I’ve always looked askance at “effectiveness” books, especially those aimed at hyper-alpha-go-getting-hotshot-managerial wannabes, with thrusting titles like The Secret Laser-Focused Productivity Techniques of Uber-Effective Warrior Managers According to Sun-Tzu.
Do any of these actually work, or are they just full of management-speak puffery, designed to stroke egos whilst making bucks for the authors?
I think it likely all depends on the interaction between the particular book and the particular person.
I mean, I’ve read a lot of them, and most are either rehashes of the same principles just with a new coat of paint, or taken from a slightly different angle, but every now and then, one will really hit home.
For me, the best one was “It’s Your Ship” by Michael Abrashoff. It’s a management book that basically teaches how and why to delegate authority, push responsibility downward, reward people and hold them accountable as a method for organizational success. It’s done in the context of Captain Abrashoff’s transformation of his ship’s company from a problem ship to a go-to ship for the Persial Gulf command through having them take ownership of it and its problems, hence the “It’s Your Ship” title.
The reason it worked for me was because it reflected all the best practices of the best managers I’ve had, and organized them in such a way that I can easily refer back to them when I’m in positions where I need to exercise that sort of leadership.
Now the stuff like ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ type books don’t really help successful people too much; they’re more aimed at people who have no idea how to organize their lives or have any kind of tools for being successful.
Maybe two or three tips have stuck with me. One example, from a book on how to be a good listener – “Every once in a while, rephrase something the person just said.” (Then you can continue to ignore their prattle for a few more minutes.)
And I still remember the personal finance tip: “Spend less than you earn”. But I was already doing that, maybe that’s why it resonated with me.
I think the latter, though I agree with bump about “It’s Your Ship”.
I had to deal with a manager who hated this with a vengeance. If you tried to do even the most basic of “active listening” techniques, he would tell you to be quiet because workers were supposed to listen and obey. Oh, and when meetings were over, workers were required to thank the manager. Why? You were expected to be grateful to be still employed and thanking your manager for not firing you was a basic point of courtesy. Asshole.
I found The First 90 Days (Michael Watkins) to be useful - not so much because of what it tells you, but because of the questions it makes you ask - of yourself and of the new situation you are moving into (it’s written for people moving into management positions either for the first time, or in a new organisation).
Some of what I read in it just crystallised my own thoughts and intentions (which was reassuring), but one or two things popped out as obvious errors I would easily have fallen into - and now know I have to guard against.
Stephen Covey’s *The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People *is a great set of habits. He basically took Common Sense, packaged it up and charges $10.95 for it.
And more power to him - habits like “Seek first to understand, then to be understood,” or “first things first - budget your time around the important, non-urgent things you need to do” - those are really smart habits to cultivate.
I interact with executives all the time - heck, I am an executive 
- and this is a book that gets brought up the most. Other, non self-improvement books that get brought up include Porter’s Strategy books, Good to Great, and The Innovator’s Dilemma. That’s about it - and it says something about the enduring common sense of Covey’s book.
Actually, not so. 7 Habits classes are big business with companies with large recruiting classes, like consulting firms and operations firms. Many companies actively seek to model the habits within their cultures. Accenture certainly does.
I think it varies. Most are either bullshit or common sense, but now and then one resonates.
“The Charisma Myth” was a good one for me. I tend to be on the quiet side, and the book gave me a good set of tools for breaking out of that when I need to have my voice heard.
Oh, I’ve been through those things a half-dozen times between jobs and graduate school. My suspicion is that companies hawk that crap because they’re trying to get you to align your goals with the company’s goals and if you do some of that stuff, they see a benefit from it. I doubt they give 2 shits about your personal life though.
Ultimately though, a lot of it is common-sense stuff. In particular, the 7 Habits books are kind of like the Dave Ramsey version of career and personal growth. Great for people with no clue, but really common sense- stuff like paying down debt and keeping a cash reserve are far from rocket science, just like “Start with the end in mind” and “Be Proactive” are for your career and personal life.
I suppose if you’re clueless, aimless and have no clue about money, then those books and Dave Ramsey are useful, but if you aren’t, then they sort of seem kind of like stuff that doesn’t need teaching.
One book that IS good, that I’d forgotten to mention earlier, is a book called “The Goal” by Eliyahu Goldratt. It’s primarily a treatment of how to identify and eliminate bottlenecks and optimize performance, with some rather odd, IMO, divergences into self-help. It’s kind of a novel-style format with the protagonist solving his problems through learning via the Socratic method from a sage older mentor of his. It’s kind of strange to read, but really useful if you’re trying to make a system or process work better.
Yes. One hammered home several ways to use my time more effectively, and one of them was to stop reading “effectiveness” books.