1 | "It's Your Ship" by Michael Abrashoff.
Abrashoff ran a surface ship and took it from the worst-graded ship in the Navy to the best in less than two years. How did he do that? He couldn’t consult a manual; there wasn’t one for taking a poorly performing ship and turning into a well-oiled machine.

Abrashoff adopted the mindset, "It's your ship," and he engaged with just about every sailor on his boat. He asked them for their ideas for improvement. And with that “sailor-first” attitude, he was able to re-engineer the culture of the entire ship. The transformed culture translated into action, which allowed Mike and his crew to improve every ship function.

2 | "Unique Ability" by Catherine Nomura, Julia Waller and Shannon Waller.
Based on the concept by Dan Sullivan, this book tackles the question, "What is unique ability?" It is something that you're excellent at, you love to do, you keep getting better and better at doing, and you never tire of. The more you can focus on your unique ability and have other people in your company focusing on their own unique abilities, the better off your organization will be in terms of productivity and morale. There's a very simple prescription in Dan's book for ascertaining your own unique ability. You simply ask for the views of other people who are, after all, more objective about you than you are about yourself.

3 | "Time Really is Money" by Rob Slee.
This book will transform how you think about the tasks you do at work. Slee discusses the difference between activities that he calls, $50, $500 and $5,000 per hour activities. He goes so far as to feature people who now concentrate on $5 million an hour activities! He notes you can't jump from $50 work to $50,000—you've got to ascend the stairs one at a time. This book could be good for anyone in your organization because it will cause them to think about their day-to-day activities in a way that is directly relatable to productivity.

4 & 5 | "Who" by Geoff Smart and "The Ideal Team Player" by Patrick Lencioni.
These should be read as a pair. If you read them and do nothing beyond exactly what they tell you, you will likely transform your hiring process. Many contractors are not that great at getting the talent they truly want and deserve. Read these two books, follow their prescriptions strictly, and you'll improve your talent acquisition practices.

6 | "Leadership Is an Art" by Max Dupree.
This was one of the first books to describe the concept of servant leadership in business. Dupree describes servant leadership as "abandoning oneself to the strengths of others." So many construction leaders think they must roll up their sleeves, put their hands on everything, pull all the levers, and turn all the screws in their businesses. If you abandon yourself to the talents of others, not only will they be happier, but you likely will also.

7 | "The Culture of Success" by Steven J. Anderson.
This is the best book on company culture that I’ve ever read. What is company culture? Why is it important? If you create a great culture, then what happens? Anderson defines culture beautifully and simply: “It's how we treat each other on our shared journey.” Great contractors focus on their company cultures infinitely more than they did just a decade ago. This book will go far in helping you and your team get culture right.

About the Author

Wayne Rivers
Co-Founder/President, Performance Construction Advisors
Wayne Rivers is the president of Performance Construction Advisors.

PCA's mission is to build better contractors!
Wayne can be reached at 877-326-2493, [email protected], or on the web at performanceconstructionadvisors.com.