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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

1599953668

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

1905453043

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

0891062211

Joan R. Kofodimos

 

 

Organizing  for Success

B000S9HWEU

Stephanie Winston

 

 

Ready for Anything

0143034545

David Allen

 

 

The Biology of Belief

1401923127

Bruce H. Lipton

 

 

Dig your well before you're thirsty

0385485468

Harvey Mackay

 

 

The Dip

1591841666

Seth Godin

 

 

What got you here won't get you there

1401301304

Marshall Goldsmith

 

 

The Miracle of Self Discipline

1908364041

Tracy Brian (CD Set)

 

 

Influence

0205609996

Robert B. Cialdini

 

 

The 8th Habit

0743287932

Stephen R. Covey

 

 

Getting Things Done

0142000280

David Allen

 

 

Know-How

B0026IBX82

Ram Charan

 

 

The Art of War

1936041758

Sun Tzu

 

 

Today Matters

1931722528

John C. Maxwell

 

 

Know Can Do!

1458777383

Ken Blanchard

 

 

7th Habits

0743269519

Stephen R. Covey

 

 

Eat that Frog

1576754227

Brian Tracy

 

 

Goals

0743525078

Zig Zigler (CD Set)

 

 

Lead the Field

9562915999

Earl Nightingale

 

 

The Difference Maker

0785260986

John C. Maxwell

 

 

Strategy for You

1608322513

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

B004JZWLUY

Larry S. Julian 

 

 

Jesus, CEO

0786881267

Laurie Beth Jones

 

 

Power of Vision

0830747281

George Barna

 

 

Power of Focus

0091876508

Jack Canfield

 

 

The Winner Within

0425141756

Pat Riley

 

 

Leadership

0786868414

Rudolph Gulliani

 

 

Leadership Gold

B001M5UIZ4

John Maxwell

 

 

21 Laws of Leadership

0785288376

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

0446692883

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

B001AQTZ4K

John Maxwell

 

 

Be a People Person

0781448433

John Maxwell

 

 

The Effective Executive

0060833459

Peter F. Drucker

 

 

Time Trap

B00AK3MZLY

Todd Duncan

 

 

Positive Intelligence

1608322785

Shirzad Chamine

 

 

Flight Plan

1605092754

Brian Tracy

 

 

First Things First

0684802031

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

0671792806

Stephen R. Covey

 

 

DNA of Relationships

0842355324

Michael Smalley

 

 

The Power of an Hour

0471780936

Dave Lakhani

 

 

Teaching to Change Lives

1590521382

Howard Henricks

 

 

The Richest Man Who Ever Lived

0385516665

Steven K. Scott

 

 

Developing the Leader Within You

0785281126

John Maxwell

 

 

As a Man Thinketh

1612930220

James Allen

 

 

4 Hour Work Week

0307465357

Timothy Ferriss

 

 

One Hour Manager

0688014291

Ken Blanchard

 

 

Getting to Yes

0143118757

Roger Fisher

 

 

The Tactics of Very Successful People

0070246440

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

0452267560

George Burr Leonard

 

 

Habit of The Mind

0849912199

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

067179437X

Frank Bettger

 

 

Lincoln on Leadership

0446394599

Donald T. Phillips

 

 

Up from Slavery

B0082XIIYW

Booker T. Washington

 

 

Life and times of Frederick Douglass

B00BIFLSUW

Frederick Douglass

 

 

Mandela

B005GKD6UU

Anthony Sampson

 

 

Power of Habit

1400069289

Charles Duhigg

 

Strategic Planning and Execution

The McKinsey Way

0070534489

Ethan M. Rasiel

 

 

The McKinsey Mind

0071374299

Ethan M. Rasiel

 

 

CIO Best Practices

0470635401

Michael H. Hugos

 

 

Open Business Model

1422104273

Henry William Chesbrough

 

 

Six Disciplines of Execution

0981641105

Gary Harpst

 

 

IT Governance

1591392535

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

0470126884

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

3642296505

Marc Lankhorst

 

 

Introduction to PEAF

190842401X

Kevin Lee Smith

 

 

Business Model Generator

0470876417

Alexander Osterwalder

 

 

Integrated Cost and Schedule Control

1567261701

Ursula Kuehn

 

 

Effective Work Breakdown Structure

1567261353

Gregory T. Haugan

 

 

No-Nonsense Advice for Successful Projects

1567261558

Neal Whitten

 

 

IT Portfolio Management

0471649848

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

0470481951

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

1422136515

Paul Leinwand

 

 

Optimizing Human Capital with a Strategic Project Office

0849354102

J. Kent Crawford

 

 

The Rise of the Project Workforce

047012430X

Rudolf Melik

 

 

The Strategic Project Office

1439838127

J. Kent Crawford

 

 

Advanced Project Portfolio Management

1932159029

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  

1604270802     

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

0470505362

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) 

1439816050

Ginger Levin

 

 

Enterprise Program Management

023000234X

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

0884271536

Eliyahu M. Goldratt

 

 

The Goal

0884271951

Eliyahu M. Goldratt

 

 

Translating Strategy into Action

0793195209

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

1422114694

Harvard Business School Press

 

 

Driven

0981457304

Joel Litman

 

 

Thinking Strategically

0393310353

Avinash K. Dixit

 

 

The 4 Disciplines of Execution

145162705X

Jim Huling

 

 

Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times

1936111004

Stephen R. Covey

 

 

Velocity

1439158924

Dee Jacob

 

