On Business Fiction…

I enjoy business fiction, though so much of it is written badly. Below are some titles I’ve read (or am reading) that I enjoyed.

The key for me is verisimilitude – it has to “feel” right. We all know when a story feels contrived, and I’ve read more than a few of those too. But all four of these just felt accurate, based on my experience.

Right now, I’m reading “The Phoenix Project,” which feels so familiar that I’m having trouble not putting it down and walking away from it in some places. The plot revolves around a truly disastrous software rollout, and… well, I’ve been there. I’ve been in IT now for almost 30 years, and a lot of what the main character is going through rings so true that it can be genuinely uncomfortable.

“The Goal” is another interesting one. It’s the story of an operations manager in a manufacturing plant who is trying to increase throughput. With the help of a wise mentor, he identifies “The Theory of Constraints,” which is something so obvious that we don’t think about it much (manage your bottlenecks, basically). The book is apparently legendary – most MBA candidates get it as assigned reading (I saw it on your shelf last weekend, Mark…).

(The “wise mentor” is a common trope in business fiction. A lot of the plots revolve around younger people having a crisis and learning some secret from a sensei-type person. In this sense, “The Phoenix Project” feels like an updated version of “The Goal.”)

I should re-read “Laughing at the CIO.” I remember loving it, but it’s been about 10 years. It’s Bob Boiko’s “other” work (he’s most well-known for “The Content Management Bible”).

Patrick Lencioni writes some great fiction. “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” is about relational problems in the management of a company. “The Advantage” is another good fiction title from him.

I’d love recommendations here. Let me know if there’s a business novel that meant a lot to you.