Books

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