One idea per great book - that's the idea behind this huge post. The content has been sourced from The Sucecss Manual, the popular compilation of business and career skills advice.

1. Outliers: The Story of Success
- Malcolm Gladwell

What’s ten years? Well, it’s roughly how long it takes to put in ten thousand hours of hard practice. Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.

2. The Art of Worldly Wisdom
- Balthazar Gracian

# 163. Never - out of sympathy with the unfortunate - involve yourself in their fate.

3. The Road Less Traveled
- M. Scott Peck

The biggest truth is life: LIFE IS DIFICULT.
Once we know and accept this truth, it becomes easier to recognize and solve personal problems.

4. The Four Agreements
- Don Miguel Ruiz

Agreement 2: Don’t take anything personally - Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

5. If Life Is a Game, These Are the Rules
- Cherie Carter-Scott

Rule 7 - Others are only mirrors of you. You love or hate something about another person according to what love or hate about yourself. Be tolerant; accept others as they are, and strive for clarity of self-awareness; strive to truly understand and have an objective perception of your own self, your thoughts and feelings. Where you are unable to support others it is a sign that you are not adequately attending to your own needs.

6. A Separate Reality
- Carlos Castaneda

A warrior thinks of his death when things become unclear. The idea of death is the only thing that tempers our spirit…to be a warrior a man has to be, first of all, and rightfully so, keenly aware of his own death.

...The idea of imminent death, instead of becoming an obsession, becomes an indifference.

7. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
- Dale Carnegie

Basic techniques in analyzing worry
#1. Get the facts. Remember that Dean Hawkes of Columbia University said that "half the worry in the world is caused by people trying to make decisions before they have sufficient knowledge on which to base a decision."

8. The Laws of Success in Sixteen Lessons
- Napoleon Hill

#1. The Master Mind: One of the greatest problems of life, if not, in fact, the greatest, is that of learning the art of harmonious negotiation with others. Form alliances with people and organizations who you think could help you succeed.

9. Think and Grow Rich
- Napoleon Hill

WHY MEN SELDOM SUCCEED BEFORE FORTY
I discovered, from the analysis of over 25,000 people, that men who succeed in an outstanding way, seldom do so before the age of forty, and more often they do not strike their real pace until they are well beyond the age of fifty.
The lives of many men up to, and sometimes well past the age of forty, reflect a continued dissipation of energies, which could have been more profitably turned into better channels.

10. The 10-10-10 Tool
- Jack and Suzy Welch

First, decide which issue you need to resolve and pose the problem to yourself as a question:
should I quit my job? Should I start my own business? Should I end my relationship?

Next, be honest and exhaustive as you consider each option and ask yourself what the consequences will be:

- In the next 10 minutes [that is, right now]
- In 10 months [in immediate future]
- In 10 years [long term effect]

Finally, take the data/notes you have compiled and compare it to your beliefs, goals and dreams.

10. The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
- Deepak Chopra

#7. Law of Dharma
Everyone has a purpose in life...a unique or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals.

11. Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-term Fulfillment
- George Leonard

Chapter 2. The dabbler, The obsessive and the hacker
- The dabbler tries many things, gets improvement, plateaus and gets bored then tries something new
- The obsessive is purely result oriented. They are inconsistent and when they hit a plateau they quit because their results aren’t increasing linearly
- The hacker is content where he’s at. He gets good then doesn’t care to continue improving.

12. The Magic of Thinking Big
- Dr. David Schwartz

Look at things not as they are, but as they can be.
Visualization adds value to everything. A big thinker always visualizes what can be done in the future. He isn't stuck in the present.

13. What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
- Marshall Goldsmith

20 Habits that hold us back from the top:
#5. Starting with “No,” “But,” or “However”: the overuse of these negative qualifiers, which secretly say to everyone, “I’m right. You’re wrong.”

14. My Start-up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley
- Ben Casanocha

The most important issues or challenges facing my generation today.
To what extent will we accept the world for what it is versus what it can or should be. We should always try to improve our lives and the lives of others - we should strive to make the world a better place.

15. The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving more with less
- Richard Koch

Pursue those few things where you are amazingly better than others and that you enjoy the most.

16. The 80-20 Individual
- Richard Koch

What is an ‘80/20 individual’?
A person who creates wealth or wellbeing, achieving results out of all proportion to expectations.

17. The 12 Bad Habits
- James Waldroop and Tomothy Butler

#6. Rebel looking for a cause: These people are best early in their careers.

18. Maximum Achievement
- Brian Tracy

3 basic operating principles:
1. Life is hard, for everyone.
2. Everything you are or ever will be is up to you. You are where you are today because that is where you have chosen to be.
3. You can learn anything you need to learn to become anyone you want to become, to achieve anything you want to achieve.

19. Crush It!
- Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary's life rules:
#7. Your latest tweet or blog post? That’s your résumé now.

20. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
- Robin Sharma

The seven principles to improve ourselves:
2. The Towering Lighthouse – Follow your purpose
6. The Fragrant Roses – Selflessly serve Others

21. A Gift to my Children
- Jim Rogers

# 6. Study history: Human nature has not changed, and studying the past often opens a window into likely future outcomes and events, which can be understood to make more profitable and sound investments.

22. The Book of Awesome
- Neil Pasricha

3 A’s of Awesome
#1. Attitude. Life’s not always pretty: Being awesome means you’ve got that moving forward and moving on attitude.

