Do you have a favourite 'management bible'? Then why not share your knowledge with the rest of your community. Write a dazzling review of your favourite management book and you could win all six of the books worth £100 featured below in this week's Personnel Today book competition.
1. More Sex is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom
2. Work Like You're Showing Off: The Joy, Jazz and Kick of Being Better Tomorrow Than You Were Doing Today
3. The 80/20 Principle: The Secret of Achieving More with Less
4. High Performance Business Strategy: Inspiring Success Through Effective Human Resource Management
5. Everything I Need to Know About Being a Manager, I Learned From My Kids
6. The Talent Powered Organization: Strategies for Globalization, Talent Management and High Performance
Click on the 'comments' button to register (your email address will remain confidential). Then enter the title of your favourite management book and provide a brief review.
Closing deadline is 11 September
(Winner of last week's book competition is Eric Hornak)
Comments (2)
Posted by Scott McArthur | September 7, 2007 12:15 PM
“Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter's Guide” by Brian Fugere, Chelsea Hardaway and Jon Warshawsky
I was given this book by a friend of mine for Christmas a few years ago and without a doubt it has had a profound effect on me as an HR professional and management consultant. Once you have experienced “The Guide” it is almost impossible to read a management report, book or article without having a little snigger about the use (or is that abuse?) of the English language.
“The Guide” considers the four traps that stop our messages from being effective:
• The Obscurity Trap - The use of meaningless statements in communications
• The Anonymity Trap – People free corporate communications, where messages are sterile and templates replace any need for people to think about what they are saying
• The Hard-Sell Trap - This is where most of the BS can be found. The focus is often on trying to sell what people want rather than what they need. I now call this the White Van v Porsche syndrome
• The Tedium Trap - Corporate reports and presentations full of meaningless numbers, jargon and the ultimate sin – pointless clip art!
This book is easy to read and its insights ultimately lead me to being a strong advocate of the use of metaphor, storytelling, conversations, simulation and “stickiness” in corporate communications and personal development.
Academic and business writing has become obsessed with structure so perhaps it is little wonder that we struggle with creativity. Ultimately, I wonder what the impact of this book might be if it were part of the school or ever the CIPD curriculum?
Scott McArthur
Posted on September 7, 2007 12:15
Posted by Marieluise Maiwald | November 23, 2007 10:37 AM
I know this book competition is over, however I still wanted to alert you to some great new research from Columbia Professor Bill Duggan. In 'Strategic Intuition - The creative spark in Human Achievement' Bill takes the whole debate around intuition, flash insights and instant knowing to the next level by using MRI technology. Through the application of brain science he can actually distinguish three types of intuition: ordinary (gut instinct), expert (based on previous knowledge) and strategic (flash of insight).
I have briefly worked with Bill a few years ago, and he has pointed to his Meditation Practise as a great source of generating 'intuitive sparks'. Now he has got the scientific proof to back him up!
Posted on November 23, 2007 10:37