Best Business Books for 2007

Books

The underlined title links will take you directly to our catalogue. Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

We are smarter than me : how to unleash the power of crowds in your business , / Barry Libert & Jon Spector ; and thousands of contributors.

Drawing on their own research and the insights from an enormous community of more than 4,000 people, Barry Libert and Jon Spector have written a book that reveals what works, and what doesn't, when you are building community into your decision making and business processes (Amazon editorial review)

The Black Swan : the impact of the highly improbable , by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Bestselling author Nassim Nicholas Taleb continues his exploration of randomness in his fascinating new book, The Black Swan, in which he examines the influence of highly improbable and unpredictable events that have massive impact. Engaging and enlightening, The Black Swan is a book that may change the way you think about the world, a book that Chris Anderson calls, "a delightful romp through history, economics, and the frailties of human nature." (Amazon editorial review)

The art of woo : using strategic persuasion to sell your ideas , by G. Richard Shell, Mario Moussa.

Shell and Moussa, both on the Wharton School faculty, aim to help readers get attention and sell their ideas through strategic relationship-based persuasion, or "woo"-or "winning others over." The authors consider wooing to be one of the most important skills in a manager's repertoire; while the concept may seem simple, mastering it is an art.� (Amazon editorial review)

Hot spots : why some teams, workplaces, and organizations buzz with energy - and others don't , by Lynda Gratton.

What organization wouldn't want to encourage "places and times where cooperation flourishes, thus creating great energy, innovation, productivity and excitement"? This final volume in a trilogy of books on creating energy at work by London Business School professor Gratton (after Living Strategy and The Democratic Enterprise) attempts to analyze the ingredients of positive workplace energy. (Amazon editorial review)

Ignited : managers! light up your company and career for more power, more purpose, and more success , by Vince Thompson.

A former middle manager turned consultant, Thompson depicts the realm between upper management and the workforce as rife with turf battles, firestorms and ongoing struggles to keep the troops from revolting. Fighting the notion that the 5.4-million middle managers at 30,000 U.S. companies are in a vast career wasteland, he offers specific and practical solutions for good management. As corporate fulcrums, managers are in a position to exert more power than they think, he argues. (Amazon editorial review)

Authenticity : what consumers really want , by James H. Gilmore, B. Joseph Pine II.

This eye-opening but muddled volume tells companies to remain true to self or, at least, to appear genuine, arguing that in a world increasingly filled with deliberately and sensationally staged experiences... consumers choose to buy or not buy based on how real they perceive an offering to be. (Amazon editorial review)

Off-ramps and on-ramps : keeping talented women on the road to success , by Sylvia Ann Hewlett.

It is difficult not only to pinpoint the issues behind female "opt-outs" from the workforce but also to cite pragmatic, business- and women-friendly programs and policies that will retain female talent. Economist Hewlett, a workplace expert, author (When the Bough Breaks, 1991; The War against Parents, 1999; and Creating a Life, 2002), and recently cofounder of the Hidden Brain Drain Task Force, has blueprinted a new second-generation road map to success. (Amazon editorial review)

The age of turbulence : adventures in a new world , by Alan Greenspan.

Alan Greenspan shares the story of his life first simply with an eye toward doing justice to the extraordinary amount of history he has experienced and shaped. But his other goal is to draw readers along the same learning curve he followed, so they accrue a grasp of his own understanding of the underlying dynamics that drive world events. In the second half of the book, having brought us to the present and armed us with the conceptual tools to follow him forward, Dr. Greenspan embarks on a magnificent tour de horizon of the global economy. (Amazon editorial review)

The future of management , by Gary Hamel ; with Bill Breen.

Though this authoritative examination of today's static corporate management systems reads like a business school treatise, it isn't the same-old thing. Hamel, a well-known business thinker and author (Leading the Revolution), advocates that dogma be rooted out and a new future be imagined and invented. To aid managers and leaders on this mission, Hamel offers case studies and measured analysis of management innovators like Google and W.L. Gore (makers of Gore-Tex), then lists lessons that can be drawn from them. (Amazon editorial review)

The leadership challenge , by James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner.

Amazon.com Guest Reviewer: Marshall Goldsmith: I consider Leadership Challenge by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner to be the best research-based book ever written in the field of leadership. What I love about this book is that it is actually written for its readers! Let's face it--very few readers of business books are CEO's of multi-billion corporations. Yet many business books follow the same over-used formula--interviewing CEOs--talking about what they are doing so well--and suggesting that you do the same thing. (Amazon editorial review)

The 4-hour work week : escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich , by Timothy Ferriss.

Affluenza , by Oliver James

Blessed unrest : how the largest movement in the world came into being, and why no one saw it coming , by Paul Hawken.

The carrot principle : how the best managers use recognition to engage their people, retain talent, and accelerate performance , by Adrian Robert Gostick.

A class with Drucker : the lost lessons of the world's greatest management teacher , by William A. Cohen.

A farewell to alms : a brief economic history of the world (Princeton Economic History of the Western World), by Gregory Clark.

Firms of endearment : how world-class companies profit from passion and purpose, by Rajendra S. Sisodia, David B. Wolfe, Jagdish N. Sheth.

Founders at work : stories of startups' early days , by Jessica Livingston.

Go put your strengths to work : six powerful steps to achieve outstanding performance , by Markus Buckingham.

The jelly effect : how to make your communication stick, by Andy Bounds.

Know-how : the 8 skills that separate people who perform from those who don't , by Ram Charan ; with Geri Willigan.

The last tycoons : the secret history of Lazard Freres & Co. , by William D. Cohan.