"It's hard to see a payoff--a financial payoff--on this project in my lifetime, " concedes Hodel, 73, from his Lakewood, Colo. living room, near a stack of ski magazines and a book about global energy.

FORBES: Old King Coal

This month, the book that made it to the top of my stack is Reinventing You, published by Harvard Business Review Press written by my friend and colleague, Dorie Clark.

FORBES: Reinvent Your Personal Brand

Stack looks at historical measures of valuation: price-to-book ratios, price-to-dividend ratios and price-to-earnings ratios.

FORBES: Magazine Article