Browse the Bookshelves Business & Investing Selected Titles

Unconventional Success : A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment; by David F. Swensen; Free Press; 416 pages; list price: $30.00
(from Booklist): Swensen, CIO of Yale University and the author of Pioneering Portfolio Management, reveals why the mutual fund industry as a whole does a disservice to the individual investor. Soft money, 12b-1 fees, overtrading, market timing, and other management practices lower performance and virtually guarantee that most mutual fund returns will fall short of their benchmark, such as the S&P 500. Furthermore, for-profit mutual fund companies have a fiduciary obligation to their stockholders, not to their investors, and this relationship "inevitably resolves in favor of the bottom line." Swensen is also highly critical of the Morningstar rating system, which only causes investors to chase hot performing funds and managers. He advises considering alternatives to the for-profit mutual fund industry, including Exchange Traded Funds and not-for-profit financial institutions such as Vanguard and TIAA-CREF. He highly recommends that as an individual, you should play a more active role in your financial future. This includes periodic portfolio evaluation and rebalancing, to ensure that your asset allocation remains diversified and suits your investment time line. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich; by David Bach; Broadway Books; 256 pages; list price: $19.95
(from Booklist): When Bach writes in his introduction that "in just an hour or two I could share with you a system that would slowly but surely transform you into a millionaire," it sounds like he's peddling another one of those work-at-home schemes. In reality, what he's talking about is setting up your financial life in a way that takes advantage of simple savings concepts (such as direct-deposit deductions) to create an investment plan that works painlessly in the background. Trying to actively budget your savings doesn't work, Bach says, because it goes against human nature, which is to continue to spend what we have, no matter how much money we make. But by diverting just $10 a day to a long-term investment program, we can accumulate well over $1 million over a 40-year period. Using the concept of the "Latte Factor," Bach shows how to eliminate a few unnecessary daily expenditures for things like fancy coffee, bottled water, or fast food and use the savings to secure your future. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround; by Louis V. Gerstner Jr.; HarperBusiness; 384 pages; list price: $27.95
(from Publishers Weekly): Gerstner quarterbacked one of history's most dramatic corporate turnarounds. For those who follow business stories like football games, his tale of the rise, fall and rise of IBM might be the ultimate slow-motion replay. He became IBM's CEO in 1993, when the gargantuan company was near collapse. The book's opening section snappily reports Gerstner's decisions in his first 18 months on the job-the critical "sprint" that moved IBM away from the brink of destruction. The following sections describe the marathon fight to make IBM once again "a company that mattered." Gerstner writes most vividly about the company's culture. On his arrival, "there was a kind of hothouse quality to the place. It was like an isolated tropical ecosystem that had been cut off from the world for too long. As a result, it had spawned some fairly exotic life-forms that were to be found nowhere else." One of Gerstner's first tasks was to redirect the company's attention to the outside world, where a marketplace was quickly changing and customers felt largely ignored. He succeeded mightily. ...

Leadership; by Rudolph W. Giuliani, Ken Kurson; Miramax; 407 pages; list price: $25.95
(from Publishers Weekly): This highly anticipated book from New York's once controversial, now beloved former mayor opens with a gripping account of Giuliani's immediate reaction to the September 11 attacks, including a narrow escape from the original crisis command headquarters, and closes with the efforts to address the aftermath during his remaining four months in office. But, he argues, he did not suddenly become a great leader on September 11, and "had been doing [my] best to take on challenges my whole career." The bulk of the book draws on his experiences as a corporate lawyer and U.S. attorney and then as mayor. The leadership principles he champions (preparation, accountability and strong self-definition chief among them) come as no surprise, but the stories he uses as examples are filled with vivid scenes and organized with a veteran trial lawyer's flair for maximum effect. Apart from a few childhood anecdotes, he shies away from his personal life and recalls his abandoned Senate campaign against Hillary Clinton only as one factor in his decisions about dealing with prostate cancer. Throughout, he displays the hands-on management that marked his administration, including his willingness to respond swiftly and in person to crises, to prove that he could be relied on when the city needed him most. While some critics found his style too aggressive, he has an effective counterargument: "Before September 11, there were those who said we were being overly concerned [about security]," he observes. "We didn't hear that afterwards.."

