Over time, I will offer detailed reviews of some of the books on this page, but for now, I thought it would be useful for my readers to have a quick summary and easy way to look up and purchase books that I recommend or discuss in blog posts.
The realization that I should publish a page like this dawned on me when I noticed that I had more half-read books on my desk than I would ever get around to reviewing in a reasonable amount of time, and I have years worth of great books to talk about. So, the intent here is to offer a recommended best-of list for my readers to browse. Just browsing this collection will give you more insight into my thoughts, and perhaps you'll be inspired to acquire some of them for yourself using the embedded links to Amazon. Every book on this list is one that I have already purchased and read myself, and believe may offer value to my readers.
Mentioned
Elsewhere on The Antimarketer Blog
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The
Innovator's Dilemma
First of 3 books
that introduced disruptive innovation concept. Ten years after first publication,
most organizations still fail to recognize disruption in their industry
and have no idea how to react. Even innovators who create potentially
disruptive products often can't see it and fail to capitalize through
poor strategy and ineffective marketing. A must read for anyone involved
in innovation.
This book is referenced
in: What
is Steve Jobs Really Up To? and Starbucks:
Ripe for Disruption or Already Disrupted?
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The
Innovator's Solution
Second in a series
of 3 by Clayton Christensen, this book discusses how to leverage disruptive
innovation for advantage. Although you will miss a big part of the analysis
and understanding of the concepts, if you only have time to read one of
the 3, this is the one to get.
This book is referenced
in: What
is Steve Jobs Really Up To? and Starbucks:
Ripe for Disruption or Already Disrupted?
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Seeing
What's Next
Third of 3 seminal
books discussing disruptive innovation, Christensen extends the analysis
from recognizing and reacting to disruption (first two books) to predicting
when innovation will cause disruption in an industry.
This book is referenced
in: What
is Steve Jobs Really Up To? and Starbucks:
Ripe for Disruption or Already Disrupted?
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The
Long Tail
Although seemingly
insignificant by comparison, niche product sales when totaled often exceed
the sales of mass market 'hit' products. This book examines the role of
the internet in changing the economic viability of low-selling niche products,
enabling broad reach and accessibility at low cost through enabling aggregators,
such as Amazon.com.
This book is referenced
in: The
Long Marketing Tale: Part 1
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Positioning
This book is the
marketing classic which defines the concept of positioning. Perhaps even
more relevant today as a brand building concept than it was when it was
witten.
This book is referenced
in:
What is Steve Jobs Really Up To?
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Pour
Your Heart Into It
A biography of Howard
Schultz, Chairman of Starbucks, documenting his passion for the customer
experience and how he built Starbucks into the MacDonalds of coffee.
This book is referenced
in: Starbucks:
Ripe for Disruption, or Already Disrupted? |
Books
by Category
Innovation
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The
Innovator's Dilemma
First of 3 books
that introduced disruptive innovation concept. Ten years after first publication,
most organizations still fail to recognize disruption in their industry
and have no idea how to react. Even innovators who create potentially
disruptive products often can't see it and fail to capitalize through
poor strategy and ineffective marketing. A must read for anyone involved
in innovation.
This book is referenced
in: What
is Steve Jobs Really Up To? and Starbucks:
Ripe for Disruption or Already Disrupted?
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The
Innovator's Solution
Second in a series
of 3 by Clayton Christensen, this book discusses how to leverage disruptive
innovation for advantage. Although you will miss a big part of the analysis
and understanding of the concepts, if you only have time to read one of
the 3, this is the one to get.
This book is referenced
in: What
is Steve Jobs Really Up To? and Starbucks:
Ripe for Disruption or Already Disrupted?
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Seeing
What's Next
Third of 3 seminal
books discussing disruptive innovation, Christensen extends the analysis
from recognizing and reacting to disruption (first two books) to predicting
when innovation will cause disruption in an industry.
This book is referenced
in: What
is Steve Jobs Really Up To? and Starbucks:
Ripe for Disruption or Already Disrupted?
