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      • James Allen - As A Man Thinketh
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      • Stephen Covey - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
      • Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self-Reliance
      • Benjamin Franklin - Autobiography
      • Louise Hay - You Can Heal Your Life
      • Joseph Murphy - The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
      • Samuel Smiles - Self-Help
      • Teilhard de Chardin - The Phenomenon of Man
    • 50 Success Classics >
      • Claude M Bristol - The Magic of Believing
      • Jim Collins - Good To Great
      • Russell H Conwell - Acres of Diamonds
      • Napoleon Hill - Think and Grow Rich
      • Catherine Ponder - The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity
      • David J Schwartz - The Magic of Thinking Big
      • Wallace Wattles - The Science of Getting Rich
    • 50 Spiritual Classics >
      • Carlos Castaneda - Journey to Ixtlan
      • Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet
      • Aldous Huxley - The Doors of Perception
      • Carl Jung - Memories, Dreams, Reflections
      • Margery Kempe - The Book of Margery Kempe
      • CS Lewis - The Screwtape Letters
      • Miguel Ruiz - The Four Agreements
      • 50 More Spiritual Classics
    • 50 Psychology Classics >
      • Eric Berne - Games People Play
      • Isabel Briggs Myers - Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type
      • Louann Brizendine - The Female Brain
      • David D Burns - Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy
      • Robert Cialdini - Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
      • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Creativity
      • Albert Ellis - A Guide To Rational Living
      • Milton Erickson - Teaching Tales
      • Erik Erikson - Young Man Luther
      • Hans Eysenck - Dimensions of Personality
      • Sigmund Freud - The Interpretation of Dreams
      • Malcolm Gladwell - Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
      • Carl Jung - The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
      • Alfred Kinsey - Sexuality In The Human Female
      • Abraham Maslow - Motivation and Personality
      • Stanley Milgram - Obedience To Authority
      • IP Pavlov - Conditioned Reflexes
      • Jean Piaget - The Language and Thought of the Child
      • Carl Rogers - On Becoming A Person
      • BF Skinner - Beyond Freedom & Dignity
    • 50 Prosperity Classics >
      • James Allen - The Path to Prosperity
      • Genevieve Behrend - Your Invisible Power
      • Richard Branson - Losing My Virginity
      • Warren Buffett - The Essays of Warren Buffett
      • Rhonda Byrne - The Secret
      • Andrew Carnegie - The Gospel of Wealth
      • Felix Dennis - How To Get Rich
      • Peter Drucker - Innovation and Entrepreneurship
      • Harv Eker - Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
      • Milton Friedman - Capitalism and Freedom
      • Michael E Gerber - The E-Myth Revisited
      • Benjamin Graham - The Intelligent Investor
      • Esther & Jerry Hicks - Ask And It Is Given
      • Conrad Hilton - Be My Guest
      • Joe Karbo - The Lazy Man's Way To Riches
      • Catherine Ponder - Open Your Mind To Prosperity
      • Ayn Rand - Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
      • Donald Trump - The Art of the Deal
      • Max Weber - The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
      • Prosperity Principles
    • 50 Philosophy Classics >
      • Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex
      • Heraclitus - Fragments
      • Soren Kierkegaard - Fear and Trembling
      • Thomas Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
      • Marshall McLuhan - The Medium is the Massage
      • John Stuart Mill - On Liberty
      • Montaigne - Essays
      • Friedrich Nietzsche - Beyond Good and Evil
      • Plato - The Republic
      • Karl Popper - The Logic of Scientific Discovery
      • John Rawls - A Theory of Justice
      • Jean-Paul Sartre - Being and Nothingness
      • Nassim Nicholas Taleb - The Black Swan
      • Ludwig Wittgenstein - Philosophical Investigations
    • 50 Politics Classics
    • 50 Economics Classics
    • 50 Business Classics
  • Capstone Classics
    • Think and Grow Rich
    • The Science of Getting Rich
    • The Art of War
    • The Prince
    • The Wealth of Nations
    • The Republic
    • The Tao Te Ching
    • Meditations
    • Beyond Good and Evil
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Tom Butler-Bowdon

50 business classics

50 Business Classics
Your shortcut to the most important ideas on innovation, management and strategy
(2018)

AVAILABLE NOW! Buy links to your right.

By Tom Butler-Bowdon


​What do great enterprises have in common? What sort of person starts them? 
A single idea can help you find the next big thing, but it takes time to trawl through hundreds of business books to find inspiration. With insightful commentaries on the landmark writings of old and new, 50 Business Classics presents the great entrepreneur stories, the best management thinking and the proven ideas on strategy, innovation and marketing - in one volume.

