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Herman Manson’s Top 5 Magazines for busy executives

Periodicals time hungry managers should make time for!

1. The Economist
www.economist.com

The Economist might be intimating with its small fonts and reams of information but remains an essential source of information on what is happening in the world. One critic once derisively described it as "a kind of Reader's Digest for the upper classes" in the New Republic, a leading if conservative American political weekly. Pure envy. While America's own BusinessWeek, Fortune & Forbes remain essentially America obsessed, The Economist goes truly global in the stories it covers.

2. Noseweek
www.noseweek.co.za

Features published in Noseweek are case studies in how not to do business. How not to talk to the media. How not to engage with your customers. Your HR department should be buying bulk subscriptions for staff members. As magazine circulations trend downward Noseweek's are going up - an indication that consumer activism is gaining ground also in South Africa. Finally - knowing your staffers read this magazine might be just the pause for thought you need when offered that too good to be true deal with the dodgy municipal manager.

3. The Ecologist
www.theecologist.org

The Ecologist is a UK-based environmental affairs magazine. So what's it doing on this list? Simple - they are where your market is headed.

Sustainability, an unorthodox take on social and business trends and a cynical view of brands. A marketing managers' nightmare in short - but increasingly business reality.

4. Financial Mail

The magazine for the new business elite. To know who is who and what they are up to - you have to read this magazine - thanks to editor Barney Mthombothi that gave a dull read back its buzz. It's the business magazine everybody reads. At least you'll know as much as the next guy.

5. Maverick
www.maverick.co.za

Maverick forced FM and Finweek to jack up their game and that alone would be enough reason to take a closer look. The publisher loves publishing - a rare thing in a time which bean counters run most magazines. You can still read the business stories here that other magazines would have killed rather than risk advertiser displeasure. Kudos.

Herman Manson is the Publisher of BRAND - the magazine that provides factual reporting about brand building from the inside out and which recently won the Watling Trophy as the best Business-to-Business magazine in the country. Look it up at www.brandmagazine.co.za

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