23. How Life Imitates Chess
- Garry Kasporow

#10. Question success
Question the status quo at all times, especially when things are going well. When something goes wrong, you naturally want to do it better next time, but you must train yourself to want to do it better even when things go right.

24. God Never Blinks
- Regina Brett

#39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

25. Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth
- Steve Pavlina

HABITS
What are your best habits?
What are your worst?
Do you have any addictions?
What habits are you hiding?
What habits are you most proud of?

If you could snap your fingers and change this habit immediately, would you?

26. You Can Win
- Shiv Khera

It’s all in the state of mind.
If you think you are outclassed, you are

27. 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself
- Rajesh Shetty

10. Pursue right memberships
18. Be relevant

28. Now, Discover Your Strengths and Discover Your Sales Strengths
- Gallup Management Journal

THE 34 STRENGTHS
Includer
Relator

29. The 100 Hard Questions for an Authentic Life
- Susan Piver

#10. How much (or little) does my current job reflect my values, goals, and aspirations?
Is there a connection between my work and these ideals?
If I want more of a connection, is there anyway I can cause my current work situation to more fully reflect my values? How?
When?

30. Tuesdays with Morrie
- Mitch Albom

The First Tuesday We Talk About The World
One day, I’m gonna show you it’s okay to cry.

31. Randy Pausch’s last lecture
- Randy Pausch

Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people.

32. The 10 Laws of Simplicity
- John Maeda

Law 6: Context - What lies on the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.

33. Simplicity
- Edward De Bono

10 rules of simplification
- Break down problem into manageable parts
- Work through concepts

34. What Women Want Men To Know
- Barbara Deangelis

#2. Men have a specific mental love room, for women every mental room is a love room

35. Why Men Marry Some Women And Not Others
- John T. Molloy

#1. All wives are trophy wives
Men marry women whom they admire and like to show off (but not for their physical appearance.

36. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus
- John Gray

While a man might count a $200 present as 20 points and a $10 item as 1 point, women count each item as 1 point.

37. Jamie's Food Revolution: Rediscover How to Cook Simple, Delicious, Affordable Meals
- Jamie Oliver

Cook Good food from scratch: The book covers a wide range of dishes from breakfast to dinner, inspired by the best food from the East and the West.

38. Geneen Roth’s Best Weight-Loss Wisdom
- Geneen Roth

Summaries from her best books, Breaking Free from Compulsive Eating, Appetites, When Food Is Love and her most recent book Women, Food & God.

I am not saying, "Eat whatever you want, whenever you want."
I'm saying: "Look; pay attention."

39. The Pursuit of Happiness
- David G. Myers Ph.D.

Popular, But Mistaken Myths about Happiness
#6. Men experience a midlife crisis in their early forties
Untrue--no change in satisfaction can be detected.

40. Learned Optimism
- Martin Seligman
#15. The ABCDE Model
A = Adversity
B = Belief
C = Consequences
D = Disputation
E = Energization

41. The Happiness Project
- Gretchen Rubin

1. “Best is good, better is best.”
In other words, the perfect is the enemy of the good. When you spend too much time pursuing the best, you’re bound to be unhappy.

42. Be a Smart Student
- Adam Robinson

3. What’s the big picture?'
a. Find
- Main ideas and themes
- Important terms and concepts
- Overall organization

43. Know How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform From Who Don’t
- Ram Charan

THE EIGHT FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS NEEDED FOR SUCCESS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
1. Positioning (and, when necessary, repositioning) your business by zeroing in on the central idea that meets customer needs and makes money

44. What The CEO Wants You To Know
- Ram Charan

#4. Return on Assets (ROA) – The amount of money you are able to make with a given amount of fixed assets. Occasionally companies use slightly different measurements such as “Return on investment (ROI)” or “Return on equity (ROE)”. These measurements answer the questions of “How much money are you making with your investments, or with the money shareholders have invested in the company?”. ROA can be simplistically defined as a product of Margin and Velocity (R = M x V). The ROI of a business is a critical marker to the health of a business. Comparing this figure with competitors and the previous year can gauge whether a company is succeeding or failing.

45. How to be a Star at Work
- Robert E. Kelley

6. Small-L Leadership in a Big-L World - employs expertise and influence to convince a group of people to come together and accomplish a task; help create vision, create trust, find resources, shepherd completion

46. Career Warfare
- David F. D’Alessandro

Ten Rules for Building a Successful personal Brand and Fighting to keep it:
Rule 8: Try Not To Be Swallowed By the Bubble - Once you are successful in building your brand and is rising in the ranks, do not lose sight of the forest. Do not be too full of yourself that you will be swallowed by success. It is bad for your humanity, and bad for your career.

47. Dream Careers: How to Quickly Break into a Fab Job!
- Tag and Catherine Goulet

What Do You Want?
It is important to focus on what you really want, as well as your skill set. Remember, most skills can be learned.

48. Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
- Dr. Spencer Johnson

Adapt To Change Quickly
The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese

49. Recession-Proof Graduate
- Charlie Hoehn

The benefits of free work:
Free work: zero competition, projects you love, and no dead-ends.

50. Linchpin
- Seth Godin

What Linchpins do well
Linchpins become indispensable because they make vital contributions to their firms. They make the map and then exert the emotional labor required to get people to use that map.

