booklists

Highlighting the most influential management books past and present as selected by the Thinkers50 community.

The Management Classics booklist

What are the books every manager should read?

Every year we announce 10 more classic titles to create the ultimate management library, books which have stood the test of time and remain powerfully relevant today.

‘The classic management books are the ones that have had and continue to have a long-term impact on the way people think about and practice management,’ explains Thinkers50 co-founder Stuart Crainer. ‘They are the coping stones for modern management and remain essential reading for managers everywhere.’

As part of the selection process, Thinkers50 canvasses opinions from within the Thinkers50 community, garnering nominations from many of today’s most eminent business thinkers. Nominations are invited for books that influenced the way we think about and practice management, and which have left a lasting legacy that is still relevant today. The only rule was that participants are not allowed to nominate their own books.

The Best New Management Booklist

‘The Best New Management Books are the ones that have the potential to change the way people think about and practice management,’ explains Thinkers50 co-founder Stuart Crainer. ‘They offer a fresh perspective on how organizations are managed.’

As part of the selection process, Thinkers50 seeks opinions from within the Thinkers50 community, gathering nominations from eminent business thinkers and practising managers.

Nominations are invited for books that excel in the 3Rs:

Relevance:
does the book address a current and pressing issue or challenge?
RIGOUR:
is it well-researched and based on real-world examples?
READABILITY:

is it accessible, insightful, and inspiring?

The only rules for the 2023 Best New Management Booklist is that books have to have been published after January 2022 and participants are not allowed to nominate their own books.

Announcement timeline

  • Every year
  • Nominations open to publicMar
  • Announcement of
    10 Management
    Classics
    Booklist
    May
  • Announcement of
    10 Best New
    Management
    Booklist
    June
  • Jan
  • Feb
  • Mar
  • Apr
  • May
  • Jun
  • Jul
  • Aug
  • sep
  • Oct
  • Nov
  • Dec
Every year
  • Jan
  • Feb
  • Mar
  • Apr
  • May
  • Jun
  • Jul
  • Aug
  • sep
  • Oct
  • Nov
  • Dec
  • Nominations open
    to public
    mar
  • Announcement of 10 Management Classics Booklist May
  • Announcement of 10 Best New Management Bookslist June
YEAR

10 Management Classics for 2023

The Management Classics Booklist is our curated collection of books which have stood the test of time and remain powerfully relevant today.

Competing for the Future (1994)

C. K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel

´Arguably the two most influential thinkers on strategy in the Western world.´

– Peter M. Senge, MIT Sloan

Discovery Driven Growth (2009)

Rita McGrath and Ian C. MacMillan

`These ideas are some of the most important tools of management and strategy that have ever been developed.´

— Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma

Good to Great (2001)

Jim Collins

´Good to Great is the business book of business books. It is the magic recipe for any leader looking to 10x. It is filled with more timeless wisdom than any book on the market today. As Jim’s Chief of Staff, I had the opportunity to see first hand the power of these theories come to life with the world’s greatest leaders and most prolific companies. It is a masterpiece.´

Amy L. Humble, President and co-founder, Disruption Advisors

The Art of War (5th century BCE)

Sun Tzu

´Written 2,500 years ago, The Art of War has inspired strategists in the military and in business — and continues to do so. It combines hard-headed competitive wisdom with inspiring advice; stealth and cunning plus timeless humanity. It isn’t the origin of strategy, but is one of its earliest and most practical manifestations.´

– Stuart Crainer, Thinkers50

The Female Advantage (1990)

Sally Helgesen

´The Female Advantage becomes more and more timely with each passing day. Too new to be a classic? Forget it, this book is already a classic!´

— Tom Peters, Thinkers50 Hall of Fame

The Fifth Discipline (1990)

Peter Senge

´Forget your old, tired ideas about leadership. The most successful corporation of the future will be something called a learning organization.´

Fortune Magazine

The Lean Startup (2011)

Eric Ries

´Every so often a business book comes along that changes how we think about innovation and entrepreneurship … The Lean Startup has the chops to join this exalted company.´

— Financial Times

The Reality of Management (1963)

Rosemary Stewart

´The most significant book seeking to round up the realities of management…since Peter Drucker’s classic The Practice of Management

Scientific Business

The Theory of the Growth of the Firm (1959)

Edith Penrose

´The basic propositions that Edith Penrose put forth in her book The Theory of the Growth of the Firm were provocative and path breaking. That path has become crowded with scholars of firm behavior, some of whom have only the dimmest awareness that the ideas they are working with were first put forward by Penrose. Her insights, her arguments, still read fresh and right, and finally will get the attention they warrant.´

— Richard R. Nelson, Columbia University

What Got You Here Won't Get You There (2007)

Marshall Goldsmith

´… Marshall’s proven improvement process ROCKS!´

– Alan Mullaly, Former CEO, Ford Motor Company

Best New Management Books for 2023

YEAR

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