
Daniel Akst is a business writer, author, and novelist based in New York’s Hudson Valley. His books include Temptation: Finding Self-Control in an Age of Excess.
All articles by Daniel Akst
When fiction tries to change the facts on the groundJanuary 20, 2021 Friday, the Thirteenth, a classic 1907 novel by the muckraker and stock manipulator Thomas Lawson, reminds us that telling stories can weaponize resentment.
by Daniel Akst
Survival of the fittestJanuary 4, 2021 In his new book, John Hudson, a survival instructor for the British military, offers lessons on how to get through the most challenging ordeals.
by Daniel Akst
Nice Work, and everyone can get itDecember 14, 2020 David Lodge’s comic novel explores what business can learn from literature, and vice versa.
by Daniel Akst
Revisiting Atlas ShruggedNovember 3, 2020 The iconic novel, which celebrates risk-taking and self-interest, has important lessons for current debates surrounding inequality and liberty.
by Daniel Akst
The little engine that couldOctober 19, 2020 The novel The Magnificent Ambersons reveals the dangers of complacency in the face of transformative new technologies.
by Daniel Akst
A CEO who won’t take the gloves offSeptember 10, 2020 Philip Roth’s American Pastoral measures the gulf between a careful business leader and his radical daughter.
by Daniel Akst
Mutiny amid the bountyAugust 14, 2020 What captains of industry can learn from captains in the great age of sail.
by Daniel Akst
Management lessons of The True BelieverJuly 23, 2020 A 20th-century working-class philosopher has a lot to teach modern workers — and managers — about finding meaning in life, and on the job.
by Daniel Akst
A dramatic example of adopting best practicesJune 26, 2020 George Bernard Shaw’s 1905 play Major Barbara, the best stage drama written about business, has lessons that resonate with today’s audiences.
by Daniel Akst
The business of America, in a nutshellMay 26, 2020 In his new book, American Business History, Walter A. Friedman offers a highly concise history of free enterprise in the United States.
by Daniel Akst
No success without successionMay 11, 2020 The 1952 novel Executive Suite tells us what it takes to fill the shoes of an icon.
by Daniel Akst
Tales of the original Industrial RevolutionApril 27, 2020 Elizabeth Gaskell’s Victorian-era novel North and South has a great deal to teach us about the enduring tensions between progress and prosperity, industry and labor, and rural and urban life.
by Daniel Akst
Business lessons from Albert CamusMarch 30, 2020 The novelist’s 1947 book, The Plague, highlights the importance of shared purpose and belonging in the face of uncertainty.
by Daniel Akst
The evolution of trustFebruary 18, 2020 In his new book, Not Born Yesterday, Hugo Mercier argues that humans are wired to see through misinformation and lies.
by Daniel Akst
Exit strategiesJanuary 24, 2020 Fifty years after its publication, Albert O. Hirschman’s Exit, Voice, and Loyalty still has a lot to tell us about the life of organizations.
by Daniel Akst
Before Murphy Brown and Liz Lemon, there was Emma McChesneyJanuary 6, 2020 The lasting relevance of a fictional early-20th-century career woman.
by Daniel Akst
True lessons about failure from the best business satire ever writtenDecember 6, 2019 In his 1975 novel J R, William Gaddis predicted our excesses.
by Daniel Akst
What’s your story?November 13, 2019 In his new book, Nobel-winning economist Robert J. Shiller emphasizes the importance of narratives.
by Daniel Akst
Command and control: Lessons in high-stakes leadershipOctober 25, 2019 In his new book, historian Andrew Roberts delves into the experiences of wartime leaders to produce lessons for heads of business.
by Daniel Akst
The living lessons of Dead SoulsOctober 1, 2019 The classic Nikolai Gogol satire from 1842 provides keen insight into the endurance of charismatic financial hustlers.
by Daniel Akst
Why CEOs should watch the classic movie The Man in the White SuitSeptember 4, 2019 The 1951 film, about to debut as a play, has much to teach us about the hazards of innovation.
by Daniel Akst
Smart and dumberAugust 21, 2019 In his new book, The Intelligence Trap, David Robson explains why intelligent people engage in unintelligent behavior.
by Daniel Akst
Bartleby, the office enigmaAugust 1, 2019 Herman Melville’s short story Bartleby, the Scrivener provides lessons on how to deal with troubled colleagues.
by Daniel Akst
Not Winston Churchill’s finest financial hoursJuly 22, 2019 The legendary leader’s political successes were continually undermined by his financial and business failures.
by Daniel Akst
Daniel Defoe’s hard-earned lessons on business and lifeMay 16, 2019 The author of Robinson Crusoe, who dealt with ups and downs as an entrepreneur, also penned one of history’s most useful business manuals.
by Daniel Akst
The case for general excellenceMay 14, 2019 In his new book, Range, David Epstein argues that although specialization has its virtues, businesses need people with wide horizons and ranges of interests in order to succeed.by Daniel Akst
Poetry at workApril 8, 2019 The brilliant poet Wallace Stevens spent his career in the insurance industry. To what extent did these two aspects of his life nourish one another?
by Daniel Akst
The wisdom of The Old Wives’ TaleMarch 7, 2019 A 1908 novel about the fate of two sisters in Victorian England has a great deal to teach us about the challenges women face in the business world.
by Daniel Akst
Finance, disaster, and youFebruary 11, 2019 The Financier, an overlooked 1912 volume by iconic novelist Theodore Dreiser, has a great deal to teach businesspeople about hubris, adversity, and redemption.
by Daniel Akst
Yes, Henry David Thoreau Was an Industrial InnovatorJanuary 14, 2019 We can learn valuable lessons from the transcendentalist writer’s forays into the family pencil business.by Daniel Akst
Why the Digital Era Is a Boon for Pop CultureNovember 12, 2018 In his new book, economist Joel Waldfogel argues that digitization is ushering in a golden age for both producers and consumers of entertainment.by Daniel Akst
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