Power Tips for Power Users by Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick Copyright 2014 Social Media entered our cultural landscape when I was in medical school. Although I dabbled in Facebook at the time, its birth surpassed me. I have been catching up ever since then. I have recently switched to Twitter and am happy with that change. I’d like to figure out how to use it, particularly for personal marketing and network, and this book…
Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is essentially about how to promote yourself in the world of the Internet generally and of social media specifically. If you are not comfortable with self-promotion, I would recommend against reading this book. If you want to learn how to have a bigger voice in the world, this book is for you. In particular, those interested in…
Platform: The Art and Science of Personal Branding by Cynthia Johnson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Johnson claims expertise in the field of digital marketing. Working in the world of software and playing in the world of writing, I can benefit from learning how to leverage the digital world in better selling myself and my work. This book certainly taught me a few things. For one, Johnson is great at analyzing how to take…
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin My rating: 5 of 5 stars This in-depth look into the lives of Lincoln and his closest advisors meets the hype. It tells the life histories of President Lincoln, his attorney general Bates, his treasury secretary Chase, and his secretary of state Seward. All four had a chance of being nominated as the Republican candidate in Chicago, but Lincoln secured the nod.…
Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy My rating: 3 of 5 stars This is a good, solid, well-written book on time management. Whether you are seeking to improve the management of your own time or empathize with others as they attempt to become better stewards of their own time, this book will say it all – in only 21 short chapters! Its…
by Christine FonsecaCopyright (c) 2010. I picked up this book in an attempt to dive deeper into the psychological concept of emotional intensity. I’m an intense guy myself; I live in an intense workplace full of gifted people; my boss is intense; I have an intense wife and daughter at home. I’m trying to learn how to keep all these intense people (including myself) from boiling over. I could not find any management books on…
by Gerald WeinbergCopyright (c) 2011 Weinberg is a master of extracting the human personality required to run modern business. He describes one of his art-forms in this introduction to consulting practice. This book does not focus merely on short heuristics on how to consult. It instead goes in-depth into the psyche required to succeed as a consultant. He defines consulting as the art of influencing people at their request. He then describes a rational framework…
by Tom DeMarco and Tim ListerCopyright (c) 2013 This book is one of the few focused specifically on how to manage projects and teams of knowledge-workers. It teaches the reader how management might retain workers and their essential skills instead of treating them like cattle. It treats the central problem of management is sociology and not technology. Keeping knowledge-workers happy and productive requires humanity and not scorched-earth policies. The book, in its third edition, is organized…
by Camille FournierCopyright (c) 2017 My path to software was not traditional. I always did well at mathematics in school, but I liked many things that weren’t technical – journalism, religion, poetry, and medicine all pulled my strings at some time. I have ended up producing software used in medical research. As such, I figured that I needed to study the traditional career path in software/technology to try to meld my diverse skill-set with more…
by Loren B. Belker, Jim McCorkmick, and Gary S. TopchikCopyright (c) 2012Audiobook I am not a first-time manager. I am not even a manager. Nonetheless, studying the field of management can give me insight into my work. It can help me work better with the managers around me, and it can help me carry my load as a manage my projects in tandem with the people around me. This book consists of tips and insights…