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First of all, some easy-to-read texts:

Discover the One Minute Manager's three secrets of effective management in about half an hour!

This book from the One Minute Manager stable deals with the issue of delegation. It demonstrates how managers can effectively rid themselves of "monkeys" - other people's responsibilities that get dumped on them. This leaves them free to do what they really need to do.

Who Moved My Cheese? - Spencer Johnson

A modern parable based on the simple premise that change happens, all the time, and that in order to deal with it effectively we need to adapt our own behaviour to embrace it rather than simply rail against it.

Now a few books that explore specific ideas in a little more detail:

Purple Cow - Seth Godin

This book encourages everyone involved in creating, designing or selling to think in new ways about their market. The underlying idea is that brown cows are everywhere - you need to stand out, so get yourself a purple cow!

What mostly happens with start-ups is that Technicians take the work they love and turn it into a job. Instead of ending up with an exciting, successful business, they end up with a job that has become a chore, with long hours, no security and no steady income. This book shows you how to take control of the business, and to set it up so that it can run without you. Interestingly enough at this stage many people find that they start to love the business again!

This is a great book that looks at providing outstanding customer service, and keeping a customer for life. It is easy to read and full of examples and ideas.

If you want to improve your general financial understanding, we'd suggest

Understand Your Accounts - A St John Price

Finally, for the serious readers amongst you, take a look at the following:

An excellent guide to neuro linguistic programming, written in a work environment context. There are lots of exercises, examples and stories to help you appreciate the subject.

This classic gives many insights into solving personal and professional problems. It includes a good discussion of the Time Management Quadrant, and stresses the importance of not only thinking "win/win", but of ensuring processes are in place to support this throughout an organisation.

Competitive Strategy - Michael E Porter

This book discusses in great detail the different competitive forces that apply to different industries, and the importance of understanding which ones apply to you. It has plenty of real-life examples of what worked and what didn't for many well-known names.

Getting Business to Come to You - Paul and Sarah Edwards

The marketing bible for the self-employed, with lots of brilliant ideas.