Books I've Read and Recommend

I love to read. I once read a quote that said “You only change because of two things, the books you read and the people you meet.” I figured, the best way to meet people from all walks of life is to read their books. I’ve learned that when you read a book, you're not only reading the authors insights and knowledge, but you're reading all of the collective wisdom they have acquired from others who have influenced them. So, for the past 10 years I've read over 120 books. Not all of the books I've read are listed, only the books that have made an impact to my thinking.

So, the purpose of listing the books below and writing the reviews is to provide a resource and reference of my recommendations. I hope that you will checkout the reviews for the books that interest you. Remember, you only change for one of two reasons; it’s the books you read and the people you meet that will change your life and your thinking.

Category	Book Name	Author	Description  with link to Book Review
Personal Development	The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth	John Maxwell	The premise of the 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John Maxwell is that focusing on growth is more important than focusing on goals. Obtaining a goal will help you accomplish a task or dream but personal and professional growth will change who you are. <Click here to read more>
	Mind Mapping	Michael Gelb	Mind mapping is a brain storming technique basis on word association with keywords such as family, democracy, revolution and others that trigger other words, thoughts and ideas. This is basically how the mind works as we think of ideas and brainstorm concepts. Mind mapping is a process for unlocking our individual genius and enhancing the we naturally think. <Click here to read more>
	Your Executive Coaching Solution	Joan R. Kofodimos
	Organizing  for Success	Stephanie Winston
	Ready for Anything	David Allen
	The Biology of Belief	Bruce H. Lipton
	Dig your well before you're thirsty	Harvey Mackay
	The Dip	Seth Godin
	What got you here won't get you there	Marshall Goldsmith
	The Miracle of Self Discipline	Tracy Brian (CD Set)
	Influence	Robert B. Cialdini
	The 8th Habit	Stephen R. Covey
	Getting Things Done	David Allen
	Know-How	Ram Charan
	The Art of War	Sun Tzu
	Today Matters	John C. Maxwell
	Know Can Do!	Ken Blanchard
	7th Habits	Stephen R. Covey
	Eat that Frog	Brian Tracy
	Goals	Zig Zigler (CD Set)
	Lead the Field	Earl Nightingale
	The Difference Maker	John C. Maxwell
	Strategy for You	Rich Horwath	The premise of “Strategy for You” is that strategy is a bridge for going from where you are today to where you want  to go tomorrow in your personal and professional life. Strategy is a bridge  that spans over the challenges and obstacles you will face from going from point A to point B. <Click here to read more>
	God is my CEO	Larry S. Julian
	Jesus, CEO	Laurie Beth Jones
	Power of Vision	George Barna
	Power of Focus	Jack Canfield
	The Winner Within	Pat Riley
	Leadership	Rudolph Gulliani
	Leadership Gold	John Maxwell
	21 Laws of Leadership	John Maxwell	The premise of The 21 Laws of Leadership is that leadership can be learned and it's based on principles and laws of nature. Once you understand the 21 laws and practice them you will improve and increase your leadership capability. It's only when you enhance your leadership ability can you truly increase your personal and professional effectiveness. <Click here to read more>
	Think for a Change	John Maxwell	The premise of “Thinking for     a Change,” is that to make changes to your life begins with a change in     the way you think. The idea is that every habit, every action and every     emotion is triggered by a thought. Your thoughts determine everything     about your life. The way you think determines who you are and who you are     determines what you do. Your thoughts determine your habits and your     habits determine your future. People who are in the top of their industry     think differently than those who are not. What I like about this book is     how it guides you to change the way you think and it provides the step by     step how to process to do it. <Click here to read more>
	Talent Is Never Enough	John Maxwell
	Be a People Person	John Maxwell
	The Effective Executive	Peter F. Drucker
	Time Trap	Todd Duncan
	Positive Intelligence	Shirzad Chamine
	Flight Plan	Brian Tracy
	First Things First	Stephen Covery & A. Roger Merrill	“First Things First,” is a book written in 1994 by Stephen Covey and the Merrill brothers that changed my life and focused me on a daily habit of scheduling first things first. The premise of the book is to keep the main thing the main thing. <Click here to read more>
	Principle Centered Leadership	Stephen R. Covey
	DNA of Relationships	Michael Smalley
	The Power of an Hour	Dave Lakhani
	Teaching to Change Lives	Howard Henricks
	The Richest Man Who Ever Lived	Steven K. Scott
	Developing the Leader Within You	John Maxwell
	As a Man Thinketh	James Allen
	4 Hour Work Week	Timothy Ferriss
	One Hour Manager	Ken Blanchard
	Getting to Yes	Roger Fisher
	The Tactics of Very Successful People	B. Eugene Griessman	The premise of “Time Tactics of Very Successful People”, is that we all have 24 hours in a day and that successful people and unsuccessful people all receive the same amount of time every day. The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is how they utilize the 24 hours a day they have been given in a way that produces results and creates value. <Click here to read more>
