{"id":1264,"date":"2010-09-07T19:32:22","date_gmt":"2010-09-07T19:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/?p=1264"},"modified":"2010-09-09T21:11:55","modified_gmt":"2010-09-09T21:11:55","slug":"5-standouts-for-a-business-read-mashup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/5-standouts-for-a-business-read-mashup\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Standouts for a Business-Read Mashup"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our rapid-fire, digital generation, content comes to us\u2014faster and from more sources than ever before. Regardless of its origin\u2014Twitter, Google Reader, The Wall Street Journal, or your favorite blog\u2014information is still king and great books are still treasures. Whether you\u2019re a Gen Y in your first job, an On-Ramper who\u2019s re-entering the workforce after raising children, or an executive in high gear, these five literary and corporate standouts will challenge your thinking and drive your differentiation.<\/p>\n

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  1. Capitalizing on Complexity, Insights from the Global Chief Executive Officer Study<\/a> 2010 by IBM is a compilation of 1,500 face-to-face conversations with chief executive officers worldwide. Rare insight into \u201cthe world as they see it and, ultimately, what sets the highest-performing enterprises apart,\u201d IBM\u2019s CEO portfolio is a game changer. Examining strategy process, decision style, and leveraging the information explosion are explained in detail and interspersed with case studies. \u201cThe world\u2019s public and private sector leaders believe that a rapid escalation of complexity is the biggest challenge facing them\u2026.And they identify \u2018creativity\u2019 as the single most important leadership competency\u201d for businesses navigating through these unprecedented, first of their-kind experiences.<\/li>\n
  2. Woe Is I, the Grammarphobe\u2019s Guide to Better English in Plain English<\/a> by Patricia T. O\u2019Conner. An excellent resource for those who still have no idea when to use who or whom, its or it\u2019s. In the \u201cDepartment of Hot Air,\u201d she notes we don\u2019t \u201cdialogue\u201d or \u201cinterface\u201d with people, we talk and work together. And it\u2019s perfectly acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition. The first grammar book you\u2019ll really enjoy reading, O\u2019Conner\u2019s witty style distills the strength of powerful language.<\/li>\n
  3. Economic Facts and Fallacies<\/a> by Thomas Sowell. Running a business or leading a company team demands a working knowledge of basic economics and a healthy dose of curiosity to question convention. Sifting facts from rhetoric, before investing in or projecting business changes, is a critical enterprise skill. In a 24\/7 news cycle, it\u2019s tempting to accept the trending topics on Twitter as facts, as opposed to sentiment, opinions, or observations. Sowell presents the facts surrounding several generally accepted truths like foreign aid, urban sprawl, incomes, social mobility, and the middle class. \u201cSubjecting beliefs to the test of hard facts is especially important when it comes to economic beliefs because economic realities are inescapable limitations on millions of peoples\u2019 lives.\u201d Fact-checking and truth-finding may be tedious and unglamorous, but necessary to fill the data gaps and to help us make the most informed decisions.<\/li>\n
  4. April 1865<\/a> by Jay Winik. A chronicle of the last 30 days of the Civil War, Winik\u2019s storytelling gift is masterful in spite of his 451 pages. Words like redoubtable, redolent, and brevetted are a refreshing change for the unsuspecting reader. Understanding the three hours at the McLean house in Appomattox, the generals and soldiers leading in battle, the country\u2019s emotional pulse and clash of passions, and the potential for failure as a nation helps clarify current definitions of crisis. The final chapter titled \u201cEpilogue, To Make a Nation,\u201d is a prized reveal of American manufacturing, innovation, and invention: \u201cOn a quiet farm in Dearborn, Michigan, William Ford, who had avoided the war, was indulging his pride and joy, his two-year-old son Henry. With 90 acres, a handsome two-story house surrounded by evergreens, a pear tree, an apple orchard, and a large willow, the father felt the life of the prosperous, self-sufficient farmer was the American dream. But William would soon become deeply disappointed with his son, young Henry\u2019s attention span repeatedly wandered\u2026. \u2018Henry\u2019s not much of a farmer, he\u2019s a tinkerer,\u2019 his father sadly concluded.\u201d Henry Ford was in good company with other captains of invention and industry including Thomas Alva Edison, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie.<\/li>\n
  5. How to Win Friends & Influence People <\/a>by Dale Carnegie is chockfull of practicalities on winning arguments, becoming a good conversationalist, changing people without giving offense, and practicing encouragement. \u201cEvery minister, lecturer, and public speaker knows the discouragement of pouring himself or herself out to an audience and not receiving a single ripple of appreciative comment. What applies to professionals applies doubly to workers in offices, shops, and factories and to family and friends. In our interpersonal relations, we should never forget that all our associates are human beings and hunger for appreciation. It is the legal tender that all souls enjoy.\u201d To enrich your soft skills, make this book a loyal friend.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Free enterprise, English, economics, history, and good manners: Never underestimate the Return on Information of a great read.<\/p>\n

    Anne D Gallaher<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In our rapid-fire, digital generation, content comes to us\u2014faster and from more sources than ever before. Regardless of its origin\u2014Twitter, Google Reader, The Wall Street Journal, or your favorite blog\u2014information is still king and great books are still treasures. Whether you\u2019re a Gen Y in your first job, an On-Ramper who\u2019s re-entering the workforce after … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,60],"tags":[664,394,667,669,668,666,665],"class_list":["post-1264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-annedgallaher","tag-books","tag-business","tag-economics","tag-free-enterprise","tag-history","tag-manners","tag-mashup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1264"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1284,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions\/1284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thesocialcmo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}