Businesses will only achieve their true potential, according to Dave Marcum, Steve Smith, and Mahan Khalsa, when the people that run them learn to "think business." In businessThink, the authors, all corporate veterans now with the FranklinCovey leadership development organization, propose eight rules that create a framework for cultivating this different thought process. "Most people are just going through the motions of doing (not thinking) business--merely practicing their comfortable old routines," they write. "Others, the really successful ones, are getting killer results through changing their thinking to become more disciplined, rigorous, creative, and sound."

Applicable to any position, from staffer to senior executive, the principles are: check your ego at the door (to develop an open, united atmosphere); create curiosity (to uncover new options); move off the solution (to clarify the issue); get evidence (to clarify the problem); calculate the impact (to weigh investment against return); explore the ripple effect (to view the big picture); slow down for yellow lights (to watch for obstacles); and discover the cause (to understand underlying truths). Each element is fleshed out in one or more chapters that showcase them in identifiable, real-world situations. The combination adds up to a logical, feasible program that virtually everyone can follow.