Business Books
Systems of Survival This book has had a profound influnence on how I think about business ethics. The author finds that all work can be classified as either "taking" and "trading." Taking encompasses benign practices (foraging); aggressive practices (hunting, conquering for pillage, tribute, or territorial expansion); and territorial administration. Virtues necessary to "taking" constitute "The Guardian Moral Syndrome": among these values are obedience, hierarchy,honor, the shunning of trade, and the dispensing of largesse. "Trading," on the other hand, relies on the "Commercial Moral Syndrome" (e.g., industriousness, efficiency, thrift, the shunning of force,openness to strangers, inventiveness and dissent). Society's mingling of taking and trading values, Jacobs contends, leads to moral confusion and "monstrous hybrids"--including the mafia, bankingscandals, Nazi death-camps, even government interference in agriculture (because governments confuse agricultural trade with control of territory).
Positioning : The Battle for Your Mind Absoultely one of the best books on marketing. Everything Ries and Trout write on marketing is very good -- which is unusual, I think, as so much of what is out there is.... rubbish. This is their best. A must for every marketer.
Images of Organization A thought-provoking book that explores different ways of seeing organizational life.
Ogilvy on Advertising You can't be a marketer without having read this book!
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