Two New Books You Should Read

11/20/03 00:00:00    

By Michael Mealling

I'm in the middle of reading two of the latest business books that I think are worth recommending here. The first is The Innovator's Solution by Clayton M. Christensen. This is the follow on work to the The Innovator's Dilemma. Both books explore why well run companies can't seem to prevent disruptive products/business models from kicking them out of the market. While it is a good read for people in large companies dealing with disruptive developments, its an even better introduction into what it takes to actually be that disruptive force.

The second is Re-imagine! by Tom Peters (author of In Search of Excellence). This one is definitely not the product of the Harvard Business School. Its done in a psuedo Wired design style that some will find annoying. But the content is worth it. Tom rants and provides visions of the future of business that is a lot more ephemeral than what we know to day, which is a simple extension of how ephemeral our business climate is compared to 100 years ago. His recuring example is the virtual nature of Al Qaeda and what our military has to become in order to defeat them.