Results2Match

Recently I was asked to present my personal list of favorite management books. These quiet days between Christmas and New Year are extremely useful for reflections. So in this blog I proudly presents my thoughts on business requirements for a management book.

I consider this a honorable and also easy question: My favorite management book list. Readers of my blogs already know the answer, because I regularly quote from my favorite management books.

Being curious I collected and studied some more lists of management book favorites, and it became interesting when I analyzed results. That brought me to the question what the business requirements should be of a management book. As far as I know there does not exist such a set of business requirements, and our best friend, the Google search, acknowledged this.

My content related management book list business requirements:

• The book working field must acknowledge that it has a large influence on the field.
  Many authors address in their book a very specialized subject that has limited contribution to the completed working field.
• The book must be considerable time around.
  Too many ideas are generated in the spur of the moment, and are easily forgotten when something new comes along.
• The presented ideas must be measurable, must be measured, and the measurement results should be validated by an independent authority.
  Some 20 years ago, we had the PIMS project. From business sources PIMS received real business data. The company identifying information was removed of course. Anyone with a good research idea could present a proposal, and, after acceptance, carry that out. Examples: Want to check the ideas of Peter Drucker: Be my guest (Result: Passed). Or want to check some thoughts of Michael Porter (Result: Partly passed).

Besides content related requirements one usually also takes process oriented requirements into account. Personally I limit my list to 3 books. Furthermore, I am a business improvement architect, management consultant, and consultancy line manager. This further limits the scope of management book domain I want to study. I also limit the available reading time to my holidays.

This all leads to my management book list, which I proudly presents:

1. Management (Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices), Peter Drucker, Heinemann, 1974, 575 pp
   Peter Drucker studies how modern day managers, whether in business or public service, can perform effectively.
2. Marketing Management (analysis, Planning, Implementation, and Control), Philip Kotler, Prentice Hall, 1991, 756 pp
   All about understanding the critical role of marketing in organizations and society. And all about managing marketing.
3. The PIMS Principles (Linking Strategy to Performance), Robert D. Buzzle and Bradley T. Gale (Editors), The Free Press, 1987, 322 pp
   PIMS, Profit Impact of Market Strategy, presents factual evidence about linkages between strategy and business performance.

I am sure that you can think of some more management book business requirements. Please provide me with your input, and let us create a complete list of requirements! Furthermore, how does your management book short list looks like? We like to hear from you! Contact Hans Lodder at Results2Match.

I wish you a Great and Happy New Year! That it may bring what you hope and expect from it!