Showing posts with label book reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book reviews. Show all posts
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Check Out SuperFreakonomics
SuperFreakonomics, the highly anticipated sequel to the best-selling Freakonomics, was released on October 20, 2009. Steven Levitt, professor of economics at the University of Chicago, and author Stephen Dubner have again teamed together to apply economic reasoning to a wide range of real-world questions. As with the original Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics is largely based upon the research of Professor Levitt, who has tackled problems inside and outside the field of economics. Click HERE for more information.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Article/Book Review: Capitalist Liberation
Forbes.com
Book Review
Capitalist Liberation
Carl J. Schramm
10.19.09, 12:00 PM ET
Freedom, Inc. is a subversive book, in the best meaning of that oft-misused and misunderstood phrase. It comes in a non-threatening guise--advice to managers on how to get the most out of their employees--that partially masks its revolutionary theoretical teaching. For this book is really nothing less than a manifesto for "messy capitalism," for the unplanned, unpredictable dynamism that is the root strength of every successful company and economy in history, and that is also the one force that can pull the world out of the economic crisis of our time.
Brian Carney, a business writer and editorialist, and Isaac Getz, a business professor and psychologist, draw on deep wells of learning and dozens of interviews with leading business figures and frontline employees. Their thesis is simple: Companies that painstakingly regulate every minute of worker time and dictate worker tasks down to minute levels, suffer from low morale, lost productivity and, tragically, lost opportunities--many of which are never even imagined. Worse, strict regulation sends all the wrong signals to employees: that management does not trust them, that their jobs could easily be done by robots and that they have no ideas worth listening to.
By contrast, companies that leave their employees free to do their jobs, and that listen to what workers have to say, are more likely to thrive. So why don't more adopt this approach? The authors make an amusing comparison to dieting. How many of us know that we should not have that second cookie but eat it anyway? A deeper problem is the age-old human impulse to control. Once in control, people are loath to surrender any of their power, even if they can be shown that letting go would better serve their interests. Hence, in a few discouraging passages, Carney and Getz describe how managers of top-down companies come to study what goes on at "freedom-based" companies, only to return home and change … nothing.
The key theoretical insights of this book concern innovation--which should be the most urgent priority for business leaders and economists alike right now. Carney and Getz demolish two common myths: first, that innovation is always or mostly the product of some lone genius in a lab or garage; second, that innovation necessarily means some great new scientific or technological breakthrough.
On the contrary: The authors show, in example after example, how innovation rises as often from the factory floor as it emerges from the corner office or R&D lab. They visit a quintessentially "old economy" business--a foundry that makes brass parts for plumbing and for cars--in the most unlikely of places (France) that, by freeing its employees from oppressive regulation, allowed myriad ideas to take root and transform the company. The lesson: Every worker has the potential to be an innovator, if given the chance.
Similarly, they demonstrate how Bill Gore built a $2.5 billion company by finding new uses for a product--PTFE, or "Teflon"--that had been developed but underutilized by his previous employer, DuPont. Gore began by making insulator for electrical cables, but has since applied PTFE to such varied uses as waterproofing for sportswear ("Gore-Tex") and guitar strings (Gore today controls a third of that market).
The common element of the very different companies Carney and Getz discuss is culture. This is not to say that all of these firms have identical cultures, though there are certainly similarities. Rather, it is that all of them recognize the primacy of culture, and their CEOs see their chief task as setting and maintaining an open, inclusive and innovative culture.
The best examples are, in the authors' parlance, "why" companies and not "how" companies. That is, they place at the forefront of their thinking and energies the core reasons for their existence--Why is this company here? What is it here to do?--and let frontline workers take care of the means. The limits of the "how" approach should be readily apparent from the failures of GM and Chrysler, whose byzantine work rules strangled innovation and flexibility. But lest one conclude that the authors have an ax to grind against unions, they show through their account of the turnaround of Harley Davidson how a heavily unionized company in a heavily unionized industry became a paragon of "why" company flexibility.
This book should be a sobering read for policymakers and regulators, who tend to assume that they know more than they do, and that central control can accomplish more than diffuse, unplanned exertion. Convincing them to embrace, or at least not to fear, "messy capitalism" would be a splendid legacy for this readable, insightful volume.
Alas, one should not hope for too much. It would be enough if more "old economy" managers and budding entrepreneurs were shaken in their thinking. Business is still the source of all our wealth and most of our employment. For the world economy to climb out of the current trough, individual businesses need to thrive. This book teaches them how.
Book Review
Capitalist Liberation
Carl J. Schramm
10.19.09, 12:00 PM ET
Freedom, Inc. is a subversive book, in the best meaning of that oft-misused and misunderstood phrase. It comes in a non-threatening guise--advice to managers on how to get the most out of their employees--that partially masks its revolutionary theoretical teaching. For this book is really nothing less than a manifesto for "messy capitalism," for the unplanned, unpredictable dynamism that is the root strength of every successful company and economy in history, and that is also the one force that can pull the world out of the economic crisis of our time.
