Updated January 2005

My favorite

Books on Management            

          …David Mays

Click on the link to see the book notes.

 

In Search of Excellence, Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Harper & Row, 1982                

The first million-dollar management book, it set the standard for identifying characteristics of excellent, innovative companies. See also The Pursuit of WOW!,  Liberation Management, and the Tom Peters Seminar.

 

The Fifth Discipline, Peter M. Senge, Doubleday, 1990      

This landmark book included seminal thinking on systems and vision.  Five disciplines must be integrated to learn faster than the competition: systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision, and team learning.

 

Execution, Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, Crown Business, 2002

One of the biggest problems facing many good companies is regularly failing to produce promised results.  Execution is the biggest issue facing business.

 

Managing in a time of Great Change, Peter F. Drucker, Dutton, 1995

The implications for management, organizations, the economy and society of the emergence of information as a key factor.

 

Management Challenges for the 21st Century, Peter Drucker, HarperBusiness, 1999

This is a straightforward, logical, insightful, and therefore, powerful book about management issues rushing over the horizon.  Drucker deals with new paradigms in management, strategy, change leadership, information, productivity and self-management.

 

Tom Peters Seminar, Tom Peters, Vintage Books, 1994

If you judge a book by how many questions and ideas it sparks, this book rates tops.  See also, In Search of Excellence, The Pursuit of WOW!, and Liberation Management.

 

First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman, Simon & Schuster, 1999 

Based on 25 years of Gallup research, the book explains how to keep your top performers.  The 12 questions are priceless.

 

Managing by Values, Ken Blanchard & Michael O’Connor, Berrett-Koehler, 1997   

Key principles for making tough decisions and choosing the right thing over short-term payoffs are illustrated in a short, deceptively simple story.

 

First Things First, Stephen R. Covey, Simon & Schuster, 1994     

A principle-centered approach to time management based on “Quadrant II” thinking, building your life around what’s truly important.

 

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