Books
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
 |
A story driven book on change, Switch provides a framework for understanding how people and organizations accept and embrace change. There are many different ways you can influence change in your organization, whether you are the person in charge or not. If you are looking to make things better at the office, at your client, at home, or one of your organizations this book is an excellent source of ideas and methods |
The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus Into Your Life
 |
Do you have a difficult time picking up new skills? Trouble sticking with things? Are you frustrated that you do not learn something as quickly as you like? Thomas Sterner’s book The Practicing Mind is a quick read that provides a perspective on how to approach new challenges. Focusing on the hear and now, Sterner recommends taking the focus away from the larger end goal and placing it squarely on the smaller skills you must master to meet your larger goal. |
Anything You Want
 |
Written by Derek Sivers, the founder of CD Baby and a popular blogger, Anything You Want is a compilation of the knowledge Derek gained while starting up and running CD Baby. What I like most about this book is that it throws traditional business models in the trash and takes a truly customer centric view on starting and running a business. If you take care of people and provide a needed service, people will take care of you. A short read that is very inspirational |
Atlas Shrugged
 |
This has to be one of the best books I have read in recent times. At it’s core this book is all about the political philosophy called objectivism. The core tenants of the philosophy place the upmost value in the power of the individuals mind, their ability to produce, and ones moral happiness. I consistently found myself in a conflicted state, agreeing whole heartedly with ideas that one should be paid in value for the work they do, yet disagreeing with the idea that social out reach programs are a leach on society. Written over 50 years ago, I find the commentary on government and economy to be eerily similar to what we are experiencing today. I highly recommend this book based on the sound arguments and it’s ability to help you better understand your own beliefs. I warn you that the book can be inflammatory as it degrades organized religion and social outreach programs. Even though there are inflammatory ideas, I challenge you to think about what core values you hold that make you disagree with what you read in this book. Are you consistently holding true to these core values? |
Rework
 |
Rework comes from the folks who run 37 Signals. This is an interesting group who are appearing all over the place. Their lead developer created Ruby on Rails, and they have created a couple of really good software applications such as Basecamp and Campfire. What I really like about this book is that it bucks traditional wisdom about starting up a company. There are no business plans, no angel investors, no exit strategy. The idea is to focus on creating a good product and being extremely close to your customer base. Understand your customer and create an amazing product for them. This book will show you philosophies on how to do this. It is such an inspiring book, I started designing my own product to put up on the web just a vew days after finishing this book. Highly recommended reading. |
The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business
|
Josh Kaufman’s Personal MBA is a must read for anyone looking entering into or currently working in the business rule. It is a great primer of knowledge for just about every topic you could want to know in business. Written in an easy to read and follow format, you will come back to this book constantly for future reference. |
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion 
  |
Robert Cialdini has written an excellent book that teaches you how to recognize when a psychological trigger is being applied to you and how to prevent the trigger from influencing your decisions. It is written using real world stories and examples that we have all experienced. I highly recommend this book for everyone. |
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich
 |
A transformational guide for the typical 9-5 employee. Timothy Ferris provides a roadmap for seperating yourself from the daily grind and generating the income needed to live the life you want. |
