New Consultant Reading List

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Excel 2013: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

Amazon Book Description:

The world’s most popular spreadsheet program is now more powerful than ever, but it’s also more complex. That’s where this Missing Manual comes in. With crystal-clear explanations and hands-on examples, Excel 2013: The Missing Manual shows you how to master Excel so you can easily track, analyze, and chart your data. You’ll be using new features like PowerPivot and Flash Fill in no time.

The important stuff you need to know:

  • Go from novice to ace. Learn how to analyze your data, from writing your first formula to charting your results.
  • Illustrate trends. Discover the clearest way to present your data using Excel’s new Quick Analysis feature.
  • Broaden your analysis. Use pivot tables, slicers, and timelines to examine your data from different perspectives.
  • Import data. Pull data from a variety of sources, including website data feeds and corporate databases.
  • Work from the Web. Launch and manage your workbooks on the road, using the new Excel Web App.
  • Share your worksheets. Store Excel files on SkyDrive and collaborate with colleagues on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
  • Master the new data model. Use PowerPivot to work with millions of rows of data.
  • Make calculations. Review financial data, use math and scientific formulas, and perform statistical analyses.

Finance for Nonfinancial Managers, Second Edition by Gene Siciliano

Amazon Book Description:

AN INTRODUCTION TO FINANCIAL REPORTS–WITH NEW TACTICS FOR BUDGETING AND PINPOINTING KEY FINANCIAL AREAS

Financial decisions impact virtually every area of your company. As a manager, it’s up to you to understand how and why.

Finance for Nonfinancial Managers helps you understand the information in essential financial reports and then shows you how to use that understanding to make informed, intelligent decisions. It provides a solid working knowledge of:

  • Basic Financial Reports–All about balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, and more
  • Cost Accounting–Methods to assess which products or services are most profitable to your firm
  • Operational Planning and Budgeting–Ways to use financial knowledge to strengthen your company

Briefcase Books, written specifically for today’s busy manager, feature eye-catching icons, checklists, and sidebars to guide managers step-by-step through everyday workplace situations. Look for these innovative design features to help you navigate through each page:

Key Terms: Clear definitions of key terms and concepts

Smart Managing: Tactics and strategies for managing change

Tricks of the Trade: Tips for executing the tactics in the book

Mistake Proofing: Practical advice for minimizing the possibility of error

Caution: Warning signs for when things are about to go wrong

For Example: Examples of successful change-management tactics

Tools: Specific planning procedures, tactics, and hands-on techniques

Financial Statements: A Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding and Creating Financial Reports by Thomas Ittleson

Amazon Book Description:

Now the best-selling book of its kind has gotten even better.

This revised and expanded second edition of Ittelson’s master work will give you that firm grasp of “the numbers” necessary for business success. With more than 100,000 copies in print, Financial Statements is a perfect introduction to financial accounting for non-financial managers, stock-market investors, undergraduate business and MBA students, lawyers, lenders, entrepreneurs, and more.

Most introductory finance and accounting books fail either because they are written “by accountants for accountants” or the authors “dumb down” the concepts until they are virtually useless. Financial Statements deftly shows that all this accounting and financial-reporting stuff is not rocket science and that you can understand it! Ittelson empowers non-financial managers by clearly and simply demonstrating how the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement work together to offer a “snapshot” of any company’s financial health. Every term is defined in simple, understandable language. Every concept is explained with a basic, straightforward transaction example. And with the book’s uniquely visual approach, you’ll be able to see exactly how each transaction affects the three key financial statement of the enterprise.

Two new major sections with nine new chapters were added to this revised second edition of Financial Statements, simply the clearest and most comprehensive introduction to financial reporting available.

The MintoPyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving
by Barbara Minto

From the Back Cover:

Present your thinking so clearly that the ideas jump off the page and into the reader’s mind.

