LJ Best Business Books 2010
By Sarah Statz Cords Jan 6, 2011Although pundits are pointing to a healthier holiday retail season in 2010 as evidence of a recovering economy, slower-than-expected rates of job creation indicate an economic picture that is still affected by the financial crises of 2007–08. Readers hoping to understand better those crises now have plenty of options, as many intensively researched and accessibly written books on the subject were published in 2010.
Other hot categories were business histories, particularly stories about venerable organizations facing new challenges; and organizational dynamics treatises, in which authors called for businesses to rethink common approaches to employee management, leadership, and innovation. Read and enjoy!
AUTOBIOGRAPHY/BIOGRAPHY | BUSINESS/CORPORATE HISTORY | ECONOMICS/U.S. ECONOMY | 2007–08 FINANCIAL CRISIS | GLOBALIZATION | INVESTING/PERSONAL FINANCE | MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP | MARKETING | ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS | SUCCESS/PERSONAL PERFORMANCE
Bennis, Warren with Patricia Ward Biederman. Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership. Jossey-Bass. 206p. ISBN 9780470432389. $27.95.
Bennis (chair, Ctr. for Public Leadership) long has been an influential leadership author. In this engaging autobiography, he relates tales from his early experiences as a World War II soldier and Antioch College student, as well as from his academic career, which placed him in contact with such notables as Doug McGregor, Erik Erikson, Werner Erhard, and Tom Peters.
Ferguson, Niall. High Financier: The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). 352p. ISBN 9781594202469. $35.
Ferguson (The Ascent of Money) provides a lively, exhaustively researched financial historical biography. A 20th-century financial giant, if a lesser-known one, Warburg escaped Germany before Hitler's ascent and founded the firm S.G. Warburg of London, where he offered his clients groundbreaking services that would later become commonplace. (LJ 6/1/10)
Phillipson, Nicholas. Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life. Yale Univ. 345p. ISBN 9780300169270. $32.50.
Phillipson notes that source materials are few (Smith asked his executors to burn his lecture notes and unpublished works after his death), but he still manages to tell both Smith's personal story and the broader story of the 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment. Although scholarly in tone, this is a very readable story of a major figure in economic history. (LJ 10/1/10)
Carey, David & John E. Morris. King of Capital: The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone. Crown Business. 391p. ISBN 9780307452993. $27.50.
The private equity world often escapes notice in business publishing circles, but in this quick-paced biography and business history, the authors shed light on that world's activities and more spectacular buyouts by focusing particularly on the Blackstone firm and its larger-than-life principal, Steve Schwarzman. (LJ 10/1/15)
Green, Hardy. The Company Town: The Industrial Edens and Satanic Mills That Shaped the American Economy. Basic Bks. 288p. ISBN 9780465018260. $26.95.
Thoughtful social history meets business history in this succinct and story-driven tale of such "company towns" as Lowell, MA, and Hershey, PA, among others. Green explores how such locally important companies affected their communities (for better and worse) and describes such modern "towns" as Google's Googleplex.
MacIntosh, Julie. Dethroning the King: The Hostile Takeover of Anheuser-Busch, an American Icon. Wiley. 380p. ISBN 9780470592700. $27.95.
In a narrative that reads as fast as any fiction thriller, Financial Times journalist MacIntosh details the 2008 takeover of the iconic Anheuser-Busch brewing company by Belgian corporation InBev, focusing particularly on the company's importance to the St. Louis region; its management, or lack thereof, by the Busch family (particularly the August Busches III and IV); and the broader unsettled economic climate of 2008.
Perino, Michael. The Hellhound of Wall Street: How Ferdinand Pecora's Investigation of the Great Crash Forever Changed American Finance. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). 352p. ISBN 9781594202728. $27.95.
