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Book Reviews

  • The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication
    IABC has released an expanded fourth edition of its collection of papers on communication. This is a must read for communication professionals interested in what is going on globally in the profession.
  • Best Books for Communicators
    I'm sometimes asked what books communicators should read for professional development. Click on the heading above to get my favourites.
  • Making the Connections: using internal communication to turn strategy into action, 2nd edition
    This is a new edition of a highly popular book that many communicators have been raving about for the past eight years. It has been thoroughly rewritten with four new chapters and 80 more pages. This is not really a "how to do it" book. It is more an in depth "how to understand it" book, so internal communicators can work out for themselves how to "turn strategy into action".
  • The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki, 2004.
    If you loved The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell you'll probably enjoy this most unusual book. Gladwell's front cover endorsement of The Wisdom of Crowds reads "dazzling...the most brilliant book on business, society and everyday life that I've read in years". Both authors are New York based investigative journalists with a deep interest in social change.
  • Brand Engagement: How employees make or break brands
    I've been looking forward to this book for months, hoping it would be the definitive work on how to communicate so employees deliver the brand promise. It claims to provide "a clear road map to the elusive art of employee engagement, case studies to lead the way, and tools and techniques for anyone in the role of communicator".
  • Change 2.0: Beyond Organisational Transformation
    This is a book about change, not about communicating change, nor Web 2.0 (although, curiously, Amazon reports that 37% of purchasers also bought Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide). The title comes from "the now-established internet trend in which interaction, participation, and democratisation play an important role".
  • Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness, Phillip G Clampitt, 2005
    The third edition of this popular text used widely in MBA and business communication programs is now available. Not a "how to book", it attempts to educate the reader broadly on a wide variety of communication issues and was written mainly for business students and managers. At 287 pages it's not always easy going, but communication is complex, and this is a comprehensive book.
  • Employee Engagement
    David Croston has worked in England and Australia in advertising and branding, and has written a comprehensive, quality book on employee engagement and what we know as "internal branding" (the delivery of the brand promise).
  • Engagement Is Not Enough
    Engagement Is Not Enough - you need passionate employees to achieve your dreams. This book follows in the style of The Leadership Mode reviewed in the last issue, stressing that "leadership is an act, not a role". (You don't need to be a leader in order to demonstrate effective leadership.)
  • Gower Handbook of Internal Communication
    This is a huge and expensive hardback collection of papers written by mostly UK communication specialists. It has 41 chapters over 496 pages in six sections and is "aimed at leaders who want insight into IC techniques for use in both day-to-day operational and change situations, for example, and also at the communication specialist seeking shared wisdom and new ideas".
  • In The Leadership Mode
    This book explains how anyone can demonstrate leadership (as distinct from management) qualities, and not just those in positions of authority.
  • Leadership The Barack Obama Way
    Clearly Barack Obama has shown great leadership in his career to get to where he is. And the author previously wrote the acclaimed Say It Like Obama on his speaking skills. So I thought that this book of "lessons on team building and creating a winning culture in challenging times" that can be applied both to your personal and work-related goals...(to) make change happen" would be a good one for SCM readers to improve their leadership skills. Sadly I must report that it is not.
  • Mastering Business in Asia: Negotiation
    I requested this book for review as I?d met the author, Canadian Peter Nixon, some years ago when we were both speakers at a communication conference in Singapore. I thought Nixon had a fantastic knowledge of both communication and Asia (where he?d been working as a consultant for about 15 years based in Hong Kong).
  • Outliers: The Story of Success
    Outliers: The Story of Success (sold as Outliers: Why Some People Succeed and Some Don't in some markets) is Gladwell's latest social research effort
  • Re-Engage: How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times
    Yet another employee engagement book? We all know engaged employees are critical to organizational success. But I was skeptical. I need not have been as this book is different. First, it's solidly based on research (10,000 employees in Quantum Workplace's research database, using both quantitative and qualitative analysis). Second, it's really well put-together: easy to read with lots of lists and illustrations, plenty of references, and a good index.
  • Regeneration & Co-Creation
    Keith Humphrey is a 30 year change veteran who's consulted to leading organizations throughout Europe. His effort is an enlightened and thorough attempt to explain what complex organizational change really involves.
  • The Credible Company: Communicating with Today's Skeptical Workforce
    This is a wonderful book. But before I explain why I have to admit that I was invited to read the manuscript and write a testimonial. I felt pretty safe doing this as I've long said to my internal communication clients that if they only have one book it must be D'Aprix's Communicating for Change.
  • Social Media at Work: How Networking Tools Propel Organizational Performance
    Internal communication channels are changing, and changing fast. We now have to work out how (no longer "if") we should use social media to support face-to-face communication in the workplace. It started some years ago with communicators asking if their CEO should blog with employees. Today we have to decide if we should be using Facebook, LinkedIn, podcasts, Second Life, Twitter, Wikis and so on, inside our organizations and, if so, how.
  • Supercorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth and Social Good
    Surprisingly, I loved every part of this enlightening book and it really made me think about what are now the determinants of success of commercial organizations today. I say "surprisingly" because, having attended the author's one-day workshop based on the book, I thought it would be more of the same just in greater detail. But there are countless more anecdotes, many of them fascinating (e.g. how to save lives by selling beer), and the theories are developed in considerable detail.
  • The Big Five For Life: Leadership's Greatest Secret
    John Strelecky's previous work was The Why Cafe (with a Spanish edition The Why Are You Here Cafe). It is a fictional story about self-discovery and the meaning of life. The Big Five for Life is also a fictional story with an emphasis on our "Purpose for Existing" (or PFE). This one is about a popular CEO who everyone (customers, employees, friends) loves. In telling the story (mostly in dialogue) Strelecky explains what he believes leaders should do to be truly great leaders.
  • The Corporate Blogging Book
    This is a "trans-Atlantic" book - written by a well known Washington DC based speaker, writer and enthusiastic blogger, but published in Great Britain (at least as far as the edition sold here in Australia in concerned).
  • The Dip: The Extraordinary Benefits of Knowing When to Quit (and When to Stick)
    I've never before read any of the couple of dozen popular Seth Godin books with whacky titles. Not even the famous Purple Cow. So I was interested to discover what all the fuss was about. The Dip: The Extraordinary Benefits of Knowing When to Quit (and When to Stick) or in the US The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) is a very enjoyable 80 page paperback.
  • The Leader as Communicator
    It may sound tardy to review a book that came out last year. But only recently have I discovered how practical this wonderful book is.
  • The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking
    This is a serious book for serious communicators. My boss told me to buy a copy and read it 20 years ago. But in those days the price was horrific and I didn't ever quite get around to it. What a shame! I would have been a much better communicator and consultant if I had taken his advice.
  • True Professionalism: the courage to care about your people, your clients, and your career
    David Maister's reputation has preceded him. His previous book "Managing the Professional Service Firm" (The Free Press, 1993) was a huge hit with management consultants, merchant bankers, accountants and lawyers. He has given conference tours in Australia, and his website (http://www.davidmaister.com) is popular and well worth a visit. Maister is a former Harvard professor and clearly a "guru".
  • Walking the talk - building a a culture for success
    Lots of HR and OD people are raving about Walking the Talk. It's the most detailed, practical and readable book I've come across on how to change organisational culture. It's written by a highly experienced and successful culture change specialist.