Best Business Books-
From Exuberance to Enron

By Susan C. Awe -- Library Journal, 3/15/2002

Buckingham, Marcus & Donald O. Clifton. Now, Discover Your Strengths. Free Pr. 262p. ISBN 0-7432-0114-0. $26.
Focusing on enhancing employees' strengths rather than their weaknesses is the most effective way to manage personnel, according to the authors. The unique feature of this work is a web-based interactive component, an online assessment tool; readers can complete a Gallup questionnaire that instantly identifies their top-five inborn talents from the main 34 strengths identified. This information, paired with the authors' management philosophy, presents a practical context for advice readers can use. (LJ 2/1/01)

Collins, Jim. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't. HarperCollins. 320p. ISBN 0-06-662099-6. $27.50.
Applicable to entrepreneurs as well as corporations, this book on how to become a great organization is by the author of Built To Last. It is based on analysis by Collins and his research team studying 11 companies (including Walgreens, Wells Fargo, Kimberly-Clark, Philip Morris, and Pitney Bowes) that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. Basic to these successful companies is what Collins calls the 'Hedgehog Concept,' a product or service that leads a company to outshine all worldwide competitors, that drives a company's economic engine, and that it is passionate about. Company success also presupposes a culture of discipline. (LJ 8/01)

Drucker, Peter F. The Essential Drucker: In One Volume the Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management. HarperBusiness: HarperCollins. 368p. ISBN 0-06-621087-9. $30.
This important work pulls together Drucker's most astute writings from his lengthy career, elaborating and restating his fundamental concepts, e.g., 'The purpose of a business is to create a customer.' Drucker identified critical principles in management, economics, and the world in general. This compilation of his prolific management philosophy will be useful to newcomers and those needing a refresher on his basic beliefs.

Krames, Jeffrey A. The Jack Welch Lexicon of Leadership: Over 250 Terms, Concepts, Strategies and Initiatives of the Legendary Leader. McGraw-Hill. 224p. ISBN 0-07-138140-6. $19.95.
This alphabetically arranged compendium of Welch's business philosophy, leadership beliefs, and management tactics makes a case for Welch as the corporate leader of the century. From customer satisfaction, globalization, and the significance of the Internet, to the 'Learning Organization,' over 250 of Welch's pithy and experience-based thoughts, concepts, and tools are presented in an accessible format by Krames, who has edited four earlier Welch books. For anyone seeking workable solutions to virtually any challenge. (LJ 8/01)

Strategic Thinking for the Next Economy. Wiley. 250p. ed. by Michael A. Cusumano & Constaninos C. Markides. ISBN 0-7879-5729-1. pap. $19.95.
This volume covers four general areas: strategy and value creation, flexibility in a volatile world, strategy-making in uncertain times, and strategies for growth and innovation in fast-paced markets. One of the main messages is that designing a successful strategy for a business is a process of continuously asking questions and thinking through issues that arise in a creative way. This quick read should have wide appeal.

Crawford, Fred & Ryan Mathews. The Myth of Excellence: Why Great Companies Never Try To Be the Best at Everything. Crown. 320p. ISBN 0-609-60820-7. $27.50.
After surveying 5000 consumers to research purchasing behavior, the authors developed a 'consumer-relevancy' model. After explaining the importance of price, service, quality, access, and experience for the consumer, they suggest that companies need to dominate only one of these five factors, stand out or differentiate themselves from competitors on another, and only be at a par with others in the industry on the remaining three in order to be successful. They also found that 'Values are more important than value in the eyes of today's consumer.' An eye-opening book for both consumers and businesses. (LJ 6/15/01)

D'Alessandro, David F. with Michele Owens. Brand Warfare: 10 Rules for Building the Killer Brand. McGraw-Hill. 208p. ISBN 0-07-136293-2. $24.95.
While Orville Redenbacher taught D'Allessandro 'the power of a good brand to trump all rhyme or reason in the marketplace,' he teaches us that brands save consumers time, project a certain image to the rest of the world, and make consumers feel part of the group that uses the brand. D'Alessandro, the CEO of John Hancock, discusses the steps to building and sustaining a brand or image, why it is as important to market your brand to your employees as it is to your customers, and why every business decision should be filtered through the prism of the brand.

Parasuraman, A. & Charles L. Colby. Techno-Ready Marketing: How and Why Your Customers Adopt Technology. Free Pr. 224p. ISBN 0-684-86494-0. $27.
The authors present a compelling framework for measuring the propensity of customers to welcome and use technology-intensive products and services. Their advice will teach readers how to determine each customer's technology readiness, how to motivate customers to use new technology, why people either embrace or resist technology, and divide consumers into five distinct groups. CEOs, small-business owners/managers, and marketing professionals will learn how to succeed in the technology-driven future.

Conger, Jay A. & others. Corporate Boards: New Strategies for Adding Value at the Top. Wiley. 240p. ISBN 0-7879-5620-1. $31.95.
The authors have identified a comprehensive set of key practices and behaviors that make a board effective as a group. An extensive survey from more than 1000 directors of publicly traded firms was used as the basis for their comprehensive analysis. This book is a unique mix of tools, best practices, applied theory, and research that board members and CEOs can use to benchmark their own progress.

Davenport, Thomas H. & John C. Beck. The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business. Harvard Business School. 256p. ISBN 1-57851-441-X. $29.95.
With over 60,000 new books and 18,000 magazines published annually in the United States alone and two billion or so web pages plus e-mail and voicemail, no one doubts that we live in an age of information overload. Attention is the most valuable business currency today, and the authors, both from the Accenture Institute for Strategic Change, claim 'understanding and managing attention is now the single most important determinant of business success.' Well written and accurately describing corporate life, this book delivers a fresh, worthy message to the global business world.

Dobson, Michael S. & Deborah S. Dobson. Enlightened Office Politics: Understanding, Coping with, and Winning the Game--Without Losing Your Soul. AMACOM: American Management Assn. 240p. ISBN 0-8144-7065-3. pap. $17.95.
The Dobsons present a wide range of quizzes, exercises, diagrams, and illustrations to help even novices understand the rules of what is commonly called 'office politics.' Readers will learn about the six different types of power, how to recognize and work with five political personality types, and how to win this game. A highlight of this book is the section detailing 'Forty Rules of the Game.'

Duck, Jeanie Daniel. The Change Monster: The Human Forces That Fuel or Foil Corporate Transformation & Change. Crown. 286p. ISBN 0-609-60771-5. $27.50.
Firm but compassionate leadership is necessary when major changes are required in an organization. Senior vice president of the Boston Consulting Group, Duck puts forward her 'Change Curve,' which involves five phases: stagnation, preparation, implementation, determination, and fruition. She uses anecdotes to support her claim that understanding these components is what makes the difference between success and failure.

Hammer, Michael. The Agenda: What Every Business Must Do To Dominate the Decade. Crown. 288p. ISBN 0-609-60966-1. $27.50.
Hammer, author of the popular Reengineering the Corporation, highlights the nine core ideas or principles that work in today's business environment. This recipe book for business success emphasizes that the new global economy is definitely customer-centric. Clearly and enthusiastically written, it articulates the directions businesses must follow to thrive and prosper in the future.