We at Team Nimbus read a lot, partly so you don’t have to.  I was in the bookstore the other day and was struck by a cluster of titles that had numbers in them…the Five this and the Seven that, as though all business wisdom could be boiled down to a few sentences. (You know we don’t believe that!)  Nevertheless, I’ve challenged myself to find the best of the “numbered” guides to good business.  Here’s the first set:

0.”The piece your business is missing, or the end of the zero-sum game”, by Art Radtke, Small Business Insight, April 2009.

I couldn’t resist starting with zero, since ‘the end of the zero-sum game’ is a fundamental principal of Team Nimbus.  If you missed this article, call Team Nimbus for a copy.  It’s a classic. The message:  When we are solving the puzzle of business, each person with a piece of the puzzle is 100% responsible for the solution.

For another perspective on Zero:  Work and Life:  The End of The Zero-Sum Game, by Friedman, Christiansen and deGroot, HBR On-Point #4452, hbr.org.  In this article from the Harvard Business Review, the authors illustrate three principles of work-life balance.  They apply both to large and small businesses, and I suggest, to the way you treat yourself as a business owner.  The principles: Clarify what’s important. Recognize and support the whole person.  Experiment with the way work gets done in your organization.

1.  The Ultimate Question, by Fred Reichheld, 2006.  OK, it’s not a number, but ultimate means One, doesn’t it?  Reicheld boils a big customer research project down to one crucial question:  On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to refer business to us?  If the answer if not 8,9 or 10, you’ve got work to do!

2.  The Second Commandment, aka the Golden Rule, the Bible, and sages from other cultures.  No one seems to have wanted to title their book “The Two or the Second” anything—maybe because of this bedrock wisdom.

3.  The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, by Patrick Lencioni (2009).  They are irrelevancy, anonymity, and “immeasurance”, meaning no concrete measure of your success or progress towards it.  Who cares, who are you, and what have you done for me lately?  If you made your own job as a business owner, or have people working for you, does your workplace show any of these signs? Have you created miserable jobs?

4.  The Power of Four:  Lessons from Lakota Leaders, by Joseph M. Marshall IV, 2009.  Crazy Horse taught, “Know yourself, know your friends, know the enemy, lead the way.”  Easier said than done, but worthy goals.

5.  The Fifth Discipline, by Peter M. Senge. 1990.  The learning organization has become a classic concept in organizational development.  What do you need to learn next in order to meet your waypoints and improve your business? Do you have learning targets in your course to success?

There are more in the list for another time, and, if you know of a good book with a numerical title, please send it along.  This is a fun project, and it’s a non-zero-sum game.  Lpruden@teamnimbusnj.com, 908-359-4787.