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't; by Jim Collins; HarperCollins; 320 pages; list price: $27.50
(from Amazon.com): Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets.  Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time.  They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success.  Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy.  At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner.  Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider.  Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come. --Harry C. Edwards

Jack: Straight from the Gut; by Jack Welch, John A. Bryne; Warner Books; 496 pages; list price: $29.95
(from Amazon.com): It's hard to think of a CEO that commands as much respect as Jack Welch. Under his leadership, General Electric reinvented itself several times over by integrating new and innovative practices into its many lines of business. In Jack: Straight from the Gut, Welch, with the help of Business Week journalist John Byrne, recounts his career and the style of management that helped to make GE one of the most successful companies of the last century. Beginning with Welch's childhood in Salem, Massachusetts, the book quickly progresses from his first job in GE's plastics division to his ambitious rise up the GE corporate ladder, which culminated in 1981. What comes across most in this autobiography is Welch's passion for business as well as his remarkable directness and intolerance of what he calls "superficial congeniality"--a dislike that would help earn him the nickname "Neutron Jack." In spite of its 496 pages, Jack: Straight from the Gut is a quick read that any student or manager would do well to consider. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards

The Road to Wealth: A Comprehensive Guide to Your Money; by Suze Orman; Riverhead Books; 624 pages; list price: $29.95
With her new book, Suze Orman delivers a message that once again is right on time. A book designed to help us take action and overcome the obstacle of confusion, The Road to Wealth provides us with the practical answers to the questions we have been asking - or should have been asking: sound, straightforward, fiercely honest, and easy-to-understand advice on the financial topics that most affect our lives. Here is information that points us in the right direction and erases the uncertainty that can often cost us precious time...and money.
From creating a strong, debt-free foundation to amassing assets and protecting them in periods of economic downturn; from buying a home to providing for loved ones; from investing with confidence and navigating the markets in good times and bad to securing reliable income for our later years, The Road to Wealth offers invaluable insight and information whenever we are in our lives, whatever our needs, whatever the economic climate.

Rich Dad's Guide to Investing : What the Rich Invest in That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not; by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter (Contributor); Warner Books; 405 pages; list price: $17.95
The rich are different from the rest of us, if for no other reason than U.S. tax and securities laws allow them to invest in ways that keep us from catching up to them. That's why 90 percent of all corporate shares of stock are owned by 10 percent of the people. Kiyosaki believes it's possible for anyone to move up into that 10 percent, but it takes a different view of investing than most people have: it takes a plan to be a successful investor. And a plan is more than simply buying and selling, or collecting "assets" that bring in no cash and are thus more akin to liabilities. The way most people invest, "they might as well be pushing a wheelbarrow in a circle," he writes. A plan is "mechanical, automatic, and boring," a formula for success that has worked historically for most of those who've used it. Kiyosaki's "rich dad" (actually, the father of his best friend) tells him the simplest analogy is the game Monopoly: buy four green houses, trade them for one red hotel, and repeat until you become rich.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad : What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor & Middle Class Do Not!; by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter (Contributor); Warner Books; 184 pages; list price: $16.95
Personal finance author and lecturer Robert T. Kiyosaki developed his unique economic perspective from two very different influences--his two fathers. One father (Robert's real father) was a highly educated man, but fiscally poor. The other father was the father of Robert's best friend--the Dad who was an eighth grade dropout who became a self-made multi-millionaire.

Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results; by Stephen C. Lundin Ph.D., Harry Paul, John Christensen; Hyperion; 115 pages; list price: $19.95
Here's another management parable that draws its lesson from an unlikely source--this time it's the fun-loving fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Market. In Fish! the heroine, Mary Jane Ramirez, recently widowed and mother of two, is asked to engineer a turnaround of her company's troubled operations department, a group that authors Stephen Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen describe as a "toxic energy dump." Most reasonable heads would cut their losses and move on. Why bother with this bunch of losers? But the authors don't make it so easy for Mary Jane. Instead, she's left to sort out this mess with the help of head fishmonger Lonnie. Based on a bestselling corporate education video, Fish! aims to help employees find their way to a fun and happy workplace. While some may find the story line and prescriptions--such as "Choose Your Attitude," "Make Their Day," and "Be Present"--downright corny, others will find a good dose of worthwhile motivational management techniques.