Below is the list of books covered in 50 Business Classics: Your shortcut to the most important ideas on innovation, management and strategy.

Table of Contents

​Introduction 

1. P. T. Barnum – The Art of Money Getting (1880)
There are no shortcuts to business success; good character is everything… and it helps to advertise 

2. Richard Branson – Losing My Virginity (1998)
Don’t be afraid to be different. On entering any new field or an industry, aim to really shake it up and provide new value 

3. Andrew Carnegie – The Gospel of Wealth (1899)
The wealth creator has a moral obligation to enrich the lives of others in whatever way they can 

4. Alfred Chandler – The Visible Hand (1977)
It is not entrepreneurship but management that has brought the greatest advances in business 

5. Ron Chernow – Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (1998)
Society’s interests are best served by giant monopolies which provide quality and lower prices for the consumer 

6. Clayton Christensen – The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997)
Businesses must purposefully engage in “disruptive innovation” if they are to survive and prosper 

7. Duncan Clark – Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built (2016)
Don’t be cowed by the big players in your industry. Vision, patience, and agility can see you outpace them 

8. Jim Collins – Great by Choice (2011)
Great companies outperform even in turbulent times 

9. W. Edwards Deming – Out of the Crisis (1982)
Enterprises with an extreme focus on quality, better systems and constant improvement have the edge 

10. Peter Drucker – The Effective Executive (1967)
Effectiveness at work depends on clarity of aims and the desire to contribute 

11. Roger Fisher, William Ury & Bruce Patton – Getting To Yes (2011)
Successful negotiation is based on principles, not pressure

12. Martin Ford – Rise of the Robots (2015)
Automation and artificial intelligence will change the landscape of work and production forever 

13. Michael E. Gerber – The E-Myth Revisited (2001)
The key to real prosperity in business is to work on your enterprise, not in it 

14. Conrad Hilton – Be My Guest (1957)
Faith in your idea and thinking big are essential to building a great business 

15. Ben Horowitz – The Hard Thing About Hard Things (2014)
Nothing really prepares you for leading an organization and getting it through the inevitable crises 

16. Walter Isaacson – Steve Jobs (2011)
A great vision can require shocking intensity to realize 

17. Josh Kaufman – The Personal MBA (2010)
You don’t have to spend a fortune getting a good business education 

18. Guy Kawasaki – The Art of the Start (2004)
The fundamental purpose in starting any new enterprise is to create meaning 

19. John Kay – Obliquity (2010)
Companies that put profits before mission inevitably falter in the long-term 

20. Stuart Kells – Penguin and the Lane Brothers (2015)
Build an enterprise that uplifts people or opens up knowledge to millions 

21. W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne – Blue Ocean Strategy (2005)
Companies make the mistake of focusing on the competition when they should be focused on creating big leaps in value 

22. Phil Knight – Shoe Dog (2016)
A great businesses can be the result of a personal passion writ large 

23. Richard Koch & Greg Lockwood – Simplify (2016)
It is the radical simplifiers of products and services, rather than the innovators, that win the big prizes in business 

24. Terry Leahy – Management in Ten Words (2012)
Simplicity and clarity are the most powerful advantages in business, but you only arrive at them by being radically customer-centric 

25. Patrick Lencioni – The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (2002)
The best teams trust each other, welcome conflict, are accountable, and focus on results

26. Marc Levinson – The Box (2006)
How a simple innovation, the shipping container, transformed world trade 

27. Theodore Levitt – Marketing Myopia (1960)
Truly understand what business you are in, and you have a chance of shaping your future 

28. Stanley McChrystal – Team of Teams (2015)
Transparency of information enables people to make good decisions and creates unity of purpose 

29. Douglas McGregor – The Human Side of Enterprise (1960)
People will naturally want to do their best for an organization if they feel that their higher personal development goals are being met 

30. Geoffrey A. Moore – Crossing the Chasm (1991)
Attracting early adopters to your product does not mean you will capture the mainstream market 

31. Tom Rath & Barry Conchie – Strengths Based Leadership (2008)
Maximizing your strengths, not trying to correct for your weaknesses, is the key to work success 

32. Al Ries & Jack Trout – Positioning (1981)
Successful companies don’t simply sell products, they occupy very specific spaces in people’s minds 

33. Eric Ries – The Lean Startup (2011)
A lack of resources can be a boon in creating new enterprises, with experimentation and analysis replacing grand strategy and capital 

