Books

Owen Easterwood is a performance coach with a rich Maori heritage that informs the central premise of this book, that in order to thrive we need a sense of belonging. A philosophy that was a strong influence on Gareth Southgate and the England Football team at the recent European Championships. invaluable for anyone interested in building strong teams and effective organizational cultures.

Leadership lessons from the All Blacks, New Zealand’s Rugby Team, statistically the most successful sports team in any sport ever.  Given that remarkable record there is much to pay attention to here as the All Blacks have found a way to institutionalize success, a system that is greater than any individual or coach.  Like similar successful organizations, the right culture, learning, humility and the pursuit of excellence at the heart of what they do.  Great read if your interested in teams and high performance regardless of any interest in rugby.

Alex Pentland is a Professor & Director of the Human Dynamics Lab, which aims to use the collection and analysis of big data to better understand society in order to use social networks to address a range of social policy challenges.  This book is important for anyone interested in team performance because of the insights his research is providing into how the best teams communicate and develop ideas.

The authors are both research academics and Harvard, the book looks at 3 companies who have developed a culture of individual learning and development which they see as intrinsic to their success as organizations.  Anyone interested in how to build a high performance culture at work should consider this essential reading.

The story of how a team of engineers led by Adam Steltzner designed and built the technology to put the Mars Rover vehicle onto the surface of Mars as part of NASA’s Mars robotic exploration programme.  The complexity of the challenge is breathtaking and the team work required to make it work was world class.

New York Times best selling author of The Talent Code and a well known sports journalist.  This book brings together a fusion of research and applied examples from sports teams, business, public services and the military.  The book unpacks how groups create strong cultures on which outstanding performance can be built.

Ed Smith is a former first class cricket player for Middlesex and England. He went on to head England’s selection process before the role was abolished.

The book covers his period as Chief selector and though of obvious interest to cricket fans the book is of wider interest to leaders and anyone interested in the business of selecting talent, building teams and making decision.

Author and journalist Jonah Lehrer is a contributing editor to Wired magazine.  This book is a 101 of both the neuroscience and  psychology of how we make decisions.  It explores the constant biological tension between our emotional impulses – driven by the limbic system and the neurotransmitter dopamine which are broadly responsible for most of our decision-making and our ability to rationalize and control our emotional instincts.  The book explores how by understanding our own biology and the impact our blood chemistry has on our behaviour we can learn to make better, more self-aware decisions.  Excellent primer for anyone wishing to understand how biology influences decision-making.

Atul Gawande is a General and Endocrine surgeon as well as an Associate Professor at the Harvard Medical School. The book is about the search to find a simple reliable method for improving surgical outcomes in the face of ever increasing complexity and specilization.  A problem that is far from being confined to medicine.  The solution, a checklist and a culture that recognizes experience does not make us infallible.  In fact it often creates the conceit of omnipotent competence which is frequently the genesis of careless oversight. Essential reading for anyone interested in decision-making.

Born out of a US government funded research project into the process of predictive analysis, this book about the mental processes and habits of a rare group of analysts who are able to make accurate predictive forecasts.  None of these individuals is a professional analyst or the custodian of any particular expertise these were simply volunteers with a curiosity and an approach that turns out to be far more accurate than the predictive powers of most ‘experts’ or agencies. Anyone interested in the analysis of complex situations should read this for its invaluable insights into how to approach problems, use analysis in an effective and insightful way and synthesize multiple points of view into a reasoned judgement.

A remarkable inside view of the crisis management and leadership of President Kennedy and his most senior advisors during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Loads of lessons here about decision-making under pressure and how leaders exercised judgement under the most exceptional pressure when for thirteen days in 1962 the world stood on the precipice of a nuclear war.

