Book site means business

Staffers sift through 11,000 business books each year, choosing the best

August 29, 2008

By: Jacqueline Blais

At 800-CEO-READ, an e-commerce business bookseller, the whole staff has access to the best ideas, advice and trends from all the business books published each year.Imagine, then, how quickly staffers jumped on Strength Finders 2.0 by Tom Rath and took the accompanying test (developed by Gallup) to interpret their best strengths. No surprise: 11 of the 15 staffers have empathy as a top strength—good at service, listening, being helpful. As for the company’s two leaders? Their top strengths didn’t match at all. Jack Covert, president and founder, looks for harmonious ways to resolve conflicts. Todd Sattersten, vice president, is a futurist, always thinking of what’s next.

But that’s OK. The difference “makes us a richer leadership team to run the company,” said Sattersten. 

Covert started 800-CEO-READ in the 1980s, an offshoot of the respected independent bookseller Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop in Milwaukee. It survived competition from Amazon in the 1990s by emphasizing its unique position in the business book world—there is a call center (where real people will talk to customers) and a staff “very closely watching those 11,000 business books published every year,” says Sattersten.
The company markets itself as “moving ideas.” Expertise is their capital—the ability to view what’s coming out and, more important, keep track of the great book that came out a few years ago, said Sattersten.
On their web site, you’ll find lively podcasts, a daily blog, Change This manifestos (the most downloaded manifesto is “How to Be Creative” by Hugh MacLeod (changethis.com/6.HowToBeCreative).

Another feature is Jack Covert Selects along with a list of new releases the staff deems worthy. The unworthy ones—Covert and Sattersten admit there are many mediocre business books—don’t rate a mention. Business books are different from the rest of the book world. Companies often buy them in quantity—a manager wishing to motivate a sales team or for an annual conference. Because books create a “common language,” reading the same book is a powerful way to bring a group together, said Covert.

“One of the conclusions we’ve come to in the last year is that business books solve problems, and I don’t think it’s any more complicated than that. A new CEO reads The First 90 Days by Michael Watkins or new marketers read Purple Cow by Seth Godin,” said Sattersten. What is changing, say Covert and Sattersten, is that the quality of writing and the quality of ideas keep getting better. Recent examples: The Tipping Point and Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, Freakonomics by Steven Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner and The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman.

And that, Covert and Sattersten say, is the future: When you read these stimulating business books, you are forced to re-examine how you (and your organization) fit into the world.

Jacqueline Blais is a writer and editor who has been assessing business books for many years.

THE BEST BUSINESS BOOKS EVER

Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten just teamed up to write The 100 Best Business Books of All Time: What They Say, Why They Matter, and How They Can Help You, coming in February 2009 from Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin. 

The book is a mix of expected classics (Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) and the utterly unexpected, such as Oh, the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Seuss, included because Covert and Sattersten consider it a brilliant motivational book. True to the discovery spirit of the company, there are hidden gems, such as Partnership Charter by David Gage, which says entrepreneurs are better off partnering with someone than going solo.

Each essay is between 600 and 1,000 words, explaining what the book is about, why it matters and how it relates to other books in the same category. “It was a tall order,” says Sattersten.

THREE FOR CEOS

Especially appealing to CEOs (or aspiring CEOs) from Covert and Sattersten’s upcoming 100 Best Business Books of All Time: 

The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner
This classic provides the first comprehensive research-based approach to leadership. The real draw is Kouzes’ and Posner’s ability to make the concepts accessible to anyone who picks up the book.

The Essential Drucker by Peter Drucker
Not enough people have read Drucker and his management principles. Business schools fail miserably in this regard. Discover his important insights into the individual, the corporation and society in this anthology.

Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie
MacKenzie describes the challenges of being creative in the confines of the corporation. While it might be awkward for a business leader to peer back through the looking glass, the perspective is invaluable.