Book Review Archive

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Monday, 16 March 2009 - Book Review: Shopping For Jesus

Janes, Dominic. Ed. Shopping for Jesus : faith in marketing in the USA. New Academia Publishing, 2008.

There is a thin line between attraction and revulsion. It is like cleaning the refrigerator and finding food of unknown vintage. Despite knowing it is spoiled, there is a compelling urge to open the container and take a sniff before throwing it in the trash.

When I saw this book on the display shelves in the marketing area of the Ford Library, I noticed the crucified Jesus on the cover, his outstretched hands nailed to the cross, clutching shopping bags filled with consumer goods. I was repulsed by the cover, yet I could not resist the urge to open it up and sniff the contents.

What I found surprised me. Shopping for Jesus is a collection of thoughtful essays about the boundary between religion and business. It explores the connections between belief, its presentation and the processes by which it is sold and consumed. Each chapter presents an independent case study. The chapter about branding discusses the development of the United Church of Christ's "God is still speaking" campaign, which begins with the idea of Jesus as a brand. The following chapter explores the use of sex to sell religion. My favorite essay was about conservative Christians' emotional responses to Mel Gibson's film, The Passion.

Contributors to the volume are university faculty members in history, communication, literature and theology, who have written a serious book about the presentation and consumption of religion in contemporary society.

Wednesday, 4 March 2009 - Book Review: The Management Gurus

Lauer, Chris. The management gurus : lessons from the best management books of all time. Portfolio, 2008.

The senior editor of Soundview Executive Book Summaries compiled 10 to 20 page summaries from 15 management books, half of which were best-sellers in their time. Every valuable book does not become a best seller, yet this reviewer would argue that the books selected for this volume are not the best management books of all time. For example, Topgrading, a book about filling every position in an organization with an A-Player, is not A-list material. And it is odd that the best management books of all time would be largely written since 2005.

The author-gurus included in this volume are well respected writers, educators, executive coaches and consultants. It is interesting to see what authors were selected as "management gurus" and even more interesting to see what authors were not. Charles Handy, Warren Bennis and Don Tapscott are included. Peter Drucker, Michael Porter, Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Tom Peters are not. Surely any serious book on management thinking would include the latter set.

The book summaries included in this volume:

Dealing with Darwin : how great companies innovate at every phase of their evolution by Geoffrey A. Moore.
Ford Library | HD58.8 .M633 2005
The Next Global Stage : challenges and opportunities in our borderless world by Kenichi Ohmae.
Ford Library | HF1418.5 .O463 2005
True North: discover your authentic leadership by Bill George.
Ford Library | HD57.7 G4582 2007
Small Giants: companies that choose to be great instead of big by Bo Burlingham.
Ford Library | HD62.7 .B835 2005
What Got You Here Won't Get You There: how successful people become even more successful by Marchall Goldsmith
Ford Library | HF5386 .G65 2007
-- also available as an audiobook ---

Tuesday, 3 February 2009 - Book Reviews: Sway and Nudge

Brafman, Ori and Rom Brafman. Sway: the irresistible pull of irrational behavior. Doubleday, 2008.

Thaler, Richard H. and Cass R. Sunstein. Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth and happiness. Yale, 2008.

Most people consider themselves to be rational. They evaluate their options and make decisions rationally, or at least they think so. Recently, a number of books have been published that show that people routinely make bad decisions because they are not paying attention; because they are influenced by their emotions and expectations; because they are pressured by social norms; or because they have limited self control.

The most popular and well-regarded of these books is the best-selling Predictably Irrational by Fuqua faculty member Dan Ariely. Predictably Irrational is a fantastic book that has been reviewed extensively, including reviews in the New York Times and on NPR.

Predictably Irrational is the first go-to source in learning why and how people behave as they do. But two other new books also merit mention:

Brothers Ori and Rom Brafman have written an entertaining and informative look into the hidden influences that sometimes derails even the most principled decision-maker. Sway: the irresistible pull of irrational behavior introduces psychological concepts like loss aversion, diagnosis bias and the chameleon effect, mixing them with abundant examples from real life.

Sway is a slim book and a quick read, written in a conversational tone and easy humor. Even the endorsements page on the Amazon.com contains this disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER: If you decide to buy this book because of these endorsements, you just got swayed. One of the psychological forces you’ll read about in Sway is our tendency to place a higher value on opinions from people in positions of prominence, power, or authority.

In Nudge: improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, both from the University of Chicago, describe the biases that lead decision makers to make mistakes that ultimately make people poorer or less healthy.

When making a choice, people are influenced by small changes in context or the environment. Given the right context, individuals can be nudged in the direction of a healthy or more productive choice. Sometimes it is as simple as informing people of what other people are doing, as in tax compliance. Or it can be effective to let people know what they themselves are doing, as in energy use.

An example of a nudge is daylight savings time. To get the nation to wake up an hour earlier, all the clocks are set forward one hour each spring. Everyone who normally wakes up at 7:00 am begins waking up at 6:00 am.

Thaler and Sunstein want to nudge people in the direction of making better choices for society. This would include decisions that improve health, personal savings, the environment, or even organ donations. They show how "choice architects" can design contexts that make it easier for people to make the best choices for themselves, without restricting the number of options available.

Wednesday, 11 February 2009 - Book Reviews: Productivity Rules

Allen, David. Making it all work: winning at the game of work and business of life. Viking, 2008.

Allen, David. Getting things done: the art of stress-free productivity. Penguin, 2001.

Allen, David. Ready for anything: 52 productivity principles for getting things done. Penguin, 2003.

In conversation with 1st year Ethan Dameron, I noted the time pressures that I see in MBA students -- Too much to learn and too much to do in a six-week term. Ethan recommended books by author David Allen, management consultant and executive coach. The Ford Library purchased Allen's new book Making it all Work, as well as his two earlier bestsellers, Getting Things Done and Ready for Anything.

Author