If you’re looking for the latest book to help you run your business better, you might as well call off the search. What passes for bestselling “business books” these days has nothing to do with improving performance.

Just look at the top ten on the latest New York Times hardcover business bestseller list. Superfreakonimics leads the list (it’s about economic thinking applied to everything, like economic thinking has served us so well) followed by Outliers, which I really enjoyed but which is more about the expectations we have of people than a business book. Three books focus on the financial crisis and two address personal finances. Of the remaining three, one covers Israel’s economy, another traces Google’s short history, and the last one tells you how you can use the Web to create a business.

Okay, maybe that last one has something to do with how to run a business—if you’re an entrepreneur on the Internet.

BusinessWeek recently regaled us with a story of the year’s best business books and, you guessed it, the first four chronicle the financial meltdown. None of the other books mentioned in the article comes any closer to providing business wisdom.

The business book category has long been a catch-all for anything businesses and business personalities do—more than what they should be doing to build great companies—and a reflection of Corporate America’s fascination with all things financial. It’s not the best way to learn how to run a better business.

That’s why Web sites like Baldrige.com are so valuable. Where else are you going to get information about improving performance in all areas of your management system—and improving the system itself?

So rather than buy a business book of marginal value, tell your friends and coworkers about Baldrige.com. Email our URL. Rate a story and leave a comment on an online community dedicated to improving the quality of the organizations in your life.

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