(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best business leadership books

I'm like this and I have no interest in being a manager for at least the next ten years. My managers have actually started complementing me on how I may make a good manager someday so I should probably get around to telling them that. I don't want to mislead them. (At my company we have technical promotion track that parallels the management one. People at this company tend to be lifers so it's probably a good idea to let them think I'll stick around for a while.)

Leadership, project management, and people management skills are hugely beneficial in literally every job role you'll ever have (also your social life, confidence, and more!). Not everyone has to be like this but it's an amazing feeling to get a bunch technical contributors working well together. I think of it as being a technical leader.

The technical lead or software lead role is usually assigned at most companies. At my company software engineers act more like internal consultants. When someone has a problem that requires a software solution, they ask us for help. This business model forces me to understand way more about the project management side than I was initially comfortable with, but I love being able to bring in new team members and consult with experts.

Right now I'm tasking two interns on one project and one intern on another, and I'm also working with an analyst who's learning software development. I love being involved in the technical problem-solving and implementation details. My role on these projects allows me to do that. Also my teaching background makes me really value the knowledge transfer that my company is pushing right now.

I also end up presenting to management a lot. I'm getting better at jumping between the technical details and the big-picture perspective. It helps that I'm ridiculously excited about these projects. Plus it's a very positive environment: my management wants me to do well and look good cause it makes them look really good.

I've been extremely lucky at my job and I totally didn't have these organization or leadership skills a year ago. It's definitely something you can learn if you want to. Check out Becoming a Technical Leader to start if you're interested.

Also (most of you probably know), team projects at work are WAY more fun and motivating than team projects in school (especially in my online program).

OK, sure. Please bear in mind these are my own personal recommendations, everyone's understanding and learning styles are different.

Something like this will be very handy for your documentation.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1598638688/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_20?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=96RQCVP9B9T0XYWX9G7J

It covers the latest UML version and will stand you in good stead for you future as a BA. I've not read this but it's been on my wish list for a few months and it will be my next purchase. The reviews seem to be pretty positive and apparently it has some case studies within it. This would be ideal for you because you can actually practise your learning using these in preparation for your role. UML is a common buzzword found on job descriptions so knowing it is handy.

The next book I'd recommend would be this:
https://www.amazon.com/Business-Analysis-Malcolm-Eva/dp/178017277X

I actually got this book free with a bcs course I did but I've recently bought it again as a soft copy so I don't have to lug it around with me. I consider it my Bible to be honest. It pretty much goes through the spectrum of BA work across an end to end project lifestyle. In the real world it's unlikely that you would ever need to use all aspects of this book on all projects. The idea of it is more of a reference to pick and choose the relevant parts for the state of your project and apply the BA skills that it describes and the experience you already know.

Finally, there is another BCS book I often use, specifically for gathering and documenting requirements:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1780172737/ref=pd_aw_sim_14_of_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=MSPTS21P7KVGTZ0YJ4C5
I used this book a hell of a lot when I first started out and it literally has what it says 99 tools and techniques. Best of all, it has examples and some basic templates to start from. Which were so useful for me.

Don't be afraid to use Google, linked in and the websites listed on here. They are all invaluable sources of information to help you.

It's worth noting that there are a number of BABOK books out there that could be out benefit to you.

None of the companies I have worked for have been particularly bothered about this but it is something I'll study at some point. Anything on agile would be a bonus. Agile seems to be the new buzzword lately.

Hopefully some of the other guys on here will comment too.

Hope this helps, apologies for anything that's unclear, I'm writing this on my phone.

Good luck,
Andy

You're very welcome! And I do hope you're able to find somebody who works, regardless of gender. =)

One of the best books I've read is http://www.amazon.com/The-21-Indispensable-Qualities-Leader/dp/0785289046.

It's a really short, easy-to-read book, but it's filled with great info and it applies regardless of industry. If you're looking for a starting point, that might help.

Also? Fuck networking events. As an IT professional I probably shouldn't say that... but I don't like them. I don't want to go into a room of random strangers who work somewhat in the same area as I do, and hope to make friends. I'd rather network through my friends. That's proven far more effective than anything else, in my experience. I've been to a couple of networking events and ugh. Just ugh. It's like an awkward middle school dance all over again.

