5 Career Books You Need to Read ASAP

5 Career Books You Need to Read ASAP5 Career Books You Need to Read ASAP Crafting a list of must-read books is like nailing Jell-O to the wall. Everyone has an opinion authors, experts, pontificators. I spoke with geschftlicher umgang leaders, read blogs, opinion pieces and reviews. The following are in no particular order and are varied in message and purpose, speaking to different needs selling, managing, innovating. Each have core takeaways, but they are bedrngnis what one bookseller called postcard books books whose message could be written in one sentence on a postcard.Each deserves its own full read, and has tangible application whether youre a senior manager, C-suite exec or an eager employee. Whether you tuck up on your couch with a cup of tea or download the audio version, here are my top 5 must reads right now.Though Peter Drucker has written a number of important books, including The Concept of the Corporation, this collection of his articles and essays written for the Harvard Business Review is a great starting place for anyone eager to understand the business world. Most readers are looking for specific topics they need to effectively engage in their chosen occupation. This collection offers a variety of those issues in one volume.Druckers thoughts on knowledge work and knowledge workers, make clear the need for both understanding of whats going on inside an organization as well as the events and conditions outside a business. His chapters on The Effective Decision is particularly helpful, including a list of sequential steps to the final result. Read this book not only for the specifics of management but for his cogent comments on the larger economic and geo-political context of business.Jim Collins work was the fruchtwein often mentioned by executives as a must read. Studying the companies that went from average (or even below-average) to great, Collins came up with two interesting conclusions. He writes that the average companies prepared for greatness by promoting leaders who ambitious, but not for themselves. They were consumed with the larger success of the company and their teams. These same leaders encouraged employees to voice their opinions and take responsibility. Most famous is Collins Hedgehog Concept which you will often hear referenced at conferences and meetings. He turns the Greek fable of the Hedgehog and Fox into a lesson for commercial endeavors. While the fox knows many things, the hedgehog knows only one thing. Great businesses concentrate on what they are passionate about, what they are best in the world at and understand clearly what drives their economic engine. They know only what drives their economic engine. His advice is essentially to determine your single course and build momentum toward the great.When General McChrystal took over the Joint Special Operations Task Force in 2004,the fight against terrorists was failing despite greater numbers in men and equipment. Al Q aedas decentralized network maneuvered quickly, struck like lightening, then vanished into the local population. They were beating the tar out of the greatest army on earth.McChrystal writes about throwing out hundreds of years of conventional warfare. They developed a network that combined transparent communication with decentralized decision-making authority. The walls between silos were torn down. Leaders looked at the best practices of the smallest units and found ways to extend them to thousands by using technology to establish a team of teams- faster, flatter, more flexible- and beat back Al Qaeda.This is of all the books recommended is the fastest moving, most dramatic, but it lives up to its purpose as a solid corporate manual. The General demonstrates that the lessons learned by the US armed forces can be applied to making businesses more successful. Its a strong case study.If Silicon Valley were to declare a patron saint it would be Andy Grove, the revered co-founder of In tel. His book High Input Management is a must read in the Valley , but Only the Paranoid Survive is just as important. It may be the best book you can find on crises management and even more importantly, how to identify a crisis. His idea about signal vs noise is important. Is the problem or challenge just a blip on the radar or the real deal? He frankly discusses Intels own failures to recognize real crisis.Its his straightforward point of view that makes this book invaluable. Always look over your shoulder is his advice and be ready to act if necessary. Complacency, particularly in the current volatile climate, is the enemy. He points to lessons learned by the computer industry as it switched from a vertical market to horizontal. Those that didnt accommodate change were left behind. Read and heed.Malcolm Gladwells work is not about business per se, but then again, its all about business in its own way. This is a big idea book that could inform almost any commercial endeavor. Gl adwell explains how social movements can be like infectious disease. What is the tipping point that makes smoking anathema? How does a product or idea become viral? How do you start and sustain a social epidemic so that your business grows along with the movement? You may have heard someone referred to as a maven or connector. These terms come from The Tipping Point. Understanding the role of those character types will help anyone interested in sales. Published in 2000, the research and examples Gladwell provides are even more important now, as so many of our social epidemics are started on and sustained by social media. These are the underlying ideas of current industry practices.