Hot on the tail of the recent Inc./800-CEO-READ Business Book Bestseller List, we’re launching a series of blog posts called ’3×3′ – where we’ll ask the top three authors from each month’s bestseller list three of the same questions.
June’s top three authors are: Dave and Wendy Ulrich (The Why of Work), Jim Champy (Reengineering Health Care), and Gregory Salsbury (Retirementology). Congratulations to them!
Let’s see how they answered our questions:
Dave Ulrich and Wendy Ulrich:
What’s the most influential book you’ve read?
Wendy: To Destroy You Is No Loss … a true story about a family trying to escape Cambodia during the regime of the Khmer Rouge. Their resilience in the face of unimaginable obstacles has been a source of inspiration.
Dave: Bible … hard to top for a moral and guiding philosophy that has shaped how people have thought and behaved for millennia.
Who in business had the most profound effect on you?
Wendy: Bonner Ritchie … Bonner is an innovative and mind bending teacher who taught me that organizations don’t think, people do.
Dave: Co-authors on books. I like to co-author so I can learn from those whose ideas inform and inspire me.
If your business philosophy were on a bumper sticker, what would it say?
Wendy: If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly … my mother taught me that things worth doing were worth doing well, but I have since learned that some things are so important to do that they are worth doing badly so that we can learn to do them well.
Dave: Ideas with impact … this was the outcome of our learning research (since picked up by others) and connects to the value theme that has driven my work.
Jim Champy:
What’s the most influential book you’ve read?
Alfred Sloan’s book, My Years at GM. It’s a wonderful story of leadership and renewal and sound management practices.
Who in business had the most profound effect on you?
In business, my closest friend and advisor was Peter Drucker. He was a great pragmatist and thinker – and wrote so clearly. He really understood business and management.
If your business philosophy were on a bumper sticker, what would it say?
“Believe in the Human Potential”
Gregory Salsbury:
What’s the most influential book you’ve read?
The Hero in History by Sidney Hook. It explores leadership in the modern world and distinguishes between “eventful” and “event-making” heroes. It is a distinction most observers have historically and currently remain unwilling or incapable of making.
Who in business had the most profound effect on you?
It’s a toss-up between Steven Covey (author: The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) and John Bogle (founder and retired CEO of The Vanguard Group). The latter more specific to the financial services industry, while the former pertained to my approach to business in general.
If your business philosophy were on a bumper sticker, what would it say?
“Execution trumps concept”