When I was in my early 20's, and I first started in my current industry, I didn't know anybody. I made friends with a few people here & there, and those friends introduced me to new people, and so on and so forth. Strictly as a result of that, I'm now friends with several IT recruiters, have contacts in all sorts of industries, and keep meeting new people - all because I struck up a friendship with a couple of people. =) Don't discount making friends.

Plus - the fact that you're actively in pursuit of making positive changes and increasing your experience/knowledge... that is huge. That speaks volumes to how seriously people should take you!

Articles from reputable sources are a decent source of knowledge, but some quality business books will get you an infinitely better understanding of concepts. Here is my personal business book list if you want to get a "universal generalist" understanding of business:

• Business Creation - The Lean Start-up
  
• Value Creation - How to Make Millions With Your Ideas
  
• Marketing - Getting Everything You Can Out Of Everything You Got / All Marketers Are Liars
  
• Sales - Pitch Anything
  
• Value Delivery - Indispensable
  
• Accounting/Finances - Financial Intelligence / Accounting Made Simple
  
• Understanding the Human Mind - Making Sense of Behavior
  
• Productivity - Getting Things Done
  
• Problem Solving - The 80/20 Principle
  
• Decision Making - Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions
  
• Negotiation - 3-D Negotiation
  
• Management - Growing Great Employees
  
• Project Management - Making Things Happen
  
• Statistics - Marketing Metrics
  
• Corporate Knowledge - The Effective Executive
  
• Corporate Strategy - Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies
  
• Creativity - The Creative Habit
  
• Personal Finance - Your Money or Your Life
  
  I am graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce Honors degree in May and I can easily say that one of these books (average price ~25$) has significantly more content than most individual classes I have taken (~600$). However, keep in mind that business knowledge and business acumen are two entirely different things. Knowledge is easily obtainable through books like these, and acumen is the result of applied experience with decision making. In short, it is one thing to be book smart, but it is another to get out there and actually apply it. No one can give you that in the form of an article or book - you have to do that yourself.
  
  edit: added links to amazon

Some great points here but from the sounds of your post that you are now "in charge of Salesforce" there aren't people telling you what to do in it. It sounds to me your job role has changed from "The Admin" to "The Consultant/BA". Yes go for some certifications but mostly I think it's about moving more into the Consultant/BA role. Find how Salesforce can be used more effectively in your company to add value and measure it!. Actually, sit with some of your users who are advocates of Salesforce and understand how they do their job. I always look for people who use Excel/paper forms or are chasing different people for the same information again and again. Excel and paper forms can be turned into Salesforce objects, the chasing emails can be turned into workflows/process builder/automation. Work out how many times they have to copy/paste/send emails etc based on what you have automated. Then go to your boss and say hey I just saved the company $$ by automating this process. Maybe go look at common processes that the company does as a whole where you can make a bigger saving.

IMO That sounds a million times more compelling to your boss than hey look I passed the Salesforce Admin exam and completed 100 badges on Trailhead. I'm not saying not to do training but once you have identified the need for Salesforce its time to fill in your knowledge gaps with Trailhead/Certs etc and what better way to learn than on a real life scenario.

This sounds like a great opportunity and if it doesn't work out you can always put on your CV I saved the company $xxx,xxx in automating their processes using Salesforce.

Some books which I've had for YEARS but are (IMO) the bibles on Business Analysis:
https://www.amazon.com/Business-Analysis-Techniques-Essential-Success/dp/1780172737
https://www.amazon.com/Business-Analysis-James-Cadle/dp/178017277X

I'm a male who has found negotiation difficult in the past. My wife and I both found it helpful to read The Mind and Heart of the Negotiator. It's a bit academic, but it really removes a lot of the emotion from negotiation. It gives a practical framework around negotiation and explains about why negotiation is worthwhile and OK.

Here are a couple of things I remember from the book:

• Spend some time upfront working out all your options. Think about how good your alternatives are. Then you will be negotiating from as strong a position as possible.
  
