Happy New Year! I’m going to wrap up this discussion today by sharing some insight from some of the bestselling business books of 2010. The popular blog 800CEOREAD and Inc. Magazine compiled the list below. I think we can learn about trends and opportunities by noticing what others are reading.
Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath; Gallup Press — The original Strengths Finder book was published in 2001. A full decade has passed and people are still trying to figure out where they best fit in the workplace. This particular book was published in 2007 and it’s still at the top of the list.
The Go-Giver: A Little Story about a Powerful Business Idea by Bob Burg, John David Mann; Portfolio — People are trying to find meaning in their work and purpose in the arena of business.
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath, Dan Heath; Broadway — When things are difficult, change is necessary to stay in business and make sense of the new realities.
Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World by John Hope Bryant; Jossey-Bass — You’ll see a lot of the books on this list addressing the emotion of fear. There’s a lot of fear out there…
Return of the Gold: The Journey of Jerry Colangelo and the Redeem Team by Dan Bickley; Morgan James Publishing — This is a story of how the NBA has sunk to an incredible low after many good years in the past. There are many organizations that need to make a comeback after being beat-up by the recession.
Doing Both: How Cisco Captures Today’s Profit and Drives Tomorrow’s Growth by Inder Sidhu; FT Press — Great case study on a great company.
Rich Dad’s Conspiracy of the Rich: The 8 New Rules of Money by Robert T. Kiyosaki; Business Plus
Accelerating Out of the Great Recession: How to Win in a Slow-Growth Economy by David Rhodes, Daniel Stelter; McGraw-Hill — More fear. Both of the previous books offer help on making sense of what is happening in the economy.
Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin; Portfolio — Many people are concerned about keeping their jobs and maintaining a viable career.
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith, Mark Reiter; Hyperion — More change. People want help with setting a path for the future, as they are feeling anxiety about their current situation.
How Companies Win: Profiting from Demand-Driven Business Models No Matter What Business You’re In by Rick Kash, David Calhoun; HarperBusiness
Keep Swinging: An Entrepreneur’s Story of Overcoming Adversity & Achieving Small Business Success by Jay Myers, Darren Dahl; Morgan James Publishing — Entrepreneurs are alive and well. Although they try to make it sound new, businesses have always found success through identifing and meeting needs.
Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone by Mitch Joel, Business Plus — Businesses are still trying to make sense of the social networking phenomenon.
Rich Dad’s Prophecy: Why the Biggest Stock Market Crash in History Is Still Coming… and How You Can Prepare Yourself and Profit from It! by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L Lechter; Business Plus
Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back If You Lose It by Marshall Goldsmith; Hyperion — Some guys are just good at publishing books! This is the second book on this list by each of these authors.
The M-Factor: How the Millennial Generation Is Rocking the Workplace by Lynn Lancaster, David Stillman; HarperBusiness
Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down by Vineet Nayar, Harvard Business Press — People always want help dealing with employees and people. For some reason, we never seem to get this totally figured out.
The Medici Effect: Breakthrough Insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts, and Cultures by Frans Johansson; Harvard Business Press — This is one of those eclectic idea books that capitalizes more on great writing than on meaningful ideas (ex. The Tipping Point and Freakonomics). These books were all the rage a few years ago, but are now starting to wane…
Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd by Youngme Moon; Crown
Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, and Transform Your Business by Josh Bernoff, Ted Schadler; Harvard Business Press — These are the motivational business books that tend to make it into the bestseller lists each year.
The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations? by Ian Bremmer; Portfolio
Spend Shift: How the Post-Crisis Values Revolution Is Changing the Way We Buy, Sell, and Live by John Gerzema, Michael D’Antonio; Jossey-Bass — Small businesses are worried about how the government will impact their ability to be successful in the future.
Crush It!: Why Now Is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuck; Harper Studio
The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing? by Jeffrey W. Hayzlett, Jim Eber; Business Plus
Inside Every Woman: Using the 10 Strengths You Didn’t Know You Had to Get the Career and Life You Want Now by Vickie Milazzo; John Wiley & Sons
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I hope this helps you gain some perspective for the year ahead. If some of these concerns resonate with you, pick a couple of books off the list and start your own reading program for 2011.
Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.
