organizational leadership – Page 2 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Power Cues: The Subtle Science of Leading Groups, Persuading Others & Maximizing Your Personal Impact

By Scott J. Pearson | October 4, 2025October 4, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

We’d like to think that our social lives and businesses are meritocracies, but they clearly aren’t. The best ideas don’t always win, and much depends on how one presents themselves. In a world where people make quick judgments about leaders, quickly conveying trust matters more than ever before. Communications expert Nick Morgan teaches us how to master those soft skills of leadership. Generally, this book is filled with solid advice about public speaking in settings…

Leadership Management-Business

Managing & Leading People through Organizational Change: The Theory & Practice of Sustaining Change through People

By Scott J. Pearson | July 8, 2025July 8, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

Leading people through change remains a huge leadership issue in today’s quickly evolving world. Gaining soft skills to manage change also remains an essential leadership skill. Most books topping the bestseller lists inspire readers to help their organizations adapt better. This book is not one of those inspirational pieces. Rather, Julie Hodges guides readers through the entire field to see the diverse approaches required to help their people adapt. Instead of just triggering those with…

Leadership Management-Business Psychology

An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization

By Scott J. Pearson | June 23, 2025June 23, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

I work with a career development team for researchers at an academic medical center. Developing researchers’ careers is our central role in the enterprise. We do not have a formal structure that this book describes, but an informal culture of synergy and growth is a huge part of what we cultivate. Because of a constantly evolving world, career and professional development can provide an edge for organizations. A culture of growth attracts and retains top…

Leadership Management-Business Software-Technology

Leading Effective Engineering Teams: Lessons for Individual Contributors & Managers from 10 Years at Google

By Scott J. Pearson | May 19, 2025May 19, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

This book fills a gap in literature about technology leadership. Many books on leadership exist; likewise, many books on approaching technology from the perspective of business leadership exist; however, not a lot of books talk about how to lead from a technologist’s angle. People working in software are usually really smart people. They know and respect “game” when they see competence and mastery in their field. But mentorship from books or from seasoned leaders is…

Leadership Management-Business

Scaling Leadership: Building Organizational Capability & Capacity to Create Outcomes that Matter Most

By Scott J. Pearson | April 24, 2025April 24, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

For anyone, leadership is a journey, not a destination. It’s more of an art than a series of steps to implement. We all break down as much as we build up. It helps to have intelligent partners to dialogue with, but those are often hard to come by. Good books certainly provide helpful sparring partners to hone one’s style. This book seeks to help leaders advance their personal leadership by advancing how they build leaders…

Leadership Management-Business

Organizational Culture & Leadership, 5th Edition

By Scott J. Pearson | March 28, 2025March 28, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

“Culture” has become a trendy word in today’s business talk. Many popular books espouse it as a cure-all to every organizational malady. Much hype certainly permeates those book, but Edgar Schein’s work cuts through the hype with an academic lens. Known as the father of the field of organizational culture, Schein describes his early explorations about it with the now-defunct DEC and how his ideas expanded with later work. As a result, this 5th edition…

Leadership Management-Business Program Management

Designing Matrix Organizations That Actually Work: How IBM, Procter & Gamble, and Others Design for Success

By Scott J. Pearson | March 12, 2025March 12, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

I work in software at a research lab in an academic medical center. We produce new software to address large problems, locally and globally. Although our organization’s formal structure is hierarchical, our informal structure very much resembles a matrix – not uncommon in research labs. In business, a matrix organization occurs when people report to more than one manager. In my work, most teams I’m near are cross-functional. I recently moved from a developer role…

Leadership Management-Business Psychology

Leadership & Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box

By Scott J. Pearson | February 8, 2025February 8, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

Many blindly go into leadership roles to achieve a level of social prestige and power over others. However, that attitude does not last long as the spoils of ego satisfaction fade away quickly. To contrast, the Arbinger Institute offers a better way: service to one’s fellow human beings, centered around getting results for the company. When an organizational catches on to this purpose, its effectiveness can skyrocket. This fictional story illustrates how such a mindset…

Leadership

Trust & Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash Greatness in Others

By Scott J. Pearson | January 20, 2025January 20, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

Today’s leadership, as practiced, often includes an approach borrowed from the Industrial Age and popularized by Frederick Winslow Taylor’s “scientific management.” It seeks to have a leader in complete “command and control” of all aspects of production. However, in the postmodern age, interdisciplinary knowledge workers often conduct every step along the way, and any leader does not and cannot know every step of the journey. Coupled with human nature, command and control tactics inhibit productivity…

Leadership Management-Business

Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances

By Scott J. Pearson | October 31, 2024October 31, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Books on leadership continue to fill bookstores’ bookshelves. Most more or less peddle the same message: Exhibit these characteristics as a leader, and your team will perform great. The problem then becomes how to attain a leadership position. However, life and business usually don’t follow such a simple cause-and-effect pattern. A simple set of postulates cannot control team performance, as if it were a geometry problem. And individual leaders alone do not shape a team;…