Careers Reading Lists: Business thinking

LBS Faculty

25 Need-to-Know MBA Models provides easy access to the most useful models, tools and concepts that are covered on MBA programmes.  Whether you are a student about to embark on an MBA or a manager who wants to understand the ideas taught, this guide will help you to get ahead.   Covering 25 key models that have been picked from programmes around the world, 25 Need-to-Know MBA Models cuts through the jargon to give you the core information on each model: what it is, when to use it, how to use it with key practical tips.  Want new ways of looking at old problems? Need a range of management decision-making tools at your fingertips? Only want what you need to know, rather than reams of theory? Includes 10 handy dos and don'ts of using MBA models With indispensable models that will help you make the most out of every business opportunity, this book tells you what you need to know, fast.

From Guy Kawasaki, the bestselling author of The Art of the Start and Enchantment, The Art of Social Media is a no-nonsense guide to becoming a social media superstar. By now it's clear that whether you're promoting a business, a product, or yourself, social media is near the top of what will determine your success or failure. And there are countless pundits, authors, and consultants eager to advise you. But there's no one quite like Guy Kawasaki, the legendary former chief evangelist for Apple and one of the pioneers of business blogging, tweeting, facebooking, tumbling, and much, much more. Now Guy has teamed up with his Canva colleague Peg Fitzpatrick to offer The Art of Social Media - the one essential guide you need to get the most bang for your time, effort, and money. With more than 100 practical tips, tricks, and insights, Guy and Peg present a ground-up strategy to produce a focused, thorough, and compelling presence on the most popular social-media platforms. They guide you through the steps of building your foundation, amassing your digital assets, going to market, optimizing your profile, attracting more followers, and effectively integrating social media and blogging. For beginners overwhelmed by too many choices, as well as seasoned professionals eager to improve their game, The Art of Social Media is full of tactics that have been proven to work in the real world. Or as Guy puts it, "Great Stuff, No Fluff." Guy Kawasaki, who helped make Macintosh a household name, now runs Garage Technology Ventures, a venture-capital firm. He has held his workshop, "Boot Camp for Start-ups," around the world. Kawasaki is the author of seven previous books, including Art of the Start, Enchantment and Rules for Revolutionaries.

Why corporate stars often lose their luster after changing jobs It is taken for granted in the knowledge economy that companies must employ the most talented performers to compete and succeed. Many firms try to buy stars by luring them away from competitors. But Boris Groysberg shows what an uncertain and disastrous practice this can be. After examining the careers of more than a thousand star analysts at Wall Street investment banks, and conducting more than two hundred frank interviews, Groysberg comes to a striking conclusion: star analysts who change firms suffer an immediate and lasting decline in performance. Their earlier excellence appears to have depended heavily on their former firms' general and proprietary resources, organizational cultures, networks, and colleagues. There are a few exceptions, such as stars who move with their teams and stars who switch to better firms. Female stars also perform better after changing jobs than their male counterparts do. But most stars who switch firms turn out to be meteors, quickly losing luster in their new settings. Groysberg also explores how some Wall Street research departments are successfully growing, retaining, and deploying their own stars. Finally, the book examines how its findings apply to many other occupations, from general managers to football players. Chasing Stars offers profound insights into the fundamental nature of outstanding performance. It also offers practical guidance to individuals on how to manage their careers strategically, and to companies on how to identify, develop, and keep talent.

LBS Faculty

The key to success lies in getting to the top. Right? Wrong.Not everyone can be in charge but, more importantly, not everyone should want to be. Richard Hytner, deputy chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi, thinks it's time to celebrate the second-in-command, the consiglieri: Merlin to King Arthur, Al Gore to Bill Clinton, Rasputin to the Russian Royal Family. These are the deputies, Vice-Presidents, Chief Operating Officers, Chief Financial Officers, Department Heads, First Lieutenants and First Violins whose influence determines the fate of countries, companies and individual ventures all over the world.After all, supremacy comes with drawbacks (one of which is that everyone wants your job) and influence, authority and power can be found in much more interesting places than behind the CEO's desk. Consiglieri brings together historical examples from Thomas Cromwell to Cardinal Richelieu, conversations with the second-in-commands of Tony Blair and Sir Alex Ferguson, insights into Stalin, JFK, Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore, interviews with leaders in sport, business, politics and music and cutting-edge research from psychologists and academics to produce a fresh (and refreshing) approach to leadership in the mould of Obliquity or Thinking, Fast and Slow.If you fancy yourself as a contemporary Machiavelli or Bismarck, make this stylish, clever and entertaining guide to finding your ideal role in a company your first choice. This is the first (not second) funny business book for a long time.

The most successful organisations are those with the most diverse and engaged workforces. Studies show an 80% improvement in business performance among those with high diversity levels. When people feel included and able to reach their full potential, they are more engaged, more productive and often more creative.
Inclusive Leadership will help you drive culture change using organisational development principles. It takes you through the key components of leading change throughout the employee lifecycle, your supply chain, and through product development. Crucially, it will help you make a genuine impact on your business, through your people, both now and in the future.

