Personal development: summer reading

Fun to read these books also have a serious purpose.  Find out more about how teams really work, how to be more creative, how to motivate yourself and others, how to communicate and finally how to switch off.

There is an I in team: what elite athletes and coaches really know about high performance

Mark de Rond

Harvard Business Review Press, 2012

xxii, 224 pages

ISBN: 9781422171301

What can sport teach us about teams?  This book sheds new light on the inherent conflict between the team and the individuals within it and the challenge, for the leader, of making a team add up to more than the sum of its parts.  Using examples from the world of professional sport the author looks at issues like why the best teams rarely ever comprise the best individual performers, why likability often overrides competence even in sophisticated environments, why everyone on the team is not equal, why a focus on harmony can harm a team’s performance and why a belief in luck can itself improve performance.

Search inside yourself: the unexpected path to achieving success, happiness (and world peace)

Chade-Meng Tan

HarperOne, 2012

xvi, 268 pages

ISBN: 9780062116925

This book is about the very popular personal development course at Google.  The author was originally an engineer during Google’s start up phase but now, in his new post of “jolly good fellow”, helps Google employees get in touch with their feelings. The focus is on personal awareness achieved through meditation and mindfulness and on improved relations with others by gaining a better understanding of emotions and developing empathy.

inGenius: a crash course on creativity

Tina Seelig

HarperOne, 2012

216 pages

ISBN: 978006020703

Everything - every single word - provides an opportunity to leverage what you know to stretch your imagination.  But many people have not been encouraged to think in this way. This book presents a set of tools, the “innovation engine”, taught at Stanford University, to enhance creativity. Creativity techniques are likened to the scientific method as being useful ways of formally developing everyone’s innate creative potential. Students learn how to polish their powers of observation, practice connecting and combining ideas, challenge their assumptions and reframe problems.

Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us

Daniel H. Pink

Canongate, 2010

ixx, 242 pages

ISBN: 9781847677686

Money is of limited use as a motivator and can even have the effect of turning what could be fun into drudgery.  This book discusses the importance of the intrinsic motivation of self direction, engagement and purpose.  For the entrepreneur who needs to keep going in challenging circumstances and inspire others also, Pink provides both an understanding of motivation and a took kit to keep motivated.

Executive presence: the art of commanding respect like a CEO

Harrison Monarth

McGraw Hill, 2010

256 pages

ISBN: 9780071632874

Executive presence is a personal image which inspires respect.  It is cultivated by self awareness, communication skills and managing perceptions. Everyone has a brand created by an amalgamation of the impressions they make on others but it is desirable to replace this "random" brand with a crafted one.  This book describes how to pitch ideas, read people, manage conflict, convince others and increase one's reputation, in person and online.  Practical suggestions include a seven day plan for improving one's Social IQ by focusing on a key aspect each day.  Awareness of how people filter information, by their biases and previous experiences and of basic neurolinguistic techniques is critical for effective communication and obtaining buy-in.

Poke the box: when was the last time you did something for the first time?

Seth Godin

Do You Zoom, Inc, 2011

85 pages

ISBN: 978 1 936719006

This very short book by marketing guru Seth Godin encourages the reader to get started.  Godin believes that a culture of compliance, established in factories for mass production and in other industries using the factory model, has robbed many people of their natural initiative.  He identifies "instigation capital" as a key differentiator in the new project world;  translating ideas into products or services which can "ship".  The anecdotes and exhortations in the book are designed to overcome obstacles and inspire the reader with the necessary mindset to do this.

Obliquity: why our goals are best achieved indirectly

John Kay

Profile Books, 2011

210 pages; ISBN: 9781846682896

John Kay, economist, business school professor and Financial Times writer, presents his new approach to problem solving - obliquity.  Obliquity is the best approach whenever complex systems evolve in an uncertain environment and whenever the effects of our actions depend on the ways in which others respond to them.  Instead of approaching a solution head on, Kay recommends a process of iteration and adaption, choosing from a limited set of options and then reviewing the impact.  The book is full of anecdotes pointing out the failures of the direct approach and the wide use of "Franklin's Gambit", the presentation of a logical rationale for a decision after the solution has already been made using the oblique approach.