51. Reclaiming The Fire: How Successful People Overcome Burnout
- Steven Berglas

What to do when you think people are feeling burnt out
Ask people: "What do you want to do? How do you want to restructure your job so you can add value?" People know what they want. Instead of imposing a program, you have to keep asking them.

52. Parting Company: How to Survive the Loss of a Job and Find Another Successfully
- William J. Morin and James C. Cabrera

25 MOST DIFFICULT JOB INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
#12. What is your management style?
Think how your management style will complement the company's style. Possible management styles include: participatory style (an open-door method of managing in which you get things done by motivating people and delegating responsibility), task oriented (I'll enjoy problem-solving identifying what's wrong, choosing a solution and implementing it"), results-oriented ("Every management decision I make is determined by how it will affect the bottom line"), or even paternalistic ("I'm committed to taking care of my subordinates and pointing them in the right direction").

53. What They Don’t Teach You In Harvard Business School
- Mark H. Mc Cormark

Strategies for effective selling:
- No's creates an environment for Yes 's ,so take no 's on your stride.

54. The Personal MBA
- Josh Kaufman

A BUSINESS IS A REPEATABLE PROCESS THAT:
1. creates or provides something of value that
2. other people want or need
3. at a price they’re willing to pay, in a way that
(4) satisfies the purchaser’s needs and expectations and
(5) provides the business sufficient revenue to make it worthwhile for the owners to continue operation.

55. Flawless Consulting
- Peter Block

If you present a clear and simple picture of why the underlying problem exists, the client will have as many ideas for recommendations as you have.

56. Flow
- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Flow is “a state of deep focus”.

A mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, Flows is characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. It is unrelated to the older phrase "to go with the flow" which means "to conform".

57. The Achievement Zone: An Eight Step Guide to Peak
- Shane Murphy

THE EIGHT MIND/BODY SKILLS NECESSARY FOR REACHING THE ACHIEVEMENT ZONE
Learning from how successful sportspersons work.

#8. Consistency: Sport psychologists have found that the best athletes prepare very carefully for every performance. They often have a set routine that they follow exactly.

58. The 48 Laws of Power
- Robert Greene and Joost Elffers

Law 34: Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one

59. The Prince
- Niccolò Machiavelli

Avoiding contempt and hatred
A prince should command respect through his conduct, because a prince that is highly respected by his people is unlikely to face internal struggles. Additionally, a prince who does not raise the contempt of the nobles and keeps the people satisfied, should have no fear of conspirators.

60. The Art Of War
- Sun Tzu

There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general:
(1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction;
(2) cowardice, which leads to capture;
(3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults;
(4) a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame;
(5) over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.

61. The 33 Strategies of War
- Robert Greene

Part II: ORGANIZATIONAL WARFARE

#5: Avoid the snares of groupthink: Command-and-control
Create a chain of command where people do not feel constrained by your influence yet follow your lead. Create a sense of participation, but do not fall into groupthink.

62. Winning Through Intimidation
- Robert J. Ringer

Three Type Theory
a. There are only three types of people in the business world
- Type 1: Lets you know that he’s out to get all of your chips. Then he tries to do just that.
i- Type 2: Assures you that he’s not interested in getting your chips. Then he tries to grab all of your chips anyway.
ii- Type 3: Assures you that he’s not interested in getting your chips, and honestly means it. However, in the end, he tries to grab all of your chips anyway.
b. In business, no one ever does anything for anybody else without expecting to gain something in return.

63. The Millionaire Next Door
- Thomas J. Stanley and William Danko

There are seven common denominators among these Prodigious Accumulators of Wealth (PAW):

#1. They live below their means

64. Dilbert and the Way of the Weasels
- Scott Adams

SCOTT ADAMS’ 9-POINT WEALTH FORMULA
#6. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it.

65. Rich Dad, Poor Dad
- Robert Kiyosaki

The History of Taxes and the Power of Corporations:
The poor let the big machinery (corporations) manipulate them whereas the rich know how to use big machinery. This means that the rich possess the knowledge and savoir faire to use the power of the corporation to protect and enhance their assets.

66. Suze Orman's 2009 Action Plan
- Suze Orman

Look at what you have, not at what you had, such as a job, a house, a hefty 401K account, etc.

67. Suze Orman's 12-Step Debt -Relief Program
- Suze Orman

Make a point to understand all the inner workings of your card(s) - fees, grace periods, everything.

68. Suze Orman's 9 Steps to Financial Freedom
- Suze Orman

Step 4 - Being responsible to those you love: insurance, estate planning, trusts, and wills.

69. Women & Money
- Suze Orman

Month Five: Protecting Your Family and Home - Life insurance, renters or homeowner’s insurance, personal liability insurance, etc.

70. The Money Saving Expert
- Martin Lewis

The best time for high-street haggling is midweek in empty shops with mid-level supervisors, buying counter-cyclically - a convertible car during snow. Supermarkets do yellow-ticket discounting of perishables at 6pm, 8pm and 10pm, so the best time is after 9pm.

71. Golden Rules for Making Money
- P.T. Barnum

#19. Don't blab: Some men have a foolish habit of telling their business secrets.[this is my favorite]

72. I Will Teach You To Be Rich
- Ramit Sethi

I'm fanatical about my savings and checking accounts having no fees of any kind, including monthly fees, overdraft fees, or setup fees.

