Book it: best bets for board reading; Plucked from the stack of the top business books of the prime publishing season, here are insights into the wisdom and dynamism of leadership as practiced at the highest levels.

• Position: LEADERSHIP - The Real Deal: My Life in Business and Philanthropy - Alpha Male Syndrome - Riding the Blue Train - The Definitive Drucker - Firing Back - The Private Equity Primer - Fallen Giant - Andy Grove: The Life and Times of an American - Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't - Corporate Governance Best Pr

For this special feature, DIRECTORS & BOARDS has selected the following portfolio of business books as worthy additions to an executive's reading list. All excerpts are printed with permission of the publishers. --James Kristie An inspired moment

From The Real Deal: My Life in Business and Philanthropy by Sandy Weill and Judah S. Kraushaar, copyright 2006 by Sanford I. Weill. Published by Warner Business Books (www.hachettebookgroup.com).

I HAD KNOWN Citicorp's CEO, John Reed, for more than 25 years. In the 1970s, we had served together on the board of a troubled real estate company named Arlen Realty. When that company hit the skids, most of the other directors ran for cover, but John and I worked closely together to salvage our respective interests. The shared experience under trying circumstances forged a great deal of mutual respect. In the years after Arlen, we'd run into each other periodically; John and his first wife even invited Joanie and me to their home for dinner on one occasion.

Curiously, in November 1997, only a month before Travelers' Planning Group met, I joined John at a benefit for the Jewish Theological Seminary held at the Pierre Hotel. My friend and public relations expert Gershon Kekst served as chairman of the board and had lassoed me into serving as the event chair each year. On this occasion, John had agreed to be the year's honoree.

While I may have thought it odd that the Jewish Theological Seminary would honor a good Presbyterian like John Reed, the evening turned out wonderfully. Ehud Barak, then head of Israel's Labour Party and soon to be prime minister, had been invited to make the keynote speech and was a lively contributor to the conversation around our dinner table. An exceptionally down-to-earth person, he soon put all of us, including John and his wife, Cindy, in a congenial mood. Joanie recently had undergone surgery on her finger and wore a cast--I loved it when Barak grabbed her knife and cut her steak for her. How often does one see a future prime minister tending to one's wife like that?

The warmth of that evening didn't end with the banter over dinner. In my introduction for John, I noted the terrific way he had shepherded Citicorp through its dark hours in the early 1990s when foreign loans and bad real estate ventures nearly torpedoed his company. In response, John reciprocated with praise about my own accomplishments. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the entire event, and the evening gave me an unambiguous feeling that the respect John and I had for one another in the days of Arlen Realty had managed to survive.

The warm feeling from that evening and the insight from our subsequent Planning Group session inspired me to approach John Reed. First, I double-checked with Kenny Bialkin to be sure Skadden's conclusion on the legality of merging with J.P. Morgan would apply to Citicorp. Kenny reassured me that the same principles held, and I promptly phoned Reed. With as much nonchalance as I could muster, I said, "John, I have something interesting to talk to you about. It should be done in person. Can we look at our calendars and come up with a date to meet?"

A couple of years before, we briefly had discussed the idea of Citicorp distributing some of Travelers' products, so I figured my call didn't seem too out of the blue. We had difficulty finding a mutually convenient opening in our schedules, but John proposed getting together at the upcoming Business Council meeting of leading CEOs to be held in Washington in February. We agreed to meet in my hotel room after dinner on the first night of the conference. Fixing the date, I had two long months to figure out how to turn what seemed like an audacious long shot into a reality.

Sandy Weill is chairman emeritus of Citigroup and a longtime leader in the financial services industry. Judah K. Kraushaar is the former director of the Global Financial Services Equity Research team at Merrill Lynch & Co.

Two classic alpha males

From The Alpha Male Syndrome by Kate Ludeman and Eddie Erlandson. Copyright 2006 by the authors. Published by Harvard Business School Press (www.hbspress.org).