Blah, blah, blah: what to do when words don’t work

Dan Roam

Portfolio, 2011

350 pages

978-1591844594

This is the new book from visual thinking expert Dan Roam, author of the Back of the napkin and Unfolding the napkin. Roam believes that words can get in the way of thinking: people can become overwhelmed by too much information or disengaged through boredom.  Instead he describes how simple pictures can be much more effective at communicating complex ideas; a new grammar of vivid thinking.  The key elements are: draw while talking; learn the basic elements of visual grammar, identify visually the essentials of an idea.

Rework: change the way you work forever


Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Vermilion, 2010

279 pages, 9780091929787

The creators of popular web-based apps for small businesses, 37signals, identify a focus on the fundamental needs of a type of customer as the core of a successful business.  But the operating principles they use are in contradiction to much established practice:  minimize external funding; no five year plans; cut back on meetings; say no to customer proposed enhancements; turn some business away; use just the social media to build the audience. The book describes how this has worked for them.  

Sleeping with your smartphone: how to break the 24/7 habit and change the way you work.

Leslie A. Perlow

Harvard Business School Publishing, 2012

vi, 265 pages

ISBN: 9781422144046

Do you feel you always have to be available to clients and colleagues?  The cycle of responsiveness, while seemingly a necessary part of life for ambitious people, in reality detracts from the quality of work. This is the story of teams of consultants from Boston Consulting Group who worked together to ensure each one had some time each week to truly disconnect from work, “predictable time off”.  There are two steps to the process: agreeing a goal of the time off to be had by each team member and regular discussions each week as to how this is working in practice. Statistics showed that those teams using the method both had much higher job satisfaction and  also reported significantly higher scores of collaborative team work and team efficiency.  

Andrei Sidorin: "Brazilians name their country a tropical Russia".

SKOLKOVO Executive MBA second class's international module in Brazil is over but we still have many interesting details about it we are willing to share with you. Andrei Sidorin, SKOLKOVO EMBA Programme Operations Director, is speaking today about the trip, details of its preparation, peculiarities of Brazilian people and many other things.

Andrei, please tell us what does the SKOLKOVO Executive MBA programme International module involve? And why was Brazil chosen to be the assignment country this year?

It is not a secret that SKOLKOVO education is very much focused on the emerging markets and BRIC countries in particular. The programme is rather young and we constantly try to improve it, to make it more interesting and useful by changing and adding new things. And by all means the deep dive into the real environment is one of the most important elements of the programme. Last year our Executive MBA students went to China and this year we decided to try Brazil. Having good partnership between SKOLKOVO and the Brazilian school FDC made it easy to firmly decide on this choice.

How did you prepare for the trip? Did it take a long time?

That was a whole process. Actually we started preparations a year in advance – right upon our return from China. Our Chinese trip was organized for us by the contractor – a business tourism company, whereas with the Brazilian module we decided to do everything ourselves.

In general the concept remained the same: to show the students the real business linked to the cultural and market features of the country and local mindset habits; to see the social specifics and lifestyle of diferent social stratas. And we received great support from the FDC business school.

In addition to the last year’s curriculum (when half of the time was spent in corporate visits and another half – in studying the cultural aspects) we introduced several practical workshops. Though still the main emphasis was given to corpoate visits – to large and small companies, locals and multinationals, of various business spheres – in order to give the students an opportunity to compare the business specifics, as multinationals face one type of problemas and locals having grown into large monsters – another one, and so on.

I know that you have carried out the Emerging Markets module in advance – could you please tell us more about it… 

Yes, that’s right. Nearly a month before the trip we had a preparation module devoted to the business specifics at the emerging markets. Dr. Wilfried Vanhonacker, SKOLKOVO Dean, has told the students about China, Professor Reuben Abraham from the Indian School of Business – about India, and Professor Aldemir Drummond from FDC – about Brazil, which was extremely useful ahead of our trip (note: an interview with Professor Drummond you can find here) 

Advice on business literature from Helen Edwards

We congratulate you on the first day of spring and offer you a new set of books selected by SKOLKOVO Library project manager Helen Edwards

1. Obliquity: why our goals are best achieved indirectly
John Kay
Profile Books, 2011
x111, 210 pages; ISBN: 9781846682896

John Kay, economist, business school professor and Financial Times writer, presents his new approach to problem solving - obliquity. Obliquity is the best approach whenever complex systems evolve in an uncertain environment and whenever the effects of our actions depend on the ways in which others respond to them. Instead of approaching a solution head on, Kay recommends a process of iteration and adaptation, choosing from a limited set of options and then reviewing the impact. The book is full of anecdotes pointing out the failures of the direct approach and the wide use of "Franklin's Gambit", the presentation of a logical rationale for a decision after the solution has already been made using the oblique approach.

