7 useful books for the head

Hi, Habr!

We in RIK are a bit retrograde - we still read books and advise our students to do this. Let the bourgeois talk about clip thinking, but we believe that Russia, as it was the most reading country in the world, will remain that way :)
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Today I want to share a selection of books that has been formed over the long years of work as the head of me and my partners. This is the basic library for anyone who wants to become a manager or is already such: managers, team leaders, art directors, department heads, and even generals. Personally, I reread something from this list a couple of times a year, I hope you will find it useful.

1. Sun Tzu. War Craft

War loves victory and does not like duration.

For me, this is a handbook for the past five years. It has a huge number of business analogies that still work today. I reread random quotes from this book almost every month.

Since this book is no longer one thousand years old, it can be considered its national wealth and without hesitation to publish a link to the free version . Although, in bookstores sometimes there are gift editions of stunning beauty, but this is already for those who like “warm lamp projectors”.

2. Getting Real

You do not need a lot of money, a huge team or a long development cycle to create cool software. All this is for slow, obscure and unchanging applications. Getting Real has a different approach.

The book is that everything must be done simply and quickly (right, as in the quote above from Sun Tzu - another proof of the universality of the book). Ockham Occam, written language IT. It is useful to everyone who makes products in IT - from sites to banking systems.

Previously, 37signals was a beautiful free Russian version, and then left only English . But an inquisitive reader will surely find the necessary translation on the Internet.

3. Getting Things Done (How to put things in order)

The art of relaxing the mind and the ability to release it from all worries and experiences is probably one of the greatest secrets of great people.

Yes, it is this book from David Allen, about paper and daddy. There everything is laid out on the shelves with a minimum of unnecessary information. Why I do not recommend Gleb Arkhangelsky? I have a good friend who is so meticulous that he knows how much he spent on toothpaste in 2009 with an accuracy of + -10 rubles. And even he could not implement the “Time Drive” methodology. There is an opinion on the Internet that only Gleb himself can work according to the Gleb Arkhangelsky method.

Since this book is still copyrighted, I will not publish links to free versions.

4. You can agree on everything

The very first line of the rabbit roast recipe reads: “Catch the rabbit first.”

The foundational book on the negotiations. You can read it, practice on puzzles from its pages, and then get involved with literature and training about negotiations - practice and practice again. I hope you don’t need to explain why the manager should be able to negotiate with people :)

An alternative can be: “No” by Jim Camp, both books about the same thing, only in a different style. You can choose the one that you like best.

5. Life at full power

We fly through life, without pausing for thought about who we really want to be. We are in touch, but we are disabled

This book fell into my hands about 3-4 years ago and I liked it so much that I immediately started giving it to my colleagues and friends "to read" - from a certain moment I even missed, in whose hands she sank. I hope he continued my glorious tradition and also passed it on to another after reading.

The main idea of ​​the book is that for success in business you need to spend less time on business. Paradox, but my technique worked. In the language of gamers, you need to save mana. How to save it - described in detail in the book.

6. Small Giants

The company's highest purpose is to "make good common good."

A wonderful book that the desire of businessmen to build momentum and staff does not always lead to success. The author has studied several companies that have a high level of profitability and at the same time remain small, and the employees there are happy. I myself love working in small companies, so this book is very close to me.

In the Russian version, I did not find it, of the available options in English is the Amazon version for Kindle. And, yes, it is not necessary to buy a Kindle device - Amazon has applications for popular mobile platforms.

7. Sovereign Machiavelli

Hired and allied troops are useless and dangerous; the power that relies on a mercenary army will never be either durable or durable, for mercenaries are ambitious, dissolved, prone to quarrels, bullies with friends and cowardly with the enemy, treacherous and unholy; their defeat is delayed only as long as the decisive attack is delayed

Last but not least, Niccolò Machiavelli’s treatise of 1532, written by him as a manual for the young Florentine ruler Lorenzo Medici. If in 5,000 years since the writing of Sun-Tzu there is little that has changed, then in less than 500 years since the writing of this book - even more so.

It is unlikely that Mr. Machiavelli claims copyright, therefore I will provide a reference to the treatise in the Russian translation .

Ps.

The list is numbered without any sorting idea, just for easy orientation by post.