One of my favorite activities is to spend a couple of hours by myself at the bookstore. I grab a coffee and browse. Sometimes I will bring other family members along, but to be honest I enjoy it more when I'm there by myself. I'll find 3 or 4 books, go sit somewhere and spend an hour skimming through them. Other times I'll just walk the aisles and "skim as I go".
Invariably, I'll spend most of my time in the business section, which has sections on entrepreneurship, management, finances, career (resumes, interviewing, etc.), real-estate, small business, etc. I've always enjoyed this kind of subject matter, because I always felt there was some relevance to my own life, and that hopefully some of this information might help me become better at my job, my business, etc. Maybe the words of Donald Trump or Jack Welch will rub off on me.
Something has begun to bother me, thought, about all the "management" and "how to run a company" books in the business section. I've begun to notice that a large percentage of them are written by academics, consultants and other folks who have never managed anything in their lives. The "about the author" page will invariably say something like this:
"Joe Schmo is a Life Coach and longtime consultant to many Fortune 500 companies. He has taught management courses at Tumbleweed College in Barstow, California for the past 30 years, and is the founder of Feel Good Consultants, Inc. Mr. Schmo is the author of "Don't Fire Your Crappy Employees, They Are Misunderstood And It Is Your Fault" and Chairman of the Advocacy for Employee Feelings and Emotions. In his spare time he takes care of his 4 cats".
On my last visit to the bookstore, I picked up 4 or 5 books at random before I found one where the author appeared to have at least been in business at some point. I think what happened is my real-world experience was in conflict more and more with the lengthy, convoluted and outright ridiculous methods and theories of these management guru's.
So now whenever I see a book that looks interesting, the first thing I do is go to the back flap and see where the author is coming from. If he's been teaching at some college for 40 years or "consulting" but never actually getting his hands dirty in an actual business, I'll probably not waste much time seeing what he has to say.
On the other hand, I LOVE reading about what a true business person went through to achieve their success. Love him or hate him, Donald Trump is a master marketer and I can learn something from him. Jack Welch is impatient, irreverant, demanding, and in-your-face, and delivered untold profits to his shareholders at GE. Dan Kennedy is lesser-known, but one of my favorite business authors. He's a "cut the crap" kind of guy, and I like that. Most recently I read Donny Deutch's first book, and learned a lot from it.
So you may have guessed that I have some strong opinions on the subject of management. In my next post, I will delve into that subject.
Invariably, I'll spend most of my time in the business section, which has sections on entrepreneurship, management, finances, career (resumes, interviewing, etc.), real-estate, small business, etc. I've always enjoyed this kind of subject matter, because I always felt there was some relevance to my own life, and that hopefully some of this information might help me become better at my job, my business, etc. Maybe the words of Donald Trump or Jack Welch will rub off on me.
Something has begun to bother me, thought, about all the "management" and "how to run a company" books in the business section. I've begun to notice that a large percentage of them are written by academics, consultants and other folks who have never managed anything in their lives. The "about the author" page will invariably say something like this:
"Joe Schmo is a Life Coach and longtime consultant to many Fortune 500 companies. He has taught management courses at Tumbleweed College in Barstow, California for the past 30 years, and is the founder of Feel Good Consultants, Inc. Mr. Schmo is the author of "Don't Fire Your Crappy Employees, They Are Misunderstood And It Is Your Fault" and Chairman of the Advocacy for Employee Feelings and Emotions. In his spare time he takes care of his 4 cats".
On my last visit to the bookstore, I picked up 4 or 5 books at random before I found one where the author appeared to have at least been in business at some point. I think what happened is my real-world experience was in conflict more and more with the lengthy, convoluted and outright ridiculous methods and theories of these management guru's.
So now whenever I see a book that looks interesting, the first thing I do is go to the back flap and see where the author is coming from. If he's been teaching at some college for 40 years or "consulting" but never actually getting his hands dirty in an actual business, I'll probably not waste much time seeing what he has to say.
On the other hand, I LOVE reading about what a true business person went through to achieve their success. Love him or hate him, Donald Trump is a master marketer and I can learn something from him. Jack Welch is impatient, irreverant, demanding, and in-your-face, and delivered untold profits to his shareholders at GE. Dan Kennedy is lesser-known, but one of my favorite business authors. He's a "cut the crap" kind of guy, and I like that. Most recently I read Donny Deutch's first book, and learned a lot from it.
So you may have guessed that I have some strong opinions on the subject of management. In my next post, I will delve into that subject.
