These Books Are Just Interesting
The Heart Aroused : Poetry and the...
I had this book on a shelf for the last five years. For unknown
reasons,
I picked it up the other day and found I couldn't put it down. It's one of
the few books I've read recently that I wish I had written. David Whyte is a
poet turned consultant. His contemplation on soul at work, or soulful work
is wonderful (though in truth, it's light on the work part, but deep in
soulfulness).
Questioning the Millennium : A...
Probably the time to have read this was late 1999 while you were deep
in millennial or millennium angst (the proper spelling is two
n's
by the way). I read it just recently and it makes my list because it's a
charming and thoroughly engaging survey of a subject I otherwise had no
interest in: the mechanics behind our current calendar. You can read it just
to enjoy Gould's use of the English language, to stock up on useless tidbits
about why anyone cares about the thousand year metric in the first place, or
to get the real skinny on Dionysius Exiguus, the guy who came up with
the whole B.C., A.D. thing for Pope St. John I.
Out of Control : The New Biology of... I loved this book. The
world of the made meets the world of the
born.
Chapters flip back and forth between topics like how bees swarm and
distributed computing. This fits in the category of "brain breaker." If
you're looking for a hard hitting, "Who Moved My Cheese" kind of business
book, this isn't the one for you. This probably isn't the website for you
either for that matter. We deal with big words here and long sentences here
Closely related to words, words, words, are books, books, books. Everyone has their favorites. These are some that I like.
These Books Are About Decisions
One
Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev,... If
you have any interest in decision making, this is a book you should read. If
you were alive and aware in the early 60's, this is a book you really should
read. The
Cuban
Missile Crisis was arguably the hottest single point of the Cold War,
thirteen days that brought the US and USSR within a bad decision of total,
thermonuclear war. This book give you a terrific view into what went on with
both sides, based on unprecedented access to recently declassified US and
Soviet era records.
Thirteen
Days: A Memoir of the Cuban...
If you're going to read about the Cuban Missile Crisis, you should add this
book to the list. It's a short memoir by Bobby Kennedy, arguably President
Kennedy's
closest
and most important advisor. He was there for every bit of it. In some ways,
the best part are his reflections at the end about the dynamics that
supported what everyone came to regard as a superb decision process that led
to an excellent outcome.
How Good People Make Tough Choices:...
If you've read much of this site at all, you know my interest and concern
about ethics (see Our
Children Are Watching for example). Rushworth Kidder is a former
Senior
Editor
at The Christian Science Monitor and brings a penetrating sensibility and
wonderful voice to a subject most of us nod at but tend to shy away from.
Long before it became fashionable, Kidder identified ethics (through his
interviews of some of the giants of the last century) as one of the most
important dynamics of our era. A very fine book and worth your attention.
These Books Are About Journeys
The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Mythos...
If you've read my essay on
Try vs. Do, you know that I'm a huge
fan
of this book. This comes about as close to a must read as I can think of.
Your customers are on a journey. The question is, how relevant are your
organization and your offers to that journey? Same is true for your
employees? Read my essay, then buy the book, then call me.
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible...
And you think you have it tough. Bunch of guys head on down to the
Antarctic
to be the first to cross the frozen continent by dog sled. Ooops. Boat gets
frozen in and ultimately crushed by the ice. In a terrific tale of heroism
and grit, everyone of them makes it off the ice and ultimately to safety.
Easy read. Great story. The essence of the heroic journey. It will take you
most of a Saturday to read this.
Ship
of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea
This is a ripping good tale, a true pairing of two stories. The
first, of the sinking in a terrible hurricane of the steamship Central
America along with 50 tons of gold rush era gold. The second, of a young
engineer named Tommy Thompson who takes nothing for granted, questions
everything
about everything, and ultimate figures out what no one for any amount of
money including the US government with it's unlimited treasury could do
before him: do delicate, real work at extreme depths. Tommy not only finds
the wreck, but salvages the gold. It reads like fiction. It's a pot boiler
from the first page to the last. If you like a good tale, if you like
innovation and a never say never attitude, read this book.
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation This
is a book that many people have heard about, but unless you
were
an English Lit major, went to private school in the US, or had a proper
English education (as in the kind they serve up in the home isles), your
probably never read it. Pity. It's the fountainhead of Anglo Saxon heroic
literature. One of the leading lights on the book was a fellow named Tolkien,
and indeed, the Ring trilogy and Star Wars, to name two, owe much of their
architecture to Beo. For us moderns, it is a terrific metaphor for our own
journey, personal, corporate or otherwise. Read this version.
