ideas list

Constant learning, continuous improvement.
You are your best investment.

Our consultants have put together ideas for further reading, listening and thinking.

Read:

Why work is Weird: An Antidote to Frustrations of Corporate Life
By Jerry Connor and Lee Sears

Anna Rawlinson, consultant, recommends this because it 'says so much about how the culture of an organisation can drag down your own values'. Anna applauds how the book suggests how to deal with this negativity without responding to it and compromising your own values.

A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix
By Edwin H Freidman

'For me the subtitle of this book - 'Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix' - is about courage, a subject close to my heart', says principal consultant Helena Brown. 'It also talks explicitly about anxiety - what better time to read it than now? This is a hard book to ignore and will inform your own approach and how you disport yourself - especially in difficult situations. It has a playful, erudite and easy to read style.'

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
By Jim Collins

'This is a good example of how a business model is proven after the fact,' says principal consultant Alan Mitchell. 'Some of the case studies in this book have come unstuck, i.e. Fannie Mae, but the model for success this book advocates does explain why. The book is a research-based examination of why certain companies have sustainable success and an interesting model for success which includes Level 5 leadership.'

First Things First
By Stephen R Covey

For consultant Carol Taylor, this remains a 'well-thumbed, great guide for getting me to reflect on what's important and spending every day working towards that. I try to follow his principles of Live, Love, Learn, and Leave a Legacy.'

Eat, Pray, Love
By Elizabeth Gilbert

Rachel Bicker, MD of Commercial Development, listened to this as an audiobook and found it a 'soothing, entertaining, soul-searching, and reassuringly simple view on the world, life and everything.' She adds: 'I recommend it as quite helpful for lateral thinking purposes, and it provides many internal prompts and checks for finding ways to do things differently. It's a novel, but could be classified as self-help, and it might change your life in some small way. I'm currently thinking about ways I can apply this world view to my life and approach to business.'

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
By Patrick Lencioni

Rachel recommends this book if you're struggling to get top performance from a top team. 'Unusually for this type of book, it's a good yarn,' she says. 'It sets a team-effectiveness model in a story, which makes it easier to digest. The model explores five common disfunctions that hold back teams... such as fear of conflict and avoidance of accountability. And there are practical steps to apply the model.'

A Great Task of Happiness: The Life of Kathleen Scott
By Louisa Young

If ever you feel you've been at the thin end of a tough day, this story of resilience will help you put things in perspective, says Cathy Collins, TSOC Head of Communication. While Captain Robert Scott was busy with the Antarctic exploration, his wife Kathleen passed the time by becoming a lauded sculptress and mother to Peter, who was a founder member of the World Wide Fund for Nature. But Kathleen's world was no cosy bed of roses and this biography maps her own navigation of life challenges while waiting for her husband to return. In 1913, while sailing to New Zealand to greet Captain Scott on his return from the South Pole, Kathleen learned mid-ocean of his death in Antarctica in March 1912.

Think about:

Non-confrontational leadership
Created by Marshall B Rosenberg - http://www.cnvc.org

'I'm interested in non-violent communication,' says consultant Anna Rawlinson. 'This is about effective communication - listening, being clear and taking responsibility so that people are not battered. It's about really, truly understanding someone's point of view.'

Five positives every day

Carol Taylor, consultant, says she gets grumpy people to think of five positive things that have happened to them a day. 'Sometimes it's a real struggle!' admits Carol (of certain relatives!). In the work context she find this approach helps:

1. When things are going well. 'It reminds us to draw attention to them and celebrate them. People thrive on positive strokes. It also reminds us that most of the time, most of us are doing a great job!'

2. When times are tough. 'It can help to balance things out so it doesn't seem doom and gloom, and often in those times it's the 'softer', more human things that come to the fore.

And Carol recommends this mechanism for individual stress management. 'Before you turn the key in the ignition, before you go to bed, try and list five things that have gone well, rather than dwell on the negative.'

Listen to:

The Bach Cantatas
Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner and performed by The Monteverdo Choir and The English Baroque Soloists 

Recommended by Anna Rawlinson, consultant. 'I have two CD's - one has Cantatas numbers 106, 118 and 198; the other 140 and 147. Both are beautiful, they're inspiring. For me they open up a chamber that I don't go into very often; the present a whole take on life that I haven't yet got and they're my way in.