“You’ve referenced a few books recently,” a reader writes, if you’ll excuse the apparent contradiction in terms, “and I’d like to hear more. What would you recommend for businesspeople to read in these trying times?”

A few things you might be best advised not to read: utility bills, final notices, the riot act to their last few employees, and newspapers that are still slavishly following the main news agenda (i.e the bust, who bust it, and how it won’t ever be fixed) without a counter-balancing menu of instructive articles that might just help the ornery man and woman through.

As it happens, at a recent business training event in Castlebar, I invited a group of businesspeople to talk about the books they found most beneficial. It proved an interesting, eclectic mix: straying from straight business offerings and off into areas of psychology, philosophy, personal development, and religion.

These are the books that came up:

The New Alchemist, Charles Handy;
Think & Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill;
Who Moved my Cheese, Dr Spencer Johnson;
My Boss is a BA***RD, Richard Mann;
Twelve Pillars, Jim Rohn and Chris Widener;
That’ll Never Work, Michael Gaffney and Colin O’Brien;
Losing my Virginity, Richard Branson;
The Law of Attraction, Ester & Gerry Hicks;
The Secret, Rhonda Byrne;
Any book written by Robin Sharma (titles include The Monk who Sold his Ferrari, which I have read and heartily recommend; and The Saint, The Surfer, and CEO, which I haven’t yet tackled but comes with good reviews),
The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell;
The War of Art, Stephen Pressfield.

To this list, I would add Starting a Business in Ireland by Brian O’Kane, and, indeed, a good few of the books in O’Kane’s Oaktree Press stable, as they concern themselves almost exclusively with the reality of business in Ireland.

And what of the Irish media? In my view, they have been – almost without exception – a disappointment since the recession kicked in. They have shown little or no appreciation of the good they could do through their vast acres of newsprint and hours of broadcasting time.

They have failed to exploit their promotional capacity to circulate ideas and approaches.
At this point, RTE – fulfilling its public service broadcasting mandate – should have at least one programme a day solely devoted to lifting the mood of the nation: business strategies, positive thinking tips, and the like.

Bring in the successful people and pick their brains. Ask Fergal Quinn what he would do if he owned a bicycle shop now. Invite Michael O’Leary (it is obligatory to accompany all mentions of his name with the phrase ‘love him or hate him, but you can’t deny…’) to apply his creative thinking to the question of what he’d do if he was running a clothes shop in Castlebar.

The stimulating impact would be dramatic. Chalk it down, practical ideas would emerge. Listeners would be inspired. Instead of finding themselves worn down by the almost unrelenting diet bad news, they would be encouraged to focus on playing themselves out of the snooker.

Alas, we get very little of this. This paper, with its Buck the Recession tag, is doing its bit. Last Sunday’s Business Post contained an excellent supplement on Computers in Business that coughed up bundles of interesting anecdotes and pointers. The Sunday Tribune’s recent ‘good news’ edition was worthwhile too.

Some of the Sunday morning business programmes across the national stations are excellent. It gives people a surge of enthusiasm to hear of others who are having a go, still chasing their dream. Not everyone is sinking under the weight of it. The pity is that we hear few of these stories. And they should be streamed during the peak hours, not on the fringes.

The media can – and should – continue to pursue the news agenda. It must hold government and leaders to account. But, by grafting on clever elements here and there, they could play a valuable role in promoting positivity and enthusiasm among the populace.
Another reader has enquired about recommended podcasts. I’m throwing that one out to the floor. Do you subscribe to any you find beneficial? Please let me know what you’re listening to. Zig Ziglar’s podcasts (www.zigziglar.com) is the best I have come across – witty, unpredictable, grounded, and convincing.

Zig is a top-notch salesman and he reveals nuggets through his podcasts: I will return to podcasting in the next couple of weeks.
Of course, some of you may not know what podcasting is, or how it works, and, if that’s the case, I urge you to get a quick tutorial from your local computer whizz kid. You don’t need an iPod to listen to podcasts, you can listen through a free computer software programme called iTunes.
iPod is the best, but not only way.

Liam Horan( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )  is a small businessman, in a manner of speaking. He runs www.slinuatraining.com, a business to help people in pursuit of the first million. They have what they call a Drill Down Day (theme – ‘Making sales – best ways, new ways, did you ever consider, what about this, look at that’) for local small-medium businesses in Day’s Hotel, Castlebar, on Thursday, April 16th.

This column appears each week in the Mayo News newspaper, Westport, Co. Mayo. www.mayonews.ie.

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