Recommended Reading

From Publishers Weekly
Best-selling author Gladwell (The Tipping Point) has a dazzling ability to find commonality in disparate fields of study. As he displays again in this entertaining and illuminating look at how we make snap judgments—about people's intentions, the authenticity of a work of art, even military strategy—he can parse for general readers the intricacies of fascinating but little-known fields like professional food tasting (why does Coke taste different from Pepsi?). Gladwell's conclusion, after studying how people make instant decisions in a wide range of fields from psychology to police work, is that we can make better instant judgments by training our mind and senses to focus on the most relevant facts—and that less input (as long as it's the right input) is better than more. Perhaps the most stunning example he gives of this counterintuitive truth is the most expensive war game ever conducted by the Pentagon, in which a wily marine officer, playing "a rogue military commander" in the Persian Gulf and unencumbered by hierarchy, bureaucracy and too much technology, humiliated American forces whose chiefs were bogged down in matrixes, systems for decision making and information overload. But if one sets aside Gladwell's dazzle, some questions and apparent inconsistencies emerge. If doctors are given an algorithm, or formula, in which only four facts are needed to determine if a patient is having a heart attack, is that really educating the doctor's decision-making ability—or is it taking the decision out of the doctor's hands altogether and handing it over to the algorithm? Still, each case study is satisfying, and Gladwell imparts his own evident pleasure in delving into a wide range of fields and seeking an underlying truth.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come. --Harry C. Edwards

From Booklist
This is an afternoon read, pure and simple. And chances are good that once readers accept Fox's hard-hitting yet commonsense approaches, they'll accept his sales process, which applies, by the way, to selling widgets, promoting intangible services, or selling yourself. Every one of the author's 50 two-page to four-page chapters contains just one nugget of information more than the preceding section, enough to keep the momentum and the attention. A sad story about the hazards of drinking coffee (it spilled--and the prospect was then distracted by a second crisis) is followed by a notice not to eat a major meal during a sales lunch, which is promptly followed by "no pen in the shirt pocket" advice. Fox's seemingly disparate hints and tips, in short, comprise a very logical and memorable way of rainmaking, and a short tome that will show anyone the how-tos.  Barbara Jacobs

Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules For Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients

From the back cover:
"With the whole world jumping on the discounting bandwagon, you have to go against the flow. You have to find a new direction toward luxury, for the masses, the classes, and everyone in between. What's remarkable about this strategy is it is doable for any company or retailer at any place in the economic or pricing spectrum. The luxury market is no longer something out there, cirucumscribed by income levels, personal wealth, or spending budgets."

Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses - As well as the Classes

Amazon Best of the Month, November 2008: Now that he's gotten us talking about the viral life of ideas and the power of gut reactions, Malcolm Gladwell poses a more provocative question in Outliers: why do some people succeed, living remarkably productive and impactful lives, while so many more never reach their potential? Challenging our cherished belief of the "self-made man," he makes the democratic assertion that superstars don't arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: "they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot." Examining the lives of outliers from Mozart to Bill Gates, he builds a convincing case for how successful people rise on a tide of advantages, "some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky."

Outliers can be enjoyed for its bits of trivia, like why most pro hockey players were born in January, how many hours of practice it takes to master a skill, why the descendents of Jewish immigrant garment workers became the most powerful lawyers in New York, how a pilots' culture impacts their crash record, how a centuries-old culture of rice farming helps Asian kids master math. But there's more to it than that. Throughout all of these examples--and in more that delve into the social benefits of lighter skin color, and the reasons for school achievement gaps--Gladwell invites conversations about the complex ways privilege manifests in our culture. He leaves us pondering the gifts of our own history, and how the world could benefit if more of our kids were granted the opportunities to fulfill their remarkable potential. --Mari Malcolm

Outliers: The Story of Success

Powerful phrases for effective communication in every management situation

The latest addition to the bestselling Perfect Phrases series, Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors is an indispensable tool for novice to mid-level managers and frontline supervisors. Corporate communications guru Meryl Runion coaches readers in the six fundamentals of effective delivery, including "Be Short, Specific, Targeted," and "Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say, and Don't Be Mean When You Say It." And she arms them with:

• Hundreds of perfect phrases for every phase of management, from supervising operations, to performance reviews, to communicating the company's mission
  
• Expert advice on effective communication, with tips on what to say and what not to say, establishing the right tone, establishing authority, and more
  
• Phrases for hundreds of specific tasks, including delegating, giving feedback, empowering employees, handling emotional employees, disciplining, and terminating
  
