Natuzzi: The Italian Harmony Maker

This is the autobiography of one of the most influential management consultants of recent times. Herbert Henzler grew up in the German village of Neckarhausen during the Second World War. Starting his career as a sales apprentice with Shell, he went on to study at the universities of Saarland, Ludwig-Maximillian and California, Berkeley, where he received his PhD in economics. In 1970, Henzler accepted an offer to join McKinsey & Company, a rapidly growing firm that would eventually become the world’s leading consultancy group. Working in its German office, Henzler quickly rose to Partner in 1975 and then Director in 1978. His spectacular rise continued when, in 1985, Henzler became head of McKinsey’s German office and one of the most powerful management consultants in the world. Honest and at times direct, this book provides a rare insight into the world of management consultancy and how one man made it to the top by constantly pushing the boundaries.

Author: Herbert Henzler

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Iconic

Management and Leadership, Marketing and Communication

This book is about icons – exceptional organizations (orchestras, restaurants, sports teams or companies) with an aspiration to make or do something special, and to go on doing so, year in, year out for decades. This is what gives these organizations their undeniably iconic status.

By selecting 14 iconic organizations (including ElBulli, McKinsey, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Procter & Gamble, the All Blacks) and researching what characteristics make them different from others, the authors discovered a “competency spiral” which these organizations exhibit in their success. Attracting and retaining the right people; forging individuals into a team; and achieving outstanding results, time after time, through continuous improvement and adjustment – these are the key competencies required to achieve iconic status.

Author: Xavier Bekaert, Gillis Jonk, Jan Raes & Phebo Wibbens

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Perform to win

This book explores and demonstrates the transformative learning experiences that organizations and their leaders can derive from the arts. It is through the arts that we have always explored our humanity: through dance and music; art and sculpture; theatre and poetry. The arts allow us to explore our own selves and our relationship to others and to the world around us. This central role of the arts is commonly accepted in everyday life, but the implications of this are not typically extended to the world of business.The authors argues strongly that, to the contrary, the methodologies and approaches that are fundamental to performing artists of all kinds can provide exactly the kind of inspirational, people-centred and performance-related techniques that are missing from much of the typically mechanistic, systems-based and process-driven training and development of managers and executives. Technical proficiency and expertise are not enough to deliver an award-winning result; what enables a truly outstanding performance is the elusive but entirely recognizable element of artistry – the spark that transforms a technically good performance into something extraordinary.

Author: Mark Powell and Jonathan Gifford

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The Strategic’s Analysis Cycle: Handbook

Digital, Data and Technology, Management and Leadership

This is an authoritative and practical guide to collecting, analysing and managing data, to enable managers and companies to develop successful business strategies. Data has become a dominant factor in today's business environment. This book, written by a leading practitioner, explains the underpinning nature of data for a company's business strategy. The book begins with data collection: getting data is no big deal; getting the right data to win in the market is. It moves on to data analysis: turning data into actionable intelligence is what drives and determines competitive advantage. And, finally, managing data: how to organise your data collection and analysis to create winning strategies. This is a definitive book about one of the most important topics in today's digital and data-driven economy. Author: Erik Elgersma

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KINDLE

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The Feedback Book

Maintaining performance today is no longer simply about having an annual appraisal and telling employees “you must try harder”. Research demonstrates that regular discussions about performance and providing feedback to the people you manage is a more effective way to motivate them and keep them on track. Distilled into this single, handy-sized volume are 50 tips, advice and techniques to help any manager become quickly skilled at regularly discussing performance, setting goals and objectives and providing the necessary feedback to ensure individuals and teams thrive in the company. Structured into five key parts, each of the 50 concise chapters also contains a practical exercise to help the reader understand and implement the concepts and ideas of this book.

Author: Dawn Sillett

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Disruption Denial

Digital, Data and Technology, Management and Leadership

We live in a world of constant change and disruption caused mainly by new technology. Yet, in business, there is widespread apathy, paralysis and confusion in many established companies in face of the obvious scope, scale, reach and pace of disruptive change. Why? Because Denial is the natural default response, given how executives’ brains function and how they are trained.

This important book examines why companies seem paralysed in the headlights of onrushing digital and other disruption. In analysing and understanding this tendency towards denial in companies, the author is then able to guide executives to begin seeing a new perspective to coping with the transformation challenge that faces them. Full of insightful case studies and lessons gained from the author’s work with leading companies, this is a hugely timely book when virtually all companies and executives must deal with the threat of disruptive change.

Author: David Guillebaud

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The Human Way

In this counter-intuitive book for managers, the author argues that no one is perfect and that success as a leader is not about being perfect and always doing the right thing; it is about accepting your own humanity and adopting a number of down-to-earth attitudes and values. That’s when we achieve true (adequate) success.

Through ten commandments – starting with “Be humble – as a manager, you are also an employee” – management expert Kelly Odell provides a new perspective on how we should behave as managers in this age of differing cultures and values. How we think about people, motivation, power and relationships is the foundation for successful management. Odell argues that too much emphasis is placed on the leader setting a good example and becoming a (heroic) role model, when in fact a leader whose priority is on other people is more likely to create value for their company and succeed as a manager.

Author: Kelly Odell

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Plus Change

This book melds together the two most critical elements to organizational viability: change and creativity. More than simply a how-to book or a technical tome, +Change provides the working knowledge, strategies and tactics necessary to not only be more creative and more innovative, but also to implement change more effectively. +Change introduces the ICI Formula (Ideas + Change = Innovation). This critical formula for sustainable innovation within an organization allows for systemized ideation, unbiased idea selection, better change management methods and finally, sustainable innovation. This is a book for managers and executives in an era where innovation and change have become key competitive advantages to any company.

Author: Moe Glenner

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The JD.com Story

Entrepreneurship and Business Biographies, Management and Leadership

Valued at $25 billion following its IPO in 2014, JD.com (Jingdong) is China’s second largest e-commerce company (behind its rival Alibaba) and leads the way in sales of consumer electronics and books. Through unprecedented access to the inner-workings of JD.com and its founder, Richard Liu, and other main players, this book offers the most detailed examination of the success behind one of China’s most successful companies of recent times. Founded in 1998 as an online magneto-optical store, the company evolved into selling books, CDs, videos and consumer electronics online on an enormous scale. In 2014, Asia’s largest Internet company, Tencent, acquired a 20% stake in JD.com, which made the company the No.2 online retailer in China, and thus triggering a fierce battle with Alibaba for dominance in the China market. The story of JD.com’s growth, and the strategies and philosophy of its charismatic founder, is featured in this fascinating book.

Author: Li Zhigang

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KINDLE KOBO

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Brands and Rousers

How is it that some brands and companies manage to last decades, fending off crises and turbulence and continuing to prosper, while others fail? What does it take to achieve sustainable value and success? In this timely and important book, Luis Gallardo argues that executives and managers not only have to think holistically (in terms of strategy, structure and operations), but also act personally (to become “rousers”) if they are to succeed in these ever-changing times. As a manager, you have to engage and people, from top to bottom, and provide an understanding of the company’s mission and brand. As well as taking a broad, systems approach, you have to rouse (ignite and excite) the people in your organisation in order to make things happen. This balance between strategy and tactics, big picture and detail, planning and action, corporate direction and personal responsibility is the key to progress and resilience for your company in today’s turbulent times.

Author: Luis Gallardo

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