Business, Leadership & Success:

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

A black swan is a highly improbable event with three principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an explanation that makes it appear less random, and more predictable, than it was. The astonishing success of Google was a black swan; so was 9/11. For Nassim Nicholas Taleb, black swans underlie almost everything about our world, from the rise of religions to events in our own personal lives.

Why do we not acknowledge the phenomenon of black swans until after they occur? Part of the answer, according to Taleb, is that humans are hardwired to learn specifics when they should be focused on generalities. We concentrate on things we already know and time and time again fail to take into consideration what we don’t know. We are, therefore, unable to truly estimate opportunities, too vulnerable to the impulse to simplify, narrate, and categorize, and not open enough to rewarding those who can imagine the “impossible.” For years, Taleb has studied how we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. We restrict our thinking to the irrelevant and inconsequential, while large events continue to surprise us and shape our world.

Elegant, startling, and universal in its applications The Black Swan will change the way you look at the world. Taleb is a vastly entertaining writer, with wit, irreverence, and unusual stories to tell. Part literary essayist, part empiricist, part no-nonsense mathematical trader, he is currently taking a break as Dean’s Professor in the Sciences of Uncertainty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His last book, the bestseller Fooled by Randomness, has been published in nineteen languages.

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Swan-Impact-Highly-Improbable/dp/1400063515/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-8741344-0745451?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196889958&sr=8-1

The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey and Rebecca R. Merrill

In the riveting style of The Tipping Point, Stephen M. R. Covey uncovers the overlooked and underestimated power of trust in a page-turning look into what he calls "the one thing that changes everything." A groundbreaking and paradigm-shifting book, The Speed of Trust challenges our age-old assumption that trust is merely a soft, social virtue and instead demonstrates that trust is a hard-edged, economic driver - a learnable and measurable skill that makes organizations more profitable, people more promotable, and relationships more energizing.

The former CEO of Covey Leadership Center (founded by his father, Dr. Stephen R. Covey), Covey draws on his experience leading a $100 million global enterprise operating in 40 countries to explain how trust can help you create unparalleled success and sustainable prosperity in every dimension of life. He reveals the 13 behaviors common to high-trust leaders and persuasively demonstrates actionable insights that will enable you to increase and inspire trust in all of your important relationships.

In this powerful book, Covey articulates why trust has become the key leadership competency of the new global economy. From a cross-cultural point of view, the caution here is that the cultural context and implications could be dramatically different, even though the fundamental principles are universal. He presents a road map to establish trust on every level, build character and competence, enhance credibility, and create leadership that inspires confidence. In an era marked by business scandals and a desire for accountability, Covey effectively reminds us that there is plenty of room for improvement on this virtue. BusinessWeek selected The Speed of Trust as one of the top 5 career books for 2006.

http://www.amazon.com/SPEED-Trust-Thing-Changes-Everything/dp/074329730X/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-4271167-7112700?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196889984&sr=1-2

The Corporation that Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational by Nick Robins

Historian Nick Robins' trenchant new history of The Corporation that Changed the World re-examines the world's most powerful corporation during the Age of the Enlightenment in terms of its shadow over the global economy of today. Founded in 1600, the East India Company was the forerunner of the modern multinational. Starting life as a trader in Asian spices, the Company ended its days running Britain's Indian empire. In the process, it shocked its contemporaries with the scale of its violence, corruption and speculation. War, famine, stock-market bubbles and even duels between rival executives are all to be found in this new account. For Robins, the Company's legacy provides compelling lessons on how to ensure the accountability of today's global business.

With a single-minded pursuit of personal and corporate gain, the company and its executives eventually achieved market dominance in Asia, ruling over large swathes of India for a profit and breaking open China’s economy. But the company also shocked its age with the scale of its executive malpractice, stock-market excess and human rights abuse. The parallels with today’s corporate leviathans soon became overpowering, with the East India Company outstripping Wal-Mart in terms of market power, Enron for corruption and Union Carbide for human devastation. Yet its bid for unbounded economic power was repeatedly met by individuals such as these who struggled to make it accountable.

