A few years ago, my good friend David Stanley died. Prior to his death, David had been a Director at Caret and it was a real joy (if challenging!) to work with him.  One of his favourite pastimes was to identify and challenge orthodoxies in a team, business, or industry.

Recently, I thought of David as I read Mark Stevens’ book Your Management Sucks. In it he says:

 “The overriding message of this chapter is to challenge conventional wisdom. Look closely, and you’ll see that what is often deemed to be the smart thing is actually stale thinking masquerading as the truth. It is a set of assumptions that have gone unchallenged by creative minds for years and gather a presumption of absolute/time-tested/unassailable truth; precisely because they have worked their way into so many minds they are deemed to be fact.  But all they really demonstrated is staying power”

So, what is it in your organisation or in your individual ways of working that could benefit from the David Stanley Treatment?

I am enjoying reading Daniel Pink’s book,

A Whole New Mind: Why Right –Brainers Will Rule The Future. 

In the early parts of the book Pink says:

“I have lived with my brain for forty years now, but I’ve never actually seen it.  I’ve looked at drawings and images of other people’s brains.  But I don’t have a clue as to what my own brain looks like or how it works.  Now’s my chance”.

For some senior managers Pink’s words would be true of their unique strengths and talents as well as their mind.  If you have not already come across Pink’s book, I would urge you to get a copy.

“Invent best practice.”  ”Let action precede strategy.”  “Throw a whole lot of mud at the wall and see how much of it sticks.”

This is the advice of Peter Sheahan, the globally renowned expert in workplace change with a client list that reads like a prime time ad break (and all at the tender age of 28!). His book ‘Flip: How to Succeed by Turning Everything You Know on its Head’ flies refreshingly in the face of conventional thinking by highlighting the powers of counter-intuitive business strategies. ’Flip’ includes lessons on embracing change and succeeding in an ideas economy from ‘flipstars’ such as Richard Branson, Google and Nintendo.  

There are some intriguing concepts here, such as:

• Powerlessness, not power, corrupts
• Style is substance
• To get control, give it up
• Fashion is function
• Feelings are the most important facts
• The soft stuff is the hardest stuff, and the hardest to get right

But the overriding message is clear: “The only way you won’t be relevant in the future is if you keep doing exactly the same thing as you’ve done up until today.”

For business leaders, communication is really important. It can also be hideously difficult to get right. It was for this reason that the Heath brothers’ book, Made to Stick, piqued my interest.

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The book Boss Talk comprises a series of interviews with twenty of the world’s top CEO. It’s a compilation put together by the editors of the Wall Street Journal.

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“When there’s a gap between someone doing her job and doing the right thing, then management has failed”.

Seth Godin

No I am not swearing. Honest! “The No Asshole Rule” is actually the title of a new wonderful book by someone I really rate. The person is Robert Sutton who is a professor of management science at Stanford University where he collaborates with Dave Ulrich.

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John Zenger and Joseph Folkman’s research into leadership is really exciting stuff. They have looked into what it takes for a leader to move from being a good leader to a great or extraordinary one. Their conclusions in The Extraordinary Leader draws on data from over 200,000 individuals who have rated over 25,000 leaders to show how leaders can go from being good to being great, from being average to being extraordinary.

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Beyond Authority is the title my friend Julia Middleton has given to her book which is just hot off the press. (Julia is Chief Executive of Common Purpose www.commonpurpose.org.uk) Along with some others, Julia invited me to contribute to the book and this is something I was only too happy to do. More importantly, Julia argues that the work of leadership requires that we operate beyond given authority.

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This is the title of a book I think any leader will find very useful. It is also an exhortation to not always need to have something to say. Indeed, as the book very ably points out, increasingly skilful use of questions can yield several benefits:

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