Article: Eclectic reading list for 2016

Sports, Books & Movies

Eclectic reading list for 2016

It's always great to start the New Year with a list of great books you want to read in the entire year. Bookmark these amazing reads to stimulate your minds in the right possible way
Eclectic reading list for 2016

Here is my recommended reading list of eclectic books that I loved. From classics, to autobiographies, some old, some new, learning from economists, movie producers, psychologist and entrepreneurs. These are some of my favorites, send us yours on Twitter tagging @PeopleMatters2 #BooksWeLove

Exit, Voice and Loyalty

Exit, Voice and Loyalty

Responses to Decline in Firms, Organisations and States

By Albert O. Hirschman

Why I love this book: The book questions the easy road to dissatisfaction, ‘exit’  - resignation from the company or switch to a competing product for a consumer. The book offers a powerful alternative, ‘voice’. This alternative provides a avenue to retarding ‘exit’, permitting ‘voice’ to help in improvement and innovation and leading to ‘loyalty’. Powerful insights for organizations to reflect on how providing ‘voice’ to employees can lead to improvement and loyalty. A classic from 1970 that is more relevant today than ever before as technology is adding to the power of both exit and voice.

Who should read it: Leaders looking for alternative thinking to drive employee engagement.

The book in a Tweet: Questioning cult of ‘exit’, as reinforces culture of decline, Hirschman offers alternative of ‘voice’ to achieve ‘loyalty’ #BooksWeLove

Mindset

Mindset

The New Psychology of Success

By Carol Dweck

Why I love this book: Dweck extensive research captured in the book leads to a better comprehension of the importance that a person's mindset has in life and in success. People with a fixed mindset constantly struggle to recover from failures. On the other hand, there are the people with the growth mindset who look at life as an opportunity to learn. The author focuses on how coaches (teachers, managers or parents) can teach a growth mindset to learners and create motivation and productivity in the worlds of business, education, and sports.

Who should read it: Must read for everybody responsible for talent development. 

The book in a Tweet: A person's #mindset often what gets in the way of an individual's development #BooksWeLove by Carol Dweck.

Judgment

Judgment

How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls

By Noel M. Tichy and Warren G Bennis

Why I love this book: This book breaks down one of the most critical elements of success – taking judgment calls. The author identified that judgment is not an event but a process. Identifying the need for a judgment call, frame the problem, mobile the right people and align them, take the judgment call, execute it and then finally learn to improve. Interestingly the authors reflect that there is a “redo loop” in the process that gives the opportunity to the leaders to go back to any stage at any moment. Awesome read, full of intriguing stories from corporate judgments (good and bad judgments).

Who should read this book: Every CHRO and aspiring CHROs. For HR Leaders taking judgment calls and coaching CEOs and senior leaders on this process can prove to be a great competitive advantage for the team. 

The book in a Tweet: The only thing that counts is winning or losing - Good outcome is the product of well-considered process - #mustread #Judgement #BooksWeLove

The Alliance

The Alliance

Managing Talent in the Networked Age

By Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha, Chris Yeh

Why I love this book: This books explores a new relationship between employers and employees,  where employees are not considered ‘family’ but ‘allies’ on a tour of duty. The book explores what does that mean for organizations and how to manage talent that work with you for a particular time and for a particular duty. 

Who should read it: Must read for business and HR leaders exploring the future of work and the workplace.

The book in a tweet: Employer-employee relationship is broken. Hoffman’s book #Alliance explores managing people on a tour of duty #BooksWeLove

Quote Me If You Can

Quote me if you can

Daily Thoughts for Happiness at Work

By NS Rajan

Why I love this book: The book is a compilation of thoughts about life and work with a clear objective to help the reader reflect about purpose, armory and happiness. A compilation of thoughts from Dr N.S. Rajan, a member of the Group Executive Council and Group Chief Human Resources Officer of Tata Sons. A must read of simple yet powerful words.

Who should read it: Leaders, managers, employees, anybody in the corporate ladder looking for daily reflections to find meaning and happiness in what they choose to do.

The book in a Tweet: The Tweet of Tweets, from over 12,000 quotes that NS Rajan has compiled over the years, a compilation of his best #BooksWeLove @RajanNS

The Strategist

Be The Leader Your Business Needs

By Chynthia A. Montgomery

Why I love this book: The book introduces the powerful concept of the strategy wheel. Loaded with many examples, it builds up into what the wheel actually means and what it does for a company and a leader. The strategy wheel, in effect, is the different parts of a whole strategy. Once the strategy is clear, it then gets broken down its specific meaning across functions in the business — what kind of people we need to execute the strategy; what kind of culture; what marketing plan will align with this; what supply chain approach we should adopt and what finance philosophy we should follow, among others. All these pieces are then aligned to each other to achieve one unified strategy. 

Who should read it: CHROs and HR professionals wanting to build ownership mindset

The book in a tweet: A fantastic compilation of key learning from the Harvard’s Entrepreneur, Owner, President program (EOP) #TheStrategist #BooksWeLove 

The Curious

A Curious Mind

The secret to a bigger Life

By Brian Grazer & Charles Fishman

Why I love this book: The book reveals an approach to build curiosity, and makes an argument that curiosity is a powerful means for discovery, creativity and inspiration, motivation, self-confidence and courage & ambition. Curiosity should be as much part of our culture, our educational system and our workplace, the way concepts like “creativity” and “innovation” are. The fundamental technique for curiosity is asking questions, as Brian says “Life is not about finding the answers, but it is about asking the questions.”

Who should read it: An awesome read for everybody wanting to expand their horizons 

The book in a tweet: An inspiring & an insightful testimonial to the power of curiosity in improving & managing our lives in a better way #CuriousMind #BooksWeLove

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Building A Business When There Is No Easy Answers

By Ben Horowitz

What I love about the book: The author, one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup—practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog. Horowitz analyses the problems that leaders have to solve while running businesses.

Who should read this book: Professionals who want to take their understanding of running a business few notches up.

The book in a tweet: Horowitz's book personal and humbling experiences on running a business, great learning for HR pros #Hardthing #BooksWeLove

 

As we begin this new year, I would like to hear from you about which books you read as part of your 'sharpening your saw'. Are there any upcoming books that you look forward to? Do share with us in the comment below or tweet @PeopleMatters2

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Topics: Sports, Books & Movies, #Infographics

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