Books We Like
Books That Have Influenced Our Thinking
We like to read. The following is our list of some of the books that have infuenced our thinking- in health care and in other areas. We use the ideas presented in many of these books in our work, in our writing, and in our lives. Most of these books are targeted at managers, leaders, and those interested in looking at things from a different perspective- but we highly recommend "The Healing of America" for anybody who desires a basic understanding of how health care works around the world- because they've got some lessons we could also use here.
"The Healing of America; A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care"; T. R. Reid; A great book to understand the basics of how health care is delivered in other countries. Written by a longtime correspondent from the Washington Post, the book is simple to understand and provides both a personal and policy discussion of the issues facing our system today. It really provides you with something to think about.
That Used To Be Us; How America Fell Behind in the World it Invented and How We Can Come Back," Thomas Friedman, Michael Mandelbaum; When Thomas Friedman wrote the book "The World is Flat" he started the thinking of how much the world has changed. In this book, he and Mandelbaum take it a step further and discuss the importance of education, culture, and responsibility as important aspects of how we can regain the competitive edge we used to have.
"Linchpin; Are You Indispensable?"; Seth Godin; It's all about perspective. The world has changed and those who recognize it are going to see many more opportunitities than those that don't. Those who continue to operate as "cogs" will be part of the "Percentage of Easily Replaced Laborers" (PERL) in the new world. Those that see themselves as "linchpins" will be unique, and see opportunities to change the way things are. It's your choice.
"The Great Reset; How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity", Richard Florida; An interesting perspective for the times. Florida looks at the 3 major economic "resets" that have occurred in our country (including the Great Recession of 2008) and the ways life changed as a result. His thinking also applies to health care. Health care was Reset in 2010 and it's going to work different than before- with or without health care reform.
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"; Stephen R. Covey; The timeless classic of common sense. The book presents the idea of the power of the paradigm, the need for collaboration, personal mastery, and of strong personal relationships in our work and in our lives.
"The 8th Habit"; Stephen R. Covey: Another book by Covey discussing the achievement of personal transformation by finding your own voice and inspiring others to find theirs. He also discusses the purpose of our lives; to live, love, learn, and leave a legacy.
Blue Ocean Strategy; W. Chan Kim; Renee Mauborgne; A guide to create uncontested markets and change the rules of competition for new ideas and strategies.
"Good to Great"; Jim Collins; The classic book of how leadership, innovation, and the ability to recognize opportunity influences the sucess of any organization.
"Authentic Leadership"; Bill George; A beautiful work discussing the importance of the personal values you possess as a factor of leadership and creating organizational value.
"The Innovator's Prescription"; Clayton R. Christensen; Christensen's work presents a different way to look at the business models in health care and the need for disruptive innovation to change the way we operate today.
"The Tipping Point"; Malcolm Gladwell; Gladwell has a wonderful way of presenting his ideas. Here, he talks about the need for strong relationships, a solid message, and a unified context to create change in our lives- and influencing change in others.
"Outliers- The Story of Success"; Malcolm Gladwell; Another Gladwell work discussing the impact of timing, mastery, and luck in achieving success in your life.
"Execution; The Discipline of Getting Things Done"; Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan; We're sometimes good at coming up with the ideas- but there is an art to making them a reality. This book describes a fundamental model for executing business ideas.
"Game Changer"; A.G. Lafley and Ram Charan; The past CEO of Proctor and Gamble and Charan discuss the models of successful innovation in organizations today.
