book reviews

Is there a difference between who you are and what you do? You may derive meaning and even identity from your work. But the death of a colleague, a sudden layoff, a serious illness, or even the advance of years can raise questions of…

Win from Within: Build Organizational Culture for Competitive Advantage by James Heskett, Columbia Business School Publishing, 2022 One of the first business books I reviewed, back in 1992, was Corporate Culture and Performance, by…

A Shot to Save the World: The Inside Story of the Life-or-Death Race for a COVID-19 Vaccine by Gregory Zuckerman, Portfolio, 2021 Do you remember that shining moment when it appeared that the new vaccines against COVID-19 were going to…

Throughout the year, our reviewers delved into the latest business books to unearth essential ideas, observations, and lessons from business history, current events, and state-of-the-art research. Here are half a dozen reads we found…

The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future by Sebastian Mallaby, Penguin, 2022 The last few years have been tough on the reputation of venture capitalists. Poor governance, discrimination, and malpractice have…

Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life by Gillian Tett, Avid Reader Press, 2021  The next time you hear someone arguing that a liberal arts education is wasted on businesspeople, direct them to Gillian Tett’s…

Many novels have dealt with business. The best of these books bring to life the world of modern office work, with its complex interpersonal relations, its insistence on flawless emotional regulation, and its largely incorporeal output.…

How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Katy Milkman, Portfolio, 2021 A crisis — such as the COVID-19 pandemic — changes the way we lead our lives, often substantially. But when it’s over and…

A version of this article appeared in the Autumn 2021 issue of strategy+business. Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein, Little Brown, 2021 Companies live and die by the ability of the…

A version of this article appeared in the Autumn 2021 issue of strategy+business. The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World by Adrian Wooldridge, Skyhorse, 2021 In the 12th and 13th centuries, Venice was the…