The Pyramid Principle is the international best-seller on how to produce crisps, clear, compelling business writing. Tens of thousands of people worldwide have benefited from former McKinsey consultant Barbara Minto’s famous Pyramid Princliple. Can your writing do without it?

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox

Amazon Book Description:

30th Anniversary Edition. Written in a fast-paced thriller style, The Goal, a gripping novel, is transforming management thinking throughout the world. It is a book to recommend to your friends in industry – even to your bosses – but not to your competitors. Alex Rogo is a harried plant manager working ever more desperately to try improve performance. His factory is rapidly heading for disaster. So is his marriage. He has ninety days to save his plant – or it will be closed by corporate HQ, with hundreds of job losses. It takes a chance meeting with a professor from student days – Jonah – to help him break out of conventional ways of thinking to see what needs to be done. The story of Alex’s fight to save his plant is more than compulsive reading. It contains a serious message for all managers in industry and explains the ideas, which underline the Theory of Constraints (TOC), developed by Eli Goldratt.

One of Eli Goldratt s convictions was that the goal of an individual or an organization should not be defined in absolute terms. A good definition of a goal is one that sets us on a path of ongoing improvement.
Pursuing such a goal necessitates more than one breakthrough. In fact it requires many. To be in a position to identify these breakthroughs we should have a deep understanding of the underlying rules of our environment. Twenty-five years after writing The Goal, Dr. Goldratt wrote Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. In this article he provided the underlying rules of operations. This article appears at the end of this book.

Like Mrs. Fields and her cookies,The Goal was too tasty to remain obscure. Companies began buying big batches and management schools included it in their curriculums. Fortune Magazine

A survey of the reading habits of managers found that though they buy books by the likes of Tom Peters for display purposes, the one management book they have actually read from cover to cover is The Goal. The Economist

“Goal readers are now doing the best work of their lives. Success Magazine

A factory may be an unlikely setting for a novel, but the book has been wildly effective.: Tom Peters

Required reading for Amazon’s Management.

The McKinsey Way by Ethan Rasiel

Amazon Book Description:

“If more business books were as useful, concise, and just plain fun to read as THE MCKINSEY WAY, the business world would be a better place.” –Julie Bick, best-selling author of ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW IN BUSINESS I LEARNED AT MICROSOFT.

“Enlivened by witty anecdotes, THE MCKINSEY WAY contains valuable lessons on widely diverse topics such as marketing, interviewing, team-building, and brainstorming.” –Paul H. Zipkin, Vice-Dean, The Fuqua School of Business

It’s been called “a breeding ground for gurus.” McKinsey & Company is the gold-standard consulting firm whose alumni include titans such as “In Search of Excellence” author Tom Peters, Harvey Golub of American Express, and Japan’s Kenichi Ohmae.

When Fortune 100 corporations are stymied, it’s the “McKinsey-ites” whom they call for help. In THE MCKINSEY WAY, former McKinsey associate Ethan Rasiel lifts the veil to show you how the secretive McKinsey works its magic, and helps you emulate the firm’s well-honed practices in problem solving, communication, and management.

He shows you how McKinsey-ites think about business problems and how they work at solving them, explaining the way McKinsey approaches every aspect of a task:
How McKinsey recruits and molds its elite consultants;
How to “sell without selling”;
How to use facts, not fear them;
Techniques to jump-start research and make brainstorming more productive;
How to build and keep a team at the top its game;
Powerful presentation methods, including the famous waterfall chart, rarely seen outside McKinsey;
How to get ultimate “buy-in” to your findings;
Survival tips for working in high-pressure organizations.

Both a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most admired and secretive companies in the business world and a toolkit of problem-solving techniques without peer, THE MCKINSEY WAY is fascinating reading that empowers every business decision maker to become a better strategic player in any organization.

