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Good Morning Thinkers!
Archive: October 23, 2000

Best Books

"I am always ready to learn,
although I do not always like being taught."
-- Winston Churchill

Who says books are dead? Our request for your favorite books on creativity, innovation, organizational and personal effectiveness have brought out a flood of favorites many that you might not expect to be on a list such as this.

We are still compiling the list and will post it on the website in the near future. In the meantime, here is a sampling of some of the recommendations. Hope you enjoy!

From: Robert Parent, rrp@sympatico.ca
I've just finished reading a fantastic new book on innovation. In fact its on strategy, but is by far the best book on innovation I've ever read. It's a no-holds barred assessment of the issues facing companies world wide as they struggle to keep up with the new economy. In it, Hamel presents a "revolutionary entrepreneurship" model of what companies must do to become outstanding innovators. I'd strongly suggest we anyone working in the field of organizational innovation make this a must read as quickly as possible.

From: Rolf Smith, leadguide@thinking-expedition.com
"Brainpower" -- Karl Albrecht. Prentice Hall (1980). This book, coupled with a short video by the same name and featuring John Houseman, profoundly impacted my approach to thinking and my thinking about thinking - and the development of The School for Innovators as a way to teach people how to think, be, and do different. It is very much a J.I.T. book - one that can be opened anywhere anytime for any length of time with a high return in value (and has lots of pithy quotes).

"Breakthrough Thinking" -- Gerald Nadler & Shozo Hibino (1990). Excellent mix of western and eastern perspectives and thinking about thinking, particularly the creative problem solving area. I have drawn a lot from and used Chapter 3 (Pushing for Breakthrough) and Chapter 5 (The Purposes Principle) for rethinking higher levels of change and the corresponding shifts in thinking that must take place at every level of change in doing.

From: Patrick Brown, pgbrown@lucent.com
"Quantum Creativity" by Pamela Meyer.
Meyer draws on sources as diverse as chaos theory, cognitive psychology, Eastern wisdom and theatrical improvisation to weave a rich whole cloth that goes beyond the usual notion of "creativity" as a set of tricks & props. She calls on her experiences as an actor, director and creativity consultant to establish a crisp framework of principle & practice that supports creativity as a foundation for personal & organizational growth and satisfaction.

"The Tao of Leadership" by John Heider.
Heider applies the principles of Eastern philosophy to personal effectiveness with resonance and clarity. I gained profound insights into how I might be more effective with others and how I might better deal with the illusion of control.

"The Skilled Facilitator" by Roger M. Schwarz.
More and more, facilitation seems key to helping organizations (and the people that compose them) be more effective and rewarding. Schwarz's discussion of core values for facilitation and team ground rules are especially helpful and appealing, as is his depiction of basic intervention techniques--if I could have only one facilitation reference, this would be it.

From: "Gupta, Uma G", UGupta@UH.EDU
Here is my thought on innovation and creativity:

Don't pay big bucks to Hamel, Hammer, Champy and other management "gurus". What most of them say is simple common sense and basic truths about people. They can call it "reengineering" and other fancy terms and companies immediately go running to them because they seem to know it all and invest huge dollars in their seminars and books. A few months later they realize that the yield on these investments is zip. (Remember the huge investments companies made in reengineering. We didn't see the magical returns that these gurus promised)

Why? Because simple truths remain timeless regardless of how gurus package them. Management gurus are sitting on a tall stack of cash and having a good laugh, thanks to people who don't realize that the simple truth remains: if you treat people right good things will happen to you. Really.

From: Rebeccah Neff, Rebeccah.Neff@sas.com
In the first category, Innovation, Organizational Effectiveness, Strategy:
Margaret J. Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science: Learning about Organization from an Orderly Universe. Meg Wheatley's work has been very useful in helping my management team and staff build a sound organizational structure for our business unit, which provides company-wide graphic arts services.

Michael Hammer, Beyond Reengineering: How the Process-centered Organiztion Is Changing Our Work and Our Lives. Hammer's work on process improvement has been key to focusing my staff on increasing efficiency without sacrificing quality of service or products.

In the second category, Creativity, Personal Effectiveness:
Grace McGartland, Thunderbolt Thinking. I return again and again to McGartland's work for techniques on stimulating creativity and encouraging "out-of-the-box" thinking.

