The Top Ten business books of all time
These ten books
changed the business world forever.
Thousands of business books are published each year, most of which are destined for the remainders bin. However, there are a handful of business books that have literally changed the world. Here's the list as featured on Inc.
10. The Art of War (3rd Century
BCE)
While militaristic
thinking sometimes leads to bizarre business behavior (like treating
competitors as enemies rather than potential partners), Sun Tzu's magnum
opus really isn't about war, per se. It's more about how to think
strategically about complex issues, as well as how to adapt those strategies to
the often limited reality of the human condition.
Fun
fact: Sun Tzu's patron tested the
strategist's theories on war by asking him to organize an army of prostitutes
and have them parade around the courtyeard.
9. The Prince (1532)
While intended for
monarchs rather than moguls, Machiavelli's realpolitik view that "the end
justifies the means" is the basis for modern corporate ethics. Executives
in publicly-owned companies are constrained by law to represent the interests
of the shareholders and can only "do the right thing" when the right
thing makes financial sense.
Fun
fact: Machiavelli was a complete
failure as a military and civil adviser, and lived to see his ideas widely
ridiculed.
8. The Wealth of Nations (1776)
Written when the
fastest mode of communication was a sailing ship and slavery was legal in most
of the world, this book provides the basis for popular economic thought even in
the Internet age. Interest factoid: Adam Smith's oft-cited "invisible
hand" only appears in a single sentence in the book.
Fun
fact: While Smith was a proponent of
the "invisible hand" of economics, he frequently warned against the
formation of monopolies.
7. How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936)
Although he wrote in an era when the
scientific world treated IQ as the only standard of intelligence, Dale Carnegie
perceived that lasting happiness and success emerges from relationships rather
than ideas or facts. While parts of this book now seem a bit quaint, his basic
concept is now a commonplace among business leaders, many of whom now value EQ
above IQ in both hiring and promoting.
Fun fact: Dale Carnegie changed his birth name from
"Carnagey" to "Carnegie" in order to create a (false)
connection with the multimillionaire Andrew Carnegie.
6. Atlas Shrugged (1957)
Ayn Rand's screed against
collectivism utterly transformed how many business leaders perceive their role
in society. Prior to Rand, many executives felt apologetic for their success
and responsible (at least to some extent) for the welfare of those less
fortunate. After Rand, many executives now view themselves as heroic figures,
an upper crust of "makers" amidst a herd of "takers."
Fun fact: Ayn Rand, despite her dislike of social welfare
programs, was a recipient of both Medicare and Social Security.
5. The Greatest Salesman in the World (1968)
When this classic sales book was
written, most people thought of salesmen as slick, fast-talking con-men. While
that stereotype still exists, most salespeople now see themselves the way
author Og Mandino saw them: as essentially moral people who are striving to
make the world better and make other people happy.
Fun fact: Og Mandino flew thirty bombing missions during
World War II, some of them piloted by actor James Stewart (of "It's a
Wonderful Life" fame.)
4. The Soul of a New Machine (1981)
Credit Tracy Kidder's tome with
popularizing two now-ubiquitous business concepts: 1) that truly dedicated
workers should spend most of their waking life at the office rather than
working a mere 40 hours a week, and 2) that decisions should be made by
"empowered" employees rather than top down management.
Fun fact: The "we can change the world" message
in this book is all the more poignant in that the "machine" ended up
being a technological dead end.
3. The One Minute Manager (1982)
Believe it or not, there was once a
time when most businesspeople believed managing people was a fairly difficult
job. However, that was before Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson set out
their simple (some say "simplistic") rules for common-sense
management. The success of this booklet spawned an entire industry of
"management made easy" consulting.
Fun fact: Ken Blanchard assigned himself the title of
"Chief Spiritual Officer" of his company, an idea which did not spawn
many imitators.
2. Guerrilla Marketing (1984)
In the Mad Men era, marketing and
advertising implied a big money investment. In this book, though, author Jay
Conrad Levinson explained how unconventional efforts can often create better
results at a lower cost. Amazingly, Levinson had this insightmore than thirty years before social networking and
smartphone apps became such a huge part of the corporate landscape.
Fun fact: Among other things, the book suggests tattooing
your corporate logo on your forehead.
1. Reengineering the Corporation (1993)
Hammer and Champy's
"manifesto" obliterated the implicit social contract between
employers and employees. Gone were the notions of lifetime employment and
corporate loyalty, replaced by an endless regimen of downsizing, rightsizing,
outsourcing, and offshoring.
Fun fact: The current biz-blab terminology for
"reengineering" (i.e. layoffs) is "ventilating the
organization." Nice, eh?