Recommended Reading
We challenge ourselves to continually learn. To seek the insights and opinions of reputable sources. To be true business consultants with a deep understanding of how today’s companies are led.
Below are some of the many books in the Bell Oaks library. We have found these titles to be among the most informative, inspiring and useful. We hope they provide a benefit to you as well.
The Catholic Briefcase: Tools for Integrating Faith and Work
Randy Hain, Foreward by Patrick Lencioni
ISBN: 0764820526
The Catholic Briefcase helps Catholics integrate their faith with their jobs through practical tips, relevant examples, and the inspirational stories of others who have successfully learned how to bring their Catholic identity with them to work.... more»
Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future
Dr. Tim Elmore
ISBN: 0578063557
The book every parent, teacher, coach, and youth pastor should read, it paints a sobering-picture of what could happen if we don't change the way we relate to today's teens and young adults... more»
 Tribes: We Need you to Lead Us
Seth Godin
ISBN: 1591842336
Seth Godins newest book argues that lasting and substantive change can be best effected by a tribe: a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea.... more »
 Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It
James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
ISBN: 0470651717
Credibility is the foundation of leadership: This is the inescapable conclusion we have come to after more than thirty years of research into the dynamics of the relationship between leaders and constituents. Leadership is a relationship. You can't talk about leadership without talking about the expectations of those who are led... more »
 Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose
Rajendra Sisodia, David Wolfe, Jagdish Sheth
ISBN-13: 978-0131873728
It's a fact: People are increasingly searching for higher meaning in their lives ... more »
 Profiles in Leadership: Historians on the Elusive Quality of Greatness
Edited by Walter Isaacson
ISBN: 0393340767
What made FDR a more successful leader during the Depression crisis than Hoover? Why was Eisenhower more effective as supreme commander at war than he was as president? Who was Pauli Murray and why was she a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement?
Find the answers to these questions and more in essays by great historians ... more »
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 Well Connected: An Unconventional Approach to Building Genuine Effective Business Relationships
Gordon S. Curtis with Greg Lewis
ISBN: 0470577943
Smart executives who want to reach virtually any business goal-from raising capital to finding sales leads to finding the perfect job-know that networking is the key to their success... more
 Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty
Patrick Lencioni
ISBN: 0787976393
Written in the same dynamic style as his previous bestsellers, Lencioni illustrates the principles of inspiring client loyalty through a fascinating business fable. ... more»
 Clients for Life: Evolving from an Expert-for-Hire to an Extraordinary Adviser
Jagdish Sheth and Andrew Sobel
ISBN: 0684870304
More than 15 million people in this country earn their livings by serving clients, and their numbers are growing every day ... more»
 Saving the World at Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference
Tim Sanders
ISBN: 978-0385523578
Even the actions of a single person can help to change the world. How? Through simple acts of leadership and compassion. Open up this book, and discover the true stories of people whose actions have caused a chain reaction at work and in their communities. ... more»
 Outliers: The Story of Success
Malcom Gladwell
ISBN: 9780316017923
Malcolm Gladwell poses a provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? ... more»
 Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World
Chris Lowney
ISBN: 0829421157;
Pub. Date: 01/2005
Leadership is crucial to building organizations with staying power. In Heroic Leadership, author Chris Lowney examines organizational principles derived from the history and teachings of the Jesuits and applies them to modern corporate culture. ... more»
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Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty
Written in the same dynamic style as his previous bestsellers including The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni illustrates the principles of inspiring client loyalty through a fascinating business fable. He explains the theory of vulnerability in depth and presents concrete steps for putting it to work in any organization. The story follows a small consulting firm, Lighthouse Partners, which often beats out big-name competitors for top clients. One such competitor buys out Lighthouse and learns important lessons about what it means to provide value to its clients.
