How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less
by Milo O. Frank
(Washington Square Press, 1991)
This "incredible find" book was written by a Hollywood agent who knew what to say -- and how to say it -- to close a deal. People babble in interviews because they don't know how to make their point. This book can change that.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
by Robert B. Cialdini
(Quill, 1993)
My mentor gave me this book years ago, and I've passed it along to many friends and clients. You can't get hired or succeed at work unless you understand the parameters of influence in our society. This is the cookbook for human relations.
The Enlightened Mind: An Anthology of Sacred Prose
edited by Stephen Mitchell
(HarperPerennial, 1993)
You might know business and work, but if you don't pause now and then to know yourself and life, you will never develop the ideas and perspective that lead to big success. When I'm at a loss for ideas, I turn to this history of spiritual readings -- from the Upanishads (8000 BC) through Shunryu Suzuki -- to find new ones.
A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative
by Roger Von Oech
(Warner Books, 1998)
This revised classic still sets heads spinning. Out of the spinning comes great ideas that will make companies want to hire you.
A veteran headhunter with more than 20 years experience, Nick Corcodilos is president and host of Ask the Headhunter and president of the North Bridge Group Inc.
Consultant to free agents
Rossheim.com
For many free agents, 2001 means you've got nothing left to lose. So beg, borrow, or buy a used copy of one of these books for information, inspiration, or just plain diversion.
Consulting for Dummies
by Bob Nelson and Peter Economy
(Hungry Minds Inc., 1997)
Get back to basics with this ultimate compendium of checklists for the self-employed. Sure it's pedestrian, but so is your top priority today: to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambition
by Harriet Rubin
(HarperCollins, 1999)
Hold your nose through the name-dropping, and you may glean useful insights into why you want to be a free agent in the first place. Rubin's book belongs on your bedside table.
Free Agent Nation: How America's New Independent Workers Are Transforming the Way We Live
by Daniel H. Pink
(Warner Books, 2001)
Zoom out to the big picture of free agency with the guy who knew when to fold his cards as Al Gore's speechwriter. Pink puts your daily grind into the context of what may be a major social trend of the 21st century.
Big Kiss: One Actor's Desperate Attempt to Claw His Way to the Middle
by Henry Alford
(Broadway Books, 2001)
Participatory journalist and nonactor Alford makes us all feel better by showing us how to capitalize on a humiliating work experience (write a book about it). Very funny.
Jerry Maguire
by Cameron Crowe
(Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2000)
Having trouble collecting consulting fees from deadbeat dotcoms? Look into the mirror and practice shouting "Show me the money!" with the aid of this screenplay, written by the screenwriter of Almost Famous, about an odd couple of free agents.
John Rossheim (john@rossheim.com) writes about free agents, privacy, travel, and almost anything else that pays the bills.
Founder
Devon James Associates Inc.
The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America
by David Whyte
(Doubleday/Currency, 1996)
A poetic look at spirituality in corporate America -- yes, it really does exist.
Email
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Buzz Up!
LinkedIn
