‘The Goal’ by Eliyahu M Goldratt and Jeff Cox, published by North River Press (still available on Amazon)

I must confess to a vested interest in the Goal as it was the inspiration for me to start writing my own business novels which led to the Bottom Line series by Gower and several commissions for tailored versions from BP, Unilever and Barclays. I do not claim however to have reached anything like the standard – or the sales – of Goldratt’s original, though I can argue that he had the benefit of an experienced novel writer to support him.

On second reading, this book passes the test of time pretty well, both in terms of style and content. It achieves the remarkable feat – which I tried to replicate – of making you want to carry on reading at the end of each chapter, not an easy task or a normal scenario for a business book.

The other impressive aspect of the book is that, contrary to my recollection from reading it years ago, it does more than cover the theory of constraints which, some might argue, is of interest to only a limited audience. There is also some good stuff on financial measures and the need to cascade down from overall corporate performance to the variables controlled by management, which the book suggests are throughput, inventory and operating costs. The important point is also made that these must be seen as integrated metrics, not as separate indicators.

The chapter where the hero achieves his breakthrough in thinking through watching his son’s Boy Scout troop march through the countryside is as simple but powerful as ever and the quality of writing is particularly high. Maybe it is not high enough to justify sales of three million copies (compared to my measly total of not much more than thirty thousand) but still a brilliant idea and the start of things to come.

It is interesting that, in the 100 best business books, there are five novels (not including mine of course) and The Goal can clearly claim to have started a trend and created a new genre. If you haven’t read the Goal and are interested to see how a novel can educate, I recommend that you go on Amazon to buy a copy.