First, Break All the Rules : What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently; by Marcus Buckingham, Curt Coffman; Simon & Schuster; 271 pages; list price: $27.00
The greatest managers in the world seem to have little in common. They differ in sex, age, and race. They employ vastly different styles and focus on different goals. Yet despite their differences, great managers share one common trait: They do not hesitate to break virtually every rule held sacred by conventional wisdom. They do not believe that, with enough training, a person can achieve anything he sets his mind to. They do not try to help people overcome their weaknesses. They consistently disregard the golden rule. And, yes, they even play favorites. This amazing book explains why.

Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor; by John C. Bogle; John Wiley & Sons; 468 pages; list price: $29.95
Bogle's vision of the mutual fund industry and mutual fund investing is elucidated clearly, including the benefits of simplicity in investing, the level of consistent profits to be made from index funds, the importance of low costs to investment profits, and the place of bonds in the investment portfolio.

The Courage to be Rich - Suze Orman means business in this anecdote-rich compendium of tips on 401(k)s, marriage, homes, and happiness. Her point is that you'd better face fiscal facts and avoid fear, denial, and self-fulfilling low expectations. America is a nation of check-bouncing, late-fee-incurring, guilty bad planners. How long will it take to pay off that $3,000 Visa bill with minimum payments? Thirty years, you poor, dear fool! What would you gain if you bought stocks instead of your daily latte for 30 years? $165,152! If you want pep talk, true tales of woe and makeovers, and a jolt of a true pop culture phenomenon, Suze is for you.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership - (from the author): I believe that to be successful in life, every person needs four skills: 1) The ability to cultivate relationships with others; 2) The ability to equip and develop other people; 3) A positive attitude; and 4) Leadership ability. I wrote The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership to help people develop their leadership skills. I've taken everything I've learned from over thirty years of leadership in business and volunteer organizations, and I've boiled it down to 21 timeless principles that anyone can use and apply, regardless of profession, culture, gender, or position. Leadership is influence. No matter whether you are a business person trying to run a better company, a coach trying to build a winning team, or a parent trying to influence your children, your success depends on leadership. Ignore a law of leadership, and you suffer the consequences. It's like dealing with the law of gravity. Your awareness of the laws of physics doesn't matter. Jump out of a window, and you must deal with the results of your actions. They are inevitable. The same is true of the laws of leadership. Learn and follow the laws, and people will follow you. Violate or ignore them, and they won't. Someone recently asked me why I didn't include a lot of concrete application in this book, as I have in most of the other books I've written. The reason is this: I don't know what your particular leadership situation is. Application changes from person to person, but the laws apply no matter who you are or where you find yourself leading. Learn the principles, and you can apply them anywhere. Apply them, and you will become a better leader. And that will make you more effective, no matter what you want to accomplish in life.

Who Moved My Cheese? - With Who Moved My Cheese? Dr. Spencer Johnson realizes the need for finding the language and tools to deal with change--an issue that makes all of us nervous and uncomfortable. Most people are fearful of change because they don't believe they have any control over how or when it happens to them. Since change happens either to the individual or by the individual, Spencer Johnson shows us that what matters most is the attitude we have about change. With the approach of the year 2000, most work environments are finally recognizing the urgent need to get their computers and other business systems up to speed and able to deal with unprecedented change. What businesses are only just beginning to realize is that this is not enough: we need to help people get ready, too. Spencer Johnson has created his new book to do just that. The coauthor of the multimillion bestseller The One Minute Manager has written a deceptively simple story with a dramatically important message that can radically alter the way we cope with change. Who Moved My Cheese? allows for common themes to become topics for discussion and individual interpretation. Who Moved My Cheese? takes the fear and anxiety out of managing the future and shows people a simple way to successfully deal with the changing times, providing them with a method for moving ahead with their work and lives safely and effectively.

The Roaring 2000's - One of the world's most prescient economic forecasters unveils his predictions for the beginning of the 21st century -- and shows readers how they can take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities that will accompany the great financial boom to come.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - The bestselling guide to personal fulfillment and professional success--more than seven million paperback copies in print. Guided by Covey's remarkable step-by-step program, readers will find more meaning and satisfaction in relationships, be better able to achieve personal and professional goals--and can look forward to lasting happiness and success. "A wonderful book that could change your life."--Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence.

Last revised September 6, 2005