For alumni, if you could recommend one book to them, what would it be and why?

I guess it would be Good To Great by Jim Collins. It's built on some principles that have really helped me and the executive team. Make sure you pay attention to what you are good at. Make sure you pay attentions to what drives the economic engine of the organization. You have to think about what you rally have a passion for.

One of the principles that was key early on [and in Good To Great.] was the Stockdale principle: "You never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end--which you can never afford to lose--with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be." That may be a little negative, but it's real.

One of his many legacies is the New York-based Leader to Leader Institute, an organization that focuses on developing leadership in the social sector. The Institute has updated and reissued a book that was written for non-profits originally but works for any organization.

In the early 1990's, Drucker and the then Drucker Foundation published a self-assessment tool titled "The Five Most Important Questions". In writing why he created the tool, Drucker said:

Although I don't know a single for-profit business that is as well managed as a few nonprofits, the great majority of the nonprofits can be graded a "C" at best. Not for a lack of effort; most of them work very hard. But for lack of focus, and for lack of tool competence."

Let's not be fooled. Business needs plenty of help too.

Drucker's questions are simple, but as is always found in Drucker's writings, the simplicity is deceiving and the clarity of the questions forces you to reexamine your assumptions.

• What is our mission?
• Who is our customer?
• What does the customer value?
• What are our results?
• What is our plan?

The new book is titled The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization and the Leader to Leader Institute has enlisted some big names to expanded on Drucker's original message. Jim Collins, Phil Kotler, and Jim Kouzes along with Judith Rosen and Kasturi Rangan each provide an essay that follows one of five questions.

The book is a quick read; I was able to finish it during a flight back from the West Coast.

It's the answers to the questions that I am still working on.

This bring ups the whole question of the author Jim Collins' suggested methodology and whether it's one business leaders should be following. There are plenty of great comments on Levitt's post to go read on this. The same criticisms are leveled against Collins' prior book Built To Last and the classic In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman. Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Fooled By Randomness and Phil Rosenwig's The Halo Effect are both cited for their critical views of predictable methodologies.

This has always been my belief: all of these books are directional correct. The principles they describe for success are all worth pursuing. We get a little stuck on the empirical side of the debate. It is true that these authors hang their hats on the research to give their findings legitimacy, but we can't completely dismiss everything they have to say every time a highlighted firm falters.

The story begins:

More than 20 years have passed since Steve Jobs and John Sculley's much-publicized breakup at Apple. Yet it still serves as a cautionary tale. In two short years, their celebrated camaraderie turned into an antagonism so great it escalated hostilities between divisions, put the firm at risk of a takeover, and sent Steve Jobs into a 12-year exile, from which the firm has only recently recovered. How these leaders went from soul mates to adversaries in such a short time shows how relationships, even those touted as a perfect match, can self-destruct under pressure, leaving a firm to pay the formidable price of a failed relationship.

This case study is one of many found in Divide or Conquer. From the publisher: "Smith shows us how to build work relationships that are flexible and strong enough to survive the toughest challenges... This book will break the myth that relationships are too mysterious to decode and too difficult to change. It offers powerful tools that can help anyone, from new recruits to CEOs."

Here's a direct link to the excerpt: http://800ceoread.com/excerpts/archives/008261.html

-Ralph Waldo Emerson, quoted in the paperback edition of Competing for the Future,

We wish David the best with this gutsy venture.

In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell wrote about how professionals in different fields make important in-the-moment decisions using the instinct gained from past experiences and expertise. One would think that strategic decision-making, the focus of William Duggan's new book, is detached from intuition and based in rational planning, reflection and intellect. This is the classic idea of the split between right brain and left brain functions--the distinction between creativity and rationale. However, referencing modern brain science, Duggan explains how--with advances in MRI technology and brain imaging--that previous model of the brain and its functions has given way to the idea of "intelligent memory." He then takes a look at what this new model tells us about intuition.

Brain science tells us there are three kinds of intuition: ordinary, expert, and strategic. Ordinary intuition is just a feeling, a gut instinct. Expert intuition is snap judgments, when you instantly recognize something familiar, the way a tennis pro knows where the ball will go from the arc and speed of the opponent's racket....The third kind, strategic intuition, is not a vague feeling, like ordinary intuition. Strategic intuition is a clear thought. And it's not fast, like expert intuition. It's slow. That flash of insight you had last night might solve a problem that's been on your mind for a month.

