Recommended Reads

Title: In Great Company: How to Spark Peak Performance By Creating an Emotionally Connected Workplace

Author: Louis Carter

No. of pages: 238

Call No.: HD58.7 Car

Louis Carter is the Chief Executive Coach, Founder & CEO of the Best Practice Institute. In his latest book, Carter identifies five ideals that are essential for leaders to foster an emotionally connected workplace, which are: leading with respect, setting people up to succeed, listening and learning, and changing yourself first. The book is peppered with helpful diagrams that highlight and break down the concepts applied in each chapter. Carter also utilises a mix of anecdotes and case studies to illustrate how these ideals work in practice. At the back of the book, there are also self-assessment questions that leaders can use to evaluate themselves and their organisation's practices. A handy tool to understand how leaders who create emotional connected workplaces can increase engagement and drive change.

Title: Smile : How Young Charlie Chaplin Taught the World to Laugh (and Cry)

Author: Gary Golio

Call No.: PN2287.C5 Gol

What background did Charlie Chaplin have? It was an eye-opener to find out how incredibly poor his family was – an absentee father resulting in Charlie Chaplin, his older brother and mother all ending up in the poorhouse. Yet, in spite of the grim circumstances, resilient Charlie Chaplin found a way out, and took to the stage like a duck to water. Golio's lyrical text combined with a page full of facts at the end makes this an engrossing read for upper primary school children.

Title: The Char Kway Teow Legacy : How an Enduring Friendship Turned into a Forever Gift

Author: Tan Hsuan Heng

No. of pages: 139 pages

Call No.: DS610.3 Tan

How did three philanthropists meet? Ong Tiong Tat, a young and successful stock trader, introduced himself to an elderly widower, CJ Koh, eating char kway teow alone at a hawker stall. A friendship was struck up, and Ong Tiong Tat moved in to care for CJ Koh when he was later bedridden through a stroke. Ong Tiong Tat would come to marry Irene Tan Liang Kheng, a banking executive who visited regularly as she had responsibility for both men’s shares.

All three believed passionately in giving. Readers will find this a moving account of the lasting legacies they have left behind.

Note: The author Tan Hsuan Heng is the nephew of Irene Tan Liang Kheng and the executor of his late aunt’s estate.