Accel5®’s Business Book Summaries of the Month: March 2022

Add these summarized business books from Accel5 to your monthly reading list.

This month’s collection covers various topics, including corporate culture, diversity, entrepreneurship, innovation, and more — all summarized to be enjoyed in minutes. Keep scrolling to discover your next read with the most recently summarized business books from Accel5^®.

The Unspoken Rules
Gorick Ng

Summary: It isn’t easy to succeed at work without having clarity into others’ expectations and how tasks should be accomplished. Unspoken rules carry far more weight than many people realize. In The Unspoken Rules, outsider-turned-insider Gorick Ng shares the practices he’s learned and how they can help you start your career, navigate your growth, and succeed through every stage.

For those looking to improve upon these competencies:

• Managing Others
• Managing Self
• Networking & Relationship Building

Career Choreography
Ken Lindner

Summary: Career expert Ken Lindner believes people must take definitive steps to accomplish their professional goals. He proposes a “career choreography” to work through these logical, success-evoking tasks and shares how his steps drive people to carve their career paths, land their dream roles, and excel in their professions. In Career Choreography, Lindner explains how people in any industry can identify and develop their career paths and attain true happiness in their lives and work.

For those looking to improve upon these competencies:

• Goals & Priorities
• Managing Self

HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Lifelong Learning
Harvard Business Review Press

Summary: The business environment and companies themselves are in constant flux today. As a result, leaders and employees alike must be prepared to learn new skills throughout their working lives. HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Lifelong Learning from Harvard Business Review Press offers a curated selection of relevant articles from a wide range of management experts, all of whom provide advice on cultivating learning organizations.

For those looking to improve upon these competencies:

• Business Essentials
• Continuous Learning
• Managing Self

Curve Benders
David Nour

Summary: In Curve Benders, David Nour explains the power of strategic relationships. Recognizing a “fender bender” (or toxic relationship) from a curve bender is critical as you navigate career changes. Nour breaks down the 15 forces impacting your future that occupy the realms of industry, organization, personal, and transitionary growth to help you not only grow but exceed your career goals.

For those looking to improve upon these competencies:

• Managing Others
• Networking & Relationship Building

Burn
Mei Xu

Summary: In Burn, Mei Xu shares the story of how she went from being an aspiring diplomat in communist China to the CEO of a multimillion-dollar company in America. By chronicling the setbacks and triumphs of her 30-year career, Xu provides readers with invaluable lessons on vision, resilience, and innovation. By adhering to her advice, entrepreneurs can learn how to identify new market opportunities, develop enduring relationships with clients, and integrate the innovation process into manufacturing.

For those looking to improve upon these competencies:

• Business Essentials
• Entrepreneurial Mindset
• Innovation

Riding the Waves of Culture, 4th Edition
Fons Trompenaars & Charles Hampden-Turner

Summary: To be business savvy, today’s leaders must effectively navigate the economies, environments, and cultures of a global workforce. The requirements of this work are in constant flux as pressing issues such as the effects of migrations, immigration, and acculturation are more broadly understood. In the fourth Edition of Riding the Waves of Culture, Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner share 20 articles they’ve written, some alongside Peter Woolliams and Lucas de Jong de Abril, to help leaders identify differences among cultures and incorporate them into their strategies.

For those looking to improve upon these competencies:

• Business Essentials
• Diversity

Corporations Compassion Culture
Keesa C. Shreane

Summary: For too many workers, the pandemic exposed new extremes in employers’ willingness to disregard employees’ mental and physical needs in the unsustainable pursuit of short-term gains. Now, many of those workers have decided that the trade-off between income and dignity isn’t worth it. The only way out of the problems companies face today is a radical, forward-thinking shift in corporate culture. In Corporations Compassion Culture, Keesa C. Shreane shows that compassion doesn’t just make for positive work environments and happy employees; it drives companies to be more innovative, more resilient, and ultimately more competitive.

For those looking to improve upon these competencies:

• Business Essentials
• Diversity
• Corporate Culture Development

Open Innovation Results
Henry Chesbrough

Summary: Though technological innovations are emerging faster than ever, overall economic productivity has stalled, forming the exponential paradox. In Open Innovation Results, Henry Chesbrough explores the forces at the root of this disconnect and examines the open innovation approach. Only by moving from vertical or closed innovation and embracing open innovation will businesses be poised to align results with the cutting edge of technology.

For those looking to improve upon these competencies:

• Business Essentials
• Innovation

Culture Renovation
Kevin Oakes

Summary: Culture is the fabric that unifies an organization. Over time, many companies try to change their cultures, but research has found that only 15 percent are successful. Instead of reinventing a culture from the ground up, the key is to renovate the existing culture. This means retaining what has value while evolving in new ways. In Culture Renovation, Kevin Oakes offers an 18-step blueprint for creating a healthy corporate culture.

For those looking to improve upon these competencies:

• Business Essentials
• Corporate Culture Development
• Managing Change

Glass Half Broken
Colleen Ammerman & Boris Groysberg

Summary: According to data from 2019, women in the U.S. workforce are more likely to hold college degrees than their male counterparts and seize opportunities hard-won after decades of fighting for equality in education and hiring. However, even in industries where women represent 50 percent to a majority of employees, men overwhelm C-suites and constitute the bulk of CEOs. In Glass Half-Broken, Colleen Ammerman and Boris Groysberg use insights from their research to contextualize where we are in the movement for equitable opportunities and outline the deliberate, practical measures companies and individuals should take to make work environments genuinely inclusive.

For those looking to improve upon these competencies:

• Business Essentials
• Diversity