Planning to Win in 2023, My Top Ten Books, The Power Of Working Together & Unreasonable Hospitality
18 December 2022 Newsletter
“The key to a leader’s impact is sincerity. Before he can inspire with emotion he must be swayed by it himself. Before he can move their tears his own must flow. To convince them he must himself first believe.” Winston Churchill
Hope you’re Thriving!
It’s been a busy week with several planning workshops and meetings to start closing out the year. And what a year it’s been!
The two significant events for me were expanding the team Evolution Partners and launching Onboarded. It was pretty rewarding this past week to see Onboarded make the list of Best Business Books of 2022 from The Growth Faculty, who have been running business events for perhaps 20 years. They also asked me to speak at a Growth Faculty event in February – more details on that below.
But the big reward has been seeing the remarkable growth across all the leaders we work with and the subsequent impact on their businesses.
Top 10 Books
This week, a CEO asked me, “What’s your number one book?”
That prompted me to put together a list of business books you might be interested in reading over the holidays.
Of course, it depends on your situation, and I’m not including my books Made to Thrive or Onboarded, as that wouldn’t be appropriate.
But if you’re looking for some holiday reading, here’s a selection of books you may want to consider.
Ego Is The Enemy
Ryan Holiday
While the other books aren’t necessarily in order, this is number one for a reason.
I would love every single leader that I work with to read this book. Why? Inside every one of us is an enemy that actively works against us – our ego.
We think that success lies in the outside world, yet we can’t achieve success because we sabotage ourselves all the time, and we don’t even know it.
I’ve seen many leaders undergo massive personal growth after reading this book.
Ego Is The Enemy – Ryan Holiday
Deep Work
Cal Newport
Distraction is the antithesis of effectiveness. And we are entirely surrounded by distractions. But even worse, our brain enjoys being distracted.
So if your goal is to become more effective in 2023 – or get your team to be more effective, then Deep Work might be the book for you.
The Coaching Habit
Michael Bungay Stanier
If you need to turn from a manager focusing on actions into a manager as a coach focusing our results, this might be a great book to start that journey.
The author outlines seven essential questions you can use to get to the centre of any situation easily.
The Coaching Habit – Michael Bungay Stanier
The Obstacle is the Way
Ryan Holiday
Only one author appears twice in this list for a reason.
Despite the title, this isn’t a motivational book. Everyone gets stuck in life and comes across obstacles. But, rather than going around or ignoring them, a better approach is to understand that those obstacles are, in fact, opportunities to not come up against them again.
Whether you’re stuck or not, it provides a unique perspective.
The Obstacle is the Way – Ryan Holiday
Turning the Flywheel
Jim Collins
I could have all of Jim Collin’s books on this list.
But the simplest, shortest is this one. It outlines the importance of building momentum in a business – how and why it matters.
Think of it as the opposite of growth hacking – but this book actually works.
If you’ve read this one – try Great by Choice.
Turning the Flywheel – Jim Collins
The Power of Moments
Chip Heath and Dan Heath
When we consider things about our lives that are memorable, it might be weddings, parties, injuries, or experiences.
This book asks if we can curate short experiences that are memorable and insightful in the workplace.
The result?
Higher employee engagement, happiness and retention.
The Power of Moments – Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Turn the Ship Around
David Marquet
When David Marquet was awarded captaincy of his first vessel in the US Navy, much to his dismay, it was the worst-performing submarine.
This book explains how he transformed that into being the best ship in the Navy by converting from a leader–follower culture into a leader–leader culture.
He got all team members to take accountability for their actions and ownership over their results – something all leaders can learn from.
Turn the Ship Around- David Marquet
The Psychology of Money
Morgan Housel
We’re taught that doing well with money is about math. In actual fact, it’s about behaviour.
While this book is perhaps more targeted at the individual, it’s precisely the same in organisations.
