We've also heard a lot about change, lately. Below I list 5 books that changed my perspective on something; not all have a business angle, but each does have something universal to offer readers.

1. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, 1st edition

If you're discouraged by the dark cloud of political rhetoric that has settled over the U.S. for the past, oh, two years, I recommend reading Whitman's introduction to Leaves of Grass as a reminder of why we should care so deeply about our country and government:

"...but the genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives or legislature, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges or churches or parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors...but always most in the common people. Their manners speech dress friendships--the freshness and candor of their physiognomy--the picturesque looseness of their carriage...their deathless attachment to freedom--their aversion to anything indecorous or soft or mean [...] their delight in music [...] their good temper and openhandedness--the terrible significance of their elections--the President's taking off his hat to them and not they to him--these too are unrhymed poetry. It awaits the gigantic and generous treatment worthy of it."

2. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience by Yi-Fu Tuan.

This is an incredibly accessible and enjoyable book about the cultural significance of geography and physical orientation. Tuan explores the ways people have historically made sense of their surroundings. For instance, he examines why we form attachment to "home," how time affects our sense of space, and why certain cross-cultural similarities exist among groups that have had no exposure to the habits and values of others (e.g., our proximity to others, or the prominence of right-handedness). I read this book as part of a grad school project on "sense of place" in virtual environments, and it has changed the ways I perceive the space around me and my values with regard to architecture and place.

"What sensory organs and experiences enable human beings to have their strong feeling for space and for spatial qualities? Answer: kinesthesia, sight, and touch. Movements such as the simple ability to kick one's legs and stretch one's arms are basic to the awareness of space. [...] Space assumes a rough coordinate frame centered on the mobile and purposive self. [...] Purposive movement and perception, both visual and haptic, give human beings their familiar world of disparate objects in space. Place is a special kind of object. It is a concentration of value, though not a valued thing that can be handled or carried about easily; it is an object in which one can dwell."

3. Emergence: Labeled Autistic by Temple Grandin

Reading Emergence was like a thousand light bulbs turning on in my world. I grew up with a mentally disabled family member, but until I read Temple Grandin's words about what it felt like to be overwhelmed by her existence, I did not fully appreciate the complexities of the minds around me. Grandin has also contributed greatly to our understanding of the animal world, and has worked as a scientist to develop more humane ways of interacting with animals.

"But as a child, the "people world" was often too stimulating to my senses. Ordinary days with a change in schedule or unexpected events threw me into a frenzy, but Thanksgiving or Christmas was even worse. At those times our home bulged with relatives. The clamor of many voices, the different smells--perfume, cigars, damp wool caps or gloves--people moving about at different speeds, going in different directions, the constant noise and confusion, the constant touching, were overwhelming. One very, very overweight aunt, who was generous and caring, let me use her professional oil paints. I liked her. Still, when she hugged me, I was totally engulfed and I panicked. [...] I withdrew because her abundant affection overwhelmed my nervous system."

4. Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi

Of the few voices we have from this dark period in our world history, Primo Levi's is perhaps the most renowned and penetrating. Survival in Auschwitz is his memoir of the 10 months he spent in the death camp. He details the subcultures that develop within even the most degrading of circumstances, reflects on our instincts and desire to overcome in the face of utter hopelessness, and creates an arresting, almost visceral reading experience that helped me understand, in my sheltered experience, what millions of people endured through no fault of their own.

"If we were logical, we would resign ourselves to the evidence that our fate is beyond knowledge, that every conjecture is arbitrary and demonstrably devoid of foundation. But men are rarely logical when their own fate is at stake; on every occasion, they prefer the extreme positions. According to our character, some of us are immediately convinced that all is lost, that one cannot live here, that the end is near and sure; others are convinced that however hard the present life may be, salvation is probable and not far off, and if we have faith and strength, we will see our houses and our dear ones again. The two classes of pessimists and optimists are not so clearly defined, however, not because there are many agnostics, but because the majority, without memory or coherence, drift between the two extremes, according to the moment and the mood of the person they happen to meet."

5. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

I know we give the Heath brothers a lot of love here at 800-CEO-READ, but I hope that my selection demonstrates the transformative nature this recent business book can have on the way you do your work. As a relative newcomer to the world of business books, Made to Stick will forever stick (no pun intended) in my mind as one of the first and most influential business books I have read on communication. I can't tell you how many times we referenced ideas from Made to Stick while working on The 100 Best. And while we recognize that the book borrows definitions and terms from other places (most notably, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell), Made to Stick is the only one that lays out a practical and useful way of putting these ideas to work.

"No special expertise is needed to apply these principles. There are no licensed stickologists. Moreover, many of the principles have a commonsense ring to them: Didn't most of us already have the intuition that we should "be simple" and "use stories"? It's not as though there's a powerful constituency for overcomplicated, lifeless prose. But wait a minute. We claim that using these principles is easy. And most of them do seem relatively commonsensical. So why aren't we deluged with brilliantly designed sticky ideas? Why is our life filled with more process memos than proverbs?

Sadly, there is a villain in our story. The villain is a natural psychological tendency that consistently confounds our ability to create ideas using these principles. It's called the Curse of Knowledge. (We will capitalize the phrase throughout the book to give it the drama we think it deserves.)"

Now, we'd like to ask you: What are the books that changed your perspective? How can they help others?

Don't dismiss that premise as lofty and unrealistic, though. The success of sustainability efforts in this world depends on our adoption of idealistic standards and a vision for a healthier world. Ehrenfeld addresses the obstacles and problematic attitudes to this vision, and offers practical steps to adopting a sustainability mindset on both the personal and corporate levels. He suggests new, holistic approaches to sustainable design that won't act, as others have in the past, as Band-Aids. Instead, Ehrenfeld focuses on the routes we should take to ensure success.

Here is John Ehrenfeld on The Tao of Sustainability:

Flourishing can occur only if we pay close attention to the three critical domains that the forces of modernity have dimmed:

• Our sense of ourselves as human beings: the human domain.
• Our sense of our place in the [natural] world: the natural domain.
• Our sense of doing the right thing: the ethical domain.

And here are his suggestions about the Special Role of Business in becoming a sustainable society:

• Replace the rubric of sustainable development with that of sustainability as flourishing


• Stop publishing misleading advertisements hinting that ecoefficiency will solve the world's problems and save money at the same time


• Use the "Tao of Sustainability" as a strategic and operational template


• Create a culture of sustainability in the workplace


• Businesses should design their offerings to guide behavior toward ethical responsibility


• Social responsibility, like charity, begins at home.

You can read more about John and Sustainability by Design at: http://johnehrenfeld.com/index.html

From the publisher: "Men and women lead differently. Most businesspeople, from front line employees to CEOs, sense this at some level, but can't quite articulate the differences without falling into the trap of creating male and female stereotypes. In their new book, Leadership and the Sexes gender experts Michael Gurian and Barbara Annis show what the latest scientific studies reveal about male/female brain differences, and explain how these differences impact the ways that men and women negotiate, communicate, lead, and run meetings."

The excerpt we have posted is a good, lengthy, meaty one. It raises a lot of important points about biological differences between men and women, but it also prompts more questions and will have you curious to see how the authors address not only gender differences in leadership, but also societal issues surrounding socialization and gender stereotyping.

Here's a brief passage from the excerpt:

The human brain is hard-wired (genetically coded with) its gender. As gender is not one thing or type, but very diverse, you will find throughout this book that your brain's male/female coding fits somewhere on a wide gender/brain spectrum.

And here's a direct link to the chapter: 800ceoread.com/excerpts/archives/008408.html

Kai Ryssdal over at Marketplace recently interviewed Carol Kinsey Goman, who wrote The Nonverbal Advantage.