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Hidden
in Plain Sight
Methodology for creating
innovations that drive profitable growth. Complementary to the disruptive
innovation series by Christensen (see above). Practical how-to information. |
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Really
Useful
The origins of everyday
objects which we take for granted. How the innovations, most of which
were disruptive when created, came to be invented. |
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The
100 Greatest Inventions of All Time
The list of the 100
greatest inventions of all time and how they rank in importance would
probably vary depending on who assembled it, but who can disagree with
the wheel, paper, cars, telephones, cameras or computers? Most of these
inventions were transformational, and we still marvel at the genius behind
them. Big disruptive stuff here. |
Marketing
Strategy
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Your
Marketing Sucks
Does your marketing
suck? Probably, because for most companies it's true. At least half of
every marketing budget is wasted on things that don't generate positive
ROI and have no chance of increasing sales by greater than the marketing
dollars spent. Mark is blunt, and I don't agree with everything he says,
but it's a good challenge to conventional thinking that marketers should
consider seriously and take proactive measures to address before their
management does this thinking and analysis for them.
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Positioning
This book is the
marketing classic which defines the concept of positioning. Perhaps even
more relevant today as a brand building concept than it was when it was
witten.
This book is referenced
in:
What is Steve Jobs Really Up To? |
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The
New Positioning
This book, by Jack
Trout and Steve Rivkin, but without original co-author Al Ries, updates
the concept of Positioning with more relevant material and adds discussion
of re-positioning. |
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The
22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
No such thing as
an "immutable" law, but it makes for good marketing, doesn't
it? A good handbook of marketing "rules of thumb" to commit
to memory and consider the ramifications of when you feel you need to
"break the law". |
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Crossing
the Chasm
A marketing classic
that describes how products stall over a chasm between the early adopter
and early majority user phases in the new product adoption life cycle,
and what you need to do to keep them from falling into the chasm as you
cross over it. Since falling into the chasm usually means a failed product,
and often means a failed company, this is a critical concept for marketers
to understand. Although Moore focuses on technology, and this became "the
bible" of high tech marketing in the 90s, the principles apply to
any new product.
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The
Marketing Imagination
The Marketing Imagination
is a collection of some of Ted Levitt's best HBR papers discussing marketing
strategy and marketing's role in the organization. This is part of the
canon that every professional marketer should have read. |
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Relationship
Marketing
Not the best strategy
book (repeats a lot of things that are better said elsewhere), but this
book does give insights into the way Regis McKenna's mind works which
as one of the top technology marketers in Silicon Valley is valuable in
itself. The book feels a little dated today, but it's still worth the
read. |
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Influence
- The Psychology of Persuasion
Not strictly speaking
a strategy book, this book examines the psychological buttons we have
that make us react without thinking when they get pushed. It illustrates
very effectively that persuasion is rarely based on facts and data (e.g.
product features), a fact that marketers forget more often than not. If
your job is influencing others (whose isn't?), then you need to make this
one of the first books you read, because human psychology is foundational
to any marketing strategy you'll try to implement. |
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The
Tipping Point
This book describes the viral behavior of everything.
How fads start and what makes them explode. How a video of guys dropping
Mentos into Diet Coke starts as a curiousity and within days or weeks,
half the world has seen it. How word of mouth spreads. Basically, this
is something we've known for a long time, but didn't have a metaphor to
articulate the concept. Now we have a metaphor and a model process which
makes this book a must read for all marketers, and it helps explain the
importance of social media. |
Marketing
Branding
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Brand
Aid
This is a great handbook full of practical tips for various
aspects of brand management and development. It's great for doing a quick
checklist review, or when you want to check a fact or make sure your process
is complete. Very much a practitioners guide that you'll keep handy for
occasional reference. |
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Before
the Brand
Not really a complete picture, but it gives a pretty
good overview of the technical components that comprise your brand and
defines the language and keywords that are the currency of branding. Good
introduction for a new brand manager or someone who aspires to be one.
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The
22 Immutable Laws of Branding
OK, so nothing about
marketing or branding is "immutable". Read my blog to see how
much I hate the kind of thinking that says there are "laws"
or "one right way" to do anything. However, these "laws"
are more than strong guidelines, and if you stay within the lines most
of the time, you'll do fine. Just remember that occasionally you should
break a law to get noticed -- but you'd better have a reason why. This
is a good set of rules of thumb to commit to memory. |
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The
Experience Economy
Beyond service, creating a
memorable customer experience is the new frontier of brand competition.
At least that's what the authors say. A good read with some good examples
and lots of passion, but I think the really important thing here is that
everything you do contributes to how a customer perceives your brand,
and you should try to make the brand experience enjoyable, fun, rewarding
and lots of other good things at every customer touchpoint.
