Don't buy management books from airport book shops

While studying for my undergrad degree, I remember a discussion with a tutor about the merits of books by "gurus" of Management & Business thinking that would commonly be found on the shelves of that niche shop - the airport bookshop.

Basically, in the main, these guru books provide little academic understanding to Management was the message I was getting loud & clear from the tutor, and upon contemplation I thought so myself. Here were consultants (in the main) pulling together their reflected, anecdotal wisdom about the companies / problem they had worked on and had introduced new terms such as "breaking the management paradigm" to establish their thinking into a more formal, academic style with little or no direct academic reasoning or process (such as hypothesis testing, controls, peer review etc). I vowed never to spend my money being seduced by the management guru's wares from airport book shops (although I did vow and have started my own little book of learning's as I go through work, which you never know...)

As an aside, the airport bookshop is in itself an interesting & niche outlet. It caters for bored passengers stuck in the purgatory of their lives before going on holiday / coming back from holiday, or going to a meeting / coming home from a meeting. They are part library and part shop, and for the exclusive use of killing time. They allow people to browse, and are dedicated to their needs of their target audience. Titillating, sex filled novels for those embarking on holiday or providing the answer to that business problem you actually didn't know you had, but is captured in a tidy little TLA or is the new buzz word you heard some young woman in marketing talk about in the canteen que the other day.

So over 13 years later, I have ended up succumbing and buying an airport management book, to help build my confidence. I actually bought it in London's City Airport en-route to a soiree in Scotland (not business, just all out pleasure with friends!).

I now feel a little ashamed - don't know whether its the purchasing of the book or the feeling that I once thought these types of books were not for me although now I NEED them.

The book I bought was the Harvard Business Essentials: Entrepreneur's Toolkit: Tools and Techniques to Launch and Grow Your New Business and its written with a strong academic flavour, with good tender morsels of everyday case studies that help you through building the confidence to take that first step. So far (and I've read in detail the first three chapters and skimmed the whole book), it seems as if the book will be a good checklist and a great exercise in being able to answer the inevitable questions from any potential investors.