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PDF Version << Syllabus Home Page2 Page3 Page4 Page5 Page6 Page7 Last >> Creativity and Personal Mastery Course Outline Prof. Srikumar S. Rao
Charan, Ram and Noel M. Tichy - Every Business is a Growth Business Times Business, 1998 Two noted consultants and academics make the point that attitude and mind set, and not environment or circumstances, determine growth and success. They stress the importance of organizational continuity - does the "leader" have a succession plan in place? - and constant redefining of the market from the customer's perspective. Great anecdotes. Reading level 1. Cialdini, Robert B. - Influence: Science and Practice; Allyn and Bacon, 2001 Cialdini is a psychologist, but he has written what may be one of the very best marketing books around. His research interest is how persuasion happens, how one person or entity can get another to do something he/it wants. He has isolated six powerful principles by which this happens and there is much variety in each. Many business examples and lots of pointers for further research. Reading level 1. Cleary, Thomas - Thunder in the Sky: On the Acquisition and Exercise of Power Shambala, 1993 - Zen Lessons: The Art of Leadership Shambala, 1989 Cleary, who holds a Harvard doctorate in East Asian languages, is best known for his translation of The Art of War, and has also translated dozens of other ancient Chinese works. Both of these books provide fascinating insights into leadership and the exercise of power from ancient practitioners well versed in the subject. Reading level 1. Covey, Stephen R. - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People; Simon & Schuster, 1989 It was on the paperback bestseller list for more than three years. Makes very good points such as "Every public victory is preceded by a private victory" and that you generally succeed when you "begin with the end in mind". Unfortunately the language is labored and you have to plow through it. It would benefit greatly from the attention of a Reader's Digest book editor. Reading level 2. Cowan, John - Small Decencies; HarperBusiness 1992 - The Common Table; HarperBusiness 1993 Musings on life and work by a businessman, consultant and a parish priest. In the tradition of Robert Fulghum, as noted in the publisher's blurbs, but true nevertheless. There are personal anecdotes cleverly turned into lessons for corporations in a warm and non-patronizing way. Take a small dose a day. Reading level 1. DePree, Max - Leadership is an Art; Dell, 1989 The retired chairman of furniture maker Herman Miller, Max has long been noted for innovative management practices. For example, he instituted a silver parachute for employees at his company so that they would be protected if they lost their jobs as a result of a hostile takeover. He outlines his philosophy of the covenant between a company and its workers. Most companies are nowhere near it and not headed in that direction either. Reading level 1. Farson, Richard - Management of the Absurd: Paradoxes in Leadership Simon & Schuster, 1996 Psychologist, educator and businessman, Farson has a penetrating insight into what is happening in today's business world. He illustrates his points with pithy sayings such as "The opposite of a profound truth is also true", "People we think need changing are pretty good the way they are" and "Organizations that need help most will benefit from it least". He is humorous but deadly serious and illustrates his point of view well. Reading level 1. Feiner, Michael - The Feiner Points of Leadership; Warner Business Books, 2004 Feiner was the head Human Resources honcho at Pepsi Cola and now teaches one of the most popular courses at Columbia Business School. He presents fifty "laws" of great leadership distilled from his observations over decades in the corporate world. Makes a strong case for integrity and remaining true to your values in the context of success in the executive suite. Reading level 1. Goldsmith, Marshall, Beverly Kaye and Ken Shelton - Learning Journeys Davies-Black Publishing, Palo Alto, CA, 2000 A bevy of best selling authors, consultants and trainers share personal stories about the event in their lives that was most significant and the lessons they learned from it. Warren Bennis, Stephen Covey, Jim Collins and Goldsmith himself are some of the contributors. Some accounts are absolute gems and reveal wisdom, compassion and the way to growth. Reading level 1. Hammer, Michael and James Champy - Re-engineering the Corporation; HarperBusiness, 1993 Another long time dweller on the bestseller lists which made the authors highly successful consultants. They advocate a fundamental redesign of work processes that will produce quantum leaps of productivity with an actual decline in resources used, and give several case studies. Unfortunately, "re-engineering" has become a buzzword and a cloak for massive, frequently indiscriminate, layoffs. Reading level 1 to 2. Hammer, Michael - The Agenda; Crown Business, 2001 The sequel to Re-engineering the Corporation in which the author admits that it was no silver bullet. This time he talks a great deal about "process". You have to put systems in place that make it easy for a customer to do business with you and deliver overwhelming value. He also advocates breaking the boundaries between you, your suppliers and your customers. Others - Jack Welch comes to mind - have said this