10 Best Books On Innovation To Get You Through The Recession.

Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on January 06 (BUSINESS WEEK)

We are at a tipping point in the economy where recession is probable so CEOs and top managers need to quickly shift their strategies for 2008. The CEOs who will be tossed out by their boards in a year or two will be the ones who simply focus on cutting costs over the next twelve months, allowing competitors to smack their companies hard with new products and services as the economy begins to grow strongly again in 09. Smart managers will focus on innovation during the tough months ahead and come out swinging by the end of the year. This is what Apple tends to do so look to Apple—not for its products—but for its strategy.

So here are 10 books on innovation that can guide you. It’s not an

exclusive list and I'll probably add a couple when people post comments to remind me of what I've left off.

Here goes for the 10 top books on innovation for 08:

1- The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking by Roger L. Martin.

2- Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative Destruction by Thomas K. McCraw.

3- Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync? Seth Godin.

4- The Design of Future Things by Don Norman.

5-Innovation Nation by John Kao.

6- Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams.

7-The Future of Management by Gary Hammel.

8- Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

9- The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda.

10- Everyday Engineering: What Engineers See, by Andrew Burroughs.

Three new books coming out in 08 you need to read. Two are by Clay Christensen-- Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns; and Diagnosing the Disease, on the disruptive innovations taking place in both the education and healthcare industry. The other is by Roger Martin--Design Thinking, The Next Competitive Advantage.

Finally, if you are a manager contemplating laying people in the months ahead, or face layoffs yourself, please take a look at Robert Suttons' The No Ass.... Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't.