They haven’t crystallized their thinking. If the author can’t get to the point, they don’t know the point. Watch out for long books that attempt to establish validity with bulk. In almost every case, ignore the preface and acknowledgments, which are obligatory elements that rarely add value. It should summarize the topic, frame the problem, and explain the central idea. A good one is a compression of the whole: dense with insights and laying out the bones of the argument in a coherent, compelling way. When you begin any business book, engage in what philosopher and educator Mortimer Adler called “inspectional reading” to evaluate the potential time investment. A structured approach can help you stay focused, prioritize relevant books, and optimize your learning experience. Regularly review and adjust your plan based on your evolving needs and the value you’re gaining from your reading. Do you want to inform a decision, analyze a situation, or develop a skill?Ĭreating a living document to lay out your next five reads can help. If you’re not reading to learn at the moment of need, you’ll likely forget what you take in anyway. Otherwise, you’ll wander and waste time on books that are either irrelevant or of low quality. With that in mind, here are eight suggestions to guide you through the process of compression, absorption, and application: Compression Begin with purpose.ĭefine a reading plan with a need or opportunity in mind. The others tend to present recycled and superficial treatments of those original contributions. The good ones represent original contributions to theory and practice or provide meaningful extensions or applications of those theories and practices. Advisors tend to straddle the worlds of theory and practice.Ĭertainly, there are great business books written in each camp, but keep in mind that more than 1,000 new titles are released each month alone in the United States (some of which are published by Harvard Business Review Press). Advisors: Consultants and domain experts who advise those who practice business.Researchers: Scholars and academics who analyze data, test hypotheses, and create new theories.Practitioners: Leaders and founders who practice business and share their experience.The job to be done is to extract insights to increase judgment and skills to increase performance.Ĭonsider that three groups of people write business books: Examples (stories and case studies to illustrate application).The components are almost always the same: In writing several business books - and reading more than I can count - I’ve found that, for books worth reading, the process consists of three steps: compression, absorption, and application.īut first, step back and consider the anatomy of a typical business book. So, in approaching any business book, there are two goals: First, determining if the book can help you do your job second, figuring out the quickest way to extract that value. For the executive, time allocation is as important as capital allocation. You’re trying to maximize the return on time invested. Reading a business book is an exercise in efficiency, not literary aesthetics.
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