On Vacation? Read a Book

A poolside guide to healthy management reading.

Like Atkins, Weight Watchers, South Beach and all the other diet programs that people have been using to get ready for the beach, management advice books and programs have proliferated over the past few decades. Federal managers have their own favorites, as evidenced by the summer reading lists of a dozen current and former government managers. Here's a sampling of new and old books on poolside management reading lists for summer 2004, for those of you who have already devoured Bill Clinton's autobiography.

• Just Enough: Tools for Creating Success in Your Work and Life (John Wiley and Sons, 2004). Harvard Business School authors Laura Nash and Howard Stevenson talk about ways to define success and how to achieve it.
• First, Break All the Rules (Simon and Schuster, 1999). Gallup analysts Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman offer personnel tips based on the idea that you can't fix people's weaknesses but you can build on their strengths.
• Execution: The Business of Getting Things Done (Crown Business, 2002). Renowned private-sector executive Larry Bossidy and leadership adviser Ram Charan explain how smart leaders actually carry out the plans they come up with. Caution: You may want to swim a few laps after you read this book.
• The Leadership Fables (Jossey-Bass). For those of you who like advice delivered in story form, management analyst Patrick Lencioni has written four books. The Five Temptations of a CEO (1998), The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive (2000), The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (2002) and Death by Meeting (2004) make their point through narratives.
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . and Others Don't (HarperBusiness, 2001). Author Jim Collins identified companies that went from run of the mill to strong performers, and figured out a few common things that made them tick. He also found similar companies that stayed mediocre to serve as foils.
• Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High (McGraw Hill, 2002). Have a problem employee you need to counsel? A colleague you need to confront? Management consultant Kerry Patterson discusses ways to effectively talk about tough things.
• The Answer to How Is Yes (Berrett-Koehler, 2003). Author Peter Block suggests that managers spend too much time answering the question of how to do things, and not enough time exploring the underlying values motivating the things people do.
• A Whack on the Side of the Head (Warner, 1998). Roger von Oech's book has been around for a while, but it's a favorite of several managers surveyed.
• Emotional Intelligence (Bantam, 1995). Daniel Goleman discusses traits such as self-awareness and empathy, which he views as greater indicators of success than plain old brains. Some managers are reading Emotional Intelligence at Work (Jossey-Bass, 2000), a follow-on book by Hendrie Weisinger.
• Whale Done!: The Power of Positive Relationships (Free Press, 2002). Ken Blanchard talks about positive incentives you can use to influence people's behavior.