gen Y thinks, operates and sees opportunities we can’t. Their brains are wired differently.

• Innovation can thrive only in environments where it is safe to tell the truth.

• Create a safe haven. Take W. L. Gore’s company motto to heart: “Internal fairness, external competitiveness.”

• Manage the intangible. If number crunching and goal setting were enough, everyone who crunched numbers and set goals would be rich and successful.

• Start destroying the bottlenecks of communication and approval. Trust is your key to a lasting legacy.

B O O K R E V I E W

Message Not Received Why Business Communication Is Broken and How to Fix It

Phil Simon

SYNOPSIS Message Not Received begins with the premise that most business communication simply doesn’t work. Nearly 100 years ago, George Bernard Shaw said that “The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” Author Phil Simon thinks this is truer today than ever before. The book chronicles modern-day misuses of language and technology that often result in people and organizations doing a lot of talking, but not really saying much. The book begins by reminding us of what we already know: that clear, simple communication trumps jargon and technobabble any day. Simon offers tips for spotting these and other “language atrocities,” and he suggests alternatives to popular buzzwords that litter much of our business communication. The book drives this point home by citing research about how the quickening pace of information and our diminishing attention spans demand simpler communication methods. In the second half of the book, the author focuses on the role of technology in business communication. Simon thinks that we critically need to reexamine what channels we use and how we use them. His primary target is email. A self-described “recovering email addict,” he believes that while email has a legitimate role to play, too often it promotes vague work expectations, is too private, can be difficult to search, is ill-suited for urgent communication, overwhelms people, can be an inappropriate medium for some messages, and doesn’t adequately support collaboration. So what do we do about it? Message Not Received doesn’t prescribe any one solution. However, the book does offer many case studies of progressive organizations that are using various social and collaborative tools to foster communication among employees and with customers. Such tools include Jive, Yammer, Slack, SharePoint, Basecamp, Asana and Evernote. The company profiles conclude with a table that outlines which tools to consider for specific uses, such as collaboration, file transfer, email management, instant messaging, screen sharing and project management. Published in March 2015, the book’s featured examples and technologies are—for the moment, at least—relevant and up to date. Message Not Received outlines the trends and tools that are impacting business communication broadly, while providing very tactical tips to help individuals communicate clearly and concisely in an increasingly noisy and complex business world.

KEY LEARNINGS Phil Simon says that even without the perfect culture, tools or leadership support, individuals within organizations can change how they and others communicate. Here’s how Simon suggests—in the kind of colorful, conversational language he uses throughout the book—that you can begin “fighting the good fight” to improve business communication: 1. Ask yourself if you routinely say

something as clearly as possible. 2. Think about your audience before

peppering your messages with arcane terms and acronyms.

3. Pause and take a deep breath before immediately responding to everyone copied on a pointless e-mail.

4. Realize the utter insanity of relying on e-mail as the default communications tool within your organization. Experiment with new technologies that encourage true collaboration.

5. Refuse to engage in interminable e-mail dialogues, especially when you’ve expressed your desire to actually speak to someone.

6. Politely point out to others that you don’t remotely understand what “leveraging our current value-add use cases going forward to promote strategic alignments and synergies” means.

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The Social Employee How Great Companies Make Social Media Work

Cheryl Burgess & Mark Burgess

SYNOPSIS The Social Employee argues that business is becoming increasingly social, and that the primary driver of this phenomenon is the “social employee.” The book details how the rise of social media has changed the way customers interact with brands, and how leading organizations are empowering employees to serve as brand ambassadors, building the authentic, one-to-one relationships that today’s customers demand. The book opens with a case for change, offering research on the ROI of social business and anecdotes about organizations that have effectively adopted social business practices. The authors also deconstruct a variety of “irrational concerns” that brands have about enabling social employees, which may help embolden reluctant leaders to enter the social arena. The majority of the book is composed of detailed case studies about how companies—including IBM, Adobe and Southwest—are successfully cultivating social behavior among employees and customers. Readers get an up-close look at how these organizations use training, gamification, mentoring and other approaches to drive business results. While The Social Employee is not a “how to” book, the in-depth company profiles offer plenty of ideas to consider when developing a social strategy. Because social platforms are emerging and changing rapidly, the authors don’t focus much on which tools to use or how to use them. They do, however, offer some guidance on developing and curating content to engage social employees (a sample is on the right). The Burgess’s contend that social employees are “the window into the brand’s soul.” The book concludes with the authors’ 10 Commandments of Brand Soul, which summarizes many of the book’s key themes: 1. It’s all about the people 2. The “why” drives everything 3. Establish trust through

guardrails 4. Make culture and

empowerment a priority 5. Seek out opportunities for

collaboration and engagement

6. Embrace transparency 7. Align the internal with the

external 8. Drive disruptive innovation 9. The path is not

predetermined 10. The cardinal rule: be human

The Social Employee is quick to point out that creating culture of social brand ambassadors isn’t easy—organizations need to take risks, be patient and expect surprises. However, the book offers a wealth of statistics, stories and tactics for leaders who want to better understand the changing landscape and jumpstart their social journey.

KEY LEARNINGS How to create content to engage social employees: 1. Identify a core story in the heart of

your brand’s value proposition. 2. Develop your story platform and

infuse it with big ideas, which must be linked to your brand value proposition and business goals.

