Book Reviews
Recommended books
The combination of SMC's longstanding industry experience and passion for training means that our commitment to leading developmental programmes in the sector is not only limited to ourselves.
To that end, we are constantly observing the plethora of additional training options in the market and evaluating them with our trademark eye for detail. We are able to recommend an extensive list of courses, reading material and business products to our clients, which we believe will serve as the ideal accompaniment to the training on the e-learning courses.
Our market research has identified the following books and articles to complement the services we provide:
First Break All the Rules, Buckingham & Coffman
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman tackle how good managers create and sustain employee satisfaction in First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. The book is a result of observations based on 80,000 interviews with managers as conducted by the Gallup Organization in the last 25 years.
Read the rest of this review »
Topics: Recruitment, Book reviews | No Comments »
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey
Old sales adage ’sell first your company then your product then you’.
Stephen Covey’s best-selling book presents a framework to improve you and your personal effectivenes.
Read the rest of this review »
Topics: Achieving Focus, Book reviews | 1 Comment »
Global Challenge : Leadership Lessons from the World’s Toughest Yacht Race
On 29th September 1996, 14 identical yachts left Southampton to participate in ‘The worlds Toughest Yacht Race’ - the BT Global Challenge - a 30,000 mile journey round the world the ‘wrong way’. Each yacht was led by professional skippers but was crewed by teams of volunteers. Many of these had limited sailing experience prior to joining the Global Challenge. This book provides a case study on leadership and team dynamics in the face of an extreme, complex and dynamic environment.
Read the rest of this review »
Topics: Case Studies, Book reviews | No Comments »
Shackleton’s Way, M. Morrell & S. Capparell
Sir Earnest Shackleton was one of the greatest explorers and leaders of men in the 20th Century. In 1914 Shackleton organised an expedition team to the Antarctic, when their ship the Endurance became wrecked he led the 27 strong team through a two-year long harrowing fight for their survival. Despite finding himself stranded 1200 miles from any form of communication and with no hope of rescue he led all of his team on a 800 mile trip to safety. The fact that all of his team survived is now recognized as evidence to Shackleton’s superb leadership skills.
Read the rest of this review »
Topics: Case Studies, Book reviews | No Comments »
The Truth About Hiring the Best, Cathy Fyock
How to attract talented individuals into your company is highly desirable, but is often misunderstood. Too often a manager’s approach to recruitment is shaped by assumptions and anecdotes that cloud the choice of the strategy to find the best people. Cathy Fyock’s book ‘The Truth about Hiring the Best’ helps clarify recruitment strategy by defining 53 proven hiring principles and techniques.
Read the rest of this review »
Topics: Recruitment, Book reviews | No Comments »
The Google Story by David Vise
Quick Tip: Why Read It ?
We all know Google is today a phenomenal success story, we know this because of its stock valuation and because for most of us it is the first thing we see when we use the Internet.
However, before reading this book I was still puzzled by what made the company tick and I could not help feeling that there had been earlier net companies that had come and gone like e.g. Netscape, AltaVista, or Yahoo who had all soared very high and then each inevitably fell like some modern day Icarus.
Would Google do the same? Well this book answered the question for me in showing how Google is different.
Read the rest of this review »
Topics: Case Studies, Book reviews | No Comments »
The Long Tail by Chris Anderson
What is the Long Tail?
Chris Anderson’s book is an important book in helping us to understand the economics of how the Internet is providing unlimited choice; where the costs of providing an “unlimited shelf space” are so low that the range of products can be extended indefinitely beyond a short head of a few hit making or market leading products, to a much larger market of bewildering variety of products.
Read the rest of this review »
Topics: Marketing, Book reviews | No Comments »
