45th Reading 2021 - The Green Bundle - Magali Delmas

 This book was a recommendation from my instructor at the course Social Impact Strategies at UCLA Extension. It was not part of the syllabus but still I wanted to read as a complement of the readings in the course and also because it was written by a  faculty from UCLA Anderson School of Management, where I am applying for an MBA. This book is really good. I got it on my iPad from the Apple Books and I read it relatively quick. The book is about how companies are now shifting to a “green focus” because people are more and more picky with their choices. “Consumers are voting with their dollars now” is what she said in the book. People are giving preference and even spending a few more dollars for products are organic or have any type of certification, like carbon footprint, B-corp certificate, etc. With all the access to information, people know who are the suppliers and what they are doing and hhow they work. People don’t want to stimulate businesses that are polluting the environment or cause trouble to the communities in which they opperate. On the opposite, people are preferring products that are doing good to the world and this trend is getting more and more stronger throughout all the classes of customers. 

Title: The Green Bundle

Author: Magali Delmas

Year: 2018

Pages: 288

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Green-Bundle-Pairing-Market-Planet/dp/1503606414

44th Reading 2021 - Social Employee - Cheryl Burgess

 This book was written by one of my instructors at UCLA Extension and it was not even part of the syllabus but I wanted to read because I like reading and liked that professor. This is a very interesting book. Mark Burgess is a TED talker and MBA professor, so he knows things. His courses and books and completely up to date and even a little ahead of their time. In this book, Social Employee, Mark and Cheryl Burgess explain a new concept of management strategy: the social employee. It means that, what your company preaches should be valid for employees as well. Employees should be considered ambassadors of the company. Each company has numerous points of touch with customers by each employee. Each employe has their own networks, they can propagate good things about the company to many more people, that is why they should be prepared for that. Companies that take good care of their employees have more chances to be successful with their customers, because happy employees bring happy customers. Also, thee book is focused on social media, meaning that companies should stimulate employees to be ambassadors on their own social media. This will happen eventually for most of the companies so the authors provide the tools and concepts to make it happen if this is something new to you.

Title: Social Employee

Authors: Cheryl and Mark Burgess

Year: 2013

Pages: 288

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Social-Employee-Great-Companies-Media/dp/0071816410/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1A5I4TN5RXUE3&keywords=the+social+employee+burgess&qid=1640739637&s=books&sprefix=the+social+employee+burg%2Cstripbooks%2C177&sr=1-1

43rd Reading 2021 - Flow - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

I heard a lot of good tings about this book, many recommendations from different sources, so I decided to try to see if this book is really good. First of all, it is a long book, with probably 500 pages, so it takes a while to go through it all. A lot of examples and case studies about people and situations where the “flow” happens. I believe that this topic was studied before many times, the only thing that this author added was the name “flow” to the feeling you have of self-realization when working or doing something you like. Similar to the North Star, I thought that I had read a lot already on the topic so it didn’t;t caught my attention so well. Anyway, I read it on my kindle while I was in Brazil, usually in the Sundays by the poolside. Talking about flow. I heard about this book and the concept of flow when I did a course by the Foundation Estudar on self-awareness and emotional intelligence. Again, it is important to know yourself  well to understand the things that make you happy so you can reach the flow when you are working or playing without ever looking at the clock. “Do what you love and you will never need to work again in your life is what they say”.

Title: Flow

Author: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Year: 2008

Pages: 336

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Perennial-Classics-dp-0061339202/dp/0061339202/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1640735472

42nd Reading 2021 - Finding your North Star

 I think I got this book from some podcast interview of something, probably from some Business School alumnus or something. It is an interesting book about self-awareness and knowing yourself and what makees you happy or sad. I had some courses and I’ve read books on this topic before so this book sounded like I had read it before. It was good though to read the examples of people findinf themselves and changing jobs or ending marriages etc. It is important to really know yourself before making big decisions in your life such as your job or your significant other. Sometims we think that some things are beetter for us when in reality they arre not as good as we thought. Iff you don’t know yourself, you will never be happy because you will always be trying stuff that you think are good for you when they’re not. The process is simple but requires times, so the sooner you start the better. Take some time to reflect on what are your true values, what makes you happy, what type of person you like to be around or what makes you feel good, etc. After writing down everything, you will have more clear what is the path to your North Star.

