Peter Drucker's The Effective Executive is timeless. It will provide wisdom to readers 100 years from now. There are other business and management books, however, that have a short shelf life. They are so tied to the moment their lessons soon expire. This doesn't mean they aren't helpful. It means that when you sort through your office seven years from now, you'll find they can be easily donated to a used book store and they won't be missed.
Now for the scary question: If you were very impressed by the contents seven years ago, should you have been?
2 comments:
I say, yes. Some business advice can be relative to the culture of the day, and therefore is something that can be helpful to know in the moment, even if it is "throw away" advice a decade from now.
For example, we're all excited about untethered offices these days, telecommuting, etc., work-life "balance" and the like, that gives us the option to be productive employees with a great deal of flexibility.
A decade from now, though, we may discover that technological advances have made traditional offices completely unnecessary. Even now, we can have real-time, "in person" meetings with people on the other side of the world at the click of a button.
If this is possible, then people may start to question why anyone would put people in tiny gray cubicles to work? Indeed, the next generation of employees and bosses may think this is barbaric practice (I think it is now, personally...)
I believe a whole new business culture with new "norms" and "best practices" is emerging to support this even as I type.
(When my girls role-play, they even bring their children to the office... Hmmm...)
CincyCat,
Good points!
Michael
Post a Comment