By James E. Lukaszewski

A review by Ralph Gaillard

Before you hit the beach or suffer the long drive to Disney World this summer, be sure to bring this book with you. For HR professionals, there isn’t a more important book of the season (perhaps the year) than this one: Why Should the Boss Listen to You: The Seven Disciplines of the Trusted Strategic Advisor. Why my sense of urgency and drama? In this boo, the HR profession finally has a road map that will help them with their perennial struggle of getting a permanent perch inside the C-Suite.

Yes, it’s all here in black and white. The book’s author, James E. Lukaszweski, who is no stranger to the expansive CEO offices, offers his insider knowledge for getting inside the executive lair and what you should do once you get past the gatekeepers. More so, Lukaszweksi helps you understand the concept of time and how to use it toward your advantage in becoming part of the boss’s inner circle.

The best part of this book might be reading Lukaszweski’s experiences as chief strategists to various corporate leaders. In fact, he’s gracious enough to share one incident, in which he was fired for offering advice that conflicted with the business goals of the CEO. This goes to show the reader that the road to strategic face time is sometimes bumpy, but in the end, it’s all about having the courage to tell folks what they need to hear vs. what they want to hear.

Perhaps, that’s why I believe this book is so important. This is a time for courage in the American workplace, and that courage needs to emanate from the HR department. The anemic economy, the never ending task of managing talent, the tidal wave of new employment laws that’s about to hit, and other workforce issues demand that HR professionals stand up and counsel their executives through these tough and extraordinary times. In fact, I would fare to wager that most would be grateful for the advice. Luckily, Lukaszweski provides a blue print for doing so. In between the sun tan lotion and the beach towels, make room for this book. Your boss will be glad that you did.

Ralph Gaillard is the Executive Editor of HR Insight and Group Publisher of the Strategic HR division for M. Lee Smith Publishers. For nearly 20 years, Ralph has worked in the publishing and marketing fields, with a specialty in creating executive education programs, building strategic partnerships and launching new products. Ralph has worked for various information publishers, including Lawrence Ragan Communications, a leading provider of corporate communication information and training. He was also an account executive for The PBN Company, an international media relations firm based in San Francisco. Early in his career, Ralph worked for the Chicago Tribune as an editorial researcher and at The Washington Post as the staff researcher for National News. He is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management, the International Association of Business Communicators, and the American Society for Training and Development.

A review by Celeste Blackburn

In his “Author’s Note,” Frankel writes “the seminal narrative of the business world is the case study. . . . Though some in my shoes might have been inspired to lead a company and shape the case studies of the future, I grew interested in living inside one.” So begins his tale of working for six of the country’s most recognizable companies: United Parcel Service (UPS), Home Depot, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Gap, and the Apple Store. At each stop, he learned more about what makes employees loyal and buy into a company’s brand and culture.

Although physically the most taxing, Frankel seemed to enjoy his time as a member of the “Brown” team at UPS most. Coming onboard as a package deliverer during the Christmas rush, he quickly saw how the employees at UPS are overwhelmingly loyal to the company and “much of this came directly from the company’s culture.”

A culture like this propagates by using an overarching set of guidelines for proper behavior and then having one person imitate another person and pass along certain traits, some of them prescribed from the top, some not. UPS was a place with a palpable spirit, a place where we wanted to be working, where we were made to feel like the chosen few.

Frankel is quick to point out that the drivers are not all clones of each other. In fact, even though UPS was very specific in regulating many of it’s employee’s actions (for example, drivers are taught to buckle their seat belts while they are putting the key in the ignition to save time), it also gave its workers a “fair amount of autonomy,” which was “apparent in the flexibility that permitted people to match uniforms to personal style and in the way each driver had a fair amount of latitude in making minute-to-minute decisions.” Despite their differences, all the UPS employees he encountered very much appreciated that the company was a place where they were rewarded for doing good work. It was repeatedly pointed out to him that most of the higher-level managers had worked their way up through the ranks.

After finishing his stint at UPS, Frankel visits the national hub in Kentucky and is impressed with the automated system that sorts packages. He notes that UPS’s commitment to up-to-date technology is essential for supporting the human element of the Brown team.

In stark contrast, at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, employees are forced to use a computer system that “was a relic of the 1970s.” He writes, “the biggest stumbling block on the job was figuring out just how to operate a computer system launched before the bulk of the company’s employees were born.” Enterprise’s lack of concern for accommodating employees didn’t end there. Frankel notes that the managerial employees (and it seems everyone in the rental office is some sort of manager or manager-in-training) are expected to work 60-hour workweeks, including most Saturdays.

