Books for Better Business

Recommended Books

Please note, clicking on the titles will take you directly to the book on the Amazon.co.uk website.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcom Gladwell

If you want to change the results of your networking then we highly recommend this book.  Chapter two: The Law of the Few, describes Connectors, Mavens and Sales people - all willing people who want to engage with others. And there is the key, willing people.  Once you understand how he describes 'willingness' you will change the way you network.  We did and it worked for us.

Building a Portfolio Career: How to Create a Portfolio of Roles to Suit Your Work and Life 

by Colin McCrudden, Adrian Bourne, Chris Lyons

Have you ever thought about going it alone, leaving the corporate world and trying something a little different.  But the challenge is you want to do lots of different things but unsure how to go about it.  Then this book is for you.  It will tell you and show you exacly how to become a 'portfolio' worker.  That is - do lots of different things that will bring in the money, make you happy and know that you are giving back to the community. 

Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make  by Lois P. Frankel

I love books like this - loads of practical coaching tips for all of those 101 behaviours women adopt that can sabotage their success. Some of these behaviours are those we learn in childhood - babyhood even - that over the years seem to have helped us get our own way! Whilst there's little doubt in my mind that some of them we can still use to our advantage, this book looks at how to ditch the behaviours that get in the way.

Was That Really ME?: How Everyday Stress Brings out Our Hidden Personality  by Naomi L. Quenk

Ever said "I'm really not feeling myself today"? On those days you're probably not actually being yourself - possibly due to stress or other factors. This book looks at the normally hidden aspects of our personality that pop out from time to time - often to our surprise or horror - and how to accept, work with and take responsibility for them. The book's theoretical basis is in Jung's work on personality typology and Quenk will be a familiar name to those with an interest in the Myers Briggs Type Indicator.

Modern Man in Search of a Soul (Routledge Classics) by Carl Gustav Jung

A great read for those new to the work of Jung as it covers many of his most famous themes including the analysis of dreams and his theories around psychological types. The book also shows Jung's amazing foresight as he predicts some of today's challenges.

Psychological Types at Work: An MBTI Perspective (Psychology at Work) by Rowan Bayne

For those with an interest in the Myers Briggs Type Indicator this is a superb book for applying the theories to the real world of work. It looks not only at the background of the MBTI but then goes on to look at a broad range of applications including health, selection, time management, leading and managing. This is a great combination of the academic with the very down to earth!

Brand It Like Beckham: The story of how Brand Beckham was built by Andy Milligan

A fun book that looks at the history of the Beckham brand and why it has worked, aiding a broad understanding of the branding business. Each chapter ends with a "goldenball" rule on building a brand. It certainly gave me a different opinion of Mrs. Beckham.

The Mentor's Book by Mike Pegg

For all of those wishing to become mentors, this is a great place to start. It takes a detailed look at the various forms of mentoring as well as explaing what it is and what it is not. The book contains a number of models and exercises to help mentors and mentees to get the best out of the process, stay focused and approach the relationship with the right mindset and expectations.

Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman

The original of Goleman's major works on Emotional Intelligence - this one aimed at explaining "why it can matter more than IQ". This book explains where our emotions come from, how and when we use them "intelligently" - or not, how to apply EI and lots more. A great read for those new to Emotional Intelligence or who would like to step back to Goleman's earlier thinking on this topic. Later books include such titles as "Emotional Intelligence At Work".

The Virtual Handshake; Opening Doors and Closing Deals with Online Social Networking: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online with Online Social Networking The Virtual Handshake by David Teten and Scott Allen

There's no doubt that even if we haven't deliberately built an "online presence" there is something out there, somewhere, on the World Wide Web about us. So it's important that we know what it is and how to control it. This book is all about how to harness the power of online tools including networks, blogs, e-mails, discussion forums etc. It's straight forward, practical and enlightening - highly recommended.

Everyone Needs a Mentor: Fostering Talent in Your Organisation by David Clutterbuck
Mentoring is the most cost efficient and sustainable method of fostering and developing talent within your organisation. Talented employees can be stretched to perform even better by exposure to high performing colleagues. Experience can be passed on more effectively one-to-one. Employees from groups that are under-represented in the organisation can be supported and developed by talking to others who have overcome similar barriers. This book shows you what mentoring is and how it differs from coaching. It shows you how to make the business case for mentoring and then how to set up, run and maintain your mentoring program. Everything from selecting and matching mentors with mentees to how you measure the results. In short: mentoring works. This book tells you how.