Title: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Author: Patrick Lencioni

Genre: business, management

Form: audiobook

Recommended: Yes, for all of you who work in team settings and are wondering why something just is not clicking.

Thoughts: In this book Lencioni’s presents a fable of a management team that is not functioning and the process it took to make the team work. At times long winded and seemingly over-direct, the fable does what it sets out to do: clearly demonstrate what Lencioni terms the five dysfunctions of a team (absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results).  

Title: Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Author: Patrick Lencioni

Genre: business, management

Form: audiobook

Recommended: Yes, if you are working to build a team and want some good practical examples.

Thoughts: This book follows The Five Dysfunctions of a Team providing a ‘how to’ overcome the dysfunctions he illustrates in his fable. Given that much of the book provides clear directives for how to do certain exercises to build teams, I do not suggest listening to this as an audiobook as you will want to reference specific parts of the book. 

Title: Presenting to Win

Author: Jerry Weissman

Genre: business

Form: hardback

Recommended: Yes – for everyone who gives presentations.

Thoughts: Jerry Weisman coaches businessmen on the presentations they give – from the layout of ideas through to the delivery, and in this book he lays out key points to putting together a good presentation.  I often did not appreciate the voice he uses or the focus on large business and making money, but it is worth pushing through the language because the points are right on. And, if you think you don’t need to read this because you can make an awesome Power Point, that does not necessarily (and generally does not) equate with giving a good presentation. 

Title: Generation Y and the New Rules of Management

Author: Mark Murphy with Andrea Burgio-Murphy

Genre: business, management

Form: softcover 

Recommended: Maybe – with other books of similar focus

Thoughts: You are Gen Y if you were born between the years of 1978 and 1991. You were born to baby boomer parents and are now the young portion of the workforce. If you are older than this, you are probably managing, or will soon be managing, Gen Y employees. And for both of you, the transition is likely a bumpy ride that often leaves everyone frustrated. But, in today’s world where Gen Y will soon be ruling the workplace, it is a good idea for both of you to understand who you are and how to make it work. My guess is that if you do, you will both be amazed at how much work is done. 

This book is a quick read that lays out 6 “new rules of management.” A quick read, there are some good practical examples. It is not outstanding, but it is helpful. Honestly, I am finding these business books to be quick reads – all of them have a few good points, and when you read a few of them together, you can get somewhere. So, read this with another book or two on the same subject. (If you read just one, Not Everyone Gets a Trophy is the better one to pick of the two I am reviewing.)

Title: Not Everyone Gets A Trophy: How to Manage Generation Y

Author: Bruce Tulgan

Genre: business, management

Form: hardback

Recommended: Yes – with other books of similar focus

Thoughts: Same thoughts on being a member of Gen Y or managing Gen Y was with Generation Y and the New Rules of Managment.

This book works to debunk many of the myths surrounding Gen Y in the work place. I appreciate that in doing this, the author finds value and logic in Gen Y. For example, Gen Y will not typically look at their given job as the one in which they will retire. But it is not that they are disloyal, but that they (yes, me too) have a plan and layout in which each job builds on the last. It is a different way of looking at a career, and it does not mean that they are ignoring their career. Read this with another book or two on the same subject.