As a part of our continued commitment to providing the best resources for leaders to better themselves and thrive, for our August Reading List, we recommend these books: The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism by Hubert Joly with Caroline Lambert, The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company by David Packard, and Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, and Chris Fussell.
The Heart of Business: Leadership Principles for the Next Era of Capitalism - Hubert Joly with Caroline Lambert
How to unleash "human magic" and achieve improbable results.
Hubert Joly, former CEO of Best Buy and orchestrator of the retailer's spectacular turnaround, unveils his personal playbook for achieving extraordinary outcomes by putting people and purpose at the heart of business.
Back in 2012, "Everyone thought we were going to die," says Joly. Eight years later, Best Buy was transformed as Joly and his team rebuilt the company into one of the nation's favorite employers, vastly increased customer satisfaction, and dramatically grew Best Buy's stock price. Joly and his team also succeeded in making Best Buy a leader in sustainability and innovation.
In The Heart of Business, Joly shares the philosophy behind the resurgence of Best Buy: pursue a noble purpose, put people at the center of the business, create an environment where every employee can blossom, and treat profit as an outcome, not the goal.
This approach is easy to understand, but putting it into practice is not so easy. It requires radically rethinking how we view work, how we define companies, how we motivate, and how we lead. In this book Joly shares memorable stories, lessons, and practical advice, all drawn from his own personal transformation from a hard-charging McKinsey consultant to a leader who believes in human magic.
The Heart of Business is a timely guide for leaders ready to abandon old paradigms and lead with purpose and humanity. It shows how we can reinvent capitalism so that it contributes to a sustainable future.
The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company - David Packard
Much more personal than standard corporate histories, David Packard's The HP Way provides insights into managing and motivating people and inspiration for would–be entrepreneurs. This bestselling classic joins the Collins Business Essentials line–up with a new Note from Steve Jobs.
From a one–car–garage company to a multibillion–dollar industry, the rise of Hewlett–Packard is an extraordinary tale of vision, innovation and hard work. Conceived in 1939, Hewlett–Packard earned success not only as a result of its engineering know–how and cutting–edge product ideas, but also because of the unique management style it developed – a way of doing things called 'the HP way'.
Decades before today's creative management trends, Hewlett–Packard invented such strategies as 'walk–around management', 'flextime', and 'quality cycles'. Always sensitive to the needs of its customers and responsive to employee input, Hewlett–Packard earned massive steady growth that far outshone its competitors' vacillating fortunes, even with radically different products from those responsible for its initial boom.
For entrepreneurs and managers alike, the wisdom found in these pages is invaluable if they want their businesses to gain steady growth and consistent success.
Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World- Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, & Chris Fussell
The retired four-star general and best-selling author of My Share of the Task shares a powerful new leadership model
Former general Stanley McChrystal held a key position for much of the War on Terror, as head of the Joint Special Operations Command. In Iraq he found that despite the vastly superior resources, manpower, and training of the US military, Al Qaeda had an advantage because of its structure as a loose network of small, independent cells. Those cells wreaked havoc by always staying one step ahead, sharing knowledge with each other via high-tech communications.
To defeat such an agile enemy, JSOC had to change its focus from efficiency to adaptability. McChrystal led the transformation of his forces into a network that combined robust centralized communication ("shared consciousness") with decentralized managerial authority ("empowered execution").
Now he shows not only how the military made that transition but also how similar shifts are possible in all kinds of organizations, from large companies to startups to charities to government agencies. In a world of rapid change, the best organizations think and act like a team of teams, embracing small groups that combine the freedom to experiment with a relentless drive to share what they've learned.
McChrystal and his colleagues explain their process for helping organizations embrace this model. They also share fascinating research and examples from settings as diverse as emergency rooms and NASA's mission control center.