Here are all my lists
- Books that blew me away and which I still think about a lot
- Books that have influenced me most, over the years
- Happiness and success list
- Books for new managers just starting out
- Sales books
Some good sales books are:
How To Be a Rainmaker – cheesy title but full of simple and practical tips
The One Minute Sales Person – better then the others in this variable series, in my opinion. It’s a great short summary of the sale process
Compelling Selling – a bit of a classic, can be hard to get nowadays
The inner game of selling – along with the inner game of tennis, and the inner game of work, this is a fascinating look at the process of selling
Influence, by Robert Cialdini – not strictly selling, but I LOVE this book – practical, and hilarious
The Referral Engine (Jantsch) – clever, quite advanced, about lead generation, funnels etc
Brian Tracy – The Psychology of Selling – he’s quite simply a god. Watch all his videos, and read this!
Books on Management:
Blanchard, K. & Johnson S., The One Minute Manager, (Fontana). Deceptively simple, and full of ideas that you can put into practice right away.Also: The One Minute Manager Meets The Monkey (co written by Bill Oncken) – an excellent guide to delegating
Carnegie, Dale, How to Win Friends and Influence People, (Cedar). Dated in places but still a classic. You’ve probably heard of it, but have you read it?
Covey, Stephen R., The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, (Simon & Schuster). A well-structured analysis of how to improve your relationships with yourself and others, made clear by many excellent stories and examples.
Gallwey, W. Timothy, The Inner Game of Tennis, (Pan). The book is about tennis and the human mind, and considers whether competition (beating other people) or mastery (the personal quest for improvement) can lead to satisfaction with tennis and with life in general.
James, M. and Jongeward, D., Born to Win, (Addison-Wesley). A readable and thorough guide to transactional analysis (how people interact and why) and psychological games players.
Jeffers, Susan, Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway, (Arrow). This book is about more than just courage; it is about the ability to control your own life, and about quality of life.
McCormack, Mark, What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School, (Fontana). Full of practical advice for anyone starting out as a manager.
MacKenzie, Gordon, Orbiting The Giant Hairball, (OpusPocus). A description of how the author managed to avoid being sucked into the bureaucracy and the accepted way of doing things (“the hairball”) and keep his originally and spirit.
Nicholson, John, How Do You Manage?, (BBC). Originally went with an equally good TV series on management, but still remains the best book I have found as a general introduction to all areas of management. Includes, teams, motivation, problem solving, negotiating, and self-development with plenty of useful checklists.
Ohmae, Kenichi, The Mind Of The Strategist, (McGraw Hill). If you want to know about strategy, markets, competitive forces, and how to plan long term then this book is easy to read and full of useful models.
Peck, M. Scott, The Road Less Travelled, (Hutchinson). This one book encompasses evolution, religion, the ultimate sin (read the book and find out what it is and why), and how to live a better life. And “Further Along The Road Less Travelled” is just as good!!
Senge, Peter, The Fifth Discipline, (Century). A fascinating book about organisations and how they learn, and how we are victims of the structure within which we operate – only by changing the underlying structure can we make progress.
Townsend, Robert, Further Up The Organisation, (Coronet). An exciting and dynamic book, which explodes many of the myths of management theory.
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- PS: My favourites of my OWN books – sorry but it HAD to be done!
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