What Every BODY is Saying:An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People by Joe Navarro, Marvin Karlins

Amazon Book Description:

Read this book and send your nonverbal intelligence soaring. Joe Navarro, a former FBI counterintelligence officer and a recognized expert on nonverbal behavior, explains how to “speed-read” people: decode sentiments and behaviors, avoid hidden pitfalls, and look for deceptive behaviors. You’ll also learn how your body language can influence what your boss, family, friends, and strangers think of you. You will discover:

  • The ancient survival instincts that drive body language
  • Why the face is the least likely place to gauge a person’s true feelings
  • What thumbs, feet, and eyelids reveal about moods and motives
  • The most powerful behaviors that reveal our confidence and true sentiments
  • Simple nonverbals that instantly establish trust
  • Simple nonverbals that instantly communicate authority

Filled with examples from Navarro’s professional experience, this definitive book offers a powerful new way to navigate your world…

He says that’s his best offer. Is it? She says she agrees. Does she? The interview went great—or did it? He said he’d never do it again. But he did.

The Trusted Advisor by David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, Robert M. Galford

Amazon Book Description:

Bestselling author David Maister teams up with Charles H. Green and Robert M. Galford to bring us the essential tool for all consultants, negotiators, and advisors.

In today’s fast-paced networked economy, professionals must work harder than ever to maintain and improve their business skills and knowledge. But technical mastery of one’s discipline is not enough, assert world-renowned professional advisors David H. Maister, Charles H. Green, and Robert M. Galford. The key to professional success, they argue, is the ability to earn the trust and confidence of clients. To demonstrate the paramount importance of trust, the authors use anecdotes, experiences, and examples — successes and mistakes, their own and others’ — to great effect. The result is an immensely readable book that will be welcomed by the inexperienced advisor and the most seasoned expert alike.

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath, Dan Heath

Amazon Book Description:

Why is it so hard to make lasting changes in our companies, in our communities, and in our own lives?

The primary obstacle is a conflict that’s built into our brains, say Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the critically acclaimed bestseller Made to Stick. Psychologists have discovered that our minds are ruled by two different systems—the rational mind and the emotional mind—that compete for control. The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort—but if it is overcome, change can come quickly.

In Switch, the Heaths show how everyday people—employees and managers, parents and nurses—have united both minds and, as a result, achieved dramatic results:

  • The lowly medical interns who managed to defeat an entrenched, decades-old medical practice that was endangering patients.
  • The home-organizing guru who developed a simple technique for overcoming the dread of housekeeping.
  • The manager who transformed a lackadaisical customer-support team into service zealots by removinga standard tool of customer service

In a compelling, story-driven narrative, the Heaths bring together decades of counterintuitive research in psychology, sociology, and other fields to shed new light on how we can effect transformative change. Switch shows that successful changes follow a pattern, a pattern you can use to make the changes that matter to you, whether your interest is in changing the world or changing your waistline.

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan, Charles Burck

Amazon Book Description:

The book that shows how to get the job done and deliver results . . . whether you’re running an entire company or in your first management job

Larry Bossidy is one of the world’s most acclaimed CEOs, a man with few peers who has a track record for delivering results. Ram Charan is a legendary advisor to senior executives and boards of directors, a man with unparalleled insight into why some companies are successful and others are not. Together they’ve pooled their knowledge and experience into the one book on how to close the gap between results promised and results delivered that people in business need today.

After a long, stellar career with General Electric, Larry Bossidy transformed AlliedSignal into one of the world’s most admired companies and was named CEO of the year in 1998 by Chief Executive magazine. Accomplishments such as 31 consecutive quarters of earnings-per-share growth of 13 percent or more didn’t just happen; they resulted from the consistent practice of the discipline of execution: understanding how to link together people, strategy, and operations, the three core processes of every business.

Leading these processes is the real job of running a business, not formulating a “vision” and leaving the work of carrying it out to others. Bossidy and Charan show the importance of being deeply and passionately engaged in an organization and why robust dialogues about people, strategy, and operations result in a business based on intellectual honesty and realism.