Author, speaker and management consultant Lencioni (The Three Signs of a Miserable Job) preaches a business model that may seem antithetical to many, which he calls "getting naked": being unafraid to show vulnerability, admit ignorance, and ask the dumb questions when dealing with clients. Lencioni's central argument is that by focusing on sales, rather than communication, consultants miss the key part of their job-consulting-and therefore lose out on valuable long-term client relationships. Presented mostly as a parable about a management consultant trying to reconcile two firms in a merger, Lencioni's latest is entertaining as well as informative, with a message that sticks (heavy-handed though it may be). Straightforward and widely applicable, Lencioni's advice should prove useful not only for business consultants, but anyone trying to build long-term client relationships.
Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose
It's a fact: People are increasingly searching for higher meaning in their lives, not just more possessions. This trend is transforming the marketplace, the workplace, and the very soul of capitalism. Increasingly, today's most successful companies are those who've brought love, joy, authenticity, empathy, and soulfulness into their businesses: companies that deliver emotional, experiential, and social value, not just profits. Firms of Endearment illuminates this: the most fundamental transformation in capitalism since Adam Smith. It's not a book about corporate social responsibility: it's about building companies that can sustain success in a radically new era. It's about great companies like IDEO and IKEA, Commerce Bank and Costco, Wegmans and Whole Foods: how they've earned powerful loyalty and affection from all their stakeholders, while achieving stock performance that is truly breathtaking. It's about gaining "share of heart," not just share of wallet. It's about aligning the interests of all your stakeholders, not just juggling them. It's about understanding how the "new rules of capitalism" mirror the self-actualization focus of our aging society. It's about building companies that leave the world a better place. Most of all, it's about why you must do all this, or risk being left in the dust... and how to get there from wherever you are now.
Profiles in Leadership: Historians on the Elusive Quality of Greatness
In a thought-provoking book designed to reconsider the attributes of American leadership, Issacson (Einstein and His Universe), former managing editor of Time and now president of the Aspen Institute, has assembled a group of distinguished historians to address some seminal figures in terms of their vision, principles, flexibility, and pragmatism. Many of the contributors have first-rate résumés in scholarship, letters, and research, including Frances Fitzgerald, Sean Wilentz, Jean Strouse, and Robert Dallek. Quality writing, incisive analysis, and valuable revelations accompany each essay, whether it's Kevin Baker's take on the unpredictable baseball manager John Joseph McGraw, Evan Thomas's emotional deconstruction of Robert F. Kennedy, or Annette Gordon-Reed's perceptive measure of W.E.B. Du Bois. Three standout essays concern the moral and strategic strengths and weaknesses of Gen. George Washington; Joseph, chief of the Nez Perce Indians; and presidents Hoover and FDR. At a time when leadership is lacking, this memorable book culls examples from our past to reveal what makes a person stand above the rest. It's unfortunate that just one of the subjects--civil rights activist Pauli Murray--is a woman. - Publishers Weekly
Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future
The one book every parent, teacher, coach, and youth pastor should read. This landmark book paints a compelling-and sobering-picture of what could happen to our society if we don't change the way we relate to today's teens and young adults. Researched-based and solution-biased, it moves beyond sounding an alarm to outlining practical strategies to:
- Guide "stuck" adolescents and at-risk boys to productive adulthood
- Correct crippling parenting styles
- Repair damage from (unintentional) lies we've told kids
- Guide them toward real success instead of superficial "self-esteem"
- Adopt education strategies that engage (instead of bore) an "i" generation
- Pull youth out of their "digital" ghetto into the real world
- Employ their strengths and work with their weaknesses on the job
- Defuse a worldwide demographic time bomb
- Equip Generation iY to lead us into the future
The Catholic Briefcase: Tools for Integrating Faith and Work
The Catholic Briefcase helps Catholics integrate their faith with their jobs through practical tips, relevant examples, and the inspirational stories of others who have successfully learned how to bring their Catholic identity with them to work.
This book provides tips and ideas for finding time for prayer and reflection throughout the day and explores ways to make business decisions through the filter of Catholic teaching. Being a light for Christ is ultimately the best way to share your faith with others as they will be drawn to you by your good example and joy.
