Stuck between mediocrity and excellence

I have a tendency to start business strategy books and not finish them.  A latest victim of mine was  Playing to Win  by A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin.  I'm relatively sure that I got halfway through the framework and was distracted by a chipmunk or squirrel.  Anyway, the book is one of the most practical ones that you'll read. The authors refer to strategy as the answer to these 5 questions: What is our winning aspiration? Where will we play?  How will we win? What capabilities must we have?  What management systems are required?  There are case studies and a myriad of examples to provide color commentary for how these questions were applied and answered.  So before you go trying to immerse yourself in Raynor and Porter, read this one first. It will require less caffeine. 

My latest book binge includes the following:  MIndgym - Exercises to improve your mind just as you would improve your body by following a training regimen in the gym.  Contagious - Understanding "what" makes things go viral. The Smartest Kids in the World - An analysis of the dynamics of education in different parts of the world. In Search of Excellence - For all of you management consulting fans, this is where McKinsey's 7s framework is explained. Additionally, it identifies the 8 characteristics of excellent companies and is written in such a way that you don't have to be an academic to understand it.  Thinking Fast and Slow - An explanation of the two systems that drive the way we think.  Because I can't read two words out of any of these books to my son during bedtime without him completely ignoring me, I'll add Curious George Storybook Collection to the list.  In the book, it lays out the steps...

Over the past few years, I've read a lot of business books.  And I mean A LOT.   I'll read two books in parallel on my iPad (Kindle and iBooks).  I'll listen to another one on my phone through audible.com.  Some days I may even go retro and pop a CD into my car and listen to that. It's probably safe to say that if there is a top " whatever"  list of business books that an entrepreneur, business leader, or manager should read -- I've definitely read at least two that are on the list.  Unfortunately for me, my reading comprehension skills have been terrible since the Pre-SAT which means that I'm probably missing out on many key messages or themes that these books are communicating.  However, out of everything that I'm reading, here's what I've remembered: Values matter - Not just values, core values. Individuals need to define their core values as leaders. Companies need to identify their values as an organization. It's t...

What do you do when your boss, executive, or leader recommends a book for you to read?  You go out and read the book, right?  After all, you think that the reason that your leader is recommending this book is because he or she is thinking about you . Your boss thinks that there are nuggets of wisdom or insight that you could get out of it. That's not true. In the world of business, the majority of people in management are more selfish than not.  If your boss recommends a book, more than likely it's because he or she got something out of it-- not necessarily because he / she thinks you will get something out of it. If you want to know what type of person you are working for, the recommendation of a WTF?! book should tell you all you need to know. I've had my share recommended to me by my managers / bosses at one time or another. Here are a couple of business books that are on my WTF?! list: Throwing the Elephant - I had to read this book as part of a...