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Hardcover
320 pages
ISBN 9780066620992 Published Oct. 2001
HarperBusiness
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Posted Jan. 18, 2005 12:55 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In General Management - 800 CEO Read Blog
Joe Kraus at Bnoopy admits he finally read Good to Great.
He says you it is worth the retail price for page 85.
800-CEO-READ's Top 25 for 2004
Posted Jan. 6, 2005 10:15 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In The Company - 800 CEO Read Blog
Here is 800-CEO-READ's Top 25 of 2004. This list is based on sales. What we do is tabulate sales every month and at the end of the year we look at what books showed up on our lists the most. The more times a book made the monthly list, the more credit it gets. The bulks sales that 800-CEO-READ does can really skew the results if we just look at total sales. We think books with staying power deserve more credit.
800-CEO-READ's Top 25 of 2004
- Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin
- Trading Up by Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske
- Purple Cow by Seth Godin
- The Power of We by Jonathan Tisch
- Guts! by by Kevin Freiberg and Jackie Freiberg
- Leadership Presence by Belle Linda Halpern and Kathy Lubar
- Creating Customer Evangelists by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba
- Leadership from the Inside Out by Wes Granberg-Michaelson
- Becoming a Category of One by Joe Calloway
- The Six Fundamentals of Success by Stuart Levine
- Love Is The Killer App by Tim Sanders
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- The Radical Leap by Steve Farber
- Adventure Capitalist by Jim Rogers
- Profitable Growth is Everyone's Business by Ram Charan
- The Feiner Points of Leadership by Michael Feiner
- Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffery Gitomer
- Crucial Confrontations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
- Life 2.0 by Rich Karlgaard
- The Naked Corporation by Don Topscott and David Ticoll
- Giants of Enterprise by Richard Tedlow
- The Attitude of Leadership by Keith Harrell
- Cycle of Leadership by Noel Tichy
- New CIO Leader by Marianne Broadbent and Ellen Kitzis
- New Sales Speak by Terri Sjodin
Platinum Titles
Posted Nov. 3, 2004 5:44 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Publishing Industry - 800 CEO Read Blog
I ran out of time yesterday to get this posted. The Wall Street Journal ran an article on Tuesday titled "To Publishers, Megahits Mean Very Big Numbers" [sub. needed]. The piece talks about the growing expectations and dependence publishers have for bestsellers. In the early 90's, 1 million copies sold was a big deal and now the bar is 5 million copies. This has been driven by the likes of The Da Vinci Code, the Harry Potter series, and The Purpose Driven Life.
The article talks a lot about Mitch Albom and The Five People You Meet in Heaven. This month the book is likely to pass the five million book mark. I found the business numbers interesting - "[publisher] Hyperion will generate $50 million in revenue at five-million mark, on which it will earn an estimated $15 million in operating profit.".
Let me just add the biz book perspective. The only titles that have come close to these kind of numbers are Built to Last (3.5 million copies) and Good to Great (>1 million copies).
Jack Covert Selects--Confronting Reality
Posted Oct. 4, 2004 6:38 a.m. by jack
Confronting Reality: Doing What Matters to Get Things Right by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, Crown Business, 288 Pages, $27.50 Hardcover, October 2004, ISBN 1400050847
Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan wrote one of, if not, the best business books of the 21st century called Execution. The only other book I believe to be comparable would be Jim Collins Good to Great. As I said about Execution in my June 2002 Jack Covert Selects review of the book:
"Theythe authorssupply building blocks to help make execution a part of a companys core culture and avoid hitting the wall when it comes to strategy. One example: a leaders most important job is the hiring and appraising of the right people. Sound like something for HR to handle? Well, Bossidy doesnt think so, and he personally makes the reference calls for key hires. The authors shore up their argument for greater focus on execution using examples from Lucent, GE, AT&T and others, to show what companies have done right and wrong in terms of executing in the past. They are not afraid to name names, and this gives a real urgency to the subject. "
When Crown Business sent me the manuscript of their new book, I was concerned because I didnt understand why confronting reality would be a suitable follow-up subject after Execution. Five pages into the book I got the point. The subject is beyond timely; it is crucial for all senior people to be able to confront reality.
The book is divided down into four parts: Why Confront Reality; How to Confront Reality; What to Change and What Not to Change; How to Prepare for Change. From these four sections alone it is quite obvious that the information is divided into straightforward, logical and usable sections. One superb story is the story of John Tranni and Stanley Works and how they had to deal with Lowes and Home Depots and Wal-Marts pressure on margins. God knows, we are all being hit by margin pressure and successful organizations are able to deal with that pressure. I especially found the chapter on Thomson revealing as I have watched from the sidelines this organization become stronger and stronger in my area.
Folks, all in all, I have to say that it looks to me that these guys have done it again and created a potential business classic. I have been the first to tell you about some important titles and here is another one. You heard it here first. Buy this book.
#1: Business books are often too long
Posted Sept. 15, 2004 10:15 a.m. by frans-johansson
In Uncategorized - 800 CEO Read Blog
Ever started a business book, thought it was quite interesting, yet never finished it? Happens all the time. Often the culprit is the books length. There are several reasons why writing extensive and long business books is a bad idea (unless you are writing a reference book which people have no intention of reading straight through anyway). First, it is far better for a reader to finish a book than not. By completing it the reader gains a coherence and a complete picture of the ideas in the book in addition they are more likely to say they liked it since it was such a fast read. Second, if you give yourself a lot of room to write about a topic the text will tend to sprawl, regurgitate points, and take off on tangents thereby diffusing the impact of the main message. So why do people write long business books? Well for starters it is easier to sprawl than construct a tight and concise narrative that is also engaging. I also believe that writers feel that short text does not connote serious insight which of course is not true. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn Revolutions was a mere 170 small pages.
The first draft of The Medici Effect was about twice as long as what ultimately became the final manuscript. The process of cutting the text down to its core and essence was at times quite painful. I didnt cut down the text because the book had to be short, but once I was done it took up no more than 200 pages. One chapter, which I had spent about 6-7 weeks researching and writing full-time, ultimately got thrown out. I realized that although the chapter was intriguing and provided new insight it slowed down the thrust of the book too much. Frank editors, friends and collegeaus are critical here! Some of the most successful business books over the past 5-10 years or so have been quite succinct: The Innovators Dilemma, Crossing the Chasm, The Tipping Point, Good to Great are just a few that have made their point without wasting a lot of time!
