The best business books tend to be about music and sports

livemint.com:

Here is a question I once asked myself while browsing in a modest-sized bookstore, which is one of my favourite things to do: If I had to read all the books in the store section by section, which one would I enjoy the most—and which the least? For me, the second question is easier: I am not a fan of self-help books and business/management books, two genres that have all too much in common. Granted, you can find some good advice in these books. But too often the exhortations are cliched or lacking in context.

It is only a matter of time, I predict, before the most popular author in these genres will be ChatGPT. I thus have a modest proposal for anyone interested in business books: Read books about specific businesses or industries that you already know a lot about. That way, you will have enough contextual knowledge for the book to be meaningful.

Of course, many people don’t work at a company or industry big or famous enough that there are books about it, so I have a corollary proposition: You will learn the most about management by reading books about sports and musical groups. Most people have favourite musical artists, athletes or sports teams. Often they have been following these people and institutions for years.

That gives them enough context to make sense of the management stories—how the teams were put together, how leaders emerged, how people dealt with setbacks and failures, and so on. All these are business-relevant topics. I have learnt a great deal about management and group dynamics, for example, by reading books about the Beatles—especially ones that cover their origins, breakup, or both.