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- s+b BlogsDecember 6, 2019In his 1975 novel J R, William Gaddis predicted our excesses.
- s+b BlogsDecember 5, 2019
To be a better leader, tell a different story
Business storyteller Annette Simmons explains how the right narrative can help leaders and listeners broaden their perspective and circle of concern. - November 15, 2019
How to build a great experience
A new book by two professors provides a tool kit for designers of customer, user, and employee experiences. - November 13, 2019
What’s your story?
In his new book, Nobel-winning economist Robert J. Shiller emphasizes the importance of narratives. - November 5, 2019
Best Business Books 2019
In the 19th edition of strategy+business's Best Business Books section, our writers identify the three most compelling reads in seven genres. - November 5, 2019
Best Business Books 2019: Narratives
Trains, automobiles, and the plain impact of transportation. - November 5, 2019
Best Business Books 2019: s+b’s Top Shelf
Our picks for the best business books of 2019 in seven categories. See also the slideshow “Top shelf picks: Best Business Books 2019." - November 5, 2019
Top shelf picks: Best Business Books 2019
Writers at strategy+business pick the year’s best books in seven categories. - October 25, 2019
Command and control: Lessons in high-stakes leadership
In his new book, historian Andrew Roberts delves into the experiences of wartime leaders to produce lessons for heads of business. - s+b BlogsOctober 18, 2019
Past performance is no guarantee of future results
Lessons from the past may be the only available guide for navigating the present and future, but CEOs need to take them with a grain of salt. - s+b BlogsOctober 3, 2019
Can you be a shaper of great institutions?
Former Tata Group director R. Gopalakrishnan, who's written a new book, says the best leaders focus on building both a better business and a better world. - s+b BlogsOctober 1, 2019
The living lessons of Dead Souls
The classic Nikolai Gogol satire from 1842 provides keen insight into the endurance of charismatic financial hustlers. - September 20, 2019
Pressure points
In his new book, Transaction Man, journalist Nicholas Lemann describes the evolution — and failure — of competing attempts to manage the power of corporations. - s+b BlogsSeptember 4, 2019
Why CEOs should watch the classic movie The Man in the White Suit
The 1951 film, about to debut as a play, has much to teach us about the hazards of innovation. - August 21, 2019
Smart and dumber
In his new book, The Intelligence Trap, David Robson explains why intelligent people engage in unintelligent behavior. - August 14, 2019
The Greatest Showman on Earth
Robert Wilson’s biography of P.T. Barnum seeks to balance the humbug and hucksterism with business success and good works. - s+b BlogsAugust 1, 2019
Bartleby, the office enigma
Herman Melville’s short story Bartleby, the Scrivener provides lessons on how to deal with troubled colleagues. - July 31, 2019
All the healthcare you can afford
In Priced Out, economist Uwe Reinhardt asks the most taboo question in American healthcare for the last time. - July 24, 2019
A new view of the fortune at the bottom of the digital pyramid
In The Next Billion Users, Payal Arora reports that the global poor have similar digital motivations to everyone else. - s+b BlogsJuly 22, 2019
Not Winston Churchill’s finest financial hours
The legendary leader’s political successes were continually undermined by his financial and business failures. - July 17, 2019
Level setting
In his new book, Michael O’Sullivan looks to the past to find a future for the post-globalization world. - July 11, 2019
A winning effort
In his new book, Neil Irwin finds that people who succeed in management careers do so by trying new things, learning from failures, and embracing changes in direction. - July 1, 2019
2019 summer reading: 10 business books
A selection of books perfect for your commute — or the beach. - June 26, 2019
Get ready for the “you’re it” moment
Growing into a meta-leader gives you the tools to skillfully manage any situation. - June 13, 2019
Conversational computing
James Vlahos’s new book, Talk to Me, is a good starting point for exploring how voice computing could disrupt your business. - June 6, 2019
Diving into deep learning
In their new book on what makes high schools work, education experts Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine offer vital lessons for business leaders as well. - s+b BlogsMay 16, 2019
Daniel Defoe’s hard-earned lessons on business and life
The author of Robinson Crusoe, who dealt with ups and downs as an entrepreneur, also penned one of history’s most useful business manuals. - May 14, 2019
The case for general excellence
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. - April 30, 2019
Bad meetings no more
In his new book, UNC-Charlotte professor Steven Rogelberg offers an evidence-based guide to holding better meetings. - April 23, 2019
Machine learned
In his new book, Globotics Upheaval, economist Richard Baldwin wrestles with the opportunities and perils brought about by globalization and robotics. - s+b BlogsApril 11, 2019
Large businesses don’t have to be lousy innovators
In his new book, Harvard Business School prof Gary Pisano offers senior leaders a three-part solution to the innovation challenge. - s+b BlogsApril 8, 2019
Poetry at work
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? - April 1, 2019
Why big-wave surfers are just like actuaries
In her new book, Allison Schrager argues that we can learn a lot about risk management, moral hazard, and financial safety from the dudes who tackle 80-foot waves on fiberglass boards. - s+b BlogsMarch 7, 2019
The wisdom of The Old Wives’ Tale
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. - March 1, 2019
Finding your company’s cultural sweet spot
In her new book, psychology professor Michele Gelfand explains some of the differences between social groups, and the conflicts that erupt among them. - February 15, 2019
Can Capitalism Be Fixed?
In his new book, The Future of Capitalism, Oxford economist Paul Collier lays out a path to restore the ethical foundations of the free-market system in the U.S. and Europe. - February 11, 2019
The short life of enlightened leadership (and how to extend it)
Most companies that try to do well by doing good can’t make it last. Their leaders need to think more carefully about their philosophy and governance. - s+b BlogsFebruary 11, 2019
Finance, disaster, and you
The Financier, an overlooked 1912 volume by iconic novelist Theodore Dreiser, has a great deal to teach businesspeople about hubris, adversity, and redemption. - February 1, 2019
Will Manufacturers Rule the Global Economy Once More?
Tuck School of Business professor Richard D’Aveni proposes a technology-driven vision of manufacturing dominance. - January 17, 2019
Muddling Through
Scott Belsky’s new book offers inspiration to leaders slogging through the life span of a successful business. - s+b BlogsJanuary 14, 2019
Yes, Henry David Thoreau Was an Industrial Innovator
We can learn valuable lessons from the transcendentalist writer’s forays into the family pencil business. - s+b BlogsJanuary 7, 2019
Ken Iverson’s Plain Talk
The management philosophy of the CEO who disrupted Big Steel is as relevant today as it was 20 years ago. - November 28, 2018
Leaders Should Focus on Human Dignity at Work
Conflict resolution expert Donna Hicks explores the poorly understood and underutilized power of dignity. - November 12, 2018
Why the Digital Era Is a Boon for Pop Culture
In his new book, economist Joel Waldfogel argues that digitization is ushering in a golden age for both producers and consumers of entertainment. - November 5, 2018
Best Business Books 2018: Economics
Value-Added History. See also Top Shelf Picks: Best Business Books 2018. - November 5, 2018
Best Business Books 2018: Narratives
American Tales. See also Top Shelf Picks: Best Business Books 2018. - November 5, 2018
Best Business Books 2018: Leadership
Engagement Announcements. See also Top Shelf Picks: Best Business Books 2018. - November 5, 2018
Best Business Books 2018: Management
Revising the Managerial Playbook. See also Top Shelf Picks: Best Business Books 2018. - November 5, 2018
Top Shelf Picks: Best Business Books 2018
Writers at strategy+business pick the year’s best books in seven categories. - November 5, 2018
Best Business Books 2018: Strategy
Making the Leap. See also Top Shelf Picks: Best Business Books 2018. - November 5, 2018
Best Business Books 2018: Innovation
Technology Emerging. See also Top Shelf Picks: Best Business Books 2018. - November 5, 2018
Best Business Books 2018: Marketing
Marketing Is Dead! Long Live Marketing! See also Top Shelf Picks: Best Business Books 2018. - November 5, 2018
Best Business Books 2018: s+b’s Top Shelf
Our picks for the best business books of 2018 in seven categories. See also Top Shelf Picks: Best Business Books 2018. - November 5, 2018
Best Business Books 2018
In the 18th edition of strategy+business's Best Business Books section, our writers identify the three most compelling reads in seven genres. See also Top Shelf Picks: Best Business Books 2018. - s+b BlogsOctober 12, 2018
Google in Paperback Form: The 50th Anniversary of the Whole Earth Catalog
The entrepreneurial credo at the heart of Stewart Brand’s underground publication has shaped our world. - October 1, 2018
The Blitzscaling Basics
In their new book, Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh explain why it often makes sense to prioritize growth over efficiency. - September 19, 2018
Physician, Disrupt Thyself
Professors Vijay Govindarajan and Ravi Ramamurti offer U.S. healthcare providers a prescription for reverse innovation from India. - August 9, 2018
Gutenberg’s Revenge
Why books are the only form of physical media whose sales are growing. - August 8, 2018
When Prediction Gets Cheap
In their new book, a trio of Rotman School professors demystify artificial intelligence for business leaders. - s+b BlogsAugust 2, 2018
Why Wandering Works Wonders for Managers
There are lots of whimsical ways to stay grounded, but simply walking around the workplace is still the best. - July 25, 2018
Back from the Brink?
A new book argues that the global financial crisis that began in 2008 would have been much worse without American financial innovation. - July 10, 2018
The Enthusiasms of Tom Peters
In his exuberant new book, the management guru sums up 50 years of experience with exhortations to pursue excellence. - July 3, 2018
Summer Reading: 8 Business Books – in Pictures
A selection of books perfect for your commute — or the beach. - June 26, 2018
How to Make Property Work Better for Society
In their new book, Eric A. Posner and E. Glen Weyl argue that rethinking the ownership of assets can lead to greater economic efficiency and equality. See also “Summer Reading: 8 Business Books – in Pictures” - June 4, 2018
How to Become a Master of Disaster
The more complex and tightly coupled the system, say authors Chris Clearfield and András Tilcsik, the more urgent the need to manage the risk of meltdowns. - May 11, 2018
An Ode to the Thief of Time
In his new book, Andrew Santella explores procrastination, and why it is that whenever there is a job to do, you can count on someone putting it off. See also “Summer Reading: 8 Business Books – in Pictures” - April 23, 2018
How to Cure a Bad Case of Metric Fixation
History professor Jerry Muller reminds us that not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. See also “Summer Reading: 8 Business Books – in Pictures” - April 12, 2018
Are American Workers Dying for their Paychecks?