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Purple
Cow
Seth's treatise on differentiation and making your brand
stand out from the crowd. Every modern marketer should have this one on
their bookshelf. |
Marketing
Tactics
+ General
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The
Anatomy of Buzz
Good description
of how word of mouth marketing works. Most startups and technology companies
get this today, but all would benefit from a reminder of just how many
sales are generated because someone you trust told you about a product.
WOM is becoming increasingly potent, both positively and negatively as
social media, especially blogging gain prominence. Relevant when written
in 2000, it is critical today. |
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Being
Direct
Lot's of stories
about successful direct mail campaigns, although this book is more biographical
(Lester Wunderman, direct mail guru) than a practical guide. Includes
19 principles used by successful direct marketing, which is in the preface,
but summarizes the book succinctly and makes it worthwhile. |
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Customer
Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless
How to exceed customer's
expectations with service and build loyalty rather than just satisfaction.
This shouldn't be brain surgery, but with the way most companies treat
their customers, you'd think it was. Every manager of a Fortune 500 company
should read this, because most don't get it. In fact, anyone who talks
to or provides service to customers in any company should read this. |
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Enterprise
One to One
Everyone knows that
keeping a customer costs a tiny fraction of getting a new customer. But,
so many companies don't leverage what they already know about customers
to personalize products and services to build lasting relationships and
loyalty. One-to-one marketing is about how to treat every customer as
if they were the only one, and give each a unique experience based on
their specific needs and wants. Not news anymore, but still hard to do.
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Free
Prize Inside
The opposite of disruptive
innovation. Seth encourages product marketers to stand out by delivering
small innovations "at the edges" which make the product special
and stand out in the customer's mind. Like the cereal with the free prize
inside (parents: how excited do kids get about that), smart marketers
can get lots of bang for little bucks if they aim for delight rather than
obvious utility. Seth will teach you how to do the small things that matter. |
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Permission
Marketing
I wish I wrote this
book. The message is simple and clear. First seek permission. Then engage
in conversation. And, if you are relevant I'll listen, and I might buy
something. You've established trust and value, and most of all, you aren't
an unwelcome pest. So stop wasting your money trying to interrupt whatever
it is that I'm doing. Applicable to all forms of marketing, online marketers
and purveyors of direct email promotions need to especially take note,
because without my permisson, you're not only not going to sell me anything,
you're pissing me off! |
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The
Bluffer's Guide to Marketing
I received this tiny
short, sweet book as a gag gift, but you know what, it's actually useful.
It's like a Cliff Notes version of everything you wanted to know about
marketing, sort of. The tongue is firmly planted in cheek, but the definitions
it supplies actually make some sense in a perverse way. Marketers -- you
need to learn to laugh at yourselves, because trust me, everyone else
is already doing it, and this little tome may teach you why. |
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The
Long Tail
Although seemingly
insignificant by comparison, niche product sales when totaled often exceed
the sales of mass market 'hit' products. This book examines the role of
the internet in changing the economic viability of low-selling niche products,
enabling broad reach and accessibility at low cost through enabling aggregators,
such as Amazon.com.
This book is referenced
in: The
Long Marketing Tale: Part 1
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Marketing
Selling
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Getting
to VITO
VITO is the Very
Important Top Officer salespeople know they need to reach to make a sale.
Of course, the trick is identifying who VITO is, and then having something
valuable and relevant to say that you'll get his permission to sell to
him. No one will follow this prescription to the letter, but if you follow
these techniques, you will have VITO's respect, you'll close more deals
faster and for more dollars, and you won't waste your time trying to sell
to an organization that won't buy. The simple verdict: Salespeople: do
this, and you'll make more money. |
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Solution
Selling
Always remember:
you aren't selling a product or a service, because nobody wants to buy
a product or service. People buy solutions to problems. So, you better
learn to sell a solution, and stop trying to sell a product. Make sense?