One discussed position is the comfort pose of crossing our arms and legs simultaneously. Carol pointed out that, while "it sends a signal of resistance or 'I don't like what you just said.' It also, by the way, cuts your retention down to about 38 percent." And clarified that it means, "How much you're retaining of what you've heard in the meeting. So you really need to be aware that your body and mind, or brain, are not on separate planets, that what you do with your body affects your brain, but it also, right or wrong, it sends a signal to the rest of the people in your group."

And of course, there's that our feet give off the most honest cues. (Perhaps, we should direct our attention to people's feet, rather than their eyes?) Why's this true?

Goman: Because they are the least trained part of the body. So feet are probably the most honest part of the body. They will bounce when you're nervous or happy, they will cross, they will do that ankle lock and pull back when you feel not included in a conversation or a meeting, your toes will turn up if you're seated and you get great news.

If you're a podcast subscriber, you can listen here. Or you can read the full text.

Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity

With the mortgage meltdown, floods in the Midwest, $4 a gallon for gas, food prices, the economy, famine, war in Iraq, etc., many would agree that there is a lot of negativity in the world and certainly a lot to complain about. And yet, while traveling the country this past month, ironically for the No Complaining Rule Tour, I met a number of people who inspired me with the positive ways they were dealing with the negativity in their life. In spite of their circumstances they chose to view their situation with a positive perspective... which so often makes all the difference. Since we all could benefit from their example, here are 5 positive ways to deal with negativity.

1. Find the Gift - Richard Bach said every problem has a gift for you in its hands. One woman came up to me and said that because of the cost of gas her family is driving less and as a result they are spending more time at home and having dinner together more often. She said this "negative" situation has been very "positive" for her family. Another person said he is taking the bus to work instead of driving and as a result he has met a lot of interesting people.
2. Look at the Bright Side - One gentlemen joked that because of the cost of gas he now has a great excuse to not drive and see his negative relatives.
3. Zoom Focus - It doesn't matter what the pundits say on television. It doesn't matter what Joe and Sally in your office are doing. It doesn't matter who is playing office politics. All that matters is what you do every day to grow yourself and your business. Focus on being positive and taking positive action every day. Be like the real estate agent who told me that he doesn't focus on what the news and newspapers say. He focuses on what he can do every day to be successful. He focuses on marketing his business, taking care of his clients, and building loyal relationships. What things do you need to Zoom Focus on?
4. Focus on the Opportunity Not the Challenge - Behind every innovation and solution is a story about someone who said there has to be a better way. I bet Henry Ford was walking behind a horse when he had the idea for his automobile. History shows us that a lot of people and a lot of companies make a lot of money during recessions. The key is to find the opportunity. Where is the market heading? What do people want and need? What will they want in the future? Now is a great time to build a positive team with great talent. Now is the time to gain market share while so many give up. Now is a great time to determine who is on your bus and who is off your bus. Now is the time to be indispensable to your company and demonstrate how valuable you are.
5. Be a Positive Influence on Others - I received an email from Ruthanne in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She wrote:

   "As you are probably aware, we were recently hit with a 500 year flood. My neighborhood was impacted the worst and most of our homes, mine included, are a total loss. People tell me I have been the most positive person they know who was directly impacted by the flood. I don't have a lot of time today (first day back at work in 2 wks) to tell you all the positive things that have been going on in our city and in my life, but I will be writing an article when this is all over with. I did want to say though that I have not complained throughout all the devastating catastrophe because of the knowledge I learned both from your seminar, books and newsletters."

   Ruthanne could have chosen to wallow in self pity and negativity but instead she chose to deal with her negative situation by being a positive influence on others. Think about how many people she is positively impacting in her community. Now think about the positive influence you can have on people at work, in your community and at home.

Every day simply ask yourself "How can I be a positive influence where I am, right now?"

Stay Positive!

