Sunday, July 22, 2012

What are you reading? Keep it short and simple

"How come THAT idiot's rich and I'm Not?" is an interesting business book that reiterates the basic principles we often ignore. The author, Robert Shemin, draws from life experiences to point out the "how" of wealth creation and sustenance. You'll love the quotes and "callouts"in all the twelve chapters! But you won't get mega-rich by merely reading the book :-) ACT, he says. You have to apply these principles wisely.


Another book that will leave you feeling better off and more empowered is "Aesop and the CEO." In this book, David Noonan shares different Aesop fables and gives their business perspective- ancient wisdom applies to today's world! I totally love how he punctuated the flow in the book with real life examples. The lessons in the book are categorized to keep things in perspective- from Rewards and Incentives to Management and Leadership, to Effective management and leadership, to Business strategies that worked and failed to Human Resource- on hire or fire, coping with a difficult boss who wants to have you for lunch :-).

It does not matter what field you belong, you'll find the content in this book applicable to your work and personal life! When the book was first recommended for our "Brand Management" class, I was like, "what"? But truth be told, there is definiltely a lot in there on brand management. If you are into Marketing and services, you have an interesting pool of wisdom to draw from in the book as well!

"Aesop and the CEO" is what I now call the little red book on managerial wisdom. I hope more managers, budding managers, entrepreneurs and employees read it! It is a tiny book you can read in one sitting but I'll recommend you read, chew on each lesson before moving to the next :-)

In few weeks, I'll be reviewing Brian Kurth's "Test-Drive Your Dream Job" for Readers-Response Journal. But here is a paragraph that jumped out at me while flipping through the pages recently:

"You know- if you 're considering a dream job- that the push toward a dream career is not just about how you spend your working hours. It's about meshing your work like with your deepest sense of self. It's about having work that matches your values, that feeds instead of exhaust you, that doesn't require you to leave your priorities at home and check your heart at the door. When we imagine a dream job, we imagine a job in which we are fully ourselves, in which our hearts and minds are equally engaged."
Aha! :-)