Best Books for Revisioning Work by Alan Heeks

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.  ISBN 978-0684858395.  This book combines a lot of clear, practical thinking with strong human values.  It should make your work more pleasurable as well as more effective.  You can get a summary of the book and other resources at www.stephencovey.com.

The Natural Advantage: Renewing Yourself by Alan Heeks.  ISBN 1-8578826-1-X.  This uses the principles and practices of organic growth to show how people and organisations can combine achieving results with fulfilment and a way of working that is renewing, not depleting.  You can see a summary of the key ideas at www.thenaturaladvantage.com.

The Age of Unreason by Charles Handy.  ISBN 0-09-975740-0.  Charles Handy is one of the most perceptive writers about the world of work, and its relationship to human needs: including the search for meaning, and to the immense changes coming from technology and economic pressures.  This book introduces the portfolio concept briefly described in Chapter 4, along with other ideas about changing organisation structures, Boiled Frog syndrome and more.  Several of Handy’s other books have useful insights about work: for example, The Empty Raincoat  ISBN 0-09-178022-5 has a whole section on the new issues of what he calls the Third Age, which is the life stage of maturing men.

What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles.  ISBN 978-1580082709.  This is sub-titled A Practical Manual for Job Hunters and Career Changes, and it delivers just that.  You will find a lot of free information and guidance on his website, www.jobhuntersbible.com.

Taken from from Alan Heek’s forthcoming book