We all have a “library” of resources we’ve read that have shaped our thinking and practice.
These are my favorite books and the ones I reference regularly. My top few are in bold. I have pulled the Agile Change Leadership category to the top this time to profile one of the most important skills we need in a VUCA environment. Every so often I will update this post and indicate the recent additions in pink font.
“Strategy Execution” is defined here as the continuum from concept (strategy) to concrete results (benefits realization).
If you don’t see your favorites please share them in the comments section.
Agile Change Leadership:
- “Change: How Organizations Achieve Hard-to-Imagine Results in Uncertain and Volatile Times”, John P. Kotter, Vanessa Akhtar, Gaurav Gupta, 2021
- “Change.Leader: The Changes You Need to Make First”, Dr. Jen Frahm, 2021
- “Creating Great Choices: A Leader’s Guide to Integrative Thinking”, Jennifer Riel, Roger L. Martin, Sept. 19 2017
- “Mastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results”, by William A. Adams, Robert J. Anderson, Nov. 30 2015
- “Sooner Safer Happier: Antipatterns and Patterns for Business Agility”, Jonathan Smart, Zsolt Berend Myles Ogilvie Simon Rohrerm, Nov 10 2020
Agile Change Management:
- “Agile Change Management: A Practical Framework for Successful Change Planning and Implementation”, Melanie Franklin, 2021
- “Agile Change Playbook”, Dr. Jen Frahm and Lena Ross, 2020
- “Change Agility: A guide to help you think about change management differently”, Jason Little, 2020
- “Hacking for Agile Change: With an Agile Mindset, Behaviours and Practices”, Lena Ross, 2017
- “Lean Change Management: Innovative Practices for Managing Organizational Change”, Jason Little, 2004
Agility:
- “Agile People: A Radical Approach for HR & Managers (That Leads to Motivated Employees)” Pia-Maria Thoren, Lioncrest Publishing, 2017
- “The Agility Factor: Building Adaptable Organizations for Superior Performance”, Christopher G. Worley, Thomas Williams, Jossey-Bass, 2014
- “Focused, Fast and Flexible: Creating Agility Advantage in a VUCA World”, Nick Horney, Tom O’Shea, Indie Books International, 2015 (ask me about the Leadership Program)
- “The Science of Organizational Change: How Leaders Set Strategy, Change Behavior, and Create an Agile Culture”, Paul Gibbons, Phronesis Media, 2019
Change Management and Organization Development:
- “ADKAR: A Model for Change in Business, Government and Our Community,” Jeffrey M. Hiatt, Prosci Research Inc., Loveland, CO, 2006
- “Beyond Change Management: Advanced Strategies for Today’s Transformational Leaders,” Dean Anderson and Linda Ackerman Anderson, Pfeiffer, San Francisco, CA, 2001
- “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma”, Bessel van der Kolk, 2014
- “The Change Leader’s Roadmap: How to Navigate Your Organization’s Transformation,” Dean Anderson and Linda S. Ackerman Anderson, Pfeiffer, San Francisco, CA, 2001
- “Change on the Run: 44 Ways to Survive Workplace Uncertainty”, Phil Buckley, 2021
- “Change Tactics: 50 Ways Change Agents Boldly Escape the Status Quo”, April K. Mills, 2021
- “Change the Way You Lead Change,” David M. Herold and Donald B. Fedor, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 2008
- “Coming Alive: 4 Tools to Defeat Your Inner Enemy, Ignite Creative Expression & Unleash Your Soul’s Potential”, Phil Stutz, Barry Michels, 2017
- “Conversations of Change: A Guide to Implementing Workplace Change”, Dr. Jen Frahm, 2017
- “The Dance of Change,” Peter Senge, Random House Inc., NY, NY, 1999
- “The Effective Change Manager: The Change Management Body of Knowledge”, The Change Management Institute, 2nd Edition, 2022. (Contributor)
- “Everyone is a Change Agent: A Guide to the Change Agent”, April K. Mills, 2016
- “It Starts with One,” J. Stewart Black and Hal Gregersen, Wharton School Publishing, New Jersey, 2008
- “Leading Change,” John P. Kotter, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, 1996
- “Managing at the Speed of Change: How Resilient Managers Succeed and Prosper Where Others Fail,” Daryl Conner, Random House, New York, 1992, 2006
- “Neuroscience for Organizational Change: An Evidence-based Practical Guide to Managing Change”, Hilary Scarlett, Kogan Page, 2016
- “Practicing Organization Development: Leading Transformation and Change”, 4th Edition, William J. Rothwell (Editor), Jacqueline M. Stavros (Editor), Roland L. Sullivan (Editor), Arielle Sullivan (Editor), October 2015, Wiley.
