The Cranky Middle Manager Show #316 The Final Cranky Show and the Future of Work with John Blackwell
The Most Overrated Business Books???
Posted on 02. Sep, 2007 by Wayne in General
Listener Greg Martin sent me this link to BNET ( a good site for cool stuff) about the most overrated business books. Here’s the list… but you can check out the link and see for yourself. Notice that two of our favorite targets, “Who Moved My Cheese” and “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” are on there as well as show-ducker Tom Peters.
1) Reengineering the Corporation
2) In Search of Excellence (Tom Peters…. you might want to pick companies that will still exist by the time people read the book)
3) Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun
4) Jack Welch and the GE Way
5) Jesus: CEO
6) 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
7) The One Minute Manager
8) Who Moved My Cheese
9) Chicken Soup For the Soul At Work
10) Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Work
Notice that on the “overrated list are neither of my e-books, “Meet Like You Mean It, the Cranky Middle Manager’s Guide to Painless and Productive Meetings” OR “The 4 Disciplines of Highly Effective, Leadership Exhibiting, Project Nailing, Cheese Moving Managers”. You can check them out here…..
Hi Wayne,
I haven’t read every book on this “overrated” list, but of the ones I have read, I have found them useful. Whether a book is useful to us or not, I think, depends on what information a person needs and is ready for. Someone who was recently laid off of a job, and needs to put things in perspective might find “Who Moved My Cheese” to be the right book at the right time. Those of us who have mastered the message will find reading it a waste of time — pretty short waste of time though, because it is a quick read.
Personally, I found the message in “Rich Dad Poor Dad” to be helpful. Granted, the principles are easy to understand, but until I read the book, I hadn’t given the topic a whole lot of thought. Furthermore, simple frameworks are easy to access intuitively in day-to-day life, like when we examine whether we habitually invest in assets or liabilities, or in Jim Collin’s hedgehog concept where we examine the cross-section of economics, passion and aptitude. A simple yet accurate framework makes these books accessible and that accessibility makes them helpful.
That’s just my two cents. I would hate for someone to shy away from a book, simply because of the literary preferences of a writer on BNET.
By they way, I love the podcasts. Keep up the good work.
Gannon