CFO Bookshelf Blog

During this episode, I was interviewed by football college standout, Shaefer Schuetz. In this show, I list my five favorite books of the 60 that I read or listened to during the first half of 2021. I also mention seven honorable mentions and explain why they make the cut too. We also talk about rereading books, book selections, making time to read, and reading beyond business and management books. If you need some reading ideas, this is the episode to listen to.

From serving a term as a Missouri Senator, he went on to serve one year and a day at a federal correctional institution in Clay County, Kentucky, a county once named the unhealthiest in the country. I first heard Jeff Smith in a radio interview with Mark Reardon on KMOX in 2015. The book they were talking about was Mr. Smith Goes to Prison. I wound up purchasing the book and read it in nearly one sitting. In this conversation, we talk about this book, and the docuseries, College Behind Bars.

Before taking the position as the IRS Commissioner, a reporter asked Charles Rossotti, “Were you ever in the military, and if you were, did you volunteer for a suicide mission?” Before running the IRS from 1997 to 2002, Rossotti was the co-founder, former chairman, and CEO of American Management Systems, Inc. He’s also the author of the book, Many Unhappy Returns. In this episode, we look at what Charles did to help turn around that beleaguered agency.

Forbes magazine has called him the grandfather of gamification. He’s also the best-selling author of The Game of Work and has scored other winners with Scorekeeping for Success, and Managing the Obvious. Behind his back, I’m calling Chuck Coonradt the owner, general manager, and MVP head coach of The Game of Work who should have his own wing in the Consultant’s Hall of Fame. In this memorable conversation, we learn also The Game of Work is for parents too.

One of my favorite business books doubles up as a leadership manual on getting a large, but failing business to pull together until success finally arrives, but not without hardship and economic headwinds. Alan Mulally, the former CEO of Ford, might still be a relatively unknown business icon had Bryce Hoffman not written about him in his best-selling book, American Icon. Bryce is also the author of Red Teaming.

The most downloaded show on CFO Bookshelf is our 2020 interview view Ben Lamorte on OKRs. It was Ben who introduced me to Christina Wodtke’s work on OKRs years ago which included her great presentation entitled, Executioner’s Tale and her book Radical Focus. Christina recently released the 2nd edition of Radical Focus, our topic on this episode of CFO Bookshelf.

In 2004, I first encountered the name, Ron Baker. I have Gary Boomer to thank for that at an event held in Kansas City for CPA practices. He recommended the book, The Firm of the Future. I couldn’t put it down while vacationing in North Carolina. While I consider Ron the (very young) grandfather of value pricing for CPA and professional services firms, many acolytes are sharing his message with zeal and effectiveness. One such person is Geraldine Carter.

Once I started getting the general idea of Wardley Mapping, I still wanted to learn more. And that’s when I kept bumping into the great teaching of Ben Mosier who runs Learn Wardley Mapping (LWM) as well as his YouTube videos at ben at hiredthought. Behind his back, I’m calling him the Ryan Holiday or Shane Parrish of Wardley Mapping.