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The Maverick Mindset
Fear is a powerful emotion. It can stop you dead in your tracks;it can keep your entrepreneurial dreams forever shelved. Forcingyourself down the path of most resistance, on the other hand, isthe act of a truly courageous person. Or, to use authors Doug Halland David Wecker's lexicon, mastering one's fear is theattainment of the maverick mindset.
"The Maverick Mindset is the highest order ofcourage," write Hall and Wecker in The Maverick Mindset:Finding the Courage to Journey From Fear to Freedom (Simon& Schuster, $22 cloth). "It's having the courage tolive free from conformity and the grit to stand alone."
Although entrepreneurs aren't famous for conformity,don't assume Hall and Wecker have nothing to teach you. Thepath of most resistance is, after all, best walked prepared.
Being Direct
As a direct marketing pioneer, Lester Wunderman has pushed theenvelope of advertising. Not only was he the brains behind theColumbia Record Club, but Wunderman has also engineered themarketing efforts of top-name magazines, credit cards andautomobiles. Even if you don't recognize his name, you surelyknow his work.
Which is one reason to read Being Direct: Making AdvertisingPay (Random House, $25 cloth). As the title suggests, BeingDirect is filled with insights from the man who is described asthe Bill Gates of his industry.
"I am not sure whether I discovered direct marketing or itdiscovered me. I found its components one by one during a lifetimeof trial and error," Wunderman explains. "And onlyrecently did I realize that there was a pattern to successfuldirect marketing--19 things all successful direct-marketingcompanies know. Those that fail or fall short of realizing theirfull potential neglect one or more of these fundamentalrules."
Clearly, Wunderman knows a thing or two about potentialfulfilled. From his shaky beginnings as the founder of his ownadvertising agency--complete with a first client whose life wasliterally saved by Wunderman--to his shaping of an entire industry,this direct-mail wizard has scaled the heights of accomplishment.In a sense, you could say Being Direct is the view from thetop.
The Tao Of Personal Leadership
West meets East in Diane Dreher's intriguing The Tao ofPersonal Leadership (HarperBusiness, $13 paper). Yes, the titlealone may raise your skepticism barometer a few degrees--but TheTao of Personal Leadership is genuinely rewarding.
"In contrast to modern books on leadership that focus onpower plays, one-minute solutions, clever strategies and gameplans, the Tao Te Ching affirms personal leadership,the enduring power of character," writes Dreher of the2,000-year-old Chinese classic in which sage Lao-tzu illuminatedthe Taoist philosophy of life.
And, truly, character is what lies at the heart of this book."Becoming a Tao leader means daring to take risks,"Dreher asserts. "It means making mistakes and then returningto the music. It is the courage to live with integrity, to behonest, to live what we believe--in the dozens of small choices wemake every day."
As you might imagine, Dreher quotes liberally from the Tao TeChing throughout The Tao of Personal Leadership. As youmight not imagine, the quotes themselves are fairly easy tounderstand and infinitely relevant to modern-day leadership.
Entrepreneur's Bookshelf
In The Morningstar Approach to Investing: Wiring Into theMutual Fund Revolution (Warner Books, $24 cloth), Andrew Leckeyreveals how Morningstar separates Wall Street's winners fromthe losers, and shares secrets you can use to improve your ownportfolio.
