Every year I get asked by at least one of my team as to recommendations to read whilst on the beach. This is, of course, related to some management/business related theme and is normally because individuals never get round to reading enough throughout the year (and also that I'm not into recommending outside of this area as I believe that it is a very personal choice whether fact or fiction!).
So which ones would I recommend to HCM Practitioners?
Well here's six including one leftfield choice for the holiday............
1. The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenweig (paperback). An outstanding book that blows away some of the management myths associated with so called management best-sellers. It's the book I wanted to write but Phil got there first. Mr Rozenweig is a top-class iconoclast. This book points out management 'delusions' with bestsellers like Built to Last/Good to Great and indices such as Best Companies and Great Place to Work taking a pasting. Phil's day job is a Professor at IMD and this is deconstruction of the highest order.......A pulsating read....
2. The Tiger That Isn't: seeing through a world of numbers by Blastland & Dilnot (paperback). Outstanding book which should be read by everybody. Explains in layman terms the rationale for numbers in our daily lives but also how they can be reported wrongly and with distorting messages. As they say there are 'lies, damn lies and statistics' and this book takes examples from all current topics. Another riveting read....
3. The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford (paperback). Already a bestseller. Brings everyday economics home to everybody. Starts with cups of coffee, Waterloo station, property and travel so should be easy to read for most. Economics done in a chatty, witty style. There aren't that many economics books one could recommend ever (never mind a holiday) but this one's a cert..........
4. Extraordinary Circumstances: The journey of a corporate whistleblower by Cynthia Cooper (hardback may now be paperback). Everybody remembers Enron but not many remember Worldcom (now MCI). Worldcom was the largest US bankruptcy dwarfing that of Enron's. But this book is all about people and choices and very much the personal story of the protagonist - the Chief Auditor at Worldcom. This is a must read for HR/HCM practitioners and reads better than most novels.......
5. boohoo by Ernst Malmsten (paperback). Quite an old publication from 2001. Those crazy hazy dotcom days of summer back in 99/00. And what a story this is. A rollicking read of a great idea, excess, silliness but grand story of failure. Again its about people. Couldn't put this one down. You sometimes wonder whether you are reading fiction as much as fact......A rollercoaster....
And finally, the leftfield choice.....
6 A World Without Bees by Benjamin & McCallum (hardback). A just released 'whodunnit'. One of Einstein's lesser known quotes was 'If the bee disappeared off the surface off the globe then man would only have four years left to live'. Bees, you see are responsible for about a third of the world's food and most of its clothes. Disturbingly, bees seem to be disappearing at a vast rate of knots up to 60% in some areas. Nobody is sure why but the authors look to piece the clues together in order to understand and ask 'Is this another global catastrophe in the making?
If you pick any of these I trust that you enjoy them and have a good holiday if you're one of many trying to get to the beach.......
For me, this entry marks the start of the summer recess since I have many things to complete in a very short space of time. I will be back on Monday September 1st with some very interesting times ahead.........