Title: Finding your own North Star

Author: Martha Beck

Year: 2008

Pages: 367

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019O6IXE/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

41st Reading - Presidents above party

I heard about this book on my GMAT prep questions and I decided to read to practice, also because I was reading another book about American presidents for my Crisis Management class. Anyway, this was a very difficult reading. The level of English is advanced, very technical, like law language and all, talking about the constitution and History of the US. I confess that I skipped several parts of the book and didn’t pay attention to a good part of it. But what I got from the reading is that the main character of the American politics is descendent from the British politics. The idea of having a strong congress and balanced executive power comes from England and their parrlamentaristic system. This book describes the administration of the first four presidents and how they were not bipartisan, how they put the interests of the nation above the parties. The authorr defends the idea that the parties are not a good form of democracy because they conider only limited interests, not the interests of the whole nation. For the GMAT questions, this assumption does not consider that the first presidents were not very attached to the parties and more to the nation because they were the first presidents and the parties were still weak, but it is important to have variety off interests debated in order to have a better democracy, that is why it is important to have multiple parties to deffend the interest of diffferent layers of society.

Title: Presidents above party

Author: Ralph Ketcham

Year: 1987

Pages: 288

Link:  https://www.amazon.com/Presidents-Above-Party-Presidency-University/dp/080784179X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

40th Reading 2021 - Joao Apolinario

 I started watching Shark Tank last year as a recommendation for some business class and I simply got addicted to it and to the idea of having a business one day to become an entrepreneur. This show is really good to inspire you if you want to start a business or be a consultant or something because they talk aout all the aspects of a business in the beginning stages, such as investments, shares, revenues, sales, logistics and these stuff. After I watched the entire show, I founded out that they have a Shark Tank Brazil version so when I went to Brazil I started watching it and Joao Apolinario is the main shark there.

Joao Apolinario is on the top 10 richest people rank in Brazil because of his businesses, including Polishop, a chain of stores and e-commerce  that operates in the market channel business, where people subscribe to buy stuff online and can also sell to other people and make money. Joao Apolinarfio is the richest shark, so he is the one who invests more and more frequently. In his book, he explains what moves him and why he is so successful. Basically, Apolinario is the type who question the status quo and how things can be different, and this is the main strength of his business: innovation. And this is all about, innovation. Entrepreneurs are people who live to innovate and bring new ideas that will create value to people and to the world somehow. Apolinario invests in this idea when he is on the TV on Shark Tank and through his businesses.

Title: Inovar e questionar o que ja existe

Author: Joao Apolinario

Pages: 179

Year: 2019

Link: https://www.amazon.com.br/Inovar-questionar-que-j%C3%A1-existe/dp/6580435283/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

39th Reading - The House that Jack Ma built

I picked  this book from the Coop library. I just saw there on the shelve and I thought it could be interesting to read about the story of the richest man in China. I like biographies and this one could be good on my list because it is also about business and an international leader. It took me some while to start reading it because I had a pile off books to read before on my ipad and kindle so I had to take this book with me to Brazil and read on the plane and there at my grandma’s and mother’s place. Anyway, it was a very surprising story to read because I didn’t know that Jack Ma had started from zero as an English teacher. He started selling his programs online and quickly realized that he could be competing with ebay in China. He basically took advantage of the movement of the world towards ecommerce and made it happen big. 