Nick Robins works in the City of London, running socially responsible investment funds. A historian by training, he has nearly 20 years experience in corporate responsibility issues, and writes widely for magazines such as Resurgence, the New Statesman and Ethical Corporation. The Corporation that Changed the World is a must read for everyone who studies corporate power and structure.

http://www.amazon.com/Corporation-that-Changed-World-Multinational/dp/0745325238/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1681094-3559318?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196890033&sr=1-1

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman

The World Is Flat continues the franchise Thomas Friedman has made for himself as a great explicator of and cheerleader for globalization, building upon his earlier book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree. Like its predecessor, this book shares some of his earlier book’s excitement and hesitations about whether we’re still living in an era dominated by old-fashioned states or in a postmodern, globalized era where states matter far less and the principal engine of change is a leveled playing field for international trade.

Lively and provocative as always, Friedman returns with an updated thesis on globalization. Here he argues - in a swirl of anecdotes about software designers, intrepid entrepreneurs, globetrotting investors, and the famous telephone call centers in Bangalore, India - that globalization has reached a new stage. Now individuals, rather than governments or corporations, are the agents of change, empowered by e-mail, computers, teleconferencing, and production networks, all of which are drawing more and more people around the world into competition and cooperation on an equal footing. Friedman argues that the world is becoming flat, and his book is organized as a sort of travel guide to globalization, a kinetic portrait of the wired global village.

With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, award-winning New York Times columnist Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt. No matter your stance on the benefits or pitfalls of globalization, The World Is Flat is an important, thought-provoking book on globalization’s successes and discontents.

http://www.amazon.com/World-Flat-Updated-Expanded-Twenty-first/dp/0374292795/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-4277253-7186346?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196890064&sr=1-2

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

How do we make decisions - good and bad - and why are some people so much better at it than others? That's the question Malcolm Gladwell asks and answers in Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, the follow-up to his huge bestseller, The Tipping Point. Utilizing case studies as diverse as speed dating, pop music, and the shooting of Amadou Diallo, Gladwell reveals that what we think of as decisions made in the blink of an eye are much more complicated than assumed. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, he shows how the difference between good decision-making and bad has nothing to do with how much information we can process quickly, but on the few particular details on which we focus.

Blink is about the first two seconds of looking - the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell builds his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers. He persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious" - a 24/7 mental valet - that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea.

Leaping boldly from example to example, displaying all of the brilliance that made The Tipping Point a classic, Gladwell reveals how we can become better decision makers--in our homes, our offices, and in everyday life. The result is a book that is surprising and transforming. Never again will you think about thinking the same way.

http://www.amazon.com/Blink-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/0316010669/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4139738-4827210?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196890097&sr=1-1

Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story by Kurt Eichenwald

It was the corporate collapse that appeared to come out of nowhere. In late 2001, the Enron Corporation - a darling of the financial world, a company whose executives were friends of presidents and the powerful - imploded virtually overnight, leaving vast wreckage in its wake and sparking a criminal investigation that would last for years. With Conspiracy of Fools, Kurt Eichenwald takes readers behind every closed door - from the Oval Office to the executive suites, from the highest reaches of the Justice Department to the homes and bedrooms of the top officers. It is a tale of global reach - from Houston to Washington, from Bombay to London, from Munich to Sao Paolo - laying out the unbelievable scenes that twisted together to create this shocking true story. Eichenwald reveals never-disclosed details of a story that features a cast including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul O'Neill, Harvey Pitt, Colin Powell, Gray Davis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alan Greenspan, Ken Lay, Andy Fastow, Jeff Skilling, Bill Clinton, Rupert Murdoch, and Sumner Redstone.

Anyone who works for a large corporation will recognize this cast of characters; the over paid CEO (Ken Lay) who does not sweat the details and is more of a press the flesh relationship builder; the COO (Jeff Skilling) who is over his head and can’t ask the right questions; the under qualified CFO (Andrew Fastow) who is both a crook and incompetent; and the real villain of the piece, the Board of Directors who voted to let Fastow get away with breaking corporate conflict of interest rules.

