Reading List December 2017

Nourishment for the corporate mind and soul

THE STARTUP WAY: How Modern Companies Use Entrepreneurial Management to Transform Culture and Drive Long-term Growth
Eric Ries, author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup, which introduced the term “pivot” to the business lexicon, has pivoted himself. Now Ries looks at how established enterprises from General Electric and Toyota Motor Corp. to Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc. can become more innovative and nimble
Currency/Penguin Random House Canada 
390 pages; $40 (hardcover); currencybooks.com

 

CANADA 150 WOMEN: Conversations With Leaders, Champions, and Luminaries
Paulina Cameron, director of the B.C. and Yukon division of Futurpreneur Canada, which supports young entrepreneurs, interviews the likes of Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May, Gov. Gen. Julie Payette, former prime minister Kim Campbell, Tsilhqot’in First Nation writer Lisa Charleyboy and Liberal Party of Canada MP Hedy Fry about their careers, their vision for Canada and how feminism has changed in their lifetimes.
Page Two Strategies 
328 pages; $39.95 (hardcover); pagetwostrategies.com

 

THE KINFOLK ENTREPRENEUR: Ideas for Meaningful Work
Alberta-born Nathan Williams is the director of Kinfolk, an international lifestyle magazine based in Copenhagen. For this book, Williams elicited insights on success, work-life balance, motivation and more from 40 entrepreneurs around the world, including B.C.’s Herschel Supply Co. founders Jamie and Lyndon Cormack; and Hypebeast streetwear blog founder Kevin Ma, a UBC graduate.
Thomas Allen & Son 
368 pages; $50 (hardcover); thomasallen.ca

 

NEVER REST ON YOUR ORES: Building a Mining Company, One Stone at a Time
Norman Keevil, chair of B.C.-based Teck Resources Ltd., recounts the story of mining in Canada, beginning with the discovery and development of the Teck-Hughes mine in Ontario. The book’s title is a nod to his father, also called Norman Keevil, a geologist and avid canoeist who urged people on by saying, “Never rest on your oars.”
McGill-Queen’s University Press  
496 pages; $39.95 (hardcover); mqup.ca

 

HOW WE CAN WIN: And What Happens to Us and Our Country if We Don’t
Anthony Lacavera, who founded Wind Mobile and sold it in 2015 for $1.6 billion, says we need to change the way we do business in Canada on various fronts. Lacavera and co-author Kate Fillion, a Toronto writer, tell us why and how.
Random House Canada  
262 pages; $34 (hardcover); penguinrandomhouse.ca

 

UNCOMMON SENSE: Shift Your Thinking. Take New Action. Boost Your Sales
As president of Toronto-based SalesShift, author Jill Harrington helps companies including Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., Transcontinental Inc. and Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada improve sales. The “self-help book for sales superstardom,” offers uncommon-sense alternatives to common nonsense, like “Always be contributing” instead of “Always be closing.”
Figure 1 Publishing Inc. 
264 pages; $32.95 (hardcover); figure1publishing.com

 

LURE: Sustainable Seafood Recipes From the West Coast
Yes, this is a cookbook, with recipes from Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver chef and Chefs for Oceans founder Ned Bell. But it also contains a wealth of information about sustainable seafood species.
Figure 1 Publishing 
304 pages; $38.95 (hardcover); figure1publishing.com

 

IT CAN BE DONE: An Ordinary Man’s Extraordinary Success
With co-author Michele Carter, Donald (Chick) Stewart recounts how he moved to B.C. from Manitoba in 1942, got a job at 15 in a Vancouver Island sawmill, then purchased a mill in Surrey 20 years later with friend and sawyer Vic Rempel. Despite setbacks, S&R Sawmills Ltd. grew to include five mills, still owned by Stewart, and more than 500 employees.
Harbour Publishing 
$32.95 (hardcover); harbourpublishing.com

 

VERTICAL HORIZONS: The History of Okanagan Helicopters
Author Douglas M. Grant trained as an radar technician with the Royal Air Force in the 1960s before working in avionics for companies that included Okanagan Helicopters, now part of CHC Helicopter Corp. Using firsthand accounts, extensive research and numerous photographs, Grant describes the ups and downs of the company that pioneered flying high-mountain terrain and operated the first unaccompanied commercial helicopter ferry flight from Canada to the U.K.
Harbour Publishing 
$39.95 (hardcover); harbourpublishing.com

 

CHASING SMOKE: A Wildfire Memoir
Now an MFA student in Nova Scotia, Aaron Williams fought fires in B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Idaho from 2006 until 2014. He describes working long days with an eccentric crew in a challenging landscape and looks at the history, mechanics and politics of firefighting.
Harbour Publishing 
$22.95 (paperback); harbourpublishing.com