• Don't just discuss salary. Be creative and think about the entire package. (Again do this in advance of the negotiation.) Flexible hours, insurance, vacation, job title - even your type of chair! Often employers will be able to compromise more easily in some areas than in others. "Our budget is fixed so we can't offer you a higher salary, but I guess we could give you an extra 2 weeks of vacation." Having options has made me feel more comfortable about negotiation - it's not just a fight over salary, it's genuinely trying to find a package that suits both parties.
  
• Always be ready to suggest a figure - and make it on the high side! Research has shown that the negotiation outcome will tend to reflect the first number mentioned, so it helps if you can provide that number yourself.
  
  Edit: Grammar, added last point, link.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

The title of this book is misleading because this is not a book about productivity and effectiveness in that sense. It's a book about leading an effective life... about deciding at a high level what you want out of life so you can achieve it. And it's about relationships - with family, friends and business colleagues.

One reviewer said it better than I probably could: "Habits 1, 2, and 3 deal with self-mastery. They move an individual from dependency on others to independence. Habits 4, 5, and 6 deal with teamwork, cooperation, and communication. These habits deal with transforming a person from dependency to independence to interdependence. Interdependence simply means mutual dependence. Habit 7 embodies all of the other habits to help an individual work toward continuous improvement."

I was given The 7 Habits at my first real job, and have re-read it many times over the years (almost once a year) because the stories and lessons have meant different things to me at different stages of my life. I couldn't understand the lessons behind Covey's stories about raising his children until I had my own, for instance. I couldn't understand some of the management lessons until I was managing employees first hand.

This is by far the best book on personal growth and leadership in my opinion.

21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell

While The 7 Habits is about high level thinking, about building core principles and using them in business and life, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership has more practical advice on leadership but still from a principles-based perspective. This is leadership advice, not management advice. It's about inspiring people to follow you, about leading people through crises, about growing other leaders in your team, etc.

**

The two books above are about leadership. Leadership is about inspiring people, it's about setting the vision of the company, about deciding the overall trajectory of the ship. Management is about efficient procedures, productive output, reducing costs, and automation.

The only management book I have ever read that really opened my eyes and made me change the way I was running my business was The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. Probably doesn't apply to management in a large organization, but has lots of great advice and wisdom if you are an entrepreneur trying to build a company yourself. It's not all management advice, but it gets in the weeds and shows you how and why you need to setup systems - processes and procedures - in your business so it can run without your working in it... which frees you up to work on* it in a leadership capacity.

Fortunately management is a skill that can be learned, just like development. The fact that you're trying to learn is a good sign. Rather than share specific bits of advice, I'm going to share some of the resources that helped me get up to speed.

I found the Manager Tools podcast and related information incredibly helpful when I made the jump into team leadership and management. Doing their version of One on One meetings helped me grow relationships with my team members, and the meetings helped me and my directs stay in tune with the work of the organization. A great place to start:

http://www.manager-tools.com/manager-tools-basics

Mark Horstman is one of the main guys at Manager Tools, and if you start listening, you'll quickly learn that The Effective Executive is his favorite book. I resisted reading it for years because I'm not an executive. I read it a few months ago, and I was silly to wait: if you're a "knowledge worker" or a manager of knowledge workers, you are an executive by Drucker's definition.

Another strong resource (and the first book I read on the subject) is Becoming a Technical Leader by Gerald Weinberg.

And probably the most helpful book I've read in the last year: Communication Gaps and How to Close Them. Most of your hard problems won't be technical in nature: they'll be problems that arise due to missed or misunderstood communications. For instance, with the move from SVN to TFS, setting up TFS and importing your SVN repos is the easy part. Getting the few guys that aren't excited about the move to understand and embrace it will be the tricky part. Back to the Manager Tools guys, they have a phrase: "communication is what the listener does," and everybody listens in different ways. That's why successful changes usually involve repeated and varied communication.

Best of luck!

A great Scrum Master recognizes himself in the acronym made up by Geoff Watts, RE-TRAINED:

• Resourceful, is creative in removing impediments
  
• Enabling, is passionate about helping others
  
• Tactful, is diplomacy personified
  
• Respected, has a reputation for integrity
  
• Alternative, is prepared to promote a counter-culture
  
• Inspiring, generates enthusiasm and energy in others
  
• Nurturing, enjoys helping teams and individuals develop and grow
  
• Empathic, is sensitive to those around them
  
• Disruptive, breaks the status quo, help create a new way of working

Follow @mojcamars on twitter and check out her blog on www.superspicymedia.com. She started out the same as you and she details how she got started finding clients.

