10 Business Books That Have Influenced Me The Most

I was with my good friend in Charlotte recently.  We were discussing how to handle business problems in the Corporate World, in the context of living a balanced life.  During the course of the conversation, my friend took me to his office and handed me a valuable book.  As a follow-up to that we discussed books that have been valuable to us over the years.  I then expanded upon that list to reflect upon 10 books that have had the most impact on me within the setting of my professional life.

Hope you enjoy this list - and looking forward to a discussion and debate that a list of this sort will always engender.  (The list is not in order of importance, but more in terms of flow of skills).

1.  True Professionalism - The Courage to care about your people, your clients and your career.  By David Maister

A book that speaks to the heart of what professionalism means - with no hype, no distractions or flavor-of-the-month thoughts.

I had heard David Maister at a recent consulting conference and was quite struck by his focus on people and 'execution of strategies' as being the core of successful companies.

This book is pithy without being trite and if you have been in corporate life for a while, you can directly relate to what the author is referring to. There are many suggestions in this book that are insightful, practical and feel right on the money to a practitioner.


2.  Mind of The Strategist - Kinichi Ohmae

I have a concentration in Strategy from Business School.  I worked for a Strategy Consulting firm.  I was the Head of Strategy for my Business Division at the organization I work for now.  That journey started when I first read this Kenichi Ohmae's classic work.  I wanted to be nothing else other than a Strategist.  There was a panache to being one and I wanted badly to be one.  I got the roadmap to being a strategist from this book.

But there was a trap I was walking into that my enthusiasm blinded me to.  I got good at it and my brand became, "He is a strategist," which by implication meant that I could not screw in a light bulb, much less get anything big actually done.


3.  Execution - Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

My reaction as I read this book ( a feeling I have not had since when I sat for my twelfth grade board examination): when I thought about implementing the ideas that Larry and Ram were talking about in their book, my stomach tightened into a knot.

The level of sustained focus, discipline, follow through, attention to detail they expect in execution is non-trivial to say the least.  Again, conceptually easy to grasp; but quite daunting if one thinks about putting them into real practice on a sustained basis throughout an organization.

And as you can tell, a great complement to Kenichi Ohmae;'s book.




4.  Flow - The Psychology of Optimal Experience.  By Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi

I was so thoroughly moved by this book that I wrote a poem on it.  On a whim, I sent it to the author wrote back to me saying that while he had received many letters and reviews, never a poem - and that he liked it a lot.

 Here is the poem:

FLOW

Rising to the occasion
Is praiseworthy indeed
Not for people’s celebration
But for fulfilling the deepest need

Maslow envisioned the pyramid
A way to self-actualize
And Mihaly was lucid
That actions rapture-ize

Living represents growth
Both physical and mental
Through a struggle to come forth
Like the moth out of its shell
 

Skinner may have understood men
Through shock therapy
But Mihaly’s insightful pen
Is about making you happy
 

Stretch and reach
To compel evolution
But the limit do not breach
And risk loss of motivation

Prozac maybe your pill of choice
Or the couch at your therapist
But Mihaly’s research provides
A guide to happiness, if you persist
 

When will meets challenge through action
With the bar raised at the right pace
Flow indeed will be the destination
The Karma Yogi’s state of grace

5.  Say It With Charts - Gene Zalasny

It is impossible to tell a story without pictures.  It takes a long time for the message to sink in.  But when it does, communication suddenly becomes easy.  But like everything else, visuals need to be applied in moderation.  I observe these days, that graphics have become a crutch rather than a supplement.  So let's beware.









6.  The Creative Habit - Twyla Tharp

We all have deep reservoirs of creativity.  We are engines that reverse entropy in this universe.  For any number of reasons except for a gifted few, these reservoirs remain tragically untapped.  Twyla Tharp's book is a way to systematically get at that reservoir.

(Might you suspect that this entire write-up of mine is owed to this author's encouragement?)





7.  Getting To Yes - Roger Fisher and William Ury

If you are not negotiating, you are not living.  I imagine that is perhaps an unreasonably dramatic statement.  But it does seem to me that everything from driving a car ('negotiating a turn') to the more obvious haggling for the price of a carpet at a Turkish Bazaar, life is all about negotiation.  There are some that I know actually relish the process of negotiation - indeed, for them the act of negotiation is more fun that the final transaction.  For me personally it was distasteful; until I read this book.

'Expand the pie,' is the one dictum I take into any conversation.  (Although the former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld perverted this into a bureaucratic rule, 'If you don't know how to solve a problem, make it bigger').

8.  Crucial Confrontations -  Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler

Paired with fear of neotiating is the fear of confronting a colleague, friend or family member on a critical matter (often for their own good).  If we close our eyes and quickly scan in our mind's eye various relationships - manager, team mate, colleague, neighbor, friend, family member - I would not be surprised if we came up with one or two critical example of conversations we have been avoiding.

Yet, avoiding these conversations, we know, only make matters worse.  And of course, most of these are non-trivial matters to us and to others.  The risk is ruined relationships, upsetting the apple cart or worse getting fired!

So what do we do?  This book by two Stanford University researchers, lays bare many myths about crucial confrontations and gives the tools and courage to face up to them.

Very good book!

 9.  Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.  By Stephen Covey

To be honest, this book was redundant for me.  Charlie Hobbs got to me first with his series of talks and book on 'Time Power.'  However I was staying with a friend one day and saw this book lying around.  So I gave it a quick read through.

Many of the concepts of life management and time management I had learned through Charlie Hobbs' lectures were consistent with what Covey was saying.  However, it needs to be acknowledged that Covey has the bigger name now and the better recognition.  So although Charlie Hobbs is the one who actually influenced me, I add Covey's work as my recommendation here.



10.  Complete Guide To Executive Manners.  By Letitia Baldridge

A personal story here with regard to this author.  Letitia Balridge (who was Social Secretary and Chief of Staff to Jackie Kennedy), came to our Business School to talk to us about Executive Manners.  I really enjoyed listening to her and visualizing the spirit of the famous First Lady hovering in the auditorium.

After the talk, there was a long line of students waiting to talk to her.  I was in the line too.  When I walked up to her my question was (and I kid you not), "should I keep my moustache or shave it?!"

After a delicate pause, this seasoned veteran who had potentially heard and seen everything replied, "I have two remarks for you.  First, a successful executive is one who is most comfortable in his or her skin.  So if a wearing a moustache makes you comfortable, do it.  My second remark is this; I am on boards of many corporations, and I have seldom come across anyone with a mousctache.'

The rest, as they say, is history!  :-)