Small Giants is a great expose on a variety of companies, spanning several industries that represent a larger set of companies out there that, if they so desired, could grow quite large and focus on profitability as a big driver of that growth. However, these companies choose to stay “small” by many standards, focusing on excellence, customer experience, and employee satisfaction as key elements of their business models. I found it inspiring and a great contrast to much of the literature in the business world today about either startups that scaled up to multi-billion dollar companies or those companies that have survived for decades. This book is choc full of interviews, examinations, and explanations of the principles and practices at the heart of these organizations. Any entrepreneur, leader, manager, or employee seeking to expand their view of alternative organizations to work for would benefit from reading this book.
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Peter Thiel is more famously known for his part as a founder at PayPal as well as his work as a Venture Capitalist at Thiel Capital but this book is a great resource and insight into his thinking not only about business but history, political science, and his thoughts on the trajectory of history. This book is a collection lectures he gave at Standford on Startups, compiled by a student of his and then collaboratively edited into the final book. This book is probably in many of the Top 10 books for startups and entrepreneurs out there and for good reason. It’s choc full of macro, strategic thinking models as well as integration of fundamental aspects of nature like Power Laws and Network theory. Additionally, he brings into play societal level patterns and paradigms to help the reader understand what true change and earth shattering products, services, and business models really are. He has a straight forward style backed up with a thorough understanding of business, systems theory, economics, political science, and much more. I recommend this book for startups, entrepreneurs, innovators, strategists and more.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Dr. Cialdini does a great job in describing the fundamental components of our psychology and neurology that result in characteristics that influence how we’re persuaded to take action and change our behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs. His 6 Principles of Persuasion are: Reciprocity, Scarcity, Authority, Consistency, Liking, and Consensus. In each chapter on these principles, he relates research, real world examples, and his own personal experiences with being knowingly and unknowingly persuaded by these or a mixture of these tactics. I found this book VERY helpful in understanding my own psychology and susceptibility to persuasion but also what I can do to divert or at least be much more aware of when these principles are being used directly or through advertising on me. These are just fundamental human characteristics and not “bad” in and of themselves, it’s on bad when unethical or devious intents and outcomes are sought. I recommend this book for all leaders, managements, change agents, continuous improvement professionals and for those interested in psychology, cognitive biases, and marketing.
Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance
Competitive Advantage is another classic from the great Michael Porter. This book is more internal and organizational focused than Competitive Strategy and provides the reader a rigorous and well thought out method for understanding the core of your advantage as an organization. He gets down to the simple truths of competitive advantage in this work. In the age of endless business school, executive, and consulting jargon on whatever dressed up version of technology, methods or tools are claimed to be competitive advantage, Porter will dispel all the myths for you and provide you a clear and cogent understand of the structure of your organization and how it delivers value in a sustainable and effective way. I recommend this book for leaders, strategy analysts, organizational effectiveness consultants, and also continuous improvement professionals. It is actually a great accompaniment to the “Value Stream Mapping” approach that will expand on that method and tool set to an organization wide and financial model point of view.
Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
Tetlock and Gardner have created an endlessly entertaining but deeply practical work in Superforecasting. They each cover the fields of psychology, political science, and journalism and describe in detail the results of their analysis of historical research as well as applied experimentation to uncover what truly are the characteristics of people that can predict aspects of the future to a remarkable degree of accuracy, the timeframes predictions usually stay relevant, what makes for bad predictions, and what are the cognitive characteristics that defy common perspectives and use of so called “experts” in any given field. This book is a great read to understand our current time of endless “Talking Head Analysts” on cable television doling out political, financial, and other various forms of predictions but also as a useful guide in strategy planning, future forecasting, and risk management. I recommend this book for people generally interested in psychology and cognitive biases, but also to leaders, strategic planners, and innovators as well.
