Thoroughly enjoyable

How do I define "a thoroughly enjoyable book"? One that makes me break away from the reading frequently, to pause and reflect on the implications and how lessons can be applied in a similar or related context. One that makes me want to own it, AND reread it. One that tells me something that I do not already know but is useful to know, i.e. surprises me. Lessons from Private Equity any Company can use, a tiny booklet in the Memo to the CEO series published by Harvard Business Press is one. I am not in private equity, I do not work in a company, in the traditional sense (I work for a professional services firm) and I am certainly not a CEO. But I picked it up anyway, mainly because (now this is interesting in demonstrating where curiosity can lead you) I was reading Raffles Conversations 2007 by Business Times and there was a feature on Orit Gadiesh, Chairman of Bain & Co. She projected smartness, strength and loads of can-do in the short feature and her background as a staffer for the Israeli Army's Deputy Chief of Staff intrigued me sufficiently to google her, and found out that she had co-authored a book recently. Lessons (essentially six of them) is immensely readable and I can think of ways to apply them to work, equity investment and personal growth.

I like the first lesson very much: Defining the full potential through "strategic due dilligence" is a guide for evaluating businesses based on a few key metrics. Of course PE firms will always have more info than what the average investor can lay his hands on but knowing what you need to know helps a lot when you are partially blind.

The rest: Develop the blueprint, Accelerate performance, Harness the talent, Make equity sweat and Foster a Results-Oriented Mindset. The good PE firms are systematic in process, focused on results and aggressive in the way they create value and grow companies. I am not going to summarise the book since I have it. So go read it.