I often get asked, “What do you read to stay ahead of the game when there’s so much going on?”
First, I believe if you want to be great at anything, you need to understand the fundamentals associated with it. Just as great chefs need to understand the fundamentals of food chemistry, we in the business world need to understand how and why businesses, teams and people do what they do so we can improve what they do. Over the years I’ve read a lot about the fundamentals.
Second, it’s essential to explore new concepts and thinking and new applications and mixtures of the fundamentals. I love to challenge my thinking and my clients’ thinking. You simply can’t be truly innovative unless you do.
The list below blends fundamentals with new thinking. Peter Drucker’s The Practice of Management epitomizes a discussion of the fundamentals. Martin Lindstrom’s Buy-ology; Truth and Lies About Why We Buy represents new thinking and new applications of the fundamentals.
Here’s what I recommend you consider.
Buy-ology, Truth and Lies About Why We Buy, Lindstrom; Doubleday
A massive neuro-marketing study reveals why we really buy what we do and why we don’t.
Competing for the Future, Hamel and Prahalad; Harvard Business School (HBS) Press
Current thinking around strategy and the new competitive landscape.
Competitive Advantage and Competitive Strategy, Porter; Free Press. (These are two books)
Both represent a solid grounding on business strategy, the first focusing on the difference between low cost strategies and differentiation or value adding strategies. If you only want to read one, read C.A.
Corporate Culture and Performance, Kotter and Heskett; Free Press
Fundamental research on culture alignment-the need to have a balanced focus on customers and employees in order to deliver shareholder returns.
The Experience Economy, Pine and Gilmore; HBS Press
Moving from commodity to differentiation to selling an experience. Think Starbucks.
Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths & Total Nonsense, Profiting From Evidence-Based Management, Pfeffer and Sutton; HBS Press
Why you should always question conventional wisdom. A model for thinking about problems and causal relationships.
The Human Side of Enterprise, McGregor; McGraw Hill
The first work about our fundamental beliefs about people-where Theory X and Y started.
The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner; Jossey-Bass
Along with Warren Bennis’ On Becoming a Leader, the best and most enduring discussion about leadership.
The Leadership Solution, Shaffer; McGraw-Hill
The only serious discussion and step-by-step plan I know of that helps business leaders manage communication to engage people in substantially improving business performance.
Lean Six Sigma, George; McGraw-Hill
Combining Lean and Six Sigma in one book–what they mean and how to apply them.
Open Book Management, Case; Harper and Addison Wesley
An introduction to the concept of creating a business of business people, where everyone works to improve the financial score. Business literacy personified.
Organizational Development-Principles and Practices, Burke; Little Brown
An organization development primer.
Out of the Crisis, Deming; MIT
The guru of quality management and its principles.
The Practice of Management, Drucker; Harper Business
A Drucker foundation book on the basics of business.
Practice What You Preach, Maister; Free Press
Excellent correlation and causation research regarding employee research scores and financial performance.
Rules of Thumb; 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self, Weber; HarperBusiness
Brilliant, compelling and basic guidance from one of the co-founders of Fast Company magazine.
Stewardship, Block; Barrett-Koehler
One of the best arguments for empowerment versus control from the author of The Empowered Manager. This book emphasizes the soft side of the argument. Soft is hard.
The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, Mintzberg; Free Press
The history of strategic planning and how it can stifle execution.
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Tapscott and Williams; Portfolio
A practical discussion of the current and potential benefits of mass collaboration Linux style.
Working Knowledge, Davenport and Prusak; HBS Press
A knowledge management primer.