Books That Will Change Your Life and Career - Business Insider

12/10/2014
Books That Will Change Your Life And Career - Business Insider
9 Classic Books That Will Change

Your Life And Career
FAISAL HOQUE, CONTRIBUTOR
DEC. 8, 2014, 4:43 PM
The appetite for books

that inspire us, move us
forward, and give us
practical guidance seems
to be only increasing.
The publication of new
business books alone
tops 11,000 every year
an overwhelming choice
for readers.
The ones that tend do
well these days seem to
be grounded in
humanity.
Perhaps that's because
LukeMacGregor/Reuters
creativity, innovation,
leadership,
entrepreneurship they
all begin within us; each is very much a human process.
So naturally, the more we humanize the way we think and work, the more progress we
can make in these arenas. If we understand the mental and emotional drivers of
innovation and creativity, we can be more innovative and creative.
Today's authors and thinkers have the privilege of standing on the shoulders of giants.
Their works, a diverse arrangement of titles and backgrounds, have inspired me to
understand what's behind things like mindfulness, creativity, innovation and
leadership, and I believe they will inspire you, too:
"ThePowerofMyth"byJosephCampbell
"Sitinaroomandreadandreadandread.Andreadtherightbooksbytheright
people.Yourmindisbroughtontothatlevel,andyouhaveanice,mild,slow
burningraptureallthetime."JosephCampbell
When we talk about myth, we tend to marginalize the word to mythologize is to
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make grand, yes, but also to make unreal and un-relatable. Campbell, the comparative
mythologist and student of Carl Jung, spent a lifetime explaining how the mythic may
be the most real thing we have for myths are simply the ways we organize meaning
in our lives.
"The Power of Myth" comes from a series of interviews he did with Bill Moyers at the
conclusion of his career. By the end, we see the way Campbell structured meaning in
his life.
"AsaManThinketh"(1902)byJamesAllen
"Thoughtsofdoubtandfear
neveraccomplishanything,and
nevercan.Theyalwaysleadto
failure.Purpose,energy,power
todo,andallstrongthoughts
ceasewhendoubtandfearcreep
in.Selfcontrolisstrength.Right
thoughtismastery.Calmnessis
power."JamesAllen
James Allen was a British
philosophical author known for
his inspirational books and
poetry a pioneer of the selfhelp movement. Born in
Leicester, England, into a
working-class family, his mother
could neither read nor write
while his father, William, was a
factory worker. In 1902, Allen
published his third and most
famous book "As a Man
Thinketh."
TarcherBooks
In more than a century it has

