31 Books Like Magnetic Nonsense

We loved this book because it gave us concrete ideas for how to approach—or “unblock”—difficult situations at work, while also entertaining us at the same time!

It has a great way of communicating the author’s advice with short fictional stories in the beginning of each chapter to highlight the specific challenge that the chapter can help you tackle with a set of methods. It gave us tangible and pragmatic advice in the space of strategy, steering, decision-making, ownership, teamwork, meetings, and change management.

I, AK, ended up reading the book from cover to cover because the topics resonated with situations at work, but I believe it’s helpful that each chapter can be read standalone, so I can go back in the future to address specific needs.

This book made me, Ivanna, rethink how I approach my colleagues.

The premise of the book is that you can choose whether you attempt to understand people’s motives or if you only view a situation from your own perspective.

When I was reading it, I was having a conflict with a colleague at work. It had been spiraling for months. I had lost the ability to assume good intentions from that colleague. After having read the book, it made me consider which intentions the person could have that may not have had anything to do with me.

This book got me unstuck.

The author’s enthusiasm and expertise shine through this book and make it an enjoyable read, especially if you are interested in learning as a capability in human beings and organizations like we are!

I, AK, think that she has managed to make a complex topic engaging, and I felt inspired by her practical ideas for how to nurture a learning mindset in an age of artificial intelligence and technological advancement.

I think it’s a well-researched book with many great examples from real life on the topic of building a sustainable learning environment and continuous improvement in both individuals and corporate settings.

This is not a traditional business book.

In this book, the author shows how aligning yourself with your needs and being able to express them leads to more effective communication. This is in the context of being a woman who has a very narrow acceptable definition of wants that we are allowed to have.

For me, Ivanna, reading this book opened up my eyes to the times when I have failed at negotiating. It helped me understand how to effectively communicate the needs that I have in a negotiation.

Dilbert makes me laugh, full stop. Its humor and satire on the absurdities of corporate life so frequently hit home that it’s impossible not to think of specific people when reading the comics. I can relate, and the witty commentary helps me come up with ideas of what to do differently or how to think about work in another way. And it’s a great way to look in the mirror and ask, “Is this about me?” 

Deming showed me how to think about organizational performance improvement. I was moving from a clinical psychologist in private practice to an organizational psychologist helping companies develop change strategies. I had studied and loved statistical variation in the context of scientific research, but not in the context of addressing real-world challenges. 

But Deming does something very surprising. He starts by understanding variation and then moves on to understanding organizational culture. Not the theoretical frameworks we all know, but the work world from the view of the front-line employee. Deming’s insight is that the central challenge of culture change is understanding the view of people closest to the work, the ones who perform operations.

They are not motivated by slogans and lofty ideas but by producing great products and services. Taking pride in the work they are doing is central to performance; lost by management fads and enhanced by doing it… show more.

When I’m not writing or researching chess books, history books and biographies are about all I read these days. Not until college did I realize how amazing a well-written history book could be, telling a great story about how people actually lived in different times and cultures. After 9/11 I wanted to avoid the soundbites and actually understand the history of religious conflict. In my view a great history book must have amazing research and wonderful writing, as well as being fair and balanced, and this trilogy was one of the best I’ve ever read on all counts. It still blows my mind that an author can put together a compelling, accurate, day-to-day account of events that happened 1000 years ago. You have to read it to believe it.

Getting attention is the easy part. Keeping that attention requires using these magic phrases to ward off distractions.

Through sound bites, word pictures, and great hooks, we can actually get prospects to listen to us, and internalize our message. With today’s micro-attention span, we need to up our game and capture our prospects’ minds. The word phrases to command attention are as easy as, “I have some good news and some bad news.” Instant attention to what we will say next.

First up is Julia Ann Lindsey’s Bonnie and Clyde series. The laughs, the hijinks, the relationships, and the solved murders. It’s all a recipe for me to be pulled right into this series and away from anything I’m actually supposed to be doing.

I love the setting, the charm, and the way that the author gives us such a view right into the living room of Bonnie and her cat Clyde, so I want to go see if she’s available for a quick dinner! After she finds the killer, of course.

A cynical and brilliant exposé of an apparent holy man who goes from tour guide to guru in a way that, although a work of fiction, reminds me of so many religious people I’ve come across who pretend to be something they’re not. It also has a big sense of humor and made me laugh out loud several times.

Published in 1959, it was very ahead of its time and is still the best spiritual fiction novel to come out of India.