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Hardcover
236 pages
ISBN 9780470432389 Published Aug. 2010
Jossey-Bass
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Posted Nov. 24, 2010 10:28 a.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
strategy + business's "best of" list is always a special treat—in large part because it's never just a list, but a series of essays. The magazine gathers together a different team of experts each year, and each takes the task of writing on their chosen category and the books in it. I've listed their picks below, linking to the essays at the head of each category.
On the Economy, The Fog of Panic by David Warsh
- Slapped by the Invisible Hand: The Panic of 2007 by Gary B. Gorton, Oxford University Press
- On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System by Henry M. Paulson Jr., Business Plus
- The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History by Gregory Zuckerman, Broadway Books
- More Money than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite by Sebastian Mallaby, The Penguin Press
- Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy by Raghuram G. Rajan, Princeton University Press
- 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown by Simon Johnson & James Kwak, Pantheon Books
On Leadership, Highlights in a Low Year by Walter Kiechel III
- Reflections on Leadership and Career Development: On the Couch with Manfred Kets de Vries by Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries, Jossey-Bass
- Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead by Charlene Li, Jossey-Bass
- Learning from Catastrophes: Strategies for Reaction and Response by Howard Kunreuther & Michael Useem, eds., Wharton School Publishing
- Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best... and Learn from the Worst by Robert I. Sutton, Business Plus
On Innovation, Innovation as a Social Act by Krisztina “Z” Holly
- Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation by Steven Johnson, Riverhead
- The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, & Lang Davison, Basic Books
- Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age by Clay Shirky, The Penguin Press
On China, Probing China’s Infrastructure by Sheridan Prasso
- China 2.0: The Transformation of an Emerging Superpower... and the New Opportunities by Marina Yue Zhang with Bruce W. Stening, John Wiley & Sons
- Country Driving: A Journey through China from Farm to Factory by Peter Hessler, Harper
- The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future by Elizabeth C. Economy, Cornell University Press (2nd edition)
- The China Strategy: Harnessing the Power of the World’s Fastest-Growing Economy by Edward Tse, Basic Books
On Human Capital, Talent Redefined by Sally Helgesen
- Clever: Leading Your Smartest, Most Creative People by Rob Goffee & Gareth Jones, Harvard Business Press
- Chasing Stars: The Myth of Talent and the Portability of Performance by Boris Groysberg, Princeton University Press
- Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder: Creating Value by Investing in Your Workforce by Jody Heymann with Magda Barrera, Harvard Business Press
On the Human Mind, You Are What You Think by Judith E. Glaser
- Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face — and What to Do about It by Richard S. Tedlow, Portfolio
- Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition by Michael J. Mauboussin, Harvard Business Press
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Broadway
- Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t by Paul Sullivan, Portfolio
- Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink, Riverhead
On Management, The Chorus Takes a Bow by David K. Hurst
- Reinventing Management: Smarter Choices for Getting Work Done by Julian Birkinshaw, Jossey-Bass
- Leading Outside the Lines: How to Mobilize the (In)Formal Organization, Energize Your Team, and Get Better Results by Jon R. Katzenbach and Zia Khan, Jossey-Bass
- The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World’s Toughest Problems by Richard T. Pascale, Jerry Sternin, & Monique Sternin, Harvard Business Press
- Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads by Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin, & Patrick G. Cullen, Harvard Business Press
On Biography & History, True Tales of Fortune by James O’Toole
- The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century by Alan Brinkley, Knopf
- Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership by Warren Bennis, Jossey-Bass
- Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent, Scribner
- For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World’s Favorite Drink and Changed History by Sarah Rose, Viking
The covers below represent s + b's Top Shelf—the best books of each category.
As Theodore Kinni writes in his introduction to the essays:
Two years after the financial collapse, the idea of hunkering down and waiting for a return to business as usual—as people did in previous recessions—seems a less and less viable strategy. But what should you do instead?
In this edition of our annual review of the year’s best business books, you will find a reading list that offers intriguing and compelling answers to this question.
We've been following this list since 2003, and you can peruse past year's lists with the links below.
Jack Covert Selects - Still Surprised
Posted Sept. 9, 2010 10:24 a.m. by dylan
When you look at the greatest business thinkers from the second half of the last century, Warren Bennis would have to be in the conversation. When you focus on the field of leadership, he would have to be on the top of that list. In the past fifty-plus years, Bennis has written some of the seminal books on leadership. We included On Becoming a Leader in The 100 Best Business Books of All Time because, as we said in the book, “Bennis treats leadership with a certain gravitas that is perspective changing.”
Now, after writing twenty-seven books on business thought, he tells us his leadership story. It begins when, as a 19-year-old second lieutenant, he commanded a platoon during the final days of the Second World War in Europe and was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. It was his first real lesson in leadership:
I had been changed and enriched by the advance course in leadership the war had thrust on me. It is no accident that the war produced so many authentic leaders in the second half of the 20th century. Nobody who has to make choices that result in the deaths of others takes leadership lightly.
