It's mid-February and I am only three and a half books into my goal of fifty for the year. I like to use the excuse that I didn't start until half-way through January - but not sure that is a good enough excuse for being behind so early in the game!
I’ve already admitted that I have trouble finishing what I start – hence the reason I am forcing myself to blog as I read. It creates accountability regardless of whether or not people are actually reading what I throw up here. I just started a book that no doubt will take me quite some time to complete, but I’m particularly excited about this one. After half an hour of wandering through Borders last weekend I came across a copy of 1000 CEO’s and was immediately intrigued. The byline is ‘Proven strategies for success from the world’s smartest executives’. Since the entire purpose of this little reading mission I am on is to learn as much as possible about business this year and to push myself beyond just being “good” at what I do into the real of having the possibility to be truly “great”, it seemed like a great choice. It is made up primarily of case studies of great business leaders from both past and present and broken down into categories like innovators, motivators, rebuilders, visionaries, and a few others.
Beyond the case studies, a huge number of important topics are covered. Whether it is ‘The Diversity Dividend’, ‘The Art of Confidence’, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’, ‘Driving Efficiency’ or any other number of key topics, the same movers and shakers provide bite sized input into very massive topics. And on top of all of that, it is FULL of bright colors and pretty pictures, which always helps keep my attention!
The introduction dissects the question of what it takes to be a CEO (a topic I dare say peaks most of our interest), and he highlights a few key topics:
- Get your team right
- Find failure fast (even going so far as to say that as a CEO there should be zero-tolerance for failure)
- Align your team
- Manage global emotions
- Communicate…and communicate…and communicate
- Invest in talent management
- Stock up on your emotional intelligence
- Avoid the self-destruct button
As a side notes, did you know that as of 2009 only 12 Fortune 500 companies and 25 Fortune 1000 companies have women CEOs or presidents? Who says a glass ceiling no longer exists...
Since this massive hard-cover book that showed up in my mailbox yesterday is more than 500 pages, I dare say it will be awhile before I write any type of summary of take-away. But again, vowing that I WILL read it in its entirety means I’m committed ☺
Catie,
ReplyDeleteObviously its been a heck of a long time since you led my DTS back in the day, but I got ahold of your blog and enjoy reading your book critiques. Your reading list is great, and your brief synopsis' are telling as to the value of the book for my future reading. I am reminded of a friend, Ron Smith, who started SBS in YWAM, who has written a book called "Readers Make Leaders". He profiles several incredibly influential people, from presidents to theologians and how their reading habits served their success and influence. You're on a great track to have ambitious reading goals - mine are less ambitious - just trying to read one a month, which beats my regular habits by a long shot, aside from my work reading.
Bless you on this reading frenzy! I'm sure it will be super beneficial!
Byron