Management guru Jeffrey Pfeffer argues that modern management practices are making employees sick. - April 9, 2018
The Quirky Secrets of the World’s Greatest Innovators
In her book on inventive genius, Melissa Schilling delves into the personality traits that lead to breakthroughs. See also “Summer Reading: 8 Business Books – in Pictures” - March 26, 2018
Minding the Gender Gap
In her book on gender disparity in the workplace, journalist Joanne Lipman challenges men and women to overcome unconscious bias. See also “Summer Reading: 8 Business Books – in Pictures” - February 21, 2018
How to Get Time on Your Side
Best-selling author Daniel Pink analyzes more than 700 studies to reveal the science of perfect timing. See also “Summer Reading: 8 Business Books – in Pictures” - February 5, 2018
How to Banish Bad Habits from Your Company
Freek Vermeulen explains why unhelpful practices go unnoticed and suggests how rooting them out can help innovation. - January 30, 2018
The Da Vinci lode
In his magisterial new biography of the ultimate Renaissance man, Walter Isaacson provides important insights into the nature of creativity and innovation. See also “Summer Reading: 8 Business Books – in Pictures” - January 23, 2018
When a Japanese Company Adopted English as a First Language
In her new book, Harvard Business School Professor Tsedal Neeley examines the challenge of establishing a lingua franca in global companies. - January 10, 2018
The Troublemakers Who Made Silicon Valley
In her new book, Leslie Berlin offers a group portrait of the unsung heroes who forged iconic companies — and a new industry — in the 1970s. - December 13, 2017
How to Break Bad Business Habits
Freek Vermeulen of the London Business School offers contrarian nuggets for innovation-hungry leaders. See also “Summer Reading: 8 Business Books – in Pictures” - November 22, 2017
Creating Defining Moments for Your Customers
Chip and Dan Heath explain how to add defining moments to your customer experience. - November 7, 2017
Best Business Books 2017
In the 17th edition of our Best Business Books section, our crack team of reviewers has ferreted out the most inspiring, illuminating, and entertaining volumes of the past year. See also Best Business Books 2017 — in Pictures. - November 7, 2017
Best Business Books 2017: s+b’s Top Shelf
Our picks for the best business books of 2017 in seven categories. - November 7, 2017
Best Business Books 2017 — In Pictures
Our writers’ selection of the year’s best business book in seven categories. - October 25, 2017
Do-It-Yourself Oceaneering
INSEAD professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne deliver the navigation chart needed to reach blue oceans. - October 11, 2017
Take a Timeout, Leaders
In Lead Yourself First, Raymond Kethledge and Michael Erwin explore how solitude nurtures clarity, creativity, emotional balance, and moral courage. - September 5, 2017
Why First Impressions Are Often Wrong
In his new book, Face Value, Princeton psychologist Alexander Todorov explores our predilection for judging other people by their faces. - August 2, 2017
A Goldilocks approach to innovation
Wharton professor David Robertson defines a “Third Way” of creating new products and services. - July 25, 2017
Summer Reading: 10 Business Books – in Pictures
A selection of books perfect for your commute — or the beach. - July 19, 2017
The Sore Loser and the Supercomputer
Chess champion Garry Kasparov replays his historic loss to Deep Blue to illuminate the potential of AI. - July 12, 2017
The Science Behind Mental Preparation
In his new book, Daniel McGinn investigates the ways people prepare themselves to perform, taking us beyond the clichés of yoga poses, centering exercises, and nap rooms. - June 21, 2017
Woman at Work
In a new memoir, Wall Street veteran Sallie Krawcheck recalls her career and her evolution into an entrepreneur and advocate for women in the workplace. - June 12, 2017
One Doctor’s Take on How to Fix the Sick Healthcare System
In his new book, Mistreated, former Permanente Medical Group CEO Robert Pearl diagnoses the woes afflicting one of the country’s largest industries. - May 24, 2017
Cracking the Code of Economic Development
Public policy professor Philip Auerswald takes on “the Great Man–Machine Debate.” - April 17, 2017
Why Managers Can’t Skimp on Radical Candor
Author Kim Scott argues that managers who care personally and challenge their team directly can improve results. - s+b BlogsMarch 8, 2017
Nir Eyal’s Required Reading
The author of Hooked recommends four books for the leaders of consumer companies seeking to create habit-forming products and services. - March 1, 2017
The Business of Tetris
Journalist Dan Ackerman untangles the complicated history of one of the world’s most popular video games. - February 22, 2017
The Sisyphean Task of Activating Boards of Directors
Ira M. Millstein, a leading light in corporate governance for decades, makes his case…again. - s+b BlogsFebruary 8, 2017
Susan David’s Required Reading
The author of Emotional Agility recommends four books that leaders can read to better understand and harness their own and others’ emotions. - January 25, 2017
Peter Diamandis’s Excellent Adventure
Journalist Julian Guthrie tells the story of the Ansari XPrize and of SpaceShipOne’s historic flights. - January 18, 2017
Buying Our Time
Author Tim Wu argues that the Internet’s descent into clickbait and trivia is only the latest chapter in a long history of advertisers grabbing our attention. - January 11, 2017
It Pays to Get to Know Your Superconsumers
Beyond revenue, customers who are obsessed with a product don’t just provide valuable insight but are a conduit to new markets. - s+b BlogsJanuary 4, 2017
Samuel Bacharach’s Required Reading
A veteran management professor at Cornell University’s ILR School recommends four books that can help leaders hone the ability to achieve their agendas. - December 21, 2016
Women’s Work
Veteran journalist Joann Lublin chronicles the triumphs and travails of women rising to the C-suite. - December 15, 2016
Joann Lublin Explains How Women Executives Are Earning It
Interviews with dozens of women who have risen to the C-suite illuminate triumphs, travails, and important lessons. - s+b BlogsDecember 7, 2016
Required Reading: Human Nature and Networks
The executive director of the Institute for the Future calls out books that explore human nature and networks. - November 23, 2016
How to Get Off the Hook
A Harvard Medical School psychologist explains how to manage your emotions and achieve your goals. - November 17, 2016
Marc Levinson Explains How an Extraordinary Time in the Global Economy Ended
The remarkable gains in productivity in growth in the post–World War II years ground to a halt in the 1970s — and we’re still living with the fallout. - s+b BlogsNovember 9, 2016
Margaret Heffernan’s Required Reading
An author, speaker, and former CEO calls out books that will make you a better leader. - November 3, 2016
Sebastian Mallaby Explains What Alan Greenspan Knew
The former Federal Reserve chairman’s remarkable career offers insight into the links between politics and markets. - October 31, 2016
Best Business Books 2016 — In Pictures
The “top shelf” picks in our Best Business Books 2016 roundup. - October 31, 2016
Best Business Books 2016
For the 16th edition of our Best Business Books of the year section, we've assembled a team of learned, expert, and stylish guides. See also Best Business Books 2016 — in Pictures. - October 31, 2016
Best Business Books 2016: s+b’s Top Shelf
Our picks for the best business books of 2016 in seven categories. - October 31, 2016
Best Business Books 2016: Management
Pre-Suasion, Problem Solving, and Process Design - October 19, 2016
Can Conversation Supplant Bureaucracy?
An MIT professor explores the powerful effects of open communication within a company. - October 17, 2016
Jonathan Tepperman Explains How to Fix the World’s Thorniest Problems
From income inequality to gridlock, progress is coming from some unlikely sources. - s+b BlogsOctober 12, 2016
Nilofer Merchant’s Required Reading
The “Jane Bond of Innovation” recommends a reading list for value creation. - s+b BlogsOctober 10, 2016
The Organization Man and Woman
A look back at a classic study of 1950s-era corporate culture sheds light on how companies can make the workplace more hospitable to strivers of all genders. - October 3, 2016
William Taylor Explains How Companies Can Be Simply Brilliant
Innovation and superior performance aren’t just for Silicon Valley disruptors and global giants. - September 28, 2016
Cash Advances?