Way of the Peaceful Warrior, 20th...
It's probably not too much to say that this book is a classic. It's a
novelized autobiography about a college gymnast and his encounter with a
mystic service station attendant he takes to calling Socrates. The emphasis
is very much on living in the now. It's sold
about
a jillion copies. You should add it to your collection. "Release your
struggle, let go of your mind, throw away your concerns, and relax into the
world. No need to resist life; just do your best. Open your eyes and see
that you are far more than you imagine. You are the world, you are the
universe; you are yourself and everyone else, too! It’s all the marvelous
Play of God. Wake up, regain your humor. Don’t worry, you are already free."
These Books Are About Business
Punished By Rewards: The Trouble with...
Alfie Kohn is in my mind a genius. A controversial genius. His
stunning rebuke of B.F. Skinner, and the legions of behaviorists that
followed him lays waste to stupid
theories
like "catch someone doing something right" or any other line of thinking
that has as its root rewards or punishment. It's a lazy way to think,
manage, market, or bring up children. Worse, neither rewards nor punishment
ultimately work . . . unless you count malicious compliance as an acceptable
outcome. Like I said, he's controversial. I've read this book three times.
A New Brand World: Eight Principles for...
Scott Bedbury
was the head
of corporate advertising at Nike during the glory years that began with the
breakthrough “Just Do It.”
As
if that wasn’t enough, he then went on to be the Chief Marketing Officer at
Starbucks as that company went from something that a lot of folks on the
west coast knew about to one of the most recognized brands in the world. So
his point of view probably counts. If you have any interest at all in
branding--branding the way it's really done--this is well worth the read.
The Fifth Discipline : The Art and...
This is the touchstone for anyone interested in organizational
learning
and systems thinking. It's sold about a bajillion copies, which is a lot,
and is either testimony to really great marketing or to a deeper truth that
we need to focus far, far less on events and spend much more time
understanding that systems that comprise our organizations. Small changes
yield big results if we just know which ones, when, and how.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make...
I've referenced this book several times on this site. Jim Collins' first
book, "Built to Last" has become something of a classic. "Good to Great"
represents a huge investment in time and effort to arrive at
what
I think are some pretty elemental truths: great comes from disciplined
people, disciplined thinking, and disciplined action. Take comfort in the
fact that Truth is truth. If you want research backed justification for
common sense, you need to read this book. Maybe you should read it anyway.
The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of...
This is the anthem of what I call Customer 6.0, the hyper-informed,
leave me alone, lookey what I found, I want it when I want it customer we're
all trying to figure out how to deal
with.
I love the Manifesto and the first essay in the book. I can't honestly say I
got past it, and I'm really struggling to make sense out of his book Gonzo
Marketing, but I still think this is worth the read. If you want to
half-step it, just go to
www.cluetrain.com.
Influence : The Psychology of Persuasion
Everyone needs to read this book. It's probably the most
accessible
thing you'll ever read on how you're influenced and why. For those
interested in group dynamics, tribal behaviors, and culture building, the
discussion of pluralistic ignorance and the Jonestown Massacre--the ultimate
exercise in drinking the Kool-Aid, is worth the price of admission.
The Hero and the Outlaw: Building...
There's a theme
here.
Jung was the first to talk coherently, at least in the west, about the
collective unconscious and archetypes. These memories and images resonate
for all people through all times. IMHO the authors have used the concept
brilliantly to explore brands and branding.
Hypercompetition: Managing the Dynamics... Like all good
consultants and pundits, D'Aveni begins with a rousing shot across the bow
of his colleagues, mostly
Porter
and his notion of sustainable competitive advantage. The short version is
that it's a charming but obsolete notion. Markets relentlessly race to a
state of perfect competition--meaning complete visibility and no profits.
The winners are the firms that are built for speed and structurally and
genetically wired to disrupt. My copy is old (1994) and dog eared and very
much applicable to these post dot.com times.
Managing Corporate Lifecycles
I was staring at my bookshelf the other day and decided to pick this
one up. The copyright says 1988 and I think I first read it in
1988.
Some of it feels complicated but his core premise is right one. Companies
like people go through lifecycles. Healthy growth is a function of taking
care of the problems/issues of your current stage so you can move on to the
more complex issues of the next. Toxicity and pathology come from carrying
around the problems from other stages. What works for you today won't work
tomorrow.
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Kevin Hoffberg
Last modified:
05/03/06