Here is an astounding fact – readers make more money – a lot more! It’s true. According to a number of studies*, business people who read at least 7 business books a year earn over 2.3 times more than people who read only 1 book per year.
Why exactly do readers earn so much more money? One of the core reasons is that they have a constant stream of new ideas and strategies they can use to help their careers (e.g., developing core competencies), their teams and their companies.
The Japanese call this act of using a stream of new ideas to improve business practices “Kaizen”. They constantly use new ideas to make incremental improvements, which over time, stack up one on top of the other to create massive success.
The same success principle applies to managers. But where can you find a stream of new and practical ideas to help drive your success?
The easiest and most underutilized method is to learn directly from the world’s business experts (e.g., the Harvard Business Review). Many of them have written great books that offer their proven strategies and winning ideas – ideas and strategies that took years to develop and perfect. This information is just sitting there for the taking – ready to propel you to the next level.
The problem is, who has the time to do all that reading?
A recent study showed that 74.9% of all managers understand they need to read more to stay ahead of the curve, but they simply don’t have the time. And this troubling reality is directly impacting their incomes – not to mention their careers!
There is a solution! Just read.
Last year I had a student with a “BOOKS READ” section on her resume and it included a combination of business professional and personal pleasure books. She had a list of around 10 books. I am curious, if you had this section on your resume, what would that list look like?
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Pick up a book
Both Gates and Buffett make a point to read every day, a habit that research shows reduces stress and boosts intelligence.
“Reading books is my favorite way to learn about a new topic,” Gates writes on his blog. “I’ve been reading about a book a week on average since I was a kid. Even when my schedule is out of control, I carve out a lot of time for reading.”
Every evening before bed, he reads for one hour. By making time every day, he reads a whopping 50 books each year.
Buffett too credits much of his prowess to reading. He says he starts every morning by poring over several newspapers and estimates he spends as much as 80 percent of his day reading.
When asked once about the key to success, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO pointed to a stack of books and said, “Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.”
As Ferriss writes in his popular book “Tools of Titans,” habits are more important than we think.
“To enjoy life, you don’t need fancy nonsense,” Ferris writes, “but you do need to control your time
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Recommended Business Books to Read, the classics…
HOW TO WOW FRANCES COLEJONES
THE EXCEPTIONAL PRESENTER TIMOTHY J KOEGEL
THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE STEPHEN COVEY
GOOD TO GREAT JIM COLLINS
THE PRESENT SPENCER JOHNSON
FISH STEPHEN LUNDIN
THE GOAL ELIYAHU GOLDRATT
THE SERVANT JAMES C HUNTER
Recommended by Sime:
The Goal is a management-oriented novel by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt, a business consultant whose Theory of Constraints has become a model for systems management. It was originally published in 1984 and has since been revised and republished in 1992 and 2004. This book is usually used in college courses and in the business world for case studies in operations management, with a focus geared towards the Theory of Constraints, bottlenecks and how to alleviate them, and applications of these concepts in real life. This book is widely used in leading colleges of management to teach students about the importance of strategic capacity planning and constraint management.
Another great choice and my first choice would be Car Guys vs. Bean Counters: The Battle for the Soul of American Business by Bob Lutz. He took over GM design around 2000 until about 2009. He’s responsible for a lot of the good designs coming out. He was a marketing guy, and there’s a lot about marketing in it. Thank you. Sime
10 Greatest Supply Chain Management Books of All Time
In dynamic supply chain environment, people have to make the quick and decisive actions against various issues. This can only be achieved by the knowledge and skills of the team. Then companies try to motivate staffs to continue developing their skills on regular basis. For both entry and executives, the self-study method has proven to be a cost-effective option. In order to facilitate smooth learning process, this article will show you 10 greatest supply chain management books that can help you accelerate the learning.
Results:
And the winners of 10 Greatest Supply Chain Management Books of All Time are listed in alphabetical order as below,
– Designing and Managing the Supply Chain by David Simchi-Levi, Philip Kaminsky and Edith Simchi-Levi
– Essentials of Supply Chain Management by Michael H. Hugos
– Logistics and Supply Chain Management by Martin Christopher
– Logistics Management and Strategy: Competing through the Supply Chain by Alan Harrison and Remko Van Hoek
– Manufacturing Planning and Control for Supply Chain Management F. Robert Jacobs, William Berry, D. Clay Whybark and Thomas Vollmann
– Purchasing and Supply Chain Management by Robert Monczka, Robert Handfield, Larry Giunipero and James Patterson
– Purchasing and Supply Chain Management: Analysis, Strategy, Planning and Practice by Arjan J. Van Weele
– Supply Chain Logistics Management by Donald Bowersox, David Closs and M. Bixby Cooper
– Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning, and Operation by Sunil Chopra and Peter Meindl
– The Resilient Enterprise: Overcoming Vulnerability for Competitive Advantage by Yossi Sheffi
Please contact me for more information. Thank you. Sime
Sample Lectures & Should You Major in Supply Chain Management?
https://wmich.edu/supplychain/academics/lectures
Dr. Sime (Sheema) Curkovic, Ph.D., Professor, Operations/Supply Chain
Western Michigan University, Haworth College of Business
E-Mail: sime.curkovic@wmich.edu
www.wmich.edu/supplychain
“WMU Integrated Supply Management (ISM)…Nation’s best undergraduate SCM program (Gartner); 2nd in SCM technology (SoftwareAdvice); 2nd in top global SCM talent (SCM World)”