Endless articles-selections with a list of books for any topic seem to be creat for people whose main goal in life is to read as many books as possible. Some of us really set such a goal for ourselves, believing that the number of books read is directly proportional to the volume of useful skills. Dozens of works on time management, business planning, consumer behavior analysis – we fill our heads with the works of self-proclaim “business gurus” who promise an instant solution to all problems and a universal strategy for building a business. Every year, hundrs of new works in the field of business literature are publish, all of them are freely available, but the number of great corporations does not increase significantly.
A reliable way to avoid wasting time reading business literature is to approach the choice of a book with full responsibility. We tell you by what criteria you can quickly evaluate a work, what signs clearly state that the book can be put aside, and how to read business literature with maximum efficiency. We also offer you an extremely subjective list of famous books about business, bypassing which you will not lose anything.
Three Major Disadvantages of Business Books
Many experien entrepreneurs are skeptical about business literature – they confirm their opinion with irritat articles in their blogs, all sorts of anti-ratings and buy telemarketing data other warnings to young specialists. Their skepticism is quite understandable – while there are objectively great books on business, most of them do not bring any practical benefit. The three main drawbacks of this genre are subjective success stories, vagueness and excessive didacticism.
Subjective success stories
This is not about a truly useful analysis of the stories of the largest corporations – there really is something to learn from them. Sometimes, however, a completely unremarkable experience is position as a unique success story. The second how to create a b2b buyer persona? ption is a truly successful development of the company, which the author tries to pass off as a universal strategy. Do not forget that business plans do not work like that.
Vagueness of statements
Unfortunately, many business books could easily be shortento a few pages. Listing obvious facts, restating other authors’ ideas in your own words, repeating one idea throughout the book – these are the elements that make up a book by a not very good author whose only goal is to earn a fee.
Excessive didacticism
This drawback is noticeable in especially self-confident authors who sincerely consider themselves real gurus in the field of business. Their tone is ironic, they do not skimp on analyzing the mistakes of companies or other authors. The main feature is that their advice is completely useless. This does not mean that such authors are stupid, it is just that in many cases they are extremely far from real business. These can be university professors, analysts, experts in any other field except business.
Signs of useless business literature
Of course, even a good book may contain one of these signs, but if there are more than three or they are very noticeable, you should be skeptical about the work.
A classic rags to riches story
If the first page of a book starts with a story dating data about the author’s difficult childhood, you risk wasting your time. This is the main irritant of most motivational books – a story about how everything was really bad at first, but after a long time of work everything became good. If your goal is to find practical skills for your business, and not to be inspir to achieve, put such a book aside
Constant reference to positive thinking
Positive thinking works, but it’s of little use when it comes to running a business. If your company is in crisis or your manager is failing to do his job, positive thinking is not the answer to your problems.
Endless discussions about the company’s mission
Many business books include reflections on values and mission. It’s all well and good to mention the ne for values that unite employees, but if chapter after chapter tells you in the most colorful terms that you can’t be driven by profit and should strive for greatness, perhaps the author has nothing more to say.