US News & world Reports Executive Picks

The best business books of all time? Here are the choices of our panel of CEOs and experts (By Justin Ewers Posted 5/13/07)

Robert Bruner still remembers the first book he read as a manager. It was 1988, and Bruner, now the dean of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, was an up-and-coming professor, respected for his work in finance. But he'd never managed people before. And when he was charged with overseeing the first year of the school's M.B.A. program, Bruner began to struggle.

"I probably had about half of the Darden faculty reporting directly to me," he says. Above him were the school's administrators. Below him were professors with more seniority than he had. The tug of war began. "It was one of those functions where, if it doesn't go right, everybody knows about it," says Bruner.

Under fire, Bruner scrambled for guidance. He found it in Peter Drucker's The Effective Executive . In the book, published two decades earlier, the dean of management thinkers—known for his study of GM under Alfred Sloan—offered advice to managers burdened with exactly Bruner's problems.

His lesson—that great executives are made, not born—stuck. "My most vivid takeaway from the book was the need to manage upward as well as downward," says Bruner. "It's easy when you're a manager to think it's just a matter of getting some followers to go along."

Drucker described a more sophisticated approach. "Drucker argues very effectively for the need to gain buy-in from people above—coming to one's leaders with completed staffwork, with empathy for their dilemmas, and with enough flexibility to accept that they may not agree with you."

Bruner took these ideas to heart; he grew comfortable in his new role, and he was soon given the responsibility of redesigning much of the school's curriculum. He hasn't stopped reading since. "When you're in the crucible," he says, "you need these ideas."

Bruner is far from the only business leader who has turned not to a mentor or a boss for inspiration—but to a book. Books, after all, don't have ulterior motives, they don't complicate office relationships, and they never reveal your secrets. But hundreds of business books are published each year: How to find the one you need?

U.S. News spoke with 14 leaders from all walks of business life—from academics to entrepreneurs to corporate executives—about the five books they consider indispensable reading for managers. The responses ranged far and wide: Military metaphors popped up occasionally, with Sun Tzu's The Art of War rearing its age-old head. But books about biology were also surprisingly prevalent, not only for their insight into how business environments imitate the natural world but also, several executives said, because understanding biology helped them appreciate the concept of randomness.

The vast majority of the books selected are more than five years old—and not all were bestsellers. "There's a tendency to think there's a lot of great new stuff out there. That may not be true," says Jack Brennan, CEO of the Vanguard Group, who reads a few dozen business books a year, then hands his favorites out to his executives.

Some basic how-to guides were also mentioned, from books about making sales calls to advice on writing. Ayn Rand, with her revolutionary ideas about entrepreneurship, also made her presence felt. And then there was Jim Collins, whose books Built to Last and Good to Great offer highly respected explanations of what separates good companies from great companies. Collins, Thomas Friedman, and Peter Drucker were the authors mentioned most often. Read on for more of what business leaders have found between the covers of books.

 

 

 

 

Best Business Books: Chris Anderson's Picks

Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief, Wired magazine; author, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More

Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2001)

Taleb, a math professor and onetime manager of a hedge fund, argues that the world is far more random than we think.

Why it's a must-read: "The book says that you can't predict anything—that when things happen, you try to construct a narrative around what happened, and that narrative is almost always wrong. Why is the market up today? Because home sales did such and such. It's almost never why, but we need to have an explanation. If managers can check themselves from making those all-too-tempting efforts to construct narratives, fundamentally they will have an advantage over the rest of us."

The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger (2000)

What started as a website in 1999 (www.cluetrain.com) became a book by a group of tech veterans, who were among the first to describe how the Internet would change everything—from how businesses advertise to how consumers consume.

Why it's a must-read: "When they wrote this, it was still way too early. This was before blogging, before MySpace. People said, 'Who are these guys, ex-hippies and free spirits talking about economics and marketing and brands?' They talked about consumer empowerment, the inversion of power, that you don't control your brand–you share control of your band with your users. It sounded like a pipe dream, like useless utopian wishful thinking. And it's just remarkable to see how the world has basically evolved to demonstrate exactly everything they said."

Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World by Kevin Kelly (1995)

Kelly, a founding editor of Wired, argues that self-sustaining, biological systems are the future, for tropical wetlands or computer networks. "Organic life," he writes, "is the ultimate technology."

Why it's a must-read: "The biggest, most important ideas of our time remain controversial hundreds of years after their creation. We're still debating Darwin and Adam Smith today, and Kevin's idea is one of those. His recognition that we're entering an age where command-and-control systems just don't scale anymore was shocking when it came out, it seemed a little loopy at the time, and now describes the Web as we know it today. It stands as the best of its breed."

Microcosm: The Quantum Revolution in Economics and Technology by George Gilder (1989)

Before founding the Discovery Institute, the leading think tank of intelligent design, Gilder tackled the ideas of the eminent computer scientist Carver Mead and the evolution of the microchip.

Why it's a must-read: "Gilder brings an economist's breadth of perspective to an engineer's understanding of the underlying mechanics of semiconductors and was able to really describe the importance and implications of Moore's Law [which predicts that the number of transistors on an integrated circuit will double every 18 months]. He's a very controversial character in many aspects of his life. I don't share many of his views. But when it comes to the power of technology as it becomes abundant, I don't think anyone's phrased it as well as he did."