Eichenwald, a reporter for The New York Times, is becoming known not just for his strong newspaper reporting, which has won him two Polk Awards, but for turning stories of corporate crime into books that read something like John Grisham novels. Readers looking for a fact-filled companion to one of the all-time greatest Ponzi schemes will find everything they're expecting here in Conspiracy of Fools, along with compelling prose and remarkable insights.

http://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-Fools-Story-Kurt-Eichenwald/dp/0767911792/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-2303036-5948007?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196890131&sr=1-1

Mexifornia: A State of Becoming by Victor Davis Hanson

"Massive illegal immigration from Mexico into California," Victor Davis Hanson writes, "coupled with a loss of con­fidence in the old melting pot model of transforming newcomers into Americans, is changing the very nature of state. Yet we Californians have been inadequate in meeting this challenge, both failing to control our borders with Mexico and to integrate the new-alien population into our mainstream."

A large part of the problem, Hanson believes, comes from the opportunistic coalition that stymies immigration reform and, even worse, stifles an hon­est discussion of a growing problem. Conservative corporations, contractors, and agribusiness demand cheap wage labor from Mexico, whatever the social consequences. Meanwhile, progressive academics, journalists, and government bureaucrats envision illegal aliens as a vast new political constituency for those committed to the notion that victimhood, not citizenship, is the key to advancement.

Part history, part political analysis, and part memoir, Mexifornia is an intensely personal look at what has changed in California over the last quarter century. In this case, however, Hanson's focus is on how California, the Southwest, and indeed the entire nation, have been affected by America's hemorrhaging borders and how those hurt worst are the Mexican immigrants themselves. The problems Hanson identifies may have reached critical mass in California, but they affect Americans who inhabit "Mexizona," "Mexichusetts" and other states of becoming. Hanson's Mexifornia is that rare book that combines scholarship with personal experience to provide genuine insight into a complex issue.

http://www.amazon.com/Mexifornia-Becoming-Victor-Davis-Hanson/dp/1594032173/ref=sr_1_1/102-3949693-0364941?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196890159&sr=1-1

Leadership by Rudolph W. Giuliani and Ken Kurson

Writing in his familiar voice - a New Yorker's bluntness, leavened by his passion for ideas - Rudy Giuliani demonstrates in Leadership how the leadership skills he practices can be employed successfully by anyone who has to run anything. After all, until the September 11^th attacks on the World Trade Center pushed him into an unwanted role in history, Giuliani was only months away from leaving office with a reputation as one of the most effective mayors New York had ever seen.

Having inherited a city ravaged by crime and crippled in its ability to serve its citizens, Giuliani shows how he found that every aspect of his career up to that point - from clerking for the formidable judge who demanded excellence to busting organized crime during his years as a federal attorney - shaped his thinking about leadership and prepared him for the daunting challenges ahead. In detailing his principles of leadership, Giuliani tells captivating stories that are personal as well as prescriptive: how he learned the importance of staying calm in the face of attack from his father's boxing lessons - as well as the need to-stand up to bullies; how a love of reading was instilled in him by his mother and grew into a determination to master new subjects and not rely on only the word of experts; how, in his recent fight with prostate cancer, learning to make decisions at the right time and with the right information reflected decision­-making on a larger scale.

A leader must develop strong beliefs, and be held accountable for the results - principles he illustrates with candor and courage throughout the pages of this important and timely book. Giuliani never knew that the qualities he describes would be put to the awful test of September 11^th, he says, but he never doubted that they would prevail.

http://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Rudolph-W-Giuliani/dp/0756794587/ref=sr_1_1/104-3573755-3768703?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196890190&sr=1-1

Power Plays: Win or Lose - How History’s Great Political Leaders Play the Game by Dick Morris

In Power Plays, former Clinton advisor and Fox News Channel political analyst Dick Morris has written an instant political and historical classic for the early 21^st century that mirrors and duplicates the energy and quality of an instant political and historical classic of the late 20th century. But Morris doesn't offer sleep­-inducing stuff: he provides clear-cut, highly lively, quote-filled and painstaking-researched examples of powerful politicos in the US and in other countries who succeeded in using, or failed because they failed to use, these kinds of power plays.

Casting an eye across the annals of history, Morris investigates 20 of the most dramatic political moves of all time - from the wildly, effective to the disastrous. From Abraham Lincoln splitting the opposition over slavery, to Winston Churchill's emergence from obscurity to lead Britain through WWII; from Ronald Reagan and his conservative doctrine taking over the country, to George W. Bush co-opting Democratic issues under the banner of "compassionate conservatism" - Morris illuminates these and many other gambits through his uniquely, insightful perspective. Equally, compelling on successes and failures of the past - including the real reason AI Gore lost in 2000.