73. The Investor's Manifesto
- William J. Bernstein

Always consider Pascal’s Wager: What happens to my portfolio - and to my future - if my assumptions are wrong?

74. The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read
- Daniel R. Solin

It is reasonable to expect your portfolio to achieve annualized returns from 7-11% over the long term. Attempting to achieve returns higher than 11% involves speculating.

75. The Millionaire Mind
- T. Harv Eker

Rich people believe "I create my life". Poor people believe "life happens to me".
Rich people play the money game to win. Poor people play the money game to not lose.

76. Charlie Munger’s Investing Wisdom
- Charlie Munger

#3. Learn the decision tree theory. (Basically) it is high school algebra applied to real life problems.

77. One up on the Wall Street
- Peter Lynch

It is Futile to Predict the Economy, Interest Rates and the Stock Market (So Don't Waste Time Trying) - "If You Spend 13 minutes per year trying to predict the economy, you have wasted 10 minutes" Focus on the "facts" now at hand rather than predictions about the future

Know What You Own - Most people don't really know the reasons why they own a stock - you should.

78. Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite
- Paul Arden

What is a good idea?: One that happens is. If it doesn’t, it isn’t.

79. Seeking Wisdom
- by Peter Bevelin

28 REASONS FOR MISJUDGEMENTS AND MISTAKES
#12. Bias from anchoring - over-weighing certain initial information as a reference point for future decisions.

80. Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking
- D.Q. McInerny

Discard Vague words
A word is vague if its referent is blurred. We do not know precisely what the word is pointing to. Consider the two statements “People don’t like music like that” and “They say he will not run for a second term.”

81. Critical Thinking
- Richard W. Paul and Linda Elder

The 8 most important questions that help in critical thinking:
#4. What is the most basic concept in question?

82. Ignore Everybody
- Hugh MacLeod

#16. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do from what you are not: It is this red line that demarcates your sovereignty; that defines your own private creative domain. What crap you are willing to take, and what crap you’re not. What you are willing to relinquish control over, and what you aren’t. What price you are willing to pay, and what price you aren’t.

83. Thinking Like a Genius: Eight strategies used by the super creative, from Aristotle and Leonardo to Einstein and Edison
- Michael Michalko

#4. Make novel combinations. Combine, and recombine, ideas, images, and thoughts into different combinations no matter how incongruent or unusual.

84. Lateral thinking
- Edward de Bono

Lateral Thinking: Also known as unconventional thinking.

It means deliberately setting out to look at challenges from completely different angles to find great solutions that would otherwise remain hidden.
Lateral Thinking is focused on “what could be.” It will yield multiple creative solutions from which to choose.

85. Six Thinking Hats
- Edward de Bono

The Red Hat represents Emotional thinking. The Yellow Hat represents Positive thinking. The Black Hat represents Critical thinking. The White Hat is purely the facts. The Green Hat is Creative thinking. The Blue Hat represents the Big Picture, sort of looking at it from all the viewpoints.

86. The Six Action Shoes
- Edward de Bono

The Six Thinking Hats style is more concerned with Scenario-based thinking.

The Six Action Shoes style is concerned with action-based thinking.

87. The Mckinsey Way
- Ethan Rasiel

Things at McKinsey come in threes:
1. A topic is described in three bullets
2. Create issue trees: Issues are broken down into three sub-issues
3. A solution to a problem has three main components, etc.

88. How to Solve It
- George Pólya

1. First, you have to understand the problem.
2. After understanding, then make a plan.
3. Carry out the plan.
4. Look back on your work. How could it be better?

89. Oblique strategies
- Brian Eno

Ask people to work against their better judgment
Faced with a choice, do both

90. On Writing Well
- William Zinsser

Never hesitate to imitate another writer. Imitation is part of the creative process for anyone learning an art or craft…. Find the best writers in the fields that interest you and read their work aloud.

91. On Writing
- Stephen King

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.

92. Writing to Deadline: The Journalist at Work
- Donald Murray

Cut anything that doesn’t move the story forward
Be your own editor: read for meaning, read for structure, read for language

93. 31 Days To Build A Better Blog
- Darren Rowse

Day 24 - Use a Magazine to Improve Your Blog: Take some time out to analyze/review a magazine with the view of learning something about how you might improve your own blog.

Day 17 - First Time Reader Audit: Watch a first-time reader use your blog

94. Naked Conversations
- Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

2 fundamental rules for blogging about a subject
1. Transparency is achieved by welcoming and accepting criticism, by listening through dialogue, being open and honest and by attempting to improve while all eyes are watching.
2. Authenticism is achieved by being the unedited voice of an individual. It's not an organization speaking. It's informal.

95. The Complete Letter Writer
- N.H. and S.K. Mager

THE 4-S FORMULA FOR EFFECTIVE BUSINESS LETTERS
1. For Shortness
2. For Simplicity
3. For Strength
4. For Sincerity

96. Writing For Business
- Marcia Yudkin

3 RULES FOR NEWSLETTERS
1. Include positive and happy stories
2. Keep the content up-beat, optimistic and positive – without distorting any fact.
3. Always relate the news to your customers and their community

97. The 7 Habits of Effective People
- Steven Covey

Habit 3: Put First Things First: Principles of Personal Management
The habit of personal management. This is about organizing and implementing activities in line with the aims established in habit 2. Habit 2 is the first, or mental creation; habit 3 is the second, or physical creation.