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (2000)

Gladwell examines how ideas spread, from teenage smoking to crime to tennis-shoe fads.

Why it's a must-read: "The best books on the economics of popular culture–the world we actually live in–are written not by economists but by writers like Gladwell. I suspect academia punishes economists who dabble in things like shoes and jeans and drug dealers–that's probably no way to get tenure. But it's superimportant, and it's a great tool kit to understand the world."

 

 

Best Business Books: Jack Brennan's Picks

Jack Brennan, CEO, the Vanguard Group

Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company by Andrew S. Grove (1996)

The legendary CEO of Intel explains how managers must deal with massive change. Grove's own big test, he writes, came in the mid-1980s, when he decided to move his company out of memory chips and into microprocessors.

Why it's a must-read: "I prefer to think of paranoia in a more constructive way—confidence without complacency. Sometimes it's hardest for successful organizations to do that. If you're at an inflection point and it's a crisis, well, that's not easy, but it's easier to garner support. If it's around a corner or over a hill, it can be harder. In our business, the index fund didn't supplant the actively managed funds overnight. The defined-contribution business didn't supplant the [defined-benefit] business overnight. When this came out, I bought a lot of copies and handed them out. I don't want to wake up one day and find out it's a different chip."

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't by Jim Collins (2001)

Management consultant Collins examined company data from over 1,400 firms, whittling the list down to 11—including Fannie Mae, Gillette, and Wells Fargo—that have substantially improved their performance, growing from just "good" to "great."

Why it's a must-read: "It's kind of the Ted Williams of business books. After I read about 'Level 5 leadership' [Collins's term for natural leaders who channel their ambition into their institutions], I fired off an E-mail to Jim and said, 'I'm a little embarrassed to send you a piece of fan mail, but here it is.' I thought it was such a great depiction of what we value: We're really sharply focused on a tightly defined mission, but many people regard it as narrow. You read a book like this, and it's reaffirming. It's not about the big idea; it's about a lot of little ideas and getting better."

Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors by Michael Porter (1980)

A Harvard Business School professor's seminal primer on how organizations can respond to competition

Why it's a must-read: "It's an older book, but I personally have never seen a better one about how to go about conceptualizing the strategic challenges that any organization will face. You need a template for how you think about business, whether you're a small manufacturing company or a global entity. There are way too many books written on this subject and way too many people pitching their wares. I don't think Porter has been superceded."

Economics by Paul Samuelson (1948)

A textbook that remains an authority on the principles of economics

Why it's a must-read: "I still have the 1972 version on my shelf, and I pull it out every now and then. If you're going to be a heart surgeon, it's probably not that important. If you're going to be in business, it's pretty hard not to understand the relationship between what's going on in China and what happens to the yen and what happens to the American treasury bond market."

Leadership Is an Art by Max DePree (1989)

The longtime CEO of Herman Miller Inc., a manufacturer of office furniture, offers a passionate appeal for humanitarian leadership.

Why it's a must-read: "This book always reminds me that the way you select leaders is important: That frontline supervisor is far more important to most of our crew members than I am. They can affect their daily life. If I do my job reasonably well, I can help. But if there are 10 people working on a phone unit, their most important person is that supervisor, and if she shares our values and treats people with respect, then our company will be successful."

 

Best Business Books: Robert Bruner's Picks

Robert Bruner, dean, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia

A novel about an entrepreneur, John Galt, who is determined to bring his technology to the world his own way.

Why it's a must-read: "Business leaders need to find their voice again. We don't hear people talk about the personal attributes of inventors in passionate terms anymore: Now they're Web 2.0 wealth creators, sort of popular celebrities. But Ayn Rand characterizes the investor and entrepreneur very differently—as a romantic figure, a person with a mission, who deep in [his or her] heart wants to transform society for the better. Her novels are viewed now in the shadow of objectivism and libertarianism and the like. I don't think you have to swallow all of that to be moved by this vision of the entrepreneur. It is 'must reading' for both friends and adversaries of capitalism."

On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt (2005)

A professor emeritus of moral philosophy at Princeton examines the perils of lying.

Why it's a must-read: "When a friend recommended it, I thought they were putting me on, that this was one of those edgy, in-your-face, humor items. In fact, it is a deadly serious look at what constitutes gray-area lying, in which someone represents him or herself as knowledgeable when in fact he or she isn't. CEOs actually know rather little about conditions inside their firms and rely on the veracity of people and systems to convey what little they do know. This little book grapples with one of the fundamental problems that all CEOs face: When is one hearing the truth?"

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't by Jim Collins (2001)

Management consultant Collins and a team of researchers examined company data from over 1,400 firms, whittling the list to 11—including Fannie Mae, Gillette, and Wells Fargo—that have substantially improved their performance, growing from just "good" to "great."

Why it's a must-read: "A massively influential primer on how firms have progressed from 'just good' to 'truly great' performers. Collins has done more to crystallize a set of high-impact insights than just about any other business writer."

