The books on this months reading list all examine different aspects
of the new normal in the workplace. These books examine the perfect
leadership mix, the new customer expectations, the technical skills
and experience required to make the perfect hire, and strategies
for using social media to tap into customer and employee needs.
The Diversity Index
by Susan E. Reed
American Management Association Professional
Reed, an award-winning journalist (CBS News, the New York
Times, the American Prospect) suggests that in the 50
years after the Civil Rights Movement, there is a new crisis of
opportunity in corporate America. Based on her groundbreaking study
of Fortune 100 companies, The Diversity Index identifies
takes an in-depth look at companies that have struggled to find the
perfect leadership mix. Detailing the stories of executives of
General Electric, Hewlett Packard, Merck, and PepsiCo, The
Diversity Index distills into 10 clear steps the methods that
the most successful companies used to develop integration, keep it
growing, and empower their employees to develop new products and
markets.
The Social Organization: How to Use Social Media to Tap
the Collective Genius of Your Customers and Employees
by Anthony J. Bradley and Mark P. McDonald
Harvard Business Review Press
In The Social Organization, Bradley and McDonald, two of
Gartners lead analysts, strongly advocate exploiting social
technology. The authors share insights from their study of
successes and failures at more than 400 organizations, which have
used social technologies to foster and capitalize on customers and
employees collective efforts.
In their book, the authors identify the core disciplines managers
must master to translate community collaboration into otherwise
impossible results. They define a compelling vision of progress
toward a highly collaborative organization and show how to take
community collaboration from risky and random success to measurable
business value. They point out that rallying people around a clear
purpose, not just providing technology, is essential while creating
a collaborative environment and gaining adoption by employees.
The Perfect Hire: A Tactical Guide to Hiring,
Developing, and Retaining Top Sales Talent
by Katherine Graham-Leviss
Entrepreneur Press
In her book The Perfect Hire, Graham-Leviss asks How many
sales candidates have been hired for their technical skills only to
be fired for their bad attitude? Too often experienced sales hires
are fired because of poor on-the-job performance. Whether youve
experienced such scenarios or you hope to avoid them, the takeaway
is simplethe perfect hire requires more than technical skills and
experience. The Perfect Hire invites you to stop the
revolving door of sales hires by arming you with the critical steps
to choosing the perfect hireevery time. Utilizing proven best
practicesrevealed from the latest research in sales performance
driversyou learn how to assess soft skills, problem solving
abilities, and behavioral attributes, in addition to technical
know-how, to select candidates who are well matched for the job,
not just well qualified. Uncover the secrets to creating a
successful hiring methodology that enables you to attract quality
candidates; screen for high performers; predict on-the-job success;
select the perfect hire; increase productivity; reduce turnover;
and increase profits.
Wired and Dangerous: How Your Customers Have Changed
and What to Do About It
by Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson
Berrett-Koehler
Customer service industry veterans and bestselling authors Bell and
Patterson analyze the current revolution in customer relationships
in Wired and Dangerous. Bell and Patterson examine how the
Internet has tipped the balance of power and forever changed the
way customers and organizations interact. In the new normal, the
customer is king. In their book, the authors provide a tested
formula for restoring balance and transforming todays edgy
customers into eager partners. Bell and Patterson assert that
simply doing better at old approaches will not address what
customers requirethat takes fresh perspectives and new practices.
In Wired and Dangerous, they provide a comprehensive
understanding of todays customers, outline concrete solutions in
part two, and supply tools for implementing the solutions. The
authors draw on practical real-world examples of successful and
unsuccessful service models to illustrate their points.