The leader’s most important job—selecting and appraising people—is one that should never be delegated. As a CEO, Larry Bossidy personally makes the calls to check references for key hires. Why? With the right people in the right jobs, there’s a leadership gene pool that conceives and selects strategies that can be executed. People then work together to create a strategy building block by building block, a strategy in sync with the realities of the marketplace, the economy, and the competition. Once the right people and strategy are in place, they are then linked to an operating process that results in the implementation of specific programs and actions and that assigns accountability. This kind of effective operating process goes way beyond the typical budget exercise that looks into a rearview mirror to set its goals. It puts reality behind the numbers and is where the rubber meets the road.

Putting an execution culture in place is hard, but losing it is easy. In July 2001 Larry Bossidy was asked by the board of directors of Honeywell International (it had merged with AlliedSignal) to return and get the company back on track. He’s been putting the ideas he writes about in Execution to work in real time.

The Exceptional Presenter: A Proven Formula to Open Up and Own the Room by Timothy J. Koegel

Amazon Book Description:

THE NEW YORK TIMES AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER

Revised and Expanded Edition

It’s often reported that the number one fear among American adults is public speaking. But in today’s competitive business world, effective communication is a crucial skill, and the cost of being less than effective is quite high. From the White House to boardrooms worldwide, Tim Koegel has strengthened presentations, media relations and communications skills of CEOs and world leaders alike with his renowned coaching abilities. His new book, The Exceptional Presenter, lays out his techniques in a format perfectly suited to today’s busy world.

Say It with Presentations: How to Design and Deliver Successful Business Presentations, Revised & Expanded Edition by Gene Zelazny

Amazon Book Description:

For over 45 years, McKinsey & Company’s Gene Zelazny has been showing McKinsey consultants and professionals around the world how to plan, design, and deliver effective business presentations,and how to improve and expand their repertoire of presentation skills.

Now in this revised and expanded edition of Say It With Presentations, Mr. Zelazny brings together his years of valuable communication experience to show managers, even those with little or no presentation experience,how to prepare winning presentations using his proven methodology and the full range of PowerPoint techniques.

Written in a clear, highly engaging style, this essential business tool covers everything from defining the situation…to developing the right mix of visual aids to interest your audience without overpowering them. Say It With Presentations features a wealth of practical information on:

  • Selecting the best medium:traditional standup presentation, discussion meeting, video conference, or virtual presentation
  • Designing your presentation:knowing what to put in and what to leave out
  • Determining your message:how to make it clear, direct, and appropriate for the intended audience
  • Writing the presentation:crafting the most effective story line, introduction, and ending
  • Making the most of visuals: including computer-driven onscreen presentations with animation, scanned images, sound, video, and links
  • Creating charts, text visuals, and storyboards: to produce the most attractive and convincing presentation
  • Projecting confidence, conviction, and enthusiasm: to hold audience attention and generate interest in your ideas
  • Rehearsing the presentation: to search out imperfections and make the event as compelling as possible
  • Setting up facilities and equipment: to ensure that everything is working smoothly and geared for a first-rate presentation
  • Applying your delivery skills: putting together all the oral, video, and audio effects and delivering them at the right pace
  • Getting used to answering questions: by preparing for and anticipating post-presentation queries from the audience

Filled with scores of helpful illustrations, this wide-ranging sourcebook also explains how to take humor seriously and incorporate it into a presentation…and how to use the “Audience Bill of Rights” to focus clearly on the needs of the audience.

Comprehensive and completely up to date, the new edition of Say It With Presentations contains all the skills-building information, methods, tips, and pointers that business professionals need to win over clients and reap greater financial rewards.

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath, Dan Heath

Amazon Book Description:

Mark Twain once observed, “A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.” His observation rings true: Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus news stories circulate effortlessly. Meanwhile, people with important ideas—entrepreneurs, teachers, politicians, and journalists—struggle to make them “stick.”

