Business Books

I've been in emergency services for over thirty years, and got my first dose of crisis communications training from Steven Fink's "Crisis Management". Judy Hoffman's book, however, concentrates almost exclusively on crisis communications, a topic which often gets short shrift in other crisis books. This superbly-written volume is a gem. Her "Ten C's of Effective Communications" alone are worth the price of the book. Even if you're not a CEO, Mayor, Governor, or even President, you can benefit from this book. If nothing else, when little Bobby smacks a line drive through the neighbor's plate glass window, this book could save your butt. If you ARE a senior executive, you need this book more than any other, bar none.

I enjoyed reading this book a great deal. It vaidated much of what I had already learned and pointed me to new and useful techniques,ideas and resources. Not only MUST communications professionals read this book, I think it is a valuable tool for anyone who wants to understand the dynamic world of media and news reporting

I wish I read this book sooner. Working in PR puts me in front of the media all too often and I wish that I had had this book when I first started. It could have saved me some grief. But I've read this book now and also Michael Levine's Guerrilla PR Wired so that I now know everything to make me a success.

Judy Hoffman provides excellent, step by step tips on how to handle a crisis with the media. Managers of every stripe should read this book NOW, before the next disaster strikes.

Judy Hoffman's book is a great tool for PR Directors and Public Affairs Directors at colleges and universities to use to prepare or update their Crisis Communications Plans. Her book is easy to read with great tips, including her "10 C's of Good Crisis Communications." I can't imagine a better resource to utilize than this book. If I am ever faced with a tragedy on our campus, I would first turn to my Crisis Communications Plan and then re-read this book.

This book tells you everything it takes to become a great CEO! Every single aspiring executive on the planet should be reading this book!! It was easy to understand, straight forward, and incredibly motivating. Read this book and you will achieve the position- simply fantastic!

Thanks Mike!

This is a great book for any business owner because it focuses on what you have to do for your company to succeed. These are the same things you need to focus on if you want to become the CEO of a large company, so whether you are trying to build your own company, get the job of running a large company or even trying to keep the top job at your company, I would recommend this book. It's full of real world help, unlike books that seem to try to take a single concept (like who moved my cheese) and fluff it into a book. The last chapter alone is more than worth buying the book for.

I have read over 100 business books and this is among the top 5.

Everyone in senior management should read this book. The book is a powerful analysis of what it takes to become and stay a CEO in today's environment. I was impressed with Mike's challenge of conventional wisdom. He was able to get me to think about current accepted best practices in the right context. I also liked how the insightful quotes from established historical leaders set the tone for each section. Although the book is a fast read, it should be kept as a reference guide and referred to quarterly. While some of the practical advice is common knowledge, the reminders to keep improving are right on target.

There are many books about how to manage a company and nearly all contain excellent advice on how to do things right. This one is near the top of the list where the measuring device is the right-meter. Unfortunately, as the continuing reports of the disparity of corporate salaries versus worker salaries demonstrate, many CEOs have no interest in what Myatt has to say. Furthermore, the stories about CXX malfeasance continue to surface, there was a report on the news a few days ago that the American FBI is investigating whether the current home mortgage crisis was created by corporate greed.
As Myatt so aptly points out, effective leadership is about making your organization successful in the context of your community. A good leader looks beyond the immediate horizon of personal improvement and sets the table for continued growth of the company in the future. Some of the advice is:

*) Never be so full of yourself that you fail to listen to the people who know more than you do.
*) Never, ever believe that you are an infallible oracle of perfect knowledge.
*) Treat your workers as people who care about their job and not as cogs that can be used up and replaced.
*) Always, always, always be on the lookout for top talent, even to the point of hiring a future replacement. After all, even CEO's suffer from the affliction of mortality.
*) Never, ever create an atmosphere where your workers are afraid to raise issues with you. If you want yes people around you, your path to failure has largely been laid down.
*) You must always be prepared to take measured and intelligent risks, the modern world is changing very quickly and you must either adapt or mold away into oblivion. And mold grows very fast in the business world.

Myatt is a highly paid CEO coach with a track record of success. If more CEO's were to listen to and take his advice, the American and world economy would be in much better shape. Every person who either holds or aspires to any C-level position should read this book.

I have been a small business owner for years. This excellent book has helped me to focus in on my job at hand while learning to delegate effectively. The book is very informative in a way that is easy to understand. It would be a great gift for anyone from small business owners to someone in big business. This read is highly motivational, as well.