Perino recounts the 1933 Senate hearings on Wall Street excesses and malfeasance, paying special attention to the impassioned case made by Ferdinand Pecora, lead counsel for the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency (and the equally impassioned financial defense mounted by National City Bank chair Charles Mitchell). This tale resounds in today's financial climate. (LJ 9/15/10)
Gwartney, James D. & others. Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity. St. Martin's. 208p. ISBN 9780312644895. $21.99.
Gwartney, Richard L. Stroup, Dwight Lee, and Tawni Ferrarini offer a primer on basic economic ideas and theories, many of which they have provided in list form (e.g., "Ten Key Elements of Economic Theory"), in addition to discussing the interplay of politics and economics, and making suggestions for practicing personal financial responsibility. (LJ 9/1/10)
Lynn, Barry. Cornered: The New Monopoly Capitalism and the Economics of Destruction. Wiley. 304p. ISBN 9780470186381. $26.95.
Journalist Lynn paints a vivid but sobering picture of corporate ownership in America by exposing how a few massive entities own the majority of businesses and corporations in the global marketplace, and how those entities exploit political weaknesses and further their own interests by narrowing individual consumer choices.
Rajan, Raghuram G. Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy. Princeton Univ. 260p. ISBN 9780691146836. $26.95.
Rajan (Eric J. Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, Univ. of Chicago Booth Sch. of Business) presents a readable consideration of flaws-"fault lines"-that still exist in American and global financial practices and systems, discussing growing income inequalities worldwide, easy credit, export imbalances, the lack of "safety nets" in a jobless recovery, and more.
Johnson, Simon & James Kwak. 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown. Pantheon. 304p. ISBN 9780307379054. $26.95.
Johnson (management, MIT) and Kwak (a former McKinsey consultant) offer their take on the financial crisis of 2007–08, exploring its historical background in the Founding Fathers' debate on banking and financial institutions. They also assert that the bailouts of America's largest banks have only made them bigger, more powerful, and more dangerous.
Lewis, Michael. The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. Norton. 266p. ISBN 9780393072235. $27.95.
No one tells a business story better than Lewis (Liar's Poker), and this narrative from the other side of the 2007–08 financial crisis is no exception. In telling the tale of the individuals who made money by betting that America's housing bubble would burst, Lewis makes even the most complex financial products and systems comprehensible to general readers. (LJ 4/15/10)
Lowenstein, Roger. The End of Wall Street. Penguin Pr: Penguin Group (USA). 336p. ISBN 9781594202391. $27.95.
Narratives of the 2007–08 financial crisis abounded in 2010, but Lowenstein (When Genius Fails) offers one of the most comprehensive, delving further into the 2009 recession than most similar titles and in a style that's easily understandable to general readers. He also makes connections between the actions of overzealous financial professionals and the politicians who colluded with them. (LJ 3/15/10)
McGee, Suzanne. Chasing Goldman Sachs: How the Masters of the Universe Melted Wall Street Down...And Why They'll Take Us to the Brink Again. Crown Business. 416p. ISBN 9780307460110. $27.
Barron's contributing editor McGee relied on more than 100 interviews for her financial history of both the investment-banking firm Goldman Sachs and Wall Street. She suggests that Goldman Sachs's unrivaled profit making compelled other firms to engage in similarly risky (perhaps even fraudulent) strategies simply to "keep up" and speculates whether such calamities might be avoided in the future. (LJ 6/1/10)
McLean, Bethany & Joe Nocera. All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis. Portfolio. 380p. ISBN 9781591843634. $32.95.
McLean (The Smartest Guys in the Room) and New York Times reporter Nocera offer perhaps the best account of the 2007–08 financial crisis for hard-core business readers. In addition to examining the careers of well-known players like Angelo Mozilo, Lloyd Blankfein, and Alan Greenspan, they also investigate lesser-known financiers such as Moody's former president Brian Clarkson and Fannie Mae's Franklin Raines.
Taibbi, Matt. Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America. Spiegel & Grau. 256p. ISBN 9780385529952. $26.
