American managers are in denial about the fact that their teams are comprised of human beings.

Content with a data-defying strategy of squeezing as much work as possible out of their teams for as little compensation as possible, these self-congratulating fools close their eyes to the facts and resort to childish name-calling (e.g. “soft”) to anyone who dares suggest that human physiology and psychology are important factors in workplace productivity.

What if there were facts, though, about how people work that could multiply your productivity with only incremental additional costs?

I’m excited to come across a kindred spirit in Tony Schwartz in his new book, The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working.

I’ve long advocated that people are an amazing, if complex, asset into which we should invest not a faceless, annoying expense that we should minimize.

Schwartz provides invaluable insights into how the human beings function and provides the practical means to transform these insights into a more energetic, renewing, and yes, productive workplace.

Specifically he looks at human physiology, emotions, our minds, and our spirituality. Far from hyping the latest feel-good fad, Schwartz methodically supports his case with data. If you look at the facts, certain things are true about what makes people thrive, commit, care, and work hard. On the downside, certain factors cause people to wear down, avoid risk, blame others and otherwise distance themselves from their work.

Far from being “soft,” it is those leaders who have the courage, honesty and wisdom to face what I describe as “the hard facts about working with people” who have the mettle it takes to face the complex issues facing business going forward.

Gone are the days where people can be reduced to inter-changeable commodities to be discarded at the first sign of trouble.

Tony Schwartz is a must-read resource for any leader hoping to work effectively with people going forward.

On your side,

- Karl Edwards

I don’t usually write posts on my personal reading, but I have to give a public nod to comedian Susan Isaacs.

Anyone with a personal spirituality will love Angry Conversations with God.

Anyone who’s sworn never to have a personal spirituality will love Angry Conversations with God.

Creativity kudos for taking God to couples therapy! It’s about time too. (I wouldn’t be surprised if an entirely new genre of therapy emerges out of this.)

I’m not usually attracted to memoirs (i.e. listening in on someone else’s story.) But Isaacs does such a great job telling her story that I was able to both “feel her pain,” so to speak, on the one hand, as well as connect deeply to my own relationship with God on the other.

This book is both hilarious and touching. Authentic to her private experience as well as profoundly insightful about what we all experience.

If you want a good laugh while brushing up against some of life’s most intimate, turbulent, and significant issues, then sit down with Susan Isaacs. You might end up taking God to couples therapy too!

Few genre of literature can tweek our sensibilities, reframe our outlooks, or engage the soul as poetry can.

Few writers are as profoundly insightful, authentically sensitive or refreshingly honest as Marcus Goodyear is.

I am captivated by his new collection of poems, Barbies at Communion.

From the introduction:

“Poetry is waiting for us just around the corner, in a book on the coffee table, in a phrase from the pulpit, in the wag of a dog’s tail, in Barbie dolls and quantum physics and vacations and rituals and work and play.

“Wherever we go, poetry is playing hide-and-seek with us. Whenever we sit still enough and quiet enough, we can hear poetry shuffling in its hiding place, trying not to make too much noise.”

If you even remotely enjoy poetry, then you will love these poems that peek and poke and play without ever needing to pontificate or preach.

Goodyear’s verse repeatedly catches me off-guard as he makes me chuckle, challenges my assumptions and gives me occasion to pause and reflect.

Barbies at Communion belongs squarely at the top of your “Must Read” list.

- Karl Edwards

I just picked up a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures. I grabbed it the minute I saw it. The very second, in fact. Those around me wisely waited while I examined every copy for flaws. Cradling my perfect baby, I made a beeline to the cashier.

It wasn’t until I got it home that I realized it’s not a new work at all. It’s a collection of his New Yorker articles. The best in his view.

After I recovered from this brief moment of disappointment (not a big fan of the recompiling for a second round at the till marketing strategy)(I’d probably be singing a different tune if I ever experienced a first round at the till), I realized that the only part of the New Yorker I’ve ever read are the cartoons. So I’m sitting here with all “new” material.

I love this guy’s work. The preface alone has me fully engaged. Understanding what’s going on in someone else’s head.

There are three main themes/sections:

1. Obsessives, Pioneers, and Other Varieties of Minor Genius
2. Theories, Predictions, and Diagnoses
3. Personality, Character, and Intelligence

Of course I can’t read something so fun by myself. This is the stuff of incredulity and hilarity, insights and further reflection.

So read with me. We’ll take it a chapter at a time. We’ll meet here and share impressions, reactions and our own takes.

I’ve got Amazon links scattered throughout this post. Grab your copy now. We’re going to begin right away.

Each Friday I post my reflections from one chapter of What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. If you are just joining the discussion now, welcome! Catch up on the entire series here.

Given that denial is one of my favorite coping mechanisms, it might seem odd that I would ever pick up a book about meeting “the demands of reality.”

But here I am. Again.

I feel like I’ve been wrestling with this book, Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality, since it first came out in 2006. It seems that when learning needs to go deeper than simply acquiring new competencies, that time (read years) and practice (read many mistakes) are involved.

Hence the rationale for working through this challenging piece together here on “Thought Leaders Unpacked.”

