When Cultures Collide is an essential read for anyone working in a culturally diverse environment and seeks to effectively integrate working styles. The book provides a clear structure for understanding cultures, including motivation, timeframes, relationships, negotiation, and meeting styles. It goes so far to describe language styles, tones, and sense of humor, which are key for communicating effectively.

I’ve used this material extensively when training multicultural groups. As I’ve applied the specific patterns I’ve mentioned above, I’ve noticed significant differences in how cultural sub-groups participate in class. When abstracted, the patterns help reveal models for any culture.

Those interested in other patterns should read Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP Workbook, both by Joseph O’Connor and John Seymour.

The Fifth Discipline is a broad introduction to systems thinking, which an important practice for every learning organization. It describes some basic patterns which are helpful for visually modelling systems and finding root causes to problems.

That said, I think it takes a lot of creativity and insight to simply visualize systems. Causal loop diagrams are by necessity driven by more quantitative factors than qualitative, and think this might lead some people to creating some odd associations. Ultimately, I think such diagrams need to be validated using behaviorally-driven models to complete the picture.

Overall, the principles of systems thinking are very valuable and encourage thinking in the Ecology Frame of NLP. As a practice of modeling, however, I think the book leaves much to be desired in order for it to be done effectively. If you’re modelling human and social behavior - something I need to do quite a bit in coaching and training - I would suggest using NLP skills such as Multiple Positions, the Meta Model and Neuro-Logical Levels to frame the discussion, after which one can build the visual model based on the conclusions.

So far, I’ve really enjoyed Thinking for a Living. I’ve found it to be a good, clear summary of the different models of knowledge work that people are performing today. The author explores each model by providing examples of motivation, education, evaluation, and environment that help and hurt. Examples of Agile methods in one chapter were nice to read, too.

This book can be a little bit dry at times, like reading article after article from the Harvard Business Review. It also introduces a fair bit of new vocabulary in each chapter as well. So far, I’ve found it easier to read a chapter, then meditate on it with respecct to my organization, then pick it up again to finish another.

I think it’s an essential read for anyone that’s leading a group of knowledge workers and has an impact on structuring work within teams.

Alpha Leadership describes a basic model of leadership for those in strategic positions in their organization: Anticipate, Align, and Act. Many of the tools are fairly high-level such as “detecting weak signals”, “leading through embodiement”, and “80:20 leadership” and would be a good summary for those looking for a review of stuff that’d likely appear in the Harvard Business Review.

As a sampler, it’s a good read. I think it’s best read after Thinking for a Living, which provides a richer context for the kind of knowledge work that dominates the business world and the focus of the tools of this book.

Frankly, I’m a little disappointed in this book, because I think the ideas could have been developed with more examples and case studies of those that have used these tools. Without these, I’d be worried that some of these tools would be poorly translated into real life and cause more distress than help. From what I understand, it looks like Topgrading would be a similar read.

The McKinsey Mind is a great follow-up to The McKinsey Way. The authors take the basic tools presented in the original book and frame them with respect to a specific process for applying them. The context that this adds to the tools is invaluable and places them in an easy-to-understand model.

I’ve found Zen philosophy always offers a good kick in the head when it’s needed most. As applied in this book, the philosophy directs one away from trying to achieve control and focuses much more on the art of influence and perception. While less direct, it’s certainly still powerful when living in the realm of the absurd “elephants”, and it’s typically the only power you can expect to exhert on these beasts.

While I felt the last couple of chapters fell flat from being too vague and without any examples to back up the suggestions, I think it’s still worth a read.

While I’m still getting through it, this has been a really worthwhile read. Even though I’ve enjoyed applying Buddhist philosophy in business when possible, I’m typically critical of many of the “Zen” business books out there. This seems to hit the mark well when it comes to managing up.

The author makes great observations on the typical types of folks in management. The politics of managing up that the author describes are not those of backstabbing and climbing to the top, but rather that feeling one gets when it seems like nobody up top is listening to you as you’d like to be heard.

While I’m not entirely convinced that his strategies for dealing with these “elephants” are ones I’d like to use to shape my own path, I think the perspective he offers on the nature of the beast are worth noting anyway.

The Six Thinking Hats is a very simple framework to get people thinking in the same direction, while allowing a turn for different kinds of voices throughout a meeting. Each hat represents a distinct point of view, and when used well, can keep a meeting moving by keeping everyone engaged in a collective problem solving process. If you’re already familiar with the Disney Creative method (Dreamer -> Realist -> Critic), you’ll find the Six Thinking Hats familiar, but the Hats method seem a bit more detailed and rigorous.

Reading the book, I found myself distracted by DeBono’s writing style which seemed haphazard at times. This surprised me, considering he’s supposed to be the guru of thinking. - His examples of using this framework in practice make it seem like he’d doing it for the sole purpose of name dropping, but that’s a different story. - The most excruciating part of the book was how his examples weren’t clearly labelled as good or bad until after they were presented. This left me confused at times, as I thought he wasn’t applying the hats with much consistency.

Overall, I think it’s still worth a quick read despite its style.

I really enjoyed this one. It was a rather fast read, with practical tips and tools woven throughout. I’ve already started applying MECE (mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive) and the problem solving process is very clearly described.

As the author says himself, he wrote the book in a style that reflects McKinsey’s values. I found the text was jargon-free and really approachable.

Anyone serving a “client”, be it a set of stakeholders in your own organization or someone outside, should get a hold of this book.

Once again, O’Connor successfully describes how to integrate NLP methods into training. From using multiple perspectives to reframing discussions, this is a good starting point for anyone that wants to design a holistic learning environment.