-Jon

Author Bio
Jon Gordon is a speaker, consultant, and author of the international bestseller The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Lift, Work, and Team with Positive Energy, which has inspired readers the world over. He and his books have been featured on CNN and on NBC's Today show, and in Forbes, Fast Company, O: The Oprah Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. Clients such as the Jacksonville Jaguars. the PGA Tour, Northwestern Mutual, JPMorgan Chase, and Publix Supermarkets also call all Jon to get their team "on the bus" and moving in the right direction. Jon also impacts thousands of teachers and students each year through his work with schools, universities, and nonprofit organizations. He is a graduate of Cornell University and holds a master's degree in teaching from Emory University. He lives in northeast Florida with his wife and two high-energy children.

For more information about Jon, please visit www.JonGordon.com or www.NoComplainingRule.com.

The No Complaining Rule is constructed like a parable, with anecdotes that build to a point at which the fictional workplace develops "an actionable plan to win the battle against individual and organizational negativity."

The characters sprinkle in insights and hard facts to support their case for a no complaining rule. For instance, the Cost of Negativity:

• Negativity costs the U.S. economy between $250 to $300 billion every year in lost productivity, according to the Gallup Organization. And this number is conservative since it doesn't take into account the ripple effect of complaining and negativity.
• Ninety percent of doctor visits are stress related, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the #1 cause of office stress is coworkers and their complaining, according to Truejobs.com.
• A study found that negative employees can scare off every customer they speak with--for good (How Full Is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath)
• Too many negative interactions compared to positive reactions at work can decrease the productivity of a team, according to Barbara Fredrickson's research at the University of Michigan.
• Negativity affects the morale, performance, and productivity of our teams.
• One negative person can create a miserable office environment for everyone else.
• Negative emotions are associated with the following:
  • Decreased life span and longevity
  • Increased risk of heart attack
  • Increased risk of stroke
  • Greater stress
  • Less energy
  • More pain
  • Fewer friends
  • Less success

And here's a snippet from the excerpt:

What Is the Best Use of Your Time?

Only you can answer that question, and it will be different for everyone, and will change with circumstances. Nevertheless, there are some guidelines you can follow to help you identify those activities that should be a priority in your current role. To begin, ask yourself:

• What is my unique position on the team?
• What are the factors necessary for me to succeed in this role?
• What are the current risks and priorities of my role?

Here's a direct link to the excerpt: http://800ceoread.com/excerpts/archives/008109.html

The books mentioned thus far include:

• You Can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen
• NO: The Only Negotiating Strategy You Need for Work and Home by Jim Camp
• Humanitarian Negotiation: A handbook for securing access, assistance and protection for Civilians in Armed Conflcts by The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (free download)

Jack Nicholson's famous negotiation in Five Easy Pieces is also mentioned.

"In What Men Don't Tell Women about Business, dynamic young CEO and consultant Christopher Flett invites you into the cigar club for a frank and revealing conversation about what it takes for a woman to reach the top in the business world. His comments may surprise, shock, even offend you--but they will also prepare you for success in an environment still dominated by men."

At 63, Michael Gates Gill, father of five, found himself out of work, divorced, and nearly broke--not quite what he expected when he was growing up on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the son of New Yorker writer Brendan Gill. But then Mr. Gill found a life raft in the form of an unlikely job, as he relates in the memoir How Starbucks Saved My Life.

Lasswell also mentions My Secret Life on the McJob: Lessons from Behind the Counter Guaranteed to Supersize Any Management Style by college professor Jerry Newman. I missed this one initially and am going to go back to check it out. The premise reminds me of Alex Frankel's Punching Out, which came out last month.