Well written, with really interesting vignettes of Eleanor's life. I found this to be one of the most (personally) motivational books I've read in a long time. It's a story of overcoming the odds, and bucking the social norms of her day, to voice her passion for particular social issues. I also appreciated the tie-in to current leadership theory and thinking...with great examples of her approach to people and problems.

This is the only nonfiction book I've ever read and completed voluntarily. In fact it is the only "self-help" book...which I think it fits in that category...that I have read past the first chapter. It is extremely compellingly written. I don't know whether it's the subject matter, or Dr. Gerber's style, but I started the book on an airplane, and was unable to put it down. It is for sure the only nonfiction book I have ever read that made me cry. Dr. Gerber makes points about leadership..what makes good leaders, the special role that women have in nuturing families, and how that is completely unrecognized in our society as having any value in preparring women for professional positions...how the simple concept of having passion for the cause you are leading is essential for effective leadership.....she makes these points in a deceptively casual conversational manner where you don't feel like she's teaching you, but in the end you realize you have learned a great deal...about life, about leading, and about yourself. Where I cried was where she said you have to be authentic in what you are leading.....meaning (I think) that you have to BELIEVE in it, which is different from having passion. Such a simple concept, but so true. How many leaders do you see, that truly believe in what they are doing? vs how many chairmen of departments do you see that appear to be there for the accrutriments?
This book literally changed my life. sounds ridiculous, but it did. Made me do a LOT of soulsearching.
I urge anyone, male or female, wondering whether you are leading as effectively as you can, or wondering whether you should be taking on a leadership position, to read this.

After reading about Colin Powel's style, Bush's War and Guiliani's book on Leadership, it was a nice break to read about one of history's greatest first ladies--Eleanor Roosevelt. It also served as a checkpoint for myself to have a peek at the early 20th century and the beginnings of the UN in light of recent events. This book was written by Robin Gerber who is a senior scholar at the Academy of Leadership which is part of the University of Maryland. Not only a biography of Eleanor, it's also a how-to on leadership and includes side information about how other women implement Eleanor's style in their lives today.
Key Takeaways:
Give Voice to Your Leadership--ER did not start out a brilliant and inspiring public speaker, she had to practice at it. She eventually managed to be an effective communicator through both speech and her writing in columns. She held press conferences at the White House for women reporters only--she identified an audience she could reach and began speaking to them.
Embrace Risk--despite many folks including herself being unsure of her and her role, at Truman's request ER took on a role within the formation of the UN and went on to be a leading proponant of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She took this on shortly after the death of FDR--a time when she could have retired. Instead she started on a second life.
Never Stop Learning--this keeps coming up in the lives of leaders--they have an interest in the world and learning about it. ER traveled extensively in the latter part of her life and took a good deal of interest in learning about the world and the various cultures enhabiting it. She traveled throughout the middle east and India. She also used her columns, and speeches as a tool to educate others.

At 46, I found the book both affirming and inspiring. Ms. Gerber shows, through the life of the great ER, how painful life experiences can enhance both self awareness and empathy, and even more amazingly, how suffering a betrayal can be liberating. Her discussion on the special leadership skills developed through motherhood make clear the public interest in cultivating women leaders. The book is both a very accesible, good read and an effective step-by-step leadership guide.

At 46, I found the book both affirming and inspiring. Ms. Gerber shows, through the life of the great ER, how painful life experiences can enhance both self awareness and empathy, and even more amazingly, how suffering a betrayal can be liberating. Her discussion on the special leadership skills developed through motherhood make clear the public interest in cultivating women leaders. The book is both a very accesible, good read and an effective step-by-step leadership guide.

This is such a wonderful book. It inspired me to change my life and live as a miracle leader. I have highly recommended it to everyone in my organization.

If you're a leader and you want to live an extraordinary life then this book is for you. 95% of the people in United States believe in a higher power, whether or not they call it God or something else. Inviting that power into your life and making it part of your approach to leadership will pay benefits to both you and the people you lead. What you now consider as miracles will soon become the norm or natural.

There is power in softness. People are desperate to be led. People yearn to be loved. Stephen's book shows you how to do both. Read it, you'll appreciate the changes that will happen. The people you lead will applaud you for it as well.

Stephen goes waaay beyond just inspiring you to believe ...he actually shows you how to become the leader of your life and live from your own core truth. The powerful exercises guide you to the miracle of loving yourself and loving what you do.

This book is really about YOU ...helping you take an honest look at your life while exploring your Inner Landscape. You'll find the courage to be authentic and trust yourself more than anyone or anything outside of yourself. Get the book and discover your real Self and the miracle that you have always been.