	Mastery	George Burr Leonard
	Habit of The Mind	Archibald D. Hart	Charles Reade said it best in his most quoted maxim, “Sow an act and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.” The premise of book Habits of the Mind is that you are what you think about. All of your thoughts shape and create whom you are, they mold you into the person you have become and whom you will be in the future. What we think shapes and determines our character and the outcome of our life. <Click here to read more>
	How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling	Frank Bettger
	Lincoln on Leadership	Donald T. Phillips
	Up from Slavery	Booker T. Washington
	Life and times of Frederick Douglass	Frederick Douglass
	Mandela	Anthony Sampson
	Power of Habit	Charles Duhigg
Strategic Planning and Execution	The McKinsey Way	Ethan M. Rasiel
	The McKinsey Mind	Ethan M. Rasiel
	CIO Best Practices	Michael H. Hugos
	Open Business Model	Henry William Chesbrough
	Six Disciplines of Execution	Gary Harpst
	IT Governance	Peter Weill	The premise of IT governance is that top-performing organizations have a systematic decision-making framework that enables them to achieve greater bottom-line results to their business goals, value and growth over their competition. Organizations that have implemented in IT governance framework have better clarity around their strategy and the part that IT plays in the implementation of those strategies. They also have better processes for more efficient and effective change management procedures and organizational accountability for tracking project benefits. <Click here to read more>
	Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management	Anand K. Sanwal	The premise of Optimizing Corporate Portfolio Management is that resource allocation (time, money, staff, information and corporate assets) along with making smarter business investment decisions is critical to a business’s value creation processes. This book provides examples from American Express regarding what they've entitled investment optimization and how they have used the principles of allocating discretionary funds weather for marketing, sales or technology investments with the same investment category and the best projects compete for the same dollars. <Click here to read more>
	Enterprise Architecture at Work	Marc Lankhorst
	Introduction to PEAF	Kevin Lee Smith
	Business Model Generator	Alexander Osterwalder
	Integrated Cost and Schedule Control	Ursula Kuehn
	Effective Work Breakdown Structure	Gregory T. Haugan
	No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects	Neal Whitten
	IT Portfolio Management	Bryan Maizlish	IT Portfolio Management Step-by-Step is a must-have for portfolio management practitioners. The book is grouped into four parts, an overview and back ground of what’s included in the material, the foundational elements of portfolio management, building a step-by-step plan and implementation guide, and PPM best practices. In the pages of this book, you will find information on the best practice approach for aligning, rationalizing, prioritizing, selecting, optimizing, tracking, monitoring and managing your organizations IT portfolio investments. <Click here to read more>
	Strategic Project Portfolio Management	Simon Moore	Strategic Project Portfolio Management fills a gap in the literature of a project, program and portfolio management books by providing a comprehensive approach to managing IT investments based on Simon Moore’s experience as a Financial Portfolio Manager for Putman Investments and as a Charter Financial Analyst. The book is targeted at an executive audience, with the goal of enabling them to understand how project portfolio management empowers organizations to better map project investments to the overall strategy and goals of the organization. <Click here to read more>
	The Essential Advantage	Paul Leinwand
	Optimizing Human Capital with a Strategic Project Office	J. Kent Crawford
	The Rise of the Project Workforce	Rudolf Melik
	The Strategic Project Office	J. Kent Crawford
	Advanced Project Portfolio Management	Gerald I. Kendall	The premise of the Advanced Project Portfolio Management and the PMO is that project management is required for executives to execute their organizational strategy successfully. Without the right methodology, project lifecycle timing and strategic value projects are disconnected from the strategic direction of the senior executive team. In this book, Gerald Kendall and Stephen Rollins provide their guidance and insight to implement a PMO that will deliver strategic value to your organization. <Click here to read more>
	Advanced Multi-Project Management	Gerald I. Kendall	Gerald Kendall and Kathleen Austin's book Advanced Multi-Project Management confronts the critical reason why projects fail and why, according to the Standish Group, project success is not improving. <Click here to read more>
	Project Portfolio Management	Inc. EPMC	"Project Portfolio Management," authored by the Enterprise Portfolio Management Council focuses on the key thinking and portfolio management processes developed by a number of senior portfolio management practitioners and experts with the goal of creating a community of senior portfolio management leaders. The authors come from a wide spectrum of industries and organizations in order to support and build up the portfolio management body of knowledge. <Click here to read more>
