Business book reviews: Time Management and
Leadership Requires Extra Innings
By JIM PAWLAK
Special Contributor
Published: 08 March 2014 05:33 PM
Updated: 08 March 2014 05:33 PM
Time Management
Brian Tracy (Amacom, $19.95)
Managing time requires good habits. Good habits
evolve from personal programming. That starts with changing your inner dialogue
from “ too much to do and so little time” to “I am well organized and highly
productive.” By repeatedly saying and thinking “I am well organized,” your
subconscious accepts these words as a behavioral command and triggers
motivation and productive action.
You also need to understand that action is
“self-determined and goal-directed.” You control your approach and response to
situations (workload, shifting priorities, deadlines, etc.), and when your
mind-set shifts from “under pressure” to “get it done,” you motivate yourself.
Author Brian Tracy believes that “every minute
spent in planning saves 10 minutes in execution.” Think through what it’s going
to take to accomplish the goal, write out a sequenced-action road map and
follow it. The thinking process involves identifying potential obstacles you’ll
encounter and the resources and people you’ll need to overcome them.
Integrate the written plan for your tasks into a
list. Prioritize within your list following Tracy’s “Law of Three”: 1. “If I
could only work on one thing on this list all day long, which one would
contribute the greatest value?” 2. “If I could work on two things on this list,
what would be the second activity that would create the most value?” 3. “If I
could work on three things on this list, what would be the third activity that
would create the most value?”
As you accomplish 1, 2 and 3, other tasks take
their place. Without prioritization, you run the risk of wasting time.
As a manager, the priorities also allow you to
multiply your productivity through delegation. The added benefit of delegating:
You help develop the skills and time-management capabilities of your team.
Leadership Requires Extra Innings
Ritch K. Eich (Second City Publishing
Services, $14.99)
Ritch K. Eich burrows into the art and science of
leadership by identifying 10 leadership traits and pinpointing their importance
to success. Here are a few of my favorites:
A genuine love of ideas and people. Eich
believes that employees are intellectual capital, not assets. Why? They don’t
just do the work, they create the work. Their ideas foster continuous
improvement, find solutions to problems and answer the what if and what’s next
questions. A leader understands the interplay of relationships; a boss does
not.
Cultural competence. How a
business does business drives the business. Trust, truth, transparency,
fairness, standards, teaching, mentoring and social responsibility are the
foundation of culture. When these become a leader’s message, employees embrace
their work’s purpose and its value to the firm and the community.
The ability to speak in a clear, respectful,
down-to-earth manner. When communication is concise and consistent, the
likelihood of misinterpretation decreases. Employees know what needs to be
done.
A knack for being adaptive and enduring. Leaders
need to “shift gears as circumstances demand while still maintaining long-term
goals.”
Jim Pawlak reviews business books for The Dallas
Morning News.
bizbooks@hotmail.com
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