A Compact Book List for the Young Business Professional

Who holds your business together? Hopefully it's you. No matter where you work, what type of team you're on, and what type of environment you're in, you'll find one person who leads from within. Sometimes a complex piece of machinery is held together by just one small metal pin. Frankly, we all have a shot at being the LINCHPIN.

Seth Godin explains the meaning of a LINCHPIN and why you need to be one. I found that this was especially helpful as a team member and not managment.


Complimentary book: Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager

When was the last time you saw a purple cow? The answer is every day. If you're on the Interwebs for more than 30 seconds then you've seen something amazing, outlandish, or just plain extraordinary. Think about the coolest new shirt or the best new song, both of which were purple cows. They went above and beyond the norm. They're both entities that are within normal standards of our lives, but for whatever reason, they stood out among the crowd. What are you doing to stand out of the crowd? Seth Godin will give you an idea. This should be a mandatory read for any project manager, mid-level manager, marketing manager, or entry level employee.

Complimentary book: The Dip

Quitters can prosper if you know what you're doing. Seth Godin takes the black sheep of marketing approach to understanding when to quit and when to persevere through The Dip. What does it mean to string the beginning and ends together when the middle is so tough to articulate? Find out by reading The Dip.

Interestingly, this book makes even more sense after having read Ken Blanchard's book, "Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager." If you can grasp the development model, then learning how to articulate the dip becomes a heck of a lot easier (and quitting for that matter).

Complimentary book: Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager

We learn from history. We learn from experience... and mistakes, and a myriad of other concepts. Napolean Hill was comissioned to conduct research on hignly successful individuals to uncover the secrets of achievement. What he found while interviewing the likes of Henry Ford, William Wrigley, Jr., Alexander Graham Bell, and John D. Rockefeller was that there are very common concepts involved including the power of Positive Mental Attitude, means of perserverance, and their abilities to understand their business.

This book is best read, re-read, and internalized.

Complimentary book: The Dip

Marketing can be a funny thing. Or it can be a fun thing. As reviewed by hundreds of business professionals including big personalities like Dave Ramsey (The Dave Ramsey Show, The Total Money Makeover, daveramsey.com, et al), Seth Godin, and others, Guerrilla Marketing is a pretty simple concept: bootstrapping in the business place of marketing.

Guerrilla Marketing is utilizing our brains rather than our money to promote our business. It's a matter of putting together a strategy of uncovential means to promote - think local garage band promoter. Stickers, fliers, posters, and without a doubt, a myriad of Internet strategies for the 21st century. Sometimes it takes a complex mind to harness the power of efficacious but simple ideas in one place - J. Conrad Levinson does just that. This is a MUST buy for any entreprenuer and corporate project manager alike.

The Ken Blanchard Company takes the One Minute Manager to the non-management employee. Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager(SLOMM) describes a number of concepts that restrict an employee from flourishing in their current position, but most importantly, gives the employee the tools to excel in any job. You'll also learn the language of the development model. Are you D1, D2, D3, or D4 at the tasks of your job? You'll find out when you learn to self-diagnose your abilities and learn to create a development plan with your direct manager.

Complimentary book: LINCHPIN

Dan Miller is an expert in the field of doing what you love, especially considering he gave up what most people would consider a "day job" for a job that fulfills him as a person and displays his calling. How do you feel about the work you do on a day-to-day basis? Do you come home feeling fulfilled and satisfied? Do you come home and crash on the couch, dreading what tomorrow's work brings? Read Dan's book to find out what it takes to discover your calling. You don't have to settle in the work you do.


Complimentary book: Think and Grow Rich

Dr. Stanley has answered questions that most of us never thought to ask. What's the average home value of the average millionaire? What kind of car does the average millionaire drive? What will a millionaire splurge on when shopping for clothes? What's the most an average millionaire will spend on a bottle of wine? All these answers will give you a realitiy check for the next time you feel you need an Armani suit for your entry-level sales job interview. Think again!

If you need a bit of a kick in the pants, this is the book for you. Sometimes, especially as salespeople, we need to hear the obvious stated in a new way and that's exactly what Gitomer does in the The Little Red Book of Selling. All concepts are very well laid out and how-to's defined, though it's mostly a book of "why people buy" and less of "how to sell." You're seriously missing out if you've not read this book. And it's cheap.

I have to be honest and tell you that there's no explanation needed. That given, there are a number of variations on The Art of War but really, you only need one. If you need to read the Art of War for Business, I may dare say you've got to work on your imagination. Give this one some attention.