Leading Change by John Kotter (1996)

A Harvard Business School professor, Kotter says successful managers can't just "manage" change; they must "lead" it.

Why it's a must-read: "After Collins, I would say Kotter's book would rank near the top in impact on leadership of corporations. It's a dense, highly accessible handbook for change leadership. What we know now from 20-plus years of leading large corporations through wrenching change is this isn't easy. Taking organizations to a higher level is a daunting challenge. A consulting industry exists to help walk executives through this, but at the end of the day how do you know what you're facing, what do you gauge an organization against in order to measure progress? Kotter would be the first stop in the major change process."

The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker (1967)

The founding father of the science of management offers an early primer on how executives can do their jobs better.

Why it's a must-read: "No executive should ignore the possibility that one's well-intentioned behavior is creating more problems than it is solving. My most vivid takeaway from the book was the need to manage upward as well as downward. It's easy when you're a manager to think it's just a matter of getting some followers to go along. In fact, Drucker agues very effectively for the need to gain buy-in from people above–coming to one's leaders with completed staffwork, with empathy for their dilemmas, and with enough flexibility to accept that they may not agree with you. When you reduce his ideas down, you think, now that you mention it, it seems kind of obvious. But it took this remarkable chronicler of wisdom to synthesize these insights into a volume."

Best Business Books: Jim Buckmaster’s Picks

Jim Buckmaster, CEO, craigslist

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (1976)

In a controversial argument on evolutionary theory, Dawkins makes the case for a genecentric view of evolution—suggesting that organisms don't use genes to replicate themselves, but in fact genes use organisms to make more genes.

Why it's a must-read: "It's one of the great layman science guides that make you feel like a genius when you're done. The business world, like the natural world, is much happier if there are a diversity of approaches, cultures, and philosophies. That's the way to get the best results. When you see a monoculture, it doesn't work. In the dot-com boom, for instance, there was this idea that you had to get to a huge size rapidly to stake out your first-mover advantage and achieve market share. We took an organic approach and tried to follow up on what users were asking for, instead. The first idea turned to be hideously conceived, and all of those businesses met the same fate. They were all from the same pattern, and that pattern was invalid."

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil (2005)

Kurzweil, a renowned inventor, tackles the future of artificial intelligence, predicting that nanotechnology and robotics will continue to accelerate the pace of technological change.

Why it's a must-read: "The most important theme in the book is to help you understand the exponential rate of technological change that's happening. You tend to look back in the last five or 10 years and think, well, what's going to happen in the next 10 years will be similar. But we're reaching a point on the curve of technological change where the curve is steepening and accelerating. At least in the business we're in, we have this exponential curve working for us: Hardware keeps getting better and cheaper. We use open-source software, which is free, and keeps getting better. These problems look daunting, but you have to remember a lot of them go away every year."

Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman (1988)

This leftist critique of modern media argues that corporate and government interests dominate much of what consumers know about the world.

Why it's a must-read: "This is a very insightful book about what mass media are, what you can expect from them and what you can't. Craigslist is a very decentralized site in terms of the authority that it exercises, which is kind of the opposite of the way traditional media operate. We want craigslist to be a medium for the masses in every sense of the world, one that's not dominated by a central authority figure. We're distrustful of corporate power and the corporate way of doing things. The last thing we'd want to do is run our site or our company that way."

The Discourses by Epictetus (second century B.C.)

The Greek stoic philosopher's four books on the Socratic notion that man's purpose is to control his own life

 

Best Business Books: Jim Collins's Picks

Jim Collins, author, Good to Great and Built to Last

In Love and War: The Story of a Family's Ordeal and Sacrifice During the Vietnam Years by Jim and Sybil Stockdale (1984)

The wartime memoirs of the highest-ranking prisoner of war in Vietnam

Why it's a must-read: "Jim Stockdale stood as truly one of the great human beings I ever had the privilege to meet. Here's Stockdale thrown into a prison camp in 1965—not only does he have to endure his own solitude; he's the highest-ranking military officer, so he has the burden of leadership in the camp! He figures out how to still exercise leadership: He writes about how he helps people deal with torture by giving them goals to shoot for. He recognizes no human can endure anything forever. After a certain amount of time, he says, you can give up this, and then at a certain point you can give up that. When everybody could have disintegrated and fallen into despair, there was this person saying we still have this responsibility to act as soldiers. He shows that no matter what level of character you think there might be, there's a higher one."

The Second World War (six volumes) by Winston Churchill (1948–1953)

Churchill's day-by-day account

Why it's a must-read: "About two decades ago, I sat down and wanted to learn about the modern era. I felt a good starting point would be the Second World War. So I bought an atlas, and I bought Churchill's six volumes. To me, there are so many lessons that come from this. The big one that stuck with me: Here's Churchill standing on the island in 1940 and everybody is wondering when Britain's going to sue for peace, and Churchill essentially says, it's the wrong question. Our goal is not to survive. Our aim is to prevail. And that very simple shift in the most brutal, turbulent, terrifying era–Churchill reframing the question–I absorbed that way of looking at the world. I think learning from Churchill is about as good as you can get."

