Competing for Talent: Key Recruitment Strategies for Becoming an Employer of Choice By Nancy Ahlrichs
2000, Davies-Black Publishing
This is a good book that comprehensively examines the processes of recruiting, hiring, and retaining top talent. The specific examples in the last chapters are good tools for any organization to adapt.
Winning the Technology Talent War: A Manager’s Guide
to Recruiting and Retaining Tech Workers in a Dot-Com World By Mary Ellen Brantley and Chris Coleman
2001, McGraw Hill
Though the demands for technology employees is not nearly what it once was the
predictions are that that the demands for technology employees will rise again
in the near future and stay high. This is an excellent book on finding the right
fit in a world where technology workers are often hard to pin down. The authors
discuss how to read a resume to find the “gold” you need in your workplace, they
give a quick and effective description behavioral interviewing and how to apply
it in an interview, and how to advertise your technology needs in a way that
will appeal to your target new hires. Age Power: How the 21st Century Will Be Rules By The New Old By Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D.
1999, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam www.agewave.com
A look at how the US’s population will age and the impacts it will have on the way the nation functions in about every aspect. The Baby Boomers will continue to dominate the way the nation functions but the question Dychtwald poses is are the Baby Boomers ready for their own aging and what will they do about it? How will medicine, employment, the financial markets, etc. be impacted? An interesting study on the way demographics will impact our nation’s
future and suggestions on how we might need to prepare. Cycles: How We Will Live, Work, and Buy By Maddy Dychtwald
2003, The Free Press www.agewave.com
Maddy Dychtwald, Ken Dychtwald’s wife (See Age Power, above), focuses on the
implications of longer lives on marketing products and services. As the title
suggests, life as we know it may no longer be a linear path between birth and
death but a cyclical process of re-learning, re-doing, and re-creating ourselves.
Age will become less of a factor in the choices we make. Genxers After God: Helping A Generation Pursue Jesus By Todd Hahn & David Verhaagen
1998, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan
The authors identify early on what has become obvious to many observers of Generation
X – their thirst for spirituality but an aversion to formalized religion. Hahn and Verhaagen discuss how to connect with Generation X, help the generation develop their spirituality, and how to “disciple” to
them. The Appendix includes tools and ideas for clergy interested in exploring
their ideas. Maslow on Management By Abraham H. Maslow
1998, John Wiley & Sons
This is an in-depth look at the motivation of people in the workplace. Though
best know for his work in psychology, Maslow tackles workplace issues such as
what are the primary ingredients for motivating people, what is necessary for
the creation of teams, why do employees get unmotivated and “slack” (his term),
and explores the relationships between customers and salespeople. The books is
a very educational and interesting read but getting through it is a tough slog,
for sure. High Flyers: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders By Morgan W. McCall, Jr.
1998, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA www.hbsp.harvard.edu
Morgan McCall takes a good hard look at what it takes to develop and create an
organization’s leaders by taking them from their current positions of leadership
and preparing them for the next level. He encourages readers to determine the
skills these future leaders will need and how the current leadership must create
the appropriate opportunities for them to learn these skills. The book includes
self-tests and other assessments to evaluate progress. Generation X: The Young Adult Market By Susan Mitchell
1997, New Strategist Publications, Inc., Ithaca, NY
Need a statistical analysis of Generation X? This is your source. Lots and
lots of numbers. Examples: College Enrollment, Birth Ages by Mother in 1995,
Healthy Eating Habits in 1994, Income Distribution of Men by Race and Hispanic
Origin in 1995. This book must be good for someone doing something but I can’t
fathom who doing what.Free Agent Nation: How America’s New Independent Workers
are Transforming the Way We Live By Daniel H. Pink
2001, Warner Books, Inc. www.freeagentnation.com
Predicting the end of the “Organization man” and the introduction of the “Dis-Organization man,” Daniel Pink puts forth a persuasive argument that the nature of today’s workplace has evolved so much that we’ve seen the end of the Post World War II workplace. The “Dis-Organization man” is searching for workplaces that offer fulfillment, flexibility, and an enjoyable environment, to name a few. And though Pink doesn’t mention the generations much in his work, there is a definite synchronicity between Pink’s arguments and Generation X and the New Millennial’s
workplace demands. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community By Robert D. Putnam
2000, Touchstone, New York, NY www.bowlingalone.com
This book offers remarkable insight into the disintegration of social structures in the US. One of the major reasons? Generational change. Putnam thoroughly devours all the information available to document how the change has occurred and uses past (the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era) to predict what may happen in the future. The Ambitious Generation: America’s Teenagers – Motivated
but Directionless By Barbara Schneider & David Stevenson
1999, Yale University Press
The authors studied 7000 teens (the New Millennials) to gather their information.