Trainees are told that there are great opportunities for advancement within the company and that there is the opportunity to earn “six figures in six years.” However, Frankel says that the reality is that there are only about 7,500 positions in the entire company where that’s possible, and each year, the company hires about 7,000 people to train to be managers. That creates a culture where 10 people apply for every available promotion, leading to disillusionment and burnout.

Another contradiction Frankel observed during his time at Enterprise had to do with rental insurance. The “company line” was that selling add-on insurance wasn’t a big deal and that employees were instead to focus on customer service. He noted, however, that “the customer-service section of the training binder was just 10 pages, while the section on selling insurance was 73 pages — the longest in the book.” Once he goes to work in the rental office, Frankel says the trend of pushing insurance as a main component of the job continued.
After leaving Enterprise, Frankel finds “FailingEnterprise.com,” a message board started by a disgruntled ex-employee, where both current and past employees posted. He writes:

Much of what I read in the postings echoed thoughts I’d had while I was still locked into the job, that this was a company whose corporate culture constantly emphasized upward mobility even though such mobility was not necessarily a realistic promise for all employees. If I were to post by own [Enterprise] story, it would be a short one, though it would resemble the others: I was hired and trained. I rented cars. But I never believed; I never bled the all-powerful green.

That’s a quick rundown of what seemed to be Frankel’s favorite and least-favorite places to work. Through all six of his jobs, one theme emerges: front-line employees know when a “company line” isn’t sincere. The best, most-engaged employees worked for companies that backed up their training and mission statements in everyday practices. The companies that gave lip service to customer service, authenticity, or employee support but didn’t follow through were plagued with unhappy workers (and therefore, more unhappy customers) and high turnover.

Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee is a quick, easy, entertaining read with a good reminder to employers that your employees are watching you and will react well and be great employees if they believe that you believe in what you are doing. If they sense insincerity, they will respond with their own bad attitudes.

I give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Celeste Blackburn is managing editor of HR Insight and Diversity Insight.

A review by Michael Maslanka

From time to time, we read something in a business book that we want to pass along. Our clipping this month, from The Elements of Persuasion: Use Storytelling to Pitch Better, Sell Faster & Win More Business by Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman, tells about the interviewing process at Ritz-Carlton. The company has developed approximately 50 questions to ask during job interviews. The questions are derived from debriefing several hundred high-performing employees across the full range of hotel jobs and looking for the personality traits that separated the high performers from the marginal ones. Ritz-Carlton came up with the questions in conjunction with a company called Talent Plus.

Here’s the clipping from the book:

Karrin McCarron, the head of HR at the Marina Del Rey Ritz, is one of the people trained to give and understand that interview [process]. It can be tricky because the answer to some of those questions is pretty obvious. Hotels are a service industry. The correct answer to “do you like to help people?” is ? duh ? a no-brainer. So, for 45 of those 50 questions, there is a follow-up. If you answer “yes,” Karrin will ask, “You say you like to help people. Could you give me an example?”

If you have just given the expected response because you knew what was expected, you tend to answer in a generality: “Well, all the time, really. It is just what I like to do.” But, if it really is what you like to do, you will answer with a specific story, because one just pops into your mind: “Well, my Mom is getting older, and I like to go by and help her with the cleaning. When we are in the kitchen, we get a chance to talk. The other day. . . .”

As Karrin puts it, “at Ritz, we say the story is proof of the action.”

Facts reveal nothing. Maxwell and Dickman tell employers to listen to the story an applicant tells because stories are facts wrapped in an emotion. And it’s emotion that really tells you how a person will act and what will motivate him.

Michael Maslanka is the managing partner of Ford & Harrison LLP’s Dallas, Texas, office. He has 20 years of experience in litigation and trial of employment law cases and has served as Adjunct Counsel to a Fortune 10 company where he provided multi-state counseling on employment matters. He has also served as a Field Attorney for the National Labor Relations Board.

Mike is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and was selected as a “Texas Super Lawyer” by Texas Monthly and Law & Politics Magazine in 2003. He was also selected as one of the best lawyers in Dallas by “D” Magazine in 2003. Mike has served as the Chief Author and Editor of the Texas Employment Law Letter since 1990. He also authors the “Work Matters” column for Texas Lawyer.

