Summer at the beach: What could be more perfect than a cool drink and a hot … career book? If you’re ready for some productive reading for the second half of summer, I’ve got some books for you.
A lot of them, actually. This week’s column features books to help you overcome a difficult work situation; next week, I’ll present inspiring volumes to help you move forward in your career.
"Tipping Sacred Cows: Kick the Bad Work Habits That Masquerade as Virtues" by Jake Breeden (John Wiley & Sons, 2013, $25.95). Like many of us, I can recall numerous instances of pursuing a good process in lieu of achieving a good result. According to Breeden, our workplaces are full of people hampered by this "virtue" of excellence, one of seven celebrated traits that he calls vices in disguise. The other virtue/vices pegged by Breeden are balance, collaboration, creativity, fairness, passion and preparation. It's fun and refreshing to see those words attached to advice on de-emphasizing them in the workplace. Breeden's thesis that we blindly over-reach in these areas without enough analysis of results raises the question: What's the better approach? Luckily, Breeden supplies the answers. If your career seems stalled despite all your hard work, this book might unlock the reasons.
"Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Crown Business, 2012, $26). What if you're doing all the right things, but in the wrong work? Or perhaps it's the right work but the wrong workplace? It turns out that decision-making is more than a task on the to-do list. It's a process, an art and even a science. In this amusing book, the Heath brothers demonstrate how our poor decision-making creates problems for us at home and work. Using examples from popular culture, the Heaths dissect and then discard the popular pros-and-cons decision-making model in favor of several more versatile and effective processes. Both authors are business professors at prestigious universities, and their book is a fast-paced and challenging look at how we can improve our work and personal lives with better decision-making.
"Lie Spotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception" by Pamela Meyer (St. Martin's Press, 2010, $14.99). If you think others are deceiving you, you might benefit from a guide on how to spot those lies. In this straightforward guide, Meyer moves beyond simplistic discussions of body language into more strategic questions of why people lie and how to reduce the impact of lies in the workplace. A comprehensive section on building trust to create more effective business practices elevates this book into a practical management guide.
"Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level" by Joel A. Garfinkle (John Wiley & Sons, 2011, $24.95). In this book, Garfinkle, an executive coach, provides three steps for moving forward in your career: controlling how others see you, increasing your visibility and exerting your influence. His advice is quite practical. For example, to overcome a fear of being in the spotlight, he offers suggestions ranging from writing out notes before personal interactions to co-hosting a conference at your company. This is a good book for people at all levels who want to go further in their workplaces but don't know where to start.
"The Finch Effect: The Five Strategies to Adapt and Thrive in Your Working Life" by Nacie Carson (Jossey-Bass, 2012, $25.95). What if you want to implement some of the ideas described by these other books but fear that you are past the point of change? Carson provides a compelling argument that not only can workers change their stripes, but they're hard-wired to do so by virtue of being human. Adaptability is an innate and (re)learnable trait that helps pry open doors the economy seems to be slamming shut. Chapters include discussions on nurturing a social network, developing a gig mentality and harnessing entrepreneurial spirit — all good concepts for workers making their way in an ever-changing environment.
