We took some time off this summer from our podcasts.

I am kicking off the fall season early with an interview I have been wanting to do for some time.

Chris Zook is the author of three books, his most recent being Unstoppable. I talked with him for almost an hour about how to achieve profitable growth through focusing on the core of your business.

I also asked him what books he would recommend to other books. He says there are three different kinds of books he is attracted to:

• The Classics – Chris says there are a handful of books that everyone should read. These are familiar titles: Comptetitive Strategy, Competing for The Future, and Good To Great.
• Business Histories – Chris says there is much to learn from how companies deal with challenges to their business models. He recommends Rising Tide: Lessons from 165 Years of Brand Building at Procter & Gamble.
• A Step or Two Away – sometimes you can learn alot by getting away from the business category. Chris is currently reading In Spite of The Gods, a wonderful history of India. Another title that Chris thinks fits this is James Gleick’s Chaos, which took chaos theory research and showed how it applied to what folks deal with every day.