Schaffner Media Partners

Not so long ago, the culture celebrated nasty bosses. “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap, lionized for cost-cutting turnarounds at Scott Paper and Crown Zellenbach, had a best-selling business book, Mean Business, in 1996. Never mind he was blatantly abusive, gloating over lay offs and destroying good people’s careers, while he soaking up the limelight (I actually once witnessed this in person).

Eventually, Dunlap got fired, and the tough CEO craze came to an end. And in recent years, values, character, and culture have been seen as critical skills for leaders.
But it is a new book by Anne Creamer, a former director of Nickelodeon, part of the founding team of Spy magazine and journalist, that truly turns the page on the era of the cult of the mean (usually male) CEO.

It’s Always Personal: Emotions in the New Workplace, is thoroughly researched, brilliantly written, and copiously documented. Declaring that women are now the new majority in the workplace, Creamer draws on neuroscience, first-hand stories, and two new national surveys. Her argument: women experience a greater range of emotional nuances than men, and that communicating about and expressing emotions on the job are essential skills that can no longer be ignored. In fact, her book suggests that as more women assume positions of power, EQ–emotional intelligence–will become increasingly critical skills for leaders. CONTINUE READING…

Earlier in my career, I worked as chief speechwriter for the governor of New Jersey. I remember one of the governor’s senior staff members, a man I liked, succinctly described to me the secret to his good rapport with the Governor: “I know when to put my head up, and when to put my head down.” I was reminded of this advice when I read the new book, Influencing Powerful People, written by executive coach and management consultant Dirk Schlimm.

Schlimm analyzes the careers of business titans, such as Ferdinand Piech, chairman of Volkswagen, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple and Rupert Murdoch of Fox, as well as the people behind them who were skilled in the art of handling tough bosses. And Schlimm rejects trendy management ideas in favor of a realpolitik approach to wielding influence. For Schlimm, the skills that will allow you to keep up, have influence, and perhaps some day become a worthy power player of your own–are not about self-promotion, or flash-in-the-pan management theories. CONTINUE READING…

Years ago, when I was editing a manuscript by David Rock, the acclaimed leadership coach, neuroscience guru, and author, I learned that David did most of his writing on transoceanic flights. At the time, I assumed it was because he was simply too busy to find any other time to write.

Now I wonder if it is because David was applying his understanding of neuroscience: productive deep thinking thrives when we can eliminate distractions, focus on one high-order task at a time, isolate from technology and interruptions, and have the opportunity to take quick enjoyable breaks. A first-class seat on a long flight is just this kind of environment (assuming you’re not sitting next to your boss or a chatterbox.) CONTINUE READING…

Thousands of business books are published every year, so sometimes very good ones get overlooked. Seizing the White Space, by Mark Johnson, a management consultant, is one of those books that deserves a second look.

Published last year by Harvard Business School Press, the book offers a road map to innovation. Specifically, it is about”white space plays”–strategies to leap frog out of crowded markets into new, open spaces by radically changing your business model. Johnson, chairman of Innosight, a consulting and investing company that he co-founded with Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen, delivers a case-study rich guide that shows how changing your company’s business model can enable you to dominate new markets. CONTINUE READING…

When the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nukes crisis hit, Nassim Taleb, author, former options trader, and Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at New York University, was besieged with 600 interview requests. It’s not surprising: Taleb popularized the phrase “black swan” in his 2007 best-selling book of the same name.

Taleb isn’t giving interviews ( “I think for a living & write books not interviews,” Taleb writes on his website) so I took another look at his writings and tried to glean where he might stand. First, some background: A “black swan” is a metaphor used by philosophers over the centuries to capture the surprise effects of scientifically improbable and therefore unexpected events on history, inspired by the 17th century discovery of black swans in Australia when biologists had previously declared all swans were white swans. CONTINUE READING…