My Favorite Management Books

Managing Radical Change
What Indian Companies Must Do to Become World-Class looks at what companies in India must do, not just to survive, but to rank among the best in their strategy, organization and management. According to internationally acclaimed management gurus Sumantra Ghoshal and Christopher A. Bartlett and industry insider Gita Piramal, the problem is not that managers are unaware of the need for a radical response to the problems and challenges posed by the new competitive, technological and market demands in India. But, trapped in an incrementalist mindset—that change can come only by degrees—deep in their heart they do not feel the urgency that they profess.

Only the Paranoid Survive
New techniques, new approaches and new technologies upset the old order and change the rules of the game. This is what trucking and air transportation did to railroads, what container shipping did to traditional ports, what superstores did to small shops, what microprocessors did to computing and what digital media might do to entertainment. Andrew Grove calls a very large change in one of the competitive forces in an industry, a “10X” change, suggesting that the force has become ten times what it was just recently. In the face of such “10X” forces, a company can lose control of its destiny. The business no longer responds to the company’s actions as it used to in the past. What such a transition does to a business is profound, and how a company manages this transition determines its future. Grove describes this phenomenon as a strategic inflection point.

World Class in India
World Class in India presents the stories of select Indian companies that have been able to spur their managers to overcome their resistance to change and begin the journey to becoming world class. The cases in this book have been chosen from a cross-section of industries in different sectors and range from family-run businesses to multinational corporations to government enterprises. They are drawn from extensive research done by the authors over several years and show how companies have transformed themselves bottom up, revamping their strategies, organisation and management. Organizations covered include Bajaj Auto and Life Insurance Corporation of India, Reliance, NIIT and Wipro and more...

The Tipping Point
This fascinating book, by Malcolm Gladwell talks about how little things can make a big difference. Though the book covers various social issues, business leaders can learn a lot about innovation, especially disruptive innovation by reading this book. If we think carefully, disruptive innovations share a lot with epidemics. Both result in major changes.So it is useful to understand how social epidemics occur.Social epidemics share a basic, underlying pattern. Tipping Point is the name, Gladwell gives to that one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once. Innovators can learn a lot by identifying and anticipating tipping points. The great innovators know how to tip the world.

The Machine That Changed The World
The Machine That Changed the World is a well-written book that highlights comparisons and contrasts among automobile manufacturers. The book is written for a general audience interested in the topic of automobile production. Of particular relevance to the technology educator however, is the time frame and scope of the book. A chronological history of global automotive development and manufacture, from the industrial revolution to the present, provides many useful insights to the technology educator. Among the most important of these insights are discussions of the origins and future of manufacturing technology.

Managing for Results
This is one of the first ever books written on Business Strategy. Drucker mentions that any organization must be focused on making the present business effective, identifying and realizing the potential of the existing business and transforming the business to cope with the needs of a different future. Drucker emphasizes that results and resources always exist outside the business. It is always somebody outside who determines the success or failure of a business.

Emotional Intelligence
Why do people of high IQ flounder and those of modest IQ do surprisingly well? According to Daniel Goleman, the difference quite often lies in the abilities collectively called emotional intelligence. There is a strong link between sentiment, character, and moral instincts. Impulse is the medium of emotion. The seed of all impulse is a feeling bursting to express itself in action. Those who are at the mercy of impulse suffer from a serious shortcoming. The ability to control impulse is an integral part of character. Similarly, the root of altruism lies in empathy and the ability to read emotions in others. Self-restraint and compassion are the two values needed to build a moral society. The author argues that emotional intelligence must be given much more emphasis in schools, colleges and the workplace.

The Goal
Anyone connected to manufacturing industry who has not read "The Goal" should correct the matter as soon as possible. For one thing it is the most readable management book that it is written as a novel with a believable story line. It is also the definitive book on Theory of Constraints, the theory which says look after the bottlenecks and the rest will take care of itself. The novel can transform management thinking throughout the world.

Good to Great
This book is about what separates the great companies from the good companies. The author describes his work as a search for timeless principles – the enduring physics of great organizations – that will remain true and relevant no matter how the world changes around us. The specific application might change (the engineering), but certain immutable laws of organized human performance (the physics) will endure.

Count Your Chicken Before They Hatch
Count your chickens before they hatch is a bestseller by Indian business guru Arindam Choudhary where he discusses his theory "i" management, apart from general business theories. The book starts off detailing qualities, skills & attitudes required to succeed in the business world today and goes on to explore examples of people who made it big against all odds. Choudhary also explores the Indian psyche in depth and looking for qualities such as passion, patriotism & integrity among the employees of various Indian companies he interacts with. He emphasizes the need for Indian corporations to follow management practices that are suitable to Indian culture rather than blindly aping western management theories.

The three Mistakes of my Life

So finally I got hold of Chetan Bhagat’s latest book and finished it on the same day. He continues to have his charisma of storey telling in this book as well. The description of Amdabad is so interesting that you almost feel like visiting the place. It has all the spices of life that every Indian love – Cricket, Love, friendship, Religion and Business. Still, you will find it is less gripping and entertaining than his earlier books because 1) you will feel you have read this in Five Point Someone 2) You will find the end rather abrupt.

Like his previous book, he has started the story again with himself giving a little peek in his life. He also buys the furniture with his wife in the same way all the other Indian husbands do.
This is a typical story of confusion that any boy from an Indian town will have - What to do with the career?; Parent pressurizing you to leave your hobbies for your studies; Father expecting his son to follow his profession and a big hoard of other people, problems and pressures. It’s about how they react, solve and live with those problems.

In this story, there are three boys – Govind, Ishan and Omi. They opened a sports shop in the temple complex with the help of Omi with three different objectives:

Govind – He is an ambitious businessman with a talent in mathematics and not much money. It was a natural choice for him to start a shop.
Ishan – He wanted to get away from the constant nagging of his father and moreover being in the shop means being closest to his first love – Cricket
Omi – He has no better option; he has to do what his friends are doing.

The shop did well and the boys planned to get some extra income by Govind giving coaching on Maths; Ishan training kids for Cricket and Omi giving physical training. Story keeps on moving around these friends with almost all the spices added to it.

There is a factual angle of the story; the author has roped in every major incident that happened in 2001 be it Gujrat Earthquack, Godra controversy, Kolkata cricket match between India and Australia and even the bombing on WTC towers.

There is a romantic angle of the story, to add spice to otherwise all boys story and their adventures, between Govind and Ishan’s sister Vidya.

There is a dramatic angle of story by the name, Ali, a miracle child with an unbelievable talent in cricket who hits sixes like you drink your tea. Ishan wanted Ali to get what he could not get and with the little money they earned from shop, they have to take Ali to Goa and even Australia just for the sake of Ishan. Boy; that’s some friendship!

There is a religious and political angle of the story describing the riots happened after Godra controversy.

Finally, there is an abrupt end to the story. All in all, it’s the story about all these incidents and the impact they have in the life of three young Indian boys and with a price of Rs. 95/- only; it’s worth buying.