Our Inspiration
It is always nice to add perspective and get additional insights in order to either add confidence to your ideas, or be exposed to new ideas and learn new things. Talking to people, observing and studying patterns can do this – but reading books can be very inspiring too.
We have been inspired by many books! But it is a jungle out there, with plenty of useful and inspiring books, that are worth your while and often has impact on your life – but there are even more relatively useless, conformable books that repeat the obvious, describing the status quo in a new angle and try to lure people in the name of making money.
Inspiring people and books will never have a ’full solution’ or ’recipe’, because all people and situations are different, but they can normalise ideas you perhaps already had, but felt quite alone with. Their authors can also put words on thoughts and feelings you have had, but wasn’t entirely aware of.
And there are just these books that does the trick for you and your special situation, while others find them too basic, however, if they work for you and give you meaningfulness – who cares?
In the hope that more people will be inspired by what inspired us (because we really do think that these books and ideas are quite awesome), we would like to share a couple of ideas for books that might have the potential to enlighten and make an impact. As you will note, many of these books are Scandinavian of origin, adapted to the egalitarian societies and high level of trust between us in the north. That matters, of course.
Our favorite books
The first series of books acted like some kind of ‘Foundation Builder’, going into the basic values as a human being, and how taking care of people to the best of ones ability and focusing on people as the strongest asset in the business is the most important thing. It could sound like the most natural thing, but it is not. You see it in the way people are drowned in processes and procedures, to substitute the lack of trust in your people with micromanagement and control.
The second series of books are more into the details and perspectives of something that we had to learn, and had a somewhat more practical use.
Many of these are of course Sidsel’s reading and reflections, but everyone in the team has the possibility to write about their inspiration, if their heart flows over with a warm recommendation.
We will update our blog with our recommendations in the coming weeks and months.
The List in Chronological Order
#1
Rettidig Omsorg ('Caring Leadership’) by Jens Moberg
The first book that made an impact was the book by Jens Moberg, and his book acted to somewhat confirm that it was possible with a different approach to the quite extensively used management style where you have ‘power over your people’ and thereby get them to do what you ask. And the book also confirmed that it could actually be quite good for business to care extensively for your people.
#2
Primadonnaledelse by Helle Hedegaard Hein
The second book that has actually had a very significant impact on my life and how I want to work in the remaining part of my life is the book by Helle Hedegaard Hein called Primadonnaledelse. Translated, it means Leadership of Divas – as in e.g. the opera singers, or basically any person who loves what they do so much, that it forms a strong inner drive, a call. These are all highly specialised people and can be teachers, police, nurses, doctors, lawyers, scientists and all the others that are better ignited by inner motivation than outer motivated.
The study was based on observing the artists at the Royal Danish Opera for a number of years, and with a scientifically sound basis, she investigated what it actually is that ignites people. What is it that gives a kick – and can you really be happy in your work? And if you can, why not work towards being happy at work?
Her findings and definition of the different motivation profiles helped me to better understand what actually motivates me in my work, making a difference and together with other awesome scientists striving towards something bigger than ourselves. In reality, most people probably wants this in their lives. So why not try to make it happen?
Helle Hedegaard Hein is ambitious and questions the way we organise our work in our societies and challenges to be more conscious about how we, by better understanding our individual motivation profiles, could get more happy highly specialised people doing more meaningful work?
She is available for workshops and inspirational talks via this link:
And here is a case about her work in Norwegian
#3
UNBOSS by Lars Kolind and Jacob Bøtter
This one gets the warmest recommendation! And this is basically the foundation which ExploCrowd is built on.
Much of it is presented in this brief video with Lars Kolind:
You can read about the UNBOSS book, and how it has had a great significance for how we have built our company with regards to how we are building The Unlimited Organisation.
#4
Iværksætter // Entrepreneur: Building Your Business From Start to Success by Lars Tvede and Mads Faurholt
If there was one book that I (Sidsel) had wanted to have in my hand before starting out on the Entrepreneur journey, it would have been this book.
But it is good to have confirmed that ExploCrowd was done right from the beginning. Get it here via this link.
#5
Follow Me - Leading from the Front by Kim Kristiansen
“Love your employees”.
This is a quote from a gentlemen who has spent his life leading military operations and who now leads the Royal Danish Household as a Master of Ceremonies.
His main message is that it is easy as a leader to say “Follow Me” when times are good. But it is during challenging times that it becomes really apparent if people will follow you as a leader.
Do you dare to lead from the front and say “Follow me” and see if your people will follow you?
#6
Dreams & Details by Jim Hagemann Snabe and Mikael Trolle.
If you want to fasttrack your organisation to become a motivated and powerful force, ready to adapt to the future changes - look no further.
These gentlemen know their work, based on years and years of experience, where they have proven results with this approach.
You can learn more here, hire them to help you through their Dreams & Details Academy.
Watch this video with half of the team, Jim Hagemann Snabe, for a quick introduction
#7
Start With Why by Simon Sinek
If you haven’t already read this book, you just have to.
Time has come for an improved understanding of what is driving us, and it is time to introduce not ‘softer values’ but Human Values, as Simon Sinek puts it.
Purpose is especially important for younger generations, so there is no excuse: you need to understand the Why, How and What.