Wally Bock's Supervisory Leadership Tips
My Summer Re-Reading List
Every year the papers and the business press offer us a list of books for summer reading. These are usually the latest hot books, filled with the latest jargon and trends. If that’s what you’re looking for, by all means pack a few to take to the beach with you.
But I tend to agree with the writer of Ecclesiastes that there is “nothing new under the sun.” It seems to me that the basics of leadership are pretty much the same today as when Caesar wrote about his Gallic Campaigns. So I’d like to recommend some books that I think are worth re-reading.
I tend to favor books that are short and well written. I like books that are worth re-reading because of the depth of their insights, not the number of their pages. Here’s my summer re-reading list of what I think are the best business books in several areas.
Best Marketing Book
Give my vote to Trout and Ries’ classic: “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.” The book weighs in with only about 150 pages, but they’re filled with as much wisdom today as when the book was written over a decade ago.
Best Book on Persuasion
No contest here. It’s Robert Cialdini’s latest version of “Influence: Science and Practice.” Cialdini is the expert on persuasion and a fine writer, to boot. No matter how much you know about persuasion, you’ll learn something from this short book.
Best Book on Building a Great Company
Actually, this is a recommendation for two books, “Built to Last” and “Good to Great.” These two books are two looks at the same phenomenon: turning your company into a great company. “Built to Last” does that by comparing 18 companies with a record of stellar performance for over 50 years with 18 other, less-successful companies. “Good to Great” looks at companies that have gone from, well, good to great.
Best Book on Strategy
“Warfighting: The US Marine Corps Book of Strategy” is the contents of FMF-1, the manual issued to all US Marine officers and penned by legendary Commandant, General Al Gray. It’s short, like Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” but written for a modern Western reader.
Best Book on Leadership
“The Leadership Challenge” by James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner has been around in various editions for almost twenty years now because it’s an excellent look at leadership that is both scholarly and practical.
Best Overall Business Book
There’s no contest on this one, either. I’ve been re-reading and dipping into Peter Drucker’s “The Effective Executive” since I got my first copy almost forty years ago. I’m still learning from it.
Sure, tuck the latest John Grisham or Danielle Steele in your suitcase for a pure fun read. Take a long a couple of new business books to help you keep up with what others are reading. But take a couple of these along to spark your thinking and give you a dose of business wisdom.
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