Srikumar Rao @ Google

Srikumar's book Are You Ready to Succeed? Unconventional Strategies to Achieving Personal Mastery in Business and Life has been one of my favorites for a few years now and I frequently recommend it to friends and clients. It is definitely worth picking up and was actually one of the books that inspired me to become a coach!



It's a bit long for those of us who have ADD and are chronic multi-taskers (myself included), but you can plug in your headphones and listen to it in the background as you're checking email. Enjoy!

Influential Books

Those of you who know me can attest to the fact that I'm always reading, and usually several books at once. I like books because they give you access to wisdom or perspectives that you otherwise wouldn't come into contact with. It's like having your own personal tutor or sitting in on a great lecture, but on your own time.

Eventually, I'd like to post summaries so you can get the big ideas without having to read them. More importantly, I'd like to save you frustration by separating the wheat from the chaff (there are a ton of really bad books out there in the leadership/ personal development section).

I wanted to kick it off with a list of the books that I thought were great and have been influential in my journey to "figure things out". They're a mix of business books, leadership books, and books on personal development. Here they are in no particular order:

• Integrity, by Dr. Henry Cloud


• The Art of Possibility, by Benjamin Zander


• Presence, by Peter Senge


• What Color is Your Parachute?, by Richard Bolles


• Are You Ready to Succeed?, by Srikumar Rao


• On Becoming a Leader, by Warren Bennis


• The Fifth Discipline, by Peter Senge


• Winning, by Jack Welch


• Life Strategies, by Phillip McGraw


• One From Many, by Dee Hock


• Finding Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi


• Change or Die, by Alan Deutschman


• Fish! (series), by Stephen Lundin and John Christensen


• Happiness, by Matthieu Ricard


• True Love, Thich Nhat Hanh


• How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie


• Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand

This is just a condensed list of past books I'd recommend, either for people in the business world or for those figuring out their lives (you can read the descriptions and pick the most relevant). There are a lot more out there with great bits and pieces, so look for more books lists and summaries to come!

• What books have influenced you along the way? Anything you can recommend to add to my future reading list?