Personal History by Katharine Graham (1997)

The memoirs of the late publisher of the Washington Post

Why it's a must-read: "I've had to read lots of CEO memoirs, and I think Personal History is the best of the bunch. I see Katharine Graham as the consummate 'Level 5' leader. She wasn't really even planning to have a leadership role. She rose to it at a time when very few women were running major companies. She was in charge when the Post went from a regional paper to a paper in the same league as the New York Times, and she took very courageous stands on the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. She describes being terrified, though, quaking in her boots and feeling inadequate–things all of us can relate to–and yet despite all of that, she was such a remarkable force."

Diffusion of Innovations by Everett Rogers (1962)

Rogers, a communications professor, grapples with why and how new technologies spread through the market, from "early adopters," a term he coined, to full acceptance.

Why it's a must-read: "Everett Rogers was the person who first put out the concept of innovation adoption cycles. His essential insight is very profound: Innovation adoption is a social process. Innovations don't necessarily win because they're better; they have to be adopted. It had a huge influence on my own thinking about the evolution of ideas."

The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History by Stephen J. Gould (1980)

The Harvard paleontologist tackles the notion that less-than-perfect design—e.g., a panda's thumb—is a better argument for evolution than perfect design.

Why it's a must-read: "It's very hard to understand the world without understanding the fundamental concept of evolutionary processes. I don't mean just natural evolution. It's important to realize that the inputs that cause something to lead to a particular outcome may not always be deliberate. The whole idea that something that works beautifully wasn't necessarily planned to work that way is a very important concept that applies to any kind of system."

 

Best Business Books: Mark Cuban's Picks

Mark Cuban, owner, Dallas Mavericks

The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie (1889)

An essay written by Andrew Carnegie, in which the great industrialist argued that the wealthy have a responsibility to find philanthropic outlets for their riches

Why it's a must-read: "This was a reading assignment in an M.B.A. entrepreneurship class that I snuck into at Indiana University. Bottom line is that among the many patriotic things you can do, one is get rich and pay your taxes."

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (1943)

In this sprawling novel about ego and capitalism, Rand's idealistic architect, Howard Roark, struggles to balance his artistic vision with the prevailing orthodoxy of the time.

Why it's a must-read: "This was my motivation book. It helped me get fired up and reinforced my confidence whenever I would question myself."

The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton Christensen (1997)

A professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School examines the essential problem that confronts business leaders: how to avoid watching disruptive new technologydestroy their business. From disk drives to consumer retail, Christensen outlines how successful companies stayed one step ahead of technological change.

Why it's a must-read: "This helped me make sense of why things worked and didn't work in the technology industry."

The Only Investment Guide You Will Ever Need by Andrew Tobias (1978)

This personal finance guide has been constantly updated since its first publication: The newest edition sings the praises of the Roth IRA, while warning of the dangers of online trading.

Why it's a must-read: "This is the only investment book I have read that truly made sense. Bottom line is that you can take a measure of risk on the $5,000 you have to invest in an attempt to earn 10 percent in the stock market, while praying that it all doesn't disappear because someone bought too many yen derivatives. Or you can save 15 percent on the $5,000 a year you spend on replenishables, from toilet paper to cereal to who knows what, and put it in the bank on top of the original $5,000, earn an easy 5 percent, plus accrued interest, on the total and sleep very, very well at night."

Cold Calling Techniques (That Really Work!) by Stephan Schiffman (1987)

The author of several sales training guides tackles one of the hardest parts of a salesman's job: cold-calling strangers.

Why it's a must-read: "This is a book that every CEO needs to read. If you can't sell, you can't survive. If you can sell–if you can figure out how to open doors and make your customers happy–you not only will always be able to eat and put a roof over your head but also thrive in any corporate or entrepreneurial environment."

 

Best Business Books: Thomas Donaldson's Picks

Thomas Donaldson, professor, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides (fifth century B.C.)

An Athenian general's firsthand account of the war between Athens and Sparta from 431 to 404 B.C. It is one of the first examples of scholarly history.

Why it's a must-read: "Very much like Peter Drucker, this man understood that to advise people about what to do in the future, you had to, in the present, be able to see in the midst of the battle. He was an astute observer of human behavior, especially in the context of leadership. He outlined one of the constant themes in management today of the contrast between the revolutionary and the conservative—these two types of people, the on-the-go innovation of the Athenians and the slower, self-confident, but more cautious approach of the Spartans. He saw the strengths and weaknesses of both. This is a person writing for leaders and saying you'd better respect the competition; you'd better respect what Sparta, with its very different approach, can do."

Concept of the Corporation by Peter Drucker (1946)

After 18 months of research at General Motors, Drucker was the first to describe the corporation as a social structure.

Why it's a must-read: "Drucker once wrote that he had embarked on a mission to the dark continent of management–and a dark continent it was, at the time. He was one of the first to articulate the idea of planned abandonment: Corporations tend to stick to what's worked in the past, when they need to be planning the next step that moves them out of the rut they've already formed. The irony is that [Alfred] Sloan and the company in the end weren't all that happy with Drucker's account. It was laudatory, but it was also critical. It wasn't General Motors but General Electric that carried on a lot of those ideas."

