Summer Reading
Take Your Mind in New Directions

Just because you want to cut loose from work in the summer doesn't mean you want to set your mind adrift. You still might want to do some reading that can take your thinking and business in new directions. As we have done in past summers, we asked a cross section of managers, publishers, and faculty for their picks for good reads, and added a few of our own.

In the interest of full disclosure, you may have heard that we have launched Wharton School Publishing this year. Naturally, some of our favorite books are among these titles. (You don't expect us to publish books we're not wild about, do you?) With these biases out in the open, here's a set of books that can offer knowledge, insights, entertainment — and a bit of shade — on those hot summer days:

Recommended by Mike Useem
The William and Jacalyn Egan Professor, Professor of Management,
Director, Center for Leadership and Change Management, The Wharton School

Belle Linda Halpern and Kathy Lubar, Leadership Presence: Dramatic Techniques to Reach Out, Motivate, and Inspire (Gotham Books/Penguin Group, 2003): Two professional actors who run a training firm offer a set of practical methods for learning how to articulate your message, convey your confidence, inspire your audience, and otherwise project your leadership. "Presence is the ability to connect authentically with the thoughts and feelings of others," say the authors, and "great actors have it. Great political leaders have it too, as do great business leaders."

Kenneth Kamler, Surviving the Extremes: A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of Human Endurance (St. Martin's Press, 2004): Hand surgeon Kenneth Kamler draws on his own experience as world explorer, the accounts of others who have survived extreme environments, and the field of medicine to analyze how body and mind respond to hostile settings. With stories from climbing Mt. Everest and crossing Antarctica to diving in caves and walking in space, Kamler's narrative reminds us how resourceful we are when facing the extreme.

Robert E. Rubin and Jacob Weisberg, In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington (Random House, 2003): An account of decision making in high office by the former Goldman Sachs co-senior partner who served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury during the late 1990s and who is now chairman of the executive committee of Citigroup. From the turbulence of the Mexican peso crisis to aftermath of 9/11, here is an insider's account of how many of the vital political and economic choices of recent years were taken.

Recommended by Mark Hayes
Executive in Planning and Performance Management at a Fortune 500 company and recipient of Wharton Certificate of Professional Development (CPD)

Business:
Ron Chernow, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (Vintage, 1998): A candid account of a 20th century business life. Excellent example of how patient capital can end up paying off — also, an excellent example of how decency can be a powerful guiding principle in a professional career.

Biography:
Peggy Noonan, When Character was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan (Viking, 2001): Underscored that a great idea or set of ideas can be transformational and that if it cannot be stated plainly in language that everyone can understand — it will probably not have the same type of resonance.

History:
Richard Holm, The American Agent: My Life in the CIA (Trafalgar Square Books, 2003): A personally modest but riveting account of a distinguished career in American espionage as told by a practioneer. Take home message: Just do the work and honor excellence.

General:
James Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations (Doubleday, 2004): Provided a compelling framework for why inclusive thinking and decision making drives better business outcomes — which is consistent with Decision Traps by Paul Schoemaker.

Recommended by Tim Moore
Vice President, Executive Editor, Prentice Hall PTR, and Co-Editor, Wharton School Publishing

Jerry Wind and Colin Crook, The Power of Impossible Thinking: Transform the Business of Your Life and the Life of Your Business (Wharton School Publishing, 2004): Ever since the fall of The Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet empire and the recent rise of rampant world-wide terrorism, the world has been a topsy-turvy, ever-changing place. The mental models that we all built up and carried with us before these events may not serve us well now. We need new mental models, new ways to approach the issues, problems and opportunities that face us now. The Power of Impossible Thinking shows us all how to review and renew the way we think in this terrifying and wondrous world in which we live. If we can think new and impossible thoughts, we will be able to do new and impossible things.

CK Prahalad, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits (Wharton School Publishing, 2004): Imagine a solution to world poverty that is both charitable and profit-making, that can appeal to the left and to the right, that can be embraced by both those who run NGOs and those who run companies, a kind of global New Deal and an antidote to global economic growth stagnation. Impossible? Not if you read CK Prahalad's new book. Companies are finding ways to tap the largest untapped market left in the world — the poorest of the poor — while providing dignity and choice, and sustainable markets, to and for these people.

Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion (Penguin, 1964): In my view, the best and greatest American novel ever written. Epic in its vision, powerful in its strength, as tragic as any Shakespeare play, yet filled with hope for the vast human spirit. It breathes fire on every page, shaking its fist like Dylan Thomas at his death at the gods. Lear has nothing on the protagonist of this novel.

Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume (Bantam, 1984): Robbins is a delightful and massively creative writer. All of his books ask a central question about life: How do you mine life's joy and passion to the fullest? It is a simple question, but maybe the most profound, especially in this modern world we live in of 24/7/365 commitments. And its corollary question: How do you live your life by your own drummer and direction? An excerpt from this wonderful book tells all: "If you lack the iron and the fizz to take control of your own life, if you insist on leaving your fate to the gods, then the gods will repay your weakness by having a grin or two at your expense."

   

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