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.

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.