Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/59185
Bookshelf Can chief executive officers of major corpora- tions take on the great challenges of health care, unemployment, media regulation, and international trade? Leo Hindery thinks so. In It Takes a CEO, he lays out his premise that top executives need to take more responsi- bility for the world at large—in addition to taking more responsi- bility for any of their actions that have sweeping conse- quences. He writes, "The CEO's job touches on three constituencies: employees, shareholders, and com- munity. ... And when you get to the size of a Fortune 1000 company, your community is arguably the nation." Using blunt language and naming names, Hindery decries lax behavior by CEOs—both those under indictment and those under the radar—and issues a call for higher ethical standards and more attention to improving the world. He lists the 19 characteristics any CEO should possess, including grace, courage, a sense of fair play, and a hatred of big- otry. Despite the truly alarming trends he spotlights, Hindery's book is stirring and full of hope that cor- porate leaders can make a real differ- ence in the world. (Free Press, $24) "Grow or die" is considered an indisputable maxim of business, but some entre- preneurs have rejected it as the gov- erning system of their business careers. Instead, they focus on more intangible measures of success: an intimate relationship with customers, a happy and productive workforce, and personal satisfaction. In Small Giants, Bo Burlingham profiles 14 54 BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 "companies that choose to be great instead of big." Companies like Clif Bar, Anchor Brewing, Union Square Hospitality Group, and Righteous Babe Records have resisted the pres- sure to expand rapidly, offer IPOs, or generally take their companies to the much-vaunted "next level." Instead, they've retained most of the control of their enterprises and found creative ways to grow their businesses. Burlingham's book isn't all happy endings and blissful contentment; most of the people he showcases have had to make hard decisions, and a few have tasted failure along the way. But the stories told and the lessons learned are valuable ones for anyone interested in starting a business and making it a success—by a personal definition. (Portfolio, $24.95) Like modern-day alchemists, today's star executives take common, base ele- ments and turn them into some- thing wonderful and new. They're not using magic, says Justin Menkes. They're exhibiting Executive Intelligence, or a type of critical thinking that allows them to accom- plish tasks, work closely with others, and adapt their own behavior as the situation demands. Menkes draws commentary from a wide variety of sources, ranging from psychologist Robert Stern berg to Avon CEO Andrea Jung, as he presents the hallmarks of bril- liant executive lead- ers. A chapter late in the book offers a series of mock inter- view questions with executive candidates and dissects which answers display executive intelli- gence and which do not. As Menkes and various other sources make clear, today's successful corporation can- not survive by relying solely on the genius of one or two top individuals. Whole teams of gifted people are required to make an enterprise suc- cessful, and Menkes gives the blue- print for finding them. (Collins, $27.95) Are you the kind of leader who asks ques- tions? If you are, do you even know what kinds of questions to ask? In Leading with Questions,Michael Marquardt describes how powerful it can be for a top executive to have an inquiring mind. In an environment that encourages questions, he notes, no one is afraid to confess concern about potential problems, and thus those problems don't turn into dis- asters. No one is afraid to confess ignorance about a particular method, and thus everyone is continually allowed to learn. "A questioning cul- ture is a culture in which responsibil- ity is shared. And when respon- sibility is shared, ideas are shared, problems are shared...and ownership of results is shared," he writes. Marquardt knows that not everyone is com- fortable posing questions, so he offers a primer on how to ask them, how to time them, how to listen to the answers, and how to follow up. He also pro- vides lists of questions that can