The Ultimate Book of Business Gurus - A Review
Beginning with publication of The Practice of Management in 1954 by Peter Drucker, there has been an unending stream of works published by many "gurus" of management theory.
Some of these works have become famous, their authors even approaching celebrity status, and some are only known to the more serious students of management and leadership theory.
Many management books cite the work of other authors and researchers, but there are few places where a short but comprehensive review of the most significant can be found.
Stuart Crainer filled that void with The Ultimate Book of Business Gurus.
His short essays on 50 influential thinkers (he includes another 60 in an appendix) provide a great overview of management and leadership theory and thought.
Study of these authors shows that there was a sort of golden age of management theory in the 1950's into the 1970's.
Studying these "gurus" individually, you might miss a connection that linked many of them.
Prominent among those links is McKinsey and Company, Harvard, MIT, the London School of Business, and INSEAD in France.
Many of these "gurus" crossed paths at one or several of these institutions.
Crainer's list is certainly impressive and one quality of his work is a short but inclusive review of each one, often including comments from his own interviews.
Of course no list of management "gurus" would be complete without Nicolo Machiavelli, and Crainer includes him, pointing out that there are good lessons to be learned from the 16th century author.
I was a bit surprised though to find Sun-Tzu on the list, though his inclusion certainly does make sense.
In the 1980s Sun-Tzu and the translated The Art of War was all the rage among business leaders.
Though his popularity has waned, there is still much to be learned from Sun-Tzu's short maxims.
Of course, anytime one takes the risk of creating a list like this, he runs the risk of leaving out a reader's favorite, or including one who a reader dislikes.
However, Crainer's analysis of each of his subjects is such that the reader is forced to take another look.
I've never been a big fan of W.
Edwards Deming, but the author convinced me I should reconsider; there is still some value in Deming's work.
He also isn't shy about honestly evaluating the guru's work, pointing out for instance that Champy and Hammer's promised reengineering revolution didn't really materialize.
His analysis of Tom Peters is masterful, covering a very full career in an unvarnished manner.
Conversely, I believe Hersey and Blanchard's work on Situational Leadership was some of the most important in the field, yet Crainer relegates Blanchard to the appendix with reference only to his One Minute Manager while completely ignoring Hersey and Situational Leadership.
Stuart Crainer is indeed a prolific writer (over 30 books, I quit counting) on the subject of business management and those who have formulated the most significant concepts and theories.
This particular book was published in 1998 and has not been revised but he has published newer works of the same type.
So, again, I find myself reviewing an older book.
Why? Simply put, because it contains value for anyone serious about the study of management and leadership.
It's well worth finding a copy.
As a bonus, go to the Crainer Dearlove website http://www.
thinkers50.
com where Crainer and his business partner Des Dearlove have compiled a list of the 50 most important and influential business thinkers and provides you the opportunity to vote for "the most important living management thinker.
"
Some of these works have become famous, their authors even approaching celebrity status, and some are only known to the more serious students of management and leadership theory.
Many management books cite the work of other authors and researchers, but there are few places where a short but comprehensive review of the most significant can be found.
Stuart Crainer filled that void with The Ultimate Book of Business Gurus.
His short essays on 50 influential thinkers (he includes another 60 in an appendix) provide a great overview of management and leadership theory and thought.
Study of these authors shows that there was a sort of golden age of management theory in the 1950's into the 1970's.
Studying these "gurus" individually, you might miss a connection that linked many of them.
Prominent among those links is McKinsey and Company, Harvard, MIT, the London School of Business, and INSEAD in France.
Many of these "gurus" crossed paths at one or several of these institutions.
Crainer's list is certainly impressive and one quality of his work is a short but inclusive review of each one, often including comments from his own interviews.
Of course no list of management "gurus" would be complete without Nicolo Machiavelli, and Crainer includes him, pointing out that there are good lessons to be learned from the 16th century author.
I was a bit surprised though to find Sun-Tzu on the list, though his inclusion certainly does make sense.
In the 1980s Sun-Tzu and the translated The Art of War was all the rage among business leaders.
Though his popularity has waned, there is still much to be learned from Sun-Tzu's short maxims.
Of course, anytime one takes the risk of creating a list like this, he runs the risk of leaving out a reader's favorite, or including one who a reader dislikes.
However, Crainer's analysis of each of his subjects is such that the reader is forced to take another look.
I've never been a big fan of W.
Edwards Deming, but the author convinced me I should reconsider; there is still some value in Deming's work.
He also isn't shy about honestly evaluating the guru's work, pointing out for instance that Champy and Hammer's promised reengineering revolution didn't really materialize.
His analysis of Tom Peters is masterful, covering a very full career in an unvarnished manner.
Conversely, I believe Hersey and Blanchard's work on Situational Leadership was some of the most important in the field, yet Crainer relegates Blanchard to the appendix with reference only to his One Minute Manager while completely ignoring Hersey and Situational Leadership.
Stuart Crainer is indeed a prolific writer (over 30 books, I quit counting) on the subject of business management and those who have formulated the most significant concepts and theories.
This particular book was published in 1998 and has not been revised but he has published newer works of the same type.
So, again, I find myself reviewing an older book.
Why? Simply put, because it contains value for anyone serious about the study of management and leadership.
It's well worth finding a copy.
As a bonus, go to the Crainer Dearlove website http://www.
thinkers50.
com where Crainer and his business partner Des Dearlove have compiled a list of the 50 most important and influential business thinkers and provides you the opportunity to vote for "the most important living management thinker.
"
Source...