Adapting for success

Managing people, risk and your own skills

Bullies, Tyrants and Impossible People

One necessity of business success is having the ability to interact well with other people. Bullies, Tyrants and Impossible People presents a formula created by two well-known negotiators that sets out to help manage the more challenging of the many people we all have to deal with from day to day. The method is called “NICE,” which is an acronym for: Neutralize your emotions, Identify the type of person, Control the encounter, and Explore options.

The authors use examples from their personal experiences to illustrate the four practices they outline. For instance, Mark Jankowski relates how he lost a contract because he lost control of his emotions with a problem individual. Had he handled the situation better, he may well have received other contracts with the same company (that eventually fired the problem individual).

The practice of identifying the type of person you are dealing with is discussed through the examination of three distinct groups of problem individuals: the situationally difficult, who are momentary problems; the strategically difficult, who insist that everyone play by their rules; and the simply difficult, who are continuous problems. The authors present different techniques for dealing with each.

To control the encounter, the authors encourage the reader to listen actively - empathize, ask and reassure (EAR). Exploring options, meanwhile, requires that an individual determine what facilitative tools can be used to overcome deadlocks in negotiations.

This book includes many examples that explain how to use the NICE method effectively. Sports fans will also enjoy the use of examples by Ron Shapiro from his career as a well-known baseball agent.

By Ronald M. Shapiro and Mark A. Jankowski. Published by Crown Business. For more information visit www.randomhouse.com/crown/business/.

Reviewed by Patrick Buckley, CMA, PhD. Buckley is a systems analyst based in Ottawa.

5-D Leadership

Today’s business realities demand versatile leaders who have more than one style of leadership in their repertoire. For every unique business situation that requires a leader, there is an appropriate approach for that leader to take In 5-D Leadership: Key dimensions for leading in the real world, the authors refute the premise that there is only one right way to lead effectively, using examples from the modern world and history to explain a variety of distinct, and effective, styles.

The authors introduce their 5 Leadership Dimensions - commanding, visioning, enrolling, relating, and coaching - and provide definitions, examples, and the strategic objectives of each. The authors explain how to acquire each dimension, and how to capitalize on the strengths you already have.

By Scott Campbell and Ellen Samiec. Published by Davies-Black Publishing. For more information visit www.daviesblack.com.

Risk From the CEO and Board Perspective

All companies face uncertainty and, therefore, all companies must deal with risk. Does our company have an adequate preventative maintenance program in place to preserve revenue generating equipment and machinery? Is management providing the right level of operational and financial oversight to identify problems before they happen? All such questions have to be addressed on some level by an organization that wants not only to survive, but also to thrive. The challenge for managers today is to recognize, assess and counteract the ever-present reality of risk — operational risk, financial risk, safety risk, and reputational risk.

But how to do this? That is the pressing question. Risk From the CEO and Board Perspective, by M.P. McCarthy and T. P. Flynn, purports to answer this question. Written by two senior partners with KPMG, the book explains what many of today’s key corporate leaders are doing to manage uncertainty in their organizations.

Through case studies such as the Salt Lake City Olympics, and interviews with executives from Microsoft, Sprint, Hewlett-Packard, British Airways and others, Risk offers an introductory primer on risk management. It lays out two models for risk management and demonstrates how Fortune 500 companies have used these models to address the risks their businesses face.

A key feature of Risk is that at the end of each section of the book, the authors provide short lists of essential points. Taken by themselves, these summaries provide a guide to building a risk management framework.

Highly readable, Risk: From the CEO and Board Perspective is a useful introduction to risk management issues.

By M.P. McCarthy and T. P. Flynn. Published by McGraw-Hill. For more information visit www.mcgrawhill.ca.

Reviewed by Doug Archer, CMA. Archer is manager of Corporate Risk Oversight and Audit department at Bruce Power, a nuclear facility located on Lake Huron in Tiverton, Ontario.

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