Outposts.  Journeys to the surviving relics of the British Empire. Simon Winchester.  1985, 2003. ISBN 9780061978326.

Older but still a useful look at the remnants of the British Empire.  Some hilarious exploits and some that just seemed damned foolish.  Fairly kind to the inhabitants. I learned lots about  ports like Gibraltar, St Helena, Diego Garcia,  And more , Some I had been to (Falklands)  but most I won’t.   Thanks Ean Jackson for tipping me off to this!

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How Asia Works. Success and failure in the world’s most dynamic region. Joe Studwell.2013. ISBN 9780802193476.  An all encompassing, insightful book.  The structure is simple . Compare the NE Asian successes ( Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China ),  to the SE Asian disasters ( Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India) ignore unique nation states like Hong Kong, Singapore,  then extract behaviors that seem to lead to economic powerhouse countries.   Then discuss each country a little more deeply to unpack their individual  successes, failures and on-going weaknesses.  Along the way  blow holes in the prevailing World Bank and IDB ” economic wisdom” .  The  author has little regard for most economists and after reading the book I am inclined to agree.  He does indicate that economic history is a useful pursuit in this analysis.   I saw many of his observations “operating” in our recent Asia /Africa trip.  Even though this is well before the Chinese stock market meltdown, much of his analysis indicated the inevitability of it.  The text is easy to read, well organized and will consume you.  No wonder Bill gates endorsed it.

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Selling Above and Below the Line. Convince the C-Suite.Win over management. Secure the sale. William Miller. 2015. ISBN 97808144348533. This is a missing book in your sales library. The author has simplified the value sale by splitting it in two parts.  Below The Line buyers are still concerned with features and benefits (and you need to address this) .  The Above the Line buyers are concerned with why they want to buy ( the value/impact) and many sales people do not address this.  This view makes your selling that much more effective.  ATL buyers can add more speed , budget and focus to your deal.  But its likely you may not have known how to get there. Now you have a guide book to help you make this happen .  Miller has a clear concise written style with enough illustrations and stories to make his points.  Buy this, read it , and keep it handy.

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Sales Management. Brian Tracy. 2015. ISBN 9780814436295. A  recent addition to Amacom‘s Brian Tracy Success Library. These are little books that fit nicely in your briefcase for easy reference. I am sure the active salesmanager will turn to this book over and over. Tracy has the ability to really boil down the content to what is the true kernel of actionable information.  I make notes on the books I read and despite this books concise nature, I made voluminous notes.   An essential for the sales managers library and it will be very well used as you grow the sales teams performance

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Stuffocation. Why we’ve had enough of stuff and need experience more than ever. James Wallman.  2015. ISBN 978081299760.  Quite a thoughtful and thought provoking book. It is as appropriate to boomers as well as millennials.  The thesis is that consumerism for its own sake is no longer what we should strive for.  Having too much stuff is emotionally and psychologically bad for us. The author proposes that we move to meaningful experiences vs getting more stuff. He does a good job of explaining how we got this way and what it does for us as a country and personally.  Consumerism was created to meet the needs of a problem, of over production.  We were trained into this.  Enjoy this book . It is clearly written with a well thought out thesis and adequately furnished with relevant case studies.  I enjoyed the book.

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