Fast Company’s Greatest Hits: Ten Years of the Most Innovative Ideas in Business
Edited by Mark N. Vamos and David Lidsky
Fast Company has been called the hottest business magazine of the past decade. It’s been referred to as the Fortune Magazine of today’s generation. In my travels I have found only two, almost opposite, reactions to Fast Company. People either love it and can’t wait for the next issue, or they’ve never heard of it. The first issue hit the newsstands in 1995, and there are many people in the business community who have never seen it.
Due to the fact that reading books and magazines is instrumental to my work, I happened to pick up the very first issue of Fast Company and have never missed one since that time. My early memories are few but vivid. I remember being astounded by the size of the publication. It appeared to contain 500 pages and weighed at least 5 lbs. as I lugged it through the book store. I’m certain both of those numbers are highly exaggerated, but they certainly represent my first impression. I was also astonished at the number of articles, the quality of the writing, and the impressive list of writers chosen by the editors. It was the first magazine that made me want to read almost every article from cover to cover. I found the majority of the stories to be very informative, challenging, and well-written. Over the years, the size of the magazine has been reduced substantially but the quality remains.
Fast Company set out to get readers excited about the new, Internet-driven world of business, aiming to create “the language of the revolution.” To some extent, it succeeded, becoming the flagship publication of the new economy. Fast Company has been the place to turn for cutting-edge business ideas and profiles of amazing companies and their leaders.
This book offers an engaging cross section of the past 10 years of management ideas, profiles, trends and rising stars by offering 32 articles presented in chronological order. What you’ll find within these covers are the magazine’s best and most enduring articles, the ones that generated the most buzz and the deepest insights.
As the respected Jim Collins writes in his foreword: “Reading these articles is like listening in on a series of fascinating conversations with some of the best minds and creative thinkers of a generation.”
This is the perfect book for Fast Company‘s hundreds of thousands of devoted fans—and for others who missed these great articles the first time around.
Some of the articles you’ll find include:
- “Everything I Thought I Knew About Leadership Is Wrong” by Fast Company‘s founding editors.
- “But Wait, You Promised…” “… And You Believed Us? Welcome to the Real World, Ma’am.” by Charles Fishman (Why is customer service so bad? And is there any hope?)
- “What Are We After? We Are Literally Trying to Stop Time” by Bill Breen (John Smith trains the world’s best athletes to reinvent how they run.)
- “The Brand Called You” by Tom Peters (Tom’s call to arms to develop your own signature or suffer the consequences may be more relevant than ever.)
- “Why We Buy” by Charles Fishman (Apple design guru Jonathan Ive reveals the ideas that let Apple—and anyone—create innovations like the iPod.)
- “In Search of Courage” by John McCain (Learn how to exercise courage like a muscle.)
- “Malcolm Gladwell: The Accidental Guru” by Danielle Sachs (Read a profile of the hottest business thinker of the age.)
- “Join the Circus” by Linda Tischler (Learn how the artists at Cirque du Soleil reinvented the dying relic we knew as the circus.)
There are 32 articles in all … each a page turner. Continue the experience by checking out the next monthly issue of Fast Company.
(This book review was originally published in 2007 as one of the Top 10 Books – Edition 15.)
About Harry K. Jones
Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.