earlier but Hammer says it particularly well. Not quite as good in terms of showing exactly how to do what is prescribed. Still, it does make good points. Reading level 1. Handy, Charles - The Hungry Spirit; Broadway Books, 1998 A British consultant with a blue chip client list, Handy has a take on business that exposes its pompous self-contradictions. He muses on technology, the excesses of capitalism and the growing evidence that markets do not always produce optimum allocations. His ruminations on the ethics of compromise and the purpose of profits are thought provoking. You might also wish to look up his other books, such as The Age of Paradox. Reading level 1. Hanson, Marlys and Merle Hanson - Passion and Purpose: How to Identify and Shape the Powerful Patterns that Shape Your Work/Life Pathfinder Press, Alameda, CA. 2002 Hanson's thesis is that we all have inherent motivational patterns that show up early in life and are dependably persistent. The trick to living a life of fulfilled potential is to understand our unique motivations and work so that they are used. There is a multi-step process recommended that involves identifying occurrences that gave you a sense of accomplishment from the earliest memories you have, analyzing them to detect patterns and then reshaping your life to make use of what you have discovered. Reading level 1. Harvey, Jerry - The Abilene paradox and other Meditations on Reality; Lexington Books, 1988 Despite being a management professor Jerry Harvey writes clearly and with wit. His essays examine the fundamental assumptions on which many management practices are based, and find them faulty. He is particularly good at exposing hypocrisy and the euphemisms used to cover them up. Read the first essay and at least some of the others. The Abilene Paradox is also available as a video and you should watch it if you get a chance. Reading level 1. Hawken, Paul - Growing a Business; Simon & Schuster 1987 Co-founder of the very successful mail-order gardening firm Smith & Hawken he has an unusual take on business. He clearly emphasizes that a successful business is an expression of a deep feeling welling up from the founder(s). This guiding principle is what shapes the business and makes it grows. Lucid discussions and some quite contrary assertions such as money is secondary when starting a business. The author has since become a speaking celebrity. Reading level 1. Heider, John - The Tao of Leadership:Leadership Strategies for a New Age; Bantam, 1986 A clinical psychologist, Heider is a long time student of the Tao Te Ching and has translated the spirit very well into modern management dilemmas. For example: "The wise leader knows that there are natural consequences for every act. The task is to shed light on these natural consequences, not to attack the behavior itself. If the leader tries to take the place of nature and act as judge and jury, the best you can expect is a crude imitation of a very subtle process. At the very least, the leader will discover that the instrument of justice cuts both ways. Punishing others is punishing work." Reading level 1. Heifetz, Ronald A. and Marty Linsky - Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading Harvard Business School Press, 2002 One of the better books on leadership. The authors are faculty members at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and have many decades of experience with major companies, government agencies and senior executives. They point out that true leaders do not find solutions as much as they create and hold the space in which others feel comfortable functioning and seeking and coming up with alternatives. With luck one or more of these alternatives will work better than what is already in place. Reading level 1. Johnston, David Cay - Perfectly Legal Portfolio, Penguin Group, 2003 The subtitle of this book is The covert campaign to rig our tax system to benefit the super-rich and cheat everybody else. That says it all. The author is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist for the New York Times and makes extensive use of stories that he has filed. If you are poor you pay taxes. If you are middle class you pay more taxes. If you are wealthy, you hire a good tax attorney and pay proportionately much less. If you are super rich, you frequently pay nothing at all. Not to the government that is. You do pay the legion of accountants, attorneys and financial advisors who dream up convoluted mechanisms to disguise income so that it does not have to be declared. Works for corporations and for individuals. Johnston explains in highly readable prose exactly how this is done. You will weep for our democracy. Reading level 1. Komisar, Randy with Kent Lineback - The Monk and the Riddle Harvard Business School Press, 2000, 2001 Software executive, angel and iconoclastic thinker, Komisar is a firm proponent of the "big idea" that should permeate the very being of a company. This big idea springs from the values and vision of the founder(s) and he stresses that the company should define its business in terms of where it is going and what it is becoming, not merely in terms of what it is. Written in the form of a fable where a young would be entrepreneur - Lenny - has an idea for a business to alleviate the pain of persons who have lost a loved one. In the pressure to raise funding for his venture he jettisons the original idea in favor of what - in his opinion - will make