Modern Corporation and Private Property by Adolf Berle and Gardinar Means (1932)

The first book to explain how modern corporate capitalism is dominated by oligopolies and is defined by the separation of management from ownership.

Why it's a must-read: "This is a book that was not only prophetic about what would happen in the next 80 years on the topic of corporate governance but also for the first time identified the stubborn tension between managers and owners. It showed that the theories circulating about economics and business weren't matched by the real world, where shareholders and owners can be tripped up at every turn by managers. You can really see the history of the last few years as a continuation of that conflict, with those who own corporations attempting to re-exert control."

Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy by Joseph Schumpeter (1942)

An elegant defense of capitalism by an Austrian economist and political scientist, who believed capitalism would ultimately give way to socialism, but not for the usual Marxist reasons

Why it's a must-read: "This was one of the most eloquent defenders of capitalism in the modern era. He predicted wrongly that capitalism would become socialism, not because it was inferior but because it was so superior that it would lull people into complacency. His notion of 'creative destruction' is the most famous concept from his work. Schumpeter said the world never stops long enough for a perfect market to develop–and that's not bad. The guy who can come up with the iPod or the lightbulb can, for a little while, make profits above what free-market theory says he should. Schumpeter thinks that's wonderful–that it provides the motives for the entrepreneur to continually bring life and advancement."

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (1776)

Widely considered the father of capitalism, Smith was the first to make a scientific argument defending the principles of political economy and the value of self-interest.

Why it's a must-read: "Smith shows how regrettable and inevitable self-interest–the "invisible hand"–can, in the right context, be directed to the common good. Even more important, forgotten by even greats like Milton Friedman, is the fact that Smith never forgot that this remarkable system does not work well without the moral cooperation of its participants. If you look at troubles in economies like Russia today, where corruption is playing such a negative role, Adam Smith foresaw that and believed that we all as economic citizens have the responsibility to maintain the integrity of the system. Until Smith, you could be as rich as you wanted and not be respected. He made being a businessman respectable."

 

Best Business Books: Carly Fiorina's Picks

Carly Fiorina, former CEO, Hewlett-Packard

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan (2002)

Bossidy, the former CEO and now chairman of Honeywell, and his coauthor tackle "the missing link between aspirations and results."

Why it's a must-read: "It's not rocket science, but on the other hand a lot of business isn't rocket science. This book is a very down-to-earth, timely reminder that in the end business is about results and the only way you produce results is by executing. While I think strategic vision is incredibly important, unless you're focused on execution, vision is just a PowerPoint presentation."

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Friedman (2005)

The New York Times foreign-affairs columnist explains how the global economy has made the world smaller.

Why it's a must-read: "Tom and I talked a lot while he was writing that book, and he used a number of things we did [at HP] as an example. For me, context is everything. When you're trying to make strategic choices on behalf of a firm, you need to understand very clearly the context you're operating in. I believe the 21st-century context is unique in human history, and I think Tom's book captured that. I can't say how it affected any particular decisions, since the way he and I both conceive of the 21st century affects all of our decisions."

Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise by Alfred Chandler (1962)

A business historian, Chandler was one of the first scholars to systematically examine the corporate structures of four large companies: GM, DuPont, Standard Oil, and Sears, Roebuck.

Why it's a must-read: "Some people have said strategy doesn't matter. I think that's fundamentally wrong. A lot of companies organize themselves based on what's easiest for people to do, and that may not be consistent with the strategy they're trying to follow. Sound strategy prioritizes investment and channels people's aspirations. It gives business both spirit and direction. The essence of this book is really around the importance of clear strategic vision as a way of prioritizing actions. Any goal will suffice if you have no sense of destination."

Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age by Tom Peters (2003)

The author of In Search of Excellence encourages leaders to reinvigorate their companies by empowering talent and overcoming outdated values.

Why it's a must-read: "I don't always agree with him, but he always makes me think. One of Peters's most important ideas, I think, is this notion of imagination, never resting on your laurels, always trying new ideas, always challenging the conventional wisdom. I think that's incredibly important: If you have a company that is very conservative and staid, where new ideas aren't valued and people have a systematic way of getting things done–I think that's generally a warning sign of problems to come."

Tough Choices: A Memoir by Carly Fiorina (2006)

Fiorina's memoir about her rise through the ranks at AT&T and Lucent, to the top of Hewlett-Packard, and the story behind her dismissal in 2005

Why it's a must-read: "Why did I include my own book? If nothing else, I spent a lot of time on it. [Laughs.] I think there are many books written about companies either at the time of their success or at the time of their failure. There are fewer books written about what the transformation of a company really takes, how it moves from a time of failure to a time of success, what does that process actually entail. That's not a snapshot in time. That's a movie that plays out over many years. And that's what Tough Choices is about."

 

Best Business Books: Jackie Fouse's Picks

Jackie Fouse, CFO, Alcon

The Portuguese novelist tells the story of a civilization struck by an epidemic of blindness. One by one, people lose their sight and struggle to maintain their humanity in a chaotic world.