Even a person who finds politics and history a bit dull will find it hard to put this book down. Power Plays moves and delivers. Lucidly and convincingly, Morris outlines what he calls the classic kinds of Power Plays: Stand on Principal, Divide and Conquer, Triangulate (enacting some of your opponents programs so they don't have ammunition. while still delivering to your supporters), Reform Your Own Party, Use a New Technology, and Mobilizing the Nation in Times of Crisis.

http://www.amazon.com/Power-Plays-Lose-How-Historys-Political/dp/0060004444/ref=sr_1_2/102-3410040-0641763?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196890253&sr=1-2

Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David S. Landes

David S. Landis tells the long, fascinating story of wealth and power throughout the world: the creation of wealth, the paths of winners and losers, the rise and fall of nations. He studies history as a process, attempting to understand how the world's cultures lead to - or retard - economic and military success and material achievement. Countries of the West, Landes asserts, prospered early through the interplay of vital, open society focused on work and knowledge, which led to increased productiv­ity, the creation of new technologies, and the pursuit of change.

Europe's key advantage lay in invention and know-how, as applied in war, transportation, generation of power, and skill in metal­ work. Even such now banal inventions as eyeglasses and the clock were in their day powerful levers that tipped the balance of world economic power.

Today's new economic winners are following much the same roads to power, while the laggards have somehow failed to duplicate this crucial formula for success. The key to relieving much of the world's poverty lies in understanding the lessons history has to teach us - lessons uniquely imparted in this towering work of history.

http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Poverty-Nations-Some-Rich/dp/0393318885/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1058018-6782328?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196890279&sr=1-1

House of Rothschild: The World's Banker, 1849-1999 by Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson's House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets 1798-1848 was hailed as "definitive" by The New York Times, a "great biography" by Time magazine, and was named one of the Ten Best Books of 1998 by Business Week. Now, Ferguson concludes his myth - a brilliant portrait of one of the most powerful families of modern times at the zenith of its power.

From Crimea to World War II, wars repeated, threatened the stability of the Rothchild’s worldwide financial empire. Despite these upheavals, theirs remained the biggest bank in the world up until the First World War. Yet the Rothschild's failure to establish themselves successfully, in the United States proved fateful, and as financial power shifted from London to New York after 1914, their power waned.

At once a classic family saga and major work of economic, social and political history. The House of Rothchild is the riveting story of an unparalleled dynasty.

http://www.amazon.com/House-Rothschild-Worlds-Banker-1849-1999/dp/0140286624/ref=sr_1_2/102-8146899-5779302?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196890307&sr=1-2

The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Truth about Wealth in America by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko

Thomas Stanley and William Danko are professors of sociology who have made studying wealthy Americans their specialty. They have performed extensive statistical research to profile who wealthy Americans are, how they acquired their wealth, how they live, and how their families function. Contrary to the belief of many people who believe most wealth is inherited and "you can’t make it in America today," 80 percent of America’s millionaires are first-generation rich. Anyone can accumulate wealth, if they are disciplined enough, determined to persevere, and have the merest of luck.

The Millionaire Next Door summarizes findings from their research into the key characteristics that explain how the elite club of millionaires became "wealthy." Focusing on those with a net worth of at least $1 million, their surprising results reveal fundamental qualities of this group that are diametrically opposed to today's earn-and-consume culture, including living below their means, allocating funds efficiently in ways that build wealth, ignoring conspicuous consumption, being proficient in targeting marketing opportunities, and choosing the "right" occupation. Readers learn the seven common denominators that show up among people who have built their personal fortunes from scratch.

In this phenomenal number one bestseller, Stanley and Danko reveal surprising secrets about America's millionaires—and provide a valuable blueprint for improving anyone's financial health. They expose for the first time how ordinary Americans get and stay rich without inheritance, advanced degrees, or lottery jackpots. They show how wealth takes sacrifice, discipline, and hard work, qualities that are discouraged by our high-consumption society. The Millionaire Next Door is one of the most important books published on the subject of personal finance. "You aren't what you drive," admonish the authors. Somewhere, Benjamin Franklin is smiling.

http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Thomas-Stanley/dp/0671775308/ref=sr_1_2/102-9170452-6715307?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196890339&sr=1-2

Silicon Gold Rush: The Next Generation of High-Tech Stars Rewrites the Rules of Business by Karen Southwick

The fortunes generated by America's technology companies have created tremendous pressure to generate more fortunes. These financial windfalls have resulted from efforts to identify markets that haven't yet been served, create products for those markets, build a dominant position, and then maintain that market share by continually improving the original product while also pursuing new avenues of enrichment. Silicon Gold Rush looks at this new business model and the management style that makes it possible. Gone is hierarchical management. If a new idea can't be implemented until it's gone up a ladder of managers and committees, then there's no point in bothering; a competitor with less bureaucracy will beat you to the market with something similar.