Basically, she started by searching on Twitter for people who needed help with their social media accounts. She would give away completely free advice to people and the premium stuff she would charge for. She said when giving free advice she doesn't mention her website or anything like that upfront... she only does so if the conversation calls for it. Most people will find out about your website/services anyway when they visit your Twitter profile.

Check out her site. I highly recommend it.

Also look into Gary Vaynerchuk on YouTube. He goes into detail about this many times. You should be putting out free content daily, just like Mojca does. By doing so, you establish yourself as an authority in your space while at the same time gaining a following which leads to sales/clients. Read "Jab, jab, right hook" and "#AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur's Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness".

Good luck!

I strongly recommend High output management by Andy Grove. Theres a reason it's called the Silicon Valley bible and so many tech leaders swear by it. I've read a lot of leadership books on managing people and this is the one I still keep coming back to.

Theres a lot of good stuff from Peter Drucker (pretty much the first guy to write on management as a discipline) that is timeless. Ironically he was good friends with Andy Grove and you can see some concepts borrowed from Drucker in High output management. The effective executive is probably his best work but Essential Drucker is a good compilation of a lot his stuff.

Eliyahu Goldratts Theory of constraints is really good as well as some of hi ls other stuff. He was accused of just copying old concepts from management science that was 40 years old. Thats probably true, but his books are still fantastic

Be firm but fair - don't be an asshole. If there's anyone working harder than you in the kitchen, you're doing it wrong. Be the first to arrive, last to leave.

Being the sous also means you get to pick the brain of the chef a lot more, so if you admire what he/she does, then use this opportunity to train, too.

Leadership Lessons from a Chef is a great book to read. It's more from the eyes of an exec chef, but he has some great approaches to managing a kitchen that really resonated with me and helped me a lot.

Lastly - do not ever complain. Save the bitching and moaning for the line staff. As sous, you need to be that rock that takes challenges, chews them up, and spits them back out. Nothing should faze you. Your crew will admire you for this if nothing else.

Good luck and I hope everything works out great for you.

Thanks, Reddit! This was good fun. Really hope you enjoy my book. https://www.amazon.com/Captain-Class-Teams-Dominate-Others/dp/0812997190 Please see my website and sign up for the newsletter! http://bysamwalker.com Above all, remember: the best team leaders are not always the most obvious candidates!

>Thanks for your answer, I do understand that I've got to meet them where they are at and iterate towards a more agile and Scrum specific mode of working.

I feel like there's a 'but' here. :) if you have more questions, please ask.

>You make a good point that while they are not all able to work on everything now, the plan is that they will get there so they may as well work through refinement together starting now.

Transformation isn't instantaneous, so you have the right idea now. change at this scale can be difficult. go for the easy wins and then go for the harder ones later. Remember some of the core tenants of leadership. There are things you should align to and things you should manage. where are you aligning? Is everyone aligned? where are you managing?

A few books that might help you out:

https://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805

https://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Mastery-Good-Great-Servant-Leadership/dp/0957587406

https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Software-Development-Agile-Toolkit/dp/0321150783/

https://www.amazon.com/Implementing-Lean-Software-Development-Concept/dp/0321437381/

https://www.amazon.com/Coaching-Agile-Teams-ScrumMasters-Addison-Wesley/dp/0321637704

I'm leaving a few books out that you have probably read, like Phoenix Project and 5 dysfunctions of a team. If you haven't read these you should. The above books go over a few advanced topics and should cover any gaps you might have in your foundation of knowledge.

The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch is probably the book that has had the most impact on my thinking and view of the world, the universe and everything else.
 

It covers an extremely wide variety of subjects and is therefore difficult to sum up, but basically it tries to form a giant, coherent worldview with explanations as the center of everything.
 