  Perfect Phrases for Managers and Supervisors: Hundreds of Ready-to-Use Phrases for Any Management Situation

From Publishers Weekly
A refreshingly sensitive and sensible guide to motivating employees, this new volume by Stack and Burlingham (The Great Game of Business) is a standout in its crowded genre. Stack is the president and CEO of SRC Holdings Corporation, an employee-owned supplier of renovated engines to auto companies and a celebrated business success story. In 1983, when it looked like SRC's parent company, International Harvester, might shut down its southwestern Missouri "remanufacturing" plant, Stack and 12 other employees bought the place and fashioned a system of employee ownership that turned SRC into a corporation of 22 companies with more than $100 million in sales. Using the experiences of SRC as well as other companies with "ownership cultures" as examples, Stack and Burlingham, an editor at Inc. magazine, give the lowdown on how to keep employees energized, creative and acting like true owners of their company (beyond offering stock options). Their strategy, which is especially resonant after the Enron debacle, hinges largely on opening up the books to all employees and keeping the staff posted on financial matters. Also fascinating is the authors' idea of spinning workers off into an entirely new company as a way of stirring up new ideas from entrenched employees. This is an invigorating and surprisingly helpful text for those who want a humane but profitable way to manage their company.

A Stake in the Outcome: Building a Culture of Ownership for the Long-Term Success of Your Business

You're either a Purple Cow or you're not. You're either remarkable or invisible. Make your choice.

What do Starbucks and JetBlue and KrispyKreme and Apple and DutchBoy and Kensington and Zespri and Hard Candy have that you don't? How do they continue to confound critics and achieve spectacular growth, leaving behind former tried-and true brands to gasp their last?

Face it, the checklist of tired 'P's marketers have used for decades to get their product noticed -Pricing, Promotion, Publicity, to name a few-aren't working anymore. There's an exceptionally important 'P' that has to be added to the list. It's Purple Cow.

Cows, after you've seen one, or two, or ten, are boring. A Purple Cow, though...now that would be something. Purple Cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Every day, consumers come face to face with a lot of boring stuff-a lot of brown cows-but you can bet they won't forget a Purple Cow. And it's not a marketing function that you can slap on to your product or service. Purple Cow is inherent. It's built right in, or it's not there. Period.

In Purple Cow, Seth Godin urges you to put a Purple Cow into everything you build, and everything you do, to create something truly noticeable. It's a manifesto for marketers who want to help create products that are worth marketing in the first place.

Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable--Includes new bonus chapter

Review
"What can a book written in the 1920s tell modern investors about their finances? A whole lot if it's George Clason's delightful set of parables that explain the basics of money. This is a great gift for a graduate or anyone who seems baffled by the world of finance and a wonderful, refreshing read for even the most experienced investor."
-Los Angeles Times

The Richest Man in Babylon

This is one of Al Cleinman’s personal favorites. He says it’s the best book on marketing that he’s ever read.

Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing

Everyone who works with people is realizing that the old autocratic method of leadership simply doesn't work. The way to win is to build a great team.

John C. Maxwell has been teaching the benefits of leadership and team building for years. Now he tackles the importance of teamwork head on, writing about teamwork being necessary for every kind of leader, and showing how team building can improve every area of your life.

Written in the style of the bestseller The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, this new book not only contains laws that you can count on when it comes to getting people to work together, but it tells them in such a way that you can start applying them to your own life today. And it's illustrated with great stories of team leaders--and team breakers--from history, business, the church, and sports.

The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork: Embrace Them and Empower Your Team

Michael E. Gerber is a truly revolutionary business thinker. His unique E-Myth insights have helped transform hundreds of thousands of small businesses around the world.

According to Gerber, The E-Myth is the myth of the entrepreneur. Most businesses fail to fulfill their potential because business owners are not entrepreneurs (as most people think them to be) but "technicians suffering from an entrepreneurial seizure." After all, says Gerber, most Physicians are the quintessential technicians -- they build practices by doing the work of the business...by seeing patients! As a result, most Physicians don't own a true business, but a job -- the all-consuming daily routine Gerber refers to as "doing it, doing it, doing it." Sound familiar?

With The E-Myth Physician, Michael Gerber focuses on the business of being a Physician, rather than the work of it. He reveals a radical mind-set that will free Physicians from the tyranny of the unprofitable, unproductive, perpetual routine -- juggling patients, hiring, firing, doing everything that needs to get done. Drawing on thirty years of experience working with small business owners, including many Physicians, Gerber provides revolutionary, practical, and enlightening insights on how to produce the best real-world results in the practice, in a Physician's life.

