Success with Simplicity: Take Management Back to Basics by David Brewster. My first book offers a fresh perspective on the challenge of management plus insight into how you can use simplicity to have balance and success.  More...

Simplicity: The New Competitive Advantage in a World of More, Better, Faster by Bill Jensen. A very thorough investigation of the sources of complexity within business and a range of approaches for dealing with them. Ironically a bit complex in parts but worth a look.  More...

Simplicity by Edward de Bono. A little unusual in approach (the book contains an almost random series of anecdotes and examples of simplicity in action - and not), this book essentially tries to investigate what simplicity means.  More...

The Power Of Simplicity: A Management Guide to Cutting Through the Nonsense and Doing Things Right by Jack Trout. A very good read. Essentially a tongue-in-cheek examination of many of those things which tend to make business complicated, with summary take-home messages at the end of each chapter.  More...

Simplicity Wins: How Germany's Mid-Sized Industrial Companies Succeed by Gunter Rommel. I wonder if this book is the one that got away from McKinsey. The large consulting firm is not renowned for its simple approach. The book summarises a study by McKinsey consultants of a number of German companies and concludes that simplicity was fundamental to success.  More...

Deep Simplicity by John Gribbin. An attempt to explain complexity and chaos to the lay-person. This is a scientific book - not a business book - but the concepts, if you can get them, have broad applicability. At the time of writing, this book has not been published in the U.S. but is available in Australian and U.K. bookstores.  More...

Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos by Roger Lewin. Another science-based investigation of complexity theory and its impact on human life. Quite heavy, but if you like this sort of thing...  More...

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins. One of the most thought-provoking and influencial business books for some time. Jim Collins doesn't do things by halves. This book - written after 'Built to Last' but, as Jim points out, really a prelude to that book - isolates a number of contrarian characteristics of businesses which have turned themselves around and stayed on course for a long time.  More...

Built to Last : Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras. Based on some significant research, this book isolates the secrets behind those companies which have lasted the distance - and compares them with those which haven't. Good case studies and identification of core concepts at the heart of success.   More...

amazon.com: Get Big Fast by Robert Spector. Simply a great story of how an enormously successful e-commerce business was built from the ground up. An interesting example, also, of how ignoring the market preference for instant profit helped the business build a solid base.  More...

100 Great Businesses and the Minds Behind Them by Emily Ross and Angus Holland. An entertaining and fascinating look at a wide variety of businesses, the ideas that got them started and, particularly, the people who were instrumental in their success. (Not yet released in the UK and USA. This link is to Australian online retailer Dymocks)   More...

50 Success Classics: Winning Wisdom for Work and Life from 50 Landmark Books by Tom Butler-Bowdon. If you haven't got time to read all the books - read this one! Actually a good summary of the key ideas proposed in a wide range of both old and new books. One for the reference shelf.  More...

One Bite at a Time : How Every Manager can use Six Sigma to Make a Difference by David Brewster and Gary Calwell. My new book, co-written with Gary Calwell, tells the story of Nathan, a manager under pressure. He's just been given an ultimatum by his boss to improve the quality and productivity of his team's work - or jobs will have to go. Our story follows Nathan's journey as he tries to escape this situation. It won't take you long to read, but it will change the way you see the challenge of management.  More...

The Boss - a Novel by Andrew O'Keeffe. Based on true stories gathered by the author over many years, this book tells a story about the impact of work on the human spirit. Lauren Johnson is a talented marketing professional in her thirties who changes jobs to escape the torment of a horrid manager. But her dream turns sour due to the erratic behaviour of the dysfunctional executive team. Finally she has to respond or have her spirit crushed. More...

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. This is the book that every small business operator should read, if they read nothing else. The various new editions haven't added much meat to the original, but then the original really said all that needed to be said.  More...

Reengineering the Corporation by Michael Hammer and James Champy. A classic look at where business processes go wrong and what can be done to make them more efficient. A bit weighed down in parts but the central idea is essential knowledge for anyone in business.  More...

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy. The first half of this book uses examples from real situations to illustrate how actually getting things done (as opposed to just planning them) can be made to happen. The second half is made up of 'the answers' and doesn't succeed as well as the first.  More...

The Path of Least Resistance for Managers by Robert Fritz. Takes an interesting look at the dynamics of organisations from a 'path of least resistance' stand point: how influence flows around organisations and power shifts with it.  More...

Demystifying Six Sigma: A Company-Wide Approach to Continuous Improvement by Alan Larson. One of the more down-to-earth books on Six Sigma. If you want to learn the concepts but don't want to spend a billion dollars applying them, read this book. Has a lot in common with our DIY Results approach.  More...

What Is Six Sigma? by Peter S. Pande and Larry Holpe. A nice, brief summary of the key aspects of Six Sigma in practice. A particularly good introduction for your staff if you are launching down the Six Sigma path.  More...

Getting Things Done by David Allen. The clearest, most sensible, pragmatic and sustainable approach to personal productivity that I've come across  More...

The Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon. The most thought provoking book I've read this year. Homer-Dixon explores the fall of the Roman empire and its parallels with modern society. Will we be smart enough to avoid the same mistakes the Romans made?  More...

Future Shock by Alvin Toffler. I haven't read all of this one yet, but every snippet I have read has struck a chord. This book was published in the early 1970s and warned of many of the consequences of speed and technology which we are now starting to experience.  More...

Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything by James Gleick. A fast-paced look at a host of different ways in which speed is imposing itself on our lives.  More...

The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz. If you can't find a normal pair of jeans any more, then this book is for you. An in depth look at the psychology of choice and the impact of too much choice on our world, this is essential for reading for anyone in business - particularly those in product development and marketing.   More...

The Myth of the Paperless Office by Abigail Sellen and Richard Harper. A detailed, research-based look at a mythical promise which has been around for as long as computers. We all know that computers create more paper, not less - this explains why. Worth reading particularly if you still believe that one day...  More...

Fad Surfing in the Boardroom: Managing in the Age of Instant Answers by Eileen C. Shapiro. Ten years old now, but this book is one of those which gets more relevant as time goes on. Explores many popular fads and their negative (and potential positive, with the right focus) impact.  More...

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. With 'Blink', Gladwell has repeated the successful formula of 'The Tipping Point' by providing us fresh perspective which is relevant to all of us. This time he forces us to think about the way we think and to take a fresh look at the importance of 'gut-feel'.  More...

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell More...

Who Moved my Cheese? by Spencer Johnson M.D. Simple book with simple ideas about change. Something everyone should read - along with their teenage kids.  More...

The Art of Systems Thinking: Essential Skills for Creativity and Problem Solving by Joseph O'Connor and Ian McDermott. Excellent explanation of systems thinking - what a system is, what emergent properties are and so on.  More...

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss. I just loved the premise of this book which has completely exceeded all expectations of its author. If you're a punctuation pendant, you'll love it. If not, it might make you one!  More...