Media Spotlight: Our favourite books of 2009
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If nothing else, the credit crunch has definitely been a boon for publishers. In 2009 we’ve seen all manner of books come out charting how we got into this mess, who we should blame and just occasionally, how we can stop it from happening again. So with Christmas fast approaching, in this week’s Media Spotlight we’re giving a rundown of our favourite financial reads this year. Whether you’re looking for stocking fillers for that special financial adviser in your life or just something to pass the time during the long Christmas holiday, these are the four we’d recommend.
GOOD TO GREAT
Top of our list is Good To Great by Jim Collins. Yes, not a new book by any stretch of the imagination (it came out in 2001), especially with a few of the firms used in the book as case studies like Fannie Mae now on life support in the US. But it’s still the book you see on executives’ bookshelves and its lessons for any firm looking to sustained growth make for fascinating reading. It was this book that brought us the phrase level five leadership’, which of course applies to the type of leaders who put the company first and self-aggrandisement second. The book makes for sobering thought for those leaders closer to level one.
THE ETHICAL EXECUTIVE
Coming in at number two is The Ethical Executive by Robert Hoyk and Paul Hershey. The book grabbed the attention of everyone at Strategy HQ thanks to the use of the word ‘ethical’ - something which has been decidedly absent from financial services throughout the crisis. The book looks at what it is that drives culprits to act unethically. The answer? Put simply, it’s our surroundings. “The line between good and evil is permeable and any one of us can move across it,” Professor Philip Zimbardo is quoted as saying in the book. “We all have the capacity for love and evil, to be Mother Theresa or Hitler - it’s the situation that brings that out.”
50 PEOPLE WHO BUGGERED UP BRITAIN
Our third favourite book of the year was the brilliantly titled 50 People Who Buggered Up Britain by Quentin Letts. Letts’ list features the usual suspects such as former HBOS chief executive Andy Hornby, former Financial Services Authority chairman Sir Callum McCarthy and Prime minister unextraordinaire Gordon Brown. Letts gives his reasons for the accused in his inimitable cutting style and achieves the feat of telling us we’re all screwed but making us laugh at the same time.
THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT
In fourth place it’s This Time Is Different by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff. The book looks at that age-old excuse that helps us fool ourselves whenever we don’t want to face up to the truth - this time it’s different. Only, as Rogoff and Reinhart point out, it’s really not. According to the authors, more sharing of information globally, an improvement in the reporting of data and further investment to identify trends are needed.The delusion is that we are doing things better, we are smarter and we have learnt from past mistakes. But as the current crisis shows we clearly
haven’t.
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