Summertime, and the Reading is Easy

Summertime, and the Reading is EasySummertime, and the Reading is EasySummertime, and the Reading is EasyIts that time of the year when temperatures rise and the living is (theoretically) easy.Summertime may not afford you the luxury of slowing down and enjoying a good read, especially if your business depends on seasonal traffic.To help you out, weve assembled a shortlist of notable business books and also included a few book excerpts to help get you started.Enjoy your summer reading even if you have only have 10 minutes to spareThe Open Organization Igniting Passion and Performance (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015)Jim Whitehurst, the celebrated president and CEO of the open source giant, Red Hat, addresses how to knock down the walls of an organization in ways that allow collaboration from within as well as from customers, vendors, and partners- to open the organization in ways that keeps it cutting edge. Read an excerpt The Open Organization Hiring Passionate PeopleThe Achie vement Habit Stop Wishing, Start Doing, and Take Command of Your Life (HarperCollins, 2015)For more than 40 years, Bernard Roth has taught the class at one of the worlds leading centers for innovation, The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (d.school), where he is the academic director and one of the founders. In this book, Roth draws upon entwurf thinking a set of general practices that are effective in solving design challenges to help guide readers on the path to a more satisfying and productive life.Read an excerpt What Is It that You Intend to Communicate?Light a Fire under Your Business(Praeger, 2015)Former Los Angeles Fire Department Captains turned business executives Tom Pandola and James W. Bird share principles for management, leadership and success that have the power to continuously improve business operations, personnel motivation, and the bottom line. They learned and applied these lessons over nearly 50 combined years of fire service careers, and used t hem successfully in nearly 30 combined years in business.Read an excerpt10 Steps to Becoming a Business FirefighterReturn on Character The Real Reason Leaders and Their Companies Win (Harvard Business Review Press, 2015)New research from psychology, genetics and neuroscience shows that anyone can change character habits to evolve from the worst end of the spectrum self-focused leaders to the best virtuoso leaders. Author Fred kiel sailing city shows how with concrete techniques for assessing your own character habits and improving your performance and that of your organization.Read an excerpt How Leaders Can Make or Break Employee Engagement Peter Druckers Five Most Important Questions Enduring Wisdom for Todays Leaders (Wiley, 2015)Known as the Father of Modern Management, Peter Drucker once asserted, self assessment is the first action required of leadership. This book presents his concepts and frameworkfor leadership applicable across public, private and social sectors.The boo k features 20 contributors who provide diverse perspectives and real world applications of each question that demonstrate innovation in business. Read an excerpt Eight Milestones to Transformational Leadership