Why it's a must-read: "From a business standpoint, sometimes we have a tendency toward blindness: We get accustomed to the things that are going on around us. We don't remember to sit back and say, what are we really trying to do here and why are we doing it this way and are we really fooling ourselves when we get up every morning and think everything is fine? We need to open our eyes, to try to see things as they really are around us. By the end of the book, people do get their sight back, but everything is such a mess, it leaves you with this uncertainty as to whether they will ever recover."

The Quest for Value by G. Bennett Stewart III(1991)

Stewart, a senior partner at a financial advisory firm, tackles some of the biggest questions in financial management.

Why it's a must-read: "This is one of the best books I've seen that explains economic and financial concepts in a very practical way, in a way which gets to the heart of how to measure and evaluate value creation. I think anybody from any functional activity or any discipline, including outside finance, should be able to appreciate what it means to run the right kind of business model and make money off it. It's the kind of book we should probably make the head of every business unit read."

Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story by Kurt Eichenwald (2005)

A reporter for the New York Times chronicles the demise of Enron.

Why it's a must-read: "It's a fabulous book for telling you just about everything not to do when you're running a business. You can just go chapter by chapter and pull out what not to do in terms of financial structure, from a legal standpoint, in your communications. Even a nonfinancial person can read it and understand the kinds of things they should be looking for in their company, to make sure they're not happening."

The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization by Thomas Friedman (1999)

In his first effort at explaining the globalizing world, Friedman uses the metaphor of a Lexus and an olive tree to describe the tension between the innovative, developed world and more traditionbound economies.

Why it's a must-read: "For any of us who are selling our products globally, this is the kind of thing we just don't think about enough. Sometimes as managers and leaders, we need to spend some time thinking about macroeconomic issues and how those may impact our business. Friedman looks at why the world struggles with the concept of globalization. He goes through the seeming conflict between these things [the Lexus and the olive tree] and tries to explain that none of it is necessarily good or bad. We just have to understand people's motivations and where they're coming from."

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott (1994)

Lamott, a novelist and essayist, advises would-be writers to start small. As her father once advised her brother when he was struggling with a book report on birds as a child: "Just take it bird by bird."

Why it's a must-read: "I'm a little bit of an amateur writer, which not very many people know. If you take it as an instructional manual for writing, this book helps authors or aspiring authors think about how to sit down and start writing. Rather than thinking, I want to write a novel, and it seems like such a daunting task. She says take it one step at a time. You can apply the same idea to business: If you think a task is too big or daunting, it will make you inert; you'll be paralyzed. But if you take it bit by bit, you'll finish it."

 

Best Business Books: Robert Joss's Picks

 

Robert Joss, dean, Stanford Graduate School of Business

The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder (1981)

The story of a team of engineers at Data General who developed a new minicomputer in the 1970s and whose work styles—with 35-year-old "veterans" hiring college grads and inspiring them to do mammoth, 24-hour work sessions in informal workplaces—became models for a new industry

Why it's a must-read: "I read it while I was at Wells Fargo [where he was an executive vice president in the 1980s]. I wasn't very technical, but I found the book fantastic about teams—it was one of the early books about teams and motivation. It didn't turn out to be a great company or a great computer, but the description of how they worked together on this project and set goals was really inspiring, and it preordained a lot of the modern notions about start-ups and entrepreneurship. The culture there was all very radical at that time. I don't know if it changed my work habits, though. I was at a bank! We didn't exactly go to casual dress."

The Practice of Management by Peter Drucker (1954)

In this book, the dean of management thinkers was the first to depict management as a distinct function, a separate responsibility in the workplace.

Why it's a must-read: "When you become a manager for the first time, you begin to realize it really is a different kind of work. Drucker really nailed that concept–that management is a kind of work just like every other kind of work. It's not like management and labor, where labor does the work and management does nothing. It's the work of getting work done through and with other people."

My Years With General Motors by Alfred P. Sloan Jr. (1963)

The autobiography of the longtime chairman of the automaker

Why it's a must-read: "Sloan is an interesting case study: Here was Ford dominating the market, and here's GM struggling, and this guy takes over in the early 1920s and comes up with a different idea and approach and just blows them away. Sloan, being an engineer, is very different from Drucker. He was one of very first people as practitioner to reflect about technical issues–organizational design and decentralization. He said GM wasn't just competing with cars: We've got our cars, and Ford's got theirs. GM was competing with a whole policy–annual model changes and consumer credit and the like. Nowadays we'd call it a business model."

Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jerry Porras and Jim Collins (1994)

A classic look at 18 corporations that have stood the test of time—from Disney to Merck—and why they succeeded

Why it's a must-read: "They popularized this notion that business wasn't just about economics and engineering or even organization. It also had psychological and emotional dimensions about mission and vision and values, that you could really motivate the troops and get commitment and performance and focus and alignment–all of these things we take for granted now."

Self-Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society by John Gardner (1964)

For Gardner, longtime head of the Carnegie Corp. and one of the architects of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, exploration and renewal—endless learning—are the keys to success.

Why it's a must-read: "Gardner had this tremendous ability to write and think about why it is that some people continue to grow and develop and increase their effectiveness as people in the world, while other people sort of atrophy. He had this concept of self-renewal and personal renewal, which is so critical for leaders today. You've got to keep continually reinventing yourself. To succeed, you have to keep growing, as a company or as an individual."