Title: The House that Jack Ma built

Author: Duncan Clark

Year: 2016

Pages: 304

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0124PP3AA/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

38th Reading 2021 - Richard Branson - Losing my Virginity

 Another biography for the 2021 list, now about Richard Branson. I always admired Richard Branson for his leadership and his accomplishments. Also, I like him because of his history involving music industry. He started with a college campus magazine, he had a record store, and ended up with a production company called Virgin, which became the Virgin Group, and giant holding several companies from entertainment, to travel, passign through beverage and even insurance. Richard Branson was a millionaire before 30. By the age of 28 he already had an Island in the Caribbean region. What impresses me most about Richard Branson is his irreverence. He is the type of guy who doesn’t follow the rules of establishment and he is constantly questioning the status quo. He even overcame many world records himself, such as ballooning and sailing around the world. This is what makes him so successful. He questions the status quo without fear and does not measure efforts and actions to make things happens. He just recently went out on space with his crew to show that it is possible. Moreover, he is a great leader to his team, he always puts people before himself, his companies are all on te top rank as the best companies to work for.

Title: Richard Branson -Losing my Virginity

Author: Richard Branson

Year: 2011

Pages: 624

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Losing-My-Virginity-Survived-Business/dp/0307720748/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=Cj0KCQiA5aWOBhDMARIsAIXLlkc0WtZOF_PvlF8nUY5E8h4RKD0u-pBp5BQAkvturgV_nmYIDMbrNwEaAn85EALw_wcB&hvadid=241646017676&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=9061122&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=7797455629868356452&hvtargid=kwd-1121988196&hydadcr=22596_10356298&keywords=richard+branson+losing+my+virginity&qid=1640665180&sr=8-1

37th Reading 2021 - Power Talk

This book was a reference from GMAT questions, so I had to read to practice for the test, which was good because it is a good book. It talks about communications from the center and from the corners, and how it is important to know how to adjust to each type of communications depending on the context. For example, some times it is better to communicate from the center with authority and directions when you are in a context that requires fast decisions that impact on many people, on the other hand, other times it is important to have communication from the corners, by listening and absorbing ideas from your team to work together and deliver results. I recommend this book for people interested in improving business communications and leadership because it shows how to use communications to be a good leader.

Title: Power Talk

Author: Sarah Mayers McGinty

Year: 2001

Pages: 224

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Talk-Language-Authority-Influence-ebook/dp/B000FA5SHU

36th Reading - Questions that work

 This is another book from the readings list of the course Sales Management Strategies at UCLA Extension and it was funny because I mistakenly purchased two copies by mistake and I had to donate one to the University Cooperative Housing Association Library. Anyway, it was a good reading. This is more like a guide about what questions to ask in determined situations such as, a job interview, starting a new job, hiring someone, asking for a raise, giving feedback, etc. There is literally a list of sample questions ot use in these situations. It was a good reading because I learned that it is more important to listen and ask good questions instead of talking about yourself all the time. It helped i practice for job interviews and for group work. I am the type of person who likes to talk a lot about myself, but now I am learning that you look more interesting and funny when you demonstrate that to people, when you make people think they are funny and interesting you will look funny and interesting yourself and the way to do that is by asking good questions.

Title: Questions that work

Author: Andrew Finlayson

Year: 2001

Pages: 304

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000S1L46K/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

35th Reading 2021 - The Fifth Discipline - Peter M. Senge

 This book is probably the sequel o the previous book I wrote here before The Four Disciplines of Execution bringing the Fifth Discipline which is basically knowledge management. Nothing matters if you are not registering everything that is developed and trained in the recordings to be taught and passed on to the next people who take over. It is very important to have knowledge management not to waste time reiventing the wheel or leaving good practices fade away when good people leave the company. So after going through the four disciplines of focus, metrics, recordings and accountability, it is important to manage the knowledge to keep everything on paper to be taught to the next people.