LBS Faculty
LBS Faculty

What will your 100-year life look like? Does the thought of working for 60 or 70 years fill you with dread? Or can you see the potential for a more stimulating future as a result of having so much extra time? Many of us have been raised on the traditional notion of a three-stage approach to our working lives- education, followed by work and then retirement. But this well-established pathway is already beginning to collapse - life expectancy is rising, final-salary pensions are vanishing, and increasing numbers of people are juggling multiple careers. Whether you are 18, 45 or 60, you will need to do things very differently from previous generations and learn to structure your life in completely new ways. The 100-Year Life is here to help. Drawing on the unique pairing of their experience in psychology and economics, Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott offer a broad-ranging analysis as well as a raft of solutions, showing how to rethink your finances, your education, your career and your relationships and create a fulfilling 100-year life. . How can you fashion a career and life path that defines you and your values and creates a shifting balance between work and leisure? . What are the most effective ways of boosting your physical and mental health over a longer and more dynamic lifespan? . How can you make the most of your intangible assets - such as family and friends - as you build a productive, longer life? . In a multiple-stage life how can you learn to make the transitions that will be so crucial and experiment with new ways of living, working and learning? The 100-Year Life is a wake-up call that describes what to expect and considers the choices and options that you will face. It is also fundamentally a call to action for individuals, politicians, firms and governments and offers the clearest demonstration that a 100-year life can be a wonderful and inspiring one.

The FT Guide to Business Coaching shows you everything you need to know about becoming a business coach, from how to find out if you’ve got what it takes, through the basic tools and models that really work.
This book gives you a step-by-step guide to the tools, the market knowledge and the crucial new techniques from psychology you need to become an exceptional business coach. Clear, compelling and comprehensive, covering classic and fresh material from both business and psychology, this is the first book to cover both the critical elements of world-class business coaching.
This book takes you through a tried and trusted process developed specifically for senior business leaders. It will help you:
Know when to coach and when to lead.
Build powerful listening skills.
Get to grips with the most useful and up-to-the minute coaching tools and psychological techniques.
Calculate if – and crucially, how - you can make a living as a business coach.
Decide if, how and when to go for accreditation as a coach.

LBS Faculty

Climate change. Income inequality. World poverty. Who can solve these global problems? Corporations. Never before have corporations been so large, so wealthy, so powerful, and so rich in human creativity and endeavor. Organizational change expert Professor Lynda Gratton shows that it is now critical that these corporations step up to play a more positive role in the world by building inner resilience, actively anchoring themselves in their communities and supply chains, and leveraging their unique capabilities to address complex global challenges such as climate change and youth unemployment. In The Key, Gratton maps out how bringing resilience to a fragile world starts with what happens inside a corporation--when intelligence and wisdom are amplified, emotional vitality enhanced, and social connections harnessed. She explains how corporations can leverage this inner resilience to help solve global problems and how a corporation''s unique innovative, scaling and mobilizing, and alliance building capabilities--are some of the tools for combating global ills. Both realistic and optimistic, The Key is a practical guide that provides the rationale, strategies, and tools you need to not only spearhead resilience for your own company but also how to use this resilience to contribute to the betterment of the world. Building on her unique research base, Gratton provides insights from more than 20 companies from across the world including Vodafone, Unilever, Tata Consulting Services, and Natura to illustrate the very real benefits of aligning organizational interests with those of the world. "To create a good future," Gratton writes, "it is crucial that those who lead corporations become increasingly transparent about their actions and intentions and see themselves as part of the wider world they inhabit." The world''s business leaders must make a decision: Either connect your company''s interests with those of the world at large--or watch these separate interests crash into each other. You have the resources to save the world. Gratton provides The Key. Praise for The Key "The Key offers a novel perspective on the emerging role of corporations in society. Leadership expert Lynda Gratton offers practical insights for unlocking the hidden resources in organizations and using them to bring resilience to a fragile world." --Adam Grant, Wharton Professor and bestselling author of Give and Take "Gratton has again given us a lens into a brighter future. With prescience and insight, she has offered a way to resolve some of the most serious challenges of our complex world. Her ideas are a call to arms and a commitment to action that will benefit individuals, organizations, and communities." --Dave Ulrich, Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and Partner, the RBL Group "Contrary to Hollywood stereotypes, big corporations can be a force for good. The Key helps to explain why that is so and how business leaders can be part of the vanguard." --Gavin Patterson, CEO, BT Group "In this important book, Gratton shows how companies can both build resilience for the future and make a positive difference in the world." --Martin Gilbert, CEO, Aberdeen Asset Management "In order to achieve ongoing growth, executive leaders must not only reinvent themselves and their businesses but must also continually ask what role their corporation will play as a force for the common good. The Key shows, in a groundbreaking way, how the bridge between the two can be built." --Robert Kovach, PhD, Global Executive Talent, Cisco "This inspiring book takes the discussion about corporate social responsibility to a new level by clearly describing what it takes for leaders and employees to collectively make the corporation a force for good in the world." --Diana C. Robertson, Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

