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Reading List

The Benefit of the Reading List Concept

An Office Reading List helps you create an office culture and a common way of thinking and expressing yourselves.

Once you have a common background in some fundamental ideas it is easy to communicate ideas framed by that mutual understanding. De Bono describes this in Six Hats. 

"The symbolism of the six different hats provides a very convenient way of asking someone to switch gears."

Open the accordion items here or skip right to the Reading List’s four categories -

Sharpening The Saw | Architectural Practice | The Big Picture | Business.

  • I only worked in three other firms besides my own. The closest thing to a reading list that I encountered had just two items: Graphic Standards and Sweets Catalogues. 

    I'm wired a little different than that limited version of self-improvement, so we had actual books in our library in addition to the 50 lineal feet of catalogues.

    To be honest our library got started by the firm buying books that I wanted to read that were at least remotely related to either architecture or business management. Things change at a glacial pace in education, so I think I am safe in saying that most architects still graduate without any exposure to business concepts. Since I was now in business it seemed like a good time to find out how it worked. 

  • I think the idea for a firm's reading list came from the book, The Great Game of Business. The idea was that if we all understood how our actions affected the firm's financial performance then we had a better chance of moving in a positive direction. 

    Another book that impacted how we worked was by Edward de Bono, The Six Thinking Hats. This is a very simple book with a really big idea. You can read the book in an hour and immediately start practicing a more useful way of thinking. 

    After those two books we started an Office Reading List. The main idea of the list was to share a common view or build a culture we shared. Here were the books in our Office Reading List.

    Our Office Reading List

    • Six Thinking Hats, by Edward de Bono

    • The Great Game Of Business, by Jack Stack

    • The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey

    • Project Management, by Andy Bruce and Ken Langdon

    • How To Win Friends And Influence People, by Dale Carnegie

    • De Bono's Thinking Course, by Edward de Bono

    I have given some thought to how I would expand the Office Reading List. First I would create four categories of books - Sharpening The Saw, Architectural Practice, The Big Picture, and Business. Then I would list the three most valuable books that I know of in each category. Over time I would add another tier of three books in each category, then another and maybe one last tier so that there were twelve books in each category. As I added each tier, it would be legitimate to move books up or down in the tiers. 

    These categories are fairly self-explanatory, but 'The Big Picture' might be obscure. By The Big Picture I mean topics that give you an insight into what it is all about - the world, universe, life, you know, the big picture.


Sharpening The Saw is about learning new things.

BTW, all the links that you find here are paid affiliate links.

  1. Six Thinking Hats, by Edward de Bono — Apple iBooks

  2. The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey — Apple iBooks

  3. How To Win Friends And Influence People, by Dale Carnegie — Apple iBooks

On Deck:

  • How buildings learn

  • The spiritual house

  • DeBono, Action Shoes

  • Ben Franklin

  • Napoleon Hill