Reading list
Welcome to my entirely partial reading list. The books here are those that I have found particularly enlightening and exciting. Without exception they have opened up new lines of thought and new possibilities.
The books in this reading list are grouped into categories. To go direct to the category you're interested in, click on its title below. The categories are:
- Old Standards - My favourites from the list of titles you'd expect
- A sideways look - Perspectives that you might not expect
- Not just business - Illuminating reading from other fields
Old Standards
Benchmarking for Best Practices
Author: Christopher Bogan and Michael English
I must include one book on benchmarking, and if your Swedish isn't up to Benchlearning 2: Erfarenheter fran sju forandringsarbeten (ISBN 91-89617-82-7), this has to be the one. Frankly, benchmarking has become seriously stuffed up. It's a classic example of jargon abuse. This book brings us back to the essence, debunks the arguments about 12 steps versus 14, versus whatever other number you choose. It is worth reading if only for introducing us to the concept of Steal this Idea (R). Steal away!
Good to Great
Author: Jim Collins
Opinion tends to be divided on this book. I'm a fan. Jim Collins describes here the factors that distinguish the truly great companies from the merely good. A number of his findings are counter-intuitive. I particularly relish his definition of Level 5 leadership, and debunking of charismatic leadership. At last, a rationale that shows the emperor truly does have no clothes. Worth reading for this bit alone, but the rest is good too.
In Search of Excellence
Author: Tom Peters and Robert Waterman
I had to include Tom Peters on this list. He was probably the first person to get me excited about how businesses could be, and ambitious for the businesses I work in and with. Although this book is undoubtedly dated, and has had plenty of bricks thrown at it over the years, there's not a lot wrong with its definition of excellence. I've read plenty of commentators suggesting that it's hardly insightful, nor a very demanding recipe, but in that case how is it that so very few organisations get near this level - let alone any higher?
A sideways look
Blink
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell brings the recipe he developed in The Tipping Point to bear on intuition. Why is intuition so often right, and why is it sometimes completely wrong? What is it founded on? Can we develop it? This is a great read, and would be worth reading if only for the statistics on the height of CEOs, and for the jam experiment. Enjoy!
Love is the Killer App
Author: Tim Sanders
Tim Sanders is a great speaker as well as being a fascinating author. See him if you get the chance. In this book, he describes how to make yourself devastatingly attractive to your colleagues and clients by being a fantastic source of knowledge and insight to them. Tim encourages us to read exhaustively, and to mine our reading (by applying his tagging and cliffing techniques) and apply it in nuggets of knowledge of value to our networks. I'm working on losing my inhibitions about defacing books!
Storytelling in Organizations
Author: John Seely Brown, Stephen Denning, Katalina Groh, Laurence Prusak
Now here's a fascinating idea. This book is all about the value of stories - of narrative - in organisations. We tend to see organisations as logical, mechanical structures, and we adjust systems, mechanics, processes to try to stamp out unpredictability. This book shows us that all the work in organisations happens in the social fabric (I love that term) and not in the rational, structured elements at all. Storytelling is a powerful tool to connect with the social fabric and affect change.
The Tipping Point
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell's books are a positive delight to read. He lays out his argument in a series of fascinating stories, which alone are great for dining out on. The Tipping Point unbundles the constituent elements of a fad. What is it that turns a seemingly ordinary product into the must-have possession for an entire generation? There are some extremely useful lessons here about the kinds of people who can make messages contagious.
What Color is Your Parachute
Author: Richard Bolles
Career change isn't particularly my thing (although I know some great people who are expert at it). I seem to get into conversations quite frequently, though, with people at turning points in their careers. I recommend this book. My expert friends tell me there are other books that may appeal more to a British mindset (if that's what you have). But I like this one. In a weekend you can get a perspective on what matters to you and what you enjoy in your work. It can open up choices you were blind to. I've seen it work for people, which is enough recommendation for me.
Not just business
The Timeless Way of Building
Author: Christopher Alexander
This is an amazing book. Not what you might call usual fodder for managers, but it is one of the wisest books I've ever read. Christopher Alexander is a mathematician turned architect, originally from England and now living in California. This book is part thought stream, part philosophy and part treatise on the built environment. It has masses to teach us about our relationship with our environment, how we resonate with it, how energy is created and destroyed by our surroundings. He defines a pattern language - a vocabulary for creating built environments that simply feel right. This book lays out the thinking. The accompanying book, A Pattern Language, contains the patterns themselves.
Blog news
I have been trying to get my blog going for the longest time. It was sitting there in the middle of the Guilty section of my to-do list, and not getting any nearer the top - always important but never urgent. Well, finally it saw the light of day. Have a look at it here, and you will see that, like most other attempted bloggers, I have struggled and largely failed to post to it often enough. So it is going through a revamp. This blog was designed to mirror my website, and that seems to cramp my writing style. So watch out for the new blog, and we'll see how much effect design has on its use.
Missed something?
It may now be old news. If so, it will be on my new Old News page.