Economist Kenneth Rogoff argues that getting rid of paper money will lead to a more secure economy and effective monetary policy. - September 19, 2016
Ryan Avent Explains How We Can Build the Wealth of Humans
As machines grow smarter and capture more of the value associated with work, how will people continue to keep busy and thrive? - s+b BlogsSeptember 14, 2016
Amy Edmondson’s required reading
An expert on teaming from Harvard Business School shares three books for leaders who want to encourage collaboration in their organizations. - August 31, 2016
The “Jobs to Be Done” Theory of Innovation
If you hire this book, Clayton Christensen says you’ll be a better innovator. - s+b BlogsAugust 17, 2016
John Kotter’s Required Reading
The eminent expert on leading change describes how three classics — including one of Freud’s major volumes — influence his thinking. - s+b BlogsAugust 3, 2016
How to Become an Ambidextrous Leader
Can simultaneous exploitation and exploration resolve the innovator’s dilemma? - July 27, 2016
Mailing It In
Before the Internet, the telephone, and the telegraph, the U.S. Postal Service revolutionized communications. - s+b BlogsJuly 20, 2016
Steve Blank’s Required Reading
A Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur whose ideas inspired the lean startup movement shares some of his favorite books. - s+b BlogsJuly 6, 2016
ElBulli and the Limits of Corporate Innovation
A new book examines star chef Ferran Adrià’s systematic pursuit of technological and culinary reinvention. - Digital LeadershipJuly 5, 2016
The Way the Media Industry Works
Former NBC Universal CEO Bob Wright looks back on his two decades at GE — and forward to a post-broadcast, post-cable media world. - June 28, 2016
Michele Wucker Explains How We Can Avoid The Gray Rhino
Can we train ourselves to stop ignoring the obvious dangers we face? - s+b BlogsJune 22, 2016
Jo Ann Jenkins’s Required Reading
The chief executive officer of AARP discusses the books that have contributed to her worldview. - s+b BlogsJune 8, 2016
My Company Is My Therapist
A new book argues that companies can thrive by focusing on the human development of their employees. - May 26, 2016
Tom Peters Wants You to Read
The legendary management guru believes burying your nose in a book can be the most effective strategy for succeeding in business. - s+b BlogsMay 25, 2016
George Barbee’s Required Reading
A veteran executive calls out the books that most influenced him in a career driven by innovation. - May 18, 2016
Nurturing Nature
In his new book, evolutionary biologist Joseph Henrich argues that culture and behavior can have an important impact on evolution. - May 17, 2016
Great teams build great cultures
People committed to common purposes and goals can change key elements of a company’s culture when they set strong ground rules that allow people to feel confident. - s+b BlogsMay 11, 2016
A Not-So-Elementary Exploration of Brand Insight
In Small Data, Martin Lindstrom recounts his adventures in brand building. - May 4, 2016
Share and Share Alike
In his new book, Arun Sundararajan paints a rosy picture of the revolutionary companies and platforms that are altering the nature of work. - s+b BlogsApril 27, 2016
Judith Rodin’s Required Reading
The president of the Rockefeller Foundation discusses the best books for understanding and nurturing organizational resilience. - s+b BlogsApril 18, 2016
Mind Over Matter
In his new book, Charles Duhigg demonstrates that making the right choices is the key to boosting personal productivity. - s+b BlogsApril 13, 2016
How to Become a Talent Magnet
Superbosses examines the talent practices of those rare leaders whose protégés go on to dominate industries. - April 6, 2016
Twilight of the Central Bankers
Mohamed A. El-Erian argues that the world’s masters of monetary policy have reached the peak of their ability to influence the course of the global economy. - s+b BlogsMarch 30, 2016
John Elkington’s Required Reading
A leading light of the corporate responsibility movement calls out a reading list for building a sustainable economy. - s+b BlogsMarch 23, 2016
Rocking the Bus
In his new book, Douglas Rushkoff reacts to rising inequality and the threat of automation by proposing a new social operating system that distributes wealth more equitably. - s+b BlogsMarch 16, 2016
Hamilton’s Place
Has American economic history proved that pragmatism is the most effective ideology? - s+b BlogsMarch 15, 2016
External talent needs management, too
In Agile Talent, Jon Younger and Norm Smallwood lay out a system for getting more from external talent. - s+b BlogsMarch 11, 2016
Boardroom Brawlers
A new book describes how waves of shareholder activism have been altering the corporate landscape for nearly a century. - s+b BlogsFebruary 24, 2016
Cass Sunstein’s Required Reading
The legal scholar and coauthor of Nudge calls out four must-reads on decision making. - February 17, 2016
How to Whistle While You Work
In The Happiness Track, Emma Seppälä describes six strategies that will make you happier and more successful at work. - February 3, 2016
Creating a strategy that works
The most farsighted enterprises have mastered five unconventional practices for building and using distinctive capabilities. - s+b BlogsFebruary 2, 2016
Aaron Hurst’s Required Reading
The CEO of Imperative recommends three books that explore purpose from individual and organizational perspectives. - s+b BlogsJanuary 20, 2016
The Miracle of Creativity
There’s no scientific method for coming up with brilliant new ideas. But the authors of a new book argue that a set of habits can help foster innovation. - s+b BlogsJanuary 6, 2016
Krisztina “Z” Holly’s Required Reading
The entrepreneur-in-residence for the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Office recommends three books to stimulate organizational entrepreneurship and innovation. - s+b BlogsDecember 22, 2015
How to Justify a Breathtaking CEO Pay Ratio
In On Inequality, Harry Frankfurt argues that, in and of itself, economic inequality doesn’t matter. - s+b BlogsDecember 9, 2015
Rita Gunther McGrath’s Required Reading
A Columbia Business School professor suggests a reading list for leaders struggling to hold on to competitive advantage. - s+b BlogsNovember 25, 2015
A Good Barrel for Bad Apples in Business
In their new book, Nobel Prize–winning economists George Akerlof and Robert Shiller argue that free markets can allow unethical business practices to thrive. - November 18, 2015
The Margin of Safety
In his new book, Wall Street Journal veteran Greg Ip makes the counterintuitive argument that the preventive efforts that makes us safe can encourage dangerous risk taking. - November 17, 2015
Why Business Books Still Speak Volumes
Why we read business books, and why we write them. - s+b BlogsNovember 11, 2015
Finding Your Calling Has Advantages and Disadvantages
In a new book, a group of scholars delves into the many ways people find their missions — at work and at home. - November 4, 2015
The Fed’s Original Intent
In his new book, Roger Lowenstein describes how financial crises and political tensions spurred the creation of the U.S.’s central bank. - November 2, 2015
Best Business Books 2015
Our annual review of the year’s best business books. See also Best Business Books 2015 — in Pictures. - November 2, 2015
Best Business Books 2015: Marketing
Capturing Attention – and Data – in a Digital Age - November 2, 2015
Best Business Books 2015: s+b’s Top Shelf
Our annual review of the year’s best business books. - November 2, 2015
Best Business Books 2015 — In Pictures
This photo gallery is part of the article “Best Business Books 2015.” - October 28, 2015
My Tunes
In his new book, Stephen Witt offers a compelling tale of how music industry executives, technologists, and pirates upended the business of selling recorded music. - s+b BlogsOctober 21, 2015
One Algorithm to Rule Them All
The master algorithm will invent everything that can be invented. - October 20, 2015
Breaking Bad Barriers
In her new book, journalist Gillian Tett convincingly shows how companies can be constrained by silos that inhibit collaboration — and how they can break out of them. - s+b BlogsOctober 7, 2015
Roger Martin’s Required Reading
One of the world’s most influential business thinkers talks about the books that shaped his approach to his career. - s+b BlogsSeptember 30, 2015
Leaps in Perspective
If you know your company’s progress up the levels of human evolution, you can help its culture advance to the next stage. - September 29, 2015
The Empathy Solution
Ever-smarter computers may be poised to steal the jobs of a rising number of people. In a new book, Geoff Colvin argues that humans can deploy a secret weapon: their ability to care. - September 23, 2015
Aqua Culture
A new book describes how Israel has relied on technology and smart incentives to turn a water deficit into a liquid surplus. Can California and other arid areas learn the same lessons? - s+b BlogsSeptember 16, 2015
Daniel Pink’s Required Reading
A leading business author talks about the books that shaped his thinking and career. - September 9, 2015
The Surprising Endurance of the Boob Tube
Michael Wolff on the resurgence of TV in the digital age. - September 9, 2015
Go North, Lost Leader
Former CEO Bill George argues that leadership is a journey that requires a special compass if it is to be authentic. - s+b BlogsSeptember 2, 2015
Just Say No
In a new book, leadership expert Ira Chaleff argues teaching employees to disobey orders is an essential management safeguard. - s+b BlogsAugust 26, 2015
Jeffrey Pfeffer’s Required Reading
The Stanford professor calls out four books that illuminate the often-dark paths to power. - August 26, 2015
American Ends with “I Can”!
A collective intellectual effort offers self-help for a nation struggling to adapt to a new global climate. - August 24, 2015
20 Questions for Business Leaders
The entire history of management ideas can be seen as a series of answers to a few pragmatic queries. - s+b BlogsAugust 19, 2015
The Audacity of Holacracy
In Holacracy, Brian J. Robertson proposes we replace the corporate hierarchy with a bossless system. - s+b BlogsJuly 15, 2015
Harry Kraemer’s Required Reading
The b-school professor recommends three books that support the development of value-based leadership. - s+b BlogsJuly 1, 2015
Marshall Goldsmith’s Required Reading
The top-ranked executive coach recommends four books that will make you a better leader. - June 30, 2015
Currency Events
Since its introduction in 2008, bitcoin has enjoyed a rapid and tumultuous rise. Is the digital currency built to last? - June 23, 2015
Are Marshall Goldsmith’s Triggers the Only Way to Change?
The world’s most eminent executive coach demonstrates the high level of discipline needed for sustainable leadership development. - s+b BlogsJune 17, 2015
The Wright Stuff
In a new biography of the brothers who invented the airplane, David McCullough describes the frustrations and triumphs involved in getting aviation off the ground. - June 16, 2015
Why Less Is More
In his new book, marketing guru Philip Kotler identifies debt-supported consumer spending as a flaw of capitalism — along with 13 other shortcomings. - June 9, 2015
A Snack Bar Aims to Change the World
KIND has sold a billion snack bars and clusters. Daniel Lubetzky, its founder and CEO, has bigger things in mind. - June 3, 2015
The Prescriptions of Dr. Sachs
The eminent — and controversial — economist offers a set of cures for the ills of global poverty. It’s not clear the medicine works. - s+b Blogs
- May 26, 2015
It’s Getting Hot in Here
Addressing climate change with a sense of urgency isn’t a matter of morality, two economists argue. It’s about managing risk. - s+b BlogsMay 18, 2015
The Other “F” Word: An Interview with John Danner
The Berkeley professor and his coauthor say companies can no longer afford to treat failure like a dirty secret they have to hide. - May 11, 2015
The Mindful Manager
New York Times reporter David Gelles investigates the rising use of meditation in corporate America. - April 27, 2015
The Race Goes to the Bold
Thriving amid rapid change, authors Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler argue, requires a fearlessness that borders on hubris. - s+b BlogsApril 22, 2015
Welcome to the Marijuana Economy
The CEO of a leading recreational marijuana company argues that the industry is green in more ways than one. - April 13, 2015
Dancing with Yourself
Negotiation guru William Ury argues that self-knowledge is a crucial tool for deal making. - April 6, 2015
Everyone Profits from the Return on Character
Veteran management guru Fred Kiel uses hard data to prove that soft factors like integrity, forgiveness, and compassion energize employees and customers — and deliver better returns. - April 1, 2015
The Ghost of Financial Crises Past
Economic historian Barry Eichengreen finds telling parallels between the botched responses to the stock market crash of 1929 and the financial crisis of 2008. - March 25, 2015
Hey, Leaders: Stop Thinking So Much and Just Do It
To reach your true leadership potential, writes INSEAD professor Herminia Ibarra, push yourself outside your comfort zone. - s+b BlogsMarch 11, 2015
Does Berkshire’s Culture Ensure Its Future?
In his new book, Lawrence A. Cunningham says that Berkshire Hathaway’s corporate culture will enable it to survive without Warren Buffett. - March 2, 2015
Why Beanie Babies Boomed — Then Busted Badly
The 1990s mania surrounding plush toys tells us as much about irrational behavior as the coincident dot-com bubble. - February 23, 2015
What’s Wrong with the Internet?
Author Andrew Keen offers a stirring guide to how the Internet has changed everything — mostly for the worse. - s+b BlogsFebruary 9, 2015
Why Achieving Work-Life Harmony Is More Valuable than Striving for Work-Life Balance
The author of a new book says it’s more productive to integrate your career with your passions, talents, and service to others. - February 9, 2015
Creating Resilient Organizations
Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, describes how to build the capacity to survive disastrous events. - February 9, 2015
What’s Your Relational Intelligence?
In Leading with Sense, Professor Valérie Gauthier defines leaders as genuine, generous, generative — even poetic. - s+b BlogsFebruary 4, 2015
Guy Kawasaki’s Required Reading
Apple’s former chief evangelist talks about the books that most contributed to his success. - February 2, 2015
An Iconic Brand, but at What Cost?