become an inspirational classic, selling millions of copies worldwide and bringing
faith, inspiration, and self healing to all who have encountered it. It stimulates readers
to seek perfection through the purity of thought. It helps us transform our thoughts
into concrete actions that can result in the achievement of anything that we deeply
desire in our heart.
"TheCouragetoCreate"(1975)byRolloMay
"Thispassionforformisawayoftryingtofindandconstitutemeaninginlife.And
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thisiswhatgenuinecreativityis.Imagination,broadlydefined,seemstometobea
principleinhumanlifeunderlyingevenreason,fortherationalfunctions,according
toourdefinitions,canleadtounderstandingcanparticipateintheconstitutingof
realityonlyastheyarecreative.Creativityisthusinvolvedinourevery
experienceaswetrytomakemeaninginourselfworldrelationship."RolloMay
Compiled from a series of lectures and essays written by Rollo May, a psychotherapist
who was intensely interested in the creative process, this book unveils what it means
to be creative. What if imagination and art are not, as many of us might think, the
frosting on life but the fountainhead of human experience? What if our logic and
science derive from art forms, rather than the other way around?
In this book, Dr. May helps us find those creative impulses that, once liberated, offer
new possibilities for achievement. Drawing upon author's own career and his work
with artists, this book shows us how we can break out of old patterns in our lives. It
offers a way through our fears into a fully realized self.
Creativity requires taking a chance on one's self meeting one's unconscious, or
shadow, as May outlined moving ahead despite self-doubts, discouragement and
anxiety.
"Capitalism,Socialism,andDemocracy"(1942)byJoseph
Schumpeter
"Thefundamentalimpulsethat
setsandkeepsthecapitalist
engineinmotioncomesfromthe
newconsumers,goods,thenew
methodsofproductionor
transportation,thenewmarkets,
thenewformsofindustrial
organizationthatcapitalist
enterprisecreates.Thisprocess
ofCreativeDestructionisthe
essentialfactabout
capitalism."Joseph
Schumpeter
In his 1942 book "Capitalism,
Socialism, and Democracy," the
Austrian-American economist
Joseph Schumpeter introduced
the notion of the innovation
economy, in which the market
isn't driven solely by efficiency,
but by great shifts in supremacy.
He characterized capitalism by its
"violent bursts and catastrophes,"
a process he colorfully dubbed
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"creative destruction."
Schumpeter saw the shifts occurring in the world in his day, the movement away from
rigid standardization and toward the fluidity that we now know. He argued that
evolving institutions, entrepreneurship, and technological change are at the heart of
economic growth. He also said that the incentive to innovate is what makes capitalism
the best economic system.
"TheHumanSideofEnterprise"(1960)byDouglasMcGregor
"Allmanagerialdecisionsandactionsrestonassumptionsaboutbehavior...Wecan
improveourabilitytocontrolonlyifwerecognizethatcontrolconsistsinselective
adaptationtohumannatureratherthaninattemptingtomakehumannature
conformtoourwishes."DouglasMcGregor
Douglas McGregor, an American social psychologist, in "The Human Side of
Enterprise" originated some of the most innovative thinking on management
education and practice. In this book McGregor challenged many of the prevailing
managerial assumptions about worker motivation and behavior. He proposed his
famous X-Y theory.
McGregor's ideas suggest that there are two fundamental approaches to managing
people. Many managers tend towards theory X, and generally get poor results.
Enlightened managers use theory Y, which produces better performance and results,
and allows people to grow and develop.
"MaslowonManagement"(1998)byA.H.Maslow
"Onecanchoosetogobacktowardsafetyorforwardtowardgrowth.Growthmust
bechosenagainandagainfearmustbeovercomeagainandagain."Abraham
Maslow
Coordinated by Maslow's daughter, Ann Kaplan, this book contains a series of
Maslow's journal notes from the early 1960s. Considered to be a seminal work on
human behavior in the workplace, it offers Maslow's theories on such issues as how to
encourage people to express their creativity, the importance of psychological health,
and leadership ideas that are commonly accepted notions in management circles at
the end of the twentieth century.
Although Maslow is most famous for his hierarchy of needs theory, this book for
today's leaders develops ideas on enlightened management that puts emphasis on the
individual worker and posits that everyone prefers to be a prime mover rather than a
helpless pawn in the workplace.
"TheFunctionsoftheExecutive"(1938)byChesterBarnard
"Atacrisisinmyyouthhetaughtmethewisdomofchoice:Totryandfailisatleast
tolearntofailtotryistosuffertheinestimablelossofwhatmighthavebeen."
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ChesterBarnard
Chester Barnard attended
Harvard University between
1906 and 1909 where he
majored in economics;
however, he did not obtain a
degree.After rising through
the ranks at AT&T
Corporation, Barnard
became president of New
Jersey Bell between 1927
and 1948. "The Functions of
the Executive" presents the
functions and methods of
operating executives in
formal organizations. It was
one of the first to provide a
comprehensive theory of
cooperative behavior.
Barnard was the first to
insist that an organization
can only survive through
cooperative systems.
In many ways Chester
Amazon
Barnard is the Peter
Drucker of pre-World War
II and the Jack Welch of the
1920s and 30s. Many of the concepts and ideas of Chester Barnard are essential to the
teachings of Peter Drucker. For example, his emphasis on defining the purpose of a
business the purpose of a business is not to make a profit. Rather, profit is an
essential condition for survival. His insight into what it takes to manage a large
organization was light years ahead of his time.
"Sdhan:TheRealisationofLife"(1913)byNobelLaureate
RabindranathTagore
"Wecanlookuponaroadfromtwodifferentpointsofview.Oneregardsitas
dividingusfromtheobjectofourdesire.Inthatcase,wecounteverystepofour
journeyoveritassomethingobtainedbyforceinthefaceofobstruction.Theother
seesitastheroadwhichleadsustoourdestination,andassuch,itispartofour
goal.Itisalreadythebeginningofourattainment,andbyjourneyingoverit,we
canonlygainthatwhichwithinitselfitofferstous."RabindranathTagore
Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali "Renaissance man" who reshaped his region's
literature and music. He became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 1913. Compiled and translated by Tagore from his Bengali lectures, the
book consists of eight essays, in which Tagore answers some of the most profound
questions of life: Why did God create this world? Why would a Perfect Being, instead
of remaining eternally
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concentrated in Himself, go
through the trouble of
manifesting the universe? Why
does evil exist? Do love and
beauty have a purpose?
Tagore masterfully brings the
spiritual truths behind these
profound questions to light, with
his lucid explanations of the
Sanskrit verses of the Upanishads
(Indian spiritual texts dating
back to 800 B.C.) and the eternal
teachings of Jesus and Buddha.
"TheTibetanBookof
LivingandDying"
(1904)bySogyal
Rinpoche
"Wearefragmentedintoso
manydifferentaspects.Wedon't
knowwhowereallyare,orwhat
aspectsofourselvesweshould
identifywithorbelievein.So
manycontradictoryvoices,
dictates,andfeelingsfightfor
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controloverourinnerlivesthat
wefindourselvesscattered
everywhere,inalldirections,leavingnobodyathome."SogyalRinpoche
This 400-page (yet surprisingly easy to read) book is a manual for life and death and a
source of inspiration from the heart of the Tibetan tradition. "The Tibetan Book of
Living and Dying"is a compilation of Tibetan Buddhism exploring topics such as
karma, rebirth, the nature of the mind, and finally on how to train your mind through
meditation.
Over 3 million copies have been printed in 34 languages, and the book is available in
80 countries. The first half of the book is about living and the other half is about
dying. Contrary to the title, this book is not just for Buddhists. The author takes all
religions and even atheists into account and the teachings are by no means specific to
a religion. It is about the human journey and how everything is interconnected.
SerialentrepreneurandauthorFaisalHoqueisthefounderofSHADOKAandother
companies.Hisnewestbookis"EverythingConnects:HowtoTransformandLead
intheAgeofCreativity,InnovationandSustainability"(McGrawHill,Spring2014).
Copyright(c)2014byFaisalHoque.Allrightsreserved.Followhimon
Twitter@faisal_hoque.
* Copyright 2014 Business Insider Inc. All rights reserved.
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12/10/2014

9 Classic Books That Will Change

The appetite for books

In more than a century it has

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