A review by Wendi Watts

With her usual down-to-earth style, Suze Orman tackles the subject of women’s complicated relationship with money. At the beginning of the book, she confesses that she had never thought she would write a book geared specifically to women, but after seeing the same problems over and over again with women in many different social and economic situations, she wrote Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny.

The first half of the book gives Orman’s assessment of many women’s dysfunctional relationship with money, and the second half is a very fundamental plan to help women deal with their current financial situation and build a foundation for a better financial future. Something must has struck a serious chord because it has been a best seller in spite of the fact that it was be available for download free for one day and more than 1 million people took advantage of that opportunity.

So what insight can a business leader or HR pro get from book about personal finances directed at only half of the adult U.S. population? First, Orman has found a way to explain finances without any jargon. Without speaking down to her readers, she explains even the simplest things as savings and checking accounts and their many variations in a way that everyone can understand. If part of your job is explaining your company’s benefits plan to employees, adopting Orman’s way of communicating could help your employees better understand your plan and make better choices.

Second, Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny provides a frank discussion about issues few women talk about even with their closest friends. Orman doesn’t allow her readers to make excuses or say they can’t do anything about their situation. Instead, she makes them take responsibility for their actions and — and this is critical — she gives them the practical tools and information they need to change it. It’s applicable and accessible for people anywhere on the financial ladder, including the very bottom and very top. To borrow an overly used adage, instead of giving her readers a fish, Orman teaches them how to fish.

I give this book 4out of 5 stars.

Wendi Watts is the Web content specialist at M. Lee Smith Publishers and editor of HR Hero Line. Before moving to the online world at HRHero.com, Wendi worked as an editor for the state Employment Law Letters. She has worked as an editorial assistant for the IT Division at Middle Tennessee State University, was the school and community liaison for Rutherford County Schools in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and was a journalist at two Middle Tennessee newspapers.

1. Streetwise Small Business Book Of Lists: Hundreds of Lists to Help You Reduce Costs, Increase Revenues, and Boost Your Profits (Adams Streetwise Series) by Gene Marks.

2. Business By The Book: Complete Guide of Biblical Principles for the Workplace by Larry Burkett.

3. The Business of Books: How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read by Andre Schiffrin.

4. My First Book of Business Ethics (Executive Board Book) by Alan Axelrod.

5. The Big Book of Humorous Training Games (Big Book of Business Games Series) by Doni Tamblyn and Sharyn Weiss.

6. The Movie Business Book: Second Edition (Movie Business Book) by Jason E. Squire.

7. The Big Book of Business Games: Icebreakers, Creativity Exercises and Meeting Energizers by John W. Newstrom and Edward E. Scannell.

8. Best Practices in Planning and Performance Management: From Data to Decisions (Wiley Best Practices) by David A. J. Axson.

9. The Little Book of Business Wisdom: Rules of Success from More than 50 Business Legends by Peter Krass.

10. The Book of Business Wisdom: Classic Writings by the Legends of Commerce and Industry (Book of Business Wisdom) by Peter Krass.

by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler

A review by Michael Maslanka

The book’s big idea: There are tactics you can use to open up the lines of communication between employees and supervisors and avoid miscommunication. It’s a good book, and we wanted to tell you about one of the tactics.

‘I know what you’re thinking’

One of the problems with conversations is that one side often believes she knows exactly what’s going on in the mind of the person sitting across from her. You’re saying one thing and trying to be precise, and she’s hearing another and blowing it out of proportion.

The book uses an example in which a manager wants to talk to an assistant about his lack of punctuality. When the manager shares his concern, the assistant appears crushed, and the manager tries to water down the content: “You know, it’s really not that big a deal.” The book says don’t do that. Taking back what you mean to say leaves an employee with a misimpression. Not an ethical thing to do. So how do you fix it?

‘You don’t know what I’m thinking’

We try employment cases. And when we do, a technique we like to use is to tell the jury what the case isn’t about, then proceed to let them know what it is about. Same here. An employee who hears you talk about his lack of punctuality may be translating that in his head as: “He doesn’t like the job I’m doing at all, and I’m letting him down as an employee.” Use the don’t approach initially to clear away the cobwebs of erroneous belief and dispel what the employee may be thinking. Something like this:

Let me put this in perspective. I don’t want you to think I’m not satisfied with the quality of your work. I don’t want you believing your efforts are unappreciated.