Their conclusions are that while this generation has huge aspirations for themselves
they need their parents and teacher’s (role model type of people) help and guidance to help them become self sufficient and to achieve their goals. (Information most parents of teens know already.) Part III, called Defining Pathways, gives good guidance for helping these “Motivated but Directionless” teenagers
along. Rules & Tools for Leaders: A Down-to-Earth Guide to
Effective Managing By Perry M. Smith
1998, Avery Publishing Group, Garden City Park, NY
This is a remarkably simple guide for leadership from a former Air Force general.
Smith writes from experience and includes personal stories to illustrate his
points. His military background and training provide the format for the book
as exemplified by a sampling of the chapter titles: Chapter 6 – Decentralizing and Getting Feedback; Chapter 8 – Scheduling Your Time; Chapter 9 – Reaching Outward and Upward, etc. The Appendices are full of “Checklists for busy leaders” and
are all quite informative. 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? By William Strauss and Neil Howe
1993, Vintage Books
In 1993, when this book was published, the 13th Generation, a.k.a. Generation
X was just getting attention as a unique group. The word “slacker” was still the most descriptive term for this group. A notoriously negative and pessimistic generation, this book outlines how and why they got this way. The attitudes of Generation X have changed substantially since this book’s
publication but the book provides good insight into their formation. The Fourth Turning: What the Cycles of History Tell
Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny By William Strauss and Neil Howe
1997, Broadway Books
This is an excellent look at our nation’s future using the repetition of the
generations as the foundation for their study. They combine history with the
influence of current events to create a prediction of what we can expect. Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to
2069 By William Strauss and Neil Howe
1991, Willam Morrow and Company, Inc. www.lifecourse.com
Strauss and Howe identify the generational cycle in this groundbreaking book
and identify commonly known members of each of generational types – Idealist,
Reactive, Civic, and Adaptive. They explain why the cycle re-occurs and predict
the future of the United States based on what each of the generational types
have contributed in the history of the US. This is one of the pivotal books in
the study of generations. Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation By William Strauss and Neil Howe
2000, Vintage Books www.millennialsrising.com
The authors explore who I refer to as the New Millennials. Strauss and Howe
are largely flattering of this generation. Their study is of the generation as
a whole, they don’t get in to the studies of this generation in the workplace.
And with a publishing date of 2000, the book was written prior to the New Millennials
entrance into the post-collegiate workplace, so the absence of this information
makes sense. The only consistent criticism of Strauss and Howe is that they favor
this generation too much and have a difficult time being non-partial since they
both have children in this generation. Generations Apart: Xers vs. Boomers vs. The Elderly By Richard D. Thau and Jay S. Heflin
1997, Prometheus Books
It is a collection of essays from various experts analyzing everything from generational conflict to a historical perspective on the ways generations have viewed each other throughout history. Public policy and the impending generational shift of so many Boomers in retirement and its impact on social security get a thorough review in this book. The People Principle: A Revolutionary Redefinition of Leadership By Ron Willingham
1997, St Martin’s Press, New York www.integritysystems.com
The book provides a superb look at what motivates people and how to get more from them. Each chapter offers a self-test for personal analysis. Though not generationally focused, this book provides excellent guidance for learning about people and how to work with people of different personalities. Rewards That Drive High Performance: Success Stories from Leading Organizations By Thomas B. Wilson
1999, AMACOM, New York, NY
Though written in the heady days of 1999, Thomas Wilson takes the best practices
from many of the nation’s most successful and recognizable companies and explains the pay practices that these companies have instituted and how these new practices have impacted employee performance. He studies the company’s goals for the compensation plan – enhanced
teamwork, talent retention, creativity, entrepreneurial drive, etc., - and explains
how the compensation plan was created to support and enhance the goals. Generations At Work: Managing the Clash of Veterans, Boomers, Xers, and Nexters in Your Workplace By Ron Zemke, Claire Raines, Bob Filipczak
2000, AMACOM, New York, NY
This is a good book. It gives superb background information on all the generations – how they became who they are and how their value systems evolved to where they are today. The case studies are good looks at typical workplace scenarios. The “Advice-o-Plenty” has some good ideas, too. If you’re
considering buying more books on generational issues make this one of them. Generation 2K: What Parents & Others Need to Know About
the Millennials By Wendy Murray Zoba
1999, InterVarsity Press
The author is an associate editor at Christianity Today and while the title doesn’t suggest it, this is a book about bringing teens to church. The analysis of the effects of the Boomer’s cultural revolution on Generation X and the Millennials is plausible, especially the impact of television. And this book, like many others, describes the Millennial’s
desire for a spiritual life but an aversion to formal religions.