I have read John Maxwell, Tony Robbins, and Stephen Covey. This book stands out because it is read as a conversation across the table from Stephen McGhee. He challenges you consistently to live a life of integrity and accountability - and to discover 'where' the leader in you comes from. Read it and be impacted.

How can it be that with so many seminars, trainings, programs, and inspirational material available, our planet seems to have so many vacancies for truly powerful--and empowering--leadership?

To my mind, Steve's book points the way to a leadership paradigm that can fill those vacancies. Practical, guided exercises, amazing personally revealing anecdotes, and an unapologetic call to action.

This book will create leaders that no longer chant, "Follow me!" It will birth leaders who have the courage to say, "I'll go first."

Decker's story is novel quality, for the characters become very real, making the issues and principles of effective organization change truly understandable. Any organization about to launch a significant change should distribute this book widely!

Brad Smart

In particular, the lessons you can learn about identifying and resolving conflicts are absolutely priceless. This and Corporate Canaries are MUST buys if you are a manager in any sort of capacity!

For books like this to work, they have to have both an engaging storyline and real-world characters. This book has both, and I found myself re-learning a lot about dealing with change, managing difficult people, and understanding how different types of people have different styles of working. The group discussion questions in the back are particularly useful. I will probably suggest that my whole department get copies and read it together. There are some on my team who need a little coaching, and this is a very non-threatening way to deal with difficult issues. Great job!

If you think you have read every single business book that you need to read, reconsider this one. I heard the author speak at an event in Newark recently and was impressed with his assessment of the difficulties associated with people with undiagnosed depression. The characters are so three dimensional that you'll think you know most of them. This is like a "Desperate Housewives" in cubicle-land, and it totally works.

My own boss is a little like the damaged main character, and I put this book on her desk anonymously. I saw her carrying it around for a few days and then at our department meeting last Monday she told people we should all read it because it had some excellent advice. I really thought she was too far gone but this book seems to have changed her. I hope it's for good.

Even if not, the book is a fun read that I think just about anybody will get a kick out of.

Charles Decker is vice president of an electronic publishing company, does work with business publishing initiatives, and has coauthored Beans: Four Principles for Running a Business in Good Times or Bad. Lessons from the Hive is about a fictionalized organization that is reinventing itself and was created to teach positive ways of viewing changes in an organization, how to deal with fears of the unknown, the importance of trust, and how to deal with conflicting interpersonal relationships. It is of the business-fable genre that uses a week-in the-life approach for five players in an organization including a recently installed CEO, a newly hired employee, and a seasoned director of marketing with personal struggles at home and at work. The junior change agent uses mantras many people call clichés such as Happiness is a choice; Inspire yourself, others will follow; Vanity is not a team sport; Enthusiasm will take you 90 percent of the way; and Change your thinking, change your life. This book can be used in classrooms and in businesses. Many people learn better by stories and examples than by other methods. This is a brief but powerful message. There are questions at the back of the book to assist reflection about each chapter.

This book was written by someone who understands the real world of corporate America: the world of the cubicles! You will not learn the lessons in this book from corporate trainers. These witty, often hilarious, bits of wisdom come from the core of cube city. Those who have been there will read this book and think: Why didn't I have this when I first started to work? Those who have not been there need to read it to understand what it's really like to be one of the folks who do the work in corporations. A great read!

Judging by the cover, LIGHTS, CUBICLE, ACTION! appears to be yet another Dilbertesque comic book making light of the corporate world. Appearances in this case would be very deceiving. A quick perusal of its pages reveals the truth behind corporate rhetoric, unvarnished by any gloss or glamour. Instead, the wisdom offered is hard hitting, intensely critical and remarkable insightful. Indeed, its rather scathing evaluation of the cubeville reveals the harsh truths of cube dwelling that your boss would like you to forget.

A.A. Cantor captures the brutal heart of corporate America in every page. Occasionally amusing, always astute, each page deftly reveals the ruthlessness of business and the keys to survival. Moreover, LIGHTS, CUBICLE, ACTION! offers far more than the cheesy optimism of teamwork and chasing the cheese characteristic of most books within this genre. A must read for all cube dwellers, LIGHTS, CUBICLE, ACTION! comes very highly recommended.

Lights, Cubicle, Action!: 100+ Directives For Survival In Corporate America is a collection of sound tips and insights by A. A. Cantor into surviving the perils of working for large corporations. Each insightful revelation or sage piece of advice is enhanced with a brief, no-nonsense explanation. From "Employees would rather read a blatant lie than hear incontrovertible truth."; to "Succeed at what you dislike and you will be forever condemned to it."; to "Success breeds success - but a great deal more contempt.", these memorable vignettes offer a true window of perception into the often twisted maze of office politics.