Brian Carney, a business writer and editorialist, and Isaac Getz, a business professor and psychologist, draw on deep wells of learning and dozens of interviews with leading business figures and frontline employees. Their thesis is simple: Companies that painstakingly regulate every minute of worker time and dictate worker tasks down to minute levels, suffer from low morale, lost productivity and, tragically, lost opportunities--many of which are never even imagined. Worse, strict regulation sends all the wrong signals to employees: that management does not trust them, that their jobs could easily be done by robots and that they have no ideas worth listening to.
By contrast, companies that leave their employees free to do their jobs, and that listen to what workers have to say, are more likely to thrive. So why don't more adopt this approach? The authors make an amusing comparison to dieting. How many of us know that we should not have that second cookie but eat it anyway? A deeper problem is the age-old human impulse to control. Once in control, people are loath to surrender any of their power, even if they can be shown that letting go would better serve their interests. Hence, in a few discouraging passages, Carney and Getz describe how managers of top-down companies come to study what goes on at "freedom-based" companies, only to return home and change … nothing.
The key theoretical insights of this book concern innovation--which should be the most urgent priority for business leaders and economists alike right now. Carney and Getz demolish two common myths: first, that innovation is always or mostly the product of some lone genius in a lab or garage; second, that innovation necessarily means some great new scientific or technological breakthrough.
On the contrary: The authors show, in example after example, how innovation rises as often from the factory floor as it emerges from the corner office or R&D lab. They visit a quintessentially "old economy" business--a foundry that makes brass parts for plumbing and for cars--in the most unlikely of places (France) that, by freeing its employees from oppressive regulation, allowed myriad ideas to take root and transform the company. The lesson: Every worker has the potential to be an innovator, if given the chance.
Similarly, they demonstrate how Bill Gore built a $2.5 billion company by finding new uses for a product--PTFE, or "Teflon"--that had been developed but underutilized by his previous employer, DuPont. Gore began by making insulator for electrical cables, but has since applied PTFE to such varied uses as waterproofing for sportswear ("Gore-Tex") and guitar strings (Gore today controls a third of that market).
The common element of the very different companies Carney and Getz discuss is culture. This is not to say that all of these firms have identical cultures, though there are certainly similarities. Rather, it is that all of them recognize the primacy of culture, and their CEOs see their chief task as setting and maintaining an open, inclusive and innovative culture.
The best examples are, in the authors' parlance, "why" companies and not "how" companies. That is, they place at the forefront of their thinking and energies the core reasons for their existence--Why is this company here? What is it here to do?--and let frontline workers take care of the means. The limits of the "how" approach should be readily apparent from the failures of GM and Chrysler, whose byzantine work rules strangled innovation and flexibility. But lest one conclude that the authors have an ax to grind against unions, they show through their account of the turnaround of Harley Davidson how a heavily unionized company in a heavily unionized industry became a paragon of "why" company flexibility.
This book should be a sobering read for policymakers and regulators, who tend to assume that they know more than they do, and that central control can accomplish more than diffuse, unplanned exertion. Convincing them to embrace, or at least not to fear, "messy capitalism" would be a splendid legacy for this readable, insightful volume.
Alas, one should not hope for too much. It would be enough if more "old economy" managers and budding entrepreneurs were shaken in their thinking. Business is still the source of all our wealth and most of our employment. For the world economy to climb out of the current trough, individual businesses need to thrive. This book teaches them how.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Suggested Reading: Stone's Fall
Stone's Fall
A novel by Iain Pears
An Instance of the Fingerpost, Stone's Fall weaves a story of love and high finance into the fabric of a page-turning thriller. A novel to stand alongside Atonement and The Remains of the Day.
A panoramic novel with a riveting mystery at its heart, Stone's Fall is a quest, a love story, and a tale of murder - richly satisfying and completely engaging on many levels. It centres on the career of a very wealthy financier and the mysterious circumstances of his death, cast against the backdrop of WWI and Europe's first great age of espionage, the evolution of high-stakes international finance and the beginning of the twentieth century's arms race. Stone's Fall is a major return to the thriller form that first launched Iain Pears onto bestseller lists around the world and that earned him acclaim as a mesmerizing storyteller.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Entrepreneur's Journal: Building a business that Buffett would buy
Entrepreneur's Journal: Building a business that Buffett would buy
Posted Jun 14th 2009 12:00PM by Tom Taulli
While in an airport bookstore recently, this title caught me eye: How to Build a Business Warren Buffett Would Buy: The R.C. Willey Story.
How could I resist? I bought a copy and read the whole thing on my flight (OK, the book is only 192 pages).
The author of the book, Jeff Benedict, tracks the entrepreneurial career of Bill Child, who transformed a furniture business -- R.C. Willey -- into a retailing giant (he came on board the company in the mid 1950s when his father-in-law died).
