For Your Bookshelf

Got some time to read? Here are a half-dozen new books intended to inform, inspire and maybe even boost your standing inside the organization.

The Forward-Focused Organization Author: Stephen C. Harper Publisher: AMACOM Books, New York Pages: 258 Cost: $19.56 Buy at Amazon.com

Harper, a management professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and president of a consulting firm, writes about the latest strategies to help companies be forward-looking. He offers ideas on fostering speed and agility, adapting the best entrepreneurial thinking, and cultivating strategic management by having leaders set a goal of where they want the company to be in a few years, then working back from that target date to determine how to get there. Make note of these two appendices: One Hundred Ways to Self-Destruct as a Leader, and One Hundred Ways to Drive Away Your Customers.

Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work Author: JohnPutzier Publisher: AMACOM Books, New York Pages: 224 Cost: $14.36 Buy at Amazon.com

If your IT troops are somewhat lethargic and findin g it a chore just to come to work every day, workplace performance strategist John Putzier has plenty of ideas for turning around their attitudes. For instance, he urges managers to think about giving business cards to everyone at the office. "You will be amazed at the pride people will feel and demonstrate when they have business cards," he writes. Or, "Let's Play Dress-Up," in which he suggests ways in which people can have fun with a dress code, such as dressing up in period costumes to commemorate the year the company was founded (So long as it's pre-disco.).

Managing Business Change for Dummies Authors: JBeth L. Evard and Craig A. Gipple Publisher: IDG Books Worldwide, New York Pages: 340 Cost: $15.39 Buy at Amazon.com

It's common for companies to change, and only human to resist it. But as a manager, you play a crucial role when the company is going through change. Evard, an organizational psychologist, and Gipple, a consultant in change management and quality, offer advice and questions to ask yourself when employees resist change, when they need information, and when change stresses them out.

Security Transformation: Digital Defense Strategies to Protect Your Company's Reputation & Market Share Authors: Mary Pat McCarthy and Stuart Campbell Publisher: McGraw-Hill, New York Pages: 204 Cost: $17.46 Buy at Amazon.com

The authors, both business strategists at Big Five consulting firm KPMG, look at the security threats that have emerged with the growth of e-business. They also guide readers through the components of what the authors believe constitutes a successful information security strategy, and alert executives to danger signs associated with looming security breaches. You'll also find helpful hints surrounding e-business, and questions to ask of yourself and your organization in the two appendices.