On the night stand

T+D, Oct, 2003 by Ernest Gundling

Since it's not possible to read over everything, I'm trying to be more disciplined about what I do read. I focus on a few good ideas at a time, dividing books into categories

The first type consists of practical and research-based publications, such as What Really Works by William Joyce, Nitin Nohria, and Bruce Roberson. It's based on a 10-year study that tried to find the most effective management tools and techniques. Good to Great, by Jim Collins, is still on my nightstand because we're trying to apply his approach in our company The text is easy to understand, yet the principles are challenging.

Another category is for pleasure reading and exploration. India Unbound, by Gucharan Das, describes the author's odyssey from childhood to CEO of Procter & Gamble India. The book helped me understand the background of India's tremendous economic surge over the past decade, as well as some factors that still hold it back.

I confess, I've been a science fiction reader since junior high school. I believe that some of today's fiction will become tomorrow's reality. The First Immortal, by James Halperin, has been echoing in my mind since I finished it. Halperin's depiction of medical science prolonging life and reanimating great-grandparents doesn't seem inconceivable given recent scientific advancements. Think of how different our approach to training and development would be if people could live for centuries

Ernest Gundling is co managing director of Meridian Resources in San Francisco, and author of Working GlobeSmart: 12 People Skills for Doing Business Across Borders. egundling@meridianglobal.com;

An ancestor of Nightstand contributor Ernest Gundling was a court jester in Prussia. Gundling says his shower curtain is a glass door with loose hinges. "One day, it's going to land on my foot."