Last year I started providing a top ten list of non-fiction (sometimes debatable) books, time for list # 2

. Some are new, some are old – all were new to me this year and that is how they get chosen, new-to-me books that I have read this year that impressed me as being important, sharing valuable information, helping provide new thoughts, or to simplify life. Here is the TOP 10 non-fiction book list for 2013 in alphabetical order:

Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success

Adam M. Grant

Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate

Rose George

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction

William Zinsser

Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger

Peter Bevelin

The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals

Chris McChesney, Sean Covey

The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

Shawn Achor

The Truth About Negotiations

Leigh Thompson

The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything

Stephen M.R. Covey

To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others

Daniel H. Pink

What is Global Leadership?: 10 Key Behaviors that Define Great Global Leaders

Gundling, Ernest

Geoff Colvin is a business author who was an editor and columnist for FORTUNE.  His book Talent is Overrated shows us what really matters in being successful.  Geoff wrote a shorter article explaining his main ideas for CNNMoney

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“What really makes the difference is a highly specific kind of effort-“deliberate practice”-that few of us pursue when we’re practicing golf or piano or stockpicking. Based on scientific research, Talent is Overrated shares the secrets of extraordinary performance and shows how to apply these principles. It features the stories of people who achieved world-class greatness through deliberate practice-including Benjamin Franklin, comedian Chris Rock, football star Jerry Rice, and top CEOs Jeffrey Immelt and Steven Ballmer.” – Amazon

While this paper is more than 11 years old, it is more relevant than ever. The author, Diane L. Coutu, explains the importance of resilience; what is and is not, and how it is evidenced in people and organizations. Some of my favorite tid-bits from the paper are:

“More than education, more than experience, more than training, a person’s level of resilience will determine who succeeds and who fails. That’s true in the cancer ward, it’s true in the Olympics, and it’s true in the boardroom.”

“Resilient people, they posit, possess three characteristics: a staunch acceptance of reality; a deep belief, often buttressed by strongly held values, that life is meaningful; and an uncanny ability to improvise.”

“…the way resilient people build bridges from present-day hardships to a fuller, better constructed future. Those bridges make the present manageable, for lack of a better word, removing the sense that the present is overwhelming.”

“Eskew’s opinion is echoed by Karl E. Weick, a professor of organizational behavior at the University of Michigan Business School in Ann Arbor and one of the most respected thinkers on organizational psychology. “There is good evidence that when people are put under pressure, they regress to their most habituated ways of responding,” Weick has written. “What we do not expect under life-threatening pressure is creativity.” In other words, the rules and regulations that make some companies appear less creative may actually make them more resilient in times of real turbulence.”

“Resilience is a reflex, a way of facing and understanding the world, that is deeply etched into a person’s mind and soul. Resilient people and companies face reality with staunchness, make meaning of hardship instead of crying out in despair, and improvise solutions from thin air

. Others do not. This is the nature of resilience, and we will never completely understand it.”

Maria Popova writes a blog called brain pickings. She just reached her 7^th year of writing the blog and gave us some insights she has learned along the way. For the full post go here:

1. Allow yourself the uncomfortable luxury of changing your mind…
2. Do nothing for prestige or status or money or approval alone…
3. Be generous…
4. Build pockets of stillness into your life. Meditate. Go for walks

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   . Ride your bike going nowhere in particular…

5. When people tell you who they are, Maya Angelou famously advised, believe them. Just as importantly, however, when people try to tell you who you are, don’t believe them…
6. Presence is far more intricate and rewarding an art than productivity…
7. “Expect anything worthwhile to take a long time.” This is borrowed from the wise and wonderful Debbie Millman, for it’s hard to better capture something so fundamental yet so impatiently overlooked in our culture of immediacy. The myth of the overnight success is just that — a myth …

Whitney Johnson is the author of:  Dare, Dream, Do – a well-written and motivating book. Whitney is a thought leader who gets to work hand-in-hand with one of the world’s greatest leaders, Clayton Christensen.

Recently, Whitney wrote a blog post that explains the value of not just giving up and having resiliency, but the importance of showing up in the first place. She said:

“…I’ve started to wonder if not giving up is sufficient.  Of course persistence is essential

. But I wonder if the pluck of true grit embodied by the words “never give up” has morphed into a euphemism for something more fatalistic: I won’t give up… but I’m still sort of waiting to get picked by life’s lottery… We all dream about winning, but it’s the showing up that counts… Dreaming is at the heart of disruption.  Whether we want to disrupt an industry or our personal status quo, in order to make that terrifying leap from one learning curve to the next, we must dream.  The good news is that the causal mechanism for achieving our dreams is always, always, always showing up:  and as we show up, our future will too.” – Whitney Johnson

 

Malcolm Gladwell always seems to offer great new insights

. His newest book, David and Goliath is no different.  The five main points of the new book are:

 

1) Use Your Competitor’s Success Against Them


2) Never Forget the “Principle of Legitimacy”

3) Never Mistake Size for Power

4) Choose to be a Little Fish in a Big Pond

5) Your Visible Disadvantage Is Actually Your Hidden Mega-Advantage

 

A quick review of the book and it’s principles by Alex Banayan can be found here. 

 

In this book we learn about principled negotiation tactics as part of our everyday and professional lives

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The 4 principles are:

1. Separate the people from the problem
2. Focus on interests, not positions
3. Invent options for mutual gain
4. Insist on using objective criteria

Luciano, a blogger from Curitba, Brasil gives a great book review for Getting to Yes.

 

A refreshing look at morals and integrity by Amy Rees Anderson

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“We live in a world where integrity isn’t talked about nearly enough… Integrity means doing the right thing at all times and in all circumstances… Do what is right, let the consequence follow.”

Here is the article that really lays out there.

I attended a conference in 2011 and the keynote speaker was Mark Matteson. He is a great speaker with solid ideas. I purchased his books and they have been with me ever since

. They are great stories that teach valuable lessons on learning and doing. Results come from applying knowledge.

 

 

If you are in any type online marketing or sales role read this book. It is about helping people rather than trying to get them to like you. Great content wins. Do what you are good at and find a way to connect, engage, and help

. Here is a great video interview with the author.