Best Business Books: Jeffrey Pfeffer's Picks

Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Competing for the Future by Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad (1994)

Two management consultants argue that too many leaders are mired in day-to-day details of running their businesses—and fail to prepare their companies for the future.

Why it's a must-read: "I think it's the best book on strategy. Period. The traditional view, the Michael Porter view, is way too static. Porter comes from industrial organization economics, which has a very simple premise: Industry structure dictates industry conduct and performance. Basically if your structure sucks, this is what you're going to get. Hamel and Prahalad argue that life isn't quite as fixed as that.

Clever organizations have been able to reinvent, repurpose, reinvigorate their industries: Whole Foods Market would be a perfect example, where you have a competitive industry where companies have been able to redo things and reconceptualize the industry in ways that create a different future. The traditional view of strategy is almost like a Sun Tzu, Art of War , approach: How do I compete given the conditions of the battlefield? Hamel and Prahalad are saying change the rules, change the battlefield, change the game."

The Human Side of Enterprise by Douglas McGregor (1960)

McGregor, the first full-time psychologist on the faculty at mit, argued that managers tend to view people in one of two ways—as lazy and unwilling to work or as motivated and basically honest.

Why it's a must-read: "He was one of the first to have this idea of self-fulfilling prophecy–that if you have a Theory X view of workers, you'll manage them in a Theory X way and produce a Theory X behavior. Whereas if you had a Theory Y view, you'd manage them in a Theory Y way. It's the first time I know of that this basic point was made that you get the behavior you manage to. Managers always say, 'I've treated these employees as though they can't be trusted and used other controls on them and look, they've now behaved as if they can't be trusted.' You've just created the behavior. People still don't see that."

Influence: How and Why People Agree to Things by Robert Cialdini (1984)

Cialdini, a professor of social psychology, spent three years "undercover," applying for jobs as a telemarketer or car dealer, observing how managers went about persuading employees to do things. He condensed his findings into a list of six "weapons of influence."

Why it's a must-read: "Management is about getting people to do things you want them to do. This is a very readable, scientifically grounded, accessible overview of several techniques of interpersonal relations–how you can use commitment or reciprocation to get people to do things. Influencing other people is the job of management. This book tells you how to do it a nice, accessible way."

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl (1946)

Frankl, a psychiatrist who survived five years in Nazi concentration camps, where his parents, brother, and wife were all killed, wrote this book when the war ended. In it, he argued that meaning—not pleasure—is the purpose of life.

Why it's a must-read: "As the baby boomers face mortality, there are a lot of people who have made a lot of money and have figured out that the correlation between money and happiness is not very high. They're looking for something else; they're looking for a legacy, for meaning in their lives. Frankl examines how to we make sense out of our lives, how to find out how we as human beings are going to relate to the world, one that doesn't ever come filled with roses."

Everything for Sale: The Virtues and Limits of Markets by Robert Kuttner (1997)

Kuttner, one of the founders of the liberal magazine The American Prospect, makes the case that market-based approaches to everything from healthcare to education hurt the economy.

Why it's a must-read: "Kuttner's argument is that we've made a mockery of economic theory, that people have really paid no attention to the conditions under which markets work and when they don't. We now say markets for everything. We're gotten so wrapped up in competitive market dynamic, without acknowledging that the market has its own set of problems and issues. Somebody needs to talk about that, and Kuttner does the best job I've seen."

 

Best Business Books: John W. Rogers Jr.'s Picks

John W. Rogers Jr., chairman and CEO, Ariel Capital Management

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro (1974)

In a book that won him the Pulitzer Prize, Caro offers a scathing portrait of Robert Moses, the urban planner who, from various positions in city government, dominated politicians, razed neighborhoods, and oversaw construction of the freeways, bridges, and parks of modern New York City.

Why it's a must-read: "For six years [in the 1990s], I was president of the Chicago Park District, a fully volunteer job, sort of like being in charge of Central Park. Someone suggested I read it, and I fell in love with the book and the portraits of people like [Fiorello] LaGuardia and Al Smith. You also learn about how to get things done. Robert Moses knew how to move mountains to achieve his ultimate goal; he didn't take no for an answer. He could see the future of what he wanted to accomplish. These men had their weaknesses and sometimes abused their powers. But in business, you're going to run into people like that; it's part of business life—to understand what the opposition is going to be like, how they're going to maneuver and manipulate the situation to their advantage. It helps you to read about how these guys did things inappropriately."

Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63 by Taylor Branch (1988)

In the first of three volumes on how the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. helped reshape American society, Branch chronicles the young civil rights leader's evolution from the Montgomery bus boycott to the "I Have a Dream" speech.

Why it's a must-read: "For someone like me who's too young to have lived through the civil rights movement, it made it feel like I was there in Selma and Montgomery. To learn about not only the star of the book but people like Harry Belafonte and John Lewis, who had so much courage and who fought against all odds, was inspiring, and it made me feel like I should be fighting harder around areas of fairness and inclusion."

Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein (1995)

Lowenstein, a longtime Wall Street Journal reporter, charts the rise of the Nebraska investor whose bets on the long-term growth of companies like American Express and GEICO made him a multibillionaire.

