The Goal

Written as a novel, the management story by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox follows Alex Rogo, a plant manager whose failing factory will be shut down by corporate headquarters unless he turns it around in three months. His marriage is in trouble too. A chance meeting with Jonah, a physicist and his former professor, leads to a series of phone calls and short meetings in which Jonah teaches by asking questions in the Socratic manner rather than handing over answers. Through the story, the authors lay out the theory of constraints and the role bottlenecks play in a manufacturing process. Time magazine later included it in a list of the 25 business management books with the most influence.

It appears on a list of 12 books Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos thinks everyone should read. Chris Goward, founder of WiderFunnel, listed it among books that had a big impact on him or showed him a new way of thinking.