Top Four Must-Read Books for Successful IT Leaders

Here are two books that have really made an impact on my thinking and approach to work lately (plus two books of mine to explore). Check these out and if you're looking for holiday gifts for the geeks in your life, consider these outstanding works by authors who may be new to you.

Digital Transformation - Strategy, Execution, and Technology by Siu Loon Hoe

"Digital transformation is a multidimensional concept and involves many moving parts. Successful digital transformation requires a fresh approach to harnessing people, processes, technology and data to develop new business models and digital ecosystems. One main barrier could be an overemphasis on applying technology to expand the business rather than transforming the people's mindsets to do things differently." [1]

This books provide an overall view on the strategy, execution and technology for organizations to digitally transform their businesses.

Well-organized, well-written and to-the-point, this is the kind of book you actually do read end-to-end.

Siu Lon Hoe is an associate professor of information systems and director of Master of IT in Business (Digital Transformation) program in the School of Computing and Information Systems at Singapore Management University.

Designing for Health - The Human-Centered Approach by Craig Joseph, MD and Jerome Pagani, PhD

Craig Joseph, MD and Jerome Pagani, PhD have teamed up to write an incredibly timely and actionable book about fixing what's broken in healthcare today.

"To make real progress toward the quadruple aim of enhancing patient experience, improving population health, reducing costs, and bettering the work life of healthcare providers, we must rigorously apply the principles of usability and human-centered design to all aspects of our work. By making it easy to do the right thing, by being transparent and predictable, by adopting a continuous improvement mindset, and by getting rid of stupid stuff, we can meaningfully improve patient care, decrease clinician burnout, and minimize wasteful spending." [2]

If you want an engaging, enjoyable read about a difficult topic, you can't find a better choice. Give this book to anyone you know who works in healthcare!

And of course, I have to plug two of my books as well - buy all four of these for a great set of books that will make your 2024 more productive, less stressful, and more successful!

Renovating Healthcare IT - Building the Foundation for Digital Transformation by Susan T. Snedaker

"Healthcare IT is under tremendous pressure in today's environment: Budgets are shrinking; staff are in short supply; cloud, mobile and data are driving expansion and innovation. Consumer expectations are high while agility and speed to market for many HIT organizations is low...This book walks the reader through the process of determining what type of IT function they have today and what they'll need tomorrow. It discusses how to assess and analyze IT capabilities and then develop and implement a plan to renovate in place. By retooling now, the IT function can successfully meet the growing demands of the organization in the future. When approached in a planful manner, this process of renovating can energize the entire organization and help foster innovation and transformation along the way."

Leading Healthcare IT - Managing to Succeed by Susan T. Snedaker

"If genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple, then Susan Snedaker needs to be commended for boiling the complexities of healthcare information technology down to brilliant simplicity...Susan provides a well thought through and laid out roadmap to navigate through the many facets of healthcare leadership and delivery. She outlines the specific new skills needed for healthcare IT leaders, and shows there is a method to the madness of melding together care delivery and information technology. Leading Healthcare IT: Managing to Success should be a staple for anyone looking to navigate the current and ever evolving intricacies of the healthcare IT landscape."

-Rasu Shrestha, MD, MBA

This book delivers clear, concise, actionable guidance for managing, building, and improving your leadership skills to create stronger teams and organizations.