Diane Danielson

Clutch: Why Some People Excel under Pressure and Others Don’t Clutch, Part I looks at 5 “clutch” traits: Focus, discipline, adapting, being present and “fear and desire.” if you are disciplined, it takes the emotion out of the situation. As we learn later in the book, discipline comes with practice and a focus on fundamentals. […]

Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself Daily Dose Bottom Line: *Please note that I am phasing out my book reviews and am no longer accepting pitches.

The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation Seth’s blog The market is not seduced by logic.People are moved by stories and drama and hints and clues and discovery. Logic is a battering ram, one that might work if your case is overwhelming. Walmart won by logic (cheap!), but […]

I wasn’t planning on reviewing Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin here on Entrepreneur.com. But then school started, and I was reminded that we need a few Greg Mortensons to rebuild the U.S. education system. (More […]

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshineAnd my tunes were played on the harp unstrungWould you hear my voice come through the music? Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History The Grateful Dead didn’t follow the normal musical path. Rather than […]

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink is one of those books that makes you wonder why we are having so much trouble getting over the command-and-control/face- time-and-billable-hours business models. In a nutshell–or should I say, in a “tweet”–which Pink so gamely prepares for us: “Carrots & sticks are so […]

My Life from Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over, One Cake at a Time by Gesine Bullock-Prado is pretty much what it sounds like–confectionery fluff. Add in a dose of Hollywood and the fact that Sandra Bullock is Gesine’s sister, and we pretty much have the makings of a chick lit book or Hallmark […]

The Winner’s Brain: 8 Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Success by Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske (with Liz Neporent) intrigued me because it brings up the nature vs. nurture argument. Are some people’s brains hard-wired a certain way or, if not, can they be molded or changed? According to the authors, it’s the latter. […]

Headed to the beach? Here’s one business book you can toss into your beach bag and enjoy reading by the ocean or the pool. It’s a light one with a big message. Generally, I’m not into fables because they tend to be “one concept” books. However, The Recipe: A Fable for Leaders and Teams by […]

I am a huge fan of the Heaths’ first book, Made to Stick, so it was a no-brainer to pick up Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, especially because it dealt with “change.” Change is a difficult thing for most people. This has always been hard for someone like me to understand […]

Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, Why Now is the Time to Crush It: Cash in on your Passion, was another one of those social media books I put off reviewing since I never received a review copy in advance. While once again I was worried that it might be outdated, the fact I had to wait more […]

Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business “Business models need to shift. Simply digitizing old business models doesn’t work; businesses need to fully transform to properly address the impact and demands of social media.”This mirrored my take on Sports Illustrated’s iPad app. While it’s definitely cool, does it really capture […]

Notes from the Cracked Ceiling: Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and What It Will Take for a Woman to Win Having written and spoken a lot about what the heck happened here in Massachusetts, it became clear to me that running a campaign is an entrepreneurial endeavor. Governing is a completely different skill set. When we […]

I confess I love books that try to rock the business world. Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson fits that category because they definitely toss out the old business rules.While I liked a lot of Rework, it’s likely because it applies to internet-based businesses like mine. Sure, many of their “new rules” will […]

Note:After blogging for Entrepreneur over at Top Shelf Reading Picks for a few years, we decided to add my reviews to the Daily Dose.So, I bid welcome to my new readers. Hope you find these useful and fun. “What should I read next?” Confessions of a Public Speaker Speakers often worry about the wrong things. […]