The Best Business Books of 2012
As always there were some terrific books I got my hands on this year. If you have very little time and want some new ideas then this is a good set of books to read. These books have appealed to readers globally because of the power of those ideas. Thanks to the chatter these books generated even before they were released, I was aware of what their key idea was.With the holidays around the corner, gift yourself a few good books. Grab your favorite beverage and curl up in a corner to catch up with some good reads you may have missed during the year. Here is my list
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
This book clearly gets my vote for the best business book of the year. Almost 40% of what we do every day is driven by our habits and not a conscious choice. Since this is also the time when many of us will make New Year resolutions, this maybe a good book to read before you make promises. It will not help you make better resolutions but it will help you stick to the ones you make. After all most of us struggle to start new habits that will help us and we struggle equally hard when we try to stop habits that are dysfunctional. Habits take a long time to develop – almost 66 days. It means if you make a New Year's resolution to exercise or eat healthy food and you manage to do it daily until March 7, it is likely to stick. At the core of every habit is a loop with three parts: a cue, a routine, and a reward. This book tells you to change a habit means you have to replace a routine with a different routine. For example: if you want to read for twenty minutes after dinner, create a routine that works for you. After dinner, put a reminder/alarm. When you hear that sit at the table and read a book for twenty minutes. Do it at a fixed time every evening. If you fumble, don’t worry – habits do take time to develop. Do a countdown – 7th March is not that far away you know.
- The Rare Find: How Great Talent Stands Out by George Anders.
I came across this book while doing the research for my book Don’t Hire The Best. Hiring is the most widely used HR process and the one, which is least, understood. The Rare Find talks about how to tell the really outstanding prospects from the ones who look great on paper but then fail on the job. Or, equally important, how to spot the ones who don’t look so good on paper but might still deliver extraordinary performance. This is where you will learn the concept of a “jagged resume” – the most powerful concept of the book. There are lots of case studies that you can learn from. My favorite portion of the book: how the U.S. Army finds soldiers with the character to be in Special Forces without asking them to fire a single bullet. Check out this conversation with George Anders <click here>
Dan Ariely’s first book Predictably Irrational was a blockbuster. The provocative title screams at you and says, “You are irrational and I can predict it.” That was followed by The Upside of Irrationality. Why do we procrastinate? Why can we not stick to a diet? Why do we not do what we KNOW is good for us. The answer to both the questions may lie in this book that explores the notion of dishonesty. Things that increase our tendency to lie: Ability to rationalize; Conflicts of interest; Creativity; Previous immoral acts; Being tired; Others benefiting from our dishonesty; Watching others behave dishonestly; Culture that gives examples of dishonesty. Research based and easy to read. Read this review and decide <click here>
- The Wisdom of Psychopaths by Kevin Dutton
If you were to hire a CEO what traits would you be looking for? Fearlessness, ruthlessness (needed when they decide to shut down a plant and layoff thousands), charisma, charm and single-minded focus is what many search firms look for when they screen potential CEOs. Some CEOs also display a singular lack of conscience when they fudge account books, siphon off funds and generally misuse power and office for their personal gain. Create a distinct cluster of the personality traits like focus, charm, fearlessness etc and then add a dash of low intelligence, violence and impulsiveness to this list and suddenly we are not describing a CEO. We are describing psychopaths who make up almost fifteen to twenty five percent of the prison population. The ingredients are the same. Just changing the amount of the ingredients is good enough to change a winning CEO to a Hannibal Lecter from the movie Silence of the Lambs. You can read this review and decide <click here>
- Jugaad Innovation: A Frugal and Flexible Approach to Innovation For The 21st Century by Navi Radjou, Jaideep Prabhu and Simone Ahuja
If you use the following six principles: Seek opportunity in adversity; do more with less; think and act flexible; keep it simple; include the marginalized in your dreams and follow your heart, you are following the six principles that drive Jugaad innovation. Think of the features that exist in your cell phone or your camera that you have had to pay for but have never used. Software that is bloated with useless features has been called bloatware. They add useless features that makes the price put of reach of the masses. Jugaad is about the mindset that is driving innovation to the grassroots. You can read this review and decide <click here>
What are some of the books you read and recommend? Is there that I recommended that you did not much care for? I would love to know.
Connect with me on Twitter @abhijitbhaduri
Enjoy this cartoon I did to illustrate the review of the book Groundswell.
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