Do you ever wonder how your brain works? The possession of this knowledge would surely increase our productivity and our likelihood for success in life. Brain Rules, a new book and DVD by John Medina, explores twelve principles of how the brain works with the purpose of allowing the readers to maximize the different aspects of their lives.

One of my favorite rules is Rule #1: Exercise boost brain power. In my opinion, the author hit the nail on the head with this one. Medina suggests that the best business meeting would have everyone walking at 1.8 miles per hour. I know that some of the best meetings I have with my business partner (my wife) come as we take a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. During this stroll, my mind begins to churn ideas and answers to business challenges at a rate that I never get laying around the house or sitting at my desk.

I will provide more insight on this book after I actually read it, but for now, you can learn the twelve rules for yourself by visiting the Brain Rules website.

I just completed reading, “The Secret: What Great Leaders Know – And Do”, another excellent Ken Blanchard book. This is not to be confused with another book of the same name by Rhonda Byrne, which I have not yet read. Blanchard teams up with Mark Miller who is the Vice President of Training and Development at Chick-Fil-A. Ken and Mark tell a story of a young manager named Debbie who is struggling in her new position. She enlists in the company’s new leadership mentoring program and is partnered with the head of the company (Jeff) where he teaches her the basic principles of leadership using the SERVE model. Jeff created the acronym, SERVE, to help him in remembering the five key practices of great leaders.

The “S” stands for “See the Future.” We have all heard this before. All great leaders seem to have outstanding vision toward the future and are seemingly able to see things transform before they actually do. As a leader in small business, we must create and maintain a vision of what we want our businesses to be. If it very difficult to travel the long road of success without knowing where you are going. Find out where you want to go, create a map, and stick as closely to your planned route as possible.

The “E” stands for “Engage and Develop Others.” For small business owners, this means that you must have the right employees in the right roles. You must hire the right people. Never underestimate the cost, financial, emotional, physical or time, that you incur from hiring the wrong people. Also, make sure you involve your team members along the way, making them part of the decision making processes. If you are going to achieve the vision you set forth above, you need the buy-in of every employee you have. You need to have as many people working toward your vision as possible.

The “R” stands for “Reinvent Continuously.” In your business, are you still doing things exactly the way you did 10 years ago? In order to maximize your success and to achieve the vision set forth above, it is important to always be looking for new ways to do things – regardless of what those things are. Always be looking for new ways to improve yourself and to learn more ways to do things. A line that stood out in the book for me was, “If you stop learning, you stop leading.”

The “V” stands for “Value Results and Relationships.” Notice how the line is not just value results. If all you care about is results, your employees will quickly realize this. Would you be motivated if you knew the only thing your boss cared about was results – regardless of its affects on the employees? This is where the leader must be able to listen, invest time getting to know his employees, care deeply for them and to accentuate the positive in the things that they do. See: Whale Done!

The second “E” stands for “Embody the Values.” In order to reach your full potential as a leader, your employees must trust you and they must trust what you say. If you tell your employees that customers are important, but your actions suggest otherwise, then your customers are not going to be very important to your employees. You need to profess what the core values of your business are and embody them. Live these values yourself and set the example for your employees.

I highly recommend this book for anyone in a leadership role – especially if you are new. The book is an extremely fast read – possibly a one nighter – at only 115 pages. If you have ever read a Ken Blanchard book before, you know that the story pulls you in unlike few management/business books do.

Did you ever wonder how the trainers at SeaWorld are able to get the oceans top predator to perform with such excitement and enthusiasm? How do they get the whales to swim and jump on cue in one of the most sensational shows ever?

Whale Done! explores the training programs at SeaWorld and uses modern management theory to relate those same techniques into our relationships with other people. The SeaWorld trainers work to catch the whales doing things right and reward them…thus making it desirable for the whales to continue to do things right.