- “The Standard for Change Management”, The Association of Change Management Professionals, 2014
- “Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard,” Chip and Dan Heath, Random House, Canada, 2010
Communication:
- “The Back of the Napkin,” Dan Roam, Penguin Group, New York, 2008
- “Communicating Change: How to Control your Own Change Initiative”, Melanie Franklin, 2014
- “Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time,” Susan Scott, Berkley Books, NY, 2004
- “The IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer”, International Association of Business Communicators, 2021
- “Mind Maps at Work,” Tony Buzan, HarperCollins Publishers Inc., London, UK, 2004
- “Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences,” Nancy Duarte, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., NJ, 201
Decision Support:
- “And: Making a Difference by Leveraging Polarity, Paradox or Dilemma”, Barry Johnson, 2020
- “Cracking Complexity: The Breakthrough Formula for Solving Just About Anything Fast”, David Komlos, David Benjamin, publisher Nicholas Brealey, 2019
- “Crimes Against Logic: Exposing the Bogus Arguments of Politicians, Priests, Journalists, and Other Serial Offenders”, Jamie Whyte, 2004
- “Cynefin – Weaving Sense-Making into the Fabric of Our World”, Dave Snowden, Riva Greenberg et al, 2020
- “The Halo Effect: and the eight other delusions that deceive managers”, Phil Rosenzweig, Free Press, 2007
- “The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking,” Roger Martin, Harvard Business School Press, USA, 2007
- “Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems,” Barry Johnson, HRD Press, 1996
Corporate Governance:
- “Fixing the Game: Bubbles, Crashes, and What Capitalism Can Learn from the NFL,” Roger Martin, Harvard Business Review Press, 2011
- “What Directors Need to Know: Corporate Governance 2003,” Carol Hansell, Thomson Carswell, Toronto, Canada, 2003
Corporate Performance:
- “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t,” Jim Collins, HarperCollins Publishers Inc. New York, 2001
- “The Future of Management,” Gary Hamel, McGraw-Hill Ryerson Agency, 2007
- “Re-Imagine!: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age,” Tom Peters, Dorling Kindersley Limited, USA, 2003
Culture:
- “As One: Individual Action, Collective Power,” Mehrdad Baghai and James Quigley, Penguin Group, NY, 2011
- “Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework,” Kim S. Cameron and Robert E. Quinn, John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York, 2006
- “Leading at the Edge of Chaos: How to Create the Nimble Organization,” Daryl R. Conner, John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York, 1998
Leadership:
- “How to Become a Great Boss: The Rules for Getting and Keeping the Best Employees,” Jeffery J. Fox, Hyperion, New York, 2002
- “Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment,” George Leonard, Penguin Books USA, Inc. New York, 1992
Planning:
- “The Definitive Business Plan,” Richard Stutely, Prentice Hall, Great Britain, Revised Edition 2007
- “The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development,” Milton D. Rosenau, Jr., Abbie Griffin, George A. Castellion, Ned F. Anschuetz, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, 1995
- “Strategy Maps: Converting Intangible Assets into Tangible Outcomes,” Robert P. Kaplan and David P. Norton, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Mass., 2004
Project, Program and Portfolio Management:
- “Managing Change in Organizations: A Practice Guide”, Project Management Institute, August 2013
- “Project Management Body of Knowledge”, Project Management Institute
- “Project Portfolio Management: A View from the Management Trenches”, EPMC Inc, 2009
Socio-Economic-Political:
- “Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking,” Malcolm Gladwell, Little Brown and Company, New York, 2005
- “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything,” Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, HarperCollins Publishers Inc. New York, 2005
- “Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883,” Simon Winchester, Perennial Classics, NY, 2005
- “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,” Malcolm Gladwell, Little Brown and Company, New York, 2000
- “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century,” Thomas L. Friedman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2005
- “Why We’re Polarized”, Ezra Klein, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, 2020
Strategy Execution:
- “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done,” Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, Crown Business, NY, 2002
- “The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage,” Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, Harvard Business School Press, 2008
- “How Organizations Work: Taking a Holistic Approach to Enterprise Health,” Alan P. Brache, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2002
- “Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change”, Lawrence G. Herbiniak, FT Press, 2013
Strategy Formulation:
- “Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant,” W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Mass, 2005
- “The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast As Your Business”, Rita Gunther McGrath, Harvard Business Review Press, 2013
- “Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The difference and why it matters”, Richard P. Rumelt, Crown Business, 2007
- “The Innovator’s Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth,” Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Mass., 2003
- “Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour through the Wilds of Strategic Management”, Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand, Joseph B. Lampel, Free Press, 1998
On Deck (reading in progress or on the wish list):
- “Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience”, Brené Brown, 2021
- “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know”, Adam Grant, 2021