Title: The Fifth Discipline

Author: Peter M. Senge

Year: 1990

Pages: 432

Link: https://www.amazon.com/The-Fifth-Discipline-audiobook/dp/B0000640E9/ref=sr_1_2?gclid=Cj0KCQiA5aWOBhDMARIsAIXLlkdZyVuQ8Pu2vRFMogOnXwX7x26fSQpHElY5HcjzpD9o35R8SUdot8IaAoAdEALw_wcB&keywords=the+fifth+discipline+by+peter+senge&qid=1640662856&sr=8-2

34th Reading 2021 - The Four Disciplines of Execution

 This book was referenced by a guest speaker in my class Leadership Communications Strategies and it is very interesting if you need guidance to set goals and plan to execute for results,  especially if you are starting from zero. It presents the four disciplines of executions that are Focus, Lead Measures, Keep Records and Accountability. These are the basic factors to start a business or establish a department or a specific function in a company. In this book he explains how to focus on your strengths and where you want to go and then picking the best metrics to guide your products to lead to the results you want to get. Furthermore, keeping records and using the data to analyst the behavior of the business and to have accountability for the commitments.

Title: The Four Disciplines of Executions

Author: Chris McChesney

Year: 2021

Pages: 316

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Disciplines-Execution-Revised-Achieving-Important/dp/B08PVYH5CG/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=Cj0KCQiA5aWOBhDMARIsAIXLlkdZRX_8bEw0QR8VTf6Kyo2jIlQq8eMG1NwSb9fvVmIz5YWLlNknoSoaAiGZEALw_wcB&hvadid=241647842045&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=9061122&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=7644906293946079651&hvtargid=kwd-37839978186&hydadcr=22592_10356144&keywords=4+disciplines+of+execution+book&qid=1640661300&sr=8-1

33rd Reading 2021 - Minha vida na America - Beatriz Hoffman

 This was probably the best book I read this year and not because it is by a Brazilian author but because it is a very inspiring story that reminds of my own story. It is about pursuing your dreams no matter what you need to do to achieve them. It is about immigrating to another country without money and without anything, barely knowing the lanaguge. It is about having to leave a comfortablee life in house and in your work to live in a complete different place with different culture and costumes. It is about having to work your soul out to make things happen, from baby sitting to clapping in the theater. Beatriz is a warrior and she puts her stories on paper in a way that catches and makes you want to keep reading to know what is next. And she is not done yet, after all these years of hard work, she is finally about to get her green card to consolidate her dream of living in the United States.

Title: Minha Vida na America

Author: Beatriz Hoffman

Pages: 176

Year: 2021

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Minha-vida-na-Am%C3%A9rica-Portuguese-ebook/dp/B095V3KPKW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=184N7A1X70GN6&keywords=minha+vida+na+america&qid=1640628919&s=digital-text&sprefix=minha+vida+na+maerica%2Cdigital-text%2C123&sr=1-1

32nd Reading 2021 - Crazy is a compliment -

I heard about this book before but I only stoped to search for it and read it when I listened to the author’s interview on the podcast Masters of Scale. Linda Rotteberg is the founder of Endeavor, a non-profit organization that helps entrepreneurs launch their businesses by connecting them to their network, offering investments, courses, coaching, etc. I like Endeavor because it is strong in Brazil. Thy started in Argentina and there are many stories of success of entrepreneurs who started with endeavor and now they are very sucessful . The book is about how she made it happen from convincing investors in South America to expanding to the Middle East, Asia and Africa. I recommend for anyone interested in entrepreneurship.

Title: Crazy is a compliment: The power of zigging when everyone else zag

Author: Linda Rottenberg

Year: 2014

Pages: 274

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Crazy-Compliment-Power-Zigging-Everyone-ebook/dp/B00INIXTGI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=CJ8KN1ROVLZV&keywords=crazy+is+a+compliment&qid=1640625279&s=digital-text&sprefix=crazy+is+a+compliment%2Cdigital-text%2C139&sr=1-1

31st Reading 2021 - Why Some Companies Emerge Stronger After a Crisis

This book is another title from the curriculum of my class in the course Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution and we also had to analyze the book and discuss with the group and write a paper about it so it was good to assimilate the concepts in the book and how they can be applied to reality. It is interesting because the book is from 2008 but the concepts also work for the crisis from today. The book presents a guide of things that you and your company can do to adapt after a crisis to emerge stronger and better. Many companies embrace crisis as an opportunity to grow and innovate. Companies that do not adapt in the crisis may fail and succumb, that is why it is important to be prepared when the crisis hit again.