a quicker profit. His partner finally takes steps that bring him back to the original idea and this gets him the funding he needs. Reading level 1. Langley, Monica - Tearing Down the Walls: How Sandy Weill fought his Way to the Top of the Financial Pyramid and then Nearly Lost it All Free Press, 2002 A wonderful account of how Sandy Weill rose, fell and rose again and came to almost J. P. Morgan like prominence in the financial world. Really good glimpse into what happens in the world of high-level mergers and corporate governance as well as how human foibles play themselves out in a larger arena. I cannot decide if Langley is being hagiographic or tongue-in-cheek when she describes Weill's characteristics. Gluttony, for example, becomes love of fine food and drink. He slashes benefits for employees while treating himself to top of the line Gulfstream private jets. Would you want to be him? Reading level 1. Lucht, John - Rites of Passage at $100,000+; Viceroy Press, 1997 This book is a gem. Lucht is a headhunter, or in polite parlance an executive recruiter, and there is little about the business that he does not know. He shares this knowledge generously with wit and passion. There is an excellent exposition on the similarities and differences between contingency and retainer recruiters. There are many, many useful tips on how, if unemployed, you can become speedily employed. He also provides revealing glimpses into the mores of large corporations. Reading level 1. Mintzberg, Henry - Managers not MBAs; Berret-Koehler, 2004 At last, someone who points out that the emperor has no clothes and, indeed, never had any. Mintzberg is a management professor at McGill university and makes the case that our business schools are churning out technically overqualified, cerebrally gifted and morally deficient automatons who know nothing about how a business really works and also do not know that they know nothing. Others have made the same point but Mintzberg is an 'insider' so his data is stronger and his anecdotes more telling. Reading level 1. O'Boyle, Thomas F. - At Any Cost: Jack Welch, General Electric and the Pursuit of Profit; Vintage Books, Random House 1998 A former Wall Street Journal reporter chronicles the many ways in which GE under Jack Welch systematically used hard-nosed tactics to achieve its extraordinary stock market success. There is a seamy side to this success including possibly illegal and certainly unethical corporate actions - verbal commitments disavowed, pension funds raided, customers given kickbacks and competitive price collusion. GE wins court battles using overwhelming legal firepower but the questions remain. Well written and well documented. GE pulled out all the stops to squelch this and largely succeeded. The points made about GE culture are very relevant and coming to light in the wake of the company's declining share price and Welch's own well publicized marital problems. Reading level 1. O'Neil, John. R. - The Paradox of Success; Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1 The subtitle of this book is When Winning at Work Means Losing at Life. A distinguished psychologist and consultant O'Neil has run across more than his share of dysfunctional overachievers. He relates their tales along with analyses of why they became that way. There are descriptions of warning signs and suggestions to prevent you from traveling the same route. Serious issues treated sensitively. Reading level 1. O'Shea, James and Charles Madigan - Dangerous Company; Times Business, 1997 The authors look at all of the major consulting firms and their individual legacies. There have been some spectacular success stories and quite a few fiascos, and the authors cover them all with engaging openness. Particularly useful is their insider's description of the culture of major firms such as Bain, Boston Consulting and McKinsey. Since these firms, between them, boast a majority of large companies as clients you learn a great deal about how decisions are made at upper echelons. Reading level 1. Owen, Harrison - Riding the Tiger:Doing Business in a Transforming World Abbot Publishing, 1991 A consultant who practices his trade on six continents, Owen pioneered Open Space Technology, a method of holding meetings that calls for little preparation and no preset agenda and is nevertheless fearsomely productive. An astute observer of the business scene he has some penetrating comments on the change now racking that scene. Like it or not we are in this turmoil together and "...he who rides the tiger does not always choose when to get off." Reading level 1 to 2. Partnoy, Frank - Infectious Greed: How Deceit and Risk Corrupted the Financial Markets; Times Books, 2003 The author is a Law School professor and has a keen insight into how the evolution of trading instruments combined with human foibles and lack of regulation to give us spectacular fiascos such as Long Term Capital Management, Enron and WorldCom. If changes are not made now, much worse could follow. Reading level 2. Pfeffer, Jeffrey - The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First; Harvard Business School Press, 1998 A Stanford Business School professor makes the case that financial success is best assured by treating people as a valuable asset instead of merely paying lip service to the notion as most companies do. Excellent case studies of such companies as SAS which flourish by creating nurturing environment