Business

HBR IdeaCast – A weekly podcast from Harvard Business Review on a variety of critical business topics

20 must have tools for business – Here is a great article by Forbes on tools for business in the modern age

Marketplace – Listen to the best, daily 30-minutes on what happened in the world of business and markets


Design

slide:ology by Nancy Duarte – this is the book that will help you develop great slide designs on Keynote or PowerPoint, a new way to look at slides and presentations. 

How Can I Make My Powerpoint Amazing – Lifehacker shows you how to bring more life to your presentations

Presentation Zen – How to think differently about your presentations and the information they contain


Digital Management

1Password for Mac, PC, and iPhone/iPad – the best password management software and a must-have in an age of increasing hacks

Paperless by David Sparks – One of the 20 best books in 2012 (iTunes store) on going paperless

SnapScan Evernote Edition – A review for the SnapScan Evernote Edition

Backblaze – Safe and secure backup to the cloud protecting all your work

Dropbox – store and sync documents between all your devices

Goodreads – track your books and reading goals online


Entrepreneurship

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries – exceptionally popular book in entrepreneurial circles and what the concept of minimum viable product emerged, anyone involved in bringing new products to market will benefit

Double Double – Double your profits and revenue in 3 years; a great book by Cameron Herold

 

Family

No Drama Discipline by Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson – a new look at the struggle with discipling kids from an incredibly well-respected (and research-based) child psychologist team

Financial Planning Worksheet by Gail Vaz-Oxlade – One of the major reasons of conflict in relationships is money, have a look at this easy to use tool to improve your personal finances

Raising Cain by Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson – cultivate emotional awareness and empathy in young men; if you have a son or an important influence in a boy’s life, this is something you must read

Love – This is an amazing book with an amazing message by author Leo Buscaglia

The Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler – just like the title says, lots of great ideas for families and kids on how to make the most of life and enjoy each other

 

Human Relations

Give and Take by Adam Grant – one of the most popular business books of the past few years – Grant teaches you why success is a product of helping others. 

I'm Ok You're Ok – the epic work by Dr. Thomas A. Harris; its sold millions and still have impact

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie – if you haven’t read this, go get it now – perhaps the most popular business book of the past century

 

Inspiration

My Land My People – Who doesn't know the Dali Lama; here is his story in his own words

What to Do When It’s Your Turn by Seth Godin – a book to get you started on whatever it is that you need to start

 

Leadership

The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner – probably the best, single book on a full leadership framework that almost anybody can learn, backed by tons of research on everyday leaders

Leaders Eat Last- Watch Simon Sinek talk about the qualities of leadership

The Look & Sound of Leadership –  A fabulous show airing the first Thursday of each month featuring a past coaching interaction, hosted by Tom Henschel (CFL107) (CFL164)

Marketing and Sales

Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play by Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig –  A great book on relationship selling

SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham – a powerful model for discovering how you can truly help your customer

Youtility by Jay Baer – excellent overview for businesses on the strategy and practical steps for effective content marketing

Dale Carnegie Sales Training: Winning with Relationship Selling – a comprehensive, 3-day course attended to discover the human relations approach to sales

New Rainmaker – hosted by Brian Clark, the internet’s leading authority on content marketing

Smart Passive Income – host by Pat Flynn  much broader and better than the title suggests

Rainmaker Platform – the marketing and sales technology that hosts this website (if you’re serious about marketing and selling online, look here first)

 

Motivation

Drive by Daniel Pink – A must read for leaders and managers who want to drive deep engagement, not just compliance (CFL84)

 

News

The Globe and Mail – this is a great go to for reporting in Canada 

 The BBC – A more global approach to the world

 

Organizational Change

Leading Change by John Kotter – this former Harvard professor and respected author on change presents an eight-step model that any leader can use and implement

 

Organizational Culture

Joy, Inc. by Richard Sheridan – how to build a workplace that people will love (CFL122)

The Best Place to Work by Ron Friedman – the art and science for creating an extraordinary workplace (CFL181)

 

Personal Mastery

Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl – Frankl recounts how he survived the concentration camps and what he learned about human meaning. 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey – the seminal book of personal mastery of the last generation, 

 

Productivity

OmniFocus for Mac and iPhone/iPad – A great way to get everything organized in one place on a Apple device

Todoist – a great alternative to OmniFocus for those who are PC users or who want more flexibility on other platforms

Wunderlist – another powerful alternative to OmniFocus for those who don’t find Todoist the right fit, plus support on every platform

TextExpander for Mac and iPhone/iPad – allows you to shorten repetitive typing into short snippets on your keyboard

Breevy – the PC version of TextExpander (though not as powerful)

Getting Things Done by David Allen – A great book on personal and professional productivity (CFL184)

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande – A gripping read on the importance of process and checklists in organizations, plus amazing storytelling

Holistic Productivity Online Course – comprehensive, interactive course helping you achieve your most important goals, instructed by Tim Stringer

Learn OmniFocus – fabulous membership community to learn and get support for OmniFocus, also created Tim Stringer

 

Project Management

The Power of Project Leadership by Susanne Madsen – everything you need to know about not just getting tasks done, but fully leading a project team

Asana – Use Asana to manage projects with students and some consulting projects, also integrates well with Slack

Basecamp – Another organizational tool that can have a multiple number of contributors

 

Reading

Instapaper – A read-it-later that creates a list of articles saved via browser or email, excellent typography and link-handling

Kindle app - Read in the Amazon ecosystem if you don’t have a Kindle

Audible – A great way to read– the iPhone app is great too

Reeder – Excellent RSS reader for the Mac, iPad and iPhone

 

Teamwork

 

GO Team – fabulous set of 18 training modules for creating and maintaining outstanding teams by master trainers Susan Gerke and David Hutchens

 

Writing

 

Ulysses on Mac and iPad – if you own a Mac and you write a lot, this should be your top consideration, use this app for all your writing, journaling, and podcast notes

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott – blockbuster bestseller on how to write, aimed at fiction writers but powerful for anyone doing lots of writing

Breakthrough Copywriting by David Garfinkel – if you write to sell products or services…or otherwise influence people to take action, this is your book

Practical Typography by Matthew Butterick – free online book with everything you need to know about typography in the modern era, without the maddening complexity of traditional style guides