Title: Why Some companies emerge stronger and better from crisis

 Author: Ian I. Mitroff 

Year: 2008

Pages: 265

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IN12BRI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

30th Reading 2021 - Five Dysfunctions of a Team

 This book is another one from the list in the curriculum of the course Organizational Methods, Theories and Practices, and it is basically an HR book to manage teams. It is a little story about a new CEO who needs to redefine the directions of a company from the strategical point of view starting with the organizational culture to the practices and next steps to be taken to put the company on track again. She starts with a retreat for the leadership and people realize they must work more together, others realize that that company is not for them anymore. The association with any company, organizations, groups or teams is inevitable and is intended to use the tools that can prevent and fix conflicts in groups to facilitate team work. We could again learn, analyze and practice the tools from the book in our group projects, and it was very interesting again to see how the problems in te grop in the book were almost the same we had in our grou and how those tools worked for out group as well. I recommend or people studying businesses, supervisors. HR heads, etc.

Title: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Author: Patrick Lencioni

Year: 2002

Pages: 229

Links: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006960LQW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

29th Reading 2021 - Team Building

 This is another book from my course Organizations Theories and Methods at UCLA Extension and I had to read it to apply my final group project. The trick is that we had to use the group work theories in the book to our group work. It was very interesting to see how the techniques in the book can easily be applied to the reality. After reading the book and having meetings with the group and talking and spliting tasks and responsibilities I could clearly see some of the problems appear in our group that were represented in the book. I recommend the reading, it’s quick and easy and very practical, especilly if you work with HR or teams.

Title: Team Building 

Author: W. Gibb Dyer Jr.

Year: 304

Pages: 2013

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Team-Building-Strategies-Improving-Performance/dp/1118105133/ref=asc_df_1118105133/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312006100296&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5821696414808094545&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031038&hvtargid=pla-395333670464&psc=1

28th Reading 2021 - Leadership in Turbulent Times

 This is another book from the curriculum of the course Crisis Management and conflict Resolution at UCLA Extension. This one is an extensive book about specific presidents administration in the United States and how and why they were successful. I remember that they were Abarhan Lincoln, Franklyn D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt and Lincoln Johnson. Each chapter a different group of students had to prepare a work and presentation for the class, so it was heavy on reading and preparing a presentation with the group at the time when I was studying for GMAT in the Summer. This course was very heavy in reading, writing, assignments, cases, presentations, discussions and activities, but by the end of the course you feel really ready to apply the skills from the course at work.

Title: Leadership in turbulent times

Author: Doris Ken Goodwin

Year:  2019

Pages: 676

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079RLPFG7/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

27th Reading 2021 - Your Personal Renascence - Diana Dreher

Following the “Diane Dreher” sequence, the third one and latest is “Your Personal Renascence”, an intense self-help book with a guide to slow down, chill out, relax and have more focus and productivity in your life by finding yourself and where is your place in this world. I like this author because she is UCLA alumni and teaches at UC Santa Barbara. She also is a coach and teachs coaches and has a website and a blog where you can follow her work and even work closer with her to achieve your personal renascence.

Title: Your Personal Renascence

Author: Diane Dreher

Year: 292

Pages: 2009

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XN5X8F1/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

26th Reading 2021 - Neil Patrick Harris Biography

 I don’t know why I picked this book to listen, I think I was watching how I met you mother and I had to pick a title quick because I was about to hit the road and I needed a long audiobook for the road, so I browsed this one and I got Neil Patrick Harris’ biography. The thing with this book is that it’s one of those where you chose the continuation of the story, so for me with the audiobook driving it was not very convenient, because I had to listen to all the ends and possibilities, so it got a little boring after some point. I was driving from Goiania to Brasilia to take the GMAT, and I wanted to practice my english listneing skills, but eventually I got to listen to some GMAT podcasts and it was better for me, because it got me ready to go for the test day after a long journey of studies. The interesting thing about this book for me was that judging Neil Patrick Harris by his character on How I met your mother you get the complete wrong picture of who he really is, starting for the fact that he is gay and had a long story of representing his group and coming out and speaking up to the world. He is a really good actor, very talented, I admire him and his story.