	Implementing Program Management: Templates and Forms Aligned with the Standard for Program Management - Second Edition (2008)	Ginger Levin
	Enterprise Program Management	David Williams	The premise of Enterprise Programme Management is to provide guidelines, best practices and new techniques to enhance an organization’s credibility in leading multiple projects as a single body of work. Program Management requires the integration of delivering milestones, products, solutions and critical capabilities. <Click here to read more>
	Critical Chain	Eliyahu M. Goldratt
	The Goal	Eliyahu M. Goldratt
	Translating Strategy into Action	Duke Corporate Education	The premise of Translating Strategy Into Action is that understanding one's organizations strategic objectives and cascading those objectives throughout the organization into departmental and individual action plans can be a challenging task as the demand for limited resources continuous to increase. Translating strategy must be communicated up and down the organization from the board room to the mail room as well as across the value chain to partners and suppliers.  <Click here to read more>
	Keeping Strategy on Track	Harvard Business School Press
	Driven	Joel Litman
	Thinking Strategically	Avinash K. Dixit
	The 4 Disciplines of Execution	Jim Huling
	Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times	Stephen R. Covey
	Velocity	Dee Jacob
Business Management	Theory of Constraints Handbook	James Cox III
	The Billion Dollar Solution	Robert Newbold
	Customer Experience Management	Bernd Schmitt
	Leadership in the ERA of Economic Uncertainty	Ram Charan
	Managing the Professional Service Firm	David H. Maister
	IT Savvy	Peter Weill
	Leading Change	John Kotter
	High Impact Interview Questions	Victoria A. Hoevemeyer
	Presentation Zen	Garr Reynolds
	Seamless Teamwork	Michael Sampson
	Trusted Advisor	Robert M. Galford
	Yes	Robert B. Cialdini
	Leaders at All Levels	Ram Charan
	Positioning	Al Ries
	Innovation and Entrepreneurship	Peter F. Drucker
	Freakonomics	Steven D. Levitt
	Managing Brand You	Jerry S. Wilson
	Innovate Like Edison	Michael J. Gelb
	Executive Charisma	D. A. Benton
	Business @ the speed of Thought	Bill Gates
	Leading the Revolution	Gary Hamel
	5 Keys to High Performance	Michael J. Gelb
	The Breakthrough Company	Keith R. McFarland
	The Buying Brain	A. K. Pradeep
	The Circle of Innovation	Tom Peters
	The Education of an accidental CEO	David Novak
	The Elephant and the Dragon	Robyn Meredith
	The Future of Management	Gary Hamel
	Gung Ho!	Ken Blanchard
	The Intelligent Entrepreneur	Bill Murphy Jr.
	Judgment	Warren Bennis
	Never Eat Alone	Tahl Raz
	Ready, Fire, Aim	Michael Masterson
	Execution	Larry Bossidy
	SharePoint Roadmap	Michael Sampson
	Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People	Edward M. Hallowell
	Switch	Chip Heath
	Talent is Overrated	Geoffrey Colvin
	Peter Drucker on Management	Peter F. Drucker
	The Tipping Point	Malcolm Gladwell
	Made to Stick	Chip Heath
	businessThink	Dave Marcum
	Secrets of Great Rainmakers	Jeffrey J. Fox
	How to become a Rainmaker	Jeffrey J. Fox
	Customer Mania!	Kenneth Blanchard
	What customers want you to know	Ram Charan
	Game Changer	A. G. Lafley
	The Leadership Pipeline	Ram Charan
	SAIC Solutions	Peter Economy
	Bangalore Tiger	Steve Hamm
	Understanding Michael Porter	Joan Magretta	The premise of the book, "Understanding Michael Porter" is that clear strategic thinking is essential for managers at all levels of an organization. This essential guide provides the foundation for understanding the basic principles of competition and strategy and establishes a framework in which Michael Porter's writings are easier to digest than his original texts. A direct quote from the book states that, "Strategy is not fast food". The essence of strategy is not only choosing what to do but also choosing what not to do. <Click here to read more>
	Deep Dive	Rich Horwath	The premise of Deep Dive is that there are four types of strategic thinkers. These four types of strategic thinkers embrace a very different approach to utilizing proven repeatable processes for building organizational strategy. Deep Dive takes into account our need as strategic thinkers to understand the type of thinkers that are most effective and a process for making the most of our limited resources while also taking smart steps to accomplish your goals. The four strategic thinkers are beach bums, snorkelers, scuba divers and free divers. <Click here to read more>
	Emyth	Michael E. Gerber
	Let's Get Real Or Let's Not Play	Mahan Khalsa	The premise of “Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play” is that business development must be totally client focused. Customers want to buy and not to be sold a bill of goods. This is a paradigm shift or a new mental model that advocates a methodology where two companies mutually decided to work together with the goal of meeting the client’s needs while providing a profitable engagement for the service provider, trusted advisor or professional service organization. <Click here to read more>
Marketing / Social Media	The Referral of a life time	Timothy L. Templeton
	The Tao of Twitter	Mark W. Schaefer
	Return on influence	Mark W. Schaefer
	Content Rules	C.C. Chapman
	Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Marketing	Neal Schaffer
	World Wide Rave	David Meerman Scott
	The Facebook Effect	David Kirkpatrick
	Inbound Marketing	Dharmesh Shah
	Permission Marketing	Seth Godin
	The Referral Engine	John Jantsch
	Purple Cow	Seth Godin
	The  New rules of Marketing and PR	David Meerman Scott