In Citizen Coke, Bartow Elmore serves up a snarky environmental history of Coca-Cola Company. - January 28, 2015
The Hard Work of Invention
Walter Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute and author of Steve Jobs, plumbs the history of digitization to get to the roots of successful innovation. - s+b BlogsJanuary 27, 2015
Leading, the Rickover Way
In Against the Tide, retired rear admiral Dave Oliver examines the management techniques of Hyman G. Rickover, the father of the nuclear navy. - s+b BlogsJanuary 21, 2015
Stop Managing Generational Diversity
Thomas Koulopoulos and Dan Keldsen argue that companies should bridge gaps among various age groups, not reinforce them. - s+b BlogsJanuary 14, 2015
Give-to-Get Corporate Partnering
In The Reciprocity Advantage, Bob Johansen and Karl Ronn argue that the most successful partnerships start with sharing, not protecting, your intellectual capital. - January 12, 2015
A Sprinter’s Guide to Project Management
Jeff Sutherland, codeveloper of scrum, explains how to raise the success rate of your company’s initiatives using the software development method. - s+b BlogsJanuary 5, 2015
Zombify Your Customers
High-tech blogger Nir Eyal describes a positive feedback loop for getting customers hooked on your products and services. - s+b BlogsDecember 17, 2014
Automation’s Adverse Effects
In The Glass Cage, Nicholas Carr reminds us that almost every business decision involves tradeoffs. - s+b BlogsDecember 9, 2014
Improving Employee Well-Being by Default
Brian Wansink explains how to help employees make healthy choices in Slim by Design. - December 8, 2014
How Primal Instincts Influence Office Design
Witold Rybczynski, author of How Architecture Works, introduces a lesson in how the design of our buildings can bolster employee productivity, from The Best Place to Work, by Ron Friedman. - s+b BlogsDecember 2, 2014
How to Avoid Bad Investments in Good Ideas
Michael Schrage proposes a fast, cheap, experiment-driven approach to boosting the bottom line in The Innovator’s Hypothesis. - November 24, 2014
Capability Bending
Jason Jennings, author of The Reinventors, introduces a lesson in leveraging existing capabilities from How to Kill a Unicorn, by Mark Payne. - s+b BlogsNovember 6, 2014
Adam Smith’s Other Book
Economist Russ Roberts explores Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments, a 255- year-old guide to the good life. - s+b BlogsNovember 4, 2014
How to Be Privileged Like Louis XIV
A favored position creates authentic leadership only when it is tempered by accountability. - November 3, 2014
Best Business Books 2014: s+b’s Top Shelf
Our annual review of the year’s best business books. See also Best Business Books 2014—in Pictures. - November 3, 2014
Best Business Books 2014
Our annual review of the year’s best business books. See also Best Business Books 2014—in Pictures. - s+b BlogsOctober 29, 2014
The Virgin chronicles
Richard Branson’s books demonstrate how an entrepreneur’s drive and verve can turn seemingly crazy ideas into reality. - October 20, 2014
When Not to Multitask
Nicholas Carr, author of The Glass Cage: Automation and Us, introduces a lesson in generating deeper insights from The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload, by Daniel J. Levitin. - s+b BlogsOctober 16, 2014
Reframing Sales Effectiveness
Aligning Strategy and Sales is the best sales book of the year — and one that senior executives should read. - s+b BlogsOctober 9, 2014
The Price of Privatizing War
Modern Mercenary is a fascinating look at the free market for force and the companies that profit from it. - September 29, 2014
The Business of Coming Out at Work
Former BP CEO John Browne argues that self-disclosure is the right course for LGBT employees in The Glass Closet. - s+b BlogsSeptember 23, 2014
The Business Approach to Climate Change
John Elkington and Jochen Zeitz’s new book proposes how to achieve the triple bottom line of planet, people, and profits. - September 22, 2014
Trust Me, Trust Me Not
Barry Nalebuff, coauthor of Co-opetition, introduces a passage on when to—and when not to—believe what others say, from The Power of Noticing, by Max Bazerman. - s+b BlogsSeptember 10, 2014
Location, Location, Location
Wharton marketing professor David Bell explores how the real world affects the success of internet companies. - s+b BlogsSeptember 3, 2014
Seeking Social Failures
IMD professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski describes three concepts that can help companies craft more effective social strategies. - August 25, 2014
Know Thy Audience
Nick Morgan, author of Power Cues: The Subtle Science of Leading Groups, Persuading Others, and Maximizing Your Personal Impact, introduces a timeless lesson about crafting clear messages from Supercommunicator: Explaining the Complicated So Anyone Can Understand, by Frank J. Pietrucha. - August 19, 2014
Risky Business
A new book argues that the dangers of risk aversion often outweigh the risk of making mistakes. - August 1, 2014
The Downside of Competition
In A Bigger Prize, former CEO Margaret Heffernan argues that the corporate world has an unhealthy obsession with winning. - August 1, 2014
Genius Is a Team Effort
Michael Schrage reviews two notable books by veteran Silicon Valley journalists that seek to explain collaborative charisma. - July 30, 2014
A New Hat for Negotiators
If you want to become a better deal-maker, start by examining who you are at the table. - July 28, 2014
Tomorrow’s Leaders Need Diverse Challenges Today
Cynthia D. McCauley, coeditor of Experience-Driven Leader Development: Models, Tools, Best Practices, and Advice for On-the-Job Development, introduces a career development lesson from It’s Not the How or the What but the Who: Succeed by Surrounding Yourself with the Best, by Claudio Fernández-Aráoz. - July 24, 2014
What the Beautiful Game Reveals about the Dismal Science
Soccer, says Ignacio Palacios-Huerta, is a perfect laboratory for testing economic theory. - s+b BlogsJuly 23, 2014
Beach Reading…Boardroom Style
Your summer vacation is the perfect time to relax, lie back, take in some sun, and learn something new about leadership. - July 10, 2014
Navigating Innovation’s Perilous First Mile
Innovation expert Scott D. Anthony has a toolkit for surviving the wreck-strewn entrepreneurial journey, from initial concept to reality. - July 7, 2014
Why Marketers Should Be Followers
Itamar Simonson and Emanuel Rosen describe new patterns in consumer decision making that are shaking up traditional marketing strategies. - July 1, 2014
What Marketers Can Learn From Contemporary Art
Economist Don Thompson says a product’s value can rise if it’s accompanied by a compelling backstory, reputation, or buying experience. - June 20, 2014
Second Thoughts about Bad Bosses
Susan Cramm, author of 8 Things We Hate about I.T.: How to Move beyond the Frustrations to Form a New Partnership with I.T., introduces a lesson in assessing bosses from The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Getting Ahead: Dos and Don’ts of Right Behavior, Tough Thinking, Clear Writing, and Living a Good Life, by Charles Murray. - June 18, 2014
Understanding China’s Resource Quest
Elizabeth Economy and Michael Levi argue that China’s demand for natural resources is unlikely to result in further price shocks. - May 28, 2014
The End of Work, Revisited
Two decades after Jeremy Rifkin predicted that private sector jobs would disappear, his controversial view sounds far more likely, and far less ominous. - May 21, 2014
Does capitalism create social mobility?
In The Son Also Rises, UC Davis economic historian Gregory Clark tracks surnames over hundreds of years to better understand social mobility.
- May 19, 2014
How Strikebreaking Hurt Innovation
Les Leopold, author of How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour: Why Hedge Funds Get Away with Siphoning Off America’s Wealth, introduces a passage on the debilitating effects of mass firings from Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t, by Simon Sinek. - May 14, 2014
What Part of No Don’t You Understand?
Two new books suggest that how salespeople respond to “no” is a primary determinant in their success. - May 12, 2014
China’s Strategic Challenge
In Can China Lead? a trio of business school professors argue that unless the Chinese Communist Party loosens its grip, the China “miracle” cannot be sustained. - May 12, 2014
It’s Better to Receive Than to Give
In Thanks for the Feedback, Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen argue that the smart investment is not teaching managers how to give feedback, but rather teaching employees how to receive it. - May 12, 2014
A Triple Scoop of Social Responsibility
Journalist Brad Edmondson’s recounting of the Ben & Jerry’s story, Ice Cream Social, focuses on the difficulties of living up to high-minded corporate mission statements after new owners take control. - May 7, 2014
A Toast to Industry Disruption
In The Craft Beer Revolution, Steve Hindy traces an industry disruption that gives beer drinkers reason to cheer. - April 28, 2014
Moore’s Law Is Still Changing Everything
In The Second Machine Age, two MIT professors show how the exponential growth of new technologies is remaking the world. - April 8, 2014
Innovation Begins with Three Questions
In A More Beautiful Question, Warren Berger says that asking “why, what if, and how” can help companies become more efficient and creative. - March 25, 2014
The Long Road to U.S. Healthcare Reform
In Reinventing American Health Care, professor Ezekiel Emanuel predicts that the benefits of reform are still years away. - March 21, 2014
Mind Your Feedback
Douglas Stone, coauthor of Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well (Even When It Is Off-Base, Unfair, Poorly Delivered, and Frankly, You’re Not in the Mood), introduces a cautionary lesson in assessing others from Embodied Leadership: A Somatic Approach to Developing Your Leadership, by Pete Hamill. - March 19, 2014
Alternative Systems for Corporate Survival
John Kotter and Rita Gunther McGrath both argue that change will inevitably overwhelm hierarchical management systems, but their solutions differ. - March 17, 2014
Organize Like a Startup
Legacy companies looking to increase agility and collaboration can take a few lessons from new firms. - March 12, 2014
The Freaky Friday Management Technique
In The Hard Thing about Hard Things, VC Ben Horowitz offers a creative solution for resolving conflict among organizational silos. - March 5, 2014
Outing Gender Bias
In What Works for Women at Work, Joan C. Williams and Rachel Dempsey identify four, often unrecognized, patterns of discriminatory attitudes toward women.
- February 26, 2014
Muckraking Is Alive and Well
In The Watchdog That Didn’t Bark, Dean Starkman rebukes the business press for missing the epic fraud that led to the Great Recession.
- February 19, 2014
A Sucker’s Bet in Sochi
After reading the International Handbook on the Economics of Mega Sporting Events, it’s hard to see how Russia will benefit from hosting the Winter Olympics. - February 14, 2014
How Do You Compete?
Roger Martin, coauthor of Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works, introduces a lesson on the proper foundation for core competencies from Compete Smarter, Not Harder: A Process for Developing the Right Priorities through Strategic Thinking, by William Putsis. - s+b BlogsFebruary 12, 2014
How’s Your Brand’s Love Life?
