The Best Business Books Ever: A book review by Bob Morris

The Best Business Books Ever: The Most Influential Management Books You’ll Never Have Time to Read
Basic Books (2011)

Note: This review is of a book published earlier this year. It is a sequel to one published in 2003.

What we have here is a series of brief discussions of “the most influential management books you’ll never have time to read,” a total of 130, one per author or co-authors. They were selected by persons not identified and the book was published by (appropriately) Basic Books. No doubt those who examine the list will disagree with the selections (I do and more about that later) because any such list is bound to generate controversy. Some readers will question the selection of an author’s work (e.g. preferring Jim Collins’ Good to Great to Built to Last written with Jerry Porras) and other readers will object to an author’s inclusion (e.g. Gerry McGovern, R. Meredith Belbin) and/or exclusion (e.g. Adrian Slywotsky, Jason Jennings). That said, the 130 really would provide an excellent “basic library” of resources that include non-business books such as Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince, and Carl von Clauswitz’s On War that have indeed had significant impact on thinking about leadership and management.

The two-page format is eminently sensible:

WHY READ IT? A capsule introduction describing the book’s key contribution to management
GETTING STARTED: An introduction to the main themes that each author sets out to address
CONTRIBUTION: A detailed summary of the book’s most important points
CONTEXT: An overview of both the immediate reaction to the book and its long-term significance
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Essential bibliographic information on the given title

Granted, it is impossible to do full justice to any of the 130. What surprised me is how much useful material the anonymous co-authors of the digests manage to provide. Although the format is standardized, the approach to essential points varies to accommodate the unique significance of the given work. Here are two brief excerpts:

On the contribution of Igor Ansoff’s Corporate Strategy (1965): “The book presented several new theoretical concepts, such as partial ignorance, business strategy, capability and competence profiles, and synergy. One particular concept, the product-mission matrix, became very popular because it was simple and – for the first time – codified the differences between strategic expansion and diversification.”

On the contribution of Clayton M. Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma (2003): “The author cites five reasons successful companies fail to capitalize on disruptive technologies:

• Customers control the pattern of resource allocation.
• Small markets do not solve the growth needs of large companies.
• It can be difficult to identify successful applications in advance.
• Larger organizations rely on their core competencies and values.
• Technology supply may not equal demand.”

Having read most of the 130, reviewed a majority, and interviewed the authors of several, I disagree with only a few of the selections and would have replaced them with others I consider more worthy such as Eric Drexler’s Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology (1987), Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (2002), Guy Kawasaki’s Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition (2008), Thomas S. Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1996), and the U.S. Army’s Official Army Leadership Manual: Leadership the Army Way (available to the general public in Be*Know*Do, an adaptation of the manual published in 2004).

How to Make Your Co-Workers Smarter

Here is an article written by Jessica Stillman for BNET, The CBS Interactive Business Network. To check out an abundance of valuable resources and obtain a free subscription to one or more of the BNET newsletters, please click here.

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Recently my BNET colleague Suzanne Lucas suggested that if you have recurring issues with work, maybe it’s time to stop pointing the finger at everyone else and admit that the problem might just be you. Lucas makes a great point, but what if the issue is that your co-workers seem like a bunch of dolts. Surely, if they’re just a bit dim, you couldn’t be at all to blame, could you?

If you think you have no responsibility for your co-workers’ apparent shortage of brains, business relationship expert Keith Ferrazzi has a post for you. In it the author of bestseller Never Eat Alone argues that intelligence isn’t just a fixed quantity that can be steadily measured by an IQ test, but is often dependent on context. By doing a few simple things you can up your colleagues’ cleverness quotient and make your team as a whole smarter. Ferrazzi offers six tips from a new book entitled Brilliance by Design by Vicki Halsey – all worth checking out. Here are a few of the best:

Learn about people’s passions. You can’t connect with others if you don’t know anything about them. So, who are they? Ask lots of questions. What inspires or drives them? What are their goals? What have they learned recently?

Get over yourself. Flip your focus from yourself to the other person. When you say to yourself, “He hates me” or “She thinks I’m stupid,” you are making someone else’s behavior about you. Change your perspective. For instance, if you are thinking, “I want her to think I’m smart” flip your focus to “I want her to be smart.”

Make connections. When interacting with small groups, be a “connector” by calling out each person’s unique talents or strengths. Help people connect the dots and see that two or more heads really are better than one.

Besides being kind and humane, the advice quoted by Ferrazzi also has the advantage of being practical. While complaining about dim-witted colleagues might be necessary occasionally to blow off steam, it’s unlikely to improve your work life and increase your happiness.

This advice actually might make your life and the lives of your colleagues better.

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Jessica Stillman is an alumna of the BNET editorial intern program, which taught her everything she knows about blogging. She now lives in London where she works as a freelance writer with interests in green business and tech, management, and marketing.

3 Ways to Get Your Ideas Heard

Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

In today’s hustle and bustle organizations, new ideas easily get lost in the fray.

If you have a proposal you want heard, don’t resort to aggressive tactics. Here are three strategies that are far more effective:

Know what people care about. Figure out what matters to your colleagues. Read their blogs, follow them on Twitter, ask them directly. This will help you present your idea in the right context.

Answer the “why not.” Most ideas have many reasons why they might fail. Think through the risks, flaws, and options before speaking up.

Be passionate. Be clear about why you think you have a good idea. But don’t insist you’re right. Persuade others by sharing your enthusiasm.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “The Right Way to Get Your Ideas Heard” by Nilofer Merchant.

To read that article and join the discussion, please click here.