Justin Menkes

Book Selection

Better Under Pressure

How Great Leaders Bring Out the Best in Themselves and Others

by Justin Menkes

twsm Do you see any new leaders emerging in the market now?

jm I do, I see some very promising CEOs coming up. Unfortunately, it’s awkward for me to pick just one when I feature 25 in my book. I think they are all impressive.

twsm Can you briefly explain the 3 cornerstone attributes that great leaders possess?

jm The qualities that make someone an exceptional leader under pressure

are realistic optimism: the ability to see threats for what they really are without losing a deep-rooted confidence that these challenges can be met; subservience to purpose: the ability to define work as something bigger than just a paycheck; and finding order in chaos: the capacity to find ever changing puzzles invigorating.

twsm How can a person learn to transform adrenaline and pressure into something positive for business?

jm It is all about preparation. The untrained mind becomes flooded and unable to think when under threat. The well-trained mind becomes more focused and sharp. Adrenaline is a critically important tool for human beings, but they must first be taught how to use it.

twsm Your book is all about these 3 attributes that make a great leader. Must someone be born with these traits, or can they be taught?

jm We are born with a hard-wired desire to learn and find something that gives us a sense of purpose. But we are also born with a set of experiences that counter our pursuit of gratification and accomplishment. In the end we need to be taught that these set backs are inevitable and actually useful on the path to accomplishment. These three attributes are what one needs to use to help today’s workforce find a purpose and really give their all. It’s not about someone trying for a long time. It’s about getting them to give you the very best effort for you at the time despite on-going and recurring duress. And these three attributes are how you help human beings tap into their hardwired desire to do so, to try, to really push.•

Ruma Bose and Lou Faust.

Mother Teresa, CEO: Unexpected Principles for Practical Leadership [Berrett-Koehler, pp 150, $21.95] This is not a standard leadership book or a religious novel instead it is a chance to focus in on the 8 basic principles that ultimately lead to Mother Teresa’s success in business. These principles are as follows: dream it simple, say it strong; dealing with the Devil to get to Angels; Wait! Then pick your moment; embrace the power of doubt; the joy of discipline; communicate in a language people understand; pay attention to the janitor; and the power of silence. Tom Devine and Tarek Maassarani.

The Corporate Whistleblower’s Sur-

vival Guide: Comprehensive manual by the Government Accountability Project [Berrett-Koehler, pp 288, $19.95] This book was written by the Government Accountability Project (GAP), which is a whistleblower advocacy firm set up in 1977. They wrote it to inform whistleblowers about their legal rights. This book is the first book to explain exactly what rights a whistleblower has and how they can make a difference without worry of retaliation. It outlines their legal rights including twelve new laws since 2000. The authors strive to encourage whistle blowing in order to avoid serious economic crimes that can have a negative effect on society. Don’t let fear keep you from speaking up.

Wendy Axelrod & Jeannie Coyle. Make Talent Your Business

How Exceptional Managers Develop People while Getting Results [Berrett-Koehle, pp 240, $22.95] Many companies despite their efforts to hire the best talent struggle to maintain and develop that talent. McKinsey, who was known for its phrase the “War for Talent” ended up saying the investment was “insufficient, superficial, and wasteful.” Managers never feel they have the time or skills to truly develop a workforce. This book explores the methods of the “Exceptional Development Managers” in companies such as Adidas, Microsoft, Siemens, Merck, Corning and Kraft and how by using simple integrated practices in day-to-day work, they can improve businesses and employees. The key is to be deliberate, resourceful and continuous.

Jeffrey Sugerman, Mark Scullard, and Emma Wilhelm. The 8 Dimensions of

Leadership. DiSC Strategies for Becoming a Better Leader [Berrett-Koehler, pp 288, $22.95] The eight dimensions of leadership is a strategy based on the different personality types of managers: pioneering, energizing, affirming, inclusive, humble, deliberate, resolute and commanding. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each personality type a manager can be become a more effective leader incorporating certain strategies that fit them best. Although leadership skills are generally perceived as inherent this book helps any leader grow and improve in addition to helping those who don’t see themselves as leaders improve their management skills.

Margaret Wheatley and Deborah

Frieze. Walk Out Walk On. A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now [Berrett-Koehler, pp 288, $24.95] Wheatley and Frieze discuss the increasingly complex problems in the world and the shrinking solutions to them. How can solutions be created for these difficulties faced today? Their strategy is “Walk Out Walk On.” In the book they interview individuals in seven communities around the world who walked out of limited beliefs and assumptions and walked on to create prospering communities. These community leaders have figured out how to work with what they’re given. The reader will be taken on a journey that will lead them from Columbus, Ohio all the way to Johannesburg, South Africa.

Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer.

The Progress Principle. Using Small Wins To Ignite Joy, Engagement, And Creativity At Work [Harvard Business, pp 272, $25.00] Amabile and Kramer describe how great inner work life which is defined as positive emotions, strong internal motivation, and favorable perceptions about collegues and the work itself, can be the key to an innovative, productive, engaged and committed workforce. Readers will discover, that small wins can have a strong effect on performance as well as small setbacks having disproportionately negative effects. Managers can benefit from the strategies of maintaining virtuous circles and stopping vicious ones.