The main point of Strategic Intuition is that large, long-term improvements are not the result of setting a goal and planning a strategy. Instead, accomplishments build on one another. Even the fact that the stricter split-brain model has given way to a new, more nuanced one as a result of the development of the MRI is an example. The same can be said of Newton improving Copernicus's model of the solar system or Microsoft's improvements of the personal computer.

Not only does Duggan tell these stories compellingly, he weaves in the work of three great minds who have influenced his thinking--Thomas Kuhn on science, Joseph Schumpter on economics, and Carl Von Clausewitz on military strategy. He also includes a chapter on three eastern texts to discuss the mentality one needs to maximize the potential of strategic intuition. Innovation is the result of an intuitive and flexible approach rather than setting a goal that is planned, fixed, and inflexible. As a whole, this book might just change how you look at human thought and strategy, and influence how you organize yourself and your team strategically.

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.

According to StrengthsFinder*, "woo" stands for "winning others over." If you're a woo-er, "you enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you....Not only are you rarely at a loss for words; you actually enjoy initiating with strangers because you derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection."

Diving deeper into the description, it made sense to us that our vegan, fro-sporting mover of books possessed these qualities. It's funny--perhaps we had an old-fashioned, Austen-esque notion of "woo" in our minds, of the suave hero winning over the stubborn yet vulnerable heroine.

Given the great success of Gallup's online assessments, it's really no surprise that I received an October title called The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas, by G. Richard Shell (Bargaining for Advantage) and Mario Moussa.

Shell and Moussa define woo as:

It is a relationship-based persuasion, a strategic process for getting people's attention, pitching your ideas, and obtaining approval for your plans and projects. It is, in short, one of the most important skills in the repertoire of any entrepreneur, employee, or professional manager whose work requires them to rely on influence and persuasion rather than coercion and force.

The Art of Woo lays out a step-by-step plans for identifying and using a persuasion technique to carry out a strategic initiative. For instance, one way to persuade might be to "Put Your Heart into It" -- show that you truly believe in what you're saying. Or, you might "Build Bridges with Analogies and Metaphors" -- make decision-making easier by illustrating a point with a story or concept your audience is already familiar with. The authors introduce six other persuasion pathways to success.

The book also includes the authors' own stories of advising leaders, as well as stories about famous people--Nelson Mandella, John D. Rockefeller, Bono--who used the strength of woo to accomplish extraordinary feats.

*The StrengthsFinder version of "woo" actually appeared first in Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton. We just happened to find out that Jake is a woo-er through the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment.

The online site has recruited Bob Sutton (No-Asshole Rule, Hard Facts), Sylvia Ann Hewlett (Off-Ramps and On-Ramps), and Michael Watkins (First 90 Days) among others.

And Don't Forget The Classics

There are M&A books, and there are business books that should be required reading for every executive. Here are five guaranteed to help you be more productive and make smarter decisions.

by Todd Sattersten

Books on mergers and acquisitions often take a distinct nuts-and-bolts approach. No mystery there: Deals are complex projects and dealmakers want practical advice on how to execute them. Even for dealmakers, though, transactions are just part of a bigger strategic picture, on where decisions of many kinds are needed. Every executive, dealmaker, or otherwise, is ultimately judged on the quality of the decisions he or she makes, and there's no shortage of books aimed at helping those managers make smart choices. Here are five that should be on every executive's reading list.

1 - "Competitive Strategy" by Michael Porter

If you boil business down to its essence, you are left with two key elements--strategy and execution. Strategy is deciding what direction to go, and execution is how to get there. Michael Porter's "Competitive Strategy" gives us the clearest view of the first element. Strategy is about competition, and prior to the book's 1980 publication, competition was defined as other companies operating in the same industry. Porter's five forces model created a much richer view, adding suppliers, buyers, substitutes, and new players to the definition. Those added dimensions made Porter's work ground-breaking. Without Porters' model, it is hard to see how PC manufacturers' margins quickly shrank in the 1990's. The cause was not competition among industry players, but the superior bargaining power of their two primary suppliers--Intel and Microsoft. In my industry of publishing, substitutes have become the primary source of competition as readers' attention is diverted to other forms of media.