Why it's a must-read: "This is another one of the books our analysts read as part of their training program. To me, Buffett's ability to articulate an investment strategy and philosophy is second to none. The values are so everlasting: These are just tried and true principles that sound simple and easy but are very hard to execute in reality. Most people, when push comes to shove, don't have the discipline they need–they don't do all the reading and studying they should be doing. That long-term perspective comes through loud and clear, and it's consistent with us: At Ariel, we have a turtle as a logo. Long-term investing is what we're all about."

 

Best Business Books: Hector Ruiz's Picks

Hector Ruiz, chairman and CEO, Advanced Micro Devices

A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard (1899)

Written by the editor of the magazine Philistine, this short essay is a simple tale of an American soldier quietly doing his duty during the Spanish-American War, finding a way, against heavy odds, to deliver a message to a leader of the Cuban insurgents.

Why it's a must-read: "This is truly one of the most inspirational books I have ever read. It tells the story of a soldier who meets a challenge head-on and accomplishes his mission. The book exemplifies the values of initiative and perseverance and encourages readers to continually stay positive and focused. Don't blink. Keep fighting. I often share these same messages with my employees."

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't by Jim Collins (2001)

Management consultant Collins and a team of researchers examined company data from over 1,400 firms, whittling the list down to 11—including Fannie Mae, Gillette, and Wells Fargo—that have substantially improved their performance, growing from just "good" to "great."

Why it's a must-read: "This is an essential read for anyone in a leadership position within an organization. Through extensive research, Collins discovers that truly great companies focus first on getting the right people–people with strong discipline and resolve–in the right positions in the company. Discipline and focus are two values I strive to achieve daily."

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits by C. K. Prahalad (2005)

A management consultant reveals business opportunities in the immense market at the bottom of the developing world, where the poor, as a group, have significant buying power.

Why it's a must-read: "We have a responsibility to help those in need, but to have a lasting effect we must enable people to stand on their own. This book opened my mind to thinking about new ways to apply technology to transform poverty on a global scale. It was one of the inspirations behind AMD's launching 50x15, an initiative that aims to enable 50 percent of the world's population with affordable Internet access by 2015. This book exemplifies how businesses can simultaneously do good–eradicating poverty–and do well."

Five Essentials for a Winning Life: The Nutrition, Fitness, and Life Plan for Discovering the Champion Within by Chris Carmichael (2006)

Lance Armstrong's personal coach outlines what he considers the five essential aspects of life—fitness, nutrition, relationships, career, and health.

Why it's a must-read: "AMD has been a longtime technology sponsor of Lance Armstrong, and it was through this relationship that I became acquainted with Chris Carmichael. In his book, Chris has done an excellent job of explaining how good health is closely linked to personal and professional success. Chris's lessons are as important for leaders to understand as any management strategy book I've read."

Dilbert by Scott Adams (ongoing)

The longtime comic strip about the life of a downtrodden, micromanaged office worker

Why it's a must-read: "There is so much humor in the workplace, and I greatly admire Adams's take on corporate culture."

 

Best Business Books: Deborah C. Wright's Picks

Deborah C. Wright, chairman, president, and CEO, Carver Bancorp

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't by Jim Collins (2001)

Management consultant Collins and a team of researchers examined company data from over 1,400 firms, whittling the list to 11—including Fannie Mae, Gillette, and Wells Fargo—that have substantially improved their performance, growing from just "good" to "great."

Why it's a must-read: "This is a hugely common-sensical framework that allows any team to assess how effective you're being, and which members for what reasons are not stepping up to the plate, either because of a skills mismatch or an attitude mismatch or a host of reasons. When you're a little company and you're trying to figure out what type of talent you need against your business plan, this allows you to think smartly about it. Virtually all levels of junior managers can process it: Once you get the lingo, you can get everybody on the bus. Everybody can relate to that. If you don't have the right people on the bus, we're going to have a tough year making our numbers. It's one of those books that you read and say, 'Hmm, why didn't I think of that?' "

Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors by Michael Porter (1980)

A seminal primer on how organizations can respond to competition

Why it's a must-read: "I read it 20 years ago because I was a student at Harvard Business School, and it was required reading, but I've read it two or three times since. It changed everybody's thinking around strategy to focus as candidly as you could on not just your industry but your place in it. It forces you to be brutally honest with yourself and your team about the essence of what's different about you that you can sell to your customers. When I got here to Carver in 1999, I pulled it off the shelf and said OK, I need to go back to basics here. This company is in a consolidating industry, and we're using all of Porter's ideas about figuring out how to compete in a world where you're a small player among giants, trying not just to stay alive but do well."

I Don't Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother by Allison Pearson (2002)

A novel about a hedge-fund-managing mother of two who struggles to juggle work and family life

Why it's a must-read: "I adopted a little girl three years ago, and I read this book just before doing it. I was struggling with the balancing act between the life I lead, which is pretty hectic, and throwing a very large monkey wrench into it. This book was the most hilarious depiction of modern motherhood that I've ever read. I still keep it when I want to give myself a reminder of the high expectations you have for yourself and everybody you work with, but the reality of having an 8 o'clock breakfast when your daughter has a cold.