The Little Prince Debate

Tom Peters refueled a little inner office discussion between the sales staff here at 8CR with a blog post over at TomPeters!, when mentioning The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It wasn't until recent discussions, and Mr Peters' blog post that I looked past the personal value of the book, and thought of The Little Prince as a very valuable business tool. People look to a variety of business books for the answers of becoming better in their field, yet forget some of the basic principles that help in accomplishing these tasks. Revisiting this classic fable made me look into similar books that address a bit more of the human dilemma. Here are a few books worth flipping through (None of these books are really classified as business books, but contain invaluable insights that could improve the way we do business, and how people can progress in their chosen professions): If you get a chance, go back and revisit Jack's posts on Chasing Daylight. If anyone is a big fan of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, I'm Proud of You: Life Lessons from my friend Fred Rogers by Tim Madigan has just been released in paperback. A good friend, who coincidentally gave me my first copy of The Little Prince, handed me a copy of Thich Nhat Hanh's book Peace is Every Step about ten years ago. She said that if it didn't lower my blood pressure I should seek professional help. I was very excited to see his latest book The Art of Power sitting on top of a pile of books in the office. Here is a little blurb from the back cover:

"Our society is founded on a very limited definition of power, namely wealth, professional success, fame, physical strength, military might, and political control. My friends, I suggest there is another kind of power, a greater power: the power to be happy right in the present moment......."

Wouldn't the environments we spend time in be more enjoyable with a stronger presence of the human value in them? I would like to think so.