98. The Power of Less
- Leo Babauta

1. Focus on one habit at a time, one month at a time, so that you’ll be able to focus all your energy on creating that one habit.
2. Set your 3 MITs (Most Important Tasks) each morning.

99. Getting Things Done
- David Allen

Outcomes & Actions
1. Describe in a single sentence the intended successful outcome for the problem or situation
2. Write down the very next physical action required to move the situation forward

100. Eat That Frog: 21 Ways To Stop Procrastination And Get More Done In Less Time
- Brian Tracy

Make out a list of ten goals you want to accomplish in the next year. Write your goals as though a year has already passed and they are now a reality.
For example, you would write. “I weigh X number of pounds.
Great rule for success: Think on paper .

101. The Now Habit
- Neil A. Fiore, Ph.D

Five Self-Statements that Distinguish Procrastinators from Producers
1. I have to.
Replace w/I choose to.
2. I must finish.
Replace w/When can I start?
3. This is so big.
Replace w/I can take one small step.
4. I must be perfect.
I can be human.
5. I don't have time to play.
I must take time to play.

102. The Pomodoro Technique
-Staffan Nöteberg

Plan-Do-Check-Act:
Plan: You define your goals and the processes you need to deliver the expected results.
Do: You implement the new process.
Check: You measure the new process and compare the results to the expected outcome in order to find discrepancies.
Act: You analyze the discrepancies and try to understand the root cause of them.

103. The Power of Now
- Eckhart Tolle

#1. You are not your thoughts. You are the awareness behind the thoughts. Thoughts are often negative and painful, yearning for or fearing something in the future, complaining about something in the present or fearing a matter from the past. However, the thoughts are not you; they are a construct of the ego. Awareness of your thoughts without being caught up in them is the first step to freedom.

104. The 4-Hour Work Week
-Tim Ferris

Focus on demonstrating results instead of showing dedication.
1. Define a short to-do list.
2. Define a not-to-do list.

105. Emotional Intelligence
- Daniel Goleman

THE FIVE EMOTIONAL COMPETENCIES
#4. The capacity to read, be sensitive to, and influence other people's emotions.

106. Coping with Difficult People
- Robert M. Bramson

Behind the back snipes
- ask to quote the person telling you about the snipe, as a friend
- ask, "Did X hear you correctly?"

107. The Art of Controversy
- Arthur Schopenhauer

THIRTY - EIGHT WAYS TO WIN AN ARGUMENT
#8 Make your opponent angry.
An angry person is less capable of using judgment or perceiving where his or her advantage lies.

108. Selling 101
- Zig Zagler

DEALING WITH ANGRY PEOPLE
Key principles
1. Hear them out
2. Be patient
3. Be tactful
4. Empathize
5. Acknowledge their importance
6. Articulate their response slowly, quietly and carefully
7. Never grant them permission to control you

109. The No Asshole Rule
- Robert Sutton

TWELVE EVERYDAY ASSHOLE ACTIONS
#12. Treating people as if they are invisible

110. Influence: Science & Practice
- Robert B. Cialdini

THE SIX PRINCIPLES OF PERSUASION
#3. The Principle Of Social Proof
People follow the lead of similar others – use peer power whenever it is available.

111. Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways To Be Persuasive
- Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, and Robert B. Cialdini

#19. One act of kindness is often followed by another - get someone to do a small favor for you - They’ll backwards rationalize that they like you.

112. Instant Persuasion
-Laurie Puhn

#4. Use the 2-part apology
- Don’t: Only say “I’m sorry.”
- Do: First say, “I’m sorry for whatever I did wrong.” Second, say, “In the future, I will [what I will do to prevent myself from doing it again.”

113. How To Get Anyone To Do Anything
- David Lieberman

Six-Star Test of a True Friend
1. Interest
2. Loyalty
3. Pride
4. Honesty
5. Respect
6. Sacrifice

114. The Art of Project Management
- Scott Berkun

For ANY project, break the available time into three equal parts: 1. Design, 2. Implementation, 3. testing

115. Quantum Memory Power
- Dominic O'Brien

FACES ("Always give a face a place.")

"EJOTY"
A nonsense word coined by magician Stewart James. It is simply a mnemonic consisting of the 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th and 25th letters of the alphabet. From here, it's easy to work out the location for any given letter, or the letter for any given location.

116. How to Delegate Work and Ensure It's Done Right
- Dick Loh

Kinds of Things to Delegate
1. Recurring matters
2. Minor decisions
3. Time consuming details
4. What others are better qualified to do

117. The Secrets of Power Negotiating
- Roger Dawson

Much of negotiation involves clearing away hidden assumptions:
1. Establish criteria (for both your side and theirs).
2. Get information.
3. Reach for a compromise

118. The Art of Negotiation
- Gerard Nierenberg

AIKIDO: Use this technique and turn the opponent’s strength/force back
Positive Aggression: Turn the question around logically. If the other party says, “So what are you selling?” Reply “There must be some mistake. I thought you were buying”

119. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
- Roger Fisher and William Ury

Principled Negotiation:
- people - separate people from problem
- interests - focus on interests, not positions
- options - generate variety of possibilities before deciding what to do (invent options for mutual gain)
- criteria - insist that the result be based on some objective standard

120. Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation
- Roger Fisher and William Ury

Don't argue: Step to their side
• Give the other side a hearing: paraphrase and ask for correction

121. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
- Dan Ariely

Peculiarities of ownership:
The more work you put into something, the more ownership you begin to feel for it (The "IKEA effect")
We can begin to feel ownership even before we own something (The "eBay effect").

