Books

Here is a list of the books I most commonly recommend or refer back to often.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

This is the book where it all began for me. The first chapter of this book has had a long and lasting effect on me. I was a ‘paradigm shift’ in the form he discusses.

It is interesting reading it again to see how many themes I think are new to me now, are actually covered.

The Art of Action: How Leaders Close the Gaps between Plans, Actions, and Results by Stephen Bungay

If the Seven Habits as the start of my interest in non-fiction reading, then this book was the beginning of my current reading obsession. Even though my Kindle library has a couple of other books earlier in the list.

This book discusses the evolution of the Prussian army and the reasoning behind the changes made. These changes became the model for the modern army and there are many parallels for the business world.

Specifically if you have ever used the quote “No plan survives contact with the enemy”, by Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, then this book is for you.

Specifically I often use the Back brief template that Bungay documents towards the end of the book. The following post, How to Make the Most of Your Company’s Strategy, discusses the back brief in some detail. However it really does help to have the book as background.

How to Make Sense of Any Mess: Information Architecture for Everybody by Abby Covert