The Exuberant Accountant - Scott Heintzelman

These three books are the foundation of our management philosophy at McKonly & Asbury.  I believe once you get the basics from these three books, you can then start applying them.  The concept of "first who, then what" in Good to Great - as well as the culture of discipline - fit well into the strengths-based approach found in the Gallup Books.  Helping people focus on what they do best is so critical to this approach.  It then becomes the formula for training and development.  I see so many companies try to get a one size fits all approach to staffing.  You cannot do this.  Different people will approach a particular task differently.  One approach may not be better than another, it is just that people will play to their strengths.  Someone with a Strategic strength will spend more time thinking through the process while someone with the Activator strength will jump right in and start a process.  I think the key as a manager is to work with people's strengths and help them to manage around blind spots.