Title: Neil Patrick Harris Biography

Author: Neil Patrick Harris

Year: 2014

Page: 384

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Neil-Patrick-Harris-Choose-Autobiography-ebook/dp/B00JTCDAWA/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1640567383&sr=8-1

25th Reading 2021 - STO Financial Revolution - Alex Nascimento

 I got this book from the link on the UCLA Anderson website with all the books published by the Anderson community, faculty, alumni students and staff. I this one caught my eye because of the name of the author: Alex Nascimento, a portuguese name, meaning that I though he was Brazilian and he is. I didn’t know that there was Brazilian professors at UCLA Anderson, and on such a complex topic, so I got a little proud and I wanted to read the book despeite I knew nothing about the topic.

I turned out that I didn’t know anything at all about blockchain, but with this book I was able to open my mind at least a little bit for the concepts of blockchain. Prof. Nascimento starts the b ook with a very simple, direct and didaditc form of explanation about blockchain for anyone of any level of knowledge to understand. Now I realize that blockchain is like a form of financial accounting, a subject that is complex by itself, so blockchain just enter as part of the complexity.

Title: STO Financial Revolution

Author:Alex Nascimento

Year: 2019

Pages: 190

Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083BF9BNX/ref=dbs_a_def_awm_bibl_vppi_i0

24th Reading - East LA History

 I think I got the suggestion for this book from another book or from GMAT questions. It is based on a university research, so the language is a little dense and it was a lot of data, numbers, dates, names of historical figures and everything. It was very interesting to learn a little bit more about L.A. history, how the city came to be from the Mexican colonization to the gold-rush after the American conquest. The book focuses on the inequalities and discriminations faced by Mexicans throughout L.A.’s History. I recommend if you are interested in the topic, it requires some time and concentration to go through the dense reading. 

Title: East LA

Author: Richardo Romo

Year: 1983

Pages: 232

Year: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IJLK4ZI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

23rd Reading 2021 - You’re it

 I read this book as part of the curriculum for the course Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution at UCLA Extension and they release a new version of the book right at the middle of the pandemic, so it suited perfectly well. “You;re it” talks about meta-leadership, which is a concept in which you develop your leadership as you practice it, especially in times of crisis, when you need to be close to people ad lead across your organization and use the “walk in the woods” to neutralize the  “basement” feelings to think clearly before taking decisions in a timely manners as a crisis requires. 

I had to read this book basically twice, once before the class started and again duuring the class for the discussions with the other students and group project. It was a really good course as I mentioned before It is very important for big leaders to be prepared to lead on crisis mode at any time, for this reason it is important to take these courses and read these books, because you never know when they crisis will hit, so you better be prepared.

Title: You’re it

Authors: Leonard J. Marcus, Eric J. McNulty, Joseph M. Henderson, Barry C. Dorn

Year: 2019

Pages: 304

Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J4NLW23/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

22nd Reading 2021 - The Wow Factory

I got this book from the list of readings for a course at UCLA Extension, Sales Management Strategies, it was a large list of about fifty books, old school sales books, and you know what, sales is sales, even with the advance in technology, sales techniques always depend a lot in soft skills and people skills and communications. This book is from 1995 and purely for marketing and advertising. It is from the era before the internet boom, it is from the TV, radio print era, before video streaming and all, it’s paper and pencil for advertisiment agencies in the late 90’s so it is even a little boring. But I read it to the end because it was interesting to compare what it is today and what it was in the past. Especially because they even have some future projections and forecasts, for things that would substituute CD’s, like a CD rental subscription, or virtual rental something, clearly not knowing what was about to come with Youtube and Spotify.

