Business thinking between the covers, compiled by FRANK DILLON
Management Stripped Bare
by Jo Owen
Kogan Page €19.99
Managers face tough targets, ambiguous demands, uncertain markets, stroppy customers and difficult demands – challenges that are not generally addressed in MBA courses. Jo Owen draws on more than 2,000 interviews and 30 years’ experience in this refreshingly honest book about the reality, not theory, of management.
In any company or industry, it is important to understand the unwritten rules of the game as then you can decide whether that place is a good fit for you. Sometimes it also pays to break the rules, he says.
Most management meetings, documents and presentations are incredible dull so this provides opportunities for those managers who can stand out from the mediocrity around them. At the same time, managers need to play a political game, building and using alliances to secure the support and resources they require. To move the business and their own careers forward they also need to be able to rise above the grinding daily activity of e-mails, reports and routine meetings.
At meetings, excessive agreement is dangerous and rarely represents the best solution, he notes. When everyone agrees without discussion, this normally shows deference to the hierarchy or lack of interest rather than enthusiastic support.
Digital Wars – Apple, Google, Microsoft the Battle for the Internet
by Charles Arthur
Kogan Page €19.99
Charles Arthur is the technology editor of the Guardian and in his new book he charts the war for internet supremacy from the late 1990s up until the recent death of Steve Jobs.
Pitched battles played out on several fields notably search engine technology, mobile music, smartphones and the tablet market and he explores each in some depth.
Thoroughly researched, Arthur presents some interesting insights into the personal tensions inside Apple, for example including the fact that Steve Jobs opposed the idea of apps for the iPhone for months.
The bitter rivalry between the giants of the digital landscape and their propensity to flex their muscles, legally and financially, shines through.
If there is one threat to the future of the smartphone, for example, it is software patents that allow the patenting of an outcome rather than a process.
If developers get too scared to develop, the apps market will become the province of only the well-funded and legally protected. The long tail of tiny developers with great ideas will be stunted, the author believes.
The Start-up of You
by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha
Random House €16.99
Casnocha is co-founder and chairman of LinkedIn and in this book with business strategists Hoffman he draws parallels between managing a business and managing your career. We live in increasingly uncertain times and job security is gone. The message here is that you need to think like an entrepreneur, to be nimble, self-reliant and innovative.
One good way to gain an advantage is to place yourself in a market where your assets shine brighter than your competitors. As the authors note, top American college basketball players not good enough to play professionally in the States frequently play in European leagues.
LinkedIn’s philosophy matches this, focusing on the professional market and investing in features that appeal to professionals. Unlike the leading social media sites, it eschews photo-sharing or games that don’t contribute to its competitive advantage.
You can carve out a similar professional niche in the job market by making choices that differentiate you from the crowd, the authors note.
The book is peppered with LinkedIn references and could be regarded as a PR exercise, but there’s also an emphasis on developing entrepreneurial habits such as curiosity and positive thinking.