It’s at this point that you put the contrast in to clarify what you really mean. According to the book, you can follow up with something like this:

I want us to continue working together. I really do think you’re doing a good job. But punctuality is important to me, and I’d like you to work on the punctuality issue. If you will be more attentive to that, there are really no other issues.

Bottom line

Effective communication is the key to running an effective business. And operations will be looking to HR and the legal department to help them do just that. The don’t/do approach stops a misunderstanding in its tracks and preempts arguments. The book is full of useful information like this, and we recommend it.

Michael Maslanka is the managing partner of Ford & Harrison LLP’s Dallas, Texas, office. He has 20 years of experience in litigation and trial of employment law cases and has served as Adjunct Counsel to a Fortune 10 company where he provided multi-state counseling on employment matters. He has also served as a Field Attorney for the National Labor Relations Board.

Mike is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and was selected as a “Texas Super Lawyer” by Texas Monthly and Law & Politics Magazine in 2003. He was also selected as one of the best lawyers in Dallas by “D” Magazine in 2003. Mike has served as the Chief Author and Editor of the Texas Employment Law Letter since 1990. He also authors the “Work Matters” column for Texas Lawyer.

1. StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup’s Now, Discover Your Strengths by Tom Rath. Are you unsure where your true talents lie? Do you feel that you are both a person who gets things done and someone who offers penetrating analysis? Well, you can discover whether you are truly an “achiever” or an “analytical” by completing the online quiz. Then, the book will give you “ideas for action” and tips for how best you can work with others. More of a patiencetester than strengthsfinder, the quiz/book is probably best for those who have lots of time on their hands.

2. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss. Author Ferriss isn’t shy about tooting his own horn: He says he “speaks six languages, runs a multinational firm from wireless locations worldwide, and has been a world-record holder in tango, a national champion in kickboxing, and an actor in a hit television series in Hong Kong.” Is this the sort of person you really want to be taking advice from? Anyway, Ferris offers recommendations and resources for everything from eliminating wasted time to oursourcing your job and getting cheap airfare. Discover your dreams and live them!

3. Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny by Suze Orman. Why is it that women need so many pep talks about money? In her eighth personal-finance book, Orman does little more than echo the now-tired sentiment that “women still don’t want to take responsibility when it comes to their money.” It seems that gals have “a totally dysfunctional relationship” with lucre, and therefore it’s necessary for more trees to die to help them get on top of the situation. There’s plenty of inspirational talk along with basic information on bank accounts, credit reports, retirement planning, and insurance. Strictly for beginners.

4. Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism by Kevin Phillips. Former Nixon campaign aide turned critic of capitalism Kevin Phillips is back with a book that links the current “global crisis of American capitalism” to the politics of peak oil, the rise of financial mercantilism, the triumph of market fundamentalism, and even the spread of religious conservatism. Philips’ thesis is one that’s now being trumpeted by a bevy of other writers: The financial disaster signals the moment when the U.S. empire begins to follow past powers, from Rome to Britain, into long-term decline.

5. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. You probably don’t realize it, but life is a series of highly improbable yet earthshaking events. That’s the argument of The Black Swan, which in many ways is a re-do of the author’s 2001 best-seller, Fooled by Randomness. The highly entertaining new book, though, is longer, better-grounded, and with more advice about how to live in the presence of deep unpredictability. The core of The Black Swan argues that economists, journalists, and corporate planners behave as if they’re living in predictable “Mediocristan” when they’re really in “Extremistan.” It’s a richly enjoyable read with an important message.

6. Go Put Your Strengths to Work: 6 Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance by Marcus Buckingham. Buckingham is the co-author of two best-selling books that were the foundation of what he terms “the strengths movement,” First, Break All the Rulesand Now, Discover Your Strengths. This time he considers how to apply your skills for best advantage. Like the book StrengthsFinder 2.0, this volume sends you to the Web for initial instruction. Then there are drills and inspirational passages, including lessons on how to create a strong team.

7. Earth: The Sequel: The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming by Fred Krupp and Mariam Horn. Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund, and colleague Horn provide a look at the entrepreneurs and investors who are reinventing energy in hopes of staving off global warming. Among their pioneers are a tribe of Native Americans who are harnessing wave power from the ocean and a hotelier who employs hot springs as an energy source. There’s lots of food for thought for readers interested in a greener planet.

8. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Dan Heath. Calling Malcolm Gladwell: Just remember, it’s the sincerest form of flattery. In this “complement to The Tipping Point,” the brothers Heath set out to define just what makes some ideas stick in the mind while others melt away. They discover six principles that are essential to getting people to pay attention to, believe, and care about an idea. With a host of stories involving everyone from baseball great Leo Durocher to venture capitalist John Doerr, there’s plenty to keep marketing directors entertained during their next plane trips.

9. Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber. A simple fable about animals who face devastating change-and can’t bear to deal with it. Does this sound familiar? This year’s Who Moved My Cheese? maybe? Anyway, skip the story about icebergs and penguins and go directly to page 130 for the authors’ “eight step process of successful change.” Then, spend the time you’ve saved mulling over how these commonsense suggestions can be put into place at your organization

10.How Come That Idiot’s Rich and I’m Not? by Robert Shemin. Self-professed “Rich Idiot” Shemin offers a narrative that describes his rise to riches and the lessons learned that can help readers. Does this sound like Robert Kiyosaki? Well, Shemin’s account isn’t so different, offering as it does an action plan and a set of rules for success.

11. The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and the Great Credit Crash by Charles R. Morris. Morris, a lawyer and former banker, has written a dandy of a short book on what lay behind the great credit bubble. In a mere 194 pages, the author manages to explicate the forces behind the origins and popping of the bubble, the decline in the value of the dollar, and the emergence of sovereign wealth. He even takes a stab at what might come next. Highly recommended.

12. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely. “We are pawns in a game whose forces we largely fail to comprehend,” says MIT economist Ariely. The author then proceeds to demonstrate what he means by describing a series of his economics experiments, including ones in which subjects abruptly switch to a cheaper brand of chocolate when the price is discounted trivially from one penny to the “irresistible” price of zero. Entertaining and enlightening.

13. What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter. Are there things you do that have helped you succeed so far, but that how have your career idling in neutral? Executive coach Goldsmith identifies 20 such ways of behaving, from an obsessive need to show how smart you are to a habit of withholding information. The authors also provide a program to help you change your irritating ways. But will this stuff really help you get ahead? Let’s put it this way: Don’t pass up any chances to marry the boss’s daughter.

14. The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels by Michael Watkins. You have been given a new position—and just three months to make a go of it. How can you rise to the challenge? In this volume, Harvard Business School professor Watkins offers the results of a three-year investigation into leadership transitions. He provides tips for arriving at a positive working relationship with your boss, building a productive team, balancing personal and professional demands, and more.

15. It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff. When U.S. Navy Captain Abrashoff took over the U.S.S. Benfold, he came to understand that no matter how technologically advanced one’s enterprise, you have to motivate the crew to achieve. His recommendations: Reward high achievers, lead by example, create a climate of trust, and lots more. The lessons aren’t exactly original, but the unusual context makes this a worthy addition to the literature of motivation.

Published by Harvard Business School

A review by Michael Maslanka

Ever see those business book paperbacks in airport concession stands? You know, the ones in the metal racks that spin around. I bought one in the Atlanta airport, finished it, and wanted to review it before touchdown.

The data:16 short articles, 138 pages. There’s just enough info for a two-hour flight.

The best stuff: 1. Don’t always think that as a manager you must intervene in coworker disputes. After all, some disagreements are natural and the coworkers need to find there own way. However, the authors have included a handy checklist of questions to ask yourself to help you determine when you should intervene.

2. Ask subperfoming managers to write down the three most important things they get paid to do and compare it to your list. There might be an expectation misalingment.

3. Know when to fight. Usless battles drain political capital, and the the smart manager knows that it isn’t always right to be right. There’s another handy checklist included to alert you to when that’s the case.

Yes, some of the stuff they talk about is basic, but then again, you can do just so much in 138 pages. The format is easy to read format and the authors offer useful suggestions for more in depth reading.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Michael Maslanka is the managing partner of Ford & Harrison LLP’s Dallas, Texas, office. He has 20 years of experience in litigation and trial of employment law cases and has served as Adjunct Counsel to a Fortune 10 company where he provided multi-state counseling on employment matters. He has also served as a Field Attorney for the National Labor Relations Board.

Mike is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and was selected as a “Texas Super Lawyer” by Texas Monthly and Law & Politics Magazine in 2003. He was also selected as one of the best lawyers in Dallas by “D” Magazine in 2003. Mike has served as the Chief Author and Editor of the Texas Employment Law Letter since 1990. He also authors the “Work Matters” column for Texas Lawyer.