I found it to be very informative and inspirational for looking at our attitudes about our jobs and our dreams. I have been teaching a business course for Middle Schoolers, and it is now required reading in my class. Thank you for writing this book Tony!

A delightful book filled with workplace truisms that will make you think. Each is a paragraph or two, perfect for a quick distraction. Loved it!!

Great book, must read for anyone that loves missionary type stories. Power of God is displayed in this young man's life. Fantastic.

This true story is testimony to the fact that miracles still occur. I was very inspired to exercise my own faith in the face of great opposition. Vanya's faith was such that he almost seemed naive to the problems of being so open as he was in a Soviet system.

What a testimony!

-doug

This is a book about God's faithfulness to His own in spite of suffering, persecution and death. It is about one man's relationship with the Living God, to whom he had abandonded himself totally. It's a book about what is truly important and worth clinging to when there is absolutely no other hope. I read the story of Ivan Moisyev years ago with tears, awe and humility and the memory of Ivan's story of faith, suffering and, ultimately, martyrdom for the cause of Christ still haunts me. It left behind on my soul the burning questions, "If I were faced with such terrible persecution how would I respond? Would I remain faithful to Christ to the point of death? Could I really love and forgive those who might so terribly persecute me?". All these years later I'm left with the challenge to be willing to surrender everything, including my life to God in Christ.[...]

Vanya was a young man drafted into the Soviet Army in 1970. He had been a believer for only two years, but during that time he had internalized the Scriptures, even though he didn't even own a Bible. His first priority upon arriving in the Ukraine for Basic Training was to find a private place to pray each morning. Thus before he had been in the Army for a week he was already in trouble for his religion.
This book chronicles, using the God's-eye view approach to telling the story, the relentless persecution that followed, culminating in his heroic death by torture for refusing to recant. Fearless before the might of the Evil Empire, Vanya was the stone upon which many stumbled and were broken, but only became more hardened to all efforts to conform him to the Soviet Ideal. Though plagued by doubts, Vanya found his faith miraculously strengthed in his darkest hours, and left behind a trail of new believers and demoralized interrogators wherever he was taken.

His death accomplished what his life couldn't: the Soviet Army admitted defeat and never again applied its utmost force to a believer in hopes of turning him from the faith.

I loved this book; the adventure, the trials and triumphs, and the amazing ending. A fascinating story from beginning to end. It is another favorite in my personal library. A treasure!

Tim Smith's pure approach to keeping customers loyal shows how disciplined use of the right talents can separate us in this world of mediocrity. This is one of the milestones of being a Professional Sales Rep. I would suggest it to any sales rep regardless of the industry.

This book way better than Kaizan or other Japanese book. Tim Smith the Shogun of samurai salesman!!

Tim Smith has given sales people a practical guide to establishing lasting relationships and a loyal customer base. Mr. Smith has broken the sales process down into 7 steps, which when followed, result in a powerful relationship and long term success.
Mr. Smith's approach is logical and easy to follow. Examples of how this process works are plentiful and buttress his points very well.
I found the book readable and amusing. I will strongly suggest this book to my sales colleagues who are looking to improve their sales skills.

Being a sales representitive in a competitive industry can be intimidating! Tim Smith's book Loyalty Based Selling gives you the tools to suceed from the start. Loyalty Based Selling is a quick read that avoids all the warm and fuzzes about selling and gets right into the meat of it. Tim offers a unique perspective and specific examples of whats's made him #1. Sales reps make many mistakes that could easily be avioded if they use the tools and game plan that Loyalty Based Selling offers. The book walks you through how to introduce your self to a prospective customer to celebrating the close of a big deal. This book is a must read for all sales reps.

This book is outstanding! It takes a very simple approach to communicating the best way to maintain business with current customers and grow your business with both existing and new customers. Each one of us can implement the seven steps into our selling. Mr. Smith did a great job of giving us examples we can work with. I have already recommended this book to several colleagues!

Roos and his team have succeeded in extracting the value of working with the IC framework in real life company examples. The book demonstrates how a structured and analytical approach to various managerial and strategic challenges can be the key to make considerable improvements both in financial and non-financial performance of the company. The theoretical foundings are solid and without match in the contemporary IC management literature, which will certainly satisfy even the most demanding reader. On the other hand, the basic IC concepts and their application give a compehensive picture even to the beginner and an incentive to apply them in real life.

