Presumably when Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten made their selections for this book, they struggled to decide which books to include written by prolific authors such as Warren Bennis, Clayton Christensen, Peter Drucker, James Kouzes and Barry Posener, C.K. Prahalad, and Noel Tichy. I am curious to know why they include Billy Beane's Moneyball instead of Thomas Davenport's Competing on Analytics, Po Bronson's What Should I Do with My Life? instead of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography or James O'Toole's Creating the Good Life, and Annette Simmons' The Story Factor but none of Stephen Denning's books, notably The Leader's Guide to Storytelling and/or The Secret Language of Leadership? And why include none of the books written by others such as Joel Barker (Paradigms), Kenneth Blanchard (The One Minute Manager, with Spencer Johnson), William Bridges (Transitions), Henry Chesbrough (Open Innovation), Eric Drexler (Engines of Creation), Howard Gardner (Multiple Intelligences), Bill George (True North), Jason Jennings (Think Big, Act Small), Jon Katzenbach (The Wisdom of Teams), Philip Kotler (Marketing Management), Thomas Kuhn (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions), David Ogilvy (On Advertising), Michael Ray (Creativity in Business), and Joseph Schumpeter (Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy)?
That said, I think Covert and Sattersten have created an invaluable single source of information, especially given the fact that 11,000 business books were published in the United States in 2007 and, when I last checked, more than 1.9-million business books are now offered by Amazon, including more than 267,000 in the "business management" category. The material is carefully organized within 12 sections, each devoted to a theme: You (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People among the books discussed), Leadership (The Leadership Challenge), Strategy (Good to Great), Sales and Marketing (the selections including Positioning are fine but why not Theodore Levitt's The Marketing Imagination also?), Rules and Scorekeeping (The Balanced Scorecard), Management (The Essential Drucker), Biographies (My Years with General Motors), Entrepreneurship (The Monk and the Riddle), Narratives (The Force, a brilliant choice), Innovation and Creativity (The Art of Innovation), Big Ideas (Made to Stick), and Takeaways (The Lexus and the Olive Tree).
I especially appreciate the inclusion of "Sidebars" throughout the book. For example Business Books for Kids of All Ages (Page 34), Leadership in Movies (Page 46 but what about Fort Apache, Paths of Glory, and Twelve O'Clock High?), The Best Route to an Idea (Page 77), Learn from Experience (Page 81), Selling on the Silver Screen (Page 120 and the five choices are excellent but where's The Producers?), Classics (Page 200), Found in Fiction (Page 247), Fresh Perspectives Not in a Bookstore Near You (Page 282), and Readers' Poll (Page 307). In "The Last Word," Covert and Sattersten invite their readers to visit 100bestbiz.com for more information about all of the books discussed, including chapter excerpts, interviews with authors, videos about the books, and more. I also highly recommend signing up for the 800-CEO-READ Blog (bloggers@800ceoread.com) which provides daily updates of various kinds.
As previously indicated, I am among those who question many of the selections and especially, several omissions. So what? After reading this book, just for the fun of it, I compiled my own list and even devised a few "Sidebars." Perhaps others will also come up with their own list. There are several on Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten's list that I have not as yet read or last read decades ago. After reading or re-reading them, perhaps I'll change my mind. In any event, I enjoyed reading this book and am grateful for the enlightenment and entertainment it provides as well as for its capacity for thought-provocation. Now that it has been published, let the disagreements begin!
