Childhood favorites for Charles Bayless, Management Consultant

Charles Bayless was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the 1950's but grew up around the world as father's career in the oil business took them to Venezuela, Nigeria, Libya, the UK, and Sweden. Returning to the US his career for twenty years was in management consulting as a Partner at Ernst & Young and then as a Vice President of Capgemini. He is the co-founder of Through the Magic Door and, as might go without saying, an avid reader.

Which books did you read (or were read to you) as a child that you remember best and why?

There were many stories and books but there were a handful that standout in my memory. The Little Engine That Could was certainly one of these and I recall why. I liked the story, but somehow what kept me coming back were the illustrations; all those toys and fruits and handsome engines just captured my young eye. Other picture books included The Night Before Christmas, an edition of a children's illustrated Bible, and a book at my grandparents house about a wild chipmunk. I can't remember the title but it was realistically illustrated and captured the romance and hardness of wildlife in a fashion that frightened, stirred and inspired a small child without frightening him off.

Walter Lord's A Night to Remember, books by Paul Gallico, Jules Verne's Mysterious Island and Ballantine's Coral Island, and Alfred Hitchcock anthologies were favorites at the Independent Reader level. Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki, The Great Escape, Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, Daphne DuMaurier's short stories were all favorites at more of a Young Adult level.

Which books had the most influence on your thinking and character?

I have got to believe that that illustrated children's Bible has got to be right up there. I have a much greater knowledge of the Bible than I can attribute to adult reading and I think it must have been acquired at that young age.

While I read it only a couple of times and wouldn't necessarily say it was a favorite, I was fascinated by Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and the whole idea of not being bounded by unacknowedged conventions. Also around the Independent Reader level were a whole series of science or reference books: Guiness Book of World Records, Can Pigs Swim?, Time-Life reference books, Horizon Junior Library. There was just a raw pleasure at acquiring interesting information that helped make sense of the world.

Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror opened my eyes to how a gifted historian can recreate a world far removed in time. It was also one of those books that make the connection that, no matter that my visceral sense was of the Middle Ages being almost an unimagenably different time, people are people across the ages. You can't underestimate the differences that stand between your life and theirs but you can't deny that there is also a recognizable commonality

Are there any books related to your profession or calling that you think children ought to consider reading?

I can't really think of any for younger children related to management consulting other than those books about doing science experiments. There is always a solution: it might not be easy, you might not like the choice, but there is an outcome that you can accomplish. Any books on risk or on world history are good foundations for management consulting. There is nothing new under the sun and the more history you have read, the more likely you are to see patterns with the issues and problems clients face to day.

What books are you reading and enjoying today?

I always have twenty or thirty books going at the same time. In the past year I have been on a classic mysteries kick - Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett, Georges Simenon, and the like. Before the Dawn by Nicholas Wade, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David S. Landes, and Constant Battles by Steven A. LeBlanc have each been real pleasures to read in the past year but also fascinating for their information and ideas.