I’m guilty of always having a few books on the go; however, lately it has gotten out of hand. To solve the problem I’ve put a new rule in place - no new books until all of my partially completed ones are finished.

Here’s two that I’ve recently finished.

Hardballan HBS Press book by George Stalk and Rob Lachenauer is a business strategy book on using hardball competitive practices to obtain decisive victories and long-term returns. The book, an enjoyable and easy read, was most interesting for the indepth case studies that the author’s used to explain and support their arguements. Here’s a quick summary on initiatives a management team should take when leading a turnaround:

- Survive first, then gain competitive advantage
- Make all efforts fast, focused, and fundamental
- Don’t allow people to identify obstacles to change without also proposing solutions to overcome them
- Say yes or no but never maybe
- Communicate continuously and repeatedly with key people
- Don’t tolerate failure to deliver more than once

This list doesn’t serve the book well, as it strips away all supporting arguements. I can tell you that at 157 pages, I picked up more than enough in a short amount of time to recommend the book. It’s good, not great, but a quick read that, if nothing else, has some interesting case studies.

While in Florida I finished Blindnessa book by Jose Saramago that won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Saramago writes with a unique style, utilizing driving dialogue that’s free of attribution and quotation marks. The style works in Blindness, I found myself more engaged in the story through the style and it helps support the mounting tension. The book explores, deeply, themes of human nature and the frailty of humanity and society. If books are measured by the amount of time spent exploring the various elements of the story after finishing the book, then Blindness is a great read.

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