Fall, or, Dodge in Hell. Neil Stephenson. 2019. ISBN 9780062458735.   A story within a story.  The short story asks and answers what would happen if you just deluged/overwhelmed the Internet with masses of “fake news” with the intent to make readers more discerning.  That one does not end so well as it appears that readers, just did not care enough to separate “truth’ from items that reinforced their prejudices. The US breaks down into “civilized” liberal leaning areas and vast territories ,”Ameristan”,  full of survivalists, gun toting freedom protectors.  The larger story the author pursues is what if we are able to scan a person and upload it successfully to a “cloud ” so their “soul” continues after death?  He carries this thesis through to what would that “cloud’ existence look and feel like. How would this new society evolve in Bitspace?  What happens in and to our “Meatspace?  Lots to chew on in this part in truth Stephenson style.

Tactical Pipeline Growth. Winning the battle for new business. Mark McInnes. 2020  ISBN 9780646819938.  The author has put together a very practical, pragmatic book on tactical sales methods. He is also very organized and logical making this a good guide to building internal sales processes.   You will still need a good idea of your ideal client, the types of language and content that works for them. As well you need good marketing chops to drive leads and traffic to work with.  That done, this book will make sure you take the best care of the leads you work with.  Worth any sales professional’s time to read this.

Tactical Pipeline Growth, Winning the outbound battle for new business. Mark MacInnis.  2020. ISBN 9780646819938.  The author has put together a very practical, pragmatic book on tactical sales methods. He is also very organized and logical making this a good guide to building internal sales processes.   You will still need a good idea of your ideal client, the types of language and content that works for them. As well you need good marketing chops to drive leads and traffic to work with.  That done, this book will make sure you take the best care of the leads you work with.  Worth any sales professional’s time to read this.

The Hero. Lee Child. 2019.  ISBN 9780008355784.  The author of many books including the Jack Reacher series has penned a thoughtful small essay on the hero.  He goes through some historical reasons why and how heroes emerge. Also he poses thoughts on how the hero story “improves/embellishes” over time. It is interesting to read how very similar hero stories reoccur in ancient through to popular literature as well as movies etc.  For those who follow the using stories as  methods in marketing , oratory, politics this essay will prove useful.

The Peripheral. William Gibson. 2014. ISBN 9780698170704.  I recently “found” this book by our “local” but world famous sci fi author.  It reads well but as ever has lots of interwoven bits. It is very prescient of the world leaders and behavior we see today. Gibson does his usual job of drawing you into a dystopian future where the present is being affected by players in the future. Those who like Gibson will enjoy this. If you are unfamiliar with his work, this one is worth wading into.

Trillion Dollar Coach . The leadership playbook from silicon valley’s Bill Campbell. Eric Schmidt. Jonathan Rosenberg. Alan Eagle.  2019. ISBN 9780062839268. A very timely book. Its a book that should be the basis of  every leadership seminar and a well read reference on all leader’s bookshelves.  As sports coaches ourselves, my partners and I see the applicability of high performance sports coaching to technology companies. Whether if its in a non profit board community committee or a business, these “lessons’ are applicable and very useful.  This book is deserving of the kudos it has been receiving.  I enjoyed it so much I read it in two session and intend to reread it often.