Robert Steven Kaplan. What to Ask

the Person in the Mirror. Critical Questions for Becoming a More Effective Leader and Reaching Your Potential [Harvard Business, pp 288, $26.95] Many believe that good leaders are born, but Kaplan shows in his book that good leaders can be made as well. It is all about self-evaluation and embracing periods of confusion, self-doubt, and discouragement and learning from them. The book is based on Kaplan’s own experience as a business executive and he takes the reader through seven key areas of inquiry that every leader must consider to manage their organization. Those inquiries include vision and priorities, managing your time, giving and getting feedback, succession planning and delegation, evaluation and alignment, the leader as a role model and reaching your potential.

Sylvia A. Hewlett and Ripa Rashid. Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets.

Why Women Are the Solution [Harvard Business, pp 288, $35.00] Fifty-five percent of college graduates around the world are female and two-thirds of highly qualified women in emerging nations consider themselves very ambitious, which is double the rate of their American peers. The book opens the readers’ eyes to employment opportunities in the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the United Arab Emirates. These women are not the typical western stereotype or oppressed victims; instead they are well-prepared and talented workers. Unfortunately, due to the cultures in which they live, there is a struggle to pursue their most ambitious career goals. Hewlett and Rashid show how major multinational enterprises have taken advantage of the huge opportunity for women in the workplace by implementing innovative programs for retaining and accelerating female talent in BRIC/UAE.

Ooi Kee Beng. Serving a New Nation.

Baey Lian Peck’s Singapore Story [ISEAS, pp 141, S$39.90/US$36.90] The story of Dr Baey Lian Peck should be well known, but it is not. The innovativeness of Dr Baey did not only make him a very wealthy man before he was forty, it also made him an indispensable actor in the implementation of urgently constructed national policies. He was picked to solve pressing problems such as skyrocketing inflation in the early 1970s, the crisis in prisoner ward in the late 1970s, and the drug addiction epidemic in that same latter period. His one condition for taking on public positions was that he should not be paid. It was exactly this independent trait that made him so highly effective. This book tells his amazing life story, taking us into a surprising world where the qualities that make a good entrepreneur are exactly what make a good public servant … as long as he remains unbound by the bureaucracy.

Hooman Peimani. The Challenge of Energy Security in the 21st Century.

Trends of Significance [ISEAS, pp 178, S$49.90/US$42.90] The Challenge of Energy Security in the 21st Century: Trends of Significance seeks to inform all those concerned about energy security, whether national, regional or international bodies, of certain factors, which must be taken into consideration in developing their energy security policies and pursuing their respective objectives. Towards that end, this book reveals certain significant trends of importance to the major energy-producing and energy-consuming regions. Through its unique analysis, it sheds light on how such trends will affect the energy security policies of all the producers and consumers of energy, large and small, in one form or another, in the foreseeable future.

Jayati Bhattacharya.

Beyond the Myth. Indian Business Communities in Singapore [ISEAS, pp 371, S$69.90/US$59.90] This book is a macro-study of Indian business communities in Singapore through different phases of their growth

since colonial times. It goes beyond the conventional labor-history approach to study Indian immigrants to Southeast Asia, both in terms of themselves and their connections with the people's movements. It looks at how Indian business communities negotiated with others in the environments in which they found themselves and adapted to them in novel ways. The complexities and overlapping interests of different groups of traders and businessmen form an interesting study of various aspects of these trading bodies, their methods of operation and their trade links, both within and outside Singapore.

Daniel Diermeier. Reputation Rules.

Strategies for Building Your Company’s Most Valuable Asset [McGraw-Hill, pp 256, £21.99] It is commonly believed that good reputation follows good business practices, but in reality it takes more than just common sense and doing the right thing. The management of a company’s reputation must be constant, since in today’s world of 24-hour media coverage a corporate reputation can be destroyed in seconds. Diermeier has based this book on more than a decade of research and using real case studies such as BP, Greenpeace and PayPal he provides frameworks, strategies, and processes to change a company’s focus toward better reputation management.

Brenda Hampel and Erika Lamont. Perfect Phrases for New Employee

Orientation and Onboarding. Hundreds of ready-to-use phrases to train and retain your top talent [McGraw-Hill, pp 176, $12.00] New Employee Orientation and Onboarding is the latest in the Perfect Phrases Series along with Perfect Phrases for Executive Presentations, Real Estate Agents & Brokers, and Employee Development Plans. Every company knows how difficult it can be to get new employees running in their organization. This book will take you through the best language for meet and greet meetings, defining company culture, collecting feedback and onboarding a diverse workforce along with hundreds of other new employee situations. Help new employees transition with ease and start in their new roles quickly and effectively.

Robert Lucas. Please Every Customer.

Delivering Stellar Customer Service Across Cultures [McGraw-Hill, pp 304, $20.00] Business has moved to a global environment, which makes customer service more difficult than ever with differences in values, age, abilities and other factors. Please Every Customer provides the best methods for communicating with different cultures in order to provide exceptional customer service. Learn to overcome differences of language, recognize and accommodate customer needs, make positive first impressions, gain trust, listen “actively” and much more. The world is changing and so must customer service.

