By: Jason Jennings
Pages: 231
Business
My recommendation: 8 / 10
Date read: Year 2014
Brief review: How Starbucks turned itself around? How Apollo Tyres went from five hundred million to two billion in annual sales in only a few years? It's a book about reinventing yourself to keep growing and become extraordinary. Many companies become complacent after reaching a point. They find it difficult to change and consider their strategies that worked so far to work in the future too. Hardly true. Change is the only constant and Jason makes his point to embrace change by giving lots of real life examples. The book is easy to read, with lots of take away.
By: George Beahm
Pages: 138
Biography, Business
My recommendation: 7 / 10
Date read: Before 2013
Brief review: It's a short book which gives account of Steve Jobs life and progress. It covers hundreds of quotes and statements made by Steve Jobs over the course of his journey from being a college student to becoming one of the most admired person in the world. It also details major milestones of Steve job in a chronological order. It's an inspiring book.
By: Jim Collins
Pages: 328
Business
My recommendation: 10 / 10
Date read: Before 2013
Brief review: This book is a result of six years of extensive research into what makes enduring great companies. Published in year 1994, the book discusses the underlying habits and characteristics of visionary companies who made it big over time. Some of the companies in the research included Merck, Ford, Philip Morris, Wal-Mart, HP, Boeing, Citicorp, General Electric and others. Collins calls these companies as visionary and compared them with equally good but which couldn't qualify as 'built to last', like Pfizer, Texas Instruments, General Motors, Colgate and others. The authors did a great job by compressing huge amount of research and data into a relatively small book but meaningful information. If you have interest in business and corporate success, this book is for you.
By: W Chan Kim & Renee Mauborgne
Pages: 216
Business
My recommendation: 10 / 10
Date read: Before 2013
Brief review: If you are looking for a book on strategy and marketing, this one is a must read. The book is written after extensive research of hundreds of strategies used by several companies over the last 100 years. It concludes that rather than fighting in a competitive world (red ocean), one should aim to create uncontested market place called the 'blue ocean'. Your perception of competition can change into opportunity. Rather than having a 'killing the competition attitude', this book makes a compelling case for 'applying creativity and focusing on value innovation'. Giving examples from a diverse set of industries including computers, automobiles, watches, wine, cement and many more; the book will make your see opportunities more clearly than competition. The analogy of Blue Ocean vs Red Ocean is so compelling, refreshing and opportunistic. It has changed my perception and way of looking at competition and I am sure it will do the same to you.
By: Ram Charan
Pages: 269
Business
My recommendation: 7 / 10
Date read: Before 2013
Brief review: There is a gap between planning and results. It's called execution. People and corporations succeed and fail primarily because of how good or bad are they in executing their ideas and decisions. While the ideas in the book are great but I somehow felt dryness in the content. The first half of the book was interesting but it required effort to finish the book. The book is written mostly from the perspective of global companies and may not resonate with small business owners of professionals.
