My Top Ten Most Influential Business Books
On occasion, people will ask me what books have had the biggest impact on my life and career. This weekend I decided to go through the library and put together my top ten list. Over the years, these books have been key in the development of my philosophy on business and life. Although I'm not sure if they will have the same impact on you as they did on me, if you haven't read some of these books, I would strongly encourage you to check them out!
Here they are in no particular order:
Good to Great by Jim Collins - Studies why some companies that were average for many years suddenly changed and became great over a sustainable period of time. Real research on certain companies across many different industries that made this leap. Filled with great organizational themes for success.
The Balanced Scorecard by Robert Kaplan & David Norton - Groundbreaking book on the limitation of financial measures and analysis. Linking leading and lagging indicators from different dimensions and understanding their relationships has been a big part of my performance management work over the years. Hard to believe this was written back in 1992.
Leading Change by John Kotter - My bible for the fundamentals of leading and driving change in organizations.
The Discipline of Market Leaders by Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema - Taught me that you can't be all things to all people and be a market leader. Decide what you are and what you are not and stick to it.
Nuts by Kevin & Jackie Freiberg - The story of Southwest Airlines. This book taught me there can be a method in the madness and that everything you do should be intentional. Also, you can have fun and be successful at the same time.
At Work with Thomas Edison by Blaine McCormick - Taught me that innovation just for innovation's sake it not productive. You must be trying to solve something and create value for the marketplace. Edison is known as a great inventor but he was also a great businessman.
Serious Creativity - Edward de Bono - One of the most mentally challenging books I've read. Teaches ways to think differently in order to come up with solutions to problems. Also, that creativity can be learned and can become part of an organization's culture.
Customers for Life - Carl Sewell - So simple and so powerful. Basic concepts for creating life long customers that are as relevant today as they were the first time I read it.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni - Like all of Patrick's books, it's a novel filled with all kinds of business lessons. I use his team building pyramid in all of my teambuilding training.
The Customer Comes Second by Hal Rosenbluth - Focus on your employees first and other things will take care of themselves. Highly innovative ideas in creating an employee based culture that delivers extraordinary results.
You can find all of these titles and more at my website's best business books web page or copy and paste the following url http://www.derrickstrand.com/Best_Business_Books.html
What books have influenced you the most? I'd love to hear from you. You can also check out my website at www.derrickstrand.com or email me at dstrand@derrickstrand.com for general information or to sign up for my newsletter. Also, connect with me at the following social media links:
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Here they are in no particular order:
Good to Great by Jim Collins - Studies why some companies that were average for many years suddenly changed and became great over a sustainable period of time. Real research on certain companies across many different industries that made this leap. Filled with great organizational themes for success.
The Balanced Scorecard by Robert Kaplan & David Norton - Groundbreaking book on the limitation of financial measures and analysis. Linking leading and lagging indicators from different dimensions and understanding their relationships has been a big part of my performance management work over the years. Hard to believe this was written back in 1992.
Leading Change by John Kotter - My bible for the fundamentals of leading and driving change in organizations.
The Discipline of Market Leaders by Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema - Taught me that you can't be all things to all people and be a market leader. Decide what you are and what you are not and stick to it.
Nuts by Kevin & Jackie Freiberg - The story of Southwest Airlines. This book taught me there can be a method in the madness and that everything you do should be intentional. Also, you can have fun and be successful at the same time.
At Work with Thomas Edison by Blaine McCormick - Taught me that innovation just for innovation's sake it not productive. You must be trying to solve something and create value for the marketplace. Edison is known as a great inventor but he was also a great businessman.
Serious Creativity - Edward de Bono - One of the most mentally challenging books I've read. Teaches ways to think differently in order to come up with solutions to problems. Also, that creativity can be learned and can become part of an organization's culture.
Customers for Life - Carl Sewell - So simple and so powerful. Basic concepts for creating life long customers that are as relevant today as they were the first time I read it.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni - Like all of Patrick's books, it's a novel filled with all kinds of business lessons. I use his team building pyramid in all of my teambuilding training.
The Customer Comes Second by Hal Rosenbluth - Focus on your employees first and other things will take care of themselves. Highly innovative ideas in creating an employee based culture that delivers extraordinary results.
You can find all of these titles and more at my website's best business books web page or copy and paste the following url http://www.derrickstrand.com/Best_Business_Books.html
What books have influenced you the most? I'd love to hear from you. You can also check out my website at www.derrickstrand.com or email me at dstrand@derrickstrand.com for general information or to sign up for my newsletter. Also, connect with me at the following social media links:
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Posted by Derrick Strand at 9/13/2010 4:05 PM 
Categories: Creativity, Organization, Process Improvement, People, Innovation, Culture, Management
Tags: Culture Process Improvement Innovation Top Ten Business Books Management People Creativity Organization
Categories: Creativity, Organization, Process Improvement, People, Innovation, Culture, Management
Tags: Culture Process Improvement Innovation Top Ten Business Books Management People Creativity Organization
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