Ask HN: Fictional business books like The Goal

9 points by jimnotgym a day ago

I feel like The Goal and The Phoenix Project were seminal books, partly because their fictional style allowed people to see the ideas in applied form. Are there any other fictional business books we should be reading

keiferski 21 hours ago

It's designed more for kids, but I found it useful for understanding basic accounting concepts: The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting From the Lemonade Stand.

I also found two of the novels in Clavell's Asian Saga to be quite business-focused: Tai-Pan and Noble House. Not so much for the nuts-and-bolts of business, but just a large business organization being founded and growing over the course of multiple centuries.

paulcole 8 hours ago

Get a Grip by Gino Wickman introduces EOS through a narrative story.

romanhn a day ago

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni is another classic.

  • varlock a day ago

    Another one by the same author, which I heartily recommend, is "The Ideal Team Player". Read it many years ago, and I still use it as a basic framework when I interview candidates (in a nutshell, you want someone humble, hungry, and smart).

    I personally wouldn't recommend "Death by Meeting", though. Maybe it's just because it didn't resonate much with me, so YMMV.