Book Recommendations

Chandler, Steve and Duane Black. 2007. The Hands-Off Manager: How to Mentor People and Allow Them Be Successful. Franklin Lakes, NJ. Career Press. 223 pp.

Summary from Book Jacket

In The Hands-Off Manager, Chandler and Black offer a new vision for all managers. With stories, examples, and vibrant activities for the reader to practice, this book shows any manager-new or seasoned-how to coach and mentor employees rather than hover over their shoulders and goad them into action. In this system, each employee’s strengths are honored and honed in a climate of partnership and mutual goal-setting. Chandler, whose 100 Ways to Motivate Others is a best-selling favorite with small and large businesses alike, has called The Hands-Off Manager “my most original work to date” because it finally solves the age-old problem of getting the best performance out of people without frustrating yourself and them. The Hands-Off Manager and its breakthrough content will take its place beside In Search of Excellence, The One Minute Manager, and Who Moved My Cheese? as an instant classic that will forever change the way we lead and manage.

Lawson, Ken. 2007. Successful Coaching and Mentoring. Hauppage, NY. Barrons Educational Series Inc. 240 pp.

This title provides managers with ideas on how to be a good teacher, using diplomacy and encouragement to correct mistakes. Differentiates coaching and mentoring. Gives ideas on how to teach others, foster group harmony, and maximize productivity.

Available at Calgary Public Library, Edmonton Public Library, or search Alberta Libraries Online.

Ensher, E. and S. Murphy. 2005. Power Mentoring: How Successful Mentors and Proteges Get the Most Out of Their Relationships. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 355 pp.

Summary from Book Jacket:
Many of the world’s most notable people, including Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, have credited mentoring as a major factor in their success. Despite the obvious benefits of mentoring, the traditional models have failed to keep up with trends in today’s business world. Mentoring programs based on career longevity with one organization no longer reflect what’s really happening.

Written to reflect the realities of today’s business environment, Power Mentoring is a nuts-and-bolts guide for anyone who wants to create a connection with a protégé or mentor, or to improve a current mentoring relationship. Filled with illustrative examples and candid insights from fifty of America’s most successful mentors and protégés, Power Mentoring unlocks the secrets of great mentoring relationships and shows how anyone (including those who are well established in their careers, or those who are just starting out) can become a successful mentor or protégé. Based on compelling interviews from Ellen Ensher and Susan Murphy’s own research, this important resource explains what it takes to develop a “power mentoring” network consisting of a variety of mentors across a range of organizations and industries. The authors provide strategies for establishing such power mentoring relationships, outline the best practices, and offer insights from mentors and protégés in a variety of fields, including technology, politics, and the media.

Included is advice from notables such as

  • Bob Wright, vice chairman and executive officer of General Electric and chairman and chief executive officer of NBC Universal,
  • General Lee Butler, former commander of U.S. nuclear forces,
  • Rosario Marin, 41st treasurer of the United States,
  • Leeza Gibbons, executive producer and Emmy Award-winning television personality,
  • Larry Carter, senior vice president, office of the president, and former chief financial officer, Cisco Systems, Inc.

Power Mentoring includes practical suggestions and advice for applying the lessons learned from successful mentoring relationships and shows how to create an individualized Relationship Development Plan.

Available at Calgary Public Library or search Alberta Libraries Online.

Albom, Mitch. 1997. Tuesdays with Morrie. New York, NY: Broadway Books. 192 pp.

Mitch Albom, a sports columnist, became busy with career and family and lost track of his favourite mentor, Morrie Schwartz, a professor he had had in college over twenty years ago. While Mitch was a young college student, Morrie helped him to see the world as a more profound place, giving sound advice on making his way through it. Then Morrie became sick with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), and Mitch reconnected with him in the last months of the older man’s life. Mitch and Morrie began visiting every Tuesday just as they used to do back in their college days together. These visits turned into a final class on how to live. They covered the following topics: the world, feeling sorry for yourself, regrets, death, family, emotions, fear of aging, money, how love goes on, marriage, culture, forgiveness, the perfect day and saying goodbye. This book is a magical chronicle of the story of a mentor and a mentee and the life lessons learned.

Available at Calgary Public Library, Edmonton Public Library, or search Alberta Libraries Online.