2. Don't be fooled again: lessons in the good, bad and unpredictable behaviour of global finance
Meyrick Chapman
Financial Times / Prentice Hall, 2010
xiv, 282 pages. ISBN: 9780273727897

Why did the global financial crisis happen and what can we learn from it? This book, written from within the financial industry, shows how financial markets really work. Chapman describes the flight of capital from the west, with its roots in the earlier Asian crisis. The very benefits of easy credit for short term social improvements blinded people to the underlying risks once questioning began, leading to the world wide disappearance of liquidity. The book discusses the rise of derivatives, the role of technology in their creation, the dark side of securitization and the challenge of regulation.

3. Rework: change the way you work forever
Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
Vermilion, 2010
279 pages, 9780091929787

Fried and Hansson, creators of Basecamp, describe the approach to building and running a business used by their company 37signals. Informal and practical, the authors advise a relentless focus on the core business, the fundamental needs of a type of customer. The product should meet these basic needs and not be caught up in a cycle of enhancements which both adds costs and detracts from the original value proposition. Minimize external funding, no five year plans (bound to be only guesses), cut back on meetings, and market by building an audience using social media rather than expensive campaigns. This has worked well for 37signals themselves - see their blog Signal v Noise

Advice on business literature from Helen Edwards

We are glad to greed you again!
We are opening our blog with advice on business literature from Helen Edwards!
Hopefully, it will make you feel enthusiastic after New Years holidays

1. Business exposed: the naked truth about what really goes on in the world of business.
Freek Vermeulen
Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2010
237 pages
ISBN: 9780273732921

This books uses the evidence from research to challenge many of the myths about business. How do strategies evolve? Why are executives paid so much and is it necessary? What use are management consultants, or are they even harmful, propagating ineffective management fads? Further strategy insights include thoughts on the long term downside to downsizing; the benefits of R&D departments as a means to assess the innovations of the competition even when they do not invent anything themselves and the problem of knowledge management systems resulting in formulaic "cookie cutter" solutions rather than real insights.

2. The buying brain: secrets for selling to the subconscious mind
A K Pradeep
Wiley, 2010
252 pages
ISBN: 9780470601778

Described as "a one-stop playbook for understanding and applying the latest research using findings from sophisticated neuromarketing techniques", this book shows how advertising really works. For example research shows faces with ambiguous expressions hold the attention longer than smiles; whereas younger people process both positive and negative images, older people focus much more on the positive and respond to advertising which promotes"the idea of wisdom". Practical methodologies for utilizing the research include the Brand Essence Framework, a tool for understanding how consumers connect to brands at a subconscious level.

3. The mesh: why the future of business is sharing
Lisa Gansky
Portfolio Penguin 2010
242 pages
ISBN: 9781591843719

This book is based on the simple idea: some things are better shared. Mesh companies use information and its technologies to provide goods and services as they are needed and are changing the concept of ownership. With many examples and case studies of the new sharing companies, from renting living Christmas trees to Zipcar, the author shows how these business models work and explores social media in its broader economic, cultural and environmental context.

Advice on business literature from Helen Edwards

We congratulate you on the first day of winter! We hope that in spite of frosty weather, you will get warm with a cup of hot tea reading some interesting books. It is books that we will tell you about today. A traditional column of advice on business literature guided by SKOLKOVO Library project manager Helen Edwards.