It's certainly an inspirational story. I also think it's instructive in today's times when entrepreneurs need lots of inspiration. Keep in mind that when Child took over R.C. Willey, the company was in shambles. The debt was suffocating, customers weren't paying their bills, and it looked like the only alternative was liquidation.
Well, failure wasn't an option for Child. Rather, he focused on key business fundamentals that would eventually catch the attention of Warren Buffett, who bought the company in 1995 for a cool $175 million.
So, what are some of the lessons? As should be expected, they are old-school approaches (hey, that's made Buffett a billionaire, right?).
Let's take a look:
Debt can be a bad thing: Child spent years finding ways to pay down debt. It meant lowering costs, improving customer service, and thinking hard about making new investments.
Thus, by having a conservative balance sheet, Child was able to deal with recessions and competitive threats. He was also able to capitalize on new opportunities, such as building a large distribution center (which was key to R.C. Willey's growth).
Honesty: According to Child, "Nothing sinks a reputation faster than dishonesty. It takes years to build a reputation, but it can be destroyed in one day over one misdeed."
Especially in today's world -- with the pervasiveness of the Internet -- a bad policy can be deadly. However, by being honest, there will be trust with customers, suppliers, and partners. Such relationships are critical for any sustainable business.
Details: Retail is an incredibly tough business. As Buffett once said, "In retail, you need to be good every day." Actually, I think this applies to any business.
Now, this does not mean you need to hit a home run every day. Instead, it's about having little victories. Over time, they can really add up.
As for Child, he did hire capable people. But he was intensely engaged in the day-to-day activities. There was little he did not know about the business, even as it became a billion-dollar operation.
Value proposition: What do you offer customers that your competition does not? It's a tough question, but it's something you need to think about. If there is no good answer, then you need to make some big changes.
Says Child: "Offer customers true value on quality products. A low price on a cheap piece of furniture is not value."
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook, and the founder of BizEquity, a free online business valuation tool for small businesses. You can reach him at his personal blog.
Posted Jun 14th 2009 12:00PM by Tom Taulli
While in an airport bookstore recently, this title caught me eye: How to Build a Business Warren Buffett Would Buy: The R.C. Willey Story.
How could I resist? I bought a copy and read the whole thing on my flight (OK, the book is only 192 pages).
The author of the book, Jeff Benedict, tracks the entrepreneurial career of Bill Child, who transformed a furniture business -- R.C. Willey -- into a retailing giant (he came on board the company in the mid 1950s when his father-in-law died).
It's certainly an inspirational story. I also think it's instructive in today's times when entrepreneurs need lots of inspiration. Keep in mind that when Child took over R.C. Willey, the company was in shambles. The debt was suffocating, customers weren't paying their bills, and it looked like the only alternative was liquidation.
Well, failure wasn't an option for Child. Rather, he focused on key business fundamentals that would eventually catch the attention of Warren Buffett, who bought the company in 1995 for a cool $175 million.
So, what are some of the lessons? As should be expected, they are old-school approaches (hey, that's made Buffett a billionaire, right?).
Let's take a look:
Debt can be a bad thing: Child spent years finding ways to pay down debt. It meant lowering costs, improving customer service, and thinking hard about making new investments.
Thus, by having a conservative balance sheet, Child was able to deal with recessions and competitive threats. He was also able to capitalize on new opportunities, such as building a large distribution center (which was key to R.C. Willey's growth).
Honesty: According to Child, "Nothing sinks a reputation faster than dishonesty. It takes years to build a reputation, but it can be destroyed in one day over one misdeed."
Especially in today's world -- with the pervasiveness of the Internet -- a bad policy can be deadly. However, by being honest, there will be trust with customers, suppliers, and partners. Such relationships are critical for any sustainable business.
Details: Retail is an incredibly tough business. As Buffett once said, "In retail, you need to be good every day." Actually, I think this applies to any business.
Now, this does not mean you need to hit a home run every day. Instead, it's about having little victories. Over time, they can really add up.
As for Child, he did hire capable people. But he was intensely engaged in the day-to-day activities. There was little he did not know about the business, even as it became a billion-dollar operation.
Value proposition: What do you offer customers that your competition does not? It's a tough question, but it's something you need to think about. If there is no good answer, then you need to make some big changes.
Says Child: "Offer customers true value on quality products. A low price on a cheap piece of furniture is not value."
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook, and the founder of BizEquity, a free online business valuation tool for small businesses. You can reach him at his personal blog.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Book: Selling Your Business for Dummies
Feel free to check out the book: "Selling Your Business for Dummies" by Barbara Findlay Schenck.
Foreword by John Davies, CEO of Sunbelt Business Brokers.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The Mao Case
I have recently read a mystery by Qiu Xiaalong called The Mao Case which was an entertaining and an enlightening look at modern China through the tale of Inspector Chen who recites chinese poetry and Confucious sayings while solving complex and polically sensitive murder cases. A great read for any one with a modicum of interest in modern China, its history, culture and political envirionment. This is a special treat!
Click here for more information on the book.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Son Isaac on Camel in Tangiers