This book is part of your solution to closing more deals, setting expectations
appropriately and having happier customers who'll keep coming back and
who will recommend you to their friends. If you do all that, you'll be
a superstar salesperson. |
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Selling
the Invisible
Selling intangibles
is hard. You can't see, touch, feel, hear, taste or smell them. Services,
experiences (like Starbucks strives to provide), and even some products
such as insurance and business software lack tangible form. As our economic
output increasingly moves to added value services and experiences, selling
the invisible is a challenge that most salespeople will face. Highly recommended
reading for both sales and marketing professionals. |
Philosophy,
Ethics and Moral Issues
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Zen
and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
When I first read
this book over 30 years ago, it made no sense to me. Just a stream of
consciousness and too much thinking about nothing in particular. The fact
that a motorcycle ride across the country was a metaphor (or vehicle,
if you prefer a pun) for self-discovery was totally lost on me. Didn't
help that I had no interest in motorcycles or fixing them. Time changes
things. Read this book. |
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Value
Shift
Milton Friedman said
the sole
social responsibility of business is to make a profit (within the
law). Reflecting of Enron and other scandals that took such a huge toll,
we must ask whether the best interest of shareholders isn't served by
acting morally and accepting social responsibility. Acting immorally certainly
risks loss of reputation and therefore loss of business and profits. The
argument of this text is that social responsibility must merge with profitability
as a core reason for the business's existence. Regardless which side you're
on, you should read this book. |
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Philosophy
of Science
With essays from
thinkers as varied as Isaac Newton, Bertrand Russell and Galileo up to
modern day thought about quantum theory and general relativity, this book
opens your eyes to the process of scientific discovery and how belief
in a framework (valid or invalid) can affect what you are able to discover
and your interpretation of science. When you realize how much of science
is dependent on belief in frameworks, it's hard not to see strong parallels
with religion. Hard to get through, but fascinating reading. |
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Decision
Traps
Do you invest as
much in framing a problem properly as you do in trying to solve it? When
you need to make a decision, do you fall into common traps and prejudices?
Do you properly evaluate feedback or fool yourself into believing that
you have, and go on making the same mistakes repeatedly? This book claims
to help you make decisions better, faster and wiser, but if all it does
is make you think about your decision making process and whether it could
be better, you'll be way ahead. |
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How
Good People Make Tough Choices
Life and business
are full of ethical dilemmas. This book boils all dilemmas down to four
common recurring patterns -- truth vs loyalty, individual vs community,
short-term vs long-term, and justice vs mercy -- and offers a framework
for choosing so you can remain consistent with your value system. Examples
such as the decision process that led to the meltdown at Chernobyl provide
a scary reminder that seemingly innocuous, lazy, and all-too-human lapses
can lead to devastating consequences. |
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The
Mind's I
Reflections on self-awareness, belief systems and recursion
that can really mess up your brain if you think about it too much. |
Science,
Math, Economics, Technology, Other
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Elementary
Concepts of Topology
A small handbook
of formulae and theorems of topology. For me, mathematical constructs
border on philosophy, so this book has a transcendental appeal, even though
I haven't had need or reason to use these formulae in many years. If you
find stuff like this intrinsically interesting, then this will satisfy
your needs -- it is short, not a textbook, but rigorous and intellectually
satisfying nonetheless. |
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The
Elements of Color
The best book on
color theory ever. Beautifully printed and illustrated, if you need to
understand the way we perceive and decode color, you need this book. |
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Philosophy
of Science
With essays from
thinkers as varied as Isaac Newton, Bertrand Russell and Galileo up to
modern day thought about quantum theory and general relativity, this book
opens your eyes to the process of scientific discovery and how belief
in a framework (valid or invalid) can affect what you are able to discover
and your interpretation of science. When you realize how much of science
is dependent on belief in frameworks, it's hard not to see strong parallels
with religion. Hard to get through, but fascinating reading. |
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The
Fractal Geometry of Nature
Fractal mathematics
have a beautiful elegance, even if you don't look at the resulting images
it can create. The imagery of fractals has almost become cliche since
virtually everyone who ever wrote a computer graphics program has written
one to generate fractals, but this book takes us back to the beginning,
to Mandelbrot's original thinking and vision -- beautifully written, illustrated
and printed. If you love fractals, you need this book. |
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Freakonomics
A statistics-based econometric model for all the weird
things that are otherwise impossible to explain, from falling crime rates,
to why drug dealers live with their moms, to the similarities between
school teachers and sumo wrestlers. Fascinating and useless information,
but a must read. |
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Godel,
Escher, Bach
The original math,
philosophy, music, art mind screw. This book interleaves and weaves a
complex word fugue to illustrate similarities between music, math and