1. Anywhere: how global connectivity is revolutionizing the way we do business
Emily Nagle Green.
McGraw-Hill, 2010.
281 pages.
ISBN: 9780071635141

Imagine a world of total connectivity where people, ideas and products are instantly and seamlessly connected. President of the Yankee Group, Emily Nagle Green, explores the business opportunities offered by the wireless world. The book shows how to evaluate and then exploit business activities by their "anywhere" characteristics - from those like music which already live in the virtual space, to devices with intelligent components, to physical services rendered more efficient by the technology, to RFID tracking of assets- and points out the profit potential for those businesses able to "collapse time and space" by taking advantage of the anywhere technologies.

2. Brand society: how brands transform management and lifestyle
Martin Kornberger
Cambridge University Press, 2010
308 pages
ISBN:9780521726900

Kornberger uses evidence from sociology,anthropology, philosophy, aesthetics and mangement and his own experience in a branding agency to develop a theory of brands. He identifies brands as the organizational lifeline between the company and the external environment, the force which both links and reorganises the relationship between production and consumption The book is organised in three overlapping concentric circles: the concept of brands and how they are made: how brands are used by companies to manage and organize and indeed formulate the company identity and how brands transform consumption through the concept of lifestyle.

3. India, Inc.: how India's top 10 entrepreneurs are winning globally.
Vikas Pota
Nicholas Brealey, 2010.
232 pages..
ISBN: 9781857885248

Who are the most relevant role models in business today? This book identifies ten top Indian entrepreneurs from sectors as diverse as IT, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, banking, manufacturing, entertainment and green energy and describes their personal histories, vision and values and approach to business. The book also draws conclusions about factors within the Indian business environment - the approach to corporate social responsibility, the advantage of the fast growing domestic market at the time of global recession - and their contributions to these successes.

Advice on business literature from Helen Edwards

We are pleased to present you a regular fresh selection of books from Helen Edwards, a SKOLKOVO Library project manager. You can read her previous advice on business literature here.

1. Fault lines: how hidden fractures still threaten the world economy
Raghuram G. Rajan
Princeton University Press, 2010
259 pages
ISBN 9780691146836

Just announced as winner of Financial Times Business Book of the Year 2010, Fault lines was written by one of the few economists to see the financial crisis coming. The book shows how the collective effect of individual choices, in themselves a rational response to the prevailing economic order, had the effect of exacerbating flaws in the financial system, leading to meltdown. The author believes that the dangers from the economic crisis are far from over and outlines the steps he thinks necessary to avert them.

And see http://www.ft.com/indepth/business-book-award-2010 for details and excerpts from all the FT short listed books.

2. The Facebook effect: the inside story of the company that is connecting the world
David Kirkpatrick
Virgin books, 2010
372 pages
ISBN 9780753522745

With the film The Social Network http://www.thesocialnetwork-movie.com/site/ just out, the Mark Zuckerberg story is attracting even wider interest. This book, also shortlisted for the FT Business Book of the Year award, was written by a reporter with inside access to Facebook's founders and key executives including Zuckerberg himself. It describes how Facebook was created but also the company's business culture and beliefs, its use of engagement marketing and the concept of "gifts" as the "cool" approach to advertising, how it makes money and its extraordinary impact on global communications.

3. The coaching kaleidoscope: insights from the inside
Manfred F. R. Kets De Vries; Laura Guillen Ramo; Konstantin Korotov and Elizabeth Florent-Treacy
Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
256 pages
ISBN 978-0230239982

The purpose of executive coaching is to develop the practice of reflection for the benefit of individuals and their organisations. This book, based on experience at the INSEAD Global Leadership Centre and the European School of Technology and Management, Berlin, describes the research methodologies, interventions and techniques used for leadership development. There are also contributions from those experiencing coaching giving their view of their personal development.

Advice on business literature from Helen Edwards

We are glad to present a fresh selection of interesting books from Helen Edwards, a SKOLKOVO Library project manager. You can read her previous advice on business literature here.

1. Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game changers and challengers
Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur
John Wiley, 2010
281 pages
ISBN 978-0470-87641-1

This book lives up to its name in that it provides the tools to generate new business models. Packed with pictures, diagrams and real life business stories, it breaks down the complex process of understanding today's business models. This book clarifies how seemingly counter intuitive business models have transformed whole industries and reveals how readers can apply these same techniques to create value for their own businesses and within their own organizations.