In our lives, we typically manage by what the authors call the “GOTcha” approach. Do your employees only hear from you when you catch them doing something wrong? Do you make a conscious effort to catch the people in your life “doing things right” and reward them for it? Far too often, I catch myself using the GOTcha approach rather than the “Whale Done!” approach.

It was also interesting that much like people, every whale preferred different types of reward. Some of the whales liked to be rubbed on the head while some preferred completely different types of affection or to be played with. Humans are similar in that some employees just like to be recognized for their efforts, some may like some extra time off of work, or some may be simply motivated by money. The point is that everyone is different and it is important to find out what motivates the people in your life.

Since the book was first published in 2002, many companies have used the Whale Done! philosophy to establish recognition programs for employees. One such company is Bob Parks Realty in Smyrna, Tennessee. At this firm, winners of the award are chosen by the agents in all of their offices who vote on the employee who is the most helpful to others and has the most positive attitude. You can read more about this award and congratulate Kathy Tyson, this year’s winner on her blog.

Whale Done! is a great book for anyone who has to deal with other people on a daily basis – which is just about everyone. The lessons that are learned will help the reader to better manage their relationships with employees, co-workers, friends, spouses, or children. I especially recommend this book to small business owners who need to be able to leverage the power of positive relationships to maximize the effectiveness of their companies.

The book was co-written by Ken Blanchard, who has written multiple best sellers in the area of management and leadership. His co-authors also included top SeaWorld trainers Thad Lacinak and Chuch Tompkins. The 128-page parable is especially a quick and easy read. I think most readers will find the “story” enjoyable in comparison to many of the dry books out there on management theory.

As one of my goals this year, I decided to turn off the television and to read more. I was not sure how much I could read in a given year. I also realized that not all books are the same. There are some books I could read in a night and some books that might take me a month. After much deliberation, I decided to set my goal based on the total pages of the books rather than the books themselves. In other words, quick one-night reads would not count as much as a 400-page book that would take longer to read. After much consideration, I decided to set my goal at 5,000 pages for the year. As someone who has read only a couple of books all the way through since college (almost 15 years ago), I thought my goal was extremely lofty, and I wasn’t sure if it was attainable. I am happy to say that even during my “busy” season, I have been able to outpace my goal.

So far, I have read six books this year – about one per week – totaling 1,114 pages. It is amazing how much time one can free up for productive activities when the television is off. Here is where I would like to thank all of the members of the Writer’s Guild of America for going on strike. If there was anything at all on television, I probably would never have figured out that reading is actually enjoyable.

Of the six books that I have read so far this year, I would like to mention the follow three as that are particularly good reads related to personal finance and entreprenuership. They are as follows:

1) Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
With over 15 million copies sold worldwide, Think & Grow Rich is widely known as one of the greatest personal achievement books ever written. This is a MUST read for anyone who wants to maximize their success in business (or in life for that matter.)

2) You’re Broke Because You Want to Be by Larry Winget. This was a great book. Larry provides a tough and direct, no-nonsense approach to answering why so many Americans are failing to achieve what they want financially. This is a must read for anyone who is falling behind on a month-to-month basis and is struggling to make ends meet.

3) How to Ruin Your Financial Life by Ben Stein. Most of my generation remembers Ben Stein as the economics teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (“Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?) or from his hit TV games show, Win Ben Stein’s Money. I could write a few pages on what else Ben Stein has been up to, but you can just click here to find out more about Ben Stein – “everything but his shoe size and the length of his left arm.”

How to Ruin Your Financial Life provided a different approach than most all personal finance books. Instead of telling you how to improve your situation, Ben detailed out surefire ways to sabatoge your financial future. From collecting as many credits cards as you can and investing in penny stocks, to making sure you loan your new boyfriend/girlfriend that money they are needing, Ben covers it all. This was also a really quick read at only 128 pages – and big print.

I will let you know how my progress is coming throughout the year. I am on track to blow my goal out of the water, but it is still very early in the year.