Linda Booth Sweeney and Dennis Meadows, The Systems Thinking Playbook.
Sweeney's and Meadows' book interprets and teaches the principles of systems thinking through interactive exercises. It has been an invaluable resource for building my management team and giving them techniques they can use with their own staff.

From: Organizational Learning Group, Orgcons4u@excite.com
This may sound weird, but consider the source! As a consultant, I have executive role-play ideal work situations. That results in surfacing real issues that, once identified, can be worked on. It forces people to have fun and think 'out of the box'. This brings me to your second question re: books. There are many books that have impacted me: Barker, Kouzes and Posner,etc. However, recently, I read Wisdom at Work be Let Davidson who says we have 'no box' with which to think in or out of!!
Take care,
Lauren Jones

From: "Grieco, Margaret (MLIM - Toronto)", margaret_grieco@ca.ml.com
Books that have inspired me, sustain me, recharge my brain cells and help me to 'think smart' fall under all categories but 2 in particular - personal effectiveness and strategy creativity. They are all of Peter Drucker's books. My husband and I reread them over and over again and continue to share sections of them with our staffs and colleagues.

From: "Treisman, Joel", JTreisman@modemmedia.com
I'm guessing that no one else on this list will suggest the book I'm about to recommend: "The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking and Problem Solving" by Barbara Minto.

As a 'right brain' thinker who scored very high on the "I" side of the KAI index, I find myself working these days in an Internet strategy management consulting organization. I've found this book (which is required reading for our whole department and is referenced frequently) to be an enormously valuable method for structuring, supporting and communicating my ideas.

As I recall, Minto is a former McKinsey consultant and originally wrote this book for internal training. Since then, it's become the textbook for many MBA communications courses. It may feel somewhat awkward and overly structured for many of the Innovation Network folks (like me) who think in terms of mindmaps rather than in pyramid structures, but I promise you, time invested in learning and applying this principle is worth it!

It's not cheap - but neither is having a million dollar idea that you can't communicate clearly or logically to your clients or audience...

Joel Treisman (Innovation University Fellow 1997)

From: Laura@experienceart.com
Strategy
The Experience Economy - bu Pine and Gilmore - HBS Press This book tells of the coming of a new economic era - The Experience Economy - Where incremental value is generated by moving from the selling of goods and services to delivery of experiences. Provides a compelling framework for competing more effectively by creating meaningful, memorable customer experiences. I have given this book to several colleagues - all who claim that reading it was a life-changing experience!

Innovation
Think Like a Genius - Todd Siler - Bantam Trade Pubs - Great for anyone who needs a kick in the pants to start thinking more creatively.

From: Robin Cook, robin@jigzaw.com
The book that has had the greatest impact on me over the past couple of years is Dee Hock's Birth of the Chaordic Age. Hock is a true visionary, & I think he has given form to much of what I learned through Innovation University.

Another book I am currently reading, along a similar vein, is Life at the Edge of Chaos, by Mark D. Youngblood. It seems to build from Dee Hock's work (and others), but I'm not far enough into it yet to be certain that it is at the same visionary level.

From: David Kaiser, dkaiser@uswest.net
Here are some of my favorites --

INNOVATION
"Management of the Absurd: Paradoxes in Leadership," by Richard Farson. This contrarian missal challenges all the how-to books and deals with the real complexities of management. And, it can be read in one setting.

ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
"Leading Change: Overcoming the Ideology of Comfort and the Tyranny of Custom," by James O'Toole. This is not O'Toole's most popular book but it is the best by far, if for no other reason than for its well-grounded refutation of contingency (i.e., situational) leadership. Eat your heart out Hersey and Blanchard!

"Ackoff's Best" by Russell Ackoff. Everybody should read at least one book by Ackoff, and this one sums up much of of his systems thinking. It's both erudite and irreverent.

STRATEGY
"Choosing the Future: The Power of Strategic Thinking," by Stuart Wells. Strategic management and planning are a function of continuous critical thinking; i.e., answers are death, questions are life.

CREATIVITY
"Ways of Seeing" by John Berger. We must read the classics such as this, if for no other reason than to keep the advertisers from creating our world. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.

PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS
"Artful Work: Awakening Joy, Meaning, and Commitment in the Workplace," by Dick Richards. Students always buy additional copies of this book. How many books can you say that about?