New Management Theories Going Round in Company Reading Circles

Publishing executive Charles Decker figures that 1,600 business books hit the shelves each year, not to mention myriad self-published books from the so-called vanity press. That’s too much theory for overworked managers to absorb.

“Trying to make sense of all the noise in business publishing is difficult,” said Decker, who on Monday tackles his new job as president of Berrett-Koehler Communications, a nascent unit of Berrett-Koehler Publishers of San Francisco.

To help get a handle on all this management thinking, Berrett-Koehler and nearly two dozen other publishers last year founded the Consortium for Business Literacy. The group encourages companies to set up reading groups, with the idea of getting colleagues on the same page, as it were, so that they can put worthwhile cutting edge practices to work.

“In today’s turbulent work world, we are confronted with a constant blur of new information and new ideas,” reads a consortium brochure. “Surviving in this competitive world means keeping up with new ideas about the organizations in which we work and about the way work gets done.”

Among other suggestions, the consortium advises that groups be limited to 10 to 12 participants and that meetings be held no more than once a month. Given hectic schedules and unanticipated conflicts, chances are that six to eight members would be able to attend any given session, an ideal number for a spirited, in-depth conversation.

Leading the “business literacy” charge is Decker, who for the last three years directed the Executive Program Book Club, a 4-decade-old business-book-of-the-month club with 75,000 members. Even before the consortium was formed, Decker began offering 15 free copies of a current business book to any organization launching a new reading group. So far the club has given away 600 books but has sold more than 12,000 in follow-on orders.

“People are feeling so isolated, alienated and disenfranchised,” he said. “I wanted to do something more akin to building a community. The books became the connection.”

Dozens of reading groups now exist throughout corporate America. High on their reading lists are: “A Simpler Way,” by Margaret J. Wheatley; “Rewiring the Corporate Brain,” by Danah Zohar; “Emotional Intelligence,” by Daniel P. Goleman; “On Becoming a Leader,” by Warren G. Bennis (of USC’s Marshall School of Business); “The Loyalty Effect,” by Frederick F. Reichheld; “Healing the Wounds,” by David M. Noer; “Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership,” by Joseph Jaworski; “Get Everyone in Your Boat Rowing in the Same Direction,” by Bob Boylan; and “Managers as Mentors,” by Chip R. Bell.

To be sure, much of what is churned out by business publishers scarcely warrants skimming, let alone poring over. Oakland consultant Maria Hernandez, who has set up reading groups for clients in waste management and other industries, views part of her task as filtering out the drivel. When the material is worthwhile, however, a reading group can quickly put people on common ground.

Mega-bookstores, which have a lot to gain from the trend, are getting into the act. Rex Fraser, a retired businessman who is now community relations coordinator for Barnes & Noble in Walnut Creek, Calif., draws 40 customers for business-book discussions. The store promotes its reading group in a newsletter and hosts visiting authors.

One author-consultant who has benefited mightily from the push is Martin Rutte, a co-compiler of the best-selling “Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work.” Platitudinous in the extreme, this collection of two- and three-page stories from workers, managers, performers and others has struck a chord.

As a consultant, Rutte now commands as much as five figures per appearance from such clients as Southern California Edison, GTE Directories, Southwest Airlines and Sony Music--simply for reading stories aloud to groups of employees.

“The power is in the storytelling,” Rutte said. “It is much more powerful than lecturing.”

These simple stories “allow the door to open,” Rutte said. He finds that, after hearing a few of these stories, even cynical employees open up to relate personal tales of the workplace. Especially popular with audiences is the story of how Sea World whale trainers get Shamu to jump 22 feet into the air and perform tricks: They over-celebrate the whale’s successes and under-criticize its shortcomings.

Doran Dibble started a “Chicken Soup” reading group at SCG Partners, the software consulting firm where he works in Nashua, N.H. Given the rational “left-brain addicts” peopling the company, Dibble expected a tough sell. But all 20 employees signed up for a book, and the group has since moved on to read a number of other selections.

Discussions often center on what the employees can learn from the books to help them serve clients better. They also have discovered quite a lot about one another, and that has enhanced camaraderie.

“At least one layer of our masks was off,” Dibble said. “It’s one hour a week to look forward to amid the stress and deadlines.”

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Does your company have an innovative career-development program for employees? Tell us about it. Write to Martha Groves, Corporate Currents, Los Angeles Times Business News, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053. Or e-mail martha.groves@latimes.com.