MAKE NO MISTAKE: the world needs alpha males. We could not do without their courageous leadership, their goal-driven focus, their unwavering sense of responsibility, and all the other qualities they bring to bear when they roll up their sleeves and take charge. At their best, alphas are world-beaters. When they are not at their best--when they are unaware, out of balance, or out of control--they create problems that diminish the value of their productive energy. And when they are at their worst, they go down in flames and drag their coworkers, their families, and their organizations with them. In fact, when alpha males self-destruct, we all suffer, because economic progress and social well-being depend on their strengths. In other words, the alpha upside is limitless, but the downside can be devastating. We call this complex set of characteristics the alpha male syndrome because it fits both the basic definition of the word--"a distinctive or characteristic pattern of behavior"--and its usual connotation of disease or dysfunction: "a complex of symptoms indicating the existence of an undesirable condition or quality."

Alpha male traits can be viewed as a continuum ranging from devastating dysfunction on one extreme to gloriously noble leadership on the other. In between are degrees of healthy and unhealthy behavior.

In the business world, of course, most alpha males inhabit the middle range. To one degree or another, they fluctuate between healthy and unhealthy alpha tendencies: their magnetic leadership commands respect, but their aggressive tactics create resistance, resentment, and revenge; they are celebrated for their achievements but loathed for the carnage they leave in their wake; people stand in awe of their competence and can-do energy, but they often hate reporting to them or teaming with them. As Thomas A. Stewart, editor of the Harvard Business Review, said after meeting powerhouse CEOs Jack Welch and Andy Grove, "Geez, are they impressive and stimulating! I love to be around them--but am I glad I don't have to work for them!"

The difference between alphas who soar and alphas who sink is most evident in the area of interpersonal relations. Take Michael Dell and Michael Eisner, two classic alpha males. Brilliant, driven, and aggressive, both aimed high at an early age, boldly followed their dreams, and achieved extraordinary success in businesses marked by innovation. In 1984, Dell, then a 19-year-old college student, started the company that bears his name, telling his mother he would one day surpass IBM. That same year, Eisner capped a meteoric Hollywood career by being named chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Co. He quickly propelled Disney from the doldrums of the entertainment industry to the mother of brand names and the darling of Wall Street. Meanwhile, Dell became the youngest CEO ever to crack the Fortune 500.

Fast forward to 2005. Dell is named America's most admired company by Fortune magazine, while the vanquished IBM bows out of the PC business. In the meantime, the sordid details of Eisner's hiring and firing of Michael Ovitz are dragged into public view, and a board revolt culminates in Eisner's loss of his chairmanship and resignation as CEO.

Kate Ludeman and Eddie Erlandson are the principals of Worth Ethic, an Austin, Texas-based executive coaching firm (www.worthethic.com and www.alphamalesyndrome.com).

A call from Coach Callaway

From Riding the Blue Train by Bart Sayle and Surinder Kumar, copyright 2006 by Innovation Doctors LLC. Published by Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. (www.penguin.com).

WAYNE CALLOWAY grew from a poor North Carolina boy to the position of CEO of PepsiCo, one of the largest corporations in the United States. He accomplished this feat through hard work and by constantly raising standards of performance for himself and those who came in contact with him. In his own gentle way, he would urge PepsiCo executives to think independently while working together to stay ahead of the competition. "If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody is not thinking," he would often say.

He energized himself and his team by constantly reminding them of "the company in Atlanta" (Coca-Cola) and the need to stay focused. "Nothing focuses the mind better than the constant sight of a competitor who wants to wipe you off the map." He made it clear that the only way to prevent PepsiCo from being "wiped off the map" was to consistently strive for more than the company had accomplished in the past.

Surinder [the book's coauthor] joined Frito-Lay in 1982, when Calloway was president and CEO. During his entire one-hour interview with Calloway before he got the job, Calloway spoke for no more than 10 minutes. He listened intently with eyes fixed on Surinder. At the end of the interview, he spoke in a warm, gentle voice. "Surinder, we at Frito-Lay are simple people with a simple business. You have a good technical and business background and you seem like a nice fellow. As long as you are willing to work with the other folks at Frito-Lay to build the business, we would love to have you." The simple, folksy...