A Google user
I placed Bury My Heart At Conference Room B on my reading list because I spotted it on a best business books in 2010 list. I can no longer recall the particular list and Google and my bookmarking system all failed me. I chose to read the text over the thanksgiving break, for the wrong reason. I wrongly assumed that the text would be about board room intrigues and mechanical cut throat calculations, that in my world would qualify as easy read. I was wrong, in a good way. Stan Slap’s book was no board room thriller. It was a how-to text for bringing your heart to work.
The core: If I am yet to lose you thanks for hanging in there. The main idea in the book is that for a manager to do good work over a sustained period of time he/she has to be emotionally committed to what they do. This can only be done if the manager lives out their values at work rather than live in a compartmentalized world of work -home competing dichotomy. The problem is that most corporations are set up to compete with the managers values. So how does a manager get out of rut and make work rock. Leadership. What? Yes, leadership. You’d have to read the text to make this connection. The second and third part of the book explains how to make this idea work.
My take on the book: Stan Slap cuts close to getting all Dr. Phil up in the book but he make a good case for why emotional commitment is necessary. In general he did a great job of explaining what to expect from the book, and why you should bother acting on the ideas in the text. He successfully balances the delicate dance between self help-ish feel, how-to instructions and the why? It helps that the book is stuffed with case studies and results from implementing this idea over an extended period of time.
My version of the book: Paraphrasing Drucker here. The whole point of knowledge is action. So my take away from the book is that I am on the right track with the whole pouring your heart into your craft thing. It is reaffirming to see that the idea has been properly vetted. For me his perspective on leadership was fresh and concrete at the same time. “You are a leader if you change the world around you in the name of your values”.
Finally as a firm believer in the brevity of business book Bury My Heart did not feel too long all 234 pages (minus bonus materials) of it. You should check out the book or check out Stan Slap’s Change This manifesto if you are short on time.
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