August 2023 MBR The Business Shelf

The Business Shelf

Power to the Middle
Bill Schaninger, author
Bryan Hancock, author
Emily Field, author
Harvard Business Review Press
60 Harvard Way, Boston, MA 02163
http://hbr.org/books
9781647824853, $32.00, HC, 256pp

https://www.amazon.com/Power-Middle-Managers-Hold-Future/dp/1647824850

Synopsis: "Middle manager" is a descriptive term from a bygone industrial era in which managers functioned like cogs in a vast bureaucratic machine. In recent decades, midlevel managers became a favorite target for the chopping block -- underappreciated, often considered a superfluous layer of the organization.

Not only does this outdated perspective need to change, but the future demands it.

With the publication of "Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work", McKinsey thought leaders Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock, and Emily Field call for a profound reimagining of managers and their roles. They explain how middle managers are uniquely positioned close to the ground but with a crucial connection to company strategy, enabling them to guide their organizations through periods of rapid and complex change, as well as to help shape the new world of work.

The authors compellingly illustrate this deep shift in the workplace, showing how: Managers are the key to winning the war for talent, which requires strong people skills to attract and retain the best talent; Managers must shift from merely enforcing rules to challenging them, serving as critical stopgaps for rules that are ineffective or obsolete; Crucially, good managers must not be promoted out of their jobs. Instead, their title and compensation should reflect their high value and allow them to advance within their roles.

With rich stories and cutting-edge research, "Power to the Middle" offers a new model for companies to radically alter the way they hire, train, and reward their midlevel managers their most valuable asset.

Critique: Simply stated, "Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work" is essential reading for anyone aspiring to become, or who are already employed in a company's middle management position. Impressively comprehensive, exceptionally informative, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Power to the Middle" must be considered an essential, core addition to personal, professional, community, corporate, college, and university library Business Management collection and supplemental MBA curriculum studies lists. It should be noted that "Power to the Middle" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $16.99).

Editorial Note #1: Bill Schaninger (https://sardertv.com/author/bill-schaninger) is a senior partner emeritus in McKinsey's Philadelphia office. He is an international speaker, author, and adviser to senior leaders and government officials on the topics of talent, culture, values, and the broad impact of "how you run the place" on performance.

Editorial Note #2: Bryan Hancock (https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/bryan-hancock) is a partner in McKinsey's Washington, DC, office and one of the global leaders of McKinsey's talent work. Through his research and client service, he has focused on connecting workers to opportunities, building their skills, and improving their day-to-day experience on the job.

Editorial Note #3: Emily Field (www.mckinsey.com) is a partner in McKinsey's Seattle office. She advises organizations globally across industries to deliver on their performance goals and people aspirations, with the role of the middle manager front and center.

The Agile Organization
Linda Holbeche
Kogan Page Inc.
8 W 38th Street, Ste 902, New York, NY 10018
www.koganpage.com
9781398608689, $131.00, HC, 416pp

https://www.amazon.com/Agile-Organization-Innovative-Resilient-Business/dp/1398608688

Synopsis: With helpful checklists, tips and advice, this newly updated and expanded third edition of "The Agile Organization: How to Build an Engaged, Innovative and Resilient Business" by Linda Holbeche is a practical blueprint to building both agility and resilience at individual, team and organizational levels.

"The Agile Organization" aptly covers how to design agile organizations as well as how to implement agile models into existing organizations and people practices. There is guidance on how agility can be applied to talent management, flexible working patterns and the importance of mobilizing and energizing employees for change.

This new third edition contains new material on agile mindsets and enterprise agile planning, alongside how hybrid forms of working can enhance resilience. There is also extended material on how inclusion and wellbeing initiatives can support individual resilience and innovation to improve performance across the organization. Case studies include ING, the University of California, Berkeley, the UK National Health Service (NHS) and SNC-Lavalin's Atkins business. This book is an essential read for HR and OD specialists, senior leaders and managers who want transform their organization and build an agile business.

Critique: Of special relevance to readers with an interest in Corporate Organizational Learning, Business Management, Mentoring & Coaching, "The Agile Organization: How to Build an Engaged, Innovative and Resilient Business" is an ideal choice as a DIY or formal curriculum studies lists in the fields of Business & Finance. While recommended as a core addition to personal, professional, community, corporate, college and university library collections and supplemental MBA curriculum lists, it should be noted that "The Agile Organization" is also readily available in a paperback edition (9781398608665, $35.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $34.19).

