An older book, but one of my favourites. Sumantra Ghoshal and Christopher Bartlett are still a force for organizational change. Working from the perspective that organizations can also individualize – something like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – and generate a culture that supports the new design paradigm. Way ahead of their time, but still vitally current, the authors outline some of the basic perspectives needed to create a flourishing organizational culture. The case studies alone are worth the effort involving companies such as 3M, McKinsey, Canon, ABB, Komatsu, the Body Shop and more. The main message? that top managers should focus on creating an environment in which people can combine information to create new knowledge and flatten business silos to leverage capacity. A message still worth repeating many times over. Has your organization adopted it?

The Individualized Corporation: A Fundamentally New Approach to Management