You really have to read the book to appreciate just how magnificent it is, and hopefully it will change your way of thinking as profoundly and positively as it has changed my own. For a really good primer, listen to this podcast where Sam Harris interviews David Deutch.

Say no more, fam.

You don't need a degree to run a business. Having your own business allows you to experiment with these books first hand instead of taking some professor's word for it. Professor's usually just read what the book says. If they were actually good at running a business they'd probably be doing that.

• Business Creation - The Lean Start-up
  
  
  
• Value Creation - How to Make Millions With Your Ideas
  
  
  
• Marketing - Getting Everything You Can Out Of Everything You Got / All Marketers Are Liars
  
  
  
• Sales - Pitch Anything
  
  
  
• Value Delivery - Indispensable
  
  
  
• Accounting/Finances - Financial Intelligence / Accounting Made Simple
  
• Understanding the Human Mind - Making Sense of Behavior
  
  
  
• Productivity - Getting Things Done
  
  
  
• Problem Solving - The 80/20 Principle
  
  
  
• Decision Making - Smart Choices: A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions
  
  
  
• Negotiation - 3-D Negotiation
  
  
  
• Management - Growing Great Employees
  
  
  
• Project Management - Making Things Happen
  
  
  
• Statistics - Marketing Metrics
  
  
  
• Corporate Knowledge - The Effective Executive
  
  
  
• Corporate Strategy - Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies
  
  
  
• Creativity - The Creative Habit
  
  
  
• Personal Finance - Your Money or Your Life

I'd go into design research and/or design planning&strategy. Design research uses many ethnographic methods, all influenced by anthropological practices (some do them better than others, but understanding the background is a huge advantage).

One place to look is the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology – they offer a dual Masters program where you can get an MBA and a Masters in Design (MDes). Further, if you're interested, they have a 1 year foundation program for people without an undergrad background in design. It's a top program and its roots trace back to the Bauhaus.

Now that I'm done pitching my favorite program, there are also good options at other programs and some business schools are adopting design-based innovation ideas.

Check out Roger Martin's book "The Design of Business" for one (excellent) take on design thinking and business.

This podcast is inspired by the twice guest of Sam Harris's podcast, David Deutsch. I find David Deutsch to be the most interesting guest that Sam has ever had. He also the author of the best Book I ever read. The Beginning of Infinity.

• Making Sense with Sam Harris #22 — Surviving the Cosmos (with David Deutsch) - In this episode, Sam Harris talks to physicist David Deutsch about the reach and power of human knowledge, the future of artificial intelligence, and the survival of civilization.
  
• Making Sense with Sam Harris #52 - Finding Our Way in the Cosmos (with David Deutsch) - In this episode, Sam Harris speaks with physicist David Deutsch about the foundations of knowledge, the moral landscape, possible futures for conscious beings, and other topics.
  
• Sam Harris and David Deutsch by Brett Hall - If you did not quite catch the disagreement between David and Sam about his book, don't worry you're not alone. I posed this very question to Brett and he was kind enough to make a whole video explaining the differences.
  
  From this particular Podcast linked (11:00 mins):
  
  
  
  >References:
  >
  >- Pessimist's Archive on Twitter: twitter.com/PessimistsArc
  - David Deutsch, "Creative Blocks: How Close are We to Creating Artificial Intelligence?": aeon.co/essays/how-close-are-…tificial-intelligence
  - David Deutsch, CBC interview from 2018 about AGI: www.cbc.ca/player/play/1251489859794
  >
  >Further reading:
  >
  >- “The Bucket and the Searchlight” by Karl Popper
  - “The Beginning of Infinity” by David Deutsch, chapter 1 “The Reach of Explanations”, and chapter 6 “The Jump to Universality”
  >
  >If you have any questions or comments, please leave them here or tweet at me: twitter.com/dchackethal

The CO is always ultimately responsible for his ship. He selected and approved the officers on watch, he (tacitly) approved training and certification of the other watchstanders. He approved of his bridge and CIC crew enough to leave the bridge and go to sleep.

This is accountability. It's the epitome of leadership, and absolutely necessary to make an organization run effectively.

I highly recommend this book if you can find it. (I'm biased - Professor Montor was my leadership instructor). Otherwise It's Your Ship is an exceptional book on leadership.