2. The lords of strategy: the secret intellectual history of the new corporate world
Walter Kiechel
Harvard Business School Press, 2010
320 pages
ISBN 978-1591397823

The history of the four men who formalized corporate strategy and set in motion the modern consulting industry: Bruce Henderson (Boston Consulting Group), Bill Bain (Bain & Company), Fred Gluck (McKinsey) and Michael Porter (Harvard Business School). The book describes the ideas and analysis applied to developing business from the customers, costs, competitors paradigm onwards and shows how a small number of models and frameworks have dominated management thinking in thousands of companies.

3. The hidden brain: how our unconscious minds elects presidents, control markets, wage wars and save our lives
Shankar Vedantam
Spiegel & Grau, 2010.
270 pages
ISBN 978-0-385-52521-3

Written by the Science Correspondent of the Washington Post , this book describes how the hidden brain operates, its focus on speed and how it may apply heuristics to situations where they do not work. The book follows these unconscious biases from small decisions in private, social and professional settings, to major life choices, personal and business, and finally to issues which affect society as a whole, small groups and terrorism, the criminal justice system and politics.

Advice on business literature from Helen Edwards

The First of September is the Day of Knowledge!
We sincerely congratulate everyone who follows a difficult path of knowledge, who learns something new and gets an invaluable life experience.

Today we're presenting a new selection of books from Helen Edwards, a SKOLKOVO Library project manager. You can read her previous advice on business literature here.
Hopefully, there'll be only helpful and interesting books in your sack and you'll use them in practice!

1. Market Rebels: how activists make or break radical innovations
Hayagreeva Rao
Princeton University Press 2009
222 pages
ISBN 978-0691134567

This book identifies the key role of activists in promoting or impeding the adoption of radical business innovations. Technology may be ready but social and cultural factors determine whether a product takes off or flounders. Getting people angry or excited "hot causes" or kicking off a trend with which people identify "cool mobilization" can invoke collective action to create or constrain markets. The challenge for the manager is to "think like an insurgent" to make effective use of these powerful social forces.

2. Made in China: secrets of China's dynamic entrepreneurs
Winter Nie, Katherine Xin and Lily Zhang
Singapore: Wiley (Asia), 2009
224 pages
ISBN 978-0-470-82436-8

It seems that everyone wants to do business in China. However it is often China's own entrepreneurs rather than other multinationals which are the real competition. These private companies, now supplanting state owned enterprises and being set up by Chinese business people from all kinds of backgrounds and often with little initial capital, are succeeding by knowing their own markets and culture, readiness to adapt and resourcefulness.

Advice on business literature from Helen Edwards

Every day the market of business literature is extended by new useful books. SKOLKOVO School will help you make right choice! Today we are presenting a new column - advice from Helen Edwards, SKOLKOVO Library project manager.

Every month you'll be able to know about the most interesting and useful business books. You can find Helen's first selection below.

Before coming to SKOLKOVO Helen was Head of Information Services at London Business School where she worked with business students for over 20 years. She was President of the European Business Schools' Librarians' Group from 2005 to 2008 and has written and lectured widely about business school libraries in USA and Europe. In October 2009 she was made an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals for her services to international business librarianship.

1. The India way: how India's top business leaders are revolutionizing management
Peter Cappelli, Harbir Singh, Jitendra Singh and Michael Useem
Harvard Business Press, 2010. 336p
ISBN 978-1422147597

Employees first, customers second; improvise to find new ways of creating customer value and getting around bureaucrasy; focus on the good of society. The India way is an approach to business which the authors describe as underlying the growth of the Indian economy and the rapid expansion of its largest companies. It is a culture where big business leaders are emblematic of national achievement. The book explores how this philosophy of management and its support for innovation and growth can be exported to global contexts.

2. Enterprise 2.0: new collaborative tools for your organisation's toughest challenges
Andrew McAfee
Harvard Business Press, 2009. xi, 231p
ISBN 978-1422125878

Does IT ever bring a return on investment? The first half of this book describes the key features of Web 2.0 collaborative tools, their potential to transform business, with case studies describing how they have been used by organisations to solve business problems. But what is really interesting is the description of the realities of establishing the use of the tools in the business context; the largely groundless fears that inhibit adoption and the actuality of the long haul involved in getting to real benefit.