Not too many fathers read texts of the ancient Chinese art of war classics to their 10-year-old daughters as bedtime stories. After fleeing with her family at the age of three from mainland China, Chin-Ning Chu grew up in Taiwan. At the age of 22, she moved to America. In her suitcase she carried two books: Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, and the Thick Black Theory, a philosophical book that tells us that the most vicious people get ahead. Chin-Ning Chu claims she first read The Art of War in her teens, and even though she did not know specifically how the book would be useful, she knew it had a powerful message. Following the publication of Thick Face, Black Heart: The Warrior Philosophy for Conquering the Challenges of Business and Life, she became one of the foremost speakers on the practical application of Sun Tzu's ideas.

Having cattle, cows or milk products in a business book title is all the vogue. Previous blog posts have looked at Stirring it Up, Gary Hirschberg’s tale of how organic yoghurt maker Stonyfield Farm, which started out with seven cows, became a poster company for combining growth, ecological sustainability, and profits. There was Seth Godin’s Purple Cow, which encourages business to be more daring if it wants to attract today’s consumers. There was Branding only works on Cattle, Jonathan Salem Baskin’s powerful plea for the marketing world to stop hiding behind fluffy notions of brand, and to start adopting more precise, more relevant and more effective marketing choices. And there was Contented Cows MOOve Faster: How Good Leaders Get People to Put More OOMPH! Into Their Work by Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden, which introduces the concept of Discretionary Effort (DE), which dwells in the gap between what’s required of us and what we’re actually capable of.

It probably comes as no surprise to learn that many of us could contribute significantly more effort to our jobs if we really wanted to. Contented Cows MOOve Faster: How Good Leaders Get People to Put More OOMPH! Into Their Work by Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden introduces us to the concept of Discretionary Effort (DE), the increment of human labour whose expenditure is entirely at the discretion of the individual who owns it. Lurking inside us all is a reservoir of DE that remains entirely under our personal control – and is often unexploited. DE is what everyone can do with regard to their jobs that they don’t need to contribute to keep their jobs and earn their salaries. DE dwells in the gap between what’s required of us and what we’re actually capable of, in the gap between compliance-level effort and full-potential.

They are all around us. They are in every office, in every company. They are difficult, irksome and annoying. They are our co-workers. And we can’t stand them. That’s the promising premise of Dealing with people you can’t stand: How to bring out the best in people at their worst, by Rick Brinkman and Rick Kirschner, who identify 10 types who belong to the Most Unwanted List. There is the Tank - confrontational, angry, pushy and aggressive. There is the Sniper – rude, sarcastic, and especially good at making you look foolish. The Grenade explodes into unfocused ranting and raving about irrelevancies. The Know-It-All displays a zero tolerance for correction and contradiction, and always blames you if anything goes wrong. The-Think-They-Know-It-All basically just want attention. The Yes Person is so eager to please people and avoid confrontation that he/she over-commits until they have no time for themselves. Maybe Persons drive everyone nuts with their indecision and procrastination. The Nothing Person offers no verbal or non-verbal feedback. The No Person is able to deflate big ideas with a single syllable. And the Whiner, overwhelmed by an unfair world, love nothing better than bringing their problems to you.

What is the most morally ambiguous, complex and dangerous role that James Gandolfini has ever played? If you’re thinking The Sopranos, think again – and go and see him as the Mayor of New York City in the heist movie, The Taking of Pelham 123. Unlike many reviewers, I thoroughly enjoyed this remake. I especially enjoyed Gandolfini’s mayor, who is under intense pressure to address the unfolding hostage crisis on a subway train.