What Got You Here Won't Get You There
Marshall Goldsmith has done a great job in discussing the nature of success, professional development, and organizational dynamics of leadership development. In this classic, he describes 20 personality characteristics that become increasingly critical to overcome as one “climbs the ladder” of success in an organization beyond clear results and demonstrated skill sets in a particular subject matter or technical expertise. We all have heard about the “Peter Principle” where a common organizational dynamic is to promote people to the level of their incompetence and thus, negative impact on the organization and ultimately professional decline. This book will help you reflect on your own traits that may be in your way to better relationships and improved professional success but also help you view other professionals you work with through a systematic, researched, and easily understand model. I recommend this book for any professional but in particular any position requiring management and development of others, where relationships and interactions are keys to success, and for those interested in continuous self-improvement for a better personal and professional life.
The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter
The First 90 Days is a classic to me at this point. It’s rigorous, deep, and planned approach to transitions and getting up to speed is applicable in any new role or assignment you may get. It’s not just for Leadership, as is often thought, but rather for anyone that takes on new projects or roles regularly. It’s for those who want a systematic and proven approach to analyzing an organization, identifying key relationships to develop, what position the organization is in and how to identify early wins as well as long term strategic focus areas to both deliver quick, position results to an organization but also secure your position as essential to success. The central notion is that the “value extracting” period of a new position should be 90 days or less, with the following 90 days of “value adding” to be large in scale to achieve “break even” for the organization within 180 days. That’s 1/4 the average time for “ramping up” in an organization of 2 years. Talk about a serious way to achieve professional and organizational success if all personnel (leadership, managers, individual contributors) planned for and executed rapid transition and integration plans like Watkins showcases here. If it isn’t clear enough yet, The First 90 Days is for any reader excited, interested, and committed to quick development and transitions for adding immense value to their organization and themselves as well.
Getting Past No: Negotiating in Difficult Situations
Getting Past No is a book fit for any negotiator, manager, business owner, or change agent. It’s 1 in a 3 part series by William Ury focusing on the various dynamics of negotiation and common to mutually beneficial agreements. I found Ury’s method approachable, systematic, and complete for overcoming the “No” in a negotiation but not necessarily Getting to Yes which is the title of one of the other book in the series! The “no” dynamic as well as the various constraints, roadblocks, and mindsets have a fundamentally different dynamic than one already working towards an agreement. I felt this book was packed with good examples, thorough in its explanations of psychology, but with a methodology that, with practice, could be a useful tool in your toolbox.
Principles: Life and Work
Ray Dalio is the founder and long time CEO (now Co-Chairman) of his hedge fund Bridgewater. The first 3rd of the book describes his journey through writing and refining these principles over 30 years of operating his company. He had systematized and computerized the analysis and management of their financial portfolio and eventually, Ray figured out that he MUST systematize (and in some ways computerize!) the management system of Bridgewater. Principles is the public version of those principles. Ray does a splendid job in describing varying methods of using the book, reading the book, and integrating the methods into your work and life. It’s approachable to all readers, of all ages, of any discipline or career path. It’s clear, concise, organized, and very pragmatic. This book is now in my Top 10 books, for ANYTHING, and I’ll be sure to share these principles (and as he suggested, the ones modified to fit your personal and professional life) with my children. I recommend this book for essentially anyone in their personal and professional lives who want exposure to what principles are at a minimum but at the other end, for those who want a systematized practice for life and work.
On Strategy from Harvard Business Review's "10 Must Reads"
This compendium on Strategy from the Harvard Business Review is a classic, must read selection of their top articles on Strategy. Many of these authors have since gone on to publish books built from the core theses’ of their articles. Michael Porter’s “What is Strategy?” is a fundamental explanation of Strategy in a business industry setting, where the power is and where the profit is held. Each author lays out their framework for developing, understanding, analyzing, and implementing strategy in any organization, business, non-profit, or otherwise. If you want a clear and approachable primer to the fundamentals of strategic thinking, look no further than this classic as a launching point.