Here's what the authors lay out in the preface:

By reading this book you will be able to

• Learn how to take charge of your life to implement new ways for using flexibility to make life work better.
• Better evaluate the different choices you make, either consciously or unconsciously, that shape how your work and personal life fit together.
• Develop more positive relationships between your work life and personal life.
• Get practical diagnostic tools and self-assessments to determine how you are currently using flexibility in your working life and how it may be getting in the way of the life you really want.
• Identify the barriers that block you from making true personal changes.
• Get practical tips and tools for making changes.
• Identify which of the three flexstyle types you use to manage work and life relationships and determine whether you use flexibility to make your life better or worse. By finding your flexstyle, you will discover whether you're a Captive or a Work or Family Firster, a Fusion Lover or a Reactor, a Job Warrior or a Quality Timer.
• Learn tips and tools that you can use to improve the quality of your working life.
• Find strategies that work to negotiate a better deal (based on leading negotiation principles) that consider the interests of other parties, such as your bosses, coworkers, and family, who are invested in how you are currently managing work and personal life relationships to develop win-win solutions to work and life conflicts.
• Learn how to make it easier for you and the people you work and live with to have more effective working and personal lives.
• Get a refreshing new spin on the work-life dilemma.
• Make better choices and create a life that works on your terms.

The book includes a few worksheets and assessment tools for finding out more about yourself and how well your work goals and personal goals are meshing.

Likewise, our opposable mind enables us to consider two separate ideas simultaneously. We can use the tension between and elements of these two ideas to create new possibilities. A process which Roger labels integrative thinking.

Integrative thinking shows us a way past the binary limits of either/or. It shows us that there's a way to integrate the advantages of one solution without canceling out the advantages of an alternative solution. Integrative thinking affords us, in the words of the poet Wallace Stevens, "the choice not between, but of."

Integrative thinking certainly makes the decision-making process more complex. More variables are added. No longer are the options A, B or C but some combination of a piece of A plus a piece of B and perhaps, a smaller piece of C. Yet, by using integrative thinking we can be more creative and possibly successful with our solutions.

This may seem pedestrian and obvious but look at the structure of today's companies. Marketing sits on one side of the room trying to be creative. While accounting crunches numbers elsewhere and sales reaches out to new customers in another corner. And so the silos of knowledge are built, maintained and even encouraged.

We become specialists in certain types of knowledge (marketeer, financial analyst, accountant, customer service provider). "But specialists aren't optimally suited to solve the biggest problems business face, because as Drucker also pointed out, 'there are no finance decisions, tax decisions, or marketing decisions; only business decisions.'" We're not just marketing, finance, and accounting people, we are business people.

Roger points out that we need to take each of these variables into consideration when making a decision. That means building a team of smart people to come to the table and discuss what's possible. And learning to understand the solutions currently available and use them to build new and better solutions. That's what he teaches in The Opposable Mind.

He backs up his ideas with research from pscyhologists, various theories on thinking and profiles several companies that have been successful in utilizing integrative thinking--including Red Hat (the leading Linux provider), Procter & Gamble (who pursued innovation in a world of commodities), Four Season Hotels (which found a blue ocean between smaller ma and pa places and the big box hoteliers) and a few other examples you may be familiar with. It's worth a look. I'll try and write more on it later.

*FYI: If you're looking for the book, it's due out next week; December 4th, to be exact.

Titled "Getting Things Done Guru David Allen and His Cult of Hyperefficiency", Wired Magazine profiles the author and Getting Things Done in the greatest detail I have seen in the major media. Allen has a huge following in the tech community which plays perfectly to Wired's core audience. If you are new to the cult, this is a must read.

Gary Hamel of Competing For The Future fame has a new book out from Harvard Business School Press called The Future of Management. The premise of the book, which is summarized nicely in a Fortune Magazine piece, is that the practice of management hasn't kept up with the times, but the stand-out companies of today (Google, Whole Foods, Gore) are leading the way into a new era.

Finally, Vijay Vaitheeswaran, the author of Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future, wrote a piece for Portfolio Magazine. Titled Big Green Machines, the article summarizes the automotive players and the energy-reducing technologies they are betting on.

Six Essentials for Networking

Networking is about creating an extended family. It's about developing connections, caring about people, increasing the size of your "tribe." Most of all, networking is not the awkward social ritual many of us think it is--networking is actually FUN!

