Essential Reading

Elements of Military Strategy: An Historical Approach
By Archer Jones

This book uses history in two ways: as the source of ideas about strategy and as examples to illustrate the elements by showing their application to specific campaigns and their utility in understanding the role of strategy in military operations. The focus is on American military campaigns from the American Indian Wars to the War in the Gulf. Those case studies are used to illustrate the strategy behind land, sea, and air campaigns. Over a fifth of the book examines the U.S. war against Japan because it furnishes such fine examples of independent and interdependent operations on land, on the sea, and in the air. The cases studied are not only intended to illustrate strategic ideas but also to show the utility of the author's distinctive approach to organizing military strategy. The book will appeal to military professionals, students of military science, and enthusiasts.

Making Horses Drink: How to Lead & Succeed in Business
by Alexander Hiam

People are the single most important asset in every organization. 'Rugged individualism' kick started America into a self-sufficient economic engine...as it does today for many startup enterprises. But, 'rugged individualism' works effectively only for very small and very compact enterprises with relatively simple goals and benevolent, parent-like leaders. Complex projects require the psychological 'buy-in' of a diverse set of real people, each with his or her own life agenda. The undeniable truth is that people working together is a good thing...yet most workers harbor hidden dissatisfaction with their employers. It's an age old problem and there is no easy solution. Alex Hiam's book offers an approach that may have substantial impact on turning the situation. Making Horses Drink perhaps might have been more appropriately titled, Helping Horses Drink. Underlying Hiam's approach is the recognition that people can't be cobbled together into a well-oiled machine without their explicit permission. This book is all about how to earn enduring explicit permission.

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