Bookstore/Quote...! PAGE 24| Business Executive | Issue 123


Books received continued


n Flexible work arrangements often do not get the expected business benefits that are made possible by an independent work culture;


n Future work requires leadership styles that play to each individual’s strengths; and


n Offices of the future will be meeting places rather than workplaces.


All this will take bold leadership and a break with old habits. As yet very few organisations have


actually changed the way they work. The authors give a comprehensive and compelling picture of what’s possible. They go way beyond the typical hype about technology, and show how the future of work is happening today, and what it takes to transform the workplace. This book will help to increase employee productivity, reduce costs, and do so in an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable way.


Start It Up Why running your own business is easier than you think H H


n


Luke Johnson Portfolio Penguin, 142 pgs, £12.99, pb ISBN: 978 067091 9413


This book is for anyone who has ever thought about starting or buying a business, and for all those people who want to control their own destiny and make some money while they’re at it. It is not a


comprehensive manual but practical advice. The author wants the book to inspire people to create new enterprises. Running your own company or being an entrepreneur is often a haphazard way to end up being your own boss. In spite of masses of available advice, encouragement and many government initiatives the route is rarely planned; it is not a career with a structure and sets of qualifications. Entrepreneurs create their own career


path; they provide something that customers will buy – at a profit. The product or service


may be genuinely innovative. Often however, it is simply an everyday offer, delivered better, cheaper, or in a different place. Whatever path they have chosen is unlikely to be an easy one – but it beats working for others! The author thinks entrepreneurs are the


unsung heroes of our time. They generate jobs, taxes, and risk going broke or maybe just working one hundred hours a week (and earning very little). Above all, they have ingenuity and commitment; without them we would all be immeasurably poorer. This book is a very rare thing: a “how to” book by someone who actually has.


Great Companies Deserve Great Boards A CEO’s guide to the Boardroom H Beverly Behan Palgrave Macmillan, 176 pgs, £22.99, hb ISBN: 978 023011 3657


Few boards function as a true corporate asset to the companies they oversee. And managing and participating on governing boards of business can be a complicated experience. Public and


private companies are under much public scrutiny. Boards are increasingly being held accountable for the organisation. This book covers key issues for governing bodies: hiring board members; creating boards that are effective and that keep organisations on track; succession planning; compensation, and organisational performance and measurement. The author offers practical advice that can


be introduced at the very next meeting. No-nonsense insights are proposed that can take any board from mediocrity to the top of its game. This includes establishing constructive relationships within your board and dealing with some of the dysfunction that may exist there. This book provides workable approaches


to tackle a variety of boardroom issues, making the board a significant asset to the company and the executive team.


Quote...!


WORDS TO IMPRESS? Using very formal or technical words will not necessarily impress your readers or listeners – it could just bamboozle them. There are other, wonderful words, common enough that are widely understood. Use these words appropriately and they will add conviction to the way you talk and write. But make sure you use them correctly; if in doubt use your dictionary. Here, for example, are a dozen such words (and chosen only from the first half of the new Chambers Dictionary) that will impress if used correctly and in the right place.


ALACRITY – a willingness or eagerness to act quickly. CAVEAT – a warning that something is only true within certain limits. COROLLARY – a natural or obvious consequence or result of something. DILATORY – slow to act. EMPIRICAL – known through practical experience. EPHEMERAL – short-lived or fleeting. EXPEDIENT – profitable or convenient rather than fair or just. EXPEDITE – to hasten, speed up. HEGEMONY – leadership, predominant influence. INCIPIENT – just beginning to happen INTRACTABLE – impossible to solve, cure or deal with. LACONIC – using very few words.


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