The Art of Followership
How Great Followers Create Great Leaders and Organizations
Ronald E. Riggio, Ira Chaleff and Jean Lipman-Blumen
Jossey-Bass, 337 pages, $55

Have you been in the business section of a bookstore lately? Then you know there are no shortage of books on how to be a leader—including how to walk, talk and even dress. But alas, we can’t all be leaders. In fact, most of us will be followers. Where’s that book? Well, it exists now that Ronald E. Riggio, Ira Chaleff and Jean Lipman-Blumen turned those leadership books on their heads in The Art of Followership. And, as the authors argue, followership is more important now than it ever has been. Why? Well, leaders haven’t been all that great lately, and the worst of the bunch often have made terrible mistakes despite the advice of others. That, of course, shines more light on the need for fantastic followers— engaged employees offering sound feedback up the chain of command. Come to think of it, those folks probably would make great leaders, wouldn’t they?


The Secret Language of Business
How to Read Anyone in 3 Seconds or Less
Kevin Hogan
Wiley, 213 pages, $24.95

When you walk into a client site for the first time, how long do you have to make an impression? How about three seconds? That’s the premise laid out by author Kevin Hogan in The Secret Language of Business, a fascinating read designed around the science of non-verbal communication. Hogan, a body language expert and public speaker, helps to unlock some of the hidden messages the client across the table may be telling you. Is his head tilted up, down or to the side, is her arm position up or down, straight or bent? The book also is valuable for you to evaluate the signals you may be sending. Everything from your posture to the way that you dress tells others a lot more than you probably realize. Some of this you’ve undoubtedly heard before, but there’s enough new here to make it worth the read.


Think Better
(Your Company’s Future Depends On It... And So Does Yours)
An Innovator’s Guide to Productive Thinking
Tim Hurson
McGraw-Hill, 241 pages, $25.95

In Think Better, author Tim Hurson lays out his six-step Productive Thinking Model. Those steps include directives such as understand the challenge, envision the ideal outcome, list many possible solutions and create an action plan, among others. Of course, this begs the question of whether or not you can actually “teach” someone to think better. Hurson, a founding partner of ThinkX Intellectual Capital, a firm that provides training and advisory services in productive thinking, says you can. For starters, he suggests separating your thinking into creative thinking and critical thinking, staying with the question, generating lots of ideas and then looking for unexpected connections. Hurson also has a lot to say about the corporate-friendly brainstorming sessions—mainly, they don’t work. The best way to brainstorm, he says, is to not discuss the ideas. Think Better provides some sound insights, but still leaves one wondering if great thinkers are born or made.


Big Ideas To Big Results
Remake and Recharge Your Company, Fast
Michael Kanazawa and Rober Miles
Financial Times Press, 211 pages, $27.95

Are there still big ideas out there to be had? Tough to say, but that’s not what this book is all about. Michael Kanazawa, CEO of Dissero Partners and Robert Miles, chairman of Dissero, outline a step-by-step approach to driving business transformation and performance. The solution? In a word, simplify. Just remember that everything is not a priority, they say, and you will not fall victim to “Corporate ADD.” So what if the authors don’t lay out any big ideas in the Big Ideas To Big Results? Don’t let that stop you from picking up this book. What they do lay out is a methodology for getting things done—hence the “remake and recharge your company fast”—and making sure the employees are on board as well. That, after all, is better than any idea they could have come up with the in the first place.