[wtH] Mgmt Self ... Help!!

Ugh! Management books!! Here's a few to hate them for their successes despite being so shallow and utterly useless. Management crap #&^%$@ !!!

The 8th Habit
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Dave thought he was an effective person obeying those "7 Habits". He had a happy family, a good job, and loved by his community.... But one dark summer night, he realized what a lie his life was when ... Steven Covey stumbled upon "The 8th Habit" a good 10 years later and so humbly marketed it to the unsuspecting global business fraternity. Suddenly, Dave's career & marriage was nothing but a fabrication. Nothing held true anymore. Even his "7 Habits" leather bounded executive notepad felt quasi-real in his trembling hands. Can Robert (heck, even his name and personal memories were untrue) ever salvage what he once was? Maybe, if he gets his hands on the hardcopy.... at a store near him!
(Movie Trailer Mode - Off!)

Blink!
Just because it's got an exclamation point at the end of an unconventional title, it's gotta be credible. Even though deep down inside you feel that there has to be something more than that, but you ignore that nagging feeling and feel happy about the purchase. The cover feels nice, the book cover's design is stylishly simplistic, and the author has some creepy hairdo so he's bound to be a genius, and he looks so disturbingly earnest too it has got to be a good book.

Until you read the book beyond 1/3 of the way. Then you realize that there is no more substance in the remaining 2/3s of the book. You feel cheated and pissed off with the repetitions. And then it dawns on you that that you should have applied what Malcom Gladwell repeatedly tells you (only that it's too late) .... "You should'av trusted your guts you blinkin fool!"

For a moment you are mesmerized by the irony of it all, and you have to hand it to the fella for being so ballsy. A misleading summary of the book's idea: "Data?? ... schmdata!! Just feel the tremours deep in your gut (even if its bowel movement) and make crucial decisions based on that."


I'd like to rant about how managers & execs are so willing to mop up lessons from the movement of cheese to fish. And why we can all make the world work better by managing on that supercool divisible time unit - one minute.

But ever noticed as the world gets more complex, and while we try to find some sense in it, the publishing industry revels in dumbing us down by substandard business anecdotes or the next great management framework? Based on this regression, some ideas for the next major hit:
- Fortune 500 Pop-Up Book Series - How that company gobbled up that other company
- Street Lessons from Oscar The Grouch
- The Fat Controller vs The Thin Controller: What Does Thomas Do Next At The EGM?
- How to become CEO in 3.25 days ^_^;
- Helloooo ..... marketing is sooooo over !

I admit to have read my share of the crap. There is a silver lining - believe it or not there are some occassional gems though. Personal recommendation: Robert Greene's "33 Strategies of War". It's a take-off-the-gloves kindof book that does away with the niceties and refreshingly honest.