Money decisions aren’t made in spreadsheets; they are made at dinner tables and boardrooms and are fuelled by ego, fear, greed, pride and envy.
I love how it simply outlines why and how to think differently about money.
The Psychology of Money – Morgan Housel
Necessary Endings
Dr Henry Cloud
I saw Dr Cloud speak in the USA a few years ago, and reading this book further impressed me.
We’re always talking about new things we must start. New initiatives, new programs etc. But this counter view outlines just how critical ending things is.
Here’s an excerpt I love “Without the ability to end things, people stay stuck, never becoming who they are meant to be, never accomplishing all that their talents and abilities should afford them.”
You will never look at the cost of continuing in the same way again.
Necessary Endings – Dr Henry Cloud
The Advantage
Pat Lencioni
Whilst I love many of Pat’s books, especially The Five Dysfunctions Of A Team, The Advantage combines all of Pat’s books into one concise manual outlining why organisational health trumps everything else.
If you’ve heard of the Peter Drucker phrase “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”, this book explains why.
Alan Mulally: The Power Of Working Together
A few weeks ago, I heard an excellent podcast you might enjoy over the holidays.
Alan Mulally was the CEO of Ford and is widely regarded as one of the top business leaders of his generation. But more than his fame and title was his impact on companies and people. In the podcast, he explains his ‘working together management system’ (see the image below with link) and how service and people are at the heart of his work.
Listen to the podcast here, and see the principles and system below:
Working Together Management System
Working Together Principles: read here
Unreasonable Hospitality
One other podcast you might be interested in over the festive season.
Unreasonable Hospitality is the new book from Will Guidara, who took over Eleven Madison Park at age 26.
This struggling two-star brasserie had never quite lived up to its majestic room. Yet, eleven years later, EMP was named the best restaurant in the world.
The book distinguishes between service (transactional) and hospitality (how did it leave you feeling).
The 33-minute interview with Simon Sinek is an entertaining look at the distinction.
Listen to the podcast here: Unreasonable Hospitality
This week on The Growth Whisperers Podcast
Planning to Win in 2023 (1 of 5)
2023 is looking like one of the most interesting years in our lives and careers. We didn’t really see 2020, it just happened to us, and we all responded.
But 2023 looks to have major challenges that are slowly developing.
So what can we do in order to win in 2023?
In this first of five episodes, we look at what we know about 2023, and what we can do to manage the headwinds and challenges.
Episode 140 – The Growth Whisperers
Listen to The Growth Whisperers
Or watch it on YouTube
Onboarded: Fast Track New Hires to Success – Live Virtual Masterclass with The Growth Faculty – 22 February 2023
Author and coach Brad Giles leads a step-by-step session on optimal onboarding.
Build a stronger organisation with this great onboarding process.
In partnership with Growth Faculty, we are pleased to offer you 25% discount for Onboarded: Fast Track New Hires To Success – Live Virtual Masterclass with Brad Giles.
Onboarding is a critical engagement and retention tool. 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experience great onboarding.
In this 60-minute masterclass, leadership coach and author of Onboarded, Brad Giles will share a simple step-by-step process to accelerate the effectiveness of new and existing team members.
“The new hire traverses three stages of understanding, learning and applying, which should be embedded, whereby at the end they are a successful fit into the role,” says Brad.
Founder of Evolution Partners, Brad works with CEOs and leadership teams to build enduring, great companies. He is the author of Made to Thrive and Onboarded.
“By implementing Brad’s onboarding strategies outlined in this book our team retention for new starters within the first 12 months doubled which had a huge impact on the culture of Aventus and ultimately our financial results.”
Darren Holland, CEO, Aventus
BOOK YOUR SPOT TODAY!
STANDARD RATE: $195 | OUR DISCOUNT NETWORK RATE: $145
Use this exclusive link ONLY to book your discounted tickets: https://thegrowthfaculty.co/3uQ0jlI
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Keep Thriving!
Brad Giles
