THE AGENDA: WHAT EVERY BUSINESS MUST DO TO DOMINATE THE DECADE
By Dr. Michael Hammer; Crown Business, $27.50

Things have changed in the eight years since Dr. Michael Hammer launched the reengineering movement with Reengineering the Corporation, co-authored with James Champy. They’ve changed so much, in fact, that Hammer is now willing to admit he was wrong. Now he says slow-and-steady refinements to fundamental business processes, such as product development and filling orders, are more important to a business’s prosperity than revolutionary reengineering. Hammer puts forth nine new principles for businesses in the postmillennial decade.

THE WAR FOR TALENT
By Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones, and Beth Axelrod; Harvard Business School Press, $27.50

Finding and keeping top people isn’t about better evaluation, recruitment, and compensation, say three McKinsey & Co. consultants. It’s about believing people are key, offering employees excellent value propositions, and developing them like you mean it.