Maxwell's Leadership book is also an excellent read & resource

If you want to dig up books on your own, be careful to differentiate "leadership" from "management."

Going into the Mid-Season Brawl, a general question: Sam Walker has a book called The Captain Class, which says that the common thread among dominant, athletic sports teams that consistently win championships is the captain of the team -- not the superstar of the team, not the coach of the team, but the player that is the leader of the team in a social dimension. Walker found that the captain was the most important variable in these teams' success.

Do you see this in play at all in e-sports, and specifically in the Heroes community? Granted, the comparison may not be perfect as many teams are already handicapped by not having a coach (as all athletic sports teams do).

Some books that I've found interesting and helpful are:

• Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead
  
• The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age
  
• Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter
  
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
  
• Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn't Want You to Know—and What to Do About Them
  
  Also, I think participating in this sub has helped me become a better leader at work.

Gary's next book comes out in January. Pre-Order it! In the meantime, check out The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris, and #AskGaryVee. Good places to start. 4 Hour Work Week is good to get you in the mindset of working for yourself, scheduling, setting small attainable goals (he has spreadsheets etc. that you can find online and fill out to help you visualize goals in short and long term lengths of time.)

And I think you will gain a lot from THIS video. Specifically about parents putting pressure on their kids to attend college because that's what their generation was programmed to believe. Going that route is only one way. And that way is NOT what we, as entrepreneur's need... we need to get the knowledge, immerse ourselves in it, and DO our thing... not get 300 hours of useless information, for a useless piece of paper, that isn't for YOU. Not that it isn't for everyone, some people will go that route and gain much success, but for those of use who have a fire inside to do something BIG for OURSELVES, it just isn't the way. He talks about how to sit down with your parents and have that conversation.

Edit; Listen closely @ 3:22. It's about having a happy and fulfilling life. If your parents REALLY care, then they'll understand. If they DON'T then they'll continue to push their viewpoints on you. And Gary says this best, but in no uncertain terms, he clearly says at that point "What is the ROI on your mothers opinion? Jack shit."

check out the The captain Class

pretty good book discussing the various GOAT teams, two of which is the ducan spurs and Russell Celtics.

The way that these people click is really interesting, you may not buy the author's theory but it is defiantly interesting. Especially interesting because it kinda forshadowed the Spurs regression

Here is the full story

>Big conglomerates often face a choice between using internal and external suppliers. Suppose, for example, that Acme Corp. is building a cell phone and has to decide whether to use a screen created by Acme’s screen division or by an external supplier. There’s an advantage to both approaches: Using an internal supplier can allow for tighter collaboration and more learning on each side of the relationship, but there’s a danger that having a captive customer will make Acme’s screen division lazy.

>Since the early 1990s, Samsung has taken an unusual approach: Use both an internal and an external supplier at the same time. When Samsung builds a new cell phone model, it will ship some units with Samsung-made components — screens, memory chips, batteries, and so forth — inside, and others with units supplied by third parties.

>“Samsung affiliates do not receive special treatment when making deals with other Samsung affiliates,” wrote scholars Jaeyong Song, Kyungmook Lee, and Tarun Khanna in a deeply researched 2016 paper on Samsung’s culture. “They must be prepared to lose out to external suppliers if they are not competitive in quality, price, or time to delivery.”

>Employees at the most successful divisions got bonuses that represented as much as 50 percent of their base salaries. Conversely, Samsung had a policy that “any business that incurred losses for three straight years (excluding new businesses) should be sold or liquidated,” Song and his colleagues wrote.

source

If you are interested in more things like this then I recommend the book The Samsung Way.

There are multiple people, across the ideological spectrum.

Noam Chomsky
In that clip he is critiquing Slavoj Zizek's postmodernism (who himself in another clip is saying postmodernism is a form of totalitarianism by the way).

Here is an older one of Chomsky as well.

The most coherent I've ever read is the one by David Deutsch, in his great book The Beginning of Infinity. I would even go so far as to say that his critique is stronger than Jordan Petersons.

Then of course there is Stephen Hicks.