Ron Stone.

The Real Value of Training. Measuring and Anazlyzing Business Outcomes and the Quality of ROI [McGraw-Hill, pp 272, $50.00] Ron Stone, training ROI expert, presents his 11-step process for qualitatively and quantitatively measuring the value of training. In the present financial crisis and recession, managers are forced to show higher results with lower budgets, so when investing in a new business initiative, there must be quantifiable proof of its effectiveness. His book will bring ROI under strict scrutiny by teaching the reader to collect critical performance data, analyze results and adjust for causal influence and sustained impact, along with many other ROI measuring designs. This training program is flexible and easily refocuses to fit your business strategy even if it changes constantly.

Anil K. Khandelwal. Dare to Lead. The Transformation of Bank of Baroda [Sage Publications, pp 444, £39.99] Khandelwal, former CEO of Bank of Baroda (BOB) in India, tells the story of his three-year tenure in the position and how he helped move the 97-year-old bank into the 21st century of technology and customer satisfaction. His book provides a framework for undertaking transformation in large, geographically dispersed public sector enterprises. He shows that large-scale transformation can occur successfully if the CEO shows the proper courage and determination to change the status quo.

Oswalk A. J. Mascarenhas. Business

Transformation Strategies. The Strategic Leader as Innovation Manager [Sage Publications, pp 668, £14.99] A resource for industry professionals and consultants, this book on corporate strategy lays down the theories and models for revitalizing companies in the face of global recession. It discusses cutting-edge concepts, constructs, paradigms, theories, models, and cases of corporate strategic leadership for bringing about transformation and innovation in companies. Each chapter in the book is appended with transformation exercises that further explicate the concepts.

Pritam Singh and Asha Bhandarker. In Search of Change Maestros.

[Sage Publications, pp 532, £47.50] In Search of Change Maestros documents the contributions of seven great Indian wealth creators and institution builders who had the vision and fortitude to create world-class Indian corporations. The authors have skillfully synthesized indepth interviews, questionnaires, and anthropological analysis to afford the reader a glimpse into the intimate world-view of these Change Maestros and to show them what makes these leaders great.

Adrian Furnham and John Taylor.

Bad Apples. Identify, Prevent and Manage Negative Behavior at Work [Palgrave Macmillan, pp 320, £26.00] Bad behavior must be managed in a workplace to minimize the damage that negative and destructive employees can have on an organization, especially in a tough economic climate. In their book, Furnham and Taylor examine the problems a company can face and how to resolve these issues in order to work towards a positive outcome.

Susan Cartwright and Cary Cooper. Innovations in Stress and Health.

[Palgrave Macmillan, pp 256, £26.00] In the past few years, there has been an increasing concentration on workplace initiatives to reduce stress and improve individual resilience. This volume brings chief medical officers, leading health professionals and academics to present their views on innovations in the field of stress and health.

Marianne Coleman. Women at the

Top. Challenges, Choices and Change [Palgrave Macmillan, pp 288, £60.00] The authentic voices of sixty successful women identify the challenges that they have faced in their careers and the ways in which they have overcome them.

Sarah Rutherford. Women’s Work,

Men’s Cultures. Overcoming Resistance and Changing Organizational Cultures [Palgrave Macmillan, pp 256, £26.00] Rutherford presents an approach for effecting real change by analyzing the role of organizational cultures in marginalizing women workers. Based on academic research, case studies and interviews, the author presents a new model for changing organizational culture.

talking

Visit our online store: workstyleshop.com Order the book Talking

5 illustrators, 5 photographers, 5 filmmakers and 5 storytellers from all over the world to tell the business world. 135 people to define the identity of the workplace of the future, discussing on: identity, emotions, architecture, environment and organization.

Work Style “Talking” is a book that tells how the work changes. It is the outcome of the discussions on 5 topics: identity, emotions, architecture, environment and organization.

The main subject of the book is a look at the

future identity of work. The general theme has been developed by 135 professionals coming from different sectors (psychology, architecture, identity and privacy, organization and environment care) who have actively contributed to it. The result has been divided into four sections: photography (5 photographers’ interpretation), the drafts (of the participants and of the 5 illustrators), the texts (of 5 storytellers and of the Talk moderators) and 5 filmmakers’ interpretation included in the attached DVD. In the book you will find also the description of the locations that hosted the various workshops, a presentation of our partners, the illustration of the T-shirt project as well as some statistical data. The collaborators and the people who took part in the event come from 23 countries in the US, Europe and Asia. The staff made of the best international professionals, the easy-to-read journalistic style and the clear straightforward topics make this book a very good way to get some clues on how the business world is going to change.

Attached to the book you will find a DVD (Trailer of the pre-Talk works, Trailer of the authorial videos, 5 authorial videos, 5 Talks backstage, 5 Talks Soundtracks). In this box some pictures from the book. Below two screenshots from the video of Esam Al-Dabagh. Above, an illustration by Goñi Montes.