The MEAPA Reading List

Arden, Paul.  It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be (2003).  Arden challenges readers to answer one simple question: how good do you want to be?  This publication resembles a pocket 'bible' for the talented and timid to make the unthinkable thinkable and the impossible possible.

Arden, Paul.  Whatever You Think, Think The Opposite (2006).  As a follow up to It's Not How Good You Are publication, What You Think challenges the reader to think differently about a variety of topics.  Such a format pushes people to get uncomfortable in their thinking so they can achieve a new level of achievement.

Cathy, S. Truett.  How Did You Do It, Truett?: A Recipe for Success (2007).  Truett opened his first restaurant, The Dwarf Grill, in 1946.  For 20 years he learned how to achieve and sustain the growth of that one restaurant.  In 1967 he opened his first Chick-fil-A restaurant and now there are over 1,400 locations around the United States.  This 95 page book provides an excellent first hand account of his recipe for success.

Christensen, Clayton M.  How Will You Measure Your Life? (2012)  Based on his 2010 speech to the Harvard Business School's graduating where he offered a series of guidelines for finding meaning and happiness in life. He used examples from his own experiences to explain how high achievers can all too often fall into traps that lead to unhappiness.  Christensen challenges the reader to answer questions such as: How do you measure your life, How can I be sure that I'll find satisfaction in my career? and How can I avoid compromising my integrity—and stay out of jail?

Coelho, Paulo.  The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream (1988).  The Alchemist is an allegory originally written in Portuguese.  It has sold more than 65 million copies in more than 150 countries, becoming one of the best-selling books in history.  This story is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids.

Colvin, Geoff.  Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else (2008).   Colvins provides substantial evidence that proves how top performers in any field--from Tiger Woods and Winston Churchill to Warren Buffett and Jack Welch--are not determined by their inborn talents. Greatness doesn't come from DNA but from practice and perseverance honed over decades.  The key is how you practice, how you analyze the results of your progress and learn from your mistakes, that enables anyone to achieve greatness.

Covey, Stephen R.  The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (1989).  Be Proactive, Begin with the End in Mind, Put First Things First, Think Win/Win, Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood, Synergize and Sharpen the Saw.  Covey argues that the seventh habit is one of renewal and continual improvement, that is, of building one's personal production capability. To be effective, one must find the proper balance between actually producing and improving one's capability to produce. 

Duhigg, Charles.  The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (2012).  Since habits drive approximately 40% of our daily decisions it is important to increase our self-awareness.   Doing so allows us to realize that we can indeed change the way we act.  At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.

Dweck, Carol S.  Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.  Examines the two distinct mindsets that drive people to success or failure: fixed and growth.  The fixed mindset suggests that people believe they have a limited amount of talent, intelligence and ability.  Success is about proving that they are smart or talented.  The growth mindset suggests that people believe they have the ability to continually develop their intelligence, ability and potential throughout their entire life.  Dweck argues that despite what people may think, changing one's mindset is possible.

Fisher, Ken.  The Ten Roads to Riches: The Ways the Wealthy Got There (And How You Can Too!) (2009).  After spending decades working with wealthy individuals, Fisher compiles a list of the ten more common roads individuals took to accumulate their riches.  Fisher suggests that people can try more than one road once and in fact should expect failures along the way.  The key is to try again and differently, fail and then try again.  When necessary one can select another road to travel as well.  Either way the book provides an insight and easy to read look at richness.

Friend, Jason and David Heinemeier Hansson.  Rework (2010).   Challenges the reader to think differently about work in the second decade of the 21st century amidst the ongoing advancements in technology, high-speed Internet connectivity and mobile communications.  A non-traditional and non-academic guide to creating multiple revenue streams by starting a business while working full-time.  And no, one does not need to be a workaholic, have lots of money or rent an office.  All one needs to do is stop talking about launching an idea and just start doing it.

Gardner, Chris.  Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (2009). Based on Gardner's extraordinary life story from being poor and homeless to becoming a millionaire through hard work, determination and perseverance. Includes over 40 lessons including 'rise to the call and become your own cavalry' and always remember the basics like showing up on time and being professional in every situation.

Gardner, Daniel.  The Science of Fear: Why We Fear The Things We Shouldn't and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger (2008).   Gardner eloquently argues that we are the healthiest, wealthiest and longest-lived people in history yet we are increasingly afraid.  This is one of the great paradoxes of our time.  Part of the answer rests in the fact that there are few opportunities to make money from convincing people they are, in fact, safer and healthier than ever - but there are huge profits to be made by promoting fear.  Gardner arguest that to protect ourselves against unreasoning fear we must wake up Head and tell it do its job.  We must learn to think hard.

