These books reveal the truth of how organizations really
work, and it's not pretty. As anyone who reads this column knows, I'm a huge
proponent of positive thinking. However,
positive thinking is delusional unless it's based upon a clear understanding of
how the business world really works.
Put another way: We can't make the world a better place
unless we can first see things as they really are. I've already pointed you at
the "Top 10 Motivational Books of All Time" in order to help you
prepare to make the world for the better.
The books on this list show you exactly what we're up
against.
10. How to Lie
With Statistics
Darrell Huff's classic 1954 tome explains how business
people, politicians, and the news media misuse "the truth"
specifically to mislead. As a touchstone and reality check, this book keeps you
from being duped by others. As a weapon, this book gives you vast power over
the ignorant masses. Please handle with great care.
Best quote: "A well-wrapped statistic is better than
Hitler's 'big lie'; it misleads, yet it cannot be pinned on you."
9. The No Asshole
Rule
As much as we all wish it were different, there's no
denying that some people are jerks and that sometimes we're going to end up
working with them. The expletive in the title sets the tone for this book,
which also provides suggestions for avoiding, transcending, or even utilizing
these inevitable corporate sphincters.
Best quote: "Two-faced backstabbers...who have
enough skill and emotional control to save their dirty work for moments when
they can't get caught, are tougher to stop--even though they may do as much
damage as a raging maniac."
8. The 4-Hour
Workweek
Hard work and long hours are the key to success, right?
Well, maybe not. In this widely praised (and criticized) book, author Timothy
Ferriss asks you to rethink the concept of work, revealing the sad truth that
90 percent of what you're doing may be not just unnecessary but actually
detrimental to achieving the life you desire.
Best quote: "Alternating periods of activity and
rest is necessary to survive, let alone thrive. Capacity, interest, and mental
endurance all wax and wane. Plan accordingly."
7. The Peter
Principle
Most businesses aspire to create meritocracies where the
brightest get promoted while the mediocre get culled out of the company.
Unfortunately, there's a downside to this strategy, according to authors
Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull. As companies grow and change, all staff
members (including CEOs) end up in over their heads.
Best quote: "Anything that works will be used in
progressively more challenging applications until it fails."
6. Crazy Bosses
The business press tends to lionize the heads of large
corporations, treating them as giants among the rest of us mere mortals. This
classic by Stanley Bing reveals the petty side of corporate privilege: the
extreme narcissism of the powerful and privileged psychopaths who've clawed
their way to the top.
Best quote: "After nearly 6,000 years of evidence on
the subject, one thing stands clear: the people who end up as leaders in any
organization, large or small, are often the craziest guys around."
5. 21 Dirty Tricks
at Work
In this horribly fascinating book, authors Mike Phipps
and Colin Gautrey explain the most common ways that bosses, co-workers, and
employees attempt to manipulate one another. More important, it provides
specific advice for thwarting these attempts and getting what you want at work.
Best quote: "Dirty tricks are more than just a
career-threatening nuisance; they also form part of the political backdrop to
all the great recent organizational scandals."
4. Don't Bring It
to Work
Ever wonder why some people act childishly at work?
Wonder no more. Workplaces have a tendency to reproduce the family dynamics of
the people who work there, explains author Sylvia LaFair. She describes the
dysfunctional types, then provides suggestions to help them evolve beyond their
emotional limitations.
Best quote: "The reason most organizational programs
abort is that they fail to deal with our life patterns, which are at the
foundation of workplace anxiety, tension and conflict."
3. Poorly Made in
China
According to author Paul Midler, the real story behind
outsourcing to China isn't how much cheaper it is to manufacture there; it's
how Chinese manufacturers destroy product quality and weaken brand names. Once
you read this, you'll know why just about everything you can buy in the U.S.
(but made in China) feels like a second-rate replica.
Best quote: "American companies...were no match for
savvy Chinese industrialists who often went out of their way to manipulate
product specifications to widen profit margins."
2. The Complete
Yes Minister
Based on the acclaimed BBC TV program of the 1980s, this
hilarious book describes exactly how faceless, nameless bureaucrats wield the
vast power of inertia to frustrate attempts by clueless "leaders" to
move organizations in new directions. Read it once, read it twice, and you
won't get fooled again.
Best quote: "It's called 'the law of inverse
relevance': the less you intend to do about something, the more you have to
keep talking about it."
1. The Dilbert
Principle
Still one of the best (and certainly the funniest)
business books ever written. Author and cartoonist Scott Adams looks into the
very soul of the business world and captures the absurdity of much that takes
place there, puncturing every bloated corporate balloon that ever floated past
a cubicle.
Best quote: "We're a planet of nearly six billion
ninnies living in a civilization that was created by a few thousand amazingly
smart deviants.
