Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life

The new book The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work and Team with Positive Energy by Jon Gordon joins a long list of books that provides a road map to achieve success.

What sets the book apart and makes it interesting is its use of a business fable approach. The main character, George, is experiencing troubles in his personal and business life. To make matters worse, his car broke down. He was forced to commute and ride the bus. And the characters he met in the bus from the driver to other passengers showed him the techniques to cultivate positive energy he needs to steer his life to success.

The author calls his techniques "The Energy Bus Action Plan" and these are:

1. Create your vision: develop a vision for where you want your bus to go
2. Fuel your vision with purpose: associate your vision with bigger and larger purpose
3. Write down your vision/purpose statement
4. Focus on your vision: even visualize your vision
5. Zoom focus: write the action steps you need to achieve your vision
6. Get on the bus: identify who else can help you implement your action plans
7. Fuel the ride with positive energy and enthusiasm: cultivate a culture of positive energy
8. Post a sign that says "No energy vampires allowed": take out of the bus those who creates negative energy around you
9. Navigate adversity and potholes: there will be challenges and you need to be prepared to overcome them
10. Love your passengers: as you drive towards your vision and purpose, bring out the best in your employees and partners
11. Have fun and enjoy the ride: every journey should be fun

Business Book: Know-How - The 8 Skills that Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Won't

To succeed in business, you need intelligence, vision and the ability to communicate. But according to Ram Charan in his new book "Know-How: The 8 Skills that Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Won't" there is another element that is critical to succeed in business: the know-how of running a business.

There are some people who may talk well and appear to possess great leadership skills -- but in reality, are nothing more but rhetoric and hot air. These are the people who dream big but always ends with nothing. A successful entrepreneur needs "the capacity to take it in the right direction, do the right things, make the right decisions, deliver the results, and leave the people and the business better off than they were before."

So what are the eight know-hows every business person must have to succeed? Here is the author's list:

1. Positioning and Repositioning. Getting into the right business that meets customer demands and that makes money.
2. Pinpointing extrenla change. Understanding what is happening in the business environment and competition to put the business on the defensive.
3. Leading the social system. Getting the right people with the right behaviors and right information working together for the business.
4. Judging people. Hiring the right people to do the job.
5. Molding a team. Getting all these talented individuals to work seamlessly together, never mind the egos
6. Setting goals. Determining the goals that the business can realistically achieve
7. Setting laser-sharp priorities. Defining the path and making sure all the resources, actions and energies are allocated to reach the priorities
8. Dealing with forces beyond the market. Knowing how to anticipate and respond to the market particularly to events and pressures you don't have control over but may affect the business