Consultant and author Tim Halloran thinks it’s time to inject some romance into brand marketing. - February 11, 2014
The Trouble with Sunspots
A personality-driven history of economic forecasting by business historian Walter Friedman points up the limitations of the prediction business, then and now. - February 11, 2014
The Lion versus the Fox
David Hurst reviews Professor Lawrence Freedman’s magisterial new history of strategy, which underscores the discipline’s central elements and limits. - February 11, 2014
The Rise and Fall of Western Innovation
A review of Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge, and Change, by Edmund Phelps. - February 11, 2014
The Big Promise of Open Data
Nancy Scola reviews Joel Gurin’s Open Data Now, the first book to detail the rich business opportunities in open data and the challenges in capturing them. - February 11, 2014
Working Together Apart
Scott Berkun’s chronicle of his stint as a team leader at WordPress.com offers insights for companies with distributed structures. - February 5, 2014
Employee Management in the “Big Data” Era
According to the authors of The Decoded Company, it’s time to know your employees better than your customers. - January 29, 2014
Improvisational Selling
Steve Yastrow says improvisation is a far more effective sales tool than the hackneyed pitch—but there are limitations. - January 22, 2014
Fiddling at Davos, as Capitalism Burns
If the authors of Does Capitalism Have a Future? are right, this year’s WEF attendees should take a hard look at business as usual. - January 17, 2014
Babes at Work
Bruce Poon Tip, author of Looptail: How One Company Changed the World by Reinventing Business, introduces a passage from Richard Sheridan’s Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love on how to build an employee-centric corporate culture. - January 15, 2014
Beware the “CEO Bubble”
Former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski paid an unjustly high price for the crime of losing perspective, according to a new book by Catherine S. Neal. - January 6, 2014
The Keys to Leadership: Your Brain and My Grandmother
A new year should herald new ways of thinking about business. - January 3, 2014
Can Business Find Value in Joy?
An IT services firm has developed a business model that it believes delivers joy to both employees and customers. - December 23, 2013
The Price and Prize of Strategic Partnering
Successful collaborations create transformational value, according to BP executive Luc Bardin. - December 18, 2013
How Apple Built Its Design Capability
A new biography of Apple design chief Jony Ive offers valuable lessons to leaders seeking to develop strategic capabilities. - December 11, 2013
How Creepy Is Your Company?
In The Circle, novelist Dave Eggers creates a techno-dystopia that does a better job of driving home the dangers of digitization than any nonfiction polemic to date. - December 4, 2013
Make Big Bets
Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse argues that making a few big gambles may be a safer long-term strategy than sticking to small investments. - December 2, 2013
Best Business Books 2013
Our annual review of the year’s best business books. See also Best Business Books 2013—in Pictures. - December 2, 2013
Best Business Books 2013: s+b’s Top Shelf
Our annual review of the year’s best business books. - November 27, 2013
When It Comes to Customer Service, Don’t Say No
Lewis P. Carbone, author of Clued In: How to Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again, introduces an excerpt on how to eliminate negative cues from The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty, by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi. - November 26, 2013
Seeking Scale in the Maker Movement
Mark Hatch, the CEO of TechShop, is betting that the new wave of high-tech DIY will bolster innovation and the growth of this nascent industry. - November 20, 2013
A Call for True Machiavellian Leadership
According to scholar Maurizio Viroli, leaders cited The Prince as a rationale for unethical behavior for far too long. Accomplish something great instead. - November 13, 2013
Tapping into Your Inner Creative
Tom and David Kelley of IDEO show readers how to channel the creativity they never knew they had. - November 6, 2013
From Halfway around the World to a Store Near You
Journalist and author Rose George recounts her voyage on a container ship, transporting goods across the globe. - November 1, 2013
Small Talk, Big Results
Keith Ferrazzi, author of Who’s Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success—and Won’t Let You Fail, introduces a passage on the value of connecting with co-workers from The Necessity of Strangers: The Intriguing Truth about Insight, Innovation, and Success, by Alan Gregerman. - October 30, 2013
Two Books That Will Make You a Better Leader
Edgar Schein can teach you to be a better helper and more effective questioner—skills that are essential to your leadership success. - October 23, 2013
Cow Clicker, DARPA, and the Power of Gaming
Adam Penenberg’s new book examines how video games are being used to enhance organizations and improve lives. - October 16, 2013
Corporate Raiders and Their Minions: A History
In his new book, John Weir Close recounts the modern era of hostile takeovers. - October 8, 2013
An Entrepreneur’s Journey to Business Nirvana
How G Adventures’s founder Bruce Poon Tip built a successful business by following his bliss. - October 2, 2013
The Management Stylings of Harvard Business School
How the “vocal silence” used to communicate professorial mores at HBS can make a difference at your company. - September 26, 2013
How to Sidestep the Excellence Trap
Rita Gunther McGrath, author of The End of Competitive Advantage: How to Keep Your Strategy Moving as Fast as Your Business, introduces a passage about when—and when not—to demand excellence from Tipping Sacred Cows: Kick the Bad Work Habits That Masquerade as Virtues, by Jake Breeden. - September 25, 2013
Leadership Lessons from the World of Walt Disney
Disney legend Marty Sklar’s new memoir-cum-business book offers great backstage stories—and insights for leaders. - September 17, 2013
What Is the Wellspring of Innovation?
Nobel Prize–winning economist Edmund Phelps argues that innovation and the prosperity it engenders are a function of our values. - September 16, 2013
The World’s Largest Ungoverned Space
Google executives Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen examine the political ramifications of digital ubiquity in The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations, and Business. - September 11, 2013
Comic Books, Iced Tea, and the Secret to Winning in Business
Honest Tea founders Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff explain—graphically—how they brewed up a successful company. - September 3, 2013
Beware Sophomoric Self-Obsession
Art Kleiner, author of The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management, introduces a leadership lesson from Managers as Mentors: Building Partnerships for Learning, 3rd Edition, by Chip R. Bell and Marshall Goldsmith. - August 28, 2013
Why I Get My Best Ideas in the Shower
Ori Brafman and Judah Pollack explain why a little distraction can lead to business innovation. - August 27, 2013
The Wizards of Money
In The Alchemists, economic journalist Neil Irwin argues that the financial crisis of 2007–08 made the central bankers of the U.S., U.K., and Europe the most powerful people on earth. - August 27, 2013
Strategic Change without Tears
A review of Strategic Transformation: Changing while Winning, by Manuel Hensmans, Gerry Johnson, and George Yip. - August 27, 2013
A Robot Ate My Job
A review of Metaskills: Five Talents for the Robotic Age, by Marty Neumeier. - August 27, 2013
Feminine Values Ascending
A review of The Athena Doctrine: How Women (and the Men Who Think Like Them) Will Rule the Future, by John Gerzema and Michael D’Antonio - August 21, 2013
Can Your Career Survive Transient Competitive Advantage?
Rita Gunther McGrath helps you determine how ready you are for an accelerated business lifecycle. - August 14, 2013
In “Drone Corporations,” Self-Interest Prevails
In his new book, Robert A.G. Monks indicts more than half of the Fortune 500, a handful of giant institutional shareholders, and the U.S. Supreme Court for hijacking the American Dream. - August 7, 2013
How You Can Be a Great Mentor, and a Great Protégé
Chip Bell teams up with Marshall Goldsmith in the third edition of his best-selling business book on mentorship. - August 2, 2013
Mother Nature Doesn’t Care about Your Green Ranking
Gil Friend, author of The Truth about Green Business, introduces a passage that debunks sustainability ratings from Flourishing: A Frank Conversation about Sustainability, by John R. Ehrenfeld and Andrew J. Hoffman. - July 31, 2013
What Managers Can Learn from Mediators
In Common Ground on Hostile Turf, environmental mediator Lucy Moore offers insights applicable to change management. - July 24, 2013
Government Subsidies Pave the Way in China
Professors Usha Haley and George Haley identify the origin of Chinese dominance in four major industries. - July 17, 2013
Thinking Inside the Box
A new book on creativity turns the conventional approach to business innovation on its head. - July 10, 2013
Resurrecting a Forgotten Capitalist
David Farber’s seminal bio of John J. Raskob sets the business context for The Great Gatsby. - July 3, 2013
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia
Mohsin Hamid’s new novel raises perennial questions about the sacrifices we make to get ahead. - June 28, 2013
Share the Digital Wealth
George Dyson, author of Turing’s Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe, introduces a passage arguing for a more equitable distribution of the wealth created on the Internet from Who Owns the Future? by Jaron Lanier. - June 26, 2013
Smarter Executive Decision Making Is Within Reach
Dan Heath, the coauthor of Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, explains how to raise the quality of your company’s decisions. - June 19, 2013
AT&T from Apples to iPhones
Ed Whitacre rescued a couple of iconic American companies, but a few years too late for my family. - June 13, 2013
Another Facet of Globalization
In Story of My People, Edoardo Nesi explores that fate of his family’s company—and of local industry—amid rising global competition. - May 31, 2013
Straight Talk about Change
Ed Whitacre, author of American Turnaround: Reinventing AT&T and GM and the Way We Do Business in the USA, introduces an uncommonly clear passage on managing change from Leading Successful Change: 8 Keys to Making Change Work, by Gregory P. Shea and Cassie A. Solomon. - May 28, 2013
Skill or Luck?
A review of The Success Equation: Untangling Skill and Luck in Business, Sports, and Investing, by Michael J. Mauboussin. - May 28, 2013
The Practitioner’s Tale
A review of Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy: Markets, Speculation, and the State, by William H. Janeway. - May 28, 2013
Toward a Better-Informed Cynicism
A review of The Org: The Underlying Logic of the Office, by Ray Fisman and Tim Sullivan. - May 28, 2013
Many-to-Many Manufacturing
A review of Makers: The New Industrial Revolution, by Chris Anderson. - May 6, 2013
The Manager as Maker
Don Tapscott, who has written 15 books, most recently Radical Openness: Four Unexpected Principles for Success, introduces an excerpt that demonstrates how openness to new business practices and work settings can unleash human capital, from The Soul of Design: Harnessing the Power of Plot to Create Extraordinary Products, by Lee Devin and Robert D. Austin. - March 29, 2013
A Mind-Set for Success
Judith E. Glaser, author of Creating WE: Change I-Thinking to We-Thinking and Build a Healthy Thriving Organization, introduces a passage illuminating the drivers of success from Leadership and the Art of Struggle: How Great Leaders Grow through Challenge and Adversity, by Steven Snyder. - March 1, 2013
You Gotta Serve Somebody
Jeff Thull, author of Mastering the Complex Sale: How to Compete and Win When the Stakes Are High, introduces a passage that overturns negative stereotypes about sales from To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth about Moving Others, by Daniel H. Pink. - February 26, 2013
Sourcing Growth
A review of Build, Borrow, or Buy, by Laurence Capron and Will Mitchell. - February 26, 2013
Need Skills? Start Training
A review of Why Good People Can’t Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Can Do about It, by Peter Cappelli. - February 26, 2013
Betting against the Fragilistas
A review of Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. - February 1, 2013
How Much Is Enough?