The E-Myth Physician explores critical topics such as money, people, management, patients, and growth. It teaches you how to:
·         Implement the ingenious turn-key operation, a means of creating a Franchise Prototype that embodies your unique set of talents and that produces consistent, predictable results each and every time without your having to do everything yourself
·         Recognize, understand, and manage the four factors of money -- income, profit, flow, and equity
·         Nurture the power of change to transform your practice while enabling it to grow exponentially -- without your having to be there all the time

Anecdotal and always profound, The E-Myth Physician also provides insights on a broader level. It leads Physicians to become business visionaries by relinquishing tactical work and embracing strategic work -- working on their practices instead of just in them. Gerber's revolutionary ideas empower Physicians to build successful practices and successful lives.

The E-Myth Physician: Why Most Medical Practices Don't Work and What to Do About It

An instant classic, this revised and updated edition of the phenomenal bestseller dispels the myths about starting your own business. Small business consultant and author Michael E. Gerber, with sharp insight gained from years of experience, points out how common assumptions, expectations, and even technical expertise can get in the way of running a successful business.

Gerber walks you through the steps in the life of a business -- from entrepreneurial infancy through adolescent growing pains to the mature entrepreneurial perspective: the guiding light of all businesses that succeed -- and shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether or not it is a franchise. Most importantly, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business.

The E-Myth Revisited will help you grow your business in a productive, assured way.

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It

From Publishers Weekly
In this intriguing, readable business novel, which illustrates state-of-the-art economic theory, Alex Rogo is a UniCo plant manager whose factory and marriage are failing. To revitalize the plant, he follows piecemeal advice from an elusive former college professor who teaches, for example, that reduction in the efficiency of some plant operations may make the entire operation more productive. Alex's attempts to find the path to profitability and to engage his employees in the struggle involve the reader; and thankfully the authors' economic models, including a game with match sticks and bowls, are easy to understand. Although some characters are as anonymous as the goods manufactured in the factory, others ring true. In addition, the tender story of Alex and his wife's separation and reconciliation makes a touching contrast to the rest of the book. Recommended for anyone with an interest in the state of the American economy.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

In the early 1980s, Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation (SRC) in Springfield, Missouri, was a near bankrupt division of International Harvester. That's when a green young manager, Jack Stack, took over and turned it around. He didn't know how to "manage" a company, but he did know about the principal, of athletic competition and democracy: keeping score, having fun, playing fair, providing choice, and having a voice. With these principals he created his own style of management -- open-book management. The key is to let everyone in on financial decisions. At SRC, everyone learns how to read a P&L -- even those without a high school education know how much the toilet paper they use cuts into profits. SRC people have a piece of the action and a vote in company matters. Imagine having a vote on your bonus and on what businesses the company should be in. SRC restored the dignity of economic freedom to its people. Stack's "open-book management" is the key -- a system which, as he describes it here, is literally a game, and one so simple anyone can use it. As part of the Currency paperback line, the book includes a "User's Guide" -- an introduction and discussion guide created for the paperback by the author -- to help readers make practical use of the book's ideas. Jack Stack is the president and CEO of the Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation, in Springfield, Missouri. The recipient of the 1993 Business Enterprise Trust Award, Jack speaks throughout the country on The Great Game Of Business and Open Book Management.

The Great Game of Business

The Fastest, Easiest Way to Write a Business Plan! The One Page Business Plan Book 3rd Edition now includes the Entreprenuers ToolKit CD-ROM with Interactive Templates, Budget Worksheets, Sales Calculators, Sales Budgeting Tool, Scorecards, and additional Bonus Tools.

The One Page Business Plan for the Creative Entrepreneur

From Publishers Weekly
Short on pages but long on repetition, this newest book by Godin (Purple Cow) argues that lasting and substantive change can be best effected by a tribe: a group of people connected to each other, to a leader and to an idea. Smart innovators find or assemble a movement of similarly minded individuals and get the tribe excited by a new product, service or message, often via the Internet (consider, for example, the popularity of the Obama campaign, Facebook or Twitter). Tribes, Godin says, can be within or outside a corporation, and almost everyone can be a leader; most are kept from realizing their potential by fear of criticism and fear of being wrong. The book's helpful nuggets are buried beneath esoteric case studies and multiple reiterations: we can be leaders if we want, tribes are the way of the future and change is good. On that last note, the advice found in this book should be used with caution. Change isn't made by asking permission, Godin says. Change is made by asking forgiveness, later. That may be true, but in this economy and in certain corporations, it may also be a good way to lose a job. (Oct.)

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us