At Habanero, we have a couple “forever books” that have helped shape us and are known across our organization. We reference them regularly and encourage all Habs to give them a read. Although individual Habs have their own books that they love, we have a core few reading essentials that are important to us as a whole and influential to the kind of company we strive to be.
In this post, we’ll dive into some of the key books that are important to us at Habanero and how they’ve influenced us.
Drive by Daniel Pink
About the book
Drive approaches the business world with a social science lens. Daniel Pink weaves the concept of self-motivation throughout the book, digging into what really drives humans. He explains that a business is built to create value, and when employees receive that value, it’s very self-motivating for them. When they don’t receive that value, it’s demotivating. For example, compensation is a dealbreaker. If you don’t properly compensate people for their work, they won’t move past it. It’s a form of positive feedback and appreciation that signals to employees they’re doing good work.
This self-motivation also drives autonomy within an organization. When people have autonomy, they know their responsibilities and how to fulfill them effectively. There’s no need for close supervision as trusting your employees empowers them to go off and do great work on their own.
Drive considers B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning theory, also known as carrots or sticks: the notion of providing rewards for positive behaviour and punishment for negative behaviour. Daniel Pink disputes this theory, encouraging leaders to step away from this traditional motivation approach. He posits that people are instead motivated by the trifecta of autonomy, mastery and purpose.
At Habanero
Habs are familiar with the concepts of autonomy, mastery and purpose in their own experience of work:
- Autonomy – Habanero’s lattice structure and the career coaching model that supports it were intentional organizational design choices that we made to help Habs develop their own strengths to work autonomously in the service of clients and each other. We believe that the most engaged and motivated employees aren’t things to be managed, but people who can be empowered to contribute to a common purpose.
- Mastery – Our coaching system nurtures employees’ mastery by giving them a structure in which to design their own career and learning journey along with supports for their professional development or even career transitions within Habanero.
- Purpose – Our organizational purpose, which is to help people and organizations thrive, guides everything we do.
First, Break all the Rules by Marcus Buckingham
About the book
A senior researcher at The Gallup Organization, Marcus Buckingham, was very influential to the strengths-based movement. This book presents the findings of Gallup’s massive global study into what makes great managers. What they discovered wasn’t a set of specific traits; instead, good managers are the ones who recognize that everyone has different strengths and they deliberately set people up in positions that allow them to utilize those strengths.
This Gallup study was the origin story for StrengthsFinder (rebranded to CliftonStrengths), an assessment that helps users discover their natural strengths, so they can lean into them and become more engaged, productive, happier and healthier at work. The test is a self-reflection tool that can be useful as an input for personal and professional development. Buckingham explains that the people who are truly successful in the world are the ones who lean into their strengths. We’re more productive when we focus on our strengths, and while we should clean up weaknesses if they get in the way of other people, it’s important to line employees up in work that lets them truly shine.
StrengthsFinder by Tom Rath is another book we love, written to accompany the competency test.
At Habanero
Habanero is a strengths-based organization. We recognize that everyone is on a different journey, and they bring their own unique strengths to the table. We want our people to do tasks that fire them up, match their strengths, and expand their engagement and personal satisfaction with what they’re doing.
As part of our onboarding process, each Hab completes the CliftonStrengths assessment, which helps them lean into how they want to evolve their careers. We also have employee journey coaches, who ensure our people have successful and fulfilling careers at Habanero. Coaches are peers who have a passion for helping people thrive. They provide advocacy, guidance and mentorship, although each coaching relationship is unique and based on each Hab’s needs.
Gallup’s Q12 Employee Engagement survey addresses the twelve employee needs, which are key indicators of engagement. We have variations of Q12 in our employee engagement survey at Habanero. Some of the survey items include:
- How satisfied are you with your company as a place to work?
- I know what’s expected of me at work.
- I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
- I have a best friend at work.
The questions and statements on Gallup’s Q12 survey feel familiar to Habanero and allow us to listen and dig into how employees are truly doing.
Getting Naked by Patrick Lencioni
About the book
Patrick Lencioni is the pioneer of the organizational health movement. Getting Naked: A business fable about shedding the three fears that sabotage client loyalty explores building trust, loyalty and overall healthy organizations. It’s a short book that advises readers to consult with vulnerability and be completely transparent in order to develop deeper relationships.
At Habanero
We strive to create deeper, more meaningful relationships with our clients, and the best way to do that is by being honest and vulnerable.
The concepts in this book are reflected in one of our strategy pillars, which we call Elevated. This is about how we show up inside our client organizations; we want our clients to really appreciate the true value and impact that we're creating. We're not just rolling out the piece of technology or creating a change; we’re helping that organization to be more agile or innovative or more productive at a bigger level. Altogether, we’re trying to elevate our impact in the relationships we have with the organizations we’re working with.
Good to Great by Jim C. Collins
About the book
This book explores the idea of what makes companies great, and how successful companies balance making money and their purpose. In Good to Great, Jim C. Collins presents the Hedgehog concept: a Venn diagram where each circle represents one of the following:
- What are you really good at.
- What you care about most in the world.
- What you can be profitable at.
The area where the three concepts overlap is the “hedgehog.” This is the sweet spot where great companies thrive: balancing their purpose, making money and leveraging strengths.
At Habanero
Purpose has a strong thread at Habanero, and the notions introduced in this book are part of the reason we love it so much. Helping other organizations find their organizational purpose and be successful is what allows us to achieve our own purpose.
Purpose can have a massive impact on an organization’s potential. Habanero’s philosophy has been shaped by our purpose: our passion for helping people and organizations thrive. For us, our purpose is one crucial circle in our hedgehog: what we are most passionate about.
The other circle, what we believe we can be best in the world at, is framed around our deep expertise and empathy-first approach.
Finally, the remaining circle, what drives our economic engine, is our focus on rich relationships and outcomes.
Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt
About the book
In this book, Richard Rumelt discusses the essential components of a good strategy, the importance of coherence in strategy, common pitfalls that create a bad strategy, and how power plays into strategy. Using historical and military examples, Good Strategy, Bad Strategy teaches that strategy is a specific and coherent response to, and approach for overcoming, the obstacles to progress.
At Habanero
This book was added to our reading list as a bonus for those who want to nerd out a little deeper. This isn’t the only book that has had an impact on how we think about strategy, but it offers one of the most compelling notions for how Habanero views this topic. A good strategy kernel should be a simple-to-understand set of choices that create leverage. It was an anchor as we created our strategy pillars, which we want all Habanero employees to understand and contribute to.
What are you reading?
These are just a few of the books that have helped shaped Habanero as an organization – who we are and how we aim to be. We’d love to hear what books have influenced your philosophy and way of doing things. What’s on your bookshelf (or Kindle)?
