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Recommended Readings
by Max Lent
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The following books, articles, and writing are, in
my opinion, essential business reading. I
recommend these resources to students who attend
my Web marketing workshops. |
Magazine articles
- The Fast Company May 1999 issue contains what I believe is
the most significant ever written about projects, The
WOW Project. I made and distributed more copies of this article than any article I have ever read.
My manager at the time was used to my putting photocopies of articles on his desk. I was used to his letting
them build up to about a foot in height before he tossed them. This time I issued a command that he read the
photocopy. When he came to work the next morning I could tell that he had read the article. He could
talk of nothing else. It changed the way we worked together and the way we visualized our work and our
company. Like the Cluetrain Manifesto, reading this article will change you in
positive way.
Business Books
Click on the book covers to see a larger view.
Birth of the Chaordic Age
by Dee W. Hock
If you think that you have seen just about every way an organization can be organized and run you are in for a
surprise when you read Birth of the "Chaordic Age." Dee Hock's approach to running organizations was so
radical that it needed a new name to encompass the concept, "Chaordic."
Fast Company has published
a number of articles
online about Dee Hock and the "Chaordic" concept that are well worth reading as an introduction.
The Chaordic Web site is also worth a visit.
Pegasus Communications
publishes an excellent video tape of a Dee Hock lecture entitled "The Birth of the "Chaordic" Century: Out of
Control and into Order."
I strongly recommend the book, the Fast Company articles,
and the video tape. Dee Hock is a true visionary and worth knowing about.
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Blur
by Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer "The speed of change in the connected economy"
If you believe that the end of the dot com phenomena was the end of e-commerce you are badly mistaken.
The Internet continues to grow, more business is being transacted, and competition is increasing. Change
is happening. Change was happening before, during, and after the dot com crash of 2000. If you are
still in the game you should have read this book last year, but it is not too late. It is a fast read
that will stimulate your mind and help you to get back to thinking about the important issues. |
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The Cluetrain
Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual
by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, David Weinberger.
If you
decide to read only one of my recommended readings, read this book. It will change the way you think
about the Internet. Reading it is like having someone machine gun new ideas into your head. It is
exciting, invigorating, scary, and awesome all at once. After you read it you will need someone to talk
with about it. Send me an email or call me and we will get you through this awaking together.
If you
want a taste of the content and writing style visit www.cluetrain.com.
If you have already read the book and need a support group visit
http://www.cluetrain.com/rap.html for a listing of online discussions dealing with the book.
I recommend that all of my clients read the Cluetrain Manifesto. |
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Harvard Business Review on Knowledge Management
by Peter F. Drucker, David Garvin, Leonard
Dorothy, Straus Susan, John Seely Brown.
Knowledge Management (KM) seems to go into and out
of fashion with the seasons. Every
functioning business and every functioning
organization within a business uses it. Yet,
when there are attempts of codify KM or assign a
financial metric to it, it seems to fall into
disuse. Knowledge is still managed, but not
overtly. It is impossible to function in a
Web-based information society and not know the
basic principles of KM. This book is a great
place to start.
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The Nudist on the Late Shift
by Po Bronson.
If you are at all curious about what it was like living in Silicon Valley during the
golden times of Internet startups, this book is for you. Bronson provides vignettes into the lives of
those tried and failed, those who met with some success, and those who succeed in the race to become the next
new hot startup.
Amazon's review compares The Nudist on the Late Shift with Tracy Kidder's
"The Soul of the New Machine." I agree. Both narratives are well written and interesting
to read. |
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Smart Mobs
by Howard RheingoldAmazing! Before I read
Smart Mobs I thought that the U.S. was on the
cutting edge of computer technology or the use of
computer technology. Now that I know that
Japanese school girls are the earliest adopters of
cutting edge technology. I now know that the
U.S. is trailing many nations in incorporating
technology into everyday life.
I learned about how radicals around the world
have gone beyond computers and are using cell
phones to organize, demonstrate, and change the
process of social change.
Read this book and discover what it is like to
be a techno peasant American in a world of
advanced social use of technology. |
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The Virtual Community
by Howard RheingoldThe only computer book that
I have read that made me cry. Rheingold is
amazing for his ability to foresee that once
computers, the Internet, and the Web become
commodities, people begin to use them for human
purposes. When computers disappear and
become means of extending the human conversation
amazing things happen. When I read about the
parent of a very sick child sharing their thoughts
with an online community and how that community
responded, I was moved to tears. These are
stories from the Well, an early online community
in the San Francisco Bay area. The
technology is dated now, but the underlying
concept of online community is only beginning to
evolve. |
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Working Knowledge : How
Organizations Manage What They Know
by Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak.
Review: Almost every speaker I heard speak at the 1999 KM World
meeting in Dallas, TX was quoting or misquoting from this book. Most of the time the speakers didn't
credit Davenport or Prusak, but the content and case studies were unmistakable. The writing is meaty.
The information essential. The information contained in the book is so essential that highlighting the
good parts will result in nearly page being completely highlighted.
If you are planning to implement
knowledge management read this book first. If you haven't yet read about knowledge management take a
couple of days off and read this book. It will change the way you think about how knowledge is shared
within in your company. When I worked for a major Telecommunications company I bought copies of
Working Knowledge for the Chairman, CEO, CIO, and a director our of my own pocket. It was worth
every penny. |
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