The groundbreaking follow-up to the international bestseller­­a hands-on guide to putting McKinsey techniques to work in your organization McKinsey & Company is the most respected and most secretive consulting firm in the world, and business readers just can't seem to get enough of all things McKinsey. Now, hot on the heels of his acclaimed international bestseller The McKinsey Way, Ethan Rasiel brings readers a powerful new guide to putting McKinsey concepts and skills into action­­The McKinsey Mind. While the first book used case studies and anecdotes from former and current McKinseyites to describe how "the firm" solves the thorniest business problems of their A-list clients, The McKinsey Mind goes a giant step further. It explains, step-by-step, how to use McKinsey tools, techniques and strategies to solve an array of core business problems and to make any business venture more successful. Designed to work as a stand-alone guide or together with The McKinsey Way, The McKinsey Mind follows the same critically acclaimed style and format as its predecessor. In this book authors Rasiel and Friga expand upon the lessons found in The McKinsey Way with real-world examples, parables, and easy-to-do exercises designed to get readers up and running.

LBS Faculty
LBS Faculty
A practical guide to how we can positively adapt to a changing world, from the internationally bestselling authors of The 100-Year Life

'Wonderful . . . This thought-provoking book is a must-read' Daron Acemoglu, author of Why Nations Fail

Smart new technologies. Longer, healthier lives. Human progress has risen to great heights, but at the same time it has prompted anxiety about where we're heading. Are our jobs under threat? If we live to 100, will we ever really stop working? And how will this change the way we love, manage and learn from others?

One thing is clear: advances in technology have not been matched by the necessary innovation to our social structures. In our era of unprecedented change, we haven't yet discovered new ways of living.

Drawing from the fields of economics and psychology, Andrew J Scott and Lynda Gratton offer a simple framework based on three fundamental principles (Narrate, Explore and Relate) to give you the tools to navigate the challenges ahead. Both a personal road-map and a primer for governments, corporations and colleges, The New Long Life is the essential guide to a longer, smarter, happier life.

'This thoughtful book explores how we can reimagine our days and our societies to make our lives better - not just longer' Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take

'Stimulating, insightful and inspirational' Linda Yueh, author of The Great Economists

'This important book will help reframe the global debate about how to help every citizen to flourish' Matt Hancock, UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

How organizations--including Google, StubHub, Airbnb, and Facebook--learn from experiments in a data-driven world. Have you logged into Facebook recently? Searched for something on Google? Chosen a movie on Netflix? If so, you've probably been an unwitting participant in a variety of experiments--also known as randomized controlled trials--designed to test the impact of different online experiences. Once an esoteric tool for academic research, the randomized controlled trial has gone mainstream. No tech company worth its salt (or its share price) would dare make major changes to its platform without first running experiments to understand how they would influence user behavior. In this book, Michael Luca and Max Bazerman explain the importance of experiments for decision making in a data-driven world. Luca and Bazerman describe the central role experiments play in the tech sector, drawing lessons and best practices from the experiences of such companies as StubHub, Alibaba, and Uber. Successful experiments can save companies money--eBay, for example, discovered how to cut $50 million from its yearly advertising budget--or bring to light something previously ignored, as when Airbnb was forced to confront rampant discrimination by its hosts. Moving beyond tech, Luca and Bazerman consider experimenting for the social good--different ways that govenments are using experiments to influence or "nudge" behavior ranging from voter apathy to school absenteeism. Experiments, they argue, are part of any leader's toolkit. With this book, readers can become part of "the experimental revolution."

How the best companies prepare for and manage modern vulnerabilities--from cybersecurity risks to climate change: new tools, processes and organizations for developing corporate resilience. A catastrophic earthquake is followed by a tsunami that inundates the coastline, and around the globe manufacturing comes to a standstill. State-of-the-art passenger jets are grounded because of a malfunctioning part. A strike halts shipments through a major port. A new digital device decimates the sales of other brands and sends established firms to the brink of bankruptcy. The interconnectedness of the global economy today means that unexpected events in one corner of the globe can ripple through the world's supply chain and affect customers everywhere. In this book, Yossi Sheffi shows why modern vulnerabilities call for innovative processes and tools for creating and embedding corporate resilience and risk management. Sheffi offers fascinating case studies that illustrate how companies have prepared for, coped with, and come out stronger following disruption--from the actions of Intel after the 2011 Japanese tsunami to the disruption in the "money supply chain" caused by the 2008 financial crisis. Sheffi, author of the widely read The Resilient Enterprise, focuses here on deep tier risks as well as corporate responsibility, cybersecurity, long-term disruptions, business continuity planning, emergency operations centers, detection, and systemic disruptions. Supply chain risk management, Sheffi shows, is a balancing act between taking on the risks involved in new products, new markets, and new processes--all crucial for growth--and the resilience created by advanced risk management.