Rolling Stone contributing editor Taibbi argues that politics in America largely functions as entertainment, while shortsighted economic policies hugely benefit only a minority of individuals and businesses. Chapters on the mortgage crisis, the commodities bubble, and health-care reform are excellent, but he doesn't mince words. Only suggest this book to readers who will be able to handle Alan Greenspan being called a "one-in-a-billion asshole." (LJ 11/15/10)
Weiner, Eric J. The Shadow Market: How a Group of Wealthy Nations and Powerful Investors Secretly Dominate the World. Scribner. 304p. ISBN 9781439109151. $26.
Reporter Weiner illuminates an important but little-explored aspect of globalization: how international wealth funds and private and institutional investors are buying up large amounts of assets worldwide with very little oversight or public knowledge of their existence. His story is easy to read but troubling to ponder.
Hirshman, Susan L. Does This Make My Assets Look Fat?: A Woman's Guide to Finding Financial Empowerment and Success. St. Martin's. 320p. ISBN 9780312385538. $24.99.
Comparing getting one's financial house in order to dieting, Hirshman, a financial advisor with JPMorgan Chase, presents chapters on assessing personal finance fitness and gives comprehensive definitions and explanations of, as well as practical suggestions about, various investment strategies. (LJ 9/1/10)
Kamen, Ken with Dale Burg. Reclaim Your Nest Egg: Take Control of Your Financial Future. Bloomberg Pr. 224p. ISBN 9781576603703. $24.95.
Financial advisor Kamen suggests ways investors can develop a personal strategy for retirement saving while steering clear of the emotional pitfalls and sales pitches from financial planners. All the basic steps are covered, from long-term planning to asset allocation, as are specific strategies for stock, bond, and life insurance investing. (LJ 9/15/10)
Kaminsky, Gary. Smarter Than the Street: Invest and Make Money in Any Market. McGraw-Hill. 234p. ISBN 9780071749220. $26.
The cohost of CNBC's Strategy Session provides both a brief overview of the current financial environment and a number of strategies for furthering one's investment knowledge and prowess even in a down market. He doesn't make specific product picks, but rather sets out a clear plan for developing investing know-how and skills.
Statman, Meir. What Investors Really Want: Discover What Drives Investor Behavior and Make Smarter Financial Decisions. McGraw-Hill. 286p. ISBN 9780071741651. $30.
Promising to teach his readers the "lessons of behavioral finance," Statman describes what investors really want (to win at investing, not to pay taxes, etc.) as shown in both academic studies and real-life applications. By exploring how "wanting what we want" can lead to mistakes, Statman serves up useful information for both personal investors and the professionals who serve them.
Williams, Fred. Fight Back Against Unfair Debt Collection Practices: Know Your Rights and Protect Yourself from Threats, Lies, and Intimidation. FT Pr. 207p. ISBN 9780137058303. pap. $21.99.
After years of reporting on the debt-collection industry, Williams decided to go to work in a collection-call center. Most of the strangely fascinating narrative focuses on his experiences there, but "action items" at the end of each chapter and a concluding section on "coping with collections" provide practical suggestions for personally dealing with creditors (especially for those who are sometimes erroneously identified as debtors).
Davis, Richard A. The Intangibles of Leadership: The 10 Qualities of Superior Executive Performance. Jossey-Bass. 235p. ISBN 9780470679159. $29.95.
"Management psychologist" Davis distills years of research and interviews with business professionals into a list of characteristics shared by good leaders, including wisdom, will, self-insight, and fallibility; each chapter provides tips for finding and cultivating such intangibles in either one's hires or one's self.
Nayar, Vineet. Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down. Harvard Business Pr. 198p. ISBN 9781422139066. $24.95.
Nayar (CEO, HCL Technologies) provides a firsthand account of how he improved his organization by emphasizing the fair treatment of its employees, focusing particularly on those who regularly interacted with customers. This is a succinct blueprint for bettering customer service through managerial accountability and better communication between staff and management.
Sutton, Robert I. Good Boss, Bad Boss: How To Be the Best...and Learn from the Worst. Business Plus. 310p. ISBN 9780446556088. $23.99.
