It’s All Right Here. Life and affairs organizer. Mark Gavagan. 2007. ISBN 9780980005608. This is a serious subject and one many do not do well on. It is a document that answers the question, “What if something happened to you and/or your spouse tonite? Would those you love have all the critical information they need? The author has gone to quite some trouble putting this book/binder together. I was particularly interested in the section on private business, and found it to be thorough and useful.

From the website (which is where you buy this book) .

http://www.affairsorganizer.com/index_2.html

Topics Include: Real estate, investments, insurance, retirement plans, benefits, hidden valuables, advisors (lawyer, accountant, etc.) important keys, allocation of personal items, living wills, organ donation, final arrangements, information about storage units, safes and safe deposit boxes, detailed pet care instructions, critical information about privately-owned businesses, and much more.

Intended Audience: Everyone, including young parents preparing their first wills and making initial life insurance purchases, up through seniors concerned about retirement, finances, estate planning and issues surrounding possible incapacity and loss of life.

About the Author: Mark Gavagan, a Business/Economics graduate of Utica College, has a broad background in business and financial services. His career includes more than sixteen years as an equity trader, registered representative, entrepreneur, writer, and Fortune 100 company manager. Mark lives in northern New Jersey. He’s married and has two daughters.

Document & Key Storage Features:

> 5 heavy duty, clear, acid-free, 3-hole punched sleeves. Total capacity = 100+ pages

> Key storage is similar to above, but with 9 individual pockets and cutom label tags for copies of important keys

> Standard 3-ring binder has plenty of additional room for 3-hole punched statements, documents, etc.

Website has more examples. Good $49 investment in my opinion.

Image via Wikipedia

Myself and Other More Important Matters . Charles Handy. 2008. ISBN 9780814401736. Charles Handy is considered the English Peter Drucker. He founded the London Business School, the first business school in the UK. He has had an extensive and varied career in the private and public sector as well as in some time in the spiritual vs secular life. His words to MBA candidates and graduates ring very true believing as he does that DO is much more important than IQ. A very easy reading and flowing book, Handy is a good writer, which one could trace back to his being a Classicist. I would suggest this as a thought provoking book when you have the time and inclination to ponder your life. On life after death, ” Well I did not give much thought to the world before I came into it, so why should I bother about it when I am gone? .” Good gift book from Father to Son.

Rain Making. 2nd Ed. Attract New Clients No Matter What Your Field. Ford Harding. 2008. I read ed.1 in 1995 and found it a terrific resource. Ed.2 has been completely rewritten with much new material, so it is a essentially new book. Every client I work with has service as a significant part of their revenue. This book is the definitive guide to sales and marketing of services. It is clearly written, making it an easy read, but there is so much pragmatic material on measuring and implementing these tested and true ideas, that this should be your revenue bible. Buy it, read it, and keep it close.

Also check out Ford’s site and blog

groundswell. winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff. 2008. ISBN 9781422125007. This is the seminal book on using social networking tools today. Forrester and these two authors have done the rest of us a terrific favour by putting this book (and blog http://blogs.forrester.com/charleneli/) together. This goes well beyond detailing how the tools are used by major companies, by closing the loop on how best to implement, with lessons learned and some of the red flags illustrated. It is on one book a blueprint of change I loved two comments – Your brand is whatever your customers say it is ( Its not about you) and Caterina Fake’s description of the “culture of generosity” (Ie why people add and edit content for free). I really enjoyed it and could not put the book down!