Every time I amble in a bookshop, I see that the shops stock( or should I say "stack"?) cartloads of Business Books. The business books are outnumbered only by the popular fiction (Surprisingly, the collection for kids and teenagers is miniscule).
I once aspired to do a MBA from some premier institute. Followed the business leaders during my college day. Jack Welch, Lee Iacocca, Richard Branson, Dhirubhai Ambani etc., Some of their autobiographies/ biographies are very inspiring , no two ways. But I always had reservations with the BUSINESS BOOKS! I make no mistake, autobiography is different from the balderdash in BB(here on, BB is the alias for Business Books). They are poles apart.
As if it's a norm, most BBs have alluring titles, like "How to win more customers", "How to stay on the top", "No sweat approach to be a leader", "How to build a company that outlasts...." . When I reflect on such books, I wonder how shallow they are. Those books, are trying to sell a panacea, which never exists. There are no tailor-made solutions for business problems. Each situation, each individual is unique, so is the crisis. And if the problems are unique, how will a business book address it?
I never had an answer. I reasoned that with the so called "Avid Readers", "Managers who are readers", and the "thinkers". The most popular answer I got was, "It (the BB) might not address your specific problem, but it can give insights into the problem-solving approach". How is that for an answer! Opinions are subjective, so one shouldn't split hairs over that. I opine that most of the business books are hogwash.
A case in point, though it appears tangential, is the self-help books. Why do I compare apples and oranges? self-help books and BBs? Self-help books are the younger cousins of the BBs. Self help books are to BBs, what alligators are to crocs. Evidence? check any self-help book, the foreword is by an industry titan. Now check the bibliography/reference section of a BB... and you will find a self-help book.
When I was 21, I read "How to Win Friends and Influence People". I was young, I was naive - basically I was gullible. I thought the book was a bible of human relationships. Two years later, I find the book ridiculous. For example, the book asks me to smile at a new person everyday; when I'm angry I'm supposed to write a letter and shouldn't post it; give a firm handshake; avoid getting into arguments etc.. etc.., The book was programming me to be a robot. It is an intellectual and egoistic cyanide. Those books are not for me.
What worked for Jack Welch may not work for me. We are two different individuals. Leaders are not made, they are born. One might become a good manager by reading, but a never a leader. Leadership is about individuality and accepting oneself . Playing to ones strengths( rather than spending eons trying to correct the weaknesses). Steve Jobs wouldn't have been the Steve Jobs we know, if he had tried to be anybody other than himself..
I spewed venom on BBs and self-help books. What could be an alternative? Instead of quick fixes and problem-solving templates, rely on case studies. Case studies are to business, what uses cases are to system architecture. They don't influence, they just illustrate the state of affairs. I would rather work out my perspective than get the hammered with whole lot of stuff some XYZ did or would have done.
Epicurus said "choose your pleasure", if the same has to be told of BBs, I would say "Choose your vantage point (perspective)" just don't submit to the author. Turn on the internal monitor. Reason...reason...and reason!
I once aspired to do a MBA from some premier institute. Followed the business leaders during my college day. Jack Welch, Lee Iacocca, Richard Branson, Dhirubhai Ambani etc., Some of their autobiographies/ biographies are very inspiring , no two ways. But I always had reservations with the BUSINESS BOOKS! I make no mistake, autobiography is different from the balderdash in BB(here on, BB is the alias for Business Books). They are poles apart.
As if it's a norm, most BBs have alluring titles, like "How to win more customers", "How to stay on the top", "No sweat approach to be a leader", "How to build a company that outlasts...." . When I reflect on such books, I wonder how shallow they are. Those books, are trying to sell a panacea, which never exists. There are no tailor-made solutions for business problems. Each situation, each individual is unique, so is the crisis. And if the problems are unique, how will a business book address it?
I never had an answer. I reasoned that with the so called "Avid Readers", "Managers who are readers", and the "thinkers". The most popular answer I got was, "It (the BB) might not address your specific problem, but it can give insights into the problem-solving approach". How is that for an answer! Opinions are subjective, so one shouldn't split hairs over that. I opine that most of the business books are hogwash.
A case in point, though it appears tangential, is the self-help books. Why do I compare apples and oranges? self-help books and BBs? Self-help books are the younger cousins of the BBs. Self help books are to BBs, what alligators are to crocs. Evidence? check any self-help book, the foreword is by an industry titan. Now check the bibliography/reference section of a BB... and you will find a self-help book.
When I was 21, I read "How to Win Friends and Influence People". I was young, I was naive - basically I was gullible. I thought the book was a bible of human relationships. Two years later, I find the book ridiculous. For example, the book asks me to smile at a new person everyday; when I'm angry I'm supposed to write a letter and shouldn't post it; give a firm handshake; avoid getting into arguments etc.. etc.., The book was programming me to be a robot. It is an intellectual and egoistic cyanide. Those books are not for me.
What worked for Jack Welch may not work for me. We are two different individuals. Leaders are not made, they are born. One might become a good manager by reading, but a never a leader. Leadership is about individuality and accepting oneself . Playing to ones strengths( rather than spending eons trying to correct the weaknesses). Steve Jobs wouldn't have been the Steve Jobs we know, if he had tried to be anybody other than himself..
I spewed venom on BBs and self-help books. What could be an alternative? Instead of quick fixes and problem-solving templates, rely on case studies. Case studies are to business, what uses cases are to system architecture. They don't influence, they just illustrate the state of affairs. I would rather work out my perspective than get the hammered with whole lot of stuff some XYZ did or would have done.
Epicurus said "choose your pleasure", if the same has to be told of BBs, I would say "Choose your vantage point (perspective)" just don't submit to the author. Turn on the internal monitor. Reason...reason...and reason!
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