From the Dean's Bookshelf | Top Ten Business Books

From the bookshelf of our Dean, Dr. John Thomas, come ten must-read business books. Watch in the coming days for new additions to this top ten list (non-ranked). For more tips, resources, recommendations, and challenges from the Dean, be sure to visit our Dean's Office page.

Book #1
In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best Run Companies

More at http://amzn.com/0060548789

By Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman


Highly influential when global competition, largely from Japan, had brought Western business to a low, this quintessential business book describes eight enduring management principles that made the forty-three companies surveyed “ excellent.” The authors focus exclusively on big companies, namely big manufacturers, but ironically condemn the excesses of modern management practice and advocate a return to simpler virtues. They have since come to feel that their ideas are better embodied in smaller companies.

Through lively case studies, this very readable classic forces a look at the fundamentals, at “ first principles” that give a company its soul: Attention to customers, an abiding concern for people (productivity through people), the celebration of trial and error. A driving force in the subsequent deluge of business books, this trailblazer established customer service as a key form of differentiation and advantage, and launched the author-as-consultant/speaker/celebrity phenomenon.

Click here for more information on In Search of Excellence

Sources: Perseus Publishing’s The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Management Books You’ll Never Have Time to Read