Title: The Wow Factory

Author: Paul Levesque

Year: 1995

Pages: 172

Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786303867/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

21st Reading 2021 - Consequential Communication - Diana Peterson

 This book is a practical guide for communication in times of crisis and appeared for me as a glove in tims of pandemic and remote work. This book was part of the curriculum of the course Crisis and Conflict Management for the certificate program in General Business at UCLA Extension. The big plus of this course despite all the learnings, activities, interactions, content and an incredible instructor (Dr. Sarah Ohr) , we had the chance to have lecturers with special guests such as the author of this book, Diana Peterson.

https://www.uclaextension.edu/business-management/leadership-management/course/crisis-leadership-and-conflict-resolution-mgmt-x

It was amazing to hear directly from the author the strategis for good communication in times of crisis, iot was like talking the person who knew all of that by heart on the tip of her tongue. I learned a lot and I hope to have this chance again. I really enjoy reading the books by the professors and instructors, it is a great opportunity to exchange ideas directly with the author as we will see in a couple of other books in this year.

Title: Consequential Communication in turbulent times

Author: Diana Peterson

Year: 219 

Pages: 116

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Consequential-Communication-Turbulent-Times-Leadership/dp/1733614605/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3UPQ6Y2AXL9PS&keywords=consequential+communication&qid=1640561392&s=books&sprefix=consequential+communcation%2Cstripbooks%2C122&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzTUVYWElXNEdLMzE5JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMTY3MzA1VEhIQktOV1ZXUUNIJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA2ODkwMzkySTY2Ujk5N1RSRVA3JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

20th Reading 2021 - Household Gold

 I had to read this book because I took part in a recruiting process to Amway to be a representative. It turned out that Amway operates in those pyramid scams where you must buy a minimum amount of products yourself and convince a minimum number of people to buy too so you can get discounts. Fortunately, I jumped out of it as soon as possible, because I am sure that would take my time and my money. It was an opportunity from someone on LinkedIn, but it was not the first time. Interestingly, I had to listen to some podcasts, join some webinars and read this book. 

This book is about extracting an income for part of your expenses, meaning that you can have an income on stuff you buy for yourself and your home by buying in bulk and selling with a margin to your neighbors, that is why it’s “Household Gold”. I think this business makes some sense, I head about a few people who got really successful, and Amway actually is a public billion valued company. But not for me.

Author: Dr. Steve Price

Title: Household Gold

Year: 2005

Pages: 107

Links: https://www.amazon.com/Household-Gold-Convert-Expenses-Income/dp/1891279130/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1BQB1C5NSJWN5&keywords=household+gold&qid=1640560913&s=books&sprefix=household+gold%2Cstripbooks%2C126&sr=1-1

19th Reading - On Fraternity and Friendship - Pope Francis

 I like to read books written by popes or saints or about them, first, of course, because of my religion and second because I admire them for being humans but still so connected closely to heaven. They were sinners like us, but through prayer and dedication to a pure life, they became saints. In this book, Pope Francis addresses the world community from the perspective of the good Samaritan, and all the victims of the major problems in the world today, including COVID, wars, religion discrimination and health issues, as problems in which we are all involved somehow, and they happen as a consequence of the lack of love in the world. This book is a reading similar to a biblical reading, it is good to read early in the morning before anything else, reflecting, absorbing and thanking God for his gifts and for His words.

