Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People [Rilegato]

I received this book, Shine, as a new years gift from a friend who, like myself, also happens to be a business executive. With it he included a brief explanation of the wealth of innovative, powerful and easy to use principles it contains.
I couldn't agree more.
In an entertaining and user-friendly format Hallowell teaches how to develop a more enjoyable and productive work environment for both yourself and those you manage.
I immediately began implementing a small portion of what I learned from this book about making positive connections and improving my communication style. I am pleasantly surprised to have found, in just a few weeks, how my connections with several of my direct reports are beginning to strengthen in a way that feels natural and comfortable to me. I NEVER would have thought to do this prior to reading Shine. There are other equally superb lessons in this book about how to empower others to work smarter and more efficiently; and providing simple to execute opportunities for employees to enjoy more positive experiences at work.
In summary, I give this book 5 stars not only because the ideas and lessons within it actually work, but also because it is an enjoyable read.
This book should be equally useful to executives, middle managers and everyone else who wants to help others or themselves "SHINE" more brightly in the workplace and in life.

I agree with Edward Hallowell: "Put simply, the best managers bring out the best from their people. This is true of football coaches, orchestra conductors, big-company executives, and small-business owners. They are like alchemists who turn lead into gold. Put more accurately, they find and mine the gold that resides in everyone."

Of course, that is also a worthy objective for managers: to find and mine the "gold" within themselves as well as within others...and then refine it. There is an additional dimension of engagement that should also be mentioned, suggested by the fact that parents raise future wives and mothers as well as daughters and future husbands and fathers as well as sons: In a role in which they do resemble alchemists, the best managers help those entrusted to their care to become effective managers.

Hallowell suggests a five-step process "to ignite peak performance." He devotes a separate chapter to each step: (1) Select high potentials and align their strengths with the work for which they are best suited, (2) establish and then continue to strengthen connections with those who are managed as well as between and among them, and meanwhile (3) ensure that the work environment is one that stimulates and nourishes "imaginative engagement" (i.e. play); (4) create conditions in which people are encouraged to "grapple and grow" by taking prudent risks that are exciting learning opportunities, and (5) do anything and everything possible to help people "shine" with pride in what they have achieved, joy in having done it with pleasure, and confidence that that this "Cycle of Excellence" will be self-perpetuating.

With rigor and eloquence, Hallowell carefully reviews and discusses the latest research on brain science to get the best from one's self and others; however, he focuses most of his attention on explaining HOW to do that. For example, he suggests 11 "simple, concrete steps...to get the sand out of the gears of the Cycle of Excellence and to promote the feeling of connectedness that lubricates the gears so well" (Pages 105-107), then he offers ten practical suggestions to encourage "the deep and exciting state I call by the deceptively simple term `play." (Pages 127-132); next, on Pages 152-156, Hallowell identifies ten steps to take to help employees "grapple with the demands of the job and achieve consistent progress"; and my final example, on Pages 172-173, ten steps for promoting shine among associates.

Checklists such as these will help facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of important material later, as will the "Key Ideas" section that Hallowell provides at the conclusion of each chapter. I commend him on this brilliant book, a shining achievement that will, I am certain, help his readers to produce countless others.

We all have talent in us and the will to improve. It's a matter of how you explore the factors that unleash our fullest potential and this is something that can be taught, and done, through a 5-step process leading to what the author calls "The Cycle of Excellence". Ned Hallowell takes us through the five steps, Select, Connect, Play, Grapple and Grow, and Shine to show how small, individual activities can make a significant change in people's lives, and improve performance.

This is a book full of "aha moments" and the reader is taken through real-world examples and punctual ideas that can be applied instantly, to make sure employees and teams are doing what they love, feel connected to others, use their creativeness to explore new things, have new challenges everyday, and are being recognized constantly for improvements, milestones and a job well done.

A very recommended book I would locate right next to Liz Wiseman's excellent read Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter as an additional resource for managing talent and getting the best out of everyone.