The Catholic Briefcase helps the reader evaluate where they have been in their business life and where being a light for Christ can take them. The practical nature of the content gives the reader a roadmap to a deeper faith in an area (the workplace) they have likely ignored in the past.
Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
Sure you know about superstars like Steve Jobs, Barack Obama and John Mayer. But consider:
NATHAN WINOGRAD, an animal rights activist who has saved the lives of millions of dogs and cats with his tenacious opposition to their slaughter by animal shelters.
MICA SIFRY, a writer and editor who organizes and provokes a tribe of impatient political activists from both sides of the aisle.
TASMIN LITTLE, a noted violinist leading a worldwide quest to introduce classical music to children.
BRAD LOMENICK, the vice president of Catalyst, which is training, connecting, and leading the next generation of church leaders.
SUSAN SOBBOT, and American Express executive who spends her day (and her dollars) finding, leading, and connecting small business owners.
MARK ROVNER, a heretic galvanizing the mavericks of the nonprofit world to challenge the status quo.
If you think leadership is only for other people, you're wrong. We need YOU to lead us.
Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It
As the world falls deeper into economic downturns and warfare, the question of credibility (how leaders gain and lose it) is more important than ever. Building on their research from The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Posner explore in Credibility why leadership is above all a relationship, with credibility as the cornerstone, and why leaders must "Say what you mean and mean what you say." This first full revision of the book since its initial publication in 1993 features new case studies from around the world, fully updated data and research, and a streamlined format. Written by the premier leadership experts working today,
Credibility:
Reveals the six key disciplines that strengthen a leader's capacity for developing and sustaining credibility.
Provides rich examples of real managers in action
Includes updates to?the applications?and research
This personal, inspiring, and genuine guide helps you understand the fundamental importance of credibility for building personal and organizational success.
Clients for Life
An Innovative Blueprint for Enduring Client Relationships
More than 15 million people in this country earn their livings by serving clients, and their numbers are growing every day. Unfortunately, far too few develop the skills and strategies needed to rise to the top ina world where clients have almost unlimited access to information and expertise. Supported by more than one hundred case studies and wisdom gleaned from interviews with dozens of leading CEOs and prominent business advisors, Clients for Life identifies what clients really want and lays out the core qualities that distinguish the client advisor – an irreplaceable resource – from the expert for hire – a tradable commodity.
- Experts are specialists; advisors become deep generalists who have broad perspective.
- Experts are for hire; advisors have selfless independence, balancing client devotion with objectivity and detachment.
- Experts have professional credibility; advisors develop deep personal trust.
- Experts analyze; advisors synthesize and bring big-picture thinking to the table.
- Experts supply expertise and information; advisors are educators who provide insight and wisdom.
Portraits of history's most famously successful advisors, including Machiavelli, Sir Thomas More, and J. P. Morgan, underscore these timeless qualities that modern professionals need to develop to excel in today's competitive environment.
Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World
Leadership is crucial to building organizations with staying power. In Heroic Leadership, author Chris Lowney examines organizational principles derived from the history and teachings of the Jesuits and applies them to modern corporate culture. Based on the four Jesuit pillars of success: self-awareness (reflection), ingenuity (embracing change), love (positive attitudes toward others) and heroism (energizing ambitions). Despite the emphasis on the four pillars, this is no formulaic "12-steps-to-success" tome. Rather than focusing on what leaders do, Lowney shows how the Jesuit approach focuses on who leaders are. His conversational voice draws the reader in as he unfolds leadership lessons from some unlikely Jesuit role models, including explorer Benedetto de Goes, linguist Matteo Ricci and mathematician and astronomer Christopher Clavius. Lowney's passion for history is appealing, and he is careful not to sugarcoat his historical role models. Professionals looking for a One-Minute type of business book won't find it here, but more reflective businesspeople of faith will find Lowney's insights a breath of fresh air . A Jesuit seminarian turned investment banker, Lowney recognized a tremendous lack of able leaders throughout his seventeen years of multinational management experience. By modeling the Jesuits' success, Lowney shares methods for molding innovative, ambitious leaders in the modern corporate environment.