for their workers. Reading Level 1. Ray, Michael - The Highest Goal; Berrett-Koehler, 2004 The subtitle of this book is the "Secret that Sustains You Every Moment" and it is very appropriate. The author states that each of us has a goal, one that can give every action and every moment of every day a deep meaning and all of life is a quest to find this goal and work towards it. It is a powerful concept, and the author gives you methods to find your goal. Good exercises. Reading level 1. Ray, Michael and Alan Rinzler(editors) - The New Paradigm of Business Jeremy Tarcher, 1993 Sponsored by the World Business Academy, an organization devoted to fostering responsible change in business, the book is a selection of articles and readings by businesspersons, consultants, academics and journalists. The themes are cooperation, ethical responsibilities of business and business as a vehicle for social transformation. Reading level 1 to 2. Reichheld, Frederick F. - The Loyalty Effect; Harvard Business School Press, 1996 A Bain & Company consultant, Reichheld makes a persuasive case for loyalty-based management. He explicitly considers the lifetime value of customers and methods of increasing it. He extends the notion to employees, vendors and other relevant stakeholders and even further to consider loyalty to values and principles. Excellent case studies. Reading level 1, very occasionally 2. Rolfe, John and Peter Troob - Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle; Warner Books, 2000 Both authors are MBAs from top schools and joined well-known investment banks in pursuit of fame and fortune. The scales fell from their eyes and they figured that a tell all book could lead to the same outcome. Our financial powerhouses are not pretty places and this book tells you why. Both authors have a good eye for the illustrative anecdote. Be warned that the language is sometimes risqué. Reading level 1. Rosen, Robert H. and Paul Brown - Leading People; Viking, 1996 The authors identify eight principles of leadership such as vision, trust, creativity and integrity and give case studies of leaders - mostly group executives of companies with an occasional government or not-for-profit thrown in - who are exemplars of each. Some of these cases are pretty good but the few pages devoted to each precludes depth. You don't quite get to know how a company lauded for its creativity does on integrity. However, it does get you thinking. Reading level 1. Schaffer, Robert H. - High-Impact Consulting: How Clients and Consultants can work Together to Achieve Extraordinary Results; Jossey-Bass 2002 This is one extraordinarily worthwhile book and I also like its predecessor, The Break Through Strategy. The author's thesis is that most consulting projects fail because the consultant focuses on what needs to be done. The consultant almost never looks at what the client is able or willing to do. The correct way to proceed is to match what should be done with what the client can realistically do given human and organizational constraints. Lots of tips and a strategy for how this can be done. It is written from the viewpoint of a consultant but is equally - or even more - useful for an executive trying to change things from the inside. Reading level 1. Schwartz, Peter and Blair Gibb - When Good Companies Do Bad Things John Wiley, 1999 Legions of well-known companies - Union Carbide, Shell, Nike and Nestle for example - have been guilty of actions that have aroused broad public ire. Why do these ethical lapses occur, and is there any way of putting in place mechanisms to prevent them from happening? The authors take a remarkably balanced approach, neither castigating business as evil nor waxing rhapsodic over the benefits brought to third world countries by their practices. They believe that the serious negotiations of the future will be between NGOs and multinational companies as the only two entities that have truly global perspectives. Reading level 1 to 2. Semler, Ricardo - The Seven-Day Weekend: Changing the Way Work Works Portfolio, Penguin Books, 2004 This is the guy who wrote Maverick, also a best seller. Semler runs a company called Semco in Brazil and it has sales of more than $200 million. It is also highly profitable and follows such totally unconventional practices as letting employees set their own working hours. Semler believes that in hypercompetitive markets the only way to win is to give up control to well nurtured employees. He also believes that an important function of a company is to help employees grow in diverse ways. When, oh when, will the rest of the world catch up with him? Reading level 1. Senge, Peter M - The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization; Doubleday, 1990 An MIT professor of organizational theory, Senge has also enjoyed a long tenure on the bestseller list and has just co-authored a fieldbook which shows you how to turn your moribund organization into a learning one. He plugs a systems approach to solving problems so that today's solution does not become tomorrow's problem. Erudite and thoughtful, he has many important points to make including the explicit recognition of how our mental models influence "reality" and the importance of gaining personal mastery. The writing is somewhat verbose, but stick with it. Reading level 2 to 3. PDF Version << Syllabus Home Page2 Page3 Page4 Page5 Page6 Page7 Last >> |
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