Besides flattening out management structures, high-tech companies have also created an entirely new take on employee relations. The engineer or programmer or salesperson walking out the door at the end of the day carries the future of the business in his or her head. Give that person a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum, and in a wink, he or she is working for your competitor. Karen Southwick presents this new business paradigm in plain English, attaching useful examples of how real companies deal with these issues.

Along with an overview of the high-tech environment, Southwick delivers in-depth coverage of the changing role of the high-tech CEO, the growing importance of the customer in the development and marketing processes of technology companies, the essentials of internal corporate organization, and the increasing frequency of mergers and alliances. A one-of-a-kind book that delves into the management ideas and strategies of high-tech leaders who are rewriting the rules of business, Silicon Gold Rush is essential reading for anyone seeking the inside track on contemporary business transformations.

http://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Gold-Rush-Generation-High-Tech/dp/0471246468/ref=sr_1_1/103-2185848-2163853?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196890411&sr=1-1

The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization by Thomas L. Friedman

As the Foreign Affairs columnist for The New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman has traveled the globe, interviewing people from all walks of contemporary life: Brazilian peasants in the Amazon rain forest, new entrepreneurs in Indonesia, Islamic students in Teheran, and the financial wizards on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley. Friedman has drawn on his years on the road to produce an engrossing and original look at globalization. Globalization is the international system that replaced the Cold War system; the new, well-greased, interconnected system: Globalization is the integration of capital, technology, and information across national borders, in a way that is creating a single global market and, to some degree, a global village.

With vivid stories and a set of original terms and concepts, Friedman offers readers remarkable access to his unique understanding of this new world order, and shows us how to see this new system. He dramatizes the conflict of "the Lexus and the olive tree" - the tension between the globalization system and ancient forces of culture, geography, tradition, and community. He also details the powerful backlash that globalization produces among those who feel brutalized by it, and he spells out what we all need to do to keep the system in balance.

From one of our most perceptive commentators and winner of the National Book Award, The Lexus and the Olive Tree is a comprehensive look at the new world of globalization, the international system that, more than anything else, is shaping world affairs today. Finding the proper balance between the Lexus and the olive tree is the great drama of the globalization era, and the ultimate theme of Friedman's challenging, provocative book - essential reading for all who care about how the world really works.

http://www.amazon.com/Lexus-Olive-Tree-Revised-Understanding/dp/0374185522/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-0105724-5582232?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196890439&sr=1-1

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

The most famous book on politics ever written. The Prince remains as lively and shocking today as when it was written almost five hundred years ago. Initially denounced as a collection of sinister maxims and a recommendation of tyranny, it has more recently been defended and indeed applauded as the first scientific treatment of politics as it is practiced rather than as it ought to be practiced. A masterpiece of effective prose. The Prince is at once comic and formidable, imaginative and calculating, fascinating and chilling. Its influence in modern history has been profound and often considered to be the first modern book. It was surely a primary text for the modern philosophers who challenged the traditions of ancient and medieval thought and morality.

Since The Prince was first published in 1532, the buzz around Machiavelli has really never died down. Machiavelli's matter of fact instruction that rulers must be prepared to lie, cheat, and steal to hang on to their thrones, all the while acting the part of the benevolent leader has not lost its razor edge. Even in this era of cynicism, Machiavelli's view of humanity as greedy and self-seeking or stupid and easily tricked still seems remarkably dark and to some, remarkably relevant. Machiavelli excites so much passion because his work divides readers into two hostile camps: those who admire his clear-sighted pragmatism and those who are repelled by his casual amorality.

http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Niccolo-Machiavelli/dp/0872203174/ref=ed_oe_h/002-7863288-7969653