| Business
Book Reviews With Attitude
Reviewed
by Paul Johnson, Principal, Panache and Systems LLC
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this page so that whenever you get the urge to
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all the rest.
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time. Yes, we make an affiliate commission if you buy through
our link, but I don't care if you buy any of these books
or not. I'd much rather you think highly of us and
hire our firm to help your business grow. In fact, hire our
firm and we'll be happy to buy you a few of these books.
I'll
be inserting additional reviews from time to time, so expect
the list to change.
|
| Christensen,
Clayton M., Michael E. Raynor. The
Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Growth.
Harvard Business School Publishing, 2003.
A:
A worthy guide to new revenue growth and
profits. |
| Hargadon,
Andrew. How
Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies
Innovate. Harvard Business School Publishing, 2003.
B:
This book will help you see all the innovation
opportunities already around you. The risk: you'll have
to step outside your comfortable and familiar silo to make it
happen. |
| Keller,
Ed, Jon Berry. The
Influentials. Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2003
C:
Interesting report on consumer "bell cows,"
but try to apply it and you'll be chasing shadows. |
Uldrich,
Jack, Deb Newberry. The
Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change
the Future of Your Business. Random House, 2003.
B: A primer
on the big changes that the tiny world of nanotechnology will
wreak on your business and your life. |
| Dychtwald,
Maddy. Cycles:
How We Will Live, Work, and Buy. Simon & Schuster,
Inc., 2003.
B:
A good reminder that your future does not have
to equal the past. This gets you thinking about how you
want to live your next 50 years. |
| Tanaka,
Graham. Digital
Deflation: The Productivity Revolution and How It Will Ignite
the Economy. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2oo4.
C:
An economics lesson on how computers affect productivity.
A few insights buried in the numbers. |
| Glickman,
Ph.D., Rosalene. Optimal
Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self. John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 2002.
C:
You can skip this book if you already have a great
goal setting and management program. Novel approach by an Australian.
|
| Meyer,
Christopher, Stan Davis. It's
Alive: The Coming Convergence of Information, Biology, and Business.
Random House, 2003.
A:
Fascinating! Exciting examples of how people
are creating our future, and insights into how you can adapt
and create your own future. |
| Klein,
Gary. Intuition
at Work: Why Developing Your Gut Instincts Will Make You Better
At What You Do. Doubleday & Company, Inc.,
2002.
B:
Want intuition? Use your experience to recognize
patterns; lots of helpful diagrams and lists make it doable.
Helpful processes, too. |
| Herman,
Roger, Thomas Olivo, Joyce Gioia. Impending
Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People. Oakhill
Press, 2002.
C:
Lots of “shoulds” and “oughts”. The drumbeating
successfully raises awareness about a real problem, but the
platitudes offered as solutions fall short of “insightful”.
|
| Nohria,
Nitin, William F. Joyce, Bruce Roberson. What
Really Works: The 4 + 2 Formula for Sustained Business Success.
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2003.
A:
The organization of the content and simplicity
of its prescriptions make this book invaluable. Lots
of relevant examples demonstrate how to make this work for your
company. |
| Krames,
Jeffrey A. What
the Best CEOs Know: 7 Exceptional Leaders and Their Lessons
for Transforming and Business. The McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc. 2003.
B:
You'll likely pick your own favorite CEO (I like
Herb.) Perhaps we have the most to learn from the other
six. |
| Davenport,
Thomas H., Laurence Prusak, H. James Wilson. What's
the Big Idea?: Creating and Capitalizing on the Best Management
Thinking. Harvard Business School Publishing, 2003.
C:
The focus is on selecting and selling the next
big idea within your company. This deals little with
execution, which is the bigger problem for most companies. |
| Zaltman,
Gerald. How
Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Marke.
Harvard Business School Publishing, 2003.
B:
Many valuable insights mired in the technical details.
You should do the "metaphor elicitation" described.
|
| Eckblad,
Ph.D., John, David Kiel, D.P.H. If
Your Life Were a Business, Would You Invest In It?: The 13-Step
Program for Managing Your Life Like the Best CEOs Manage Their
Companies. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003.
B:
A detailed approach for living your life with
purpose and on purpose. A practical guide to the
business of you. |
| Sample,
Steven B. The
Contrarian's Guide to Leadership. John Wiley
& Sons, Inc., 2002.
C:
No examples or case studies. I don't believe
it's possible to put these ideas into practice. |
| Ditlich,
David L., Peter C. Cairo. Unnatural
Leadership: Going Against Intuition and Experience to Develop
Ten New Leadership Instincts. John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 2002.
B:
Lots of clearly-defined ideas to choose from.
Unfortunately, not much proof is offered to justify the contrarian
viewpoints. |
| Miniter,
Richard. The
Myth of Market Share: Why Market Share Is the Fool's Gold of
Business. Random House, 2003.
A:
A great case for why and how to focus your company;
how to put your horse in front of your cart. |
| LaSalle,
Diana, Terry A. Britton. Priceless:
Turning Ordinary Products into Extraordinary Experiences.
Harvard Business School Publishing, 2003.
A:
Wow! A powerful approach for turning your commodity
into something your customers will stand in line for. |
| Cairncross,
Frances. The
Company of the Future. Harvard Business School
Publishing, 2002.
C:
The message: We have to learn to integrate technology
into the management of our companies. |
| Stein,
Dave. How
Winners Sell: 21 Proven Strategies to Outsell Your Competition
and Win the Big Sale. Bard Press, 2002.
A:
A THOROUGH program for the big sales dogs who hunt
really large game. Unfortunately, most salespeople don't handle
deal sizes large enough to warrant really using this book. |
| Shapiro,
Stephen M. 24/7
Innovation: A Blueprint for Surviving and Thriving in an Age
of Change. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2002.
C:
A preachy publication written to jump on the innovation
bandwagon. |
| Trout,
Jack. Big
Brands, Big Trouble: Lessons Learned the Hard Way.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2001.
B:
Jack Trout deserves to play the armchair quarterback
here. Get past his chest-thumping, and you'll learn lots
from this book about marketing your company and beating the
competition. |
| Freedman,
Mike, Benjamin B. Tregoe. The
Art and Discipline of Strategic Leadership. The
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003.
B:
Links great ideas and vision to the project management
discipline that enables paper plans to become reality. |
| McCarthy,
May Pat, Jeff Stein with Rob Brownstein. Agile
Business for Fragile Times: Strategies for Enhancing Competitive
Re |