122. Where have all the Leaders gone?
- Lee Iacocca

The 9 C’s of Leadership
#5. Courage: In these times, courage doesn't mean posturing and bravado. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiation table and talk.

123. Lasting Leadership: The 25 Most influential Business people of our Times
- Mukul Pandya and Robbie Shell

The eight attributes of leadership that are evident to varying degrees in these individuals.
#4. They can "see the invisible" - that is, spot potential winners or faint trends before their rivals or customers.

124. A Manager's Guide to Self-Development
- Mike Pedler, John Burgoyne & Tom Boydell
THE QUALITIES OF SUCCESSFUL LEADERS
#9. Mental agility

125. Drive - The Surprising Truth About What Motivates U
- Daniel H. Pink

People would prefer activities where they can pursue three things.

 Autonomy: People want to have control over their work.

126. Punished By Rewards
- By Alfie Kohn

You can't motivate people. Al you can do is set up conditions to maximize the chances that they develop a genuine interest in what they're doing.

127. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
- John C. Maxwell

The Law of Process – Leadership develops daily, not in a day.

128. The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow
- John C. Maxwell

Servanthood: To Get Ahead, Put Others First

129. The Greatest Salesman in the World
- Og Mandino

Adaptability: Promotion by affinity (passive "enrollment"): affinity as a structured discipline. The platinum rule: treat others as they would have you treat them. Taking a genuine interest in what they want. Finding one thing about them you admire, and generating your attitude from that.

130. Secrets of the World’s Greatest Business Communicators
- Carmine Gallo

Three types of speakers
C Speakers: Do No Harm
B Speakers: Make People Care
A Speakers: Change the way they see the world

131. The Fine Art of Small Talk
- Debra Fine

Avoid
What do you do for a living?
Do you have kids?
How was your weekend?

132. How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends
- Don Gabor

Find the person's big life events
"The only way to have a friend is to be one." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

133. Never Eat Alone
- Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz
To become a brand, you’ve got to become relentlessly focused on what you do that adds value… try to initiate projects on your own and in your spare time

134. How to Work a Room
- Susan RoAne

Take the time to "be prepared." Remember the seven steps for planning your presence:
1. Adopt a positive attitude.
2. Focus on the benefits of the event.
3. Plan your self-introduction.
4. Check your business cards.
5. Prepare your small talk. Bring your O.A.R. (Observe, Ask, Reveal).
6. Remember to make eye contact and smile.
7. Practice your handshake.

135. How to Win Friends and Influence People
- Dale Carnegie

How To Handle People
1. Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

136. Public Speaking and Influencing Men in Business
- Dale Carnegie

• Don't talk impromptu--Give an impromptu talk
• Talk in terms of your listeners' interests

137. Confessions of a Public Speaker
- Scott Berkun

I was given 10 minutes to speak, and since the average person speaks 2–3 words per second, all you need is 1,500 words of material (600 seconds x 2.5 words per second).

138. Creative Thinking Styles to Succeed at Work
- Annette Moser-Wellman

FIVE CREATIVE THINKING STYLES FOR BUSINESS
4. The Fool: He knows how to “invert” problems, persevere when the going gets tough and isn’t afraid to pursue absurd notions.

139. Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self
- Rosalene Glickman

Make a list of the most important factors (criteria) that will influence your decision.

140. Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less
- Barry Schwartz

Think about the opportunity cost of opportunity costs

141. QBQ: The Question Behind the Question
- John G. Miller

Managers don't change people
Change only comes from the inside as a result of decisions made by the individual

142. Nudge
- Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein
What is a nudge?

A nudge is any aspect of the design of a choice (“choice architecture”) that alters people’s behavior in a predictable way, without forbidding anything or actually changing the choice at all.

143. The Upside of Irrationality
- Dan Ariely

Investing more effort does, indeed, increase our affection, but only when the effort leads to completion. When the effort is unfruitful, affection for one’s work plummets.

144. How We Decide
- Jonah Lehrer

Too much thinking can actually lead to bad decisions: Remember 'Hamlet' being about 'analysis is paralysis'?

145. Secrets of Closing the Sale
- Zig Ziglar

The “1902” close – This is where you break down the purchase into price per day over the life of the product. This enable the customer to minimize the cost in their mind.

146. Secrets of Great Rainmakers
- Jeffrey J. Fox

Mottos
• If you don't do business with me, we both lose
• Compete for inches (more calls, pre-call planning, no typos)

147. How to Sell a Lobster
- Bill Bishop

1. People like specials - it sounds more fun
2. Customers prefer to visualize small, tidy packages, something quick and easy
3. If it is part of the menu, then guests have permission to order it

148. Unlock The Game
- Ari Galper

Change your language away from 'sales speak' to natural language that connects with people. By using phrases like 'would you be open to' instead of 'would you be interested in', you immediately set yourself apart as someone who is patient, open minded and willing to listen.

