Book Reviews

Each year at WRN Montco we celebrate continual learning at one of our meetings by reviewing books that are relevant for business or personal growth. There are always books that have an impact on our members whether it be business related, motivational or for personal growth. To continue this spirit of sharing throughout the year we have dedicated this page to recommendations from our members.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
By Malcom Gladwell
Description: Blink’s premise is about the first two seconds of looking, the first “blink” or instant thought you have about something, snap judgments and how they play into marketing, decision making, business and personal choices. Also recommend the other bestselling books by Gladwell, The Tipping Point and The Outliers.


The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea
By Bob Burg and John David Mann








Crush It!: Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion
By Gary Vaynerchuk
Description: Gary Vaynerchuk talks about his own experience using Social Media to build traffic to his father’s wine store but also about how focusing on your passion is where you should focus your time. It’s hard not to be motivated to pursue your passion after reading Gary’s book.



Strengths Finder 2.0
By Tom Rath
Description: This is one of our books for our summer reading review. Come to our June luncheon where one of our members will be reviewig the book for us or pick up a copy yourself and see what you think!




Spare Room Tycoon: Succeeding Independently – The 70 Lessons of Sane Self-Employment
By James Chan
Description: This is one of our books for our summer reading review. Come to our June luncheon where one of our members will be reviewig the book for us or pick up a copy yourself and see what you think!




Profit Is Not a Dirty Word
By Bill Hoke
Description: This is one of our books for our summer reading review. Come to our June luncheon where one of our members will be reviewig the book for us. Bill is also an advisor with the local Tri County Chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and has been a great asset to a number of WRN Montco members. For more information on Bill and how to get your own copy click here.


Think and Grow Rich
By Napolean Hill
Description: First published in 1937 this book has been reprinted a number of times over the years. It contains the combined research of almost 2 decades of research on motivation, goal setting and success. Excellent book that truly inspires and can be read again and again.



Give Yourself a RAISE: How to have More Money, Less Stress, Financial Freedom.
By Gordon Bennett
Description: Money is certainly a critical component in all of our lives, and it seems more so when economic times are unsettled as they are today. Retired from a widely varied background in business, consulting, banking and teaching Gordon is now a Financial Educator helping people get more mileage from their money. Gordon is a featured speaker at our May Luncheon and is a great resource to WRN members.


The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
By Stephen R. Covey
Description: First published in 1990, this well known book has sold well over 10 million copies. In the book Stephen goes over how to be truly effective there needs to be a balance between personal and business habits. After a number of years of research this book covers what he finds are the 7 habits most successful people adopt.



Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
By Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
Description: This book comes down to the simple principle that the difference between a company and its competitor is the ability to get things done/execute. From the book….Execution is “the missing link between aspirations and results,” and as such, making it happen is the business leader’s most important job.




Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships
By Jeffrey Gitomer
Description: This book along with many of Jeff’s other small books “Little Green Book of Getting Your Way”, “Little Red Book of Selling”, “Little Red Book of Sales Answers”, “Little Gold book of YES! Attitude”, “Little Teal Book of Trust” and “Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching” are great because not only do they have thought provoking tips and solutions you can use immediately but they come in literally “little” passages easy to read and digest.

Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality
By Scott Belsky
Description: Scott Belsky knows everyone’s excuses as to why they never take their ideas and make them into reality and he has a plan to get you from idea to implementation. Easy to read book but has great ideas.




Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
By Dan Heath and Chip Heath
Description: A #1 New York Times bestseller for a number of weeks this book aims at what everyone knows, change is hard. They explore why some people fight small changes and why others find it easy to make large changes and developed a game plan to make changes you need to both personally and professionally.



Breaking Through: Creating Opportunities for America’s Women and Minority-Owned Businesses
By Susan Phillips Bari
Description: Recommended by our July 2010 speaker Tara Radzinski, Breaking Through is a very helpful resource book that takes you through the process of obtaining woman or minority-owned certification through the most recognized certification organization known as WBENC.


Stepping Out of Line: Lessons for Women Who Want It Their Way . . . In Life, In Love, and At Work
By Nell Merlino
Description: Another book highly recommended by our July 2010 speaker Tara Radzinski. This book is one she credits to really helping her find the inspiration and take her business to the next level.



Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?
By Seth Godin
Description: This is not the first book by Seth but his concept is key in today’s world of high unemployment rates and the days of staying at the same company for a career are rare it holds true. Are you indispensible? Are you the only one or the best one who offers a service. Very passionately written and a good read.



Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
By Tony Hsieh
Description: Written by Zappos.com CEO, Tony Hsieh, talks about how he built a company around customer service. It’s about how he turned creating an environment where employees are happy and their #1 priority is to deliver great service and make thier customers happy into a billion dollar company. Full of great insights into customer service, branding and company culture.



ReWork
By Jason Fried and David Hansson
Description: This book is simple, fast, easy to read and implement. Essentially the book is about taking things surrounding business that are the traditional given way and looking at them to see if they make sense. If not how to rework them into a better, faster, lest costly way of doing things. A great read for new business owners.



Grow Your People, Grow Your Business
By Karen Jett
Description: This book is written by our October 2011 Luncheon presenter Karen Jett. Karen believes that every human being contains the seeds of greatness. She loves to “farm people” to help them develop. If you want to learn how to do the same, then this book is for you.