Leadership Development: Finding Good Business Books to Read
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"Send me a man who reads" was the tagline of a series of ads that the International Paper Company began running in 1958. The ads implied that reading was one key to success.
It still is. But people aren't reading books like they used to. In 2007, an AP-Ipsos poll found that a quarter of Americans had not read a single book during the preceding year.
You may be reading blogs and newspapers and magazines and tweets and tattoos and getting some value. But if you want the kind of rich experience that helps form your mind for effective living and leadership, books should be part of the mix.
That leaves you with the problem of picking what books you're going to read. There are 11,000 business books published every year. If you decide to read a book a month, you're only going to read less than one tenth of one percent of the new titles.
And that's if you only read new titles. The point is that you have to pick carefully. Here are some suggestions about how to do it.
Listen to your friends' recommendations. Ask questions. Find out why they liked a book.
Or start with the trusted source. If you read business books, you should own a copy of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time by Todd Sattersten and Jack Covert of 800-CEO-READ. As I said when I reviewed the book, "it amazed me that no one has ever done this before. But Jack and Todd are the perfect people to assemble a book like this."
Book reviews can help. Once you have a recommendation, see if you can find a review of the book that interests you.
One problem is that not all that many publications review business books. That's true even for business publications. The Economist reviews books in its Culture Section. The day I checked there was no business book there. The Wall Street Journal has a Books page with links to twenty-five reviews, but only four were business books on the day I checked.
Business Week does a little better. They seem determined to make it tough to find their book review page. But once you find it there are links to good reviews. In case you're wondering about Fortune, I couldn't find a book review page using either the search engine or site map.
There are also book reviews on some business sites and blogs. Todd does reviews on his blog. I review about thirty books for bosses every year on this blog. Many trade magazines review books in the publication and on their site.
There are also "reader reviews." Amazon has lots of different kinds of reviewers with differing agendas. The average review on Amazon is astoundingly positive, so you have to look for the reviews that will tell you what you want to know.
Look for writers of longer reviews who outline the book and give you reasons to support their opinion. And look for "just-like-me" reviewers who link specific parts of the book to their specific needs and experience.
Boss's Bottom Line
Reading business books will help you become better at what you do. You'll get the most from your experience if you take the time to make informed choices about what books to read.
Other Posts on Reading Business Books
Crafting Your Personal Development Plan
Starting Your Personal Reading Program
Tips for Getting the Most from Reading Business Books
The Perfect Leadership Book for You
Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.
Categories: leadership development, Book Review, Books
Tags: Book Review Leadership Development
wow, I hesitate to disagree with you Wally because I respect you so much, but I would NEVER recommend the 100 Best Business Books of All Time. There are some absolute dogs on that list - books that are essentially shams. They may be among the best sellers, but they are not the best. If Jack and Todd can't discern snake oil, then I don't see them as a credible source of advice. The book I recommend more than any other is not even on that list.
It is a jungle out there, which is why I rarely read any new books on leadership and management. As you know, there really is very little new under the sun. Pick up a book by Bob Sutton, Jeff Pfeffer, W.E. Deming or Peter Drucker, Goshal, Hamel, or Prahalad and you can't go wrong. Bret
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Bret, my friend, one of the things I love about you is that you don't "hesitate to disagree." That's one thing that makes your comments here valuable. Now, on with show.
We'll have to disagree on the book. I disagree with some of the selections, as I noted in my review. But I think the book performs a valuable service and does it well. I continue to recommend it to working bosses as a tool for helping narrow the field of possible books to read and to learn something about those books.
I agree with you about there being only a few great books out there and we'd probably agree on most of them. But we'd sure disagree on others.
The fact is, that, after reading books on management for almost half a century, I probably would have much use for this book myself. But I think it's very valuable for managers who are in a different place on their own life/career journey.
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Hi all,
I agree with you Wally, it is a minefield finding great business books. I read a lot myself and there is a huge variety in quality out there.
With this in mind CMI are running a management book competition to find the best books of the year. Anyone can nominate their favourite book of the last year so it should be interesting to see what is nominated.
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Thanks for bringing that to our attention. It looks to me as if volunteers will review books and final judging will be by expert panel. Most interesting to me is that one of the three categories of entry is "Digital Management Book." An entry qualifies if it uses technology to enhance the experience of the topic of the book.
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Thanks for the article and the links. Also, saw a similar article on the news this morning about teenagers lack of reading books as well. Said they were doing quite a bit of reading if you include text messages but very little of actual books.
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I think that's right. There's plenty of reading, but not a lot of reading books. I really don't know what, if anything, that means.
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If you're looking for Niche Business books on Leadership and Inspiration, Check out Tremendous Life Books Run by Tracey Jones the Daughter of Charlie "Tramendous" Jones. They are a fantastic retailer that I highly recommend.
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Thanks for sharing that, Dennis.
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I personally think that Franklin Covey's site and books are fabulous leadership and management tools. The latest is Great Work Great Career, and of course, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is certainly a go-to.
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Thanks for adding to the conversation, Rachel. If you've discovered an author who really meets your needs, then it makes good sense to watch for new work from them and read it as it comes out.
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