100 Best Business Books Of All Time

The more I learn about Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten of 800-CEO-Read, the more I agree they are qualified to claim The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You (Portfolio, 2009). Their website explains much of the history of their passion for business books. Out of that passion, the authors present quality reviews, reasoned standards of excellence and an appreciation for business books that deliver new ideas, or timely solutions in fresh ways. The book clearly honors the subtitle. You will learn what the books say, why they matter and how they can help you.


In the introduction the authors demonstrate they are all business. They created a set of standards to justify the claim to the best books of all time. Their first standard was to "ask each book the same set of questions: Is the author making a good argument? Is there something new that he or she is presenting? Can we use this idea to make our business better?" The second standard is how applicable is the topic, does the book apply to business people here and now? And the third standard relates to accessibility. How accessible is the information? I appreciate this standard as most executives might. What is the cost to acquire the information? Most of us don't have weeks to commit to learning a new idea.

From that point forward, the book is immensely creative and useful. The books are arranged by categories but also in priority order. The categories are:

1. You
2. Leadership
3. Strategy
4. Sales and Marketing
5. Rules and Scorekeeping
6. Management
7. Biographies
8. Entrepreneurship
9. Narratives
10. Innovation and Creativity
11. Big Ideas
12. Takeaways

The reviews are concise, yet deep, thoughtful and informative. The reviewer is identified so you know if it was Jack or Todd doing the review. I noticed no repetitive content. Each review is fresh, containing quotes when helpful and the reviewers opinion of the highlights of each work. Often, the reason for inclusion is also explained in the review. Each review is between 2-4 pages except for the 12 books listed under Takeaways, which are one page each.

Four features provide the "But wait..." bonus you probably would not expect from reference such as this:

1. The first chapter - You;
2. The final chapter - Takeaways;
3. The sidebars.
4. The Where To Next entries at the end of each review
   

The You chapter contains books to make you a better business individual. Examples include Getting Things Done by David Allen, How to Swim With The Sharks by Harvey Mackay, The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, How to Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie, and Oh The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss. (Yes, that's right. Read the review to understand. I can't wait to get the book.) The Takeaways chapter contains 11 reviews (one for each chapter) of unique, bonus-value books. Examples include What The CEO Wants You To Know by Ram Charan, Lucky Or Smart by Bo Peabody and Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko. The sidebars provide a variety of interesting facts including articles such as Leadership in the Movies, Found In Fiction, Classics, Deming's 14 Points Of Management, and Quotes. At the end of each review there are at least 3 suggestions for Where To Next. Thoughtfully, the authors have provided a less-structured-but-not-random alternate path through the reviews. For example, The Five Dysfunctions Of A Team is in the Management section, but the recommendations take you forward to the section on leadership, back to an entry on starting a business, and to the one-page Takeaway description of The Team Handbook by Scholtes, Joiner and Streibel.


This book challenged me and shamed me. I am ashamed at how few of the 100 Best I've read. Clearly, too many of my selections have been from those books ranked 101 and below. I have a lot of catching up to do. But I'm challenged as well by the how the authors studied, learned from, documented and shared the benefits of each book. This book takes a special place in the library. It makes me focus my learning, eliminate waste, and concentrate on getting the best bang for my business book buck!

Book Review

God Is Closer Than You Think
by John Ortberg

If you've read any of John Ortberg's other books, you won't be dissapointed by God Is Closer Than You Think (Zondervan, 2005, Grand Rapids, MI). The author provides deep insight and thoughts about the ways of God using stories, humor and scripture. He draws analogies to common things of today in order to make the point of the subtitle: This Can Be The Greatest Moment Of Your Life Because This Moment Is The Place Where You Can Meet God. The ideas are presented in a logical order that pull you further and further into the book and into a better understanding of God.

In the first chapter, the author uses stories from the bible and a detailed discussion of Michelangelo Buonarroti's masterpiece painting of God and Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, The Creation of Adam. He makes the point that God is moving heaven and earth, pursuing us. God is the originator of the relationship, not man. The point is further made repeatedly in the bible, from Adam, to Jacob, to Samuel, and the travelers on the road to Emmaus that God is seeking us, initiating the relationship; always present.

Chapter two: We need to train ourselves to find God. He's right there if we look for Him. God is always present whether we see him or not. The point is made clear and memorable by the author's comparison and illustrations to the Where's Waldo books once again interwoven with examples from scripture. The imagery and the detail of the analogy make the point memorable. "Where's Waldo? He's right there on the page. He's anywhere people are willing to see the whole world with eyes incapable of anything but wonder... [h]e's closer than you think."

In the subsequent chapters, he uses modern analogies like "DTR" or Define The Relationship", and movies "A Beautiful Mind" and "The Princess Bride" mixed with biblical exposition, Christian history, and practical application to help the reader practice taking advantage of our proximity to God. He is not to be hidden from as Adam did, but He is to be pursued, studied, known and followed moment by moment. He even took the DTR in chapter and changed it into a reminder that we should be following Jesus so closely, we should be covered in DTR, Dust of the Rabbi.

The book is entertaining and enlightening, compelling and convicting. Study it slowly, think about it deeply and ask God to change you as you learn more about Him.

Wide Awake

A book that I recently finished spoke to me, Wide Awake - The Future Is Waiting Within You by Erwin Raphael McManus. It was published in Nashville, Tennessee by Thomas Nelson. You can get it here.

Erwin Raphael McManus is not your normal, run-of-the-mill pastor. He has a refreshing, engaging approach to following Jesus. Wide Awake is a challenge to those of us who have postponed or given up on our dreams. The challenge: embrace the dreams. They were put there by God. He designed them into us. Let's not quench them, or run from them or ignore them. Let's embrace them. Let's become alive in Christ and free enough to live our dreams. Why not dream wide awake?

Inside Flap: "Maybe you have been asleep. You have never lived up to your potential. You have unfulfilled dreams and longings. If you're dead, let Jesus raise you up to new life. If you have been sleepwalking, it's time to wake up and start dreaming wide awake."

McManus begins the introductory chapter titled Awaken with the premise that there is a hero within each of us. He claims (and I heartily agree) that "people are the most underused and undervalued resource on the planet. Earth's unlimited resource is the gifts, talent, passions, imagination, and ingenuity of its citizens." He goes on to say that "the real battle is not between good and evil, but between less and more." He also asserts that the world needs us at our best. We were created by God for a purpose. He states that the "planet is made better or worse by the people we choose to become. If you live a diminished life, it's not only you who loses, but the world loses and humanity loses." We simply need to awaken the hero within us.

The following eight chapters are the attributes necessary to live out our greatness. They are:

1. Dream
2. Discover
3. Adapt
4. Expect
5. Focus
6. Create
7. Enjoy
8. Invest

The author's hope is that we would live out the "more" that God created us for and change the world in the process. "Go. Dream big. Dream God-sized dreams and have the courage to live them. If you do, the world will never be the same again." In all, I was challenged and encouraged by this book. I appreciate the author and read everything of his I can get. This book helped me have a better view of a God that is much harder to understand; a God who refuses to fit in my boxes. God is so big, so powerful, so "not me" and still so loving as to be interested in my life and its outcome. Erwin Raphael McManus has helped me know God a little better and challenged me to pursue the dreams God has given me for my life. Who knows, maybe the world will benefit!