Business Fables in the Rear-View Mirror

If I had one hope for the new year in business books, it would be that the genre of fables, followed by related concepts and principles, would fade away.  Speaking for me, this approach has worn out its welcome.  The first splash, and obviously, big hit in this format was “The One Minute Manager” in 1981.  In fact, that book is still on some best-seller lists.  You are likely aware that many of the Ken Blanchard co-authored creations followed in this format, including “The Leadership Pill,” “The Secret,” and others.  Other authors have found success with this format.  One of the best examples is Patrick Lencioni’s hit, “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” and several others that followed from his pen which we have featured at the First Friday Book Synopsis.  Don’t forget about Spencer Johnson’s work, “Who Moved My Cheese?”   It’s not that there is anything necessarily wrong with the books that use this format.  Indeed, some would argue that if publishing a readable fable is the way to get people to read business books and learn business principles, then the format has served its purpose.  The problem is that like anything else, how many times can we go to the well?  The approach is no longer fresh and certainly not unique.  I think that this format has reached a saturation point of where it is actually counter-productive, with readers flipping through the fable, moving to the back of the book for the key points and principles, and leaving dissatisfied.  I can only speak for myself, but I am ready to move forward and embrace some different approaches.  What do you think?

Karl J. Krayer, Ph.D. – President – Creative Communication Network

Let’s Have A Conversation

Let’s have a conversation. About business books.

Karl and I have each read a minimum of one business book a month for nearly 10 years. We know the field. We have traveled the terrain. And there have been periods of really good books, and a few sparse periods. I wonder – are we in one of those sparse periods?

Check the current Amazon business best-seller list, and you will find titles we presented (many, long ago) at the First Friday Book Synopsis.

(The Amazon list is updated hourly, but look at this from the list at midday on 1/17/08: Good to Great, #1; Freakonomics, #6; The Tipping Point, #7; Getting Things Done, #8; The Black Swan, #12; Made to Stick, #14; Now Discover Your Strengths, #15; Blink, #16; Who Moved My Cheese, #18; Nickel and Dimed, #20.)

The rest of the current business best-sellers in the top 20 don’t quite fit our purposes (books on personal financial success seem to be prominent).

As we choose titles, we do our best to choose books that have a broad appeal, books that point us to a new direction, or at least point us to new questions, and, of course, books that are worth our time and yours.

I ask you: do you have any thoughts about the current list of best sellers? Why are so many of these current business best-sellers not really “current” books? Are we in a stagnant time? Are the economic woes in the country affecting the choice of books that land on our radar?

Please write your comments. I would love to think through this question with others.