Connected Company reading list

I’ve had a lot of people ask me for book recommendations so I am putting together this list of suggested reading on various topics. I will add to this as I have time.

Hover over each link to see a thumbnail of the book cover.

Connected Company reading

The Living Company by Arie de Geus details the results of a never-published study conducted by Shell on the secrets of the world’s most long-lived organizations.

Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science, and Everyday Life, by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, is an excellent primer on social networks, how they work and why they work.

Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy, by Carl Shapiro, is the best book on network-oriented business strategy that I know of. It’s a bit dense but very much worth the effort.

Simply Complexity: A Clear Guide to Complexity Theory by Neil Johnson is a very clear, easy-to-understand introduction to complexity theory.

Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella Meadows is a great primer on applied systems thinking.

The Origin of Wealth: The Radical Remaking of Economics and What it Means for Business and Society by Eric Beinhocker is a sweeping and brilliant opus that was a huge influence on The Connected Company. The book argues that looking business and economics through the lens of complexity and evolution theory we can gain deeper insights into the mechanics of business strategy.

Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance?: Leading a Great Enterprise through Dramatic Change by former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner, is a rare, detailed, thoughtful, behind-the-scenes look into a real connected company transformation.

Management 3.0: Leading Agile Developers, Developing Agile Leaders, by Jurgen Appelo, is a wonderful, highly engaging and thorough compendium of agile management practices. It’s a book that all managers should read.

If you have suggestions for additional books please let me know.

DISCLAIMER: These are Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you click through from this page it’s kind of like buying me a cup of coffee, a small reward for my efforts which is much appreciated 🙂 You won’t pay any more for the book than you would otherwise.