149. The Little Red Book Of Selling
- Jeffrey Gitomer

If you truly want to be successful you need to think about relationship building.
Spend your time in front of decision makers. These are the people who can make a “yes” decision. Ask the prospect what they think and tell them how they win or could win by meeting you.

150. Selling Ice to the Eskimos - How to Sell a Product Nobody Wants
- Jon Spolestra

The 19 principles or ground rules of jump-start marketing:

Only target people who are interested in your product. Don't waste resources trying to spread your (repositioned) message to all people - identify your key accounts and most likely customers, and go after them.

151. Why We Buy - The Science Of Shopping
- Paco Underhill

Women generally take pleasure and pride in the shopping experience

152. Selling The Invisible
- Harry Beckwith

Create the possible service; don't just create what the market needs or wants. Create what it would love.
Positioning statements should address the following six points:
1. who
2. what
3. for whom
4. against whom
5. what's different
6. so...?

153. The One- Minute Manager
- Kenneth Blanchard Ph.D. and Spencer Johnson M.D.

The Second Secret: One-Minute Praisings. One can't say enough about the importance of praising.

154. The Essential Drucker
- John J. Tarrant

Companies have three responsibilities: 1) make a profit, 2) satisfy employees, and 3) be socially responsible.

155. My Years With General Motors
- Alfred Sloan

Job of a manager not to like people, but to put their strengths to work. Performance alone counts.

156. The Nature Of Managerial Work
- Henry Mintzberg

Scheduled meetings eat up managerial time - long formal duration, large groups and often away from the organization. The agendas cover ceremonials, strategy-making and negotiation. Chatting at start/end of meetings contributes significantly to information flow.

157. First Break All The Rules
- Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

What Great Managers Do
The Manager is a catalyst A great manager must be able to:
- Select a person
- Set expectations
- Motivate the person
- Develop the person

158. The Unwritten Rules of Engineering
- W.J. King

Viewgraph rule: When something appears on a viewgraph (an overhead transparency), assume the world knows about it, and deal with it accordingly.

159. Management of The Absurd
- Richard Farso

Better managers recognize that it's more important for them to like their employees, than for their employees to like them.

160. Blue Ocean Strategy
- W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

Value Innovation Decrease costs. Increase value to consumer.

161. The Peter Principle
- Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull

When discussed in organizations, the Peter Principle says "work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence."

162. Lean Thinking: Banish Waste And Create Wealth In Your Corporation
- James Womack and Daniel T. Jones

Waste: Any activity that absorbs resources but doesn’t create value.

163. Focus: the Future of Your Company Depends on it
- Al Ries

The five steps that big retail operations have taken in becoming retail 'category killers':
1. Narrow the focus
2. Stock in depth
3. Buy cheap
4. Sell cheap
5. Dominate the category

164. Parkinson's Law
- Cyril Northcote Parkinson

The Parkinson's law states that: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

165. The Dilbert Principle
- Scott Adams

The famous Dilbert principle quote goes like this: “leadership is nature's way of removing morons from the productive flow.”

166. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
- Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox

Always start a solving a problem by finding out what is really going on by “walking around” discover the process. Review each area for breakdowns.

167. Rework
- 37 Signals

Marketing is just spam – do it yourself

168. Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t
- Jim Collins

The way to make the transformation from Good to Great is often not doing many things well, but instead, doing one thing better than anyone else in the world.

169. How The Mighty Fall
- Jim Collins

Hubris born of success: Stage 1 kicks in when people become arrogant, regarding success virtually as an entitlement, and they lose sight of the true
underlying factors that created success in the first place.

170. The Toyota Way
- Dr. Jeffrey Liker

Genchi Genbutsu (go and see): Go to the source to find the facts to make correct decisions, build consensus and achieve goals at best speed.

171. In Search of Excellence
- Top Peters, along with Robert H. waterman and Julien R. Philips

The essential message of In Search of Excellence, simply:
• People
• Customers
• Action

172. The 10 Rules of Sam Walton: Success Secrets for Remarkable Results
- Michael Bergdahl

Rule 8: Exceed your customer's expectations. If you do they'll come back over and over.

173. 10 Golden Rules: How Not to Screw Up an Organization
- Michael J. Cudahy

3. Never make an organizational chart.

174. The Fifth Discipline
- Peter Senge

Vision, purpose, alignment and systems thinking are essential for organizations.

175. The Innovator’s Solution, and Seeing What’s Next
- Clayton M. Christensen & Scott D. Anthony

WHAT IS DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION?
Disruptive Innovations trade off pure performance in favor of simplicity, convenience or affordability.

176. The Innovator’s Dilemma
- Clayton Christensen

3rd Level Risks: Highest repercussions and least control- Company image, Competition, New Product Innovation, Technology, reduction of profits, obsolescence, political risks, market trends

177. The Ten Faces of Innovation
- Tom Kelly
7 SECRET INGREDIENTS TO CROSS POLLINATE IDEAS
5. Host a weekly “Know How” speakers series.

178. Non-Designer's Design Book
- Robin Williams

Proximity: Items relating to each other should be grouped close together, making them a unit; this helps organize, reduce clutter, and give structure

179. The Substance Of Style: How The Rise Of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, And Consciousness
- Virginia Postrel

Pretty surfaces have huge power: So much so that surfaces have genuine value now.