34. Sheryl Sandberg – Lean In (2013)
More women at the top is not just good for its own sake, companies will only succeed if they are properly representative of half of their market 

35. Eric Schmidt & Jonathan Rosenberg – How Google Works (2014)
Only by creating a culture of learning and innovation will you attract the right people to your enterprise 

36. Alice Schroeder – The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (2008) Time, discipline, and focus are the most important ingredients in building a fortune 

37. Howard Schultz – Pour Your Heart Into It (1997)
Huge enterprises can be built by giving people a small moment of joy in their day

38. Peter Senge – The Fifth Discipline (1990)
​
Great companies are communities in which there is a genuine commitment to every member’s potential being realized 

39. Simon Sinek – Start With Why (2009)
Average companies are focused on “what” they produce. Great business leaders inspire people to take action by galvanizing them behind a compelling reason, a “why” 

40. Seema Singh – Mythbreaker: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and the Story of Indian Biotech (2016)
Advanced industries can emerge in unlikely environments 

41. Alfred P. Sloan – My Years with General Motors (1963)
A new breed of huge corporation required a different kind of management 

42. Brad Stone – The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon (2013) Relentless innovation to please the customer and a very long-term view created a dominant online retailer 

43. Matthew Syed – Black Box Thinking (2015)
Willingness to fail frequently, while absorbing the lessons of failure and making constant adjustments, is the only real path to success 

44. Frederick Winslow Taylor – The Principles of Scientific Management (1911) Dramatic increases in productivity benefit capital and labor alike 

45. Peter Thiel – Zero To One (2014)
To grow faster, the world needs transformative technology and business models 

46. Robert Townsend – Up the Organization (1970)
People are most motivated and successful at work when they are left to do their thing and treated as human beings 

47. Donald Trump – The Art of the Deal (1987)
To succeed in business, balance boldness and promotion with patience, caution and flexibility 

48. Ashlee Vance – Elon Musk (2015)
The visionary entrepreneur should not just create a business but shape the future 

49. Jack Welch – Jack: Straight from the Gut (2001)
Never underestimate how far you can go by just being yourself

50. James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones & Daniel Roos – The Machine that Changed the World (1990)
New practices in manufacturing and management have saved vast resources and brought higher quality goods 

50 More Business Classics 

​Credits 

Acknowledgments 
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Paperback or Kindle

​50
BUSINESS
CLASSICS

​The greatest business books distilled

Published by Nicholas Brealey, an imprint of ​Hachette

Publication: 
US & UK: April 5, 2018
Paperback original · $19.95/£12.99     

ISBN: 1857886755
Paperback and Kindle    
​
“Nobody explains the gist of books better than Tom Butler-Bowdon, as he demonstrates to great effect in 50 Business Classics. He curates essential wisdom written by leading practitioners, such as Richard Branson, Howard Schultz and Sheryl Sandberg, the most astute observers (Peter Drucker, Jim Collins and others), and master storytellers such as Walter Isaacson and Ron Chernow. The revelations about the creation of wealth, the changing nature of work and employment and the impact of technological advancements are timely, practical and relevant.”

Bruce Rosenstein, Managing Editor, Leader to Leader; Author, Create Your Future the Peter Drucker Way

“Teaching management, I’m always looking for ways to distill management knowledge for the benefit of my students to serve as a foundation for their future business education and to prepare them to be successful managers, whether it’s in their own business, in someone else’s, and in their own personal lives. 50 Business Classics provides an excellent base of management history, mission and goal development, and ethics. Highly recommended as a tool for business and personal growth.”

Lawrence J Danks, Assistant Professor of Business, Camden County College, New Jersey, author of Your Unfinished Life

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"I am convinced that each reader will gain knowledge and wisdom that far exceed the cost of cost purchase. Moreover, if this book is a permanent reference work to be consulted when an important question needs to be answered or a serious problem needs to be solved, its ROI will continue to increase exponentially.
Hearty congratulations to Tom Butler Bowdon on his latest — always brilliant — contribution to thought leadership."