 

 

 

 

Business Management

Theory of Constraints Handbook

0071665544

James Cox III

 

 

The Billion Dollar Solution

1934979058

Robert Newbold

 

 

Customer Experience Management

0471237744

Bernd Schmitt

 

 

Leadership in the ERA of Economic Uncertainty

0071626166

Ram Charan

 

 

Managing the Professional Service Firm

0684834316

David H. Maister

 

 

IT Savvy

1422181014

Peter Weill

 

 

Leading Change

1422186431

John Kotter

 

 

High Impact Interview Questions

0814473016

Victoria A. Hoevemeyer

 

 

Presentation Zen

0321811984

Garr Reynolds

 

 

Seamless Teamwork

0735625611

Michael Sampson

 

 

Trusted Advisor

0743212347

Robert M. Galford

 

 

Yes

1416576142

Robert B. Cialdini

 

 

Leaders at All Levels

0787985597

Ram Charan

 

 

Positioning

0071373586

Al Ries

 

 

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

0060851139

Peter F. Drucker

 

 

Freakonomics

0060731338

Steven D. Levitt

 

 

Managing Brand You

0814410685

Jerry S. Wilson

 

 

Innovate Like Edison

B000UZPITI

Michael J. Gelb

 

 

Executive Charisma

0071462139

D. A. Benton

 

 

Business @ the speed of Thought

0446525685

Bill Gates

 

 

Leading the Revolution

1591391466

Gary Hamel

 

 

5 Keys to High Performance

B003F5NSRY

Michael J. Gelb

 

 

The Breakthrough Company

0307352196

Keith R. McFarland

 

 

The Buying Brain

0470601779

A. K. Pradeep

 

 

The Circle of Innovation

0679757651

Tom Peters

 

 

The Education of an accidental CEO

0307451798

David Novak

 

 

The Elephant and the Dragon

0393331938

Robyn Meredith

 

 

The Future of Management

1422102505

Gary Hamel

 

 

Gung Ho!

B000KA8VWO

Ken Blanchard

 

 

The Intelligent Entrepreneur

0312611757

Bill Murphy Jr.

 

 

Judgment

B00394DFOM

Warren Bennis

 

 

Never Eat Alone

0385512058

Tahl Raz

 

 

Ready, Fire, Aim

B001E7GP1G

Michael Masterson

 

 

Execution

0609610570

Larry Bossidy

 

 

SharePoint Roadmap

B004X6THM4

Michael Sampson

 

 

Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People

1591399238

Edward M. Hallowell

 

 

Switch

0385528752

Chip Heath

 

 

Talent is Overrated

1591842948

Geoffrey Colvin

 

 

Peter Drucker on Management

Peter F. Drucker

 

 

The Tipping Point

0316346624

Malcolm Gladwell

 

 

Made to Stick

1400064287

Chip Heath

 

 

businessThink

0471219932

 Dave Marcum

 

 

Secrets of Great Rainmakers

1401301576

Jeffrey J. Fox

 

 

How to become a Rainmaker

0786865954

Jeffrey J. Fox

 

 

Customer Mania!

B000FC2L46

Kenneth Blanchard

 

 

What customers want you to know

1591841658

Ram Charan

 

 

Game Changer

0307381730

A. G. Lafley

 

 

The Leadership Pipeline

0470894563

Ram Charan

 

 

SAIC Solutions

0470097523

Peter Economy

 

 

Bangalore Tiger

B005IUUDWC

Steve Hamm

 

 

Understanding Michael Porter

1422160599

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

0887307280

Michael E. Gerber

 

 

Let's Get Real Or Let's Not Play

1591842263

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

1576753212

Timothy L. Templeton

 

 

The Tao of Twitter

0071802193

Mark W. Schaefer

 

 

Return on influence

0071791094

Mark W. Schaefer

 

 

Content Rules

1118232607

C.C. Chapman

 

 

Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Marketing

1463685807

Neal Schaffer

 

 

World Wide Rave

0470395001

David Meerman Scott

 

 

The Facebook Effect

1439102120

David Kirkpatrick

 

 

Inbound Marketing

0470499311

Dharmesh Shah

 

 

Permission Marketing

0684856360

Seth Godin

 

 

The Referral Engine

1591844428

John Jantsch

 

 

Purple Cow

1591843170

Seth Godin

 

 

The  New rules of Marketing and PR

1118026985

David Meerman Scott

 

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"I have no doubt that anyone taking Leonard's Portfolio Management course will receive huge benefit. The material is organized logically, and sequenced in a way that compels understanding and learning throughout. The concepts are presented with clarity and precision. Tools for decision making and managing are imbedded in all aspects of Portfolio Management. No one involved in managing a portfolio of projects should miss the opportunity to learn from an expert.

Gerald Kendall, PMP, Author, Advanced Project Portfolio Management & the PMO."

"Gerald Leonard has taken a bold first step into an area long neglected. He breaks portfolio management down into manageable chunks and brings clarity to a practice the desperately needs it. Gerald's work examines the totality of portfolio perspectives, from the executive suite to the project manager, and acknowledges the roles of the disparate players across the enterprise. His materials thoughtfully examine not only the theory of portfolio management, but also the practical day-to-day of ensuring consistency of strategy and approach. Definitely worth your consideration."

Carl Pritchard, PMP, PMI-RMP, EVP, author of 7 Project Management texts and the U.S. Correspondent for Project Manager Today (UK).

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