Champions Fax Archive

Stuart Cranier, a British business writer and Gary Hamel, author of Competing for the Future, have written the Ultimate Business Library: 50 Books that Shaped Management Thinking in which they give their mini-reviews of the books they believe shape management thought today.

Each book receives a mini-commentary by Hamel on why the book is significant and then a mini-review of the relevant points by Cranier.

Favorites for Church Champions on their list:

1. Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus. (1985) This is still the best book on leadership we have found. Easily understood and applied.
2. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. (1937) We don’t usually think of this as a management book but the principles can apply to building relationships for Champions and pastors.
3. Reengineering the Corporation by James Champy and Michael Hammer. (1993) This one started the reengineering craze and was used by many Champions to begin thinking about reengineering their denominational office or church.
4. The Age of Unreason by Charles Handy. (1989) Handy always makes one think. While more European in orientation, his judgments about the future are important to note.
5. Innovation in Marketing by Ted Levitt. (1962) Many of you first encountered this text in college. It was a major shift in the marketing field. Still relevant today to note the necessity of segmenting your customers.
6. Liberation Management by Tom Peters, (1992) His longest and best is filled with examples that Champions can use for re-thinking how they do their work in the 1990’s.
7. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter Senge. (1990) Building on previous scholarly works of others, Senge wrote an understandable way of looking at learning organizations.
8. The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler. (1980) Because of Toffler’s background in telecom consulting, they were able to describe the rise of the information economy. Probably the best book for understanding the new economy.
9. Up the Organization by Robert Townsend (1970). Written by a former CEO, this humorous book has a serious side. Find it now at the library.

There were also a few books you have probably never heard of and the reviews made me want to go check them out.

A Contest: What are the books that every Champion should have in their library? We will track submissions and publish a list. Send your suggestions as well as your reasoning why these should be in a Champion’s library. Best submission gets a prize.

Send them to Dave Travis by mail or fax below or email to Dave.Travis@leadnet.org.

The Ultimate Business Library: 50 Books That Shaped Management Thinking (1997) is published by AMACOM Press. $24.95. See www.amanet.org for more titles.