3. Map your brand story’s delivery to your audience’s information needs and buying stages.

4. Train employees and arm them with your story so they can impact customers in social media.

5. Focus on communicating what you do, not what you sell. It isn’t about pitching products—guide your audience toward your brand with engaging content.

6. Develop your storylines and publish to all relevant social platforms across your brand’s ecosystem.

7. Focus on creating high-value (remarkable) content to reinforce and extend your brand, provide news value, start conversations and engage your audience.

8. Deliver real and unexpected benefits. Tell users something they didn’t know so they come away smarter.

9. Syndicate and share through every network connection available, starting with the social employees’ own networks.

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Triggers Creating Behavior That Lasts

Marshall Goldsmith

SYNOPSIS Triggers is a book that discusses both what causes us to act in certain ways and how we can manage our reactions to people and situations to more effectively become the person we want to be. We don’t operate in a vacuum. There are often triggers—or people and situations that lure us into behaving in a manner diametrically opposed the colleague, friend or parent we imagine ourselves to be. Goldsmith says, “We are superior planners, but become inferior doers as our environment exerts its influences through the course of the day.” Basic tools such as anticipating, avoiding and adjusting are good ways to start correcting the conflict between avoider and planner, but they are Band-Aid solutions. At a deeper level, there are four options in pursing any behavioral change, whether for a person or a group, which involve changing to keep the positive elements or changing to keep the negative elements. Goldsmith’s Wheel of Change includes the following four options:

• Creating represents the positive elements that we want to create in our future.

• Preserving represents the positive elements that we want to keep in the future.

• Eliminating represents the negative elements that we want to eliminate in the future.

• Accepting represents the negative elements that we need to accept in the future.

Some of these choices are more dynamic, glamourous and fun than others, but they’re equal in importance. For example, creating is the glamourous form of behavioral change where we imagine ourselves to be anyone we want to be. Preserving is a phase we probably don’t do enough. Successful people are usually doing many things well, and we need to make sure we focus on that too. Through the remainder of the book, Goldsmith talks about levels of engagement, the danger of “good enough behavior” and provides a multitude of stories and studies to support his approach to triggers and behavior change. He provides substantive food for thought for anyone focusing on behavior change for themselves or a group.

Asking Engaging Question Goldsmith suggestions using the idea of “reverse-engineered” questions to make sure you and your team are engaged. For the individual he recommends the following six questions: • Did I do my best to set clear

goals today? • Did I do my best to make

progress toward my goals today? • Did I do my best to find meaning

today? • Did I do my best to be happy

today? • Did I do my best to build positive

relationships? • Did I do my best to be fully

engaged today? In a study of 2,500 participants who asked themselves these six questions for 10 days, 65% improved in at least four items. Taking this same framework, he suggests you ask these six questions of the people you manage at least once a month: • Where are we going? • Where are you going? • What is going well? • What can we improve? • How can I help you? • How can you help me? This practice “forces” a manager to spend quality time with each employee at least once a month.

B O O K R E V I E W

Under the Hood Fire Up and Fine-Tune Your Employee Culture

Stan Slap

SYNOPSIS Under the Hood claims to be a book that will help you scale a wonderful employee culture, fix a troubled culture, ease a culture under pressure, and shape a new culture, and it does a good job of this. Culture is defined as your employees’ shared beliefs about the rules of survival ad emotional prosperity. “How do I survive—in this company, working on this team, working for you—and once I know I’m going to be okay, how do I get rewarded emotionally and avoid punishment? Slap also notes that as a manager, you are not part of your employee culture. You are a key influencer of its survival and emotional prosperity who is standing outside the culture trying to sell something to it. Most of the book is spent on Slap’s Seven Deadly Sins of Cultural Commitment. They are:

1. Failure to respect the power of an employee culture – Your culture will give you what you want if you give it what it wants first.

2. Presumption of rapid behavioral change – An employee culture doesn’t hate change. It hates the loss of the known rules of survival and emotional prosperity, so it will move to stop or slow change.

3. Plenty of management where leadership is needed – Employee cultures don’t trust strategies. They trust the leaders who bring strategies.

4. Say what? – The purpose of communication is to persuade, not inform. Keep it heartfelt, empathetic, and free of management speak.

5. Pay what? – What the culture cares most about is what money can’t buy.

6. Asking for too much trust – Make small short-term promises that you can deliver on and momentum will build as the culture collects proof points.

7. Big kickoff. Little payoff. – If you do a good job of introducing a goal and the end result, you can’t blame the culture for expecting everything in between to be figured out.

The book goes on to give tactics to address each of these sins. It’s a great primer for professionals who are charged with “changing our culture.”

KEY LEARNINGS Some highly relevant tactics include: • Explain what isn’t changing.

Focus on the security of the known.

• Sell it like a consumer product with early adopters first.

• Pick your top three values—they won’t remember more.

• Do something significant to prove that you mean it.

• Match what you want with what you give.

• Ask for trust a little bit at a time.

• Forecast the choice points and choke points for your culture. Where will the culture hit a crossroads between old and new and where will they no longer have a choice?

• Be creative. The effort you spend will mean as much as the reward. Don’t buy a cake; bake it.

There are many more tips in Under the Hood, but these will help you get started!