President Obama is leaving for vacation, and the white house released a list of the books he checked out to take with him. Here’s his summer reading list:

The Way Home by George Pelecanos
Lush Life by Richard Price
Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Tom Friedman
John Adams by David McCullough
Plainsong by Kent Haruf

Obviously, having the president pick up your book is a major publicity boost. I’m sure that these publishers are jumping up and down with excitement.
Now, I’m guessing that Obama doesn’t get a ton of time to read, which is unfortunate. Hell, I barely have time for pleasure reading, and my job …read more

I read the summer reading guide for IT pros on CIO Insight. It reminded me of the days I worked for AT&T Solutions, an “insightful” consulting firm within AT&T that picked “futurizing” as it’s mantra. We couldn’t get out of the starting blocks because of all the “ideating” that was going on. We read ALL the books but they were about as bad, in terms of practical action, as the organization I was a part of.
One book CIO Insight missed, which has completely changed my thinking about the highest impact actions a company can take, is Advanced Project Portfolio Management …read more