50 Ideas That Changed the World of Work

In this brisk survey, corporate consultants Kourdi (Coaching Questions for Every Situation) and Besser offer advice on how leaders can embrace some of the most influential ideas and practices to come out of the business world. For instance, they describe how the Boston Consulting Group developed the growth share matrix, which tracks the success of products or services by charting their market growth relative to market share, and recommend using it to determine which popular products from one’s portfolio could fund the promotion of less established ones with high growth potential. Other entries focus on the human side of business, as when the authors detail self-help writer Dale Carnegie’s tips for “winning friends and influencing people” (e.g., “Help others see and understand how your ideas or proposals can benefit them personally”). Elsewhere, Kourdi and Besser discuss how Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs provides a blueprint for motivating workers, how former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s “lean in” framework promises to produce more diverse workplaces, and how statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s warnings about rare “black swan” events encourage taking preemptive action to address even unlikely risks. The succinct summaries serve as an abbreviated MBA syllabus, offering pragmatic guidance on implementing well-known business concepts and practices. This is perfect for executives and managers in a hurry. (May)