Gergen, Christopher and Gregg Vanourek.  Life Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives(2008).  The authors interview over 50 entrepreneurs and suggest that the path to a better life for growing numbers of people today is to apply the principles of entrepreneurship (opportunity recognition, innovatino and action) to life itself.  Such principles have shifted from the business world to the civic sector and when applied to an individual's life, they can be catalytic and positively transformative.

Gonzales, Laurence.  Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies and Why (2004).  An excellent look into the world of survival.  This book is an important read for anyone trying to accomplish anything in life.  By reviewing stories that include miraculous endurance and tragic death—how people get into trouble and how they get out again (or not)—Deep Survival's examples cover the globe and help us understand the workings of the brain that control our behavior.  This is also a great read for those interested in understanding the dynamics of a father-son relationship.  Lessons throughout this book can be applied to a variety of individual and organizational situations.

Harford, Tim.  Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure (2011).  Harford argues that today's challenges simply cannot be tackled with ready-made solutions and expert opinions; the world has become far too unpredictable and profoundly complex.  Instead, we must adapt—improvise rather than plan, work from the bottom up rather than the top down, and take baby steps rather than great leaps forward.

Hoffman, Reid and Ben Casnocha.  The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career (2012).  In today's challenging and ever changing economy individuals need to understand that the employer-employee pact is over and traditional job security is a thing of the past.  Here, LinkedIn cofounder and chairman Reid Hoffman and author Ben Casnocha show how to accelerate your career in today's competitive world. The key is to manage your career as if it were a start-up business: a living, breathing, growing start-up of you.

Howe, Jeff.  Crowdsourcing: Why The Power of the Crowd is Driving The Future of Business (2009).  This book provides numerous examples on the power of online collaboration never before thought possible.  Changing the way people live and work around the world, crowdsourcing desribes the process by which the power of the many can be leveraged to accomplish feats that were once the province of the specialized few. 

Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, Fast and Slow. (2011) Describes the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative and more logical. Introduces many novel ideas about thinking such as the focusing illusion which can be summarized as 'nothing in life is as important as you think it is when you are thinking about it.'

Kao, John.  Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters and What We Can Do To Get It Back (2007).   An interesting and unique view into 21st century innovation that expands its focus to more than just advancements in technology, science and related fields.  Innovation is the ability of individuals, companies and entire nations to continuously create their desired future and depends on harvesting knowledge from a range of disciplines such as design, social science and the arts.  Additionally, services, experiences and processes can be just as innovative as products.

Pink, Daniel.  Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (2010).  Pink argues that high performance and satisfaction—at work, at school, and at home—depends on the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.   He demonstrates that while carrots and sticks worked successfully in the twentieth century, that's precisely the wrong way to motivate people for today's challenges.  

Robinson, Ken.  The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything (2009).   Provides numerous examples of people who, through intention, accident or serendipity identified the point at which their natural talent intersects with their personal passion.  By creating one's element, people feel inspired to develop themselves.  They connect with something fundamental to their sense of identify, purpose and well-being.

Tapscott, Don and Anthony D. Williams.  Macrowikonomics: Rebooting Business and the World (2010).  Examines how the growing accessibility of information technologies puts the tools required to collaborate, create value and compete at everybody's fingertips.  These advancements are disrupting many institutions that are stuck in the past and unable to move forward.  And yet, in every corner of the globe, a powerful new model of economic and social innovation is sweeping across all sectors-one where people with drive, passion, and expertise take advantage of new Web-based tools to get more involved in making the world more prosperous, just, and sustainable. 

Toffler, Alvin and Heidi.  Revolutionary Wealth: How It Will Be Created and How It Will Change Our Lives (2006).  Another excellent publication by the authors of such previous best sellers such as Future Shock and Third Wave.  Revolutionary Wealth is a stimulating and provocative look at how the world's economy continues to evolve amidst today's explosion of information production and exchange.  In the 21st century the Tofflers argue that wealth is not just about money and must include the 'third job' - the unnoticed work people do without pay and its subsequent implications on the way people live and work around the world.

Turner, Ted.  Call Me Ted.  (2008).   An extraordinary look at one of the 20th century's most influential entrepreneurs, innovators and philanthropists.  This very personal story provides a valuable set of lessons for anyone looking to succeed.  Particularly touching is the stories Turner shares about his father who once told him "Son, you be sure to set your goals so high that you can't possibly accomplish them in one lifetime.  That way you'll always have something ahead of you.  I made the mistake of setting my goals too low and now I'm having a hard time coming up with new ones."  Turner recalls that conversation among many and details how the impact of his father's suicide had on him as a young man.