Data Driven: Profiting from your most important business asset
by Thomas C. Redman
Written for business managers, this book is about managing data as an asset. As with any asset, data only create value when used, as opposed to merely being stored. Data can support internal processes and decisions or it can be sold to external customers.
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What Management Is: How it works and why it’s everyone’s business
by Joan Magretta
The author says this book is about the basics of management, but she adds, “the basics aren’t always obvious.” Topics include: value creation, business models, competitive strategy, organization, numbers, innovation, and managing people.
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How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life
By Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D.
This book starts with a brief history of a North Korean POW camp which held 1000 U.S. prisoners. The prisoners had adequate food and shelter. They were not physically tortured. And yet, this camp had the highest POW death rate in U.S. military history.
The weapon of choice was subtle psychological warfare, which eroded trust among fellow prisoners and broke their sense of hope. In essence, the cause of death was extreme negativity.
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Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
Based on behavioral economics, Nudge is about “choice architecture.” Sometimes people don’t have enough information or expertise to make a good decision. Other times they may be too busy to think about it, so they rely on intuition or heuristics (rules of thumb and biases). Choice architects can improve decision making by nudging people in the right direction.
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Winning
by Jack Welch with Suzi Welch
Winning is a book about management by Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric from 1981-2001. There is a theme of cutting through the clutter. An entire chapter is devoted to the importance of candor. On strategy, he writes “the scientific approach to strategy… peddled by countless consulting firms” is unproductive.
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Lessons in Classical Drawing: Essential Techniques from Inside the Atelier
by Juliette Aristides
Whether you are interested in learning to draw, or are just curious about the process as an observer of art, this is an outstanding book. It is clearly written, and illustrated with elegant artwork by contemporary artists and old masters. The book includes a DVD with video demonstrations by the author.
“Every good drawing exhibits an understanding and control of tone, proportion, harmony, and composition.”
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Marketing ROI: The Path to Campaign, Customer, and Corporate Profitability
by James D. Lenskold
Lenskold provides models to evaluate the expected return on investment (ROI) and profitability of marketing campaigns under consideration. The author rightfully points out that the net present value (NPV) of gross margin—not revenue—is the basis for these calculations. Campaigns with an ROI lower than the cost of capital will be rejected. Remaining options can be prioritized in favor those with the highest ROI.
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The Articulate Executive in Action
by Granville N. Toogood
This book is about the importance of communication skills in business, with a particular emphasis on meetings and presentations. “If you’re not competent with language, you’re not likely to connect, no matter how smart you are.” The main theme is what Toogood calls communication value added (CVA), of which there are seven principles: “Never bore. Give value. Rule your PowerPoint—don’t let it rule you. Talk from experience. Know whom you’re talking to. Tell stories. And be ready.”
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Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
Execution is about linking people, strategy, and operations. “Execution is not just tactics—it is a discipline and a system. It has to be built into a company’s strategy, its goals, and its culture. And the leader of the organization must be deeply engaged in it.” A significant portion of this book deals with managing people, including recognizing and developing future leaders.
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Bottom-Up Marketing
by Al Ries and Jack Trout
Tactics should dictate marketing strategy. While this may sound backward, the authors explain why it makes sense.
The tactical battle takes place in the consumer’s mind. Ries and Trout define a marketing tactic as “a competitive mental angle.”
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The Key Point 