Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins: The Paradox of Innovation (co-authored with Ralph Keyes). Free Press/Simon and Schuster, 2002. (An article based on this book won the McKinsey award for the best Harvard Business Review article published in 2002, the one "most likely to have a major influence on managers worldwide.")

Management of the Absurd: Paradoxes in Leadership; Simon and Schuster, 1996. Now published in eleven languages.

Birthrights: A Bill of Rights for Children; Macmillan, 1974

The Future of the Family (co-authored with Philip M. Hauser, Herbert Stroup, Anthony J. Wiener); Family Service Association of America, 1969.

Science and Human Affairs (editor); Science and Behavior Books, 1967

"I’m furious with Richard Farson and Ralph Keyes! They’ve written the book I always wanted to write. Simply put, nothing is more important or beneficial for individuals or organizations than screwing up. The bigger the better. The more the merrier. Especially in these madcap times. This is the best management book I’ve read since Richard’s last one; and doubtless the best I’ll read until his next one. He is the master. Move over Drucker."

—Tom Peters

"Farson and Keyes got it right. A timely and compelling book."

—Warren Bennis, University Professor, USC, and coauthor of the forthcoming Geeks and Geezers: How Era, Values and Defining Moments Shape Leaders

"This is a wonderful book. The refreshing counter-intuitive observations of Farson and Keyes add an important new dimension to the management of creativity and the encouragement of entrepreneurial initiatives."

—David McLaughlin, Chairman, American Red Cross, former President, Toro Corp., former President, Dartmouth College, former President, Aspen Institute, former Chairman, CBS.

"This book has many important things to say about encouraging innovation and risk-taking. I plan to use it in my own leadership development workshops."

—Daniel Yankelovich, Chairman, Viewpoint Learning and Public Agenda: Founder, Yankelovich, Skelley and White; Author, The Magic of Dialogue

"As a book and as a concept, Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins ought to be highly visible in everyone’s office. Those of us leading traditionally risk-averse large national non-profit organizations can benefit immensely from its wisdom. I intend to buy it for my board and management team."

—Gloria Feldt, President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.

"Richard Farson and Ralph Keyes have written a compelling book on an important subject. I especially liked the wealth of sport stories it incorporates, along with business situations and research findings. Their book’s message is as much about living as it is about leading. It illustrates a radically different way to regard ‘succeeding’ and ‘failing’—one that could deepen the moral authority of any leader."

—Michael McCaskey, Chairman, Chicago Bears Football Club

"It’s difficult to imagine a subject more compelling to most human beings than success and failure. Farson and Keyes present a refreshingly original point of view on the subject that illuminates a paradox and challenges our assumptions about how to tell one from the other."

—Milton Glaser, President, Milton Glaser, Inc.

"Truth always seems to come in small paradoxical packages. This delightfully readable package by Farson and Keyes brilliantly fuzzes the frontier between success and failure, and thus reveals the fusion of opposites as the essence of truth."

—Harlan Cleveland, President Emeritus of the World Academy of Art and Science, former US Assistant Secretary of State, former Ambassador to NATO, former President, University of Hawaii.

"Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins promises to become a classic in that genre of modern wisdom literature which includes Eric Berne’s Games People Play and Laurence J. Peter’s The Peter Principle. Its unexpected turns, liberating humor, and shrewd observations about social creativity and business innovation have the flavor of Mark Twain mixed with Zen and Taoist ribaldry. This is a wonderful book!"

—Michael Murphy, Founder, Esalen Institute: Author, Golf in the Kingdom

"As we move into the 21st century, an age of increasingly revolutionary technological advances, the concepts of success and failure must be reinterpreted and transcended if we are to be truly innovative in our ideas and discoveries. Richard Farson and Ralph Keyes provide an insightful and original examination of these concepts and of the critical need to redefine them in the post-modern world."

—Richard C. Atkinson, President, University of California

"Fabulous! I love this book. It’s like a Zen koan:  concise, wise, inspiring and instructive. It is a modern guidebook for how to embrace paradox and free yourself from fear of failure. In a time when we’re subjected to a host of irrelevant, sappy, or overly simplistic self-help books, this book provides intelligent, truly useful advice."

"As one who has led a large Association with many employees, I wish I had this book years ago. It is timely and something every reader will find helpful at the personal, interpersonal and managerial levels. This is a rare "must read" book that is also easy to read."

—Horace B. Deets, former Executive Director AARP

"From my perspective in the field of art and design, the ‘lucky mistake’ is often the uncredited key to any significant breakthrough. In their new book, Farson and Keyes introduce the business world to the designer’s most secret ally."

—John Maeda, Associate Professor of Design and Computation, MIT Media Laboratory

"Richard Farson and Ralph Keyes have hit on something big with this book. I say that as a man with a large and embarrassing pile of mistakes littering the road behind him. The fact is that some of those screw-ups hurt, some even kicked off a crisis, but all of them helped me in life. Failure is to success as a second wing is to a bird. You need it and so does he. It is unlikely either of you will fly without it. Pick up this smart, influential book and find out how those mistakes you’ve made, the ones you thought crippled you, can work to your advantage."

—Ambassador Richard Carlson, former director-general of the Voice of America, and former president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

"This is a valuable book for just about anyone in our competitive world. The authors make a clear case for understanding that failing precedes almost all great wins in our society, and that tolerance, if not love, of failing creates the most successful environment. There are many interesting anecdotes and arguments throughout this most persuasive book."

—Jane Alexander, actress, author, former Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts

"This book is a great read--interesting and enjoyable. Its title can be taken literally—whoever makes the most mistakes will, in fact, win. I think most successful managers reach the same conclusion, but late in their careers. Farson and Keyes have finally explained this successful style of management, one many of us have observed. I certainly hope their message reaches the business schools, so graduates can start off on the right foot. Where were they when I needed this book?"

—Raymond Alden, former president, Sprint

"This book is a welcome antidote to the numbing conventional wisdom about what constitutes corporate success and failure. It shows how to make the business environment both vital and humane."

—Richard Pollak, contributing editor of The Nation and author of The Creation of Dr. B: A Biography of Bruno Bettelheim

"In an age where everyone is looking to win with simple formulas it is so refreshing to have a more thoughtful and wise discussion of what winning and losing really mean, and how learning is more important than either one."

--Edgar Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management

"Fabulous! This may be the best book on leadership I’ve ever read. It annoys, irritates, goads…and eventually leads you to question things you should have questioned decades before. ‘How to’ it isn’t. Instead it is genuinely wise.

--Tom Peters

"If you are willing to look at your life, your career, and your company from an entirely fresh angle, this book may provide more surprises and insights than you will find in any ten other management tomes that appear this year"

--Fortune

"Lively…compelling…perfectly suited for a world bursting with absurdity and paradox."

--Chicago Tribune

"A succinct and charming book on the nuances of leadership. Stands out from the usual homilies about how to be a manager—a work of humanity and wisdom."

--Robert Kuttner, Economics Columnist, Business Week

Every once in a while, someone writes a management book that throws all current thought on the subject out the window. Such is the case with Management of the Absurd. Well-written and easy to absorb."