180. Design Of Everyday Things
- Donald A. Norman

The seven UCD (User Centered Design) principles for transforming difficult tasks into easy ones:

When all else fails, standardize.

181. The Art of Pricing: How to Find the Hidden Profits to Grow Your Business
- Rafi Mohammed

Low prices can :
- create publicity
i- make sure the right customers purchase your products
ii- promote repeat business
iv. fit the way that customers use price to value products

182. The Art of Profitability
- Adrian Slywotzky

De Facto Standard Profit: Think Microsoft. You are able to "plan" the industry. You have lower marketing costs - customer base does it for you (to some extent).

183. Priceless
- William Poundstone

The power of suggestion also extends to negotiation, where the party making the first offer inevitably gets the upper hand, no matter how unrealistic that offer might be, simply because it subconsciously becomes the reference point for all that follows.

184. Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation & Control
-Philip Kotler

KOTLER’S TEN MARKETING MODELS
9. Good Citizen ( e.g. Body Shop) – The Good Citizen Model assumes that social and environmental responsibility can be used as a branding attribute and a selling proposition. The public focus that any such initiative attracts ensures that only companies that are really we are, socially and environmentally, can use this approach. The Good Citizen Model is related to the concept of Ethical Business.

185. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
- Al Ries and Jack Trout
13. The law of sacrifice - Rule 1 - Minimize product line (don’t be a dept. store without focus), Rule 2 - Limit your target market, Rule 3 - Be consistent. Have a brilliant narrow position and stick with it. DO NOT become all things to all people.

186. All Marketers Are Liars
- Seth Godin

What makes a great story? Great stories should:
• be true.
• make a promise.
• be trusted.
• be subtle.
• happen fast.
• not appeal to logic, but often appeal to our senses.
• rarely be aimed at everyone.
• never contradict themselves.
• agree with our worldview.

187. Naked Marketing - The Bare Essentials
- Robert Grede

Generating good marketing ideas (apply your imagination to the marketing plan)
- the 'Four I's' process (information, incubation, inspiration, implementation)
- the creative process: techniques for thinking 'laterally'
- use of testimonials

188. The End Of Marketing As We Know It
- Sergio Zyman

Think S.O.B. Source of Business; where will your next sale and dollar of profit come from?

189. Permission Marketing Turning Strangers Into Friends, And Friends Into Customers
- Seth Godin

"The heart of Permission Marketing is giving the stranger a reason to pay attention, while Interruption Marketers hold people hostage."

190. The Marketing Playbook
- Richard Tong & John Zagula

The Platform Play. This is the play for the company that won the drag race. They keep potential competitors away by making them into partners. Think Amazon.com and all the brands they sell within their store.

191. The Profit Zone
- Adrian Slywotzky

Who should be my customer?
Are there new groups who would value what you do?
Can you jump a step along the value chain and serve your customers’ customers?

192. The Paradox Of Choice - Why More Is Less
- Barry Schwartz

We would be better off if we embraced certain voluntary constraints on our freedom of choice, instead of rebelling against them.

193. The Art Of Choosing
- Sheena S. Iyengar

Choice can also mislead and burden us.

194. The Laws of Choice - Predicting Customer Behavior
- Eric Marder

The three 'laws' of choice:
1. The laws of congruence: Congruent choice situations have congruent choice vectors.
2. The law of primacy: An individual for whom, at the moment of choice, n brands are tied for first place in brand strength, chooses each of these brand with probability 1/n.
3. The law of persistence: The effect produced by a message is made up of two components: a transient effect and an intrinsic effect. The transient effect decays rapidly. The intrinsic effect lasts indefinitely.

195. Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind
- Al Ries and Jack Trout

Positioning of a Follower
What works for a leader doesn’t mercenarily work for a follower. An also-ran must find a “creneau” or hole in the mind not occupied by someone else.

196. The 22 Immutable Laws Of Branding
- Laura and Al Ries

9. The Law of the Name: In the long run, a brand is nothing more than a name. In the short term, a brand needs a unique idea or concept to survive.

197. Laws Of Branding
- Susannah Hart and John Murphy
95% of new products launched are brand extensions.

198. Crisis Marketing - When Bad Things Happen To Good Companies
- Joe Marconi

Anticipate the worst-case scenario and plan for it, if only as a contingency. The motto "be prepared" is no less a good strategy for the marketer.

199. Tribes
- Seth Godin

What is a tribe?
A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.

200. The Whuffie Factor
- Tara Hunt

Become part of the community you serve
Help others go further
- Spread love
- Do well by doing good
- Think customer-centrically

201. Groundswell
- Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

The 6 types of people who will use your site:
1. Creators: Least in number but most powerful. They will make the videos, podcasts, blog posts, reviews that others will consume.

202. Citizen Marketers - When People Are The Message
- Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell

How should organizations respond to the rise of amateur culture? One solution might be to add a fifth "P" to the famous 4 "P's" of marketing: Participation.

203. Trust Agents
- Chris Brogan

Build community by protecting them, not using them.

204. Secrets From an Inventor’s Notebook
- Maurice Kanbar

Low-Cost Market Research
• test your reasoning, not necessarily your idea, on people you know will be absolutely honest with you. ("Would you buy a gadget that does X?" no "How would you feel about X gadge