By Dr. Jerome Katz

Business seems to be a part of everyone's life these days. Folks in all walks of life talk about "the bottom line" or "adding value." More of us own stocks than ever before and find ourselves pouring over annual reports and financial guides. Even the gurus of career guidance tell us that we should think of ourselves as a one-person business, developing ourselves for greater returns or selling ourselves on the job market. What kinds of books might give you a grounding in the basics of business? Here are my top ten choices:

1. Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy, by Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian. We are witnessing a battle between the manufacturing-based "Old Economy" and the "New Economy" of the Internet. This book does the best job of explaining what is truly new and what is simply the latest version of longstanding economic and business activities. It makes a lot of today's business news -- and strategies -- understandable.

2. Iacocca: An Autobiography, by Lee Iacocca with W. Novak. Lots of us know the high points of this story -- up-through-the-ranks at Ford, developer of the Mustang, fired, giving up a juicy severance package to take over Chrysler, doing the TV ads, bashing Japan, repairing the Statue of Liberty for its Bicentennial. Few bios tell more about life in big business, and few have as engaging and self-effacing a subject. A story not only to relate to, but one to emulate.

3. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, by R. Fisher and W. Ury. It is nearly impossible to get through any Harvard degree program without having to work through this book. While that probably says more about Harvard's environment than the book, Fisher and Ury have crafted a model of negotiation that is rooted in values and aware of the foibles of people. Most other books tend to look at negotiating as something you do once -- so hard-ball tactics are permissible. This is the book for negotiation in long-term relationships.

4. Coping With Difficult People, by Robert M. Bramson. Sherman tanks, balloons, snipers -- the labels Bramson puts on problem people just naturally grab our attention and open the door to stories of days gone bad. Bramson tells you how to cope -- which means getting on with your life or work by working around (or occasionally through) the problem person. It's not therapy for "them," but it can be supremely useful for you.

5. What Color Is Your Parachute? 2000, by Richard Nelson Bolles. The longstanding champion of career planning now is updated annually. It's also a voice of sanity in trying to balance "you-as-product," "you-as-employee" and "you-as-person" -- a balance a lot more contemporary books seem to have forgotten.

6. The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, by Andrew P. Tobias. There are several excellent alternatives here, including Peter Lynch and John Rothchild's Learn to Earn: A Beginner's Guide to the Basics of Investing and Business, and Jane Bryant Quinn's Making the Most of Your Money, but I like how comprehensive and caustic Tobias is. The point in these books is that investing should be one part of your financial strategy, and it probably makes more sense today than ever.

7. The New Strategic Selling: The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by the World's Best Companies, by Stephen E. Heiman, Diane Sanchez, Tad Tuleja and Robert B. Miller. You're not a salesperson, are you? You've never needed to convince someone else to do something, try something, go somewhere or not to do something? I find myself selling all the time -- ideas to students, programs to institutions, dinner choices to my kids. This book helps with a double handful of techniques for pitching ideas and dealing with objections in order to make "the sale."

8. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It, by Michael E. Gerber. Gerber is a Midwesterner, and he takes a very level-headed approach to getting a business together and moving. He explains well and motivates strongly. One of the best books of its kind, whether you are planning to do a little moonlighting, or planning to start a million-dollar firm. By the way, you can get more help, including St. Louis-area links for starting a firm, at my website, www.slu.edu/eweb.

9. While not a book, the Chronicle of Higher Education is the weekly newspaper of our shared industry. Whatever trends are coming, or precedents are being set -- things that might change our industry and therefore our institution -- you're likely to hear them first in the Chronicle. If you want to read what university CEOs read, here it is.

10. Accidental Empires Revisited: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, by Robert X. Cringely. Written by an industry gossip columnist, Cringely knows the inside tales of the household names such as Gates and Jobs. This is a hugely entertaining book about the stories that show their flashes of cupidity and stupidity, as well as their insights of brilliance.

Don't tell me you're excited by all this stuff? If you are, what's next? Well, try this book for further reading: The Portable MBA by Robert F. Bruner, Mark R. Eaker, R. Edward Freeman and Robert E. Spekman -- from the University of Virginia's Darden School. Their faculty and friends go through the major topics common to MBA programs -- accounting, finance, marketing, management and the rest. Despite the material's soporific potential, most of the chapters come across as readable, and sometimes even sprightly. If after this you still haven't gotten enough, consider applying for our MBA program, by e-mailing mba@slu.edu.

Katz is the Mary Louise Murray endowed professor of management.

Please note this reflects my own interpretation of history, and it is not an official list representing the collective ideas of the department of history at Saint Louis University.

Have an idea for a Top 10 list? Call Joe Muehlenkamp at 977-2519.

Top