As 12 or 14 years ago a server recommended for several years to Editorial Díaz de Santos the 100 best commented books on Management (although it is unlikely that anyone today will remember), I am going to dare to make a bibliographic reflection here on the fly. Given the extraordinary volume of works, the forced great pruning and the strong subjectivity of the subject, I warn in advance that it is totally impossible for us to be satisfied, myself included. (To the extent that another selection of similar quality could be made by citing different books.)
The real problem that a consultant has is that of the "foundation" of their ideas, because if not, we end up selling smoke, which we do frequently.
I do not understand that someone can dare to practice as a Management Consultant without having studied a wide and solid bibliography like this or similar. This is how things go.
Although this bibliography is undoubtedly excessive for a young entrepreneur or manager, it is also not right for it to rely too much on just one or two books. Of all the selection, I believe that the 10 of the asterisk, is a varied and well balanced group; and it is the one that I could recommend to the young professional to work on and apply (not simply read) in the next 3 years.
1.- Small and quality books.- The first book that I would recommend is “The man in search of meaning” by Victor F. Frankl. 120 pages. More than liking it a lot, it is a book that impressed me; and I reread frequently. In this entire list, you might wonder if there are any more practical and better. Keep in mind that any good book of principles is applicable to the company. Therefore they could also be cited: "The Little Prince", Juan Salvador Gaviota "," The knight in rusty armor.
2.- Psychology and self-help.- A book that every professional who works in an organization should know and work with is “The 7 Habits of highly effective people (* 1)” by Stephen Covey. And also the others by the same author, especially “Primero, lo Primero”. They are not business books, no matter how hard they try, but they are the most psychologically acute books that I know, and that is important. Of self-help, among many and very current, I quote the two famous Dale Carnegie, and by the way old: "How to win friends and influence people" and the even better: "How to suppress worries and enjoy life (* two)".
3.- Peter F. Drucker.- Following my library with my eyes, I see the shelf of Peter F. Drucker's books. Read books by this author. It is almost the same whether it is: "Management, tasks, responsibilities and practices", "The efficient executive", "Post-capitalist society (* 3)", "Innovation and the innovative entrepreneur" or another. He has many and these are business and anthropological books. I count more than 30 Drucker books. He died in 2005. (Drucker, the creator of Direction by Objectives, confessed that the idea was given to him by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who by the way was also the creator of the case method). The books by Charles Handy and Gary Hamel, Drucker's disciples, are good. 4.- High-quality books.- Now I stop at the books with the greatest intellectual depth.To a large extent the crisis is caused by the almost absolute ignorance of this type of work. We are always looking for a book about "something practical", the "fix", the "trick", the "formula for success", the "ball hit" or whatever you want to call it, sometimes interesting in the short, but that ends up being a botch long-term. Perhaps one assumes that their basic training is good. The first one that I dare to cite is “Paideia. The ideals of Greek culture ”by the German Werner Jaeguer written in 1940. More than 1000 pages of small print that correctly interpret what Plato, Socrates, Xenophon, Thucydides and all that long list said. Any of our current politicians talking about democracy or leadership has hardly the slightest idea when compared to any of these authors, 400 years before Christ.The second one I select is "The Story" by Arnold Toynbee, his illustrated edition; magnificent book to understand the meaning of what "culture" means, which for many of us is a nebula. And the third, for not extending myself, “Fundamentals of Anthropology. An ideal of Human Excellence (* 4) ”of the late Ricardo Yepes who died in the Pyrenees 6 years ago in a snowfall.
Be careful, I insist, because we are talking about leadership; and in our country it is very scarce due to the ignorance of these works, which are the ones that avoid having a mental pie. It is what you have when each one, on his own and without more, conceives a whole theory of knowledge as God gives him to understand.
I think that here would be the classics of Cervantes, Dante, Shakespeare, Baltasar Gracián, etc. And I want to highlight one of special importance for today's manager: and it is Goethe's "Faust" (there are also other authors), who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for happiness here on earth, even if later he has to go to hell.
5.- Culture and Leadership.- And following and talking about leadership, I don't know a better biography than Salvador de Madariaga's “Hernán Cortés”, perhaps the most universal Spaniard. It is also a history lesson. This Galician politician, professor and lecturer in Madrid, Paris and London, wrote a book, "English, French and Spanish", perhaps difficult to find, where he successively analyzes the different cultural characteristics. Here the impact of culture on productivity looks great (although he never used that word). By the way, if you were to ask me for the best corporate culture book, I'd say it's "The Roles of the Executive," from 1936, by Chester Barnard when he was president of ATT. There have been many later and very current, but in my opinion none that good. One of the theme is:"Business Culture and Leadership" by Edgar H. Schein. This list could include "In Search of Excellence (* 5)" the first and the best of Tom Peters; still applicable today despite criticism. As many managers would do well to rethink the concept of person, I add “Persona” by Julián Marías.
6.- Business strategy.- As business strategy books, in my opinion the best ones are those of Drucker, although he is not considered an expert on the subject. Robert M. Grant's "Strategic Direction" is reasonably good. Porter's "Competitive Strategy" and "Competitive Advantage" classics are not bad. Also those of Kaplan and Norton in reference to the balanced scorecard. And those of Jack Trout who became famous with "Positioning" followed by several others such as "Differentiate or Die", "War Marketing" and another 5 or 6 more easy to read and that in general are worth it. Perhaps it could be included here: "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.
7.- Books on various managerial techniques.- Those on pure and hard managerial techniques are a mixed bag: Perhaps one of the best is “Reengineering the company (* 6)” by Hammer and Champy; there are many others from other authors. "The human side of Management" by Odiorne. "The Book of Ideas" from the Japanese HR Association. "Lateral Thought" by De Bono. Koontz's "Administration". Leboeuf's "The Great Principle of Management". Carlzon's "Moment of Truth". "Speaking out Monday morning" from Cox. McCormarck's “What They Won't Teach You at Harvard Business School (* 7)”. And a very long ecétera, too debatable.
8.- Books for a plane trip. These are the books that everyone talks about. Despite their much support in distribution and marketing, some are even good. They are certainly uneven. They are characterized because they usually treat only one idea and in a simple way; and they are fine when they get it right. I quote some of the few that I know and that may be interesting: "The goal (* 8)", "Good luck", "The alchemist", "The inner compass", "The monk who sold his Ferrari", "Everything is going to change "," The executive to the minute ", How to organize people. If I had to highlight one, for different reasons, it would be "Who has taken my cheese (* 9)".
9.- Out of print books.- I often wonder why mediocre books come out on the market when there are some very outstanding ones out of print. I quote some in case the reader could do with them: “The Concept of Business Strategy” by Kenneth Andrews, which was a leading book at IESE, highly promoted by its founder Antonio Valero. “Companies That Last” by James C. Collins. "How to Start and Grow Small Business" by Louis L. Allen. Or “The inefficiency due to excess activity” by Odiorne.
10.- Books from a server.- I will have written and edited about 14 or 15 books. I think all exhausted. (I remember the first from Financial Accounting in 1977). Recently, this January 2012, I posted two on Amazon Kindle: “From churrero to astronaut. The 9 practices of the excellent entrepreneur (* 10) ”, of which I do not comment. And "100 assumptions and 50 sayings of success."
