HBS Company Reading List
This is a reading list for permanent employees of Happy Bear Software. You can expense the purchases of all of these books.
Required reading
As commander in chief of this company you are hearby ordered to purchase (and expense) and then read these books. No exceptions, no excuses.
If you don’t own these books, stop what you’re doing and buy them now.
1. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
Author: Cal Newport
http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/
Why you have to read it: Deep work is you at your best. Deep work is what this company needs you to be doing for the majority of the time. This book is all about deep work. It’s by a monstrously productive computer scientist. It talks about why deep work is important, how to cultivate it and what gets in its way. It will have a huge impact on the way you think about productivity (less about pomodoro technique, more about your overall approach to working life).
2. Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most
Authors: Bruce Patton, Douglas Stone, Sheila Heen
Why you have to read it: We’re probably going to be together for years. We’re going to have difficult conversations from time to time, with each other, with clients, with everyone we work with. I want you to be equipped to handle them. This book has been used in the Middle East peace process and in Rwandan genocide truth and reconciliation efforts. It will help you handle difficult conversations.
3. The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business
Author: Josh Kaufman
Why you have to read it: To provide the greatest possible value both to this business and to our clients, you need to understand at a basic level how business works. This book provides that knowledge. It’s the end result of a former-programmer reading hundreds of business books and summarising the key ideas. It will help you understand businesses.
Recommended Reading
These books are not mandatory to read but will make you a better professional.
- Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman — The missing field manual to your mind. Helps to debug your thinking.
- Getting to Yes — Roger Fisher and William Ury — The standard text on negotiation techniques.
- The Alliance — Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha — A book about building medium-term, mutually beneficial relationships between employees and companies.
- Elements of Style — William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White — A guide to writing well.
- Eats, Shoots and Leaves — Lynne Truss — A book that addresses common grammar problems.
- Never Eat Alone — Keith Ferrazzi — The only book you need to read about business networking.
- Financial Intelligence — Berman, Knight, Case — A short guide to the basics of business finance. This will allow you to have more intelligent conversations about finance with clients.
- High Output Management — Andrew S. Grove — Managing people. Mentions one-to-one meetings, task-relevant maturity, meetings, and training.