There are also many critiques which closely related to it, which is critique of "Critical theory" and "cultural marxism", which is closely related to it, especially in the universities.

I myself discovered postmodernism at the root of a cluster of very strange things in our culture long before I discovered JP, by simply having an ideological girlfriend and trying to get to the bottom of how her beliefs hang together.

What I discovered with her, and why I think it is also so important what JP is doing with labeling it and telling people what they're up against, is that she never used the word postmodernism herself. I don't even think she knew what it was. This was certainly not her identity label (Although she did talk about intersectionality). But every single of the big ideas she had formed the totality of postmodernism (conventionalism, relativism, social constructionism, that everything is power and groups battle for power, etc.).

Does the fact that she did not identify as a postmodernist make any difference to her acting out that ideology? No, not at all. If anything it just makes it harder to spot. It's in some way easier to fight marxism when everyone who shares that ideology identify themselves as marxists. While people can front radical postmodernist ideas in companies without being spotted because the spread of the ideology has not yet reached public awareness.

I would recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Accountability-Resolving-Expectations-Commitments/dp/0071829318

Along with the crucial conversations book as well. They'll help you not only in this situation, but also moving forward with your career.

What you have here is a situation where expectations are leading you to the point where you need to have a conversation with the guy. How you handle that conversation is the key to coming out ahead. Lots of great advice in this thread - but also check out the book I linked above. I got it from my library and it was a quick read.

A true classic business book might help your thinking here -- there are sections about meetings and one-on-ones -- it's called High Output Management by Andy Grove and it's exceptionally cleanly and simply written. And it won't take you too long either. It has quite a following and that following is well deserved. It's a classic for a reason. I think it could help you as it has many others.

Working with emotional intelligence: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Emotional-Intelligence-Daniel-Goleman/dp/0553378589

and

Mind and heart of the Negotiator :https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Heart-Negotiator-5th/dp/0132543869

Hah. Well, I was using it in terms of the book Multipliers.

It describes a multiplier as someone who makes others feel more efficient, and a diminisher as someone who makes others drag. You can be a rock star at your job function and still be a diminisher.

Good book. Focuses on tech companies. Don't need to be in a leadership role to appreciate it.

that's like the whole point of astroball (discussed in depth in Astroball by Ben Reiter) that analytics and advanced metrics can give us a ton of information to use but the idea of Gut Feel and emotion really can and should play a huge part in the decision making process

Here's a twofer ya. The reason one should believe in theories is that theories have explanatory power. Most of the philosophical razors you have heard of are an attempt to get at good explanations.

A great book about explanatory power is The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World by David Deutsch, and his 'hard to vary' razor is keener than Occam's.

I just finished my PSM II certification. This book is by far the best read you can get if you want to move beyond just being a "scrum nazi" and enforcing the rules of scrum in your organization. It was also the most recommended book from a recent Scrum.org training event I attended: https://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Mastery-Good-Great-Servant-Leadership/dp/0957587406

Try this book. You basically have to sit down with the person and nicely remove all the barriers for why they have not done that thing. Then set a time line, one week? Meet in one week and review progress.

You might find that the person doesn't actually know how to update a web site.

I recommend the book The Samsung Way This is the real deal.
Seriously entertaining. Chaebols create their own drama.

You need two books the first is professional baking text something like this http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1118254368?pc_redir=1410749379&robot_redir=1
The second is a book on management the only one I can personally recommend would be this http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0470125306/ref=pd_aw_sbs_1?pi=SL500_SY115&simLd=1

Have you read Design of Business by Roger Martin? It's a design thinking book, but of a different school than the IDEO folks. Honestly, I've been underwhelmed by the so-called transformative power of that approach, and this is more design systems thinking than anything; it's reframed the way I think about almost everything.

Have not read it, but I hear lots of good things about Astroball

Robert C. Townsend wrote in Up the Organization: If you discovered how to eliminate pollution, don't hold a press conference. Just start eliminating it state by state. Don't let the opposition see you coming.

You don't need to to be visible to win.

Reminds me of a comment by Robert Townsend, in Up the Organization

From memory: Don't try to emulate General Motors. General Motors didn't get big by doing things the way they do now. And you won't either.