Editorial Note: Dr Linda Holbeche is Co-Director of the Holbeche Partnership, Adjunct Professor at Imperial College London Business School, UK, and Visiting Professor at four other UK universities. She acts as consultant on OD, HR, Strategy and Leadership. She is Fellow of Roffey Park and the Institute of Employment Studies and was previously Director of Research and Policy at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Director of Leadership and Consultancy at the Work Foundation. In 2021 she was named as one of the Most Influential HR Thinkers by HR Magazine and is the co-author of Organization Development, also published by Kogan Page. (https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/profiles/staff/linda-holbeche)

The Business Analysis Handbook, second edition
Helen Winter
Kogan Page Inc.
8 W 38th Street, Ste 902, New York, NY 10018
www.koganpage.com
9781398610149, $159.00, HC, 336pp

https://www.amazon.com/Business-Analysis-Handbook-Techniques-Outcomes/dp/1398610143

Synopsis: Business analysis helps organizations to develop an informed understanding of the solutions they need to drive effective change. In the age of digital transformation, the role is more important than ever. Written by business analyst expert, Helen Winter and now available in a significantly updated and expanded second edition, "The Business Analysis Handbook: Techniques to Deliver Better Business Outcomes" provides practical advice on both the skills and the nitty-gritty activities of the profession and outlines tools and techniques with guidelines on how and when to apply them.

This new second edition of "The Business Analysis Handbook" from Kogan Page offers increased guidance on remote working and different career pathways in business analysis. Readers will also benefit from a new chapter on how to build the business analysis function effectively in an organization, supported by skills matrix examples, training strategies and tips on career development. It also features examples of hot topics such as agile, sustainability and digital transformation.

"The Business Analysis Handbook" is an indispensable guide for business analysts looking to upgrade their skills set and careers. It will also be invaluable for business leaders seeking to harness the value of the business analysis function within their organizations.

Critique: Comprehensive, up-to-date, and indispensable as a core business management curriculum textbook or the basis of a corporate in-service training program, "The Business Analysis Handbook: Techniques to Deliver Better Business Outcomes" is an extraordinary, seminal and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, corporate, and academic library Business Analysis/Management/Planning collections and MBA curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for corporate executives, MBA students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Business Analysis Handbook: Techniques to Deliver Better Business Outcomes" is also available in a paperback edition (9781398610125, $41.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $33.59).

Editorial Note: Helen Winter (https://www.businessbullet.co.uk/author/helen) has over 20 years' business analysis experience, having worked as a consultant on large-scale transformation programmes within the financial services, regulation, insurance and utilities sectors. She is an active volunteer for IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) and the founder of Business Bullet, an online magazine promoting business analysis and providing guidance for professionals. She is based in Wolverhampton, the UK.

Two Rivers
Shery Roussarie and Kelly Macken-Marble
Warren Publishing
www.warrenpublishing.net
9781960146199, $26.99 Hardcover/$16.99 Paper

https://www.amazon.com/Two-Rivers-Collaboration-Shery-Roussarie/dp/196014619X

Two Rivers: The Power of Collaboration is a book about women in business and in leadership positions who met for the first time in 2018. Their roles as CEOs of competing health care companies would seem to place them in adversarial positions, but their shared vision of creating a managed care network instead resulted in a cooperative effort that surprised their community and those around them.

Ironically, the stage was preset to discourage this type of cooperative venture, from the hospital systems around them to influencing medical organizations designed to support health care systems.

More than a tale of two women who come together for a shared cause, Two Rivers is just as astute in considering the forces and structures that work against cooperative ventures, using the authors' experiences as examples of the power of saying 'yes' and listening to but utilizing disparate forces to better support such pursuits. The second strength of this story stems from its duality as the two women's' very different personalities are contrasted, illustrating how their shared visions and efforts benefit from this seeming disparity.

A wealth of business savvy is imparted during the course of this journey that keeps its lessons on track and specific. This will interest business readers seeking practical advice and enlightenment backed by real-world experience.

From succession and postretirement planning to growing a business structure that answers numerous personality and community needs, Shery Roussarie and Kelly Macken-Marble's story is more than one of the meeting of two strong women's visions. It's about the process of collaboration as it plays out in business and medical communities, and documents promises, pitfalls, and approaches to success that reflect both authors' visions and the greater power to be found from cooperative ventures that resonate with personal ambition and ideals.

Libraries and readers interested in women in business and healthcare roles will find Two Rivers of special interest; but ultimately it's the reader committed to the ideal of cooperative ventures, actions, and thinking who will gain the most from this enthusiastic, visionary story. Ideally, Two Rivers will be profiled in book clubs appealing to women in business who seek concrete lessons blended with memoirs that are lively and revealing.

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