I am learning as much as possible about effective organizations, specifically large corporations and their respective businesses. 

My goals are to start a successful business and to really develop the skills needed to be a great executive.

If any of you on LessWrong have studied this area I would greatly appreciate your input. 

My current approach has been to read some highly recommended books and also to read as much as I can about how modern day CEOs and founders start and run their companies. I worry that some of this information is more for entertainment than for obtaining knowledge. I am also starting a company with a friend to try and put a lot of this information into practice. 

I've also been using the "execute by default" idea, which, has helped immenseley in actually making progress and I have already felt that practicing this changes the way I approach problems, mostly for the better. 

Some books I'm reading:

* Management by Peter Drucker

* The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker

* The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman

* The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

* Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston

* How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Some articles I've read:

* Marc Andreesen's articles on starting a company

* Paul Graham's essays on startups

* Most things that are highly voted on on Hacker News

I have found that a lot of the information in these books is very practical, and have really raised my understanding of how large organizations work (at least intellectually). What other approaches should I be taking?

If you have any suggestions on my plan, what I'm reading, or doing, or whatever, please let me know. 

This post's primary intent is to gauge interest and try to find a possible meeting place.

I will commit to showing up at whatever place we decide on, but I am usually only around during the week. (Though given enough time in advance I could plan for one on the weekend)

The RTP area has three research universities and a fairly large population when taken as a total of the three cities, so hopefully we have enough people. I can also post fliers in several departments at North Carolina State University if people think there would be benefit in that. 

What are your thoughts on the role of Art in rationality (personal or otherwise) and in the singularity?

If one wants to help in the efforts of SIAI (or other organizations) does it make sense to focus on an art form as more than a hobby?

Is it rational to pursue an art form that encourages people to contribute to a cause when there are more direct ways of contributing?

It seems difficult to receive much recognition for one's work in art related fields, but it also seems as though one big success (say, a musician whose music was primarily about the singularity and increasing rationality) would turn many people on to the ideas.