Here are my top six networking essentials to rock your career and your life.

1. Practice "Palm Up" Networking. When you network, are you giving, or grasping? Palm up networking embodies the spirit of service, of giving and wanting nothing in return. When you network "palm down" you're grasping for personal gain. Palm up = heart-oriented interaction. Palm down = greedy grasping. Which attitude results in building relationships, providing value, and ultimately bestows benefits on both parties? You guessed it. The universe has a perfect accounting system. Give to others, it'll all come back to you in time.

2. Do Daily Appreciation. Appreciate at least one person daily. Sometimes I do this via e-mail so I can be thorough. And often, to my delight, the recipient will tell me that they are saving the message for when they need a pick-me-up. You can also express appreciation over the phone or in person. Simply tell someone how much you appreciate who they are, what they do, whatever about them moves you. They'll be flattered and you'll feel great.

3. Equalize Yourself with Others. I believe we all have one unit of worth, no more, no less. No one can add to it, no one can take it away. We're all equal. Just because someone is powerful, rich, famous doesn't mean they are better than you. Practice equalizing yourself with others--this will enable you to more comfortably interact with others, and to reach out to people of all walks of life.

4. Rolodex Dip. This is a fun practice when you want to connect with someone but aren't sure who. Flip through your contact database and pick a name. Then think of all the things you like about them. Now call them up to see how they are doing. They'll be surprised and delighted.

5. Pick a "Sensei of the Day." Each day I pick a sensei, a teacher. This is someone who has taught me a lesson or reminded me of something important in life. Your sensei can be a person, a pet, a plant, it doesn't matter. The important thing is to acknowledge that there is much to learn and you are being offered valuable lessons constantly.

6. Do the Drive-By Schmooze. Parties, conventions, groups of all sorts are great opportunities to network, but sometimes you'll be tired, not in the mood, or have too many events in one evening (like during holiday season!). This is when you'll want to use the Drive-By Schmooze. Here’s how:

a. Timebox your networking. Decide that in 30 minutes you'll do a check-in to determine if you need to stay any longer.

b. Set your goal. Determine the number of new connections you want to establish. Remember, your goal is meaningful connections, not simply contacts.

c. Let your intuition guide you. OK, this may sound flaky, but it works! Stand near the door, in a corner, out of the way. Stop your thoughts. Internally ask to be guided to the people you need to connect with. Then start walking. You'll be amazed at who you meet.

d. Connect. You'll always resonate with someone at an event. When you do, ask questions about them, such as: How did you get started in your field? What's your ideal customer? We all love to talk about ourselves, and these questions will not only help you form a connection with this person, but will also tell you how to help them.

e. Offer help and follow through. If you can provide help, jot down ideas on the back of their business card, commit to follow up, and then do it. If you've had a fruitful conversation and want to take it further, offer to meet for lunch or coffee. People say life is 90% about showing up. Nonsense! Life is 90% about following through!

For more tips and helpful info on networking, see the Cool Resources section on www.RulesForRenegades.com.

Christine is author of the book Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality. She's CEO of Mighty Ventures (www.MightyVentures.com), an innovation accelerator which helps businesses to massively increase sales, product offerings, and company value.

Highrise is the new contact management product from Chicago-based 37signals. We use the web-based application here at 800-CEO-READ and think it is awesome. Using Highrise has finally pulled everyone together with a common way to see who we know and what is going on.

In the 37 Signals customer forum, there is a post titled Never Eat Alone: Highrise's Companion Book? A couple of users feel the techniques described by Ferrazzi join perfectly with 37signals' software. Check out the post.

I find interesting these ties between software and business ideas. David Allen's Getting Things Done has inspired dozens of independent software developers to create code that mimics the GTD principles. In the paper world, you can look at how well Franklin Day Planners fit with Steven Covey's Seven Habits (so much so the two companies merged).