One other thing I noted: One should really consider two things.

1 The amount of revenue that each transaction represents. Is it five cents? Or five thousand dollars?

2 The development cost per transaction. It's easy for developer costs to seriously drink your milkshake. (We reduced our transaction cost from $0.52 down to $0.01!!! And if we divide the development cost by the number of transactions it's $10.56)

My brother handed this book down to me and it was very inspirational.
http://www.amazon.com/21-Indispensable-Qualities-Leader-Becoming/dp/0785289046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324493121&sr=8-1

["Multipliers" ] (https://www.amazon.com/Multipliers-Best-Leaders-Everyone-Smarter/dp/0061964395/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467839193&sr=8-1&keywords=multipliers+book) Is a good book on leadership.

["Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas"] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201741571/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) is good too but very dry

I run a high end consulting service (Personal stylist), with rates ranging from $497-$5k. I offer a 100% money back full program guarantee.

That means they can work with us for the complete program (average 8 weeks) and if they are unhappy, they can get their money back.

I've never made a refund in the 2 years since I've been doing this, and almost 100% of my high end clients ($1.5k bracket and above) said one of the reasons they pulled the trigger was because of my guarantee.

If you want to read more about why guarantees are win/wins, I HIGHLY recommend reading Jay Abraham's book "Getting everything you can out of all you've got"

I think this seasoned journalist may have a better idea of Iggy's relevance than we might...

https://www.amazon.com/Captain-Class-Hidden-Creates-Greatest/dp/0812997190

I recommend this book for those who want to know about the unique business strategies some of korean chaebols used to achieve an extremely diversified portfolio without sacrificing diseconomies of scale

It sounds as if your IT director has read Up the Organization by Robert Townsend.

He was the CEO of Avis Rent-A-Car in the 1960/70s and instituted a policy of putting all senior management on the service desk one day a month so that they would learn what their staff and customers had to put up with.

I wish more companies and government departments would do the same.

The Alliance (by the founder/chairman of LinkedIn) offers some interesting ideas on how to remedy this.

O RLY? Cuz my schedule in TLC says I'm off at 9 PM, not off at some ambiguous "when finished with closing duties". It always kills me when they try to hold me over and I'm like "Nope, I had plans after work, see ya tomorrow!".

Maybe instead of trying to coax people into doing the right thing they should use their leadership skills to actually set expectations (like not standing around during their shift) and get it done the right way? At my last retail gig where I was in a leadership position we were basically forced to read a book called Crucial Accountability... honestly I learned a lot from that book, certainly more than I expected.

> I’m still waiting for an actual documentary that catalogues the Astros’ going from the Lastros to World Series champs. The entire story is an emotional ride with lows and highs.

That already exists, and it's fantastic, but it's a book.

Also don't forget about Astroball, releasing in July.

Peopleware https://www.amazon.co.uk/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-Tom-DeMarco/dp/0932633439/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1472842600&sr=8-2&keywords=peopleware


Up The Organisation https://www.amazon.co.uk/Up-Organization-Corporation-Stifling-Strangling/dp/0787987751/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472842647&sr=8-1&keywords=up+the+organisation

https://www.amazon.com/Astroball-New-Way-Win-All/dp/0525576649

I think you should check out the book the beginning of infinity by physicist David Deutsch.

He doesn't talk about exactly what you said, but I got the same vibe from you as I got from his book.

Malthus was wrong because he pretended that both sides of the equation were known and could be extrapolated; in reality, only one side was correctly extrapolated (the population growth) while he failed to account for yet-to-come developments on the other side. Of course, he couldn’t know these developments but it is a typical statistical mistake to assume that we can just extrapolate from past trends.

This is a common theme with (pessimist) predictions. David Deutsch discusses this in great detail in the fascinating The Beginning of Infinity and shows why we should be wary of such proclamations.

The Fabric of Reality by David Deutsch radically changed the way I think about many things. It's one of the few books I've read twice (ten years apart). The physics part was interesting, but it's the philosophy of it that affected me.

Another book of his, The Beginning of Infinity, had quite an effect on me as well, especially the idea that all solutions have their problems, and that instead of regressing, we should push forward to find solutions to the new problems.