The Classics

Inc. Cover Story

The complete guide to the best business and management books ever written

Earlier this year I assembled a reading list for Inc. ("Book Value," January), which excluded business and management books. Company builders, I argued, would be better off reading primarily from history, biography, philosophy, literature, the sciences, and the arts. Only a handful of the management books written in the past 50 years are worth the time of a thoughtful company builder.

Well, here's that handful of all-time management classics. Sure, it's a somewhat personal list, but I believe every selection has made a significant contribution to the practice of management. Some selections, like The Soul of a New Machine, can be devoured in one or two sittings, whereas others, like Diffusion of Innovations, require many hours of concentration. Nonetheless, each selection should prove worth the effort.

A note on exclusions: I've consciously left out books that, while undeniably classic, would mainly interest the serious academic rather than the business practitioner, such as The Functions of the Executive, by Chester Barnard, and Strategy and Structure, by Alfred Chandler. I've also omitted books that, though influential in their day, have done more harm than good, such as Alfred Sloan's frighteningly clinical My Years with General Motors. Finally, and most important, I've excluded books published in the past 10 years. "Classic" status requires that a book has stood the test of time.

Reflecting on the nine classics on the list, I noticed three dominant themes. First, the path to progress often involves doing less, not more: getting out of the way and letting people work; eliminating barriers; managing better, not more; removing the need for control. Second, virtually every classic recognizes the complexity, unpredictability, and randomness inherent in human affairs, and each book provides a framework or theory to guide our decisions in the face of that complexity. Third, management is not science. The timeless classics rest not on "hard science"--management and organization are not analogous to physics and chemistry--but on understanding and releasing the capabilities of human beings.

While compiling my list of classics, I was struck by how many "new" or "revolutionary" ideas there are today that have actually been around for decades. As the saying goes, everything old is new again.

Setting the foundations of learning organizations

The Social Psychology of Organizing
BY KARL E. WEICK (1969)

This book has had a huge behind-the-scenes influence on management thinking. Published nearly 30 years ago, it sets forth the foundations of what today we call "learning organizations" and does so more cogently than any other book I've read. The book is also a brilliant treatise on managing amid chaos, paradox, and dramatic change. Weick counsels managers with tidbits of advice that read like popular management precepts of the 1990s, not the 1950s and 1960s, when he conceived them:

"Don't panic in the face of disorder."

"Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction."

"Stamp out utility."

"Rechart the organizational chart."

"Look for persistent galumphing."

"Complicate yourself!"

Behind those simple-sounding precepts lies a deep understanding of human organization that will give any thoughtful businessperson profound insights into building and managing a company. Weick teaches that organizations are complex systems wherein any action can create far-reaching, unintended consequences--the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings in California and causing a thunderstorm in Chicago. The problem facing most companies is not poor management but too much management, which, while well-intentioned, often does more harm than good.

Entrepreneurs wrestling with the problems of growth would do well to embrace Weick's insight that organizations are by their very nature messy and that all attempts to impose complete order and predictability will ultimately fail. Learn, adapt, change, evolve, and grow, but don't ever expect to have things under control or to know fully where you're going. "It's OK to not know where you are going," writes Weick, "as long as you are going somewhere. Sooner or later, you'll find out where that somewhere is."

I suggest starting with Weick's last chapter, "Implications for Practice," and then allowing yourself to be drawn into the earlier chapters, which will provoke and stimulate your thinking.

Exploring why some innovations succeed

Diffusion of Innovations
BY EVERETT M. ROGERS (1962)

I have referred entrepreneurs to the concepts in this book perhaps more than those in any other book. Rogers presents the definitive exploration of how new innovations become adopted by the general public, why some superior innovations fail to become adopted while inferior innovations become standards, and why some innovations take decades to proliferate while others spread seemingly overnight.

Rogers's key concept, the "innovation/adoption cycle," should be as much a part of your tool kit as the concept of supply and demand. When a new innovation hits the market, it appeals first to a rare breed of "venturesome innovators" who habitually experiment with novel ideas and products. Rather than waiting for the social approval of other users, these people ignore the ridicule and skepticism that often greet a new idea, and become its first champions. In the next stages, the innovators influence a group of "early adopters," who in turn influence a larger group called the "early majority," who then act as role models for the skeptical "late majority," who finally convince the traditional, change-resistant "laggards." Nike, for example, moves first from elite athletes (venturesome innovators) to serious wanna-bes (early adopters) to weekend warriors (early majority) and eventually to the vast majority of people who wear weird-looking, bright-yellow-and-fuchsia running shoes around the house.