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These are books and audio recordings I have found inspirational and helpful in the past several years. There are Amazon.com links for those items available through Amazon.com. Please let me know of your favorites and new discoveries that are not listed.
The Responsibility Virus: How Control Freaks, Shrinking Violets--and the Rest of
Us--Can Harness the Power of True Partnership
A magazine CEO clashes with his v-p of sales over lagging ad sales. Two married attorneys each try to get the upper hand while house-hunting. A team of managers, intending to collaborate, winds up competing with each other. These are just some of the power struggles Martin, dean of the University of Toronto's business school, presents in this personal and professional self-help book. Both overachieving and underachieving execs will recognize themselves and their colleagues in Martin's realistic, well-sketched (pseudonymous) conflicts, in which ego and fear of failure are presented as major roadblocks to group consensus. His 15 years of consulting experience serve him well, especially when he demonstrates, with specific examples, how most poor decision-making begins at the level of individual behavior. Figures and diagrams abound, likening portions of the book to a Power Point presentation, albeit a useful one. For example, the "Responsibility Ladder" shows the levels of responsibility to which most people gravitate in most situations. At the lowest rung of the ladder, one set of problems is created when folks who fear failure drop difficult projects on other people's desks. Martin is quick to point out, however, that organizational problems can arise at the top of the ladder, too, when managers who seek control "consider options and make [a] decision, informing other [parties] subsequently." Martin wrote this book "to help people avoid the natural predisposition to screw up the handling of responsibility in ways that undermine their goals and well-being," and he succeeds. His examples and nuggets of advice are on-target and entertaining.
Janet McCallen I found this book really helpful (in fact, I have typed up a good bit of what I highlighted in it). At the same time, I found some parts annoying, in that the author assumes that it is better to keep emotions out of business settings, and I don’t think that’s possible – and that “schemes” to do that will ultimately backfire. However, the author contends that most of us are motivated by the desire: Ř To win and not lose in any interaction; Ř To always maintain control of the situation at hand; Ř To avoid embarrassment of any kind; and Ř To stay rational throughout. And that these desires tend to prompt us (mostly unconsciously) to try to avoid awkward conversations and act unilaterally. And I have definitely come to the conclusion that the desire to avoid awkward conversations is one of the primary “enemies” of collaboration. He offers an array of tools to use in different circumstances to promote collaboration.
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