art. If you are a mathie or a computer scientist and haven't read this,
why not? |
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The
Mind's I
Reflections on self-awareness,
belief systems and recursion that can really mess up your brain if you
think about it too much. A follow on to Godel, Escher, Bach, The Mind's
I uses some of the same themes but focuses more on philosophy and how
the mind views itself. |
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Visual
Thinking
This book shows that
the commonly held division between analytical and perceptual thinking
is false -- all thought is perceptual. We use a visual understanding of
the world to structure events, ideas, language and to develop scientific
models. If you've ever seen someone go wild on the whiteboard, or build
complex powerpoint graphs then you can relate to this, but that only scratches
the surface. Although it isn't the book's purpose, it explains why pictures
are so much more compelling as sales/marketing tools than words. Fascinating
and original work. |
General
Business + Management Topics
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Good
to Great
Good to Great is
a book that inspires leadership by showing that it is possible for a company
that has always been just "good" to learn how to be "great"
and in the process of doing so, significantly outperform their peers in
the market over an extended period of time. Most companies still won't
make the leap, but this book gives hope, and many more will try because
of it. |
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Value
Shift
Milton Friedman said
the sole
social responsibility of business is to make a profit (within the
law). Reflecting of Enron and other scandals that took such a huge toll,
we must ask whether the best interest of shareholders isn't served by
acting morally and accepting social responsibility. Acting immorally certainly
risks loss of reputation and therefore loss of business and profits. The
argument of this text is that social responsibility must merge with profitability
as a core reason for the business's existence. Regardless which side you're
on, you should read this book. |
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In
Search of Excellence
A classic business
book positing that excellence in business derives from similarities in
8 common traits. The research driving that conclusion turned out to be
superficial, which led to the embarrassment of several of the 'excellent'
companies failing in the short term due to inability to adapt to change.
Peters even admitted a few years ago that some of the data was faked.
Nonetheless, the management theory and the ideas put forward in the book
were ground-breaking, and are still relevantl, if only companies would
apply them. A worthwhile read despite flaws. |
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Decision
Traps
Do you invest as
much in framing a problem properly as you do in trying to solve it? When
you need to make a decision, do you fall into common traps and prejudices?
Do you properly evaluate feedback or fool yourself into believing that
you have, and go on making the same mistakes repeatedly? This book claims
to help you make decisions better, faster and wiser, but if all it does
is make you think about your decision making process and whether it could
be better, you'll be way ahead. |
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The
Peter Principle
Shocking and cynical
when it was released, this book put forward the theory that people get
promoted until they reach a level where they are incompetent to do the
job, and then stay in that position for the rest of their career. Enduring
as short hand for what was wrong with corporate America and why there
were so many dead weight managers, even after years of radical downsizing
and pruning, this idea is still relevant today. This was the first business
book I read, and one of the most influential. |
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The
Dilbert Principle
A counter-point to
The Peter Principle, the book's dust jacket summarizes the dark theme
and philosophy best: The most ineffective workers are systematically moved
to the place where they can do the least damage -- Management. |
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Alice's
Adventure's in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
Much in business
is theatre of the absurd. Of all the kids books written, this is the most
beautifully crafted tale of nonsense, full of mathematics and riddles,
incredible illustrations (only buy an Alice book with the original John
Tenniel illustrations). Logic, illogic, philosophy, innocence and transparency
make this the only work of fiction that I enthusiastically recommend as
a business book. |
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The
Annotated Alice - The Definitive Edition
To complement the
original, you'll want this deconstruction which includes incredibly well-researched
details about every aspect of the story, from the politics of late 19th
century England, to who the characters are modelled after, to the meaning
of Jabberwocky -- it's all there. It's worth taking the time to fully
appreciate and understanding the intellectual depth and many overlaid
meanings in these books, and you'll need this to go there. |
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Real
Time
This is like an updated Future Shock for business. McKenna
documents the collapsing of time in business and the growing customer
expectation of zero latency -- immediate gratification, instant communication,
real time response to changing conditions, etc. What's particularly interesting
is that although the book was meant to describe a near future, the world
Regis describes is already here. |
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Leading
Strategic Change: Breaking Through the Brain Barrier
As we are increasingly disrupted
by innovation and change, effective change management is becoming a critical
skill. This book argues that you can't change the organization unless
you first change the individual, and provides guidance to help individuals
accept and assimilate change. The reasons for change resistance and its
psychology are explored to determine clues about the process of breaking
down individual brain barriers to change. |
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