http://managingleadership.com/blog/2004/09/01/the-economist-on-awful-business-books/ The strategic role of the senior executive Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:48:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 http://managingleadership.com/blog/2004/09/01/the-economist-on-awful-business-books/#comment-4487 What to do about bad business books | Managing Leadership Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:31:29 +0000 http://managingleadership.com/blog/2004/09/01/the-economist-on-awful-business-books/#comment-4487 [...] Perhaps my favorite book review of all time isn’t, properly speaking, a review of a book at all, but a flogging of the whole category of business books. It was called How 51 Gorillas Can Make You Seriously Rich, and it was by The Economist magazine. The most interesting thing about it, though, is that virtually every book cited as an archetype of what is wrong with the genre was a best seller. [...] [...] Perhaps my favorite book review of all time isn’t, properly speaking, a review of a book at all, but a flogging of the whole category of business books. It was called How 51 Gorillas Can Make You Seriously Rich, and it was by The Economist magazine. The most interesting thing about it, though, is that virtually every book cited as an archetype of what is wrong with the genre was a best seller. [...]

]]> http://managingleadership.com/blog/2004/09/01/the-economist-on-awful-business-books/#comment-1007 Book Review: The Effective Executive | Managing Leadership Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:23:05 +0000 http://managingleadership.com/blog/2004/09/01/the-economist-on-awful-business-books/#comment-1007 [...] The WSJ periodically publishes a "Five Best" article reviewing the best books in a particular category. A recent one addressed business books, and at the top of the list was this one by Peter Drucker. Interestingly, two of the other four books, strictly speaking, aren't about management at all - one is about sales, and the other about advertising. Of the remaining two, one is from the unfortunate school of comparisons with historical personages (in this case, Machiavelli), and the other is Lou Gerstne's story of how he resurrected IBM, and in the telling of this story he is plainly dismissive of much of what is currently taught about management. As a group, the selection is a stern rebuke to the slew of trivialities masquerading as general management books today (see here for a take on this from The Economist). [...] [...] The WSJ periodically publishes a “Five Best” article reviewing the best books in a particular category. A recent one addressed business books, and at the top of the list was this one by Peter Drucker. Interestingly, two of the other four books, strictly speaking, aren’t about management at all - one is about sales, and the other about advertising. Of the remaining two, one is from the unfortunate school of comparisons with historical personages (in this case, Machiavelli), and the other is Lou Gerstne’s story of how he resurrected IBM, and in the telling of this story he is plainly dismissive of much of what is currently taught about management. As a group, the selection is a stern rebuke to the slew of trivialities masquerading as general management books today (see here for a take on this from The Economist). [...]

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