This excellent book is organized into two parts. The first part is a story about a startup business. The second part of the book expands on the process illustrated in the story. The book is based on five dysfunctions that hinder teams from working together effectively. The story part of a book details the process that ... more

This is a short book with many small chapters on how to get noticed and promoted in business. Most of the book focuses on how to produce results and get noticed. The book does a good job of making you think about the things you do and whether or not they contribute to moving you forward. Here are a few of the chapter ti ... more

I was reading this book on a plane flying into Durango Mexico. A mexican on the plane saw what I was reading and commented that I was reading the "Bible for non-profits". I got to talking to him and it turned out he was a former senator from Mexico who is now in charge of a large non-profit corporation in Chicago. ... more

Mark McCormack runs International Management Group. His company manages celebrities, musicians, and sports figures. This book is filled with short chapters of advice on how to be successful in business. His advice ranges from time management to working effectively with others. The book contains good insights on how to read ... more

In this book Peter Drucker talks about how to position yourself to make the biggest contribution to your organization. The book is written for executives, but it has practical insights for just about anyone. Drucker begins by discussing effectiveness and makes several observations about effective individuals. In chapter tw ... more

This is a short book written about Jack Welch that attempts to condense his leadership traits in 29 points. While Welch's autobiography offers a much deeper look into his theories on leadership, this book is a good quick read as a refresher or introduction to his ideas. ... more

This book talks about how to work with technical people and more specifically how to manage and lead them. If you consider yourself a "geek", much of this book will seem obvious, but it still has some good ideas on managing people. If you don't consider yourself a "geek" this book would be very worthwhile. ... more

I listened to this book on tape a few years ago, but when my parents gave me the paper version I decided to read it again. I still think this is Maxwell's finest writing. He does a great job of using stories to illustrate the different leadership laws of leadership. Many of the stories are about sports figures which personally I don't re ... more

This book expands on one of the points from the 21 Laws of Leadership. It has solid concepts for developing influence with the people around you. I would recommend reading the 21 Laws of Leadership before reading this book because it will put it into better context than reading the book on its own. ... more

Disney is a huge company that has been very successful even after Walt died. This book shows some of the methods used by Disney to keep everyone aligned with the vision and to encourage everyone to go the extra mile at their job. There is a companion workbook that provides exercises and team building activities. ... more

This is a book I intend to reread every few years. It has many insights that are obvious once you hear them, but that we rarely practice. The key point of the book is to show you how to take a genuine interest in people. ... more

Creative Company-- St Luke's is an advertising agency in London. When their parent company was bought out they decided to use a unique type of corporation where the company is owned by the employees. Their structure is very open where everyone knows how much everyone else makes and raises are based partially on how much ... more

The Innovators Dilemma looks at how upstart technologies eventually displace existing technology in the market. This is a very interesting book, but it is very statistical in nature. The insights from this book are useful to people responsible for making decisions regarding technology as well as investors trying to spot ... more

Dell has a very interesting story. Michael Dell tells how the company was started and gives many examples of what they did right along with what they did wrong. It helps give a clear picture of what is involved in managing a large businesses supply chain along with the difficulties of global business. ... more

This book gives the history of the SUN Microsystems. The company went through a very fast growth phase in the early 90's and it is interesting to read about how they handled the growth. There are a lot of practical lessons from their successes and their failures. The book discusses technology, but its main focus is on t ... more

Jack Welch was the CeO of Ge for many years. I know there are people who don't agree with his management style, but he definitely had the ability to lead and motivate people. One of points I most remember from this book was his method for consistently raising the average capability of his pool of employees. Basically he ... more

The story of Steve Job's founding of Apple, his ousting and later return, make a very interesting story. While this book isn't about technology, I helps explain many of Apple's actions in the marketplace. ... more

The Art of Innovation is a great book about how to manage creativity. It shows how IDeO turns brainstorming sessions into creative products. IDeO designed the Palm V, the original Apple mouse, Amtrak's rail cars and many other products. The book talks about their method for managing creative people and creating a fun an ... more