James A. Ogilvy, author of Creating Better Futures: Scenario Planning as a Tool for a Better Tomorrow, introduces a passage on the limits of executive compensation from Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business, by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia. - January 4, 2013
More Than Words
George S. Yip, co-author of Strategic Transformation: Changing While Winning, introduces an excerpt from Management in 10 Words: Practical Advice from the Man Who Created One of the World’s Largest Retailers, by Terry Leahy, that explores the anchoring effect of business values. - November 30, 2012
Paging Dr. Bot
Joe Flower, author of Healthcare beyond Reform: Doing It Right for Half the Cost, introduces a passage describing how automation can improve healthcare outcomes and reduce costs from Automate This: How Algorithms Came to Rule Our World, by Christopher Steiner. - November 27, 2012
Best Business Books 2012: s+b’s Top Shelf
- November 2, 2012
The Best Defense
Jim Stengel, author of Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies, introduces an excerpt presenting tactics for protecting your market share from Defending Your Brand: How Smart Companies Use Defensive Strategy to Deal with Competitive Attacks, by Tim Calkins. - September 28, 2012
The Value of Being Second
Oded Shenkar, author of Copycats: How Smart Companies Use Imitation to Gain a Strategic Edge, introduces an excerpt on the wisdom of entering markets after first movers from The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking, by Eli Broad. - September 3, 2012
Four Traits of Collaborative Leaders
Zachary Tumin and William Bratton, coauthors of Collaborate or Perish! Reaching across Boundaries in a Networked World, introduce an excerpt about how managers can become collaboration catalysts from The Collaboration Imperative: Executive Strategies for Unlocking Your Organization’s True Potential, by Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese. - August 28, 2012
Gatorade for Innovators
A review of Reverse Innovation, by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble. - August 28, 2012
A Global Mash-Up
A review of Standing on the Sun, by Christopher Meyer with Julia Kirby. - August 3, 2012
Drucker’s Rule
Stephen M.R. Covey, author of Smart Trust: Creating Prosperity, Energy, and Joy in a Low-Trust World, introduces a lesson in structured listening from Talk, Inc.: How Trusted Leaders Use Conversation to Power Their Organizations, by Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind. - June 29, 2012
Mad about Leadership
James O’Toole, author of more than a dozen leadership and management books, and coeditor of Good Business: Exercising Effective and Ethical Leadership, introduces an excerpt from The End of Leadership, by Barbara Kellerman, that takes the leadership industry to task. - June 1, 2012
Delay Can Pay
Justin Pettit, coauthor of Merge Ahead: Mastering the Five Enduring Trends of Artful M&A, introduces a new perspective on decision making from Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, by Frank Partnoy. - May 29, 2012
The Care and Feeding of Shareholders
A review of Winning Investors Over, by Baruch Lev. - April 27, 2012
Engagement Isn’t Enough
Ann Rhoades, author of Built on Values: Creating an Enviable Culture That Outperforms the Competition, introduces a lesson in attaining the full potential of employees from All In: How the Best Managers Create a Culture of Belief and Drive Big Results, by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton. - March 30, 2012
When Failure Isn’t Free
Chris Trimble, coauthor of Reverse Innovation: Create Far from Home, Win Everywhere, introduces an excerpt from Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure, by Tim Harford, which offers a troubling perspective on the outlook for innovation. - March 2, 2012
The Soft Stuff Is the Hard Stuff
Douglas R. Conant, coauthor of TouchPoints: Creating Powerful Leadership Connections in the Smallest of Moments, introduces an excerpt from The 3rd Alternative: Solving Life’s Most Difficult Problems, by Stephen R. Covey, that proposes a more thoughtful approach for problem resolution. - February 26, 2012
The Upside of Management Gurus
A review of Masters of Management, by Adrian Wooldridge. - February 26, 2012
The Travails of the U.S. Auto Industry
A review of Once upon a Car, by Bill Vlasic. - February 26, 2012
Disruptive Innovation
A review of The Innovator’s Manifesto, by Michael E. Raynor. - February 26, 2012
Disruptive Innovators
A review of The Innovator’s DNA, by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton M. Christensen. - February 3, 2012
Leaders Resolve Contradiction
Ronald Heifetz, coauthor, with Marty Linsky and Alexander Grashow, of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World, introduces a lesson in leadership from Inside Coca-Cola: A CEO’s Life Story of Building the World’s Most Popular Brand, by Neville Isdell with David Beasley. - December 23, 2011
The Jobs Engine
Carl J. Schramm, author of Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity, introduces a lesson in power and the sources of good jobs from The Coming Jobs War: What Every Leader Must Know about the Future of Job Creation, by Jim Clifton. - December 2, 2011
What Can You Do Better?
Paul Leinwand, coauthor, with Cesare Mainardi, of The Essential Advantage: How to Win with a Capabilities-Driven Strategy, introduces a guiding maxim for CSR success from Winning Investors Over: Surprising Truths about Honesty, Earnings Guidance, and Other Ways to Boost Your Stock Price, by Baruch Lev. - November 21, 2011
Highlights from the Decade
strategy+business published its first “Best Business Books” section in Winter 2001. Here, in retrospect, is the book from each year that we think was most significant. - October 28, 2011
Our Own Worst Enemies
Louis Carter, editor of Best Practices in Talent Management: How the World’s Leading Corporations Manage, Develop, and Retain Top Talent (coedited with Marshall Goldsmith), introduces a lesson on the best practices mind-set from The Responsible Business: Reimagining Sustainability and Success, by Carol Sanford. - September 30, 2011
How to Be Irresistible to Women
Sally Helgesen, coauthor of The Female Vision: Women’s Real Power at Work, introduces a case study in hiring and retaining female talent from Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women Are the Solution, by Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid. - September 1, 2011
Bottling Customer Experience
Theodore Kinni, coauthor of Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service, introduces a lesson in creating product-based customer experiences from The Method Method: 7 Obsessions That Helped Our Scrappy Start-Up Turn an Industry Upside Down, by Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry, with Lucas Conley. - August 23, 2011
Toyota’s Crisis
A review of Toyota under Fire, by Jeffrey K. Liker and Timothy Ogden. - August 23, 2011
The Enduring Principles of High-Tech Success
A review of Staying Power, by Michael A. Cusumano. - July 29, 2011
Place Your Bets
Robert B. Tucker, author of Innovation Is Everybody’s Business: How to Make Yourself Indispensable in Today’s Hypercompetitive World, introduces a lesson in innovation from Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries, by Peter Sims. - July 1, 2011
Remember the Cube
James M. Kouzes, coauthor (with Barry Z. Posner) of The Leadership Challenge, introduces a passage on the importance of remembering where you started that appears in From Values to Action: The Four Principles of Values-Based Leadership, by Harry M. Jansen Kraemer Jr. - June 3, 2011
A Sweet Victory
Reed K. Holden, coauthor, with Mark R. Burton, of Pricing with Confidence: 10 Ways to Stop Leaving Money on the Table, introduces a lesson in taking on market leaders from Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Goliath in Your Industry, by Stephen Denny. - May 24, 2011
New Views of Microeconomics
A review of Identity Economics, by George A. Akerlof and Rachel E. Kranton. - April 29, 2011
How Lucky Do You Feel?
Gregory Unruh, author of Earth, Inc.: Using Nature’s Rules to Build Sustainable Profits, introduces a passage about the price of critical resources from The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do, by Eduardo Porter. - April 1, 2011
Build It and They Will Invest
Jeffrey Schwartz, co-author (with Rebecca Gladding) of You Are Not Your Brain: The 4-Step Solution for Changing Bad Habits, Ending Unhealthy Thinking, and Taking Control of Your Life (to be published by Avery/Penguin in June), introduces a lesson in the power of entrepreneurial passion from It’s a Jungle in There: Inspiring Lessons, Hard-Won Insights, and Other Acts of Entrepreneurial Daring, by Steven Schussler with Marvin Karlins. - February 25, 2011
Whining Ways
Janelle M. Barlow, coauthor (with Claus Møller) of A Complaint Is a Gift: Recovering Customer Loyalty When Things Go Wrong, introduces a lesson in the value of complaining co-workers from Workarounds That Work: How to Conquer Anything That Stands in Your Way at Work, by Russell Bishop. - February 22, 2011
Management Basics
A review of The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Management, by Alan Murray. - February 22, 2011
Getting beyond Green: Envisioning an Industrial Reboot
Some executives and scientists are calling for a radical rethinking of chemicals, cars, farms, and our future. - January 28, 2011
Work That Metaphor
Bo Burlingham, author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, introduces a lesson in the power of design from CAD Monkeys, Dinosaur Babies, and T-Shaped People: Inside the World of Design Thinking and How It Can Spark Creativity and Innovation, by Warren Berger. - January 3, 2011
The Seven Deadly Sins of Measurement
Jim Champy, coauthor, with Harry Greenspun, of Reengineering Health Care: A Manifesto for Radically Rethinking Health Care Delivery, introduces a lesson on the pitfalls of measurement from Faster, Cheaper, Better: The 9 Levers for Transforming How Work Gets Done, by Michael Hammer and Lisa W. Hershman. - December 3, 2010
How Learning Leads to Results
Matthew E. May, author of The Shibumi Strategy: A Powerful Way to Create Meaningful Change, introduces a passage on the critical role of a learning focus in innovation from The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge, by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble. - November 23, 2010
Best Business Books 2010
- November 23, 2010
Family Matters
Marshall Goldsmith, author of Mojo, introduces a passage on the difficulties of balancing work and family, from You Can’t Predict a Hero, by Joseph J. Grano Jr. - November 15, 2010
Highlights from 15 Years of s+b Book Reviews
A select shelf of books that not only expanded the corporate lexicon, but still have the power to change the way we see the world and do business. - October 29, 2010
Beer, Brats, and Butterfat
Regina E. Herzlinger, author of Who Killed Health Care? America’s $2 Trillion Medical Problem — and the Consumer-Driven Cure, introduces a passage on how businesses can lower healthcare costs and improve employee health from The Company That Solved Health Care: How Serigraph Dramatically Reduced Skyrocketing Costs While Providing Better Care, and How Every Company Can Do the Same, by John Torinus Jr. - October 1, 2010
Donning a Leader’s Garb
James O’Toole, coeditor of Good Business: Exercising Effective and Ethical Leadership, introduces a passage on how the role shapes the leader from Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership, by Warren Bennis with Patricia Ward Biederman. - September 2, 2010
It Is about You
Jon R. Katzenbach, coauthor of Leading Outside the Lines: How to Mobilize the (in)Formal Organization, Energize Your Team, and Get Better Results, introduces a passage on the importance of self-awareness from Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best…and Learn from the Worst, by Robert I. Sutton. - August 24, 2010
What experience would you like with that?
How a new view of consumers changed the way we think about products, companies, and economies. - August 24, 2010
Prosperity Lost and Regained
A review of The Road from Ruin, by Matthew Bishop and Michael Green. - August 24, 2010
Bill Gore’s Formula for Failure
Rich Teerlink, author, with Lee Ozley, of More Than a Motorcycle, introduces a passage on how managers can empower their workforce, from Freedom, Inc., by Brian M. Carney and Isaac Getz. - August 24, 2010
Prosperity Redistributed
A review of The Spirit Level, by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. - July 30, 2010
Where Were the Women?
