I thought I would start out 2012 by finishing off a “TO DO” from 2011. It’s been on my list for a while now so I was glad to finally take the time over the holiday season to think about which ones were my top 12.
I have been asked numerous times to recommend a good business book for people to read and quite frankly there are so many good ones it is hard to recommend just one. I saw one list that recommended 100 books. Read all those books and you would have a mini MBA.
My dad instilled my love of reading when I was a child, although I didn’t know it at the time, his method was simple. Every night after we had finished washing and drying the dishes he made us sit down on the couch and read a book for 30 minutes. At the time I thought it was torture, so did my brother and sisters. I remember him saying “all human knowledge is contained in books”. My memory is hazy that far back but it seemed he made us do this for years and rightfully I was turned off reading for years. Then one Halloween night, just after I finished high school, as I was dishing out candy, I picked up a book called “Black Like Me”. I floored both my parents as I sat there and read the book cover to cover in one night but I couldn’t put it down. I caught a glimpse of another man’s world that I hadn’t even contemplated before. It changed my perspective on life.
A good book should do that, make you think and possibly change your world view. This is the criteria for my list.
This list is in no particular order and is derived only of books that I have personally read.
1. Seeds of Greatness by Denis Waitley
One of the first books I read that really motivated me. Waitley uses his Grandmother’s wisdom about the “truths” in life to make his points. The one that stuck with me at the time was “things don’t matter as much as your attitude toward them.”
2. How to Win Friends and Influence Others by Dale Carnegie
The first time I read this book I didn’t get it. I think I have read it three times and now I get it. Probably the first self-help book ever published. A classic still today and should be on everyone’s must read list. Common sense that’s not that common. If you haven’t read it, put it on your TO DO list for 2012.
3. Swim with the Sharks by Harvey Mackay
I learned a lot from this book when I first read it. It taught me about selling, competitive business and business relationships. He just release a new book called “The Mackay MBA” which I hope to read this year as well.
4. Good to Great/Built to Last by Jim Collins
5. Primal Leadership: Realising the Power of Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
6. Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder
7. Credibility by Jams Kouzes and Barry Posner
I feel credibility is one of the keys to a successful life in both business and personal realms. The book deals with what credibility is, how you gain it and how many lose it. Based on the research over several years.
8. Execution/Confronting Reality by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
Execution is “the missing link between aspirations and results”. It’s not sexy like strategy, leadership development, etc. but it is where the rubber hits the road and most should concentrate there efforts here. A poor plan executed properly is better the a good plan executed poorly!
Confronting Reality is a reality-based process for thinking about the specifics of your business in a holistic way. It ties together financial targets, external realities and internal activities.
9. Fifth Disciple by Peter Senge
10. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell
11. The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
12. Presence by Peter Senge, C. Otto Sharmer, Joesph Jaworski, Betty Sue Flowers
The “Theory of U”. This book is polarizing. Some like it some don’t. Some feel the authors are self absorbed. The books posits the changes that society has to make to be to be sustainable. I did find myself rereading parts to understand the points being made but considering the book was written 2005 I found the ideas innovative for the time.
Well there you go, I said 12 but gave you 14 books that are all excellent. I would like to give special mention to two books that follow on Peter Senge’s book Presence. Both I have read in the last few months and were spurred on by IMG’s recent B-Corp certification. They are Sustainable Excellence and Impact Investing and talk about the changes needed in the metrics we use to evaluate business value in a sustainable model, quite interesting.
And my Dad, well he takes all the credit of a solid upbringing and the fact he got us to love reading all those years ago. Thanks Dad…