Robert Morris
Business blogger (bobmorris.biz)
Amazon Top 500 reviewer


Source: 50 Business Classics: Your shortcut to the most important ideas on innovation, management and strategy  by Tom Butler-Bowdon (London & Boston: Nicholas Brealey)
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50 CLASSICS SERIES
Humanities & Social Sciences
Personal Development
50 Psychology Classics
50 Philosophy Classics
50 Politics Classics
​
50 Economics Classics ​
50 Self-Help Classics 
50 Spiritual Classics
50 Success Classics 

Business
50 Business Classics

​

​
© COPYRIGHT TOM BUTLER-BOWDON, 2023
​. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • 50 Classics Series
    • 50 Self-Help Classics >
      • James Allen - As A Man Thinketh
      • Dale Carnegie - How To Win Friends and Influence People
      • Stephen Covey - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
      • Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self-Reliance
      • Benjamin Franklin - Autobiography
      • Louise Hay - You Can Heal Your Life
      • Joseph Murphy - The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
      • Samuel Smiles - Self-Help
      • Teilhard de Chardin - The Phenomenon of Man
    • 50 Success Classics >
      • Claude M Bristol - The Magic of Believing
      • Jim Collins - Good To Great
      • Russell H Conwell - Acres of Diamonds
      • Napoleon Hill - Think and Grow Rich
      • Catherine Ponder - The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity
      • David J Schwartz - The Magic of Thinking Big
      • Wallace Wattles - The Science of Getting Rich
    • 50 Spiritual Classics >
      • Carlos Castaneda - Journey to Ixtlan
      • Kahlil Gibran - The Prophet
      • Aldous Huxley - The Doors of Perception
      • Carl Jung - Memories, Dreams, Reflections
      • Margery Kempe - The Book of Margery Kempe
      • CS Lewis - The Screwtape Letters
      • Miguel Ruiz - The Four Agreements
      • 50 More Spiritual Classics
    • 50 Psychology Classics >
      • Eric Berne - Games People Play
      • Isabel Briggs Myers - Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type
      • Louann Brizendine - The Female Brain
      • David D Burns - Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy
      • Robert Cialdini - Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
      • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Creativity
      • Albert Ellis - A Guide To Rational Living
      • Milton Erickson - Teaching Tales
      • Erik Erikson - Young Man Luther
      • Hans Eysenck - Dimensions of Personality
      • Sigmund Freud - The Interpretation of Dreams
      • Malcolm Gladwell - Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
      • Carl Jung - The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
      • Alfred Kinsey - Sexuality In The Human Female
      • Abraham Maslow - Motivation and Personality
      • Stanley Milgram - Obedience To Authority
      • IP Pavlov - Conditioned Reflexes
      • Jean Piaget - The Language and Thought of the Child
      • Carl Rogers - On Becoming A Person
      • BF Skinner - Beyond Freedom & Dignity
    • 50 Prosperity Classics >
      • James Allen - The Path to Prosperity
      • Genevieve Behrend - Your Invisible Power
      • Richard Branson - Losing My Virginity
      • Warren Buffett - The Essays of Warren Buffett
      • Rhonda Byrne - The Secret
      • Andrew Carnegie - The Gospel of Wealth
      • Felix Dennis - How To Get Rich
      • Peter Drucker - Innovation and Entrepreneurship
      • Harv Eker - Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
      • Milton Friedman - Capitalism and Freedom
      • Michael E Gerber - The E-Myth Revisited
      • Benjamin Graham - The Intelligent Investor
      • Esther & Jerry Hicks - Ask And It Is Given
      • Conrad Hilton - Be My Guest
      • Joe Karbo - The Lazy Man's Way To Riches
      • Catherine Ponder - Open Your Mind To Prosperity
      • Ayn Rand - Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
      • Donald Trump - The Art of the Deal
      • Max Weber - The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
      • Prosperity Principles
    • 50 Philosophy Classics >
      • Simone de Beauvoir - The Second Sex
      • Heraclitus - Fragments
      • Soren Kierkegaard - Fear and Trembling
      • Thomas Kuhn - The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
      • Marshall McLuhan - The Medium is the Massage
      • John Stuart Mill - On Liberty
      • Montaigne - Essays
      • Friedrich Nietzsche - Beyond Good and Evil
      • Plato - The Republic
      • Karl Popper - The Logic of Scientific Discovery
      • John Rawls - A Theory of Justice
      • Jean-Paul Sartre - Being and Nothingness
      • Nassim Nicholas Taleb - The Black Swan
      • Ludwig Wittgenstein - Philosophical Investigations
    • 50 Politics Classics
    • 50 Economics Classics
    • 50 Business Classics
  • Capstone Classics
    • Think and Grow Rich
    • The Science of Getting Rich
    • The Art of War
    • The Prince
    • The Wealth of Nations
    • The Republic
    • The Tao Te Ching
    • Meditations
    • Beyond Good and Evil
    • Origin of Species
    • The Prophet
  • New Writing
  • Newsletter
  • About
  • READER REVIEWS
  • Foreign Editions
  • Think Long
  • Contact