Harriet Rubin, author of The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women, introduces a passage on the urgent need for a more inclusive approach to leadership from The Female Vision: Women’s Real Power at Work, by Sally Helgesen and Julie Johnson. - July 1, 2010
Putting the WOW in Service
Ken Blanchard, coauthor of Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach to Customer Service, introduces a passage about how great customer service builds brands and loyalty from Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, by Tony Hsieh. - May 27, 2010
Akbank Goes Mobile
Edward Landry, coauthor of The Four Pillars of Profit-Driven Marketing: How to Maximize Creativity, Accountability, and ROI, introduces a passage on how analytics create competitive advantage from The Deciding Factor: The Power of Analytics to Make Every Decision a Winner, by Larry Rosenberger and John Nash, with Ann Graham. - May 25, 2010
Three Degrees of Influence
Keith Ferrazzi introduces a passage on the influential power of smaller social networks. - May 25, 2010
Seeing Your Company as a System
Much-needed guidance on making companies more employee-centered, adaptive, and capable. - May 25, 2010
Media Moguls Get Taken to Task
A review of The Curse of the Mogul, by Jonathan A. Knee, Bruce C. Greenwald, and Ava Seave. - April 30, 2010
Getting Back on Track
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com and author of Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, introduces a lesson on how to rally employees around a unified plan from Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. - April 19, 2010
Coping with Commoditization
A review of Beating the Commodity Trap, by Richard A. D’Aveni. - April 2, 2010
The Uncommon Practice of Common Purpose
James H. Gilmore, coauthor of Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want, introduces a tale of learning from unusual places found in Common Purpose: How Great Leaders Get Organizations to Achieve the Extraordinary, by Joel Kurtzman. - February 26, 2010
Don’t Ignore the Transparency Imperative
Nell Minow, coauthor of Corporate Governance, introduces a lesson in corporate transparency from The Responsibility Revolution: How the Next Generation of Businesses Will Win, by Jeffrey Hollender and Bill Breen. - February 23, 2010
Seven Chapters of Strategic Wisdom
A shortcut to the big themes in the conversation about corporate strategy. - February 23, 2010
Goldman’s “We”-Conscious Culture
Greg Farrell, author of Corporate Crooks: How Rogue Executives Ripped Off Americans...and Congress Helped Them Do It!, highlights the cohesive corporate culture at Goldman Sachs that is on view in The Partnership: The Making of Goldman Sachs, by Charles D. Ellis. - February 23, 2010
A Path to Better Decisions
A review of Think Twice: Harnessing the Power of Counterintuition, by Michael J. Mauboussin. - February 23, 2010
The Clay Feet of Management Science
A review of The Management Myth: Why the Experts Keep Getting It Wrong, by Matthew Stewart. - February 23, 2010
Why “Built to Last” Companies Didn’t
A review of How the Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In, by Jim Collins. - February 23, 2010
A New Way to Look at Human Behavior
A review of Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique, by Michael S. Gazzaniga. - February 3, 2010
Charles Darwin, Management Guru
Seth Godin, author of Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, introduces a lesson on the role of diversity in business success from Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business without Losing Your Self, by Alan M. Webber. - January 6, 2010
Performance Reviews on Steroids
Art Kleiner, author of The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management, uncovers an effective and ongoing way to create employee alignment and accountability in Just Ask Leadership: Why Great Managers Always Ask the Right Questions, by Gary B. Cohen. - December 2, 2009
Managing Naturally
Walter Kiechel III, author of The Lords of Strategy: The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World (forthcoming, March 2010), introduces an excerpt from Managing by Henry Mintzberg that proposes a more organic view of managers and their work. - November 24, 2009
Best Business Books 2009
- November 24, 2009
Best Business Books 2009: s+b’s Top Shelf
- November 4, 2009
Can You Support Your Successor?
Frances Hesselbein, author of Hesselbein on Leadership, introduces a lesson on one of the many pitfalls that leaders must avoid as they prepare to hand over the reins from Succession, by Marshall Goldsmith. - October 7, 2009
The Successful Entrepreneur’s Secret
Scott D. Anthony, author of The Silver Lining: An Innovation Playbook for Uncertain Times, introduces a lesson in correcting your company’s course from Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company — and Revolutionized an Industry, by Marc Benioff and Carlye Adler. - September 9, 2009
What Is — and Isn’t — Micromanaging?
Blythe McGarvie, author of Shaking the Globe: Courageous Decision-Making in a Changing World, introduces a lesson in raising the level of corporate discourse from Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask, by Ram Charan. - August 27, 2009
Selling Gets Complex
The Internet, technology, and globalization have changed this age-old game for good. - August 27, 2009
Storytelling’s Value for Management
A review of Management Rewired, by Charles S. Jacobs. - August 12, 2009
An Antidote to Callousness
Barbara Kellerman, author of Followership: How Followers Are Creating Change and Changing Leaders, introduces an excerpt on dealing with opponents of change from The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Techniques for Changing Your Organization and the World, by Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky. - July 15, 2009
The Case against Future Shock
Art Kleiner, author of The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management, introduces a lesson in historical perspective from Future Savvy: Identifying Trends to Make Better Decisions, Manage Uncertainty, and Profit from Change by Adam Gordon. - June 17, 2009
The Statistician Who Ate Humble Pie
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, introduces an engaging lesson in business forecasting from Dance with Chance: Making Luck Work for You, by Spyros Makridakis, Robin Hogarth, and Anil Gaba. - May 26, 2009
Meltdowns Past and Present
A review of The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics, by Richard C. Koo. - May 26, 2009
Epics of Enterprise
A connoisseur of corporate histories conducts a guided tour of the favorites in his collection. - February 24, 2009
Books in Brief
Fixing the mortgage meltdown, mastering disruptive change, inculcating a sense of urgency, and exploring drama at the Economist. - February 24, 2009
Sustainable Goes Strategic
Learning from the literature of corporate environmentalism. - November 25, 2008
Best Business Books 2008: Capitalism and Community
In Search of Entrepreneurial Spirit - August 26, 2008
Books in Brief
Why financial markets are brittle, companies stop growing, Ryanair took off, and plans succeed or fail. - August 26, 2008
Managing to See
How visual tools and techniques help managers lead with the whole brain. - June 10, 2008
Books in Brief
The mensch of corporate turnarounds, the earthy language of “Neutron Jack,” the work–life balance of Mormon executives, and the cognition of effective leaders. - June 10, 2008
Starbucks and the Power of Story
How the coffee retailer uses its own narrative to brew global success. - February 26, 2008
Books in Brief
An icon of genius, a turnaround monomaniac, a flat-world skeptic, a psychoanalyst of leadership, and a management futurist. - February 26, 2008
Lessons for Business Schools
New books and revisited history illuminate the irrelevance of today’s MBA — and ways to make it compelling again. - August 29, 2007
Books in Brief
High-tech entrepreneurial experience, hidden assets, analytical sophistication, and China’s global ambitions. - August 29, 2007
The Productivity Promisers
Plenty of motivational coaches pledge to boost your efficiency. These are the few who really deliver. - May 29, 2007
Books in Brief
Ideas that take hold, how strategy can lead to failure, rebounding from career failure, and AIG under Hank Greenberg. - May 29, 2007
Chronicling the Future
The swift pace of change makes understanding Silicon Valley a daunting task. Here are resources that can help. - February 28, 2007
Books in Brief
A world-changing entrepreneur, capitalist families, inspiring CFOs, and wise advisors. - February 28, 2007
Does Health Care Have a Future?
Eight books about the health-care system diagnose its problems and offer solutions. - November 30, 2006
Best Business Books: The Future
Changing Culture, Changing Cities, Changing Climate - November 30, 2006
Best Business Books: Negotiation
Art, Science, and Wisdom, or the Logic of Leverage - November 30, 2006
Best Business Books: Index
- August 28, 2006
On Trust and Culture
Five books about social networks explore the importance of “who you know.” - May 30, 2006
Engines of Change
Sources for making sense of fossil fuel scarcity, the oil endgame, and the automotive future. - May 30, 2006
Books in Brief
A container-shipping retrospective, a strategic admiral, farsighted forecasting, and admirable strategies. - February 28, 2006
Books in Brief
“Rank and yank” defended, consumers empowered, innovators differentiated, and Michael Jackson inflamed. - February 28, 2006
Derivative Wisdom
Sources old and new that allow mere mortals to crack the code of cutting-edge finance. - November 29, 2005
Best Business Books 2005
The best new titles of 2005 in “The Future,” “Strategy,” “Globalization,” “Management,” “Work and Life,” “Marketing,” “Media,” and “Leadership.” - August 26, 2005
Books in Brief
Turnaround champions, China’s entrepreneurs, executive pay, and Wall Street’s edgy investment bankers. - August 26, 2005
Dirty and Clean Laundry
A new spate of books and reports puts corporate behavior on display — and enlivens the debate about business’s purpose in society. - May 23, 2005
Eurosclerosis Revisited
The productivity boom benefits the U.S. more than Europe. Five reports explore why. - November 30, 2004
Best Business Books 2004
- August 25, 2004
What’s a Director to Do?
From governance guru Ira Millstein and others, complex counsel on blending oversight and intervention. - June 1, 2004
Does Nick Carr Matter?
A controversial new book on the strategic value of information technology is flawed — but right. - February 24, 2003
Finding Sanity with Game Theory
John Nash had a beautiful mind. These books showcase beautiful implications for companies. - October 16, 2002
Best Business Books 2001-2002
- October 16, 2002
Best Business Books 2002: Management's Renaissance Man
- October 11, 2002
Best Business Books 2002: The Biggest Management Book Ever
- October 10, 2002
Apocalypse 2010?
