Recommended Books

 TG Book  newbook

 

 Click book cover to download PDF.

"Our individual and collective responsibility is to ensure that our respective organizations attain world-class standing on all the key measures the world understands. In addition, our organizations must also acquire a distinct reputation of being driven by principles that inspires other organizations to emulate."

Reflections on Management Paradigms

Reflections on Management Paradigms!Kamran Rizvi's latest book

This is a compilation of Kamran’s recent articles published in Blue Chip Magazine.

Concepts and Philosophies shared here are to stimulate your thinking. You are encouraged to challenge your prevailing management and leadership paradigms so that you make better decisions when it comes to getting the best out of people.

Click here to download the e-book.

Recommended Reading

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Make reading a habit

"A book is never finished until it is read and used," says Rosabeth Moss Kanter in the opening line of the foreward in her book: Confidence.

If you are not spending at least an hour a day with a book, you are missing out on life - big time! Don't let life pass you by without rewarding you in some way - either with an insight or an idea that can get you places.

Make time to furnish your mind with useful thoughts. By reading books you will improve your expression, both written and spoken.You will also acquire new eyes with which to see and understand the world you live in. As your thoughts expand, so will your actions. Just imagine the astonishing outcomes you can produce that will not only benefit you, but also those around you.

Engage with a book. Savor each sentence; reflect; and stimulate your thoughts.

Through books you can get to meet people you admire, whether they are dead or alive, in the comfort of your own home and at your own convenience. You can gain intimate knowledge about their thinking and actions.

You become the company you keep. Seek out personalities whom you deem great and spend time with them in books and journals.

Reading is like mental walking - its a valuable exercise for your brain. Strengthen your thinking muscles and make a positive difference to your life!

You will find some recommendations in the sub-pages to your left. Let me know what you think of them by going to the 'Contact' page and posting your comments/suggestions.

Please also suggest titles with reasons for why you think they should be included in this website. We'll be delighted to hear from you.

 

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Leadership

  1. WHERE HAVE ALL THE LEADERS GONE. By Lee Iacocca with Catherine Whitney (Scribner April 2007).
  2. SILOS, POLITICS AND TURF WARS  - A leadership fable about destroying barriers that turn colleagues into competitors. By Patrick Lencioni (Jossey-Bass 2006).
  3. THE CORPORATE MYSTIC - A guidebook for visionaries with their feet on the ground. By Gay Hendricks and Kate Ludman (A Bantam Book, 1996).
  4. CONFIDENCE - How winning streaks and losing streaks begin and end. By Rosabeth Moss Kanter (Three Rivers Press, 2006).

 

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Current trends

  1. MIND SET - Reset your thinking and see the future. By John Naisbitt (Collins, 2006)
  2. PRESENCE - An exploration of profound change in people, organizations, and society. By Peter  Senge, C Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski & Betty Sue Flowers (SoL 2005)
  3. THE WORLD IS FLAT - A brief history of the 21st century. By Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux/NY, 2006)

 

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Biographies

  1. BONO in conversation with Michka Assayas (Riverhead Books, 2006).
  2. THE MURDOCH ARCHIPELAGO. By Bruce Page (Simon & Schuster, 2003).
  3. THE AUDACITY OF HOPE. Thoughts on reclaiming the American dream. By Barack Obama (Crown, 2006).

 

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Philosophy

  1. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE  - An enquiry into values. By Robert M. Pirsig (Harper Torch, 2006)
  2. IDEAS - Brilliant thinkers speak their minds. They include: Tariq Ali, Hannah Arendt, Michael Bliss, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, Romeo Dallaire, Ursula Franklin, Northrop Frye, Paul Goodman, Bernard Lewis, Margaret MacMillan, Conor Cruise O'Brien, James Orbinski, Sylvia Ostry, George Steiner, Charles Taylor & Geoge Woodcock. Edited by Bernie Lucht (Goose Lane, 2005)
  3. SUFISM IN ACTION - Achievement, inspiration and integrity in a tough world. By Dr H J Witteveen (Vega, 2003)

 

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History, race and ethics

  1. THE LESSER EVIL -  Must we fight terrorism with terror, match assasination with assasination, and torture with torture? Must we sacrifice civil liberty to protect public safety? Political ethics in an age of terror. By Michael Ignatieff (Penguin, 2004).
  2. WHERE RACE DOES NOT MATTER - The new spirit of modernity. By Cecil Foster (Penguin, 2005).
  3. WAR AND PEACE. By Leo Tolstoy. Translated and with an introduction by Rosemary Edmunds (Penguin Classics - Reprinted 1978).
    N.B. This book was gifted to me by my dear colleague Nadeem Chawhan on June 03, 2003, with the remarks: "I have learned not to accept my station in life and live for others to the fullest of my capabilities. Please don't become 'apathetic'. Love. Nadeem Chawhan."

 

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Management

  1. WHY GOOD COMPANIES GO BAD - and how great managers remake them. By Donald N Sull (Harvard Business School Press, 2005).
  2. WINNING. By Jack Welch with Suzy Welch (Harper Business, 2005)
  3. VALUES-DRIVEN BUSINESS - How to change the world, make money and have fun. By Ben Cohen & Mal Warwick (Berrett-Koehler, 2005).
  4. THE BUSINESS GENERAL - Transform your business using seven secrets of military success. By Deborah Tom & Brigadier Richard Barrons (Vermilion, 2006).
  5. MAVERICKS AT WORK - Why the most original minds in business win. By William C Taylor & Polly Labarre (William Morrow, 2006).

 

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Inspiring material


An Entrepreneur's Prayer

As I awaken with the gift of yet another day and prepare for the tasks at hand, I offer up this most ardent prayer:

I pray for continued clarity of purpose so that I may hold my vision steady and keep my focus on the needs and success of others, which in turn shall bring me my success.

I pray for the wisdom to expect abundance in my life, that it surrounds me and is available for the taking and to be shameless and unapologetic upon its receipt, for I deserve abundance.

I pray for a cheerful countenance, be it clear or cloudy skies and that I may radiate and infect others with my positive attitude.

I pray for the trust of others that they may recognize my sincerity and true intentions so that we may move forward together.

I pray for the strength to fend off adversity and use my desire and determination as both weapon and shield.

I pray for the courage to carry forth my convictions during the battle of business and to resist temptation to a quicker monetary result when such temptation compromises these things for which I stand.

I pray that I may be used as a lightning rod to collect the amazing ideas already present in the universe and when blessed with such inspiration, that I may be able to apply my talents and abilities to turn the power of thought into measurable advancement of my goals.

I pray to retain my childhood wonder so that I can recognize and revel in the small miracles of each day that others may miss.

I pray for an infinite supply of self-confidence for it alone fortifies faith, strengthens my resolve and conquers the largest enemy I will ever face - fear.

I pray for a compassionate spirit and the patience to offer those who seek my advice and my help, my full and undivided attention.

I pray for good health and a feeling of well being, and the continued desire to improve those areas of my physical life I may be neglecting in the name of my spiritual and entrepreneurial advancement.

I pray that today is a day of excellence and at its conclusion I can acknowledge and be grateful for the forward motion I have made and the growth I have experienced.

I pray most of all for the understanding and support of those closest to my heart, my family, that they will equate what may seem like endless hours of apparent pre-occupation with affairs of business to what is at the very core of my being, that which drives me, for once I achieve what I have set out in its fullest, I will become that more complete being I strive to be.

It is for these things that I pray, for I am an entrepreneur.


©1998 Rick Beneteau

 

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