The first day of Summer is quickly approaching – Saturday, June 21, 2014. @Team13System, we have taken notice of the many “summer reading lists” put out by various individuals and organizations on social media. Most put out a Top 10 – but why put out a list of 10 when you can create a Checklist of 13? We are excited to announce our inaugural Team13System Summer Reading Checklist (in no particular order – they are all Must Reads):
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. Inspired by Andrew Carnegie’s magical formula for success, this book is the result of 20 years of research and outlines 13 principles (imagine that!) for obtaining whatever you want in Life. As Mr. Hill wrote “most of us are good ‘starters’ but poor ‘finishers’ of everything we begin.” Start reading this book — and FINISH!
- Warren Buffett Annual Letter to Shareholders . Go to www.berkshirehathaway.com , on the right side click on the link for Warren Buffett’s Letters to Berkshire Shareholders, click on any year, print it and read it! The only individual to ever become the wealthiest in the world – by investing. Mr. Buffett writes from the heart, with honesty and integrity as well as good humor – characteristics we love @Team13System.
- The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. Mr. Graham, the father of value investing, was perhaps the most influential investor of all time. All of his books are finance classics – and he taught Warren Buffett at Columbia University. Before he passed away in ’76 [13], he told a friend that he wanted every day to do “something foolish, something creative and something generous.” We encourage you to live your life the same – and start today by reading the book!
- Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins. Our Managing Director, Ed Harding, first read this book in ’94 [13] and refers to it still today. Mr. Robbins said that his “life’s quest has been to restore the dream and to make it real, to get each of us to remember and use the unlimited power that lies sleeping within us all.” Do you have dreams? Time to wake up and go get them – start reading the book!
- Buffett, The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein. There have been many books on Warren Buffett – and we obviously love him, admire him and have been influenced by him from afar. This biography is the best of them all. On page 13, it says “Warren’s exploits were always based on numbers, which he trusted above all else.” We can relate @Team13System.
- The Winner Within by Pat Riley. Pat Riley said that in life there are two things: winning and misery. @Team13System we guarantee you will NOT be miserable reading this classic from 1993. In chapter 4, Riles writes about how to overcome adversity in life – or Thunderbolts as he refers to them. One key is to forget about sympathy – so we give you none – stop making excuses and pick up the book!
- Barbarians at the Gate by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar. The definitive account of the 1988 takeover of RJR Nabisco by KKR (at the time the largest takeover in Wall Street History; note also that 1988 was a significant year in the history of Team13System). This book makes real-life finance both sexy and exciting – a factual report that reads better than most fiction.
- Toughness by Jay Bilas. We never imagined we would be promoting anything associated with a Duke Blue Devil basketball player, but this book quickly became required reading @Team13System. Mental Toughness is a core belief of ours – and this book gets to the heart of it. Are you rubber or are you glass? Read it and see.
- Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis. Along with #7 above, this is one of the books that defined Wall Street during the 1980s. Arguably, we could recommend you read anything by Lewis – but this was his first work and the first thread is an autobiography of sorts following the author through his college years at Princeton and his work at Salomon Brothers. You will love it and won’t be able to put it down. I mean, how would you not love learning about “The Human Piranha,” the nickname of a real Salomon employee who used the word “f%^ck” and all its variants in his speech (something we do NOT recommend on the tennis courts during AACTA Tournaments)?
- The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. If you don’t read this book during your lifetime, then you simply have not lived. It may honestly be the best book ever written. A book for all ages that is concerned principally with the awakening of the lazy mind – we #BEL13VE in it! As the Princess of Pure Reason tells Milo: “You must never feel badly about making mistakes, as long as you take the trouble to learn from them. For you often learn more by being wrong for the right reasons than you do by being right for the wrong reasons.” All we can say is that it would be a mistake not to read this book.
- Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden. The author is best known perhaps for his book Black Hawk Down – and it would be easy to recommend that book. But like we say, if it were easy, it wouldn’t be fun. While you can read anything by Bowden (who holds a degree from Loyola University in MD like me) – this book is a “tour de force of investigative journalism,” detailing the rise and fall of Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar. We note that Mr. Bowden’s story was originally reported in a 31-part series [13 inside and out!] in the Philadelphia Inquirer before it became a book. You will love it.
- Numbered Account by Christopher Reich. Published in 1998 (a pivotal number in my life as well, seeing the birth of Edward C. Harding IV), this was Mr. Reich’s first book. You may not know who he is and may be surprised to see this name on the checklist – but the element of surprise is embraced @Team13System! You may need a bit of sophistication and intelligence to love this book – things that we know you have if you are reading this blog. We love the intriguing tale of Nick Nuemann (not Nick Newman on Young & The Restless!), the character who first taught me one of the most important formulas I have ever learned in The Game (of life): H = R÷ E. You don’t know what that means? Read the book!
- Gameplan for Life by Joe Gibbs. Faith in God is at the heart of Team13System. Like we say, BEL13VERS NEVER DIE. I feel so blessed to have grown up as a fan of the Washington Redskins under Joe Gibbs’ leadership. Upon reflection — what a positive difference it made on my life! We call him Coach and in this book, which has a sports fan in mind, he teaches us what the Bible has to say about physical, emotional and spiritual health. He encourages us to live a life of purpose. Every day we @Team13System pray and work to become a Champion in God’s eyes – if that matters to you, then this is a must-read!
Thank you for your interest in our Summer Reading Checklist. If you bel13ve in our System for Building Champions in Business and Life, then you will consider these 13 books. If you KNOW our System works — then you will READ them. As always, if you ever have any questions – if you find yourself wondering “what is this “13” all about?” – if you are having a problem in business, sports or life that you think you need help with – if you are struggling but want to become a Champion. Don’t procrastinate – just contact us.
Edward C. Harding III http://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardcharding3rd/