The book demonstrates that the IC theory has moved to a new era: once strongly research driven, the IC framework has made a breakthough as a powerful management concept. Highly recommended to anybody who is interested in getting to the core of value creation and management!

In 1999 I started to look for any information about intellectual capital. There were many pieces of articles, ideas, reasoning and less then 10 Web- sites of companies which did something in ICM. It was big interest to value creation problem. We knew that intellectual capital is main resource to creating and increasing in value. But we did not know how it works. Goran Roos was one of the pioneers who revealed the way of intellectual capital management. What is the intellectual capital, how to measure it, how to transform another recourses into IC, how to manage by intellectual capital and how to create and to increase value - he knows and tells us in this book. He is author of unic, original all-embracing approach. This approach is not only fantasy of professor but result of wide practice. All ideas of the book are confirmed in ptactice. It is very useful and easy as any work of genius.

This is a fantastic book for all organizations and executives exploring the world of Intellectual Capital. Whilst it explores the theory and principles behind value creation from intangibles, knowledge and intellectual capital, it also provides a practical guide to applying the principles. This book goes beyond others on the market, as it gives the reader a hands on methodology of measuring and applying intellectual capital principles to every day business. For those looking for a competitive advantage through effective Intellectual Management practices, look no further than Goran's publication.

I strongly recommend this text for those managers who want to take advantage of the potential of the intangible assets, and for those who want to increase the value creation considerably by managing the intangibles, like networks, brands, knowledge, etc.
You wil find many examples of several companies tha illustrate different approaches to increase the value of intangibles. There are also several management tools, which can be easily used in a company, once adapted to the specificid circunstances and constrains.
The book really shows how to work for the availability of key intangible resources in the organization and how to employ them to execute the strategy successfully.

For people who work in public policy, there are many challenges in creating a framework for establishing, definining and assessing a course of action when dealing with competing stakeholder interests. This book provides many useful, practical methods to assist those who need to manage ambiguity yet achieve real outcomes. The book is written for the practioner as the concepts are described in an accessible and logical manner. Too many books in the organisation and business strategy field fail to stimulate one's thinking and excite - this one does. Highly recommended.

Excerpt from review on bsmDigest.com:
"Mark Lutchen's groundbreaking book continues to influence technology leaders with its vision for building mature IT organizations. As more CIOs and CEOs grapple with the challenge of applying effective management processes to their increasingly critical technology organizations, this engaging book offers very practical advice for doing it successfully. Drawing on his experience both as an actual CIO managing a large, global IT organizations and as a management consultant working with many large organizations, Lutchen delivers a clear, integrated vision for enlightened IT management."

Great help for someone that has just upgraded
from IT Management to a CIO role and needed to
upgrade as well his agenda. Excellent source of inspiration
and perfect guide for a profession that is still
under transformation. Definitely a must have.

The book is focused (and written by) on world class CIO positions,
but I found it equally useful for smaller scale CIOs.
It's exactly there that it lacks some information
on the organization of smaller IT groups (<20 persons).

If you are a CIO then buy it. If you are an IT manager
you need something else.

In the fall of 2003, the Harvard Business Review published an article advancing the proposition that "IT doesn't matter." The article's author suggested that because IT was now a commodity, and everyone had it, it no longer conveyed any distinctive competitive advantage and therefore, strategically, did not matter. In fact, at many companies, IT doesn't matter as much as it should - not because it is a commodity that other companies also use, but because most companies don't get every potential benefit from their IT. To advance your business agenda effectively, make IT a real part of the business. Author Mark D. Lutchen shows managers, particularly CEOs and CIOs, why IT is not fully a part of business at the moment, and what it will take to turn IT into a competitive, strategic asset. We recommend this useful, well-written, clearly organized book to anyone whose job involves decisions on IT budgets, organization, investments or strategy.

This is a fabulous book for experienced or aspiring IT managers whose goal is to prepare for ascension through the ranks, especially to the CIO level. In simple yet rich language, Mark presents a clear picture of the future of the IT organization and the competencies needed in the CIO and senior team heading up this professional services operation. The examples and case studies are rich with insights. In short, this book is pragmatic and weighty, yet also highly readable and I dare say outright enjoyable. I highly recommend it as a must read for anyone who wants to develop an effective IT career roadmap. Thank you Mark Lutchen.

Joe Santana,
Co-author Manage IT

I have only one simple statement - where were you Mark when I started my IT career 17 years ago? Today I would have been a CIO! I highly recommend this book for those starting out their careers in IT as it gives a big picture look to the field. Own it and refer to the clear and relevant graphics in the book.