Book Recommendations
from Bret L. Simmons

From Bret's review: "Despite its flaws, it is a good book. It will make the list of optional readings for my MBA class this fall because I think it will have an impact on the students that read it. The book is very well written with excellent organization and a very conversational style. The best thing about the book is the numerous excellent examples Liz gives to support her points, coming from her years of experience as a top executive and consultant."

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From Bret's review: "In this book, Nayar tells the story of how he transformed an already successful company, HCLT, into one of the fastest growing IT service partners in the world. The personal story Nayar shares is compelling, insightful, and at times funny and brutally honest. Have your highlighter handy when you read this because it is packed full of wisdom and quotable passages."

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C.K. Prahalad: A Leading Thinker On Management

April 18, 2010 by Bret L. Simmons · Filed under: Leadership

C.K. Prahalad passed away on Friday, April 16, 2010.

C.K.’s is hailed as one of our greatest management gurus, and he deserves that praise. His writings have had a huge impact on my thinking. I included his book “Competing for the Future” on my list of books every developing manager should read.

The very first article I read in my very first doctoral seminar in management in 1995 was “The Dominant Logic: Retrospective and Extension” by Richard A. Bettis and C.K. Prahalad. I was blown away. I left that very first class certain that I would do my dissertation on organizational learning. I didn’t do my dissertation on organizational learning, but if you read my blog with any regularity you know that my thinking is still heavily influenced by C.K. Prahalad’s writings.

Here is video from October 2009 with C.K. Prahalad discussing his view of leadership. I love his metaphor of a leader as a sheep dog.