The Human Factor: Winter Reading List

The holidays arenear, which means, for many of us, a short break before the New Year. With thatin mind, I thought I’d share some of the most useful books I’ve read this year.They’re all engaging and well written, and cover topics that you can apply totraining, project management, and interpersonal relationships. If your holidaysinclude a winter break, they’re worth a look.

Brain Rules

If you were at theLearning Solutions conference this year, you may have had a chance to hear JohnMedina speak. He’s worth listening to. In BrainRules, Medina talks about how different situations affect the brain andlearning, and what you, as an instructor (or as a learner) can do to create thebest possible conditions for learning. This book includes tips on the best waysto sequence a lesson to gain and keep students’ attention, reminders on thelimitations of long and short-term memory, and information about how exercise,sleep, and stress affect learners’ performance. Medina includes all the mostrelevant studies in cognitive psychology and synthesizes them into oneeasy-to-read, compelling book.

Outliers

Malcolm Gladwell’sOutliers offers a lot of food forthought. Two of his chapters, in particular, have special applicability totraining. In one, he discusses categories, and how they affect the people theydescribe. Even when the categories are assigned simply for convenience (like someclass cohorts), Outliers shows thatthe categories can have effects for years after they were originally assigned.

In another, heexplains how long it takes people to really learn complex skills – about 10,000hours. That’s a sobering thought. If they’re learning those skills on the job,it implies that you can’t contain training in the space of a single course, oreven curriculum. The importance of supporting informal learning strategies andtools was clearer to me than ever before after reading this chapter.

The Man Who Lied to His Laptop

I’ve been a fan ofClifford Nass’ work for the last 10 years. Being familiar with his research, Iwas certain that he and Corina Yen would use the book to describe experimentswhere subjects interact with computers as if the computers were human beings. Thatwas the premise of The Media Equation,and a number of his published papers. But this book surprised me, because whilethe authors do discuss the experiments, the focus of this book is on what theirfindings reveal about how people interact with one another. The Man Who Lied to His Laptop offershints about how to influence others, the best way to offer feedback so that therecipient can act on it, and what cues people use to identify the individualsthey find trustworthy. In this book, the computers-as-social-agents constructtakes a back seat, and the story that emerges is all about interpersonalrelationships.  

The Upside of Irrationality

In The Upside of Irrationality, Dan Arielyexplores topics centered on what motivates people. The book shows that bigger payincentives don’t necessarily inspire greater work effort, that people don’t assessthe value of their own work very accurately, and that asking people to makeeven very slight modifications to an established work product allows them tovalue the work product and their own contributions more. More importantly, itshows the conditions that cause people to arrive at their irrationalconclusions. Dan Ariely’s entire book is excellent, but if you’re a manager, orwork on any kind of employee incentive programs, the first half of the book isa must-read.

Crucial Conversations

Do you have a projectthat is more challenging than it needs to be because of a difficult customer,colleague, or boss? Chances are, when things go wrong, the circumstances followa recognizable pattern. Crucial Conversations,by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler, has a lot ofpractical advice on how to cut through the drama, and keep yourself and thepeople you need to interact with focused on the goals you all have in common. Thebook provides some reliable methods you can use to recognize and change badpatterns, and begin to develop more productive communications with the peopleyou work with or work for.

Happy Holidays

So, that’s my list of the top fivebusiness books I’ve read all year. They’re the ones I’ve highlighted, writtennotes on, and returned to again and again. If you have some spare time duringthe holiday break, or happen to get a bookstore gift card, I highly recommendthem all. In the meantime, I wish you all the best this holiday season.

Bibliographic and publisher information

Ariely, F. (2010) The Upside of Irrationality. New York:Harper. (Publisher’s price for hardcover $27.99, for paperback $15.99. Amazon: Hardcover$11.20, paperback $10.87, audio CD/audiobook $26.59, Audible Audio edition$20.95, Kindle $9.99. Barnes & Noble: Hardcover $17.54, paperback $10.98, audiobook$31.49, Nook $9.99, Nook Enhanced $18.99)

Gladwell, M. (2011)Outliers. Boston: Back Bay Books. (Publisher’sprice for hardcover $27.99, for paperback $16.99. Amazon: Hardcover $18.44, paperback$11.19, Kindle $9.99. Barnes & Noble: Hardcover $18.44, paperback $11.19, audiobook$28.78, Nook $9.99)

Medina, J. Brain Rules. (2009) Seattle: Pear Press.(Publisher’s price for hardcover $29.95, for paperback $15.00. Amazon: Hardcover$18.11, paperback $10.20, audio CD/Audiobook $23.07, Kindle $7.16. Barnes &Noble: Hardcover $18.11, paperback $24.99, audiobook $22.12, Nook $8.10)

Nass, C. &Yen, C. (2010) The Man Who Lied to HisLaptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships. New York: YourCoach In A Box. (Publisher’s price for hardcover $25.95, for paperback $16.00. Amazon:Hardcover $10.38, paperback $10.88, audio CD/audiobook $26.98, Kindle $18.99, AudibleAudio Edition $17.95. Barnes & Noble: Hardcover $24.66, paperback $10.77, audiobook$26.98, Nook $18.99)

Patterson, K.,Grenny, J., McMillan, R. & Switzler, S. (2011) Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. NewYork: McGraw-Hill. (Publisher’s price for hardcover $30.00, for paperback$18.00. Amazon: Hardcover $18.43, paperback $12.24, Kindle Edition withAudio/Video $9.99, Kindle Edition $8.98 (bundled with Crucial Confrontations), Kindle Edition without bundled content$8.09, audio CD/audiobook $18.48, Audible Audio Edition $10.95. Barnes &Noble: Paperback $12.36, Nook $9.90)

Note: All pricesas found online December 14, 2011. Formats not shown (e.g., paperback, e-book,etc.) were not found on publisher websites. In some cases, certain formats wereavailable as pre-orders. Publisher prices provided for comparison when shoppingin brick-and-mortar stores.