For Individuals

BossyPants 

by Tina Fey

Ok – this is simply a fun read, which will add some levity to our busy, stressful lives! Tina Fey’s new book, Bossypants, is short, messy and impossibly funny (an apt description of the comedian herself). She gives us a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of modern comedy with equal doses of wit, candor and self-deprecation. Some of the funniest chapters feature the differences between male and female comedy writers ("men urinate in cups"), her cruise ship honeymoon ("it’s very Poseidon Adventure"), and advice about breastfeeding ("I had an obligation to my child to pretend to try"). She embodies the hectic, too-many-things-to-juggle lifestyle we all have, but instead of complaining about it, she can just laugh it off! We can learn from this!

Organizational

The Speed of Trust  

by Stephen Covey

Most of my clients have voiced issue with trust in their professional lives. Either trust of members on their team, their boss, their clients, or even their company’s leadership. It is a reality that TRUST is a critical factor in our individual and collective success. Trust is so integral to our relationships that we often take it for granted, yet in an era marked by business scandals and a desire for accountability this book by leadership expert Covey is a welcome guide to nurturing trust in our professional and personal lives. Covey outlines 13 behaviors of trust-inspiring leaders, such as demonstrating respect, creating transparency, righting wrongs, delivering results and practicing accountability. Covey's down-to-earth approach and disarming personal stories go a long way to establish rapport with his reader, though the book's length and occasional lack of focus sometimes obscure its good advice. Worth the time to read – or get the book-on-tape version and listen to it in your car.  

Market

80/20 Principle

By Richard Koch

I have heard and used this principle my entire professional life – and yes, it continues to hold true. What could I learn from a book resounding this well-known perspective? Well, a lot. I didn’t realize this philosophy came from Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, circa 1897. From his study of the patterns of wealth and income, he observed that the distribution of wealth was predictably unbalanced. He first discovered this pattern in 19th-century England and found it to be the same for every country and time period he studied. Over the years, Pareto's observation has become known as the 80/20 principle.

Now in 1998, Richard Koch takes a fresh look at the 80/20 principle and finds that the basic imbalance observed by Pareto 100 years ago can be found in almost every aspect of modern life. Whether you're investing in stocks, analyzing company sales, or looking at the performance of a Web site, you'll find that it's usually 20 percent that produces 80 percent of the total result. This means 80 percent of what you do may not count for much. Koch helps you to identify that 20 percent and shows you how you can get more out of your business, and life, for less.