2 - "Execution" by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan, and Charles Burck

But strategy is only one half of the equation. An organization must be able to carry out the plan and "Execution", released in 2002, is one of the best book out there on the topic. In their book, Bossidy, who spent 40 years running industrial conglomerates, Charan, who provides insights as a guru to Fortune 500 CEOs, and writer and editor Burck mapped out "a system for getting things done through questioning, analysis, and follow-through." Identifying and developing leadership talent lies at the core with the goal not to evaluate people for what they are doing today, but for the positions they will hold tomorrow. Leaders then lay out clear goals everyone in the organization can understand, follow-through to clear internal obstacles, and reward the doers who are producing results. Finally, organizations that understand execution inject a healthy dose of realism into their culture through open, informal dialogue to eliminate false consensus and by making needed changes today rather than waiting for tomorrow for things to get better.

3 - "In Search of Excellence" by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman

"In Search of Excellence", published in 1982 was the result of a McKinsey project started five years prior to find out what successful organizations look like. The authors found that the most effective organizations were those that recognized the irrationality of the humans that inhabited them. Those companies were clear about their beliefs and created a strong value system that acted as a compass for organizational decision-making. Inside companies like Boeing, 3M, and Hewlett-Packard, Peters and Waterman found small, passionate teams accomplishing big, game-changing feats and meetings taking place in hallways as executives exercised management by walking around.

4 - "Good to Great" by Jim Collins

Jim Collins also looked at successful companies in his 2001 best-seller. Using a methodical approach, Collins identified companies that went from average to sustained periods of growth. Walgreens, Pitney-Bowes, and Nucor were among the 11 companies that made the cut and his book's metaphors have become a lexicon for business in the 21st century-the flywheel, BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals), level 5 leadership, to name a few.

5 - "The Effective Executive" by Peter Drucker

Before Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits" and David Allen's "Getting Things Done", Peter Drucker det the standard for books on productivity with "The Effective Executive". Decision-making, playing to your strengths, and "first things first" are all presented with the signature clarity Drucker brought to the study of management.

Todd Sattersten is vice-president of 800-CEO-READ and author of an upcoming book from Portfolio on the 100 best business books of all time.

1. The Elegant Solution Interview with Matt May
2. Marketing and Sales for Big Complex Selling Interview - Part 1 with Brian Carroll
3. Marketing and Sales for Big Complex Selling Interview - Part 3 with Brian Carroll and Jill Konrath
4. Everyday Greatness Interview with Stephen Covey
5. The Difference Maker Interview with John Maxwell
6. Confessions of An Economic Hitman Audio Excerpt
7. Made To Stick Interview with Dan Heath
8. Growing Great Employees Interview - Part 2 with Erika Anderson
9. Purpose Interview with Nikos Mourkogiannis
10. Growing Great Employees Interview - Part 1 with Erika Anderson

Looking through a pile of magazines at my brother's house, I came across an article that made good material for a blog post. What do I do? Walk over to his office computer and email the details home.

I can't away even when I am away.

Here is the actual blog post:

The March 2007 issue of Best Life had one of those "empty your bag" profiles of Scott Griffith, CEO of Zipcar. He keeps a number of bound items with him including:

The Art of War by Sun Tzu - "Business leaders tend to forget tht running a company requires tremendous planning. This book by Sun Tzu is full of great insights, and I carry it around as a reminder to plan ahead."

Office Yoga by Darrin Zeer- "This book has alot of good stretches for your neck and shoulders. My favorite is the 'kick back and log on' pose; it relieves shoulder tension from sitting in front of a computer too long."

You will also find Zagat guides, Streetwise Maps, and AutoWeek in his bag.

The discovery of new uninhabited market territory frequently brings invaders from unexpected directions. Consider the following:

• Kodak's pursuit of the digital camera market encounters unfamilar competitors Hewlett-Packard and Canon.
• Quaker Oat's attempt to expand Snapple beverages run directly into new drink initiatives of Coca-Cola, with its unassailable distribution infrastructure.
• Xerox's entry into low-end copiers gets a surprise attack from Canon, an unconventional competitor the giant had underestimated.

Strategy, Liddell Hart's history of military strategy, examines the successes and failures of military campaigns to take over territory going back to the Peloponnesian Wars. Hart finds that armies that make a frontal assault on an entrenched position lose virtually 100 percent of the time, even with superior forces. He argues that an indirect approach is essential to increasing the odds of victory.