Title: On Fraternity and Social Friendship

Author: Pope Francis

Year: 2021

Pages: 144

Links: https://www.amazon.com/Fraternity-Social-Friendship-Fratelli-Tutti/dp/1601376782/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=TI3GP9GASWL5&keywords=pope+francis+fraternity&qid=1640559847&s=books&sprefix=pope+francis+fraternity%2Cstripbooks%2C111&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFaSUFaOExYN1QxQU0mZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA0NDQ2NTYyQjRHNjZQN09WN1g5JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAwMTQ5NjMxRTE4MDZMTTdLRzFKJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

18th Reading 2021 - Dave Mustaine

 This book was released in 2020, so it means that it was written in 2019 or before, meaning, pre-pandemic, another world, even for the own Megadeth story. Things happened after that already. But that’s a good thing actually about bands books, they can always write more books because there are always new stories and new perspectives and points of views, depending on the context, for the band, and for the world. Just look and many famous bands like Beatles, or Pink Floyd, many of the original members are dead and they are still writing about them. This is probable the third book I read about Megadeth. The others were the biographies of the member, Dave Mustaine and David Elefson. 

I like biographies, it’s one of my favorite types of books. for a while I would only read biographies. I had a full shelf of biography books, from Amy Winehouse to Zeppelin. I grow up reading these rock start stories. I think this was one big influencer in my imaginay of Hollywood and Los Angeles, and one important factor when I decided to move to the U.S. Especially Megadeth. MEGADETH is one of my favorite metak bands, and their story influenced my own story. I even have tattoos and pictures with the band members. This book is like a collection of writings from band and family members, like journals and diaries written by different people. The reading is not very fluid, because it brakes down to a different character and a different point of view of the story. I think they wanted to have a book in celebration of the 30 years of Rust in Peace album, but it was not their best work honestly. But still it was intesting to read the perspective of the other members.

Title: Rust in Peace

Author: Dave Mustaine

Year: 2020

Pages: 208

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Peace-Inside-Megadeth-Masterpiece/dp/0306846020/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1PMN1TU1NX0RF&keywords=dave+mustaine&qid=1640558865&s=books&sprefix=dave+mustaine%2Cstripbooks%2C135&sr=1-2

17th Reading 2021 - Rock your Business - David Fishof

 This book was actually the first book I read this year. I bought it on amazon because I watched the author in one of the pitches at Shark Tank. I don’t remember exactly what he was offering on Shark Tank, probably his business of having workshops for executives with rock starts. I learned mored about the business after reading the book. In the book, David Fishof describes how he started his business after putting together his two passions, rock concerts and business. He worked as agent, manager and producer in the music industry and he worked for an ad agency for a while. When he realized he had a good idea in hands he didn’t waste time and started his business with the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp, a three day retreat for executives with rockstars, with lecturers and jams! Very interesting. I want to go one day of one of these seminars with the rockstars! \,,/

Title: Rock your business

Author: David Fishof

Year: 2013

Pages: 283

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Your-Business-Company-Learn/dp/B00BCHDVR4/ref=sr_1_6?crid=RQC76OCC138N&keywords=rock+your+business&qid=1640558375&sprefix=rock+your+business%2Caps%2C130&sr=8-6

16th Reading 2021 - The Tao of Inner Peace - Diane Dreher

 The Tao of Inner Peace is one of the first book by Dianna Dreher. I read it after I read “The Tao of Leadership” that I posted here before. Dianna Dreher has UCLA background and is a teacher at UCSB, so that is why I wanted to read her books. It was very interesting to read how se built this “self-help” book based on tthe “Tao”, which is like an asian philosofy, and it helped me to focus and clarify my path. I am usually very busy and I like to say yes for everything and hug the world like we say, but sometimes it is not possible because I am a singlee individual with 24 hours a day as everyone else. So reading this book helped me think through my problems of trying to fit one thousands activities in a rushed schedule. 

Title: The Tao of Inner Peace

Author: Diane Dreher

Year: 200

Pages: 336

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Inner-Peace-Diane-Dreher/dp/0452281997/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=Cj0KCQiAwqCOBhCdARIsAEPyW9lZdkrjk0nIh-Qq2DRe8Xmt9cCWmHa1a9kLmdrq8JWSP3fyFA2pifcaAifiEALw_wcB&keywords=the+tao+of+inner+peace&qid=1640557894&sr=8-1