Be the Unicorn
Author: William Vanderbloemen
Publisher: HarperCollins Focus
Price: £20
Subtitled ‘12 data-driven habits that separate the best leaders from the rest’, this book sets out how to stand out and become irreplaceable at work. In a time of uncertain jobs and the rise of AI, it is a pertinent question.
Our Least Important Asset
Author: Peter Cappelli
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Price: £22.99
Peter Cappelli argues that the use of financial drivers to improve the balance sheet is short-termist and ultimately self-defeating. He encourages business leaders to prioritise quality of hire over cost per hire, and regular employees over ‘leased’ workers.
Wiring the Winning Organization
Authors: Gene Kim and Steven J Spear
Publisher: IT Revolution Press
Price: £35
Gene Kim and Steven Spear set out their theory of organisational management, in which the most successful organisations slow down problems, simplify them, and then amplify the solution. Decades of research back up the authors’ arguments, with Kim and Spear focused on giving a practical guide rather than abstract theory.
Work-life Bloom
Author: Dan Pontefract
Publisher: Figure
Price: £17.95
In Work-life Bloom, Dan Pontefract contends that making a thriving workplace isn’t about engagement or employees bringing their ‘best selves’ into work. Instead, he argues, it’s a manager’s duty to help employees build that best self. For Pontefract, they achieve that through finding the right work/life balance for workers to flourish.
Feel-good Productivity
Author: Ali Abdaal
Publisher: Cornerstone Press
Price: £22
It’s hard not to think of productivity as hard work. Culturally, it tends to represent a daily grind. For Ali Abdaal, however, it’s a bizarre delusion: in Feel-good Productivity, he argues that enjoying your work is far more valuable than suffering long hours with little reward.
The Brave Leader
Author: David McQueen
Publisher: Practical Inspiration Publishing
Price: £26.99
You need to be brave to change the status quo. But when it comes to inclusion, argues David McQueen, leaders are terrified of doing the wrong thing – and so do nothing. In The Brave Leader, McQueen makes a case for a strategic, courageous approach to making your organisation inclusive.
This article was first published in our January/February 2024 print edition. Subscribe today to have all of our latest articles delivered right to your desk.
