A wealth of candid, practical insights

(and this is just scratching the surface)

Entry Level Books

Pricing Done Right

Tim J. Smith, 2016, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ

This is by far the best introductory pricing book.  It covers the basics well and has a good explanation of some of the newer area such as analytics and yield management.

Advanced Pricing Books

The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing, 6th Edition

Tom Nagle and Gorg Muller, Routledge, 2017)

This is the premier graduate textbook in pricing.  Getting a bit to complicated for the practioner but still a worthwhile read.

Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting

J. Thomas Johnson and Robert S. Kaplan, 1991, Harvard Business Review Press, Cambridge, MA

Senior pricing leaders need to have some level of expertise in costing.  Since many come from finance, that helps.  This book formed the basis of that move, still in progress, to Activity Based Costing.  Many of the ABC programs still allocate fixed costs, which are a problem to advanced pricers but you should already know not to allocate fixed costs for pricing decisions in a well-controlled pricing environment.

The Winner’s Curse Paradoxes and Anomalies of Economic Life

Richard Thaler, 1994, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.

Since most of us work in mature markets, this is an essential book for all professional pricers since it deals explicitly with price competition in a mature market.

Revenue Management: Hard Core Topics for Market Domination

Robert G. Cross, 1997, Broadway Books, New York, NY.

Dr. Cross is the father of modern-day revenue management.  As such, this book as a classic story of how it all started and the dramatic results it drove for its early adopters.

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as If Your Life Depended On It

Chris Voss, 2016, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, NY

Chris Voss was the lead negotiator for the FBI for several decades and has some of the best advice on price execution through the salesforce.

Leadership Books

Smarter Smarter Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business

Charles Duhigg, 2016, Random House, New York, NY

This is a terrific book on how to get yourself and your company moving forward in a positive direction.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Carol S. Dweck, 2016, Ballentine Books, New York, NY

As you try to move your organization forward, people with a fixed mindset will often get in your way.  Understanding the difference between having a fixe or a growth mindset is an important thing for a leader.  The bad news is that some with a fixed mindset will never change.  The good news is that some will and this book gives advice on how they can get themselves there.

It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy

Captain D. Michael Abrashoff, 2002, Warner Books, New York, NY

This is one of the two best books on turning a troubled organization around.  Capt. Abrashoff took one of the worst performances subs in the Navy fleet and turned it around to the best…a great story for all.

Mike is now a speaker at: www.michaelabrashoff.com

American Steel: Hot Metal, Men and the Resurrection of the Rust Belt

Richard Preston, 1991, Prentice Hall Press, New York, NY

Yup, an oldie but certainly a goodie.  This is a terrific story about how Nucor Steel, on the edge of extinction like many of the steel mills used practical methods and few resources to create steel mini-mills.  I hear a lot of leaders complaining about resources….read this and you’ll start using what you’ve got to cut through the BS and get the job done.