Reading Room

Welcome to Predaptive's Reading Room, where you'll find a selection of the books, games and other interesting things we've reviewed recently - all connected, in someway, to organisational development.

If you'd like us to review a book or other organisational development resource please contact:


Claudine McClean
T: 01789 734300
E: claudinem@predaptive.com

What just happened?

It’s a reasonable question, the economy was zipping along nicely, the housing market was buoyant, interest rates were acceptable to everyone and exchange rates stayed within a fairly predictable range.  That world now seems like a long time ago.

In times of adversity the people who come through feeling confident and well prepared for a better future will be those who were able to demonstrate flexibility as well as determination and hard work.  The ability to spot opportunities and make the most of them whilst the external conditions are changing unpredictably will mark out those people and businesses which have the best chance of prospering... click here to find out more

Two years ago if people had been asked what they would be worried about globally at the beginning of 2009 it would more likely have been a bird flu pandemic than an international banking meltdown... click here to find out more

Agricola was a big hit in 2008, surprising perhaps for a game that places each player as a farming couple somewhere in Central Europe in the Middle Ages.  This may not seem relevant to your current organisational dilemmas but there’s plenty going on that can help people to think about how they best manage under tough circumstances... click here to find out more

Christmas has come early with a book to read and review, Malcolm Gladwell’s latest Outliers. This is his third book (after The Tipping Point and Blink) where again he does his unique mash up of Social Anthropology, Economics, Demographics and poking about with under analysed trends. Combined with his gift for telling a story this makes for another thought provoking few hours. click here to find out more

Tinners' Trail The game sees you as a mining entrepreneur looking to use your time and money to maximise your investment.  Unlike many other board games being the best miner won’t bring you victory, you have to end the game with the best long term investments... click here to find out more

Tara Seat Of Kings is an unusual abstract game where each player vies for power, attempting to become High King of Ireland by gaining control of two of the four provinces... click here to find out more

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is so well known that the names of the characters are regularly used as verbal shorthand for a certain personality style... click here to find out more

Business books come and go with favourites such as Drucker, Peters and Blanchard all having had a big following only to be replaced by some new author with a new approach for a modern age... click here to find out more

With Christmas fast approaching we find ourselves at crowded dinner tables talking and laughing with friends and family. Just as at work we have expectations of people in our social circles... click here to find out more

Douglas Coupland captured the spirit of an era with Generation X, a revealing portrait of slacker life in Canada. The lack of ambition and conformity was considered disturbing and reviewers worried about a lost generation... click here to find out more

Managing Performance forms part of the CIPD’s suite of guides to core human resources activity. As such it’s backed by academic research, and written from a United Kingdom perspective... click here to find out more

The United States Presidential election doesn't happen until November, but with the most interesting primary season for decades it looks set to be a fascinating battle... click here to find out more

A re-read this month of a modern leadership classic. The Leadership Pipeline looks at how successful companies work to create their own leaders from within the business. Yet as with many books which select successful businesses... click here to find out more

The Tour De France is on its way, and will be starting from London this year, bringing the colour and excitement of professional cycling to Britain. Lance Armstrong won’t win the race, he won’t be riding in it. Last year’s winner and others who would have been considered favourites for this years Tour won’t be riding either, so it could be an exciting race... click here to find out more

The Goal is a classic management text book, although it doesn’t really read that way. Written instead as a novel, almost a detective story, it takes you through management problems from the perspective of the people involved... click here to find out more

The long awaited reprint of Hannibal: Rome vs Carthage may look like a historical war game covering the Second Punic War, but plays as a fascinating battle for territory and resources.  As such it works well as a market share game... click here to find out more

At the start of the New Year people often take time to set themselves new objectives. People who have clear goals tend to be more successful, and those that write down their goals are proven to be more successful at achieving them than those who simply think them through... click here to find out more

Niall Murtagh grew up in Dublin, and led an interesting life away from home. He hitch-hiked across Europe, walked through South America and sailed the Atlantic in a home made contraption. Strange then that he should opt to settle down in one of the most buttoned down jobs available... click here to find out more

Current concerns about how to reduce carbon emissions, combined with worries about how to ensure that the Olympic park is ready for London 2012 without bringing the capital to a standstill have led to a renewed interest in Britain’s waterways... click here to find out more

Many books offering career or personal success advice exist, they’re a popular genre and a mainstay of the business bookshop world. The quality varies widely, and many of them seem to re-heat the advice of believing in yourself, setting goals, becoming single minded, not letting others knock your confidence and always be looking for new opportunities... click here to find out more

OK so Moondust isn’t an organisational development book, a human resources book, or even a business book, but not all the best ideas in business come from business writers. Andrew Smith has realised that there are very few people on earth who have stood on the moon and looked back on the home planet. With no missions planned and the astronauts ageing it won’t be long before this unique human experience is lost, possibly forever...
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Pillars of the Earth is a cathedral building game, based on the novel by Ken Follett.  With restricted resources, employees and choices, and the constant challenge from competitors with the same aims as you it’s an interesting mediaeval parallel to modern business... click here to find out more

Human Resources is often viewed as an necessary evil by organisations, a function that they need to have, but one which perhaps doesn’t always show its value and cannot, or will not, have its contribution measured...
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Plenty of emphasis is put on the bottom line, and rightly so, but the profit of a business is not necessarily a good indicator of its value or long term success prospects. Enron was, after all, a highly profitable trading business and we all know of businesses that have been profitable but failed because of cashflow issues...
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Taking a break from reading over the Easter weekend, a film about a Management Team Building break seemed a good choice... click here to find out more

The psychological contract that exists between employers and employees is changing faster than it has since the Industrial Revolution. Employers cannot and will not offer a job for life, and employees are increasingly understanding that this is a reality that they need to face up to... click here to find out more

Many people are still coming to terms with the fact that their career is their responsibility, and that the organisation they work for is not automatically going to provide them with a clear career path and all the education, qualifications and experience they’ll need to follow it... click here to find out more

The “HR as Business Partner” model requires a symbiotic relationship between HR and the line based on mutual respect and HR delivering tangible organisational benefit. HR Business Partners endeavour to better understand this model and create a framework for how HR Business Partners can make a difference...
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It’s cold out, so it’s a perfect time to sit home and play a game.  Shadows over Camelot pits the players against the game, meaning that to win, your fellow gamers need to win too...
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On Staffing focuses on how to get, induct, develop and retain great people. It’s a timely publication. Now that the skills shortage is starting to look like ‘the good old days’ and HR faces up to the fact that it is approaching a time of ‘body shortages’ regardless... click here to find out more

Mastering Change contains real life lessons from real business leaders. It doesn’t work as a manual, telling you how to identify the changes needed, nor how to implement or embed them. Instead it guides you through the learning gained... click here to find out more

Jacqui Harper is perhaps best known for her television presenting expertise, however, with this book she brings us plenty of new perspectives on how everyone can improve their presentations skills. This isn’t a ‘how to’ book with a step by step guide to... click here to find out more

Impro Learning takes an unusual approach to creating learning events. Paul Jackson draws on his experience as a journalist, radio producer and actor to pull together a training programme from getting through the door through design and development to... click here to find out more