Arnie Skelton

This month’s top 10 features my top 10 business books.  Some old, some new, but all worth the read.

In no particular order:

1    Being Happy (Andrew Matthews). A top book with simple but essential tips to achieving the title.  Brilliantly written, and supported by excellent cartoons.  Andrew started as a professional cartoonist, before establishing himself as a major self-development specialist.  Buy it, read it, and pass it on…

2    Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway (Susan Jeffers). Her seminal book, essential reading for anyone low in self confidence, and facing fears and anxieties which get in the way of your own development and achievement.  She’s written many books since, all excellent, but this is still the best.

3     Unlimited Power (Anthony Robbins). Very American, which might put some off, but the messages are usually superb.  An early populist for NLP (neuro linguistic programming), but get through the language and listen to the messages.  And…it has clearly worked for him!

4     Getting Through (Godfrey Howard). The best book I’ve ever read on written communication.  He practices what he preaches - it is a joy to read, with wise advice combined with humour, and plenty of examples.

5     Eats, Shoots and Leaves (Lynne Truss). A more recent work on written communication, with a focus on punctuation.  It’s a laugh-out-loud book, with some sharp observations and loads of humour to underline some of her pet hates and hangups.  Agree, disagree - but you’re bound to enjoy if you like witty humour, effortly expressed.

6     How Would You Move Mt Fuji? (William Poundstone). A very different book, its focus is on creative problem solving (an example of which is in the title).  Why are such questions used at selection interviews?  What skills are they probing?  Can you prepare for such preposterous questions?…..and what’s the answer?!

7     Yes! (N J Goldstein et al). This is subtitled ‘50 secrets from the science of persuasion’, and consists of 50 mini case studies, all based on research, on how people are influenced.  Sample headings are ”What’s the pull of having no strings attached?’, and ‘What’s the hidden danger of being the brightest person in the room?’.  An easy to dip into book, and excellent food for thought for anyone interested in influencing others.

8     Talking from 9 to 5 (Deborah Tannen). This is the third of Deborah’s three wonderful books, all focused on how gender differences are expressed in the way we talk and behave.  All three are highly recommended (the other two are ‘You Just Don’t Understand’ and ‘That’s Not What I Meant’), but this is the pick of the three for me, in that it focuses on the differences within a work setting.  Very insightful.

9     SUMO (Paul McGee). SUMO stands for ‘Shut Up, Move On’, and that’s what it’s about, in a nutshell.  It’s another self-development book, very simply written, with excellent messages, all focused around taking ownership.  When I read this, and the follow up (SUMO your relationships) I was flabbergasted: it has so many of my principles that I thought I’d written it….!!

10    Nasty People (Jay Carter). Finally, a book that might save your life.  It’s a short book, with a simple message: how to deal with invalidators.  An invalidator is someone who invalidates everything you do, everything you say….nasty.  (In my view, not all invalidators are intentionally nasty - they may not even know they are doing it).