3 books every manager should read

What are you doing on Sunday? Why not tuck yourself up in bed or in a chair in the sun and read a good business or self-help book. It could change your life.

Imagine going to work on Monday, knowing that your team was cohesive, your staff members motivated, and the organisation succeeding.

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

The three books we’ve chosen have given thousands of new and not so new managers some real “aha” moments and here at SEEK we hope you find them invaluable as well.

1. People management: How To Win Friends and Influence People
   
   Who would have thought that a book could still be in the best-seller lists 75-years after it was published? But that’s the case for Dale Carnegie’s book How to Win Friends and Influence People. That’s because it’s sage advice that not just managers should read. Everyone who ever walked into a workplace should. Carnegie never set out to write a book. But his courses were so effective that a book publisher convinced Carnegie to let his stenographer record a lesson.
   
   Top take outs:
   -   Don’t complain, criticise or condem
   -   Be genuinely interested in other people. It will make them like you
   -   Respect other people’s opinions and never say “you’re wrong”
   -   Give genuine praise and honest appreciation
   
   Our favourite quote: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you,”
   
   Alternative reads: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey, and The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.
    
2. General management: The One Minute Manager
   
   Sometimes the simplest advice in life is the best. That’s certainly the case with The One Minute Manager. Becoming a manager for the first time can feel like a baptism of fire. It doesn’t need to be. With this book as your bedside reading you’re pretty soon going to look like a seasoned manager. One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard tells you how to motivate those around you so that the team and organisation can accomplish more. The secrets of this book are the One Minute Goal Setting, One Minute Praisings, and the One Minute Reprimands. This is one of those books you need to own and re-read every few years and you might want to invest in sister book: Leadership and the One Minute Manager.
   
   Top take outs:
   -   Get employees to take the initiative and solve the problems they encounter 
   -   Look for ways to praise your employees. It makes them more efficient and effective
   -   Set goals and have clear performance standards
   -   Provide feedback when things go wrong
   
   Our favourite quote: “Help people reach their full potential, catch them doing something right.”
   
   Alternative reads: Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath. Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
   .
3. Teams and leadership: Leaders Eat Last
   
   Running a successful team is so much more than Management 101. Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek goes right down to the biological and chemical reasons that we behave in the way we do. Our brains are awash with five survival hormones: Serotonin, Oxytocin, Cortisol, Dopamine and Endorphins, which steer our behaviour. Anthropology controls how we react - for example - to the sabre tooth tiger threat. Sinek argues that if you can create a Circle of Safety as buffalos do when faced with a hunting tiger your staff can let down their pre-historic defenses and be far more productive. Sinek’s Circle of Safety is the antitheses of the toxic workplace.
   
   Top take outs:
   -   You can make the workplace full of trust, honesty and safety
   -   By understanding how we evolved to cooperate, you can make more from the group
   -   The chemicals in our brain can be harnessed for better management
   -   Treat every employee as if you’re their second parent
   
   Life changing quote: “Stress and anxiety at work have less to do with the work we do and more to do with weak management and leadership.”
   
   Alternate reads: Developing the Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell, and Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink