Consistency has been shown again and again to be an important facet of leadership (see Google’s Project Oxygen and the CEO Next Door). Agreeing on a set of team norms can have several potential advantages: Consistency aa Here are some norms my teams have created in the past: The customer is always right, everyone […]
Category Archives: Book reviews
July
26
Leadership hack 023 – setting team norms helps your team perform after the honeymoon has ended
posted by Max
Building great teams is notoriously difficult. Setting an agreed list of team norms can help teams become more productive faster. Teams take time and investment to become high-performing (see here). The most challenging phase is what Tuckman called the ‘storming’ phase. Once the team has formed and after the honeymoon period is over, team members soon get […]
July
23
What you could learn from ‘Beyond Measure’ by Margaret Heffernan (2015, 100 pages)
posted by Max
Creating a culture that allows constructive conflict to flourish will lead to better solutions, more value for customers and more value for your business. In her book ‘Beyond Measure’ Margaret Hefferman suggest that there are many small changes to improve your company’s culture. Difference makes a difference. Teams need to include people with differences in […]
July
20
Leadership hack 022 – teams change over time
posted by Max
High performing teams are very rare and take a huge amount of investment. As a leader, it is very difficult to understand how your team (or teams) are performing. While you can use metrics and OKRs these are relative (to other teams or to the post) and do not give you an indication of the […]
July
19
What you could learn from ‘Drive’ By Daniel Pink (2009, 202 pages)
posted by Max
Few books lead to new organisational paradigms. Daniel’s book ‘Drive’ and his theories on motivation have catapulted Netflix and Spotify to global success. Drive suggest that there is a gap between what research has shown increases motivation, and what business do. Daniel indicates that the current motivation model (carrot and stick) is no longer suitable […]
July
16
What you could learn from ‘Thinking fast and slow’ by Daniel Kahneman (2012, xxx pages)
posted by Max
What is intuition? How do humans think? Are humans rational or irrational and can we predict them? Historically economist built models that assumed that human beings are perfectly rational (joking called ‘homo economus’). Daniel Kahneman showed that humans are highly irrational, but often the irrationality is predictable. Daniel proposes that there are two decision-making systems […]
July
13
Leadership hack 021 – getting out of the comfort zone
posted by Max
Encouraging your team to adopt a ‘growth mindset‘ will benefit you, your team and your bottom line (see HBR article here). When Satya Nadella took over as Microsoft’s CEO spent considerable time and energy encouraging those around him to adopt a growth mindset (see this HBR article), and while he has also made some great strategic decisions (e.g., Azure, reducing Windows’ […]
July
12
What you could learn from ‘The CEO next door’ by Botelho and Powell (2018, 250 pages)
posted by Max
What makes a successful CEO? By studying 2600 CEOs, the Botelho and Powell suggest that there are four defining behaviours that separate successful CEOs from the rest.
July
12
What you could learn from ‘The CEO next door’ by Botelho and Powell (2018, 250 pages)
posted by Max
What makes a successful CEO? By studying 2600 CEOs, the Botelho and Powell suggest that there are four defining behaviours that separate successful CEOs from the rest.
July
06
What you could learn from ‘Only the paranoid survive’ by Andrew Gove (1997, 184 pages)
posted by Max
What happens when the fundamentals that underpin your industry change? How do you see change coming? How do you separate the signal from the noise? How do you lead your organisation through the change?
June
29
What you could learn from ‘Code Complete’ by Steve McConnell (2004, 853 pages)
posted by Max
In an age where Netflix and Spotify are held up as paragons of software development, what can a fourteen-year-old Microsoft book tell you about building software? Actually, quite a lot. The Agile framework (manifesto and principles) and Agile practices (Scrum, XP) are useful precisely because they are lightweight and easy to remember. Where should you […]
June
21
What you could learn from ‘Humble Inquiry’ by Edgar Schein (2013, 110 pages)
posted by Max
While asking questions is one of the most powerful tools leaders possess, it is very easy to get wrong, especially under stress. I am very inquisitive. I love to ask questions, learn, debate and argue to find out more. However, I have received consistent feedback that I can be pretty brutal, and that sometimes people […]
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