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212 6 SECRETS TO STARTUP SUCCESS

Chapter Seven – Integrity of Communication

Heath, Chip, and Dan Heath. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive
and Others Die. New York: Random House, 2007. An instant classic
on how to ensure that your ideas cut through the clutter of the
information age.

Collins, Jim. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . and
Others Don’t. New York: Harper Collins, 2001 and www.jim
collins.com. Collins has made many contributions to leadership
and organizational excellence. Most relevant here are his ideas
on the value of “confronting the brutal facts.”

Tedlow, Richard S. Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the
Face—and What to Do About It. New York: Portfolio, 2010. Tedlow
explores how denial trips up many over-optimistic entrepreneurs
in this classic book.

Finkelstein, Sydney, Jo Whitehead, and Andrew Campbell. Think
Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep it
from Happening to You. Boston: Harvard Business Press, 2008. The
authors provide cases and anecdotes confirming the powerful ef-
fect of cognitive and emotional biases in human decision-making.

Macher, Ken. http://www.managementadvances.com. Ken Macher is
one of the best at teaching venture teams to talk skillfully about
their most critical issues.

Senge, Peter, et al. The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook. New York: Doubleday,
1994. This work deserves another mention for its section on
“mental models,” outlining several powerful tools for talking
skillfully about things that matter most.

Scott, Susan. Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life
One Conversation at a Time. New York: Berkley Publishing Group,
2002. A simple, powerful set of tools and approaches for ensuring
that communication is a competitive advantage in your venture
team.

American Management Association • www.amanet.org