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Description of this book: Delivering Happiness by Zappos founder Tony Hsieh is the story of how this young man created a new kind of company. Hsieh wanted to build a business that valued customers, employees, and investors equally. The CEO puts a strong focus on positive company culture, operating under the theory that a good corporate culture will let everything else fall into place naturally. A company of happy employees stay in the job longer, work harder and provide better customer service. Company success has to come from being unique and creating something people will get excited about. A focus on happiness not only attracted better talent, but gave Zappos a unique edge.
Cydcor recommends this book to leaders because: Hsieh has been able to build multiple companies in his career and has learned how to create a team of people that will work hard for his vision. Zappos now does over a billion dollars in sales annually. That is no small feat considering the competitiveness of online retailing. Future leaders should have a lot to learn about this company and take some ideas that challenge the norm of business leadership. Building a positive company culture can be a challenge and this book will lay it out for leaders.
Our favorite part: Zappos actually pays employees to quit. By giving them $2,000 to leave Zappos is they are unhappy, the company is less likely to retain team members who may be a negative influence on the work environment. That concept and other ideas.
Cydcor is a leading sales company that specializes in omni-channel relationships with customers. For more information on Cydcor, follow our Cydcor blog.
Cydcor review by: Gail Michalak, Chief Marketing Officer at Cydcor
Book: Talent Masters by Bill Conaty and Ram Charan
Description: This book is a description of how to judge exceptional talent within organizations and how to leverage that talent into success for the business. Bill Conaty has worked closely with legendary CEO Jack Welsh of General Electric and Ram Charan is a consultant that has worked for large corporations all over the world. Both authors contend that smart leaders put their people first, which leads to better revenue and company culture. Much like Talent Wars, the previous Cydcor Review, Talent Masters details an effective system for managing talented team members and getting the best results.
Why people should read Talent Masters: Leaders should read this book to learn ways to move talent from the lower rungs up the corporate ladder. This is the best way to assure teams perform at their top level. Entry-level employees should read this to take notice of what traits to embody and how to prepare for success at a higher level. Any professional can benefit from this book by learning how to think about running a team or an organization more effectively. The book is also a good reminder that top performers at one level won’t necessarily perform the best at all levels.
My favorite part: Differentiation breeds meritocracy, sameness breeds mediocrity. This is a good way to summarize the idea of celebrating the individual talents of employees and how to capitalize on their strengths. It is also important to remember that recruiting people from other companies is often a good way of bring fresh ideas and more energy to a position, as long as the new person can assimilate into company culture.
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Title: The War for Talent
Author: Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod
Review by: Suzzanne Fleet
Description of this book: This book uses information from thousands of executives from dozens of companies on how to keep a high level of talent and performance from employees. Acquiring, retaining and developing talented individuals is essential for companies to succeed. It is important to pinpoint high performers and low performers, reward high performers, and move low performers out of the organization. The book talks about keeping a "talent mindset" that keeps recruiters and managers focused on developing talented employees. It is also important to bring in talent from other companies at multiple management levels. The book details how to design performance reviews for team members, as well as a recognition system. Authors also discuss how create incentives to make your company attractive to top level jobseekers. Cydcor works to develop our talented team of sales professionals, which is why we are frequently chosen as on of L.A. County's Best Place to Work
Why read this: Managers and recruiters alike will benefit from this book by refreshing the priorities of developing people within their organization. In an age where many employees bounce around in their career, fostering talent is an easy and important aspect of both retention and productivity.
My favorite part: There are some great case studies in the book that provide real life stories and philosophies. For example, Dee Hock, founder of Visa, tells the authors, “Without integrity, motivation is dangerous; without motivation, capacity is impotent; without capacity, understanding is limited; without understanding, knowledge is meaningless; without knowledge, experience is blind.”
About the reviewer: Suzzanne Fleet is the director of human resources at Cydcor, so managing talent is her area of expertise.