He then used the G.I. Bill to go to college at Antioch, a small “free-thinking institution that championed both learning and social justice” in Ohio where he met Douglas McGregor, who would become his early mentor. He went on to do his graduate work at MIT. These two experiences in higher education would transform his life:
One of the first and most critical things those two institutions did for me was radically alter my definition of work. … Work—paid work at that—could be the activity of an engaged mind or a group of minds collaborating to solve a worthy problem.
So inspired, he has spent the rest of his life in higher learning. As he recounts his journey, we meet an incredible group of people—like Nobel Prize winner Paul Samuelsson, counter-culture guru Werner Erhard and writer Norman Mailer. We also find out how Bennis developed his beliefs surrounding team-focused leadership instead of the hierarchical leadership model. All of this along with the tale of a life well lived. There are no new theories here, just great stories. But, like all of Warren Bennis’s books, it finds the heart of leadership.
Friday Links
Posted Sept. 3, 2010 11:10 a.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
➻ Chris Guillabeau's The Art of Non-Conformity will be released on Tuesday—a book I hope everyone reading this blog will pick up. On his blog yesterday, he briefly discussed Seth Godin's departure from traditional publishing before laying out the Strategy, Tactics, and the Plan for the Next 97 Days he has devised for entering the publishing arena that Seth is leaving. And his plan is the only plan that has ever succeeded: think big; work hard. Responding to the notion that “The only authors who sell books anymore are those who have popular blogs,” he writes:
Where does a popular blog come from—does the blog fairy descend from the sky with a passionate group of readers, all eager to support a new writer?
It's a valid question, and we are glad this dedicated, unconventional (indeed, dedicatedly unconventional) individual has taken a step into traditional publishing, and we wish him the best on his Unconventional Book Tour.
If you'd like to learn more before picking up a copy of his book for yourself, you can read the interview Callie Oettinger did with him over at Steven Pressfield Online, or dig into some of his online offerings.
➻ Scott Stratten's UnMarketing also comes out next week, and in true social-media guru fashion, he did a 140-character interview on Twitter with new PR pros. Some advice:
@ssiewert: How can young pros/Gen Y apply their years of personal experience online to achieve business objectives?
@unmarketing: You have the advantage, since you’re already online. Be yourself, have an opinion but also be humble. You don’t know everything yet.
➻ The Bullish on Books blog had a great guest post from our dear friend Erika Andersen today, entitled You’ve Been Laid Off – Now What? She used the space to discuss how, once you declare an intention, or "put up your sail to catch the wind you’re looking for—it makes you available to other winds, as well." And Erika knows. She is one of the best advisers in country and the author of two outstanding books, Growing Great Employees and Being Strategic, the latter of which was recently made into a PBS special (Check your local PBS listings for the airtime, or purchase the DVD at shopPBS.org).
➻ The Economist recently took a look inside The innovation machine, reviewing Vijay Govindarajan & Chris Trimble's book recently released on the topic, The Other Side of Innovation. From the article:
Many would-be innovators deal with the trade-off between efficiency and innovation by rejecting traditional management entirely. They repeat mantras about “breaking all the rules” and “asking for forgiveness rather than permission”. They set up skunk works (small, autonomous units with a remit to innovate) and mock the boring corporate types who write their pay-cheques. But again this is counter-productive. Mocking the corporate establishment only encourages it to starve you of resources.
They also touch on Warren Bennis's Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership briefly, and thought it looks like a great book, I think they did so only to have an excuse to introduce the topic of innovation by writing "Today there is no hotter topic in management theory than 'sperm in the air.'"
➻ Bob Sutton, author of the soon-to-be-released Good Boss, Bad-Boss, wants to know... Is Your Boss A Certified Brasshole? And he has devised a test for you to find out.
➻ Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation, writes a twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun. His most recent post discussed the 10 Best Books For Back To School Business Reading, and his list is very solid:
- Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements by Robbin Phillips, Greg Cordell, Geno Church and Spike Jones, John Wiley & Sons
- Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers and Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur & Tim Clark, John Wiley & Sons
- Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter by Tom Bissell, Pantheon
- The Future Arrived Yesterday: The Rise of the Protean Corporation and What it Means for You by Michael Malone, Crown Business
- Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World by Don Tapscott & Anthony D. Williams, Portfolio
- Marketing Lessons From the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn From the Most Iconic Band in History by David Meerman Scott & Brian Halligan, John Wiley & Sons
- MicroMarketing: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small by Greg Verdino, McGraw-Hill
- Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead by Charlene Li, Jossey-Bass
- The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself by John Jantsch, Portfolio
- The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home by Dan Ariely, HarperCollins
I personally think that if you have read all of these books, just go ahead and forgo going back to school and get on out there and start conquering the world.
➻ The 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style went on sale this week, but you can get the original edition (1906) for free. Head on over to Papercuts to figure out how.
➻ "In addition to being a bullfighter and magician, he's a lazy river, a slow moving train, a future hall-of-famer playing through the pain, he's a grizzly bear." And his son is a book reviewer.
