3 Gifts from my CSC Team

As many of you already know, I am not in my responsibilities of Photon and CSC Roles from Feb 4 2011. I resigned from Enterprise project management Office role, and now looking for opportunities in Delivery Management and Operations - also supporting to few SMEs as Consultant. My CSC Friends gave me a good party and few good books too – as a gift. Thanks to Neel, Veera, Shajahan, Sambit, Anthony, Kumbesh, Elumalai, selva and others.

I am yet to read these books but I am happy to share its titles to everyone.

1. JACK – straight from the gut – This book is written by Jack Welch. As CEO of General Electric for the past twenty years, he has built its market cap by over $500 billion and established himself as the most admired business leader in the world. His championing of initiatives like Six Sigma quality, globalization, and e-business have helped define the modern corporation. At the same time, he's a gutsy boss who has forged a unique philosophy and an operating system that relies on a "boundaryless" sharing of ideas, an intense focus on people, and an informal, give-and-take style that makes bureaucracy the enemy. This book is laced with refreshing interludes, such as "A Short Reflection on Golf," that capture Jack's competitiveness and the importance of friendship in his life. JACK: STRAIGHT FROM THE GUT is destined to become both a business classic and a deeply personal journey filled with passion and a sheer lust for life.

2. The Management Gurus – Lessons from the best management books of all time – Chris Lauer - Insightful summaries of fifteen outstanding management books.

3. The New age of Innovation – C.K. Prahalad, M.S. Krishnan - Named one of the "Best Books on Innovation, 2008" by "BusinessWeek" magazine. From the greatest minds in business today comes a groundbreaking new blueprint for executing the next stage of customer-created value. C.K. Prahalad, the world's premier business thinker, and IT scholar M.S. Krishnan unveil the critical missing link in connecting strategy to execution--building organizational capabilities that allow companies to achieve and sustain continuous change and innovation.

Once again, Thanks to everyone. All the best for a great time.

Best Sellers in Management shelf

Recently one of friend introduced me the store manager of landmark at Chennai. We discussed a lot about the change in reading habits of people now days, the growth of new age Indian writers, book exhibitions, and the type of books they sell in recently business scenarios.

I saw these books on stand – and found that these are the best sellers now days.
- Leadership @ Infosys by Matthew Barney
- Destination Work : Getting People Excited About Coming To Work And Working Hard by Harry Paul, Ross Reck
- Being The Boss : The 3 Imperatives For Becoming A Great Leader by Linda A. Hill, Kent Lineback
- Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down by Vineet Nayar
- Marketing 3. 0: From Products To Customers To The Human Spirit by Philip Kotler
- TEN MUCH- Ten Ordinary Processes For Extraordinary Success by A. G. Krishnamurthy
- The Maruti Story by R C Bhargava

Friends, Try these books and let me know your comments.

What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business school

What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business school- by Mark H McCormack is a very famous book in best seller market. 14 Beautiful Chapters on People, Business Management, Sales and Negotiation – makes this book a must read for those who are doing an M.B.A – or working on Management – any domain. There are many practical cases explained with solutions, and lessons learnt.

There is a website http://www.bainvestor.com/What-they-teach-Harvard.html - where you can even get a small business book - Thinking Like An Entrepreneur - How To Make Intelligent Business Decisions That Will Lead To Success In Building And Growing Your Own Company - by Peter Hupalo.

Gandhi, CEO: 14 Principles to Guide & Inspire Modern Leaders

Two months before one of my friends suggested this book, when we were in Landmark Chennai. I finished reading it just last week. It’s an interesting book from Alan Axelrod. Alan is the author of more than 60 books, including the bestsellers Profiles in Audacity 9781402745317 and The Real History of the Cold War 9781402763021. He has appeared on MSNBC, the Discovery Channel, CNN, Fox, and numerous radio news and talk programs. Axelrod and his work have been featured in Business Week, Fortune, Men's Health, Cosmopolitan and many newspapers.

The book is very useful for new generation leaders and practical managers. Gandhi’s Personal Leadership and Institutional management are well explained through his management principles and personal/political life. Learning and Experience, The nonviolent CEO, Deciding, Revaluation and Revolution are very interesting titles to read. Every chapter is having collection of lessons. There are 14 Chapters and 100 lessons – every single lesson is giving a practical path for a leader of this generation.

The New Manager’s Handbook

The New Manager’s Handbook [24 Lessons for Mastering your new role] by Morey Stettner is a small, but an excellent guide for Professional education. There are 24 quick chapters with great practical examples and simple ‘How to handle’ steps for success. I received this book as a gift from one my managers, when I accepted my promotion in his team. I am getting some good time now days to read all these, once again.

Book Review: THE LEADER WHO HAD NO TITLE – Robin Sharma

I am a great fan of Robin Sharma through his books “The monk who sold his Ferrari” and “The Greatness Guide”. Robin Sharma – for more than 15 years, has been sharing with fortune 500 companies and many of the super-rich in success formula that had made him one of the most sought-after leadership advisers in the world. This book helps us to understand how to work with and influence people like a super star, regardless of our position. It supports us with real world ways to defeat stress, build and unbeatable mind-set, unleash energy, and balance our personal life. There are few good posters inside – worth to stick in our desk to motivate ourselves. The language is little complex, but manageable.

Book Review: SIX Thinking Hats – Edward De Bono

I found this small guide in landmark chennai, last week. Couple of years before, I attended one training program for Six Thinking Hats technique. It was a one day program, but very much valuable with its contents. The author of this has had faculty appointments at the universities of Oxford, London, Cambridge and Harvard. He is widely regarded as the leading authority in the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. This small guide explores each color hat with its attributes and finally the benefits of Six hat method. I suggest this book for managers and executives as a quick reference guide. I will be taking inputs from this book, blend it with my personal experiences and present it in blog soon.

5 Must read Business and Management Books

Business and Management books contain important lessons for managing the quality in our business, build strategies, problem solving and leadership – no matter what business we do. Many project managers and high profile executive officers gather information from best-selling business management books. You can find solutions for your business challenges often from other industries. These books are typically written by people who have tons of experience, in some form or another, managing and growing companies.

I would like to suggest these 5 ‘MUST READ” Business and Management Books for all my friends – I am sure this will give some good values in their professional development

Blink
The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking
by Malcolm Gladwell
ISBN: 9780316172325

On Becoming A Leader:
The Leadership Classic - 4th Edition
by Warren Bennis
ISBN: 9780465014088

The Search
How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture
by John Battelle
ISBN: 9781591840886

In Search of Excellence
Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies
by Thomas J. Peters, Robert H. Waterman
ISBN: 9780060548780

Management
Revised Edition
by Peter F. Drucker, with Joseph A. Maciariello
ISBN: 9780061252662