In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the human scale principle, using the Velcro Theory of Memory, and creating curiosity gaps. Along the way, we discover that sticky messages of all kinds—from the infamous “kidney theft ring” hoax to a coach’s lessons on sportsmanship to a vision for a new product at Sony—draw their power from the same six traits.

Made to Stick will transform the way you communicate. It’s a fast-paced tour of success stories (and failures): the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who drank a glass of bacteria to prove a point about stomach ulcers; the charities who make use of the Mother Teresa Effect; the elementary-school teacher whose simulation actually prevented racial prejudice.

Provocative, eye-opening, and often surprisingly funny, Made to Stick shows us the vital principles of winning ideas—and tells us how we can apply these rules to making our own messages stick.

Managing The Professional Service Firm by David H.Maister, David Maister

Amazon Book Description:

International expert and consultant David Maister offers a brilliant and accessible guide to every management issue at play in professional firms.

Professional firms differ from other business enterprises in two distinct ways: first, they provide highly customized services and thus cannot apply many of the management principles developed for product-based industries. Second, professional services are highly personalized, involving the skills of individuals. Such firms must therefore compete not only for clients but also for talented professionals.

Drawing on more than ten years of research and consulting to these unique and creative companies, David Maister explores issues ranging from marketing and business development to multinational strategies, human resources policies to profit improvement, strategic planning to effective leadership. While these issues can be complex, Maister simplifies them by recognizing that “every professional service firm in the world, regardless of size, specific profession, or country of operation, has the same mission statement: outstanding service to clients, satisfying careers for its people, and financial success for its owners.”

Are You Really Listening?: Keys to Successful Communication by Paul J. Donoghue, Mary E. Siegel

Amazon Book Description:

Listening is an essential skill worth every effort to learn and to master. Listening takes us out of our tendency toward self-absorption and self-protection. It opens us to the world around us and to the persons who matter most to us. When we listen, we learn, we grow, and we are nourished.

Why do we often feel cut off when speaking to the people closest to us? What is it that keeps so many of us from really listening? Practicing psychotherapists, Donoghue and Siegel answer these questions and more in this thoughtful, witty, and helpful look at the reasons why people don’t listen. Filled with vivid examples that clearly demonstrate easy-to-learn listening techniques, Are You Really Listening? is a guide to the secrets and joys of listening and being listened to.

Microsoft Excel Data Analysis and Business Modeling (5th Edition) by Wayne Winston

Amazon Book Description:

Master business modeling and analysis techniques with Microsoft Excel 2019 and Office 365 and transform data into bottom-line results. Written by award-winning educator Wayne Winston, this hands-on, scenario-focused guide helps you use Excel to ask the right questions and get accurate, actionable answers. New coverage ranges from Power Query/Get & Transform to Office 365 Geography and Stock data types. Practice with more than 800 problems, many based on actual challenges faced by working analysts.

Solve real business problems with Excel—and build your competitive advantage:

  • Quickly transition from Excel basics to sophisticated analytics
  • Use PowerQuery or Get & Transform to connect, combine, and refine data sources
  • Leverage Office 365’s new Geography and Stock data types and six new functions
  •  Illuminate insights from geographic and temporal data with 3D Maps
  • Summarize data with pivot tables, descriptive statistics, histograms, and Pareto charts
  • Use Excel trend curves, multiple regression, and exponential smoothing
  • Delve into key financial, statistical, and time functions
  • Master all of Excel’s great charts
  • Quickly create forecasts from historical time-based data
  • Use Solver to optimize product mix, logistics, work schedules, and investments—and even rate sports teams
  • Run Monte Carlo simulations on stock prices and bidding models
  • Learn about basic probability and Bayes’ Theorem
  • Use the Data Model and Power Pivot to effectively build and use relational data sources inside an Excel workbook
  • Automate repetitive analytics tasks by using macros

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