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The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

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Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#11

Post by gonzo41 »

gherkinnn wrote: post #5
colechristensen wrote: post #2

Does anyone have book suggestions on leadership and management which aren't just pop-business BS?

I gave “Leaders eat last” a try, but found it unreadable. It starts with SEALs in Afghanistan, because of course it does, and then the author loosely strings together a bunch of unconvincing anecdotes to support his core idea. The worst part is his constant reference to various hormones and fight or flight responses in a superficial way that would make even TEDx feel ashamed. Edit: there is absolutely no doubt in my…

If your looking at the military for examples I would suggest you have a read of a conventional leadership manual like what the MOD put out for Sandhurst.

http://www.ceptm.iue.edu.ar/pdf/ADR002383-developingLeaders....

Obviously office work isn't the Army and you really shouldn't frame your work like a battle but generally. Everyone has a job, they are the one doing it so they are best to do it. Be professional, respectful and share a vision and you'll see people you lead follow you and mirror those traits. Your culture will start to reflect the environment you create.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#12

Post by arethuza »

gherkinnn wrote: post #5
colechristensen wrote: post #2

Does anyone have book suggestions on leadership and management which aren't just pop-business BS?

I gave “Leaders eat last” a try, but found it unreadable. It starts with SEALs in Afghanistan, because of course it does, and then the author loosely strings together a bunch of unconvincing anecdotes to support his core idea. The worst part is his constant reference to various hormones and fight or flight responses in a superficial way that would make even TEDx feel ashamed. Edit: there is absolutely no doubt in my…

I don't think I'd ever read a book purely on 'leadership' but I read a fair bit of military history and there is no doubt that there are some examples of outstanding leadership to be found there.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#13

Post by trwhite »

gexla wrote: post #10
colechristensen wrote: post #2

Does anyone have book suggestions on leadership and management which aren't just pop-business BS?

I like books which are sort of lessons within a biography format. Points pulled from real experience. For me, this adds context and makes a book readable. If you don't learn anything, then at least you might get to read a good story. The hard thing about hard things, by Ben Horowitz The Score Takes Care of Itself, Bill Walsh (49ers Coach) Creativity, Inc, Ed Catmull (Ran Pixar) To Pixar and Beyond, Lawrence Levy (CFO…

+1 for all of these.

Ben Horowitz's new book "What You Do Is Who You Are" is also well written and quite entertaining. There's a good mix of personal experience, humour and history.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#14

Post by thatguy_2016 »

"Turn the ship around" is one of my favorite books too; most leadership books follow the same formula- everything is broken, the consultant arrives with a magic fix, and voila! Unicorns start flying.

"Turn the ship around" is unique that it shows the problems with the author's approach- how it failed at first, how he had to work around it, how he tweaked the approach.

A very honest, no BS book. Highly recommended

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#15

Post by keiferski »

colechristensen wrote: post #2

Does anyone have book suggestions on leadership and management which aren't just pop-business BS?

Skip the business books and just study the lives of great leaders. Personally I recommend Napoleon, Orson Welles, Kurosawa, Fellini and Hitchcock. Basically anyone that was consistently productive in a group-based endeavor.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#16

Post by zwischenzug »

thatguy_2016 wrote: post #14

"Turn the ship around" is one of my favorite books too; most leadership books follow the same formula- everything is broken, the consultant arrives with a magic fix, and voila! Unicorns start flying. "Turn the ship around" is unique that it shows the problems with the author's approach- how it failed at first, how he had to work around it, how he tweaked the approach. A very honest, no BS book. Highly recommended

Yeah, that's the joy of it. Mis-steps, and dark nights of the soul and all. That's the reality of leadership; it's poking around in the dark.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#17

Post by trwhite »

jdsnape wrote: post #3
colechristensen wrote: post #2

Does anyone have book suggestions on leadership and management which aren't just pop-business BS?

I rate 'High output management' by Andrew Grove (founder & CEO of Intel). He has clearly lived a lot of the experiences he wrote about and the advice was pretty timeless.

His other book "Only The Paranoid Survive" also contains some useful advice, albeit can be a little repetitive.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#18

Post by brain5ide »

keiferski wrote: post #15
colechristensen wrote: post #2

Does anyone have book suggestions on leadership and management which aren't just pop-business BS?

Skip the business books and just study the lives of great leaders. Personally I recommend Napoleon, Orson Welles, Kurosawa, Fellini and Hitchcock. Basically anyone that was consistently productive in a group-based endeavor.

This is a bloody good constraint. Thanks.

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#19

Post by rimliu »

gexla wrote: post #10
colechristensen wrote: post #2

Does anyone have book suggestions on leadership and management which aren't just pop-business BS?

I like books which are sort of lessons within a biography format. Points pulled from real experience. For me, this adds context and makes a book readable. If you don't learn anything, then at least you might get to read a good story. The hard thing about hard things, by Ben Horowitz The Score Takes Care of Itself, Bill Walsh (49ers Coach) Creativity, Inc, Ed Catmull (Ran Pixar) To Pixar and Beyond, Lawrence Levy (CFO…

+1 for Creativity, Inc. (haven't read the others on the list).

I also liked both books by Ricardo Semler a lot (Maverick and Seven Days Weekend).

Re: The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read

#20

Post by yannis7 »

as @gexla mentioned down below, I prefer looking for leadership/culture advice on historical / biographical books.

For example, "Making of the Atomic Bomb" was recommended to me, for examples of how on earth did the US manage to get a bunch of primadonna scientists to finish a megaproject on time (though this is not the main scope of the book) -- I haven't read it yet, but I would it put forward as a suggestion.

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