Outliers: The Story of Success
Now that he's gotten us talking about the viral life of ideas in The Tipping Point and the power of gut reactions in Blink, Malcolm Gladwell poses a more provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? Challenging our cherished belief of the "self-made man," he makes the democratic assertion that superstars don't arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: "they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot." Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, "some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky."
Outliers can be enjoyed for its bits of trivia, like why most pro hockey players were born in January, how many hours of practice it takes to master a skill, why the descendents of Jewish immigrant garment workers became the most powerful lawyers in New York, how a pilots' culture impacts their crash record, how a centuries-old culture of rice farming helps Asian kids master math. But there's more to it than that. Throughout all of these examples--and in more that delve into the social benefits of lighter skin color, and the reasons for school achievement gaps--Gladwell invites conversations about the complex ways privilege manifests in our culture. He leaves us pondering the gifts of our own history, and how the world could benefit if more of our kids were granted the opportunities to fulfill their remarkable potential. --Mari Malcolm
Well Connected
Achieve your goals by selectively engaging the right people and connecting well with them.
Smart executives who want to reach virtually any business goal-from raising capital to finding sales leads to finding the perfect job-know that networking is the key to their success. But traditional networking approaches-meet as many people as possible, amass huge numbers of "connections" and "friends" in your LinkedIn and Facebook networks-rarely produce more than a handful of relationships that pay off. In Well-Connected, networking maven and coach Gordon Curtis explains that the secret to building truly effective relationships is to narrow--rather than widen--your network. His proven methodology for building key relationships that deliver results every time emphasizes selectively engaging the right people and connecting with them well : First, identify a "critical enabler," someone who has access to the knowledge you need and is inclined to help you; second, unlock the critical enabler's willingness and ability to provide what you need by offering her something valuable before you ask her or him for anything.
Well-Connected reveals a breakthrough approach to networking that delivers predictable, positive results. Filled with success stories, the book provides an accessible action plan for all readers. Networking maven Gordon Curtis has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Sunday Globe, Fast Company Magazine
Well-Connected serves as the playbook for sophisticated business people who know there's a better way to connect with the right people to get things done better and faster.
Saving the World at Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference
Even the actions of a single person can help to change the world. How? Through simple acts of leadership and compassion. Open up this book, and discover the true stories of people whose actions have caused a chain reaction at work and in their communities. Among them: A manager who gives an employee some supportive praise, and as a result literally saves his life (page 231).
A small group of bank tellers who spearhead a movement to raise millions of dollars for breast cancer, making it the biggest fundraiser in North America, and enhancing their company’s reputation (page 213).
A sales manager who gets a copy of a groundbreaking book that leads to a transformation of the company’s operations. As a result, hundreds of millions of pounds of carpet waste avoid the landfill, and the company sparks a revolution in its industry (page 12).
A “responsibility revolution” is shaking up corporate America. In this provocative and insightful book, bestselling author Tim Sanders reveals why companies must to go beyond making a profit and start making a difference.
Every one of us, regardless of title or position, can inspire our companies to change the way they do business, helping them to become a positive force for enriching people, communities, and the environment. When this happens, not only do we help save the world, we help save our companies from becoming irrelevant. We also become part of what Sanders calls the Responsibility Revolution.
Companies that don’t participate in this revolution risk becoming obsolete. Today customers, employees, and investors are demanding that companies focus on their social responsibilities--not just their bottom lines. Sixty-five percent of American consumers say they would change to brands associated with a good cause if price and quality were equal; 66 percent of recent college graduates will not work for companies with poor social values. And more than sixty million people are willing to pay a premium for socially and environmentally responsible products.
In Saving the World at Work, Tim Sanders offers concrete suggestions on how all of us can help our companies join the Responsibility Revolution. Drawing on extensive interviews with hundreds of employees and CEOs, and illuminated by countless stories of people who are making a difference in the workplace and in the world, Sanders offers practical advice every individual and company can use to make the world a better place--now and in the future.
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