49 books like Gemba Walks

Humanocracy addresses perhaps the biggest opportunity for value creation at scale, i.e., transitioning large command-and-control corporations to flatter organizations.

What I like most is the combination of rigorous thinking, plain language, and company stories illustrating the worldwide movement to purge bureaucracy. I have personally studied one of the companies spotlighted, the preeminent steel manufacturer Nucor. Four layers of management from the CEO to those working in the steel plants.

The authors understand what makes Nucor excel (page 82): “True to the spirit of humanocracy, Nucor’s model isn’t about pushing employees to do more, but giving them the opportunity to be more—more than blue collar workers, more than order takers, more than mere operators, more than employees… every job can be a good job.”  

For almost six decades, I have studied the histories of firms and their successes and failures in creating value. I am always looking for heavy hitters who write about their thinking/doing process. Curt Carlson qualifies.

When he was CEO of SRI International, he guided the conception and development of HDTV, Siri, the computer mouse, electronic banking, robotic surgery which evolved into Intuitive Surgical (the dominant robotics surgical firm with its Da Vinci system), and much more.

I first found Carlson via a Harvard Business Review article in which he laid out his proven steps for value creation that seem so straightforward, yet are rarely followed. I wanted a more comprehensive discussion, and I got it with this book.    

From a distance you would label me a supporter of capitalism. A closer look says a free-market capitalist with a heart.

However, an even closer look would reveal how much I love dialogues with smart people who have big ideas that may not currently be a hand-in-glove fit with my worldview. And we both want to learn about different ways of looking at problems and are not concerned with selling the correctness of our strongly held beliefs. Jack Reardon is a good friend and one of those smart people with big ideas.

The book that Jack and Graham Boyd wrote should be read in the spirit of learning about different ways of applying a systems thinking lens to critically important sustainability issues. Their book explains how to travel a path to achieve a sustainable world with a regenerative economy in which both competition and cooperation are more closely aligned.

The… show more.

What if reality was an illusion? This book messed with my mind and challenged my perceptions of what I thought was real. It made me think carefully about how I react to and think about my life and helped me understand how we develop biases.

This was one of the first books I read that helped me understand the impact and effects of ambiguity and uncertainty on my decisions, my happiness, and how I approach the world. It was instrumental in developing the Ambiguity habit in my DANCE framework for developing a creative mindset.

This is the grand-mere of contemporary critical Olympic literature.

Helen Lenskyj was one of the first scholars to draw attention to the problematics of the Games, including human rights abuses, displacement of homeless populations, and elite scandals that ought to send law-abiding citizens running. It continues to be a powerful and relevant read for anyone interested in peeking behind the curtains of the Olympic behemoth.

Planning is easy, but execution is hard. Nonprofit leaders can gain a clear, practical understanding of how to measure and execute an organization's progress toward social impact goals with the clear, simple, and compelling four disciplines of execution.

It is simply terrific for putting strategy into practice. You will learn the key concepts from 4DX. We found reading it like getting a new set of glasses that brings the world of management into focus and allows us to see a pathway to success.

Ranjay Gulati delves—dare I say—deeply into the significance of purpose-driven organizations in today's business landscape.

The book emphasizes how cultivating a strong, authentic purpose can lead to exceptional performance and long-term success.

What I loved is that Gulati highlights that purpose is not just a tagline but rather a dynamic, guiding force that drives innovation, collaboration, and resilience. He shows how it can help decision-making.

Gulati shares several compelling case studies and practical tools that helped me affirm my position on the concept of organizational purpose. If you’re passionate about transformative leadership, Deep Purpose will inspire you to create meaningful impact in your organization.

Money is the biggest concern for most people thinking about retirement. Suze Orman is the queen of straight-talk about how best to manage your finances during this chapter of your life. She explains practical steps you need to take to make sure you have enough money to last your lifetime. I love that she is ruthless about making readers consider the long-term effects of their purchases and financial decisions.

This book by Steven Blank is a bible for anyone trying to understand how to build lean startups. The classic mistake that most entrepreneurs make is to go build a product soon after they develop a hypothesis about what customers want. By building products before customer discovery (i.e. verify customer needs and a scalable sales model), many products miss the mark and fail. The book explains how a lean start-up can figure out what customers want before proceeding to build products. This emphasis on a customer-centered approach rather than a product-centered approach can be the difference when it comes to finding product-market fit. A must-read for any founder!

In The Long View, Richard Fisher provides a kaleidoscopic view of mental time travel. The book dives into the history of long-term thinking and explores its many facets, including the economic forces and political pressures that drive people to focus on the here and now. We learn about the psychology of foresight, but also about how foresight can be channeled by religion, philosophy, and art. Despite the huge range of topics, Fisher pulls together a clear-headed analysis that will serve as a powerful counterweight to the short-termism he aptly diagnoses in the opening sections of the book. Fisher writes for the BBC and has a wonderful newsletter, also called The Long View, which I highly recommend.