What are Pinnacol employees reading?

Thanks to one of our new employees, Karla, who is one of our Training Specialists, Pinnacol has a very active book club open to all employees. Employees are encouraged to not only read the book, but to also take part in the discussions, and write a short review that is posted on our internal WIKI internet. The books generate some lively discussions!

The Club recently finished reading The Google Story by David Vise, Mark Malseed, and Stephen Hoye. Our employees rated it 4 out of five stars and felt the book did a very good job of detailing the transformation of a start-up company into the world's leading search engine provider. As Sarah, an Underwriter on one of our large teams, observed: 

"Google's sole purpose was to create the best search engine that they could, without even giving monetary gain a second thought. Their focus was on quality ~ and when the superior product was created, they then ventured into how to make the product profitable. All too often in business, individuals sacrifice qualify in order to make money, and therefore fail in the end. The fact that Larry and Sergey (the founders of Google) never once sacrificed the quality of their product speaks volumes and shows true integrity ~ something we value deeply here at Pinnacol."

Prior to reading The Google Story, the Pinnacol Book Club had tackled Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright. If you haven't read the book, it talks about the "Five Tribal Stages" and incorporates data from a ten-year study of nearly 24,000 people in more than two dozen corporations, with insights from such leading and diverse figures as Brian France, CEO of NASCAR, Reed Hoffman, Chairman of LinkedIn, Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, and Mike Eruzione, captain of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. Wendy, an Underwriter on one of our Associations teams shared her thoughts this way:"Although I knew that I was reading a business book intended for the enlightenment of interested employees (and by extension the betterment of Pinnacol), my focus was rarely there. Most of my time was spent wondering where I was in the processes or stages described by the book. What am I doing to help myself and others upgrade? How do my specific behaviors contribute or undermine? Where is my team? And, at times, "did I really just do that?" (Stage one and two behaviors are not pretty.)"

"Tribal Leadership offered a reality check for me. It was less about a finding magic pill that can transform Pinnacol into the best company ever and more about discovering where am I at in this business. Do I like it? Am I willing to settle? How can I make myself and my working situation better? The originality of the ideas and the quality of the writing can be debated. But the book did make me think. It made me think while I was reading it and long after I finished it. It made me question and consider possibilities that I did not before. A valuable book indeed."

Pinnacol prides itself on being a continual learning organization, and Karla's great idea for a company book club fits right in!