Populist gadfly Jeff Gates wants today’s CEOs to build a new middle class with stock ownership plans. Or else. - July 18, 2002
How to Manage Your Boss
How you lead your leaders is just as important as the guidance they give you. - April 10, 2002
Once Upon a Time
When a meeting of the minds isn’t enough, try a meeting of the emotions: Tell a story. - January 12, 2002
Straight from the Brain
Jack Welch’s autobiography has plenty of emotion. For introspection, however, consider the new books by Boyle, Coyle, and Tedlow. - November 16, 2001
Monomaniacs with a Mission
Certain individuals are born zealots. But from Hamel to Handy, gurus agree that the organization shapes their ability to lead. - October 1, 2001
The Bottom Line on Ethics
For executives who want to do good and do well, some long-awaited guidebooks. - October 1, 2001
Best Business Books: Strategy
Sun Tzu, von Clausewitz, Drucker, and other Master Warriors - October 1, 2001
Best Business Books: Business Novels
Free-Market Fiction: Three Centuries of Capitalist Characters - October 1, 2001
Best Business Books: Global Management
The Cobra and the Treasure Chest: Four Perspectives on Globalism - October 1, 2001
Best Business Books: Beyond Business
The Well-Read Executive’s 12 Steps to Better Thinking - October 1, 2001
Best Business Books: Economic History
Insights from Hindsight: What the Past Teaches about the Future - October 1, 2001
Best Business Books: Corporate Governance
From Meek to Mighty: Reforming the Boardroom - October 1, 2001
Best Business Books: CEO Memoirs
Ernest Hemingway, CEO: When Executives Become Authors - July 1, 2001
Bye-Bye Blackboards
Corporate training doesn't have to be dull. Game-based learning lets you play your way to smarter business. - April 1, 2001
Terrae Incognitae: Survival Guides for Curious Globalists
From Iran to Indonesia, opportunity awaits. But you’ve got to know the territory. - October 1, 2000
Robert B. Reich: The Thought Leader Interview
In this "Age of the Terrific Deal," says the former secretary of labor, innovation is king, but insecurity reigns. - October 1, 2000
Open for Business: Leadership Lessons from the Open Source Movement
Open Source is more than a software movement, three new books argue. It's a crucial business tool. - July 1, 2000
The Days of Futurists Past
Projecting the future used to be a bold, adventurous enterprise. Today's business seers — John Naisbitt, Watts Wacker, et al. — are doing all they can to keep up with the present. - April 1, 2000
Cheese is Simple; Management is Hard
From Spencer Johnson's "Who Moved My Cheese?" to the design of eBay, business can learn the easy way. - January 1, 2000
The Godzilla of the New Economy
In an exclusive excerpt from his next book, the former head of McKinsey Asia explains why Amazon.com, CNN and others have achieved an almost unassailable global dominance. - January 1, 2000
The Best and Worst New Economy Books
How to succeed in e-business without really crying? Become an author. - October 1, 1999
"Saving Big Blue," by Robert Slater
Saving Big Blue: Leadership Lessons & Turnaround Tactics of IBM'S Lou Gerstner by Robert Slater (304 pages, McGraw-Hill, 1999) - July 1, 1999
"Rescuing Prometheus," by Thomas P. Hughes
Rescuing Prometheus by Thomas P. Hughes (372 pages, Pantheon Books, 1998) - July 1, 1999
"The Emperor's Nightingale: Restoring the Integrity of the Corporation in the Age of Shareholder Activism," by Robert A.G. Monks
The Emperor's Nightingale: Restoring the Integrity of the Corporation in the Age of Shareholder Activism by Robert A.G. Monks (283 pages, Addison-Wesley, 1998) - July 1, 1999
"When Giants Stumble: Classic Business Blunders and How to Avoid Them" by Robert Sobel
When Giants Stumble: Classic Business Blunders and How to Avoid Them by Robert Sobel (368 pages, Prentice Hall Press, 1999) - April 1, 1999
"The Temporary Society," Warren G. Bennis and Philip E. Slater
The Temporary Society: What Is Happening to Business & Family Life in America under the Impact of Accelerating Change by Warren G. Bennis and Philip E. Slater (170 pages, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998) - April 1, 1999
"The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered," by George Soros
The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered by George Soros (245 pages, Little, Brown & Company, 1998) - April 1, 1999
"Enterprise.com: Market Leadership in the Information Age," by Jeffrey Papows, Ph.D.
Enterprise.com: Market Leadership in the Information Age by Jeffrey P. Papows, Ph.D. (256 pages, Perseus Books, 1999) - January 1, 1999
"Burn Rate" by Michael Wolff
Burn Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Year on the Internet by Michael Wolff (256 pages, Simon & Schuster, 1999) - January 1, 1999
"A.B.B., the Dancing Giant" by Kevin Barham and Claudia Heimer
A.B.B., The Dancing Giant: Creating the Globally Connected Corporation by Kevin Barham and Claudia Heimer (260 pages, Pitman Publishing Ltd., 1998) - October 1, 1998
The Essays of Warren Buffet: Lessons for Corporate America, edited by Lawrence A. Cunningham
The Essays of Warren Buffet: Lessons for Corporate America, selected, arranged and introduced by Lawrence A. Cunningham (219 pages, Lawrence A. Cunningham, 1998) - October 1, 1998
Modern Manors: Welfare Capitalism Since the New Deal by Stanford Jacoby
Modern Manners: Welfare Capitalism Since the New Deal by Sanford M. Jacoby (345 pages, Princeton University Press, 1997) - July 1, 1998
"Blur" by Stan Davis and Christopher Meyer
Blur: The Speed of Change in the Connected Economy by Stan Davis and Christopher Meyer (265 pages, Addison-Wesley, 1998) - July 1, 1998
"Knowledge Works: Managing Intellectual Capital at Toshiba" by W. Mark Fruin
Knowledge Works: Managing Intellectual Capital at Toshiba by W. Mark Fruin (267 pages, Oxford University Press, 1997) - July 1, 1998
"The Living Company" by Arie de Geus
The Living Company: Habits for Survival in a Turbulent Business Environment by Arie de Geus (215 Pages, Harvard Business School Press, 1997) - April 1, 1998
The Synergy Myth: And Other Ailments of Business Today by Harold Geneen, with Brent Bowers
The Synergy Myth: And Other Ailments of Business Today by Harold Gennen, with Brent Bowers (248 pages, St. Martin's Press, 1997) - April 1, 1998
The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First by Jeffery Pfeffer
The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First by Jeffrey Pfeffer (345 pages, Harvard Business School Press, 1998) - January 1, 1998
Leading Corporate Transformation: A Blueprint for Business Renewal by Robert H. Miles
Leading Corporate Transformation: A Blueprint for Business Renewal by Robert H. Miles (256 pages, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997) - January 1, 1998
Do Lunch or Be Lunch: The Power of Predictability in Creating Your Future by Howard H. Stevenson with Jeffery L. Cruikshank
Do Lunch or Be Lunch: The Power of Predictability in Creating Your Future by Howard H. Stevenson with Jeffrey L. Cruikshank (272 pages, Harvard Business School Press, 1998) - October 1, 1997
"Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the Frontiers of Management" by Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the Frontiers of Management by Rosabeth Moss Kanter (320 pages, Harvard Business School Press, 1997) - October 1, 1997
"Inside the Kaisha: Demystifying Japanese Business Behavior" by Noboru Yoshimura and Philip Anderson
Inside the Kaisha:Demystifying Japanese Business Behavior by Noboru Yoshimura and Philip Anderson (259 pages, Harvard Business School Press, 1997) - July 1, 1997
Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense Low-cost Approach to Management by Masaaki Imai
Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense, Low-cost Approach to Management by Masaaki Imai. (354 pages, McGraw-Hill, 1997) - July 1, 1997
How to Think Like a CEO: The 22 Vital Traits You Need to Be the Person at the Top by D.A. Benton
How to Think Like a CEO: The 22 Vital Traits You Need to Be the Person at the Top by D.A. Benton (463 pages, Warner Books, 1996) - July 1, 1997
No Hands: The Rise and Fall of the Schwinn Bicycle Company, an American Institution by Judith Crown and Glenn Coleman
No Hands: The Rise and Fall of the Schwinn Bicycle Company, An American Institution by Judith Crown and Glenn Coleman (350 pages, Henry Holt & Company, 1996) - July 1, 1997
What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will Change Our Lives by Michael Dertouzos
What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will Change Our Lives by Michael Dertouzos (336 pages, HarperCollins, 1997) - April 1, 1997
"The Organization of the Future," edited by Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith and Richard Beckard
The Organization of the Future, edited by Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith and Richard Beckhard (397 pages, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996) - April 1, 1997
"One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism" by William Greider
One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism by William Greider (397 pages, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997) - October 1, 1996
"Leaning into the Future: Changing the Way People Change Organizations" by George Binney and Colin Williams
Leaning into the Future: Changing the Way People Change Organizations by George Binney and Colin Williams (175 pages, Nicholas Brealey Publishing Ltd., 1995) - October 1, 1996
"From the Ground Up: Six Principles for Building the New Logic Corporation" by Edwin E. Lawler
From the Ground Up: Six Principles for Building the New Logic Corporation by Edwin E. Lawler 3d (299 pages, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997) - October 1, 1996
"Corporate Comeback: The Story of Renewal and Transformation at National Semiconductor" by Robert H. Miles
Corporate Comeback: The Story of Renewal and Transformation at National Semiconductor by Robert H. Miles (371 pages, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1997) - July 1, 1996
"Co-opetition" by Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry J. Nalebuff
Co-opetition by Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry J. Nalebuff (290 pages, Currency/Doubleday, 1996) - July 1, 1996
"Negotiating Competitiveness" by Kirsten Wever
Negotiating Competitiveness: Employment Relations and Organizational Innovation in Germany and the United States by Kirsten S. Wever (236 pages, Harvard Business School Press, 1995) - July 1, 1996
"The Age of Heretics" by Art Kleiner
The Age of Heretics: Heroes, Outlaws and the Forerunners of Corporate Change by Art Kleiner (401 pages, Currency/Doubleday, 1996) - April 1, 1996
"The Boundaryless Organization: Breaking the Chains of Organizational Structure" by Ron Ashkenas, Dave Ulrich, Todd Jick and Steve Kerr
The Boundaryless Organization: Breaking the Chains of Organizational Structure by Ron Ashkenas, Dave Ulrich, Todd Jick and Steve Kerr (364 pages, Jossey-Bass, 1995) - April 1, 1996
"Managing in a Time of Great Change" by Peter F. Drucker
Managing in a Time of Great Change by Peter F. Drucker (371 pages, Truman Talley Books/Dutton, 1995) - April 1, 1996
"All Consumers Are Not Created Equal" by Garth Hallberg
All Consumers Are Not Created Equal by Garth Hallberg. (320 pages, John Wiley & Sons, 1995) - January 1, 1996
"Wellsprings of Knowledge" by Dorothy Leonard-Barton
Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation by Dorothy Leonard-Barton (334 pages, Harvard Business School Press, 1995) - January 1, 1996
"The Knowledge-Creating Company" by Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi
The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation by Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi (284 pages, Oxford University Press, 1995) - January 1, 1996
"The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company" by David Packard
The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company by David Packard (212 pages, Harper Business, 1995) - January 1, 1996
"Mary Parker Follett: Prophet of Management" edited by Pauline Graham
Mary Parker Follett: Prophet of Management, edited by Pauline Graham (309 pages, Harvard Business School Press, 1994) - January 1, 1996
"Levers of Control: How Managers Use Innovative Control Systems to Drive Strategic Renewal" by Robert Simons
Levers of Control: How Managers Use Innovative Control Systems to Drive Strategic Renewal by Robert Simons (217 pages, Harvard Business School Press, 1995)