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Business reading

06 April 2009

Description
One of the suggestions I make as a business coach and executive mentor to business owners and directors is that they read regularly, even if you play a tape in the car or read for 10 minutes every night before they go to sleep. Start this programme by ordering a book or tape a month. This will allow you to turn your chair, car or bed into a university, by reading just 10 minutes a night before going to sleep. It’ll give your sub-conscious something to digest, whilst you’re asleep. If you are not a book reader then order the tapes, great for when you are driving. Most of the books and tapes are about £10 each.

After browsing this list you will:

have a good list of books to choose from in the five areas of Personal Development, Building Businesses, Sales & Customer Service, Team Building & Motivation and Wealth Creation
realise that there is a huge wealth of knowledge out there that could help you and your business tremendously
have the opportunity of always having something to read that is useful, positive and constructive on the train, plane and holiday
provide new ideas on how to manage yourself and your business

Business reading list

Personal Development

1. “The Road less Travelled” – this book has sold millions and when I started it I could not get into it and thought why all the sales. Then a very good friend said read the section on Love and I then realised why it had sold millions. Just open it up and read the section on Love or any section that takes your fancy. This book comes under must read as it is a sort of Highway Code for Life by Scott Peck

2. “Emotional Intelligence” – this is the book that started the Emotional Intelligence discussion. It covers the basic brain makeup, knowing yourself, applying what you know, understand the importance of the right hand creative side of our brain and see why emotional intelligence is more important than all the IQ tests in the world..that is if you want to understand yourself and others…staggeringly simple and effective by Daniel Goleman ISBN 0-7475-2830-6

3. “End the Struggle and Dance with Life” – an amazing, excellent book that has changed the lives of many thousands of people, starting with loving oneself and honouring what we were all born with by Susanne Jeffers ISBN: 0340897600

4. “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff” – a highly recommended, tremendous read of 100 ways to reduce stress and be a better person…best to be kept near the bed for dipping into… by Richard Carlson ISBN 034072865

5. “7 Habits of Highly Successful People” – well known but very necessary read for aspiring managers, with a very good chapter on Time Management by Steven Covey

6. “You can Heal your Life” – this book has some amazing affirmations that will help you change to way you feel, think and see yourself. You will become more positive in though word and deed by Louise Hay ISBN: 093761101-8

7. “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” – the title says it all but you need to read about what others are thinking and how to “do it” by Susan Jeffers ISBN 009974100-8

8. “I’m OK you’re OK” – this book covers the basics Transactional Analysis and why we behave like we do starting at the cot and going on from there. It deals with the Parent- Adult – Child states, how they are formed at childhood and carried into adult life, often with dramatic and painful results. Very readable and hugely insightful by Thomas Harris ISBN 0-09-955241-8

9. “The Greatest Salesman in the World” – a simple, profound book about the laws of Success by Og Mandino ISBN 055327757

10. “Smart Questions” – the best book to start changing the journey of tapping into your own wisdom and to help others tap into their own skills, expertise and knowledge – a tremendous book, easy to read, simple to implement and worth many times its’ cover price – by Dorothy Leeds ISBN 04251 76592

11. “Over the Top” – inspiring guide on how to develop our own potential, including the use affirmations by world class speaker Zig Ziglar ISBN 084079112-7

12. “The Work We Were Born to Do” – an excellent step by step way to find out what you should be doing with your life with easy to follow plans by Nick Williams ISBN 1 86204 552 6

13. “How to Win Friends and Influence People” – a classic..maybe a little old fashioned in terms of presentation style but very good info and insights by Dale Carnegie ISBN 0-207-15879-7

14. “Do It” - an easy to read book full of very useful exercises with many great quotes and a good set of exercises by John Roger and Peter McWilliams ISBN 0 7225 2695 4

15. “Personality Plus” – a fascinating read that explains in simple detail about different styles and characteristics and how to read other people by Florence Littauer ISBN 080075445-X

16. “Games People Play” – this is the book to start you off on people’s actions and what the words and tone really mean that we use and hear every minute of the day by Eric Berne

17. “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus” - discover why Men & Women are different by John Gray ISBN 072252840-X

18. “Body Language” – understand how body communication is going on, whilst you are talking by Alan Pease ISBN 095936580-X

19. “Smart Moves” – an absolutely fascinating book on how our brain develops and how we should learn whilst moving. Page 82 must be read by all parents before talking to your children’s teachers by Carla Hanniford ISBN 0-915556-27-8

Building Businesses

20. “The E Myth Revisited” – an absolute necessity for anyone in business or starting a business to understand the different stages of growth and what to do about them by Michael Gerber ISBN 0 88730 728 0

21. “Good to Great” - an excellent easy read, based on a huge amount of market research carried out by 21 US business graduates about what people need to be that allows great companies to maintain their position over a long period of time. It identifies Level 5 as a critical leader characteristic - Jim Collins ISBN 0-7126-7609-0

22. “First Break all the Rules” – market research by Gallup Organisation that identified twelve questions that the best managers had to ask of their employees if they wanted to hire, motivate and keep the best people by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman ISBN 0-7432-1987-2

23. “Maverick” – a fascinating story of how Ricardo changed his fathers engineering business to make it a very successful democratic profitable business that got it through some very difficult economic times… a must to get management to think out of the box by someone who has done it and reaped incredible rewards by Ricardo Semler ISBN 0-7126-7866-7

24. “Time to Think” – a really excellent read with lots of very good ideas about how to “think” before you “do” and thus get better results. There is also a very good chapter on how to hold effective meetings, something we all need to improve by Nancy Kline ISBN 0-7063-7745-1

25. “NLP at Work” – comes from the very practical Nicholas Brealey range of business books and is informative, well presented, easy to read, good chapters on Rapport, Different Perceptions and Learning Triangles by Sue Knight ISBN 1-85788-070-6

26. “How to transform your company and enjoy it” – this needs to be read by everyone who produces anything…be it a product, a service, software, a bus service, trains because it serves to show what can be done with teams and kaizen by someone who has actually done it Ken Lewis ISBN 1-85252-222-4

27. “Business beyond the Box” – if you want to get your brain and those of your staff out of the known zone than invest in this and adopt the very practical suggestions and tips …written by someone who’s been there and done it John O’Keefe ISBN 1-8578-8213-X

28. “Getting to Yes” – a really useful set of practical hints, tips and techniques about how to negotiate without giving in ..extremely practical by Roger Fisher and William Ury ISBN 0-09-924842-5

Sales and Customer Service

29. “Selling with Integrity” - a revelation and revolution in how to match what your customer might want and what you are selling by facilitating and increasing your client’s knowledge by Sharon Drew Morgan ISBN 0-425-17156-6.

30. “Raving Fans” – a short easy read about giving incredible customer service, a must for people in the business of having and keeping customers by Ken Blanchard ISBN 0 00 653069 9

32.“Get Clients Now” – a classic book for all those people running businesses or about to set one up, as to how to market oneself - very practical, extremely well laid out and worth thousands of pounds in fees by C J Hayden ISBN 0-8144-7992-8

Team Building and Motivation

33.“Gung Ho” – a short easy read story that has a very simple message on how to motivate your staff to extraordinary heights by following the work ethic of the Squirrel, the teamwork of the Beaver and the supportive role of the Geese by Ken Blanchard

34.“Rhinocerous Success” – great little book about becoming a charger through life to success by Scott Alexander ISBN 1 – 872478-00-X

Wealth Creation

35. “Rich Dad Poor Dad” – brilliant book and should be read at school by everyone, headmaster down, on the financial solutions of life by Robert Kyosaki ISBN 096438561-9