Lloyd Williams

Ever wonder why the Harvard and Yale Endowments substantially outperform the markets, advisors, and investors? They use a Counter Intuitive approach to investing. This 2009 book Ivy Portfolio explains the process used by Harvard and Yale. To learn how to apply similar Counter Intuitive processes that can easily be used by advisors and their clients register now for the upcoming workshop.

Additional Reading

How Harvard and Yale Beat the Market - by Matthew Tuttle

Pioneering Portfolio Management: An Unconventional Approach to Institutional Investment - by David Swensen

Foundation & Endowment Investing: Philosophies and Strategies of Top Investors and Institutions - by Lawrence E. Kochard and Cathleen M. Ritterreiser

The Endowment Model of Investing: Return, Risk and Diversification - by Martin L. Liebowitz, Anthony Bova and P. Brett Hammond

Every once in a while a book comes along that transforms your definition of business and practice management. The new book, Rework by the founders of 37signals.com is such a book. Order a copy now.

Occasionally a book comes along that helps us understand our own behavior in a meaningful way. Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art defines for us the nature of our greatest enemy and how to combat what holds us back from the results we desire.

Whether you are an artist, writer, entrepreneur, or professional this short book clearly identifies the source of procrastination and internal obstacles to our success in part one. The cure is clearly defined in part two. Like Robert McKee, who wrote the foreword, I too see in part three the effect of inspiration the same and the cause of inspiration differently.

This is a quick read and can immediately be applied to your current practice. Great books can change your life. This in one of them. For more information on The War of Art.

Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen revolutionized productivity, though many find it overly complicated. For those of us less inclined to be engineers or lacking follow through, we need a simpler solution. Thank you Leo Babauta for writing Zen to Done: The Ultimate Simple Productivity System.

This short book simplifies the entire GTD system down to very specific actions that are easily implemented into your current routine. No longer are you burdened with maintaining a large organization system. You can apply the concepts at you own pace and decide what is most important for your needs.

Leo writes a great blog at ZenHabits.net which is a valuable resource. Take a moment and read this short book, then apply one habit this week and add another when you master the first.

Attract Clients is now available in Chinese through China Machine Press. The book can be purchased online at http://www.china-pub.com/191718.

If you know a Chinese language advisor please send them the link. Thank you.

David Allen as just released his new book Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life, following the success of Getting Things Done and Ready for Anything. His new book Making It All Work pulls all his thoughts together in a very organized way. This book is much easier to read and implement and has many new tools. I recommend it highly.

John Bogle the founder of Vanguard Funds has written another important book. Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life is a must read.

Shirley Anderson sent me a link today to an article about Studs Terkel, Chicago author and commentator. He is the author of Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression and numerous other books. At age 96 he has a message for all of us. Read the article at:
http://www.aarpmagazine.org/money/fear_economy_studs_terkel.html

This is a great message to pass on to family, friends, and clients.

Check out the new link on the sidebar for book recommendations. I will be updating this page monthly with new books.

Being on the road for the past several weeks, I appreciate the value of a good book to refocus my efforts and energies. Planning comes in two varieties: top-down explained in Steven Covey’s book First Things First and bottom-up illustrated by David Allen’s book Getting Things Done. While everyone would like to start at the top and work our way down, many times the messes in our life are suffocating us. It is in times like these that we must first put in place the tools necessary to clear the decks of our current projects. This is Allen’s great secret, getting through the mess to give us the freedom to look ahead. Read Getting Things Done today.