From Fast company:
So many books promise financial riches and personal professional growth, as long as we abide by the rules. “There is a formula,” Donald Trump assures the reader in his book, Think Big and Kick Ass (No. 8), “a recipe for success that the top 2% live by and that you can follow to be successful.” Naturally, Trump’s formula isn’t the same as Suze Orman’s (No. 7) or John Kotter’s (No. 14). So which road leads to success?
The answer is that, sadly, none of them do. When managers buy those books in bulk for their employees, there may be some well-intentioned hope that the books will provide a useful framework for solving problems. But the real utility of 7 Habits and 12 Disciplines and 50 Ways is that they create the illusion of progress simply by adding another layer of busyness.
Business books let us amble zombielike through our careers, freeing us from responsibility for the quality of our own decision making
… and thinking.