The author of the provocatively titled The No Asshole Rule strikes again in a refreshingly positive take on how individuals can learn to be good bosses, listing such commandments as listening attentively to one's team and not holding grudges.
Jantsch, John. The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business To Market Itself. Portfolio. 243p. ISBN 9781591843115. $25.95.
Jantsch (Duct Tape Marketing) argues that typical methods of advertising and marketing are not as effective as fostering good word of mouth and referral buzz for your business. To that end, he suggests numerous ways to encourage referrals, including using social media and hiring, training, and treating employees as courteously as you expect them to treat your customers.
Ott, Adrian C. The 24-Hour Customer: New Rules for Winning in a Time-Starved, Always-Connected Economy. HarperBusiness. 240p. ISBN 9780061798610. $26.99.
Ott (founder, Exponential Edge, Inc.) provides new food-for-marketing thought by giving the value of consumers' time its due as a motivating behavioral factor. She practices what she preaches by keeping her own writing concise, offering case studies of businesses that have successfully appealed to time-starved consumers and useful chapter summaries and sidebars distilling her suggestions. (LJ 8/10)
Gansky, Lisa. The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing. Portfolio. 242p. ISBN 9781591843719. $25.95.
The founder of multiple Internet companies, Gansky here describes "mesh businesses," those which help individuals gain access to goods and services (rather than owning such goods), and shares suggestions for gaining participants' trust and using technology to help others find your service.
Govindarajan, Vijay & Chris Trimble. The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge. Harvard Business Pr. 220p. ISBN 9781422166963. $29.95.
The authors point out that the trouble businesses have with innovation is not a lack of innovative ideas, but rather their failure to execute those ideas efficiently. They suggest how to choose the proper team members to follow through on new ideas and provide a practical framework by which they can do so.
Heath, Chip & Dan Heath. Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard. Broadway. 320p. ISBN 9780385528757. $26.
The Heath brothers (Made To Stick) are back with a manifesto for accepting and fostering necessary changes at both the individual and the corporate levels. To make their case, they draw from a broad variety of sources, including behavioral experiments and business case studies. Their informal style makes this an easy-to-read text full of implementable ideas. (LJ 2/1/10)
Heymann, Jody, with Magda Barrera. Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder: Creating Value by Investing In Your Workforce. Harvard Business Pr. 268p. ISBN 9781422123119. $29.95.
Heymann suggests that organizations might do well by doing good-primarily by empowering employees at all levels by paying them living wages, providing scheduling flexibility, investing in health-care benefits, offering training, and encouraging employees' ideas and innovations. (LJ 5/15/10)
Kotter, John P. & Lorne A. Whitehead. Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down. Harvard Business Pr. 192p. ISBN 9781422157299. $22.
Positing that many good ideas fail because people fail to achieve sufficient "buy-in" for them, Kotter (Leading Change) discusses how individuals can help their ideas gain acceptance. In addition to providing a lengthy example of a new idea being defended, Kotter also lists 24 specific ways in which new ideas are often attacked.
Martini, Kitty & Candice Reed. Thank You for Firing Me!: How To Catch the Next Wave of Success After You Lose Your Job. Sterling. 240p. ISBN 9781402769566. pap. $14.95.
Written by a stand-up comedian and a journalist, respectively, this is both an entertaining and a useful guide for getting back on your feet after losing a job, whether you're searching for a new one or considering freelancing. The authors also provide a resource guide to help readers research various industries and form new support networks. (LJ 2/1/10)
Torabi, Farnoosh. Psych Yourself Rich: Get the Mindset and Discipline You Need To Build Your Financial Life. FT Pr. 204p. ISBN 9780137079278. $22.99.
Although she doesn't have the name recognition of personal finance guru Dave Ramsey, money coach and former TheStreet.com business-show host Torabi shares tips for clearly evaluating your personal finances, establishing money goals, getting and staying out of debt, and investing.
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