A bibliography of modern people management

I am concerned about the wealth of scientific knowledge that is underused or misused in our modern management theories. Freudian or blank slate thinking has had an eerily religious effect on current theories to the point that they are seriously in need of modernization. Scientists and writers from Dawkins to Wilson have been leaping forward on the shoulders of the results of the Genome project but our outdated people management theories remain unmoved as if cast in stone. It is time to dust off the sheets and submit these theories to the rigors of science.

I have reviewed the following writers, thinkers and scientists for their take on the world and will try to incorporate their ideas into a fresher look at people management.


Richard Dawkins - a brilliant understanding and explanation of evolution as well as being an unwilling leader in the anti- intelligent design camp.
Robin Dunbar - Great discourse on language, brain chemistry and social groups - helps to explain how and why we are social animals.
Matt Ridley - from the Red Queen, through the Genome to Nature Via Nurture he has done more to make the recent explosion of genetic knowledge understandable to all.
E O Wilson - one of the most influencial scientists for a view on where we come from and why we are here. Beautiful analogies to assist the huge time scales involved.
Simon Baron Cohen - for his brave treatise on the essential differences between the sexes which seem to have been confirmed by an independent BBC documentary.
Lord Robert Winston - for his understanding and treatment of our instincts and religion.
Jennifer Ackerman - for her beautiful and personal explanation of the role of heredity - something that we will all have to come to terms with post-Genome.
Bryan Sykes - for the idea of the tribes and for helping us to find a scientific way to track our ancestors.
Thomas Friedman - for suggesting that the world is flat when in fact is is just flatter. He does add value in his book but a little too late - he must have been sleeping.
Michael Cook - for giving us the best short history of mankind and helping us to understand our roots.
Steve Rose - for his 21st Century brain and how we will all have to know a bit more about this amazing organ. Perhaps soon it will be a bigger part of our children's education.
John Haldane - for his work on religion - we will have to find a compromise between Science, religion and Instinct if we are to understand and improve behavior
Daniel Goleman - associated with Emotional intelligence - for observing but not really seeing - perhaps he lacks the tools of the modern scientist - a basic understanding of genetics. He is like the weathermen before the arrival of the satellite.
Jim Collins - for his work on great companies - again lacking the tools to really add value.
Mark Brown - for this psychological management thinking that does seem close to the mark despite not having the tools at the time - I wonder what he is doing now?
Tim Spector for his very frank account of genetic influences in our lives through interesting and relevant case studies
And now I read in another blog about Steven Pinker's dangerous idea - 'one that will spread in the next decade - is that different groups of people genetically differ in their talents and temperaments. ' we currently discriminate against people in hiring, firing etc through the use of psychometric tests and the like which are based on the idea of nurtured development. How much fairer would the discrimination be if based on nature and nurture. I suppose if we are honest about the outsourcing success of India and Russia we would see that the world has discovered a group of people who are ' genetically different in talents and temperament (if cost were the only factor then there are cheaper countries available)
We don't know how far back to go in the genetic voyage - to the Romans and Celts, to the 7 Daughters of Eve in Europe or all the way back to savannah man in Africa

I have presented a paper in Edinburgh (PMI Global conference) on the 'Brave New World' that I believe awaits us post-Genome and will present another one in Madrid in March on a Framework to incorporate this information into practice on projects.