The author, Peter Hansen, takes a thoughtful look at some of the advice offered in many best-selling business books and concludes a lot of it is bunk. I have bought into, led organizations, and taught others in several countries based on ideas found in serveral of these books. I've been a particular fan of "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. I think there's still some good insights in some of these books, but cannot disagree with much of what Hansen says.
In general, the business book genre reflects and reinforces our desire to make careers fill a place in our souls that they cannot truly fill. As human beings we want more out of life than jobs can provide-and thank God for that-but many or most of us don't know where else to turn. The business book genre as we know it is born of that emptiness; and it issues in emptiness as well. The lonely hunger of atomized individuals invites the empty promises of (mostly unwitting) false prophets. Whatever faults Americans had in the generations before we acquired a taste for these books (and no doubt we had many), we do not seem to have gained in self-understanding or happiness.
OUCH!
Read the whole thing...
Hattip to Tyler Cowen for linking to this.
P.S. -- In related news, it looks like even the SWOT analysis (the mainstay of business schools) may be wrong...
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