Professor Daniel Kahneman is a psychologist who won the Noble Prize for Economics for his work with Amos Tversky exploring the nature of decision making. They showed how prone to bias we are as a consequence of how the brain has evolved short cuts for handling information. We are more rationalizing than rational. This book explores intuition and reason, describing them as system 1 (fast) and system 2 (slow) and richly illustrating how our patterns of thoughts have evolved. Essential for anyone concerned with the business of decision making.

Ed Smith is a former first class cricket player for Middlesex and England. He went on to head England’s selection process before the role was abolished.

The book covers his period as Chief selector and though of obvious interest to cricket fans the book is of wider interest to leaders and anyone interested in the business of selecting talent, building teams and making decision.

Nancy Koehn is a Historian at the Harvard Business School. This book is an account of 5 historical figures with a particular focus on their leadership and what lessons we might take from their example today.

It comprises mini leadership biographies of Ernst Shakleton, Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Rachel Carson.

Eliot Cohen is a Professor of Strategic Studies and John Hopkins University. The book is an examination on civil military relations in war and their impact on grand strategy. A story told through the examples of Lincoln, Clemenceau, Churchill and Ben Gurion.  Its lessons are at least as much about effective executive leadership as they are about military strategy.

John Wooden is more or less a household name in the US after a 40 year coaching career in basketball in which his success was astonishing.  As coach of the University of California UCLA his teams won 10 National championships in twelve seasons, seven of them consecutively!  His relentless focus on teaching good habits and on the process  – leaving the score to take care of itself, have inspired generations of sports coaches since.  This is a book not just for sports fans but for anyone interested interested in the cross-over lessons that apply to leadership, team and performance development that are to be gleaned here.

Benjamin Zander is the conductor for the Boston Philharmonic orchestra and his wife Rosamund is a family therapist.  This is a fantastic book on leadership, richly illustrated with anecdote and examples from Zander’s extensive teaching and conducting career.  For any leader interested in how to inspire and get the most out of people to connect with their potential and to help unleash that.

One of two books I would recommend or gift as an initial 101 primer for leadership in the 21st century to any leader regardless of seniority.  David Marquet’s story is about his time in command of a US Navy nuclear submarine and how he and the crew turned around the worst boat in the fleet to become the best on every metric.  His revelation was to switch his style from the autocratic top down command and control  – the normal culture of the Navy to one that empowered and engaged the crew by developing them as leaders.

Charlie Unwin is a former Army Officer & GB Champion for Pentathlon. He has worked since then as a Performance Psychologist for a host of elite athletes and teams, in sport, business and the military as well as working with us at Metris whenever the opportunity arises.

This book is a brilliant distillation of all of his insights and experiences delivered through a range of anecdotes and stories. He turns theory into practice in plain English that anyone interested in their personal performance and potential can apply.

Journalist and Mountaineer, Rebecca Stephens brings together a diverse range of characters and case studies around the theme of getting your strategy done successfully. These include stories from the NHS, education, the Military, global business and mountaineering. Anyone interested in planning, change, project management and strategy will get plenty of food for thought here.

Sports and performance psychologist Bill Beswick shares 20-lessons, illustrated with a fund of stories and anecdotes on the themes of mindset and performance. Designed with a view to practical advice that any motivated individual can apply to their own goals.

Patti Niemi’s autobiographical story of her journey to become a professional orchestral percussionist. It provides a powerful insight into a world of obsessive relentless practice, competitive auditions and the impacts of pressure on performance.

Myles Downey is a leading executive coach with over 25 years of experience in the business.  This book is a great distillation of why coaching works and makes such a difference in unlocking the performance potential of individuals and teams as well as being an effective how to guide for those wanting to develop their own coaching skills.  Fundamentally based around the GROW model Downey adds the benefit of years of practitioner experience to provide a hands on practical framework for shaping and delivering coaching sessions that drive change.

John Whitmore along with Tim Gallway was a pioneer of performance coaching for business.  This book introduces the principles of effective coaching to help individuals fulfill their potential.  The book covers the GROW model as a framework for coaching conversations; goals, reality, options & wrap up and lays down a great foundation for anyone working to understand coaching as a process for unlocking and developing performance.

Charlie Unwin is a former Army Officer & GB Champion for Pentathlon. He has worked since then as a Performance Psychologist for a host of elite athletes and teams, in sport, business and the military as well as working with us at Metris whenever the opportunity arises.

This book is a brilliant distillation of all of his insights and experiences delivered through a range of anecdotes and stories. He turns theory into practice in plain English that anyone interested in their personal performance and potential can apply.

Sports and performance psychologist Bill Beswick shares 20-lessons, illustrated with a fund of stories and anecdotes on the themes of mindset and performance. Designed with a view to practical advice that any motivated individual can apply to their own goals.

Katy Milkman is a behavioral Scientist, Wharton Professor, and Co-Director of the Behavior Change for Good Initiative. This book looks at the major barriers to behavior change and what strategies can be used to overcome them. Applied research at its best.

Patti Niemi’s autobiographical story of her journey to become a professional orchestral percussionist. It provides a powerful insight into a world of obsessive relentless practice, competitive auditions and the impacts of pressure on performance.

Jane McGonigal is a game designer and psychologist whose  research focuses on how the positive characteristics of gameplay, such as focus, determination, resilience and persistence can be applied to real life challenges.  The book describes both the research science and the game methodolgy ‘SuperBetter‘, which is designed to help participants maximize their personal potential by applying the psychology and mindset of gameplay to real life challenges.

Beloved by a host of NFL coaches and players, the book looks at how the philosophy of stoic thinkers such as Seneca and the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius is as relevant today as it ever was, where philosophy has its original meaning of being a guide to life.  Stoicism focuses on what is within your power to change – for example your attitude and your approach to circumstance, accepting it for what it is neither good or bad.  This book is a great read for anyone interested in resilience and the development of character, through stress and adversity.

Geoff Colvin is the senior editor at large at Fortune Magazine. This book examines the rise of Ai and robotics and how these innovations are reshaping the world. Despite the rise of the machines Colvin uses a host of research to examine what humans do best and how their unique social skills can best be applied. Leadership collaboration and team work will become even more important in this emerging world.

Journalist and Mountaineer, Rebecca Stephens brings together a diverse range of characters and case studies around the theme of getting your strategy done successfully. These include stories from the NHS, education, the Military, global business and mountaineering. Anyone interested in planning, change, project management and strategy will get plenty of food for thought here.

Owen Easterwood is a performance coach with a rich Maori heritage that informs the central premise of this book, that in order to thrive we need a sense of belonging. A philosophy that was a strong influence on Gareth Southgate and the England Football team at the recent European Championships. invaluable for anyone interested in building strong teams and effective organizational cultures.

General McChrystal was the the US Joint Special Forces Commander with responsibility for all US Special Forces Missions.  This book is in part based on his experiences of how US and Allied Special Operations Force units evolved to counter the asymmetrical networked threats of terrorist groups in Iraq.  The teams of teams that resulted, fast flat and enabled by a twenty first century communications architecture and a culture of mission command were dramatically impactful against Al Qaeda.  This same organizational design is how McChrystal and his co-authors argue business can best prepare and be successful in an ever more competitive, fast paced global environment.

Jocko & Leif were US Navy Seal Officers leading a Seal Task Force in the battle of Ramadi in Iraq.  A period of intense sustained combat in a built up area. The book is about the mindset and leadership lessons they learned in the Seals and perfected in combat. Their distillation is designed to be applied to any team or business context where performance matters. The title refers to the principle of individual accountability for every aspect of the team’s mission. Plenty of interest and value here for military and business leaders alike.

A how to guide for developing high performance teams.  The book looks at 7 facets for delivering results; context, mission, talent, norms, buy-in, power and morale and provides guidance and exercises to benchmark and develop the team.  Certainly not the holy-grail its authors might claim but none the less of value to anyone interested in developing high performance organizations.