The best thing I found this month was this lecture by Clayton Christensen at Google. Christensen is known for his work on why large, dominant companies get disrupted by smaller competitors (think Blockbuster vs Netflix), and what incumbents can do to avoid this fate. He wrote a book about this a few years back, called "The Innovator's Dilemma." Although the book can be a bit technical, I think most of you will find his lecture pretty accessible and entertaining.
What I enjoyed most, however, were his comments about "How Will You Measure Your Life?", his other book. Similar to "The Innovator's Dilemma" he picks an area (life) in which the smartest and most talented people can wind up with suboptimal outcomes by focusing on the wrong objectives. I haven't read this book, but I thought his comments on his Harvard class reunions were superb food for thought. This book is high on my reading list.
Finally, if you do much writing (or are just a big reader), I think you'll like Stephen King's "On Writing". I really enjoy his books, so it was fascinating to see how he creates them, as well as how his writing career got started. He has a few good tips on writing, too.
Thanks,
Nicholas Pihl, CFP®
Pihl Financial Planning