For many of us there is an unnoticed disconnect between our job performance and our self-understanding. When we think about work, we think about the tasks, responsibilities, goals, processes, and deadlines involved. We don’t have tools for considering how we ourselves might be a part of the problems we are trying to address.

When thinking about ways to help our employees work harder and smarter, we seldom include our own behavior in the mix of factors contributing to their shortcomings, challenges, or motivation levels.

A mirror and a map. Where can we find a mirror that will help us take a look at ourselves? What maps are available to help us navigate a more centered, realistic approach to developing our own character at work?

Join me in conversation each week as I post my reflections on one chapter of Integrity. There is no learning like learning from each other.

Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality

• Introduction: Why Integrity Matters
• Character Dimension 1: Establishing Trust
• Character Dimension 2: Oriented Toward Truth
• Character Dimension 3: Getting Results
• Character Dimension 4: Embracing the Negative
• Character Dimension 5: Oriented toward Increase
• Character Dimension 6: Oriented Toward Transcendence

Forward this post to someone you think would benefit from our discussion. Every voice matters.

Each Friday I post my reflections from one chapter of Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality by Henry Cloud.

We launch our first “Thought Leaders Unpacked” discussion series today with a look at The Gift of Work by Bill Heatley.

For many of us spirituality and work operate in separate, unrelated compartments. But what if your work were an integral expression of your faith?

What if you weren’t asked to change the subject to evangelism or early morning prayer groups or promises not to take office supplies home in order to think about what it means to be both a faithful employee and a faithful believer?

Join me as I delve into this insightful piece. I’ll be posting my thoughts chapter by chapter, and hope you will interact with your own comments, insights and opinions.

Contents

1. Changing Our Minds About Work
2. Kingdom Living
3. Redefining Success
4. You Are Here: God As Our Reference Point
5. Not a Trivial Pursuit
6. Training as a Disciple of Christ
7. The Nucleus of Change

Get your copy and read along!

Clay Shirky, The Penguin Press, New York, 2008.

By now you are well aware of my penchant for writers who affirm, confirm and otherwise provide research to back up my own assertions.

As we at Bold Enterprises help you empower all people in your company, regardless of power, titles or places on the organizational chart, Clay Shirky examines the impact of the social dynamics taking place on the web on power and getting things done. With interesting results.

Interesting because it is not merely people who are already in a working relationship who are experiencing new effectiveness with the power of the web behind them. That’s old news.

But people who would never have had opportunity to meet much less collaborate are finding each other and making a difference in matters that are important to them.

Who’s choosing these matters of importance? No longer the bosses and others with positional power. They don’t even figure into the equation, except maybe as a source of resistance.

You and I are choosing these issues of personal and corporate importance and connecting with those who can help us and whom we can help as well.

You need to check out Here Comes Everybody and get acquainted with our world of change, chaos, unlimited relationships, and the strange and wonderful forms of effectiveness that are being created moment by moment.

Daniel H. Pink, Riverhead Trade, New York, 2006.

Whether you’re stronger as a right or left-brained person, I think you’ll find the skills Daniel Pink highlights both insightful and helpful.

He introduces six “senses” associated with right-brain activity that he believes are key to leadership success in the future. Design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning.

Whether these skills come to you naturally or not is not the main value of this piece. The more important question is whether or not you are open to learning new ways and means of interacting with others, recognizing and confronting problems, seeing and moving toward the future.

If so, then Pink’s categories will be a helpful starting point for setting some strategic personal development goals. If not, then be aware that he believes that right-brainers will rule the future!

Click here for more detailed information.

Flip: How to Turn Everything You Know on Its Head—and Succeed Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings

Peter Sheahan, Wm. Morrow Publishers, New York, NY 2008.

In the spirit of enjoying any piece that affirms my counter-intuitive tendencies, I believe I have come upon a treasure.

“There is nothing more important in business today than an action orientation.” If that quote isn’t what you and I have been working on together in developing a “bias toward action,” I don’t know what is. Instead of making big changes, experiment and adjust while moving. If we are coaching together, I will be wanting you to read this book.

At the other end of the spectrum, Sheahan asserts that control does not come from controlling, but from equipping and empowering others to act. He also shares how to personalize business relationships and find marketing niches where no one else is looking for them.

More beneficial for its paradigm shifts than for any practical specifics, you’ll go away with a fresh and clearer set of lenses through which to evaluate your efforts.

Robert I. Sutton. Business Plus. New York, NY. 2007.

Why do some people get away with treating others with disdain? Why are they so often in positions of power and authority? What can we do about it?

I’m having so much fun with this book, that I haven’t even finished it before telling you about it. This is one I wish I had written myself. It is surprisingly refreshing to have the assholes among us identified openly.

My favorite part is that Sutton calculates the “Total Cost of Assholes.” The difficulty of quantifying the costs of lousy management has long been a loophole for these horrific leaders. When they slash bonuses, the bottom line seems to improve instantly to their “credit.” The loss of morale and the departure of key team members doesn’t show up as directly or as quickly in the accounting reports.

Not merely an attack on the creeps in our ranks, this book is a practical response to those who would have the workplace be different. Make sure you’re not being as asshole yourself, and get new ideas for surviving those who are.

Check it out. Helpful and fun at the same time.