Lessons Learned. Straight Talk from the World’s Top Business Leaders. Managing Change

Citation

Nolan, S. (2008), "Lessons Learned. Straight Talk from the World’s Top Business Leaders. Managing Change", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 7 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2008.37207dae.001

Lessons Learned. Straight Talk from the World’s Top Business Leaders. Managing Change

Article Type: Recommended reading From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 7, Issue 4

Fifty Lessons Limited,Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA,ISBN 978-1-4221-1858-0,

Lessons Learned is a series of short books reporting how leaders from around the world have tackled their toughest challenges. The series has been compiled by Fifty Lessons Limited and published in partnership with Harvard Business School Press. Each volume in the latest series, which includes Managing Change, Managing Your Career and Leading by Example, includes 12 to 14 essays by CEOs and leaders in the public sector and academia who share personal anecdotes and offer practical advice drawn from their own experience. Each volume is 110 pages and includes chapters from different leaders and business thinkers that are organized thematically according to the topics at the top of managers’ agendas and include a “Takeaways” section at the end summarizing the key points – resulting in a useful and easy-to-access resource for busy executives.

The Managing Change volume includes 14 chapters ranging from “Don’t let bureaucracy block change” by Laura Tyson, former White House national economic adviser, through to “Change comes through consistent communication” by Sir Nick Scheele, former president and chief operating officer, Ford Motor Company. Takeaways from the latter include: “Your team will not follow you if they don’t trust you or if you appear to think that communicating is a waste of time; they will follow you only if they believe in you and can see that you believe in them.”

This volume, and the others in the series, make interesting and useful reading, as they use the art of storytelling to convey valuable outcomes of hard-earned experiences and lessons learned by some of the world’s leading business thinkers. They offer food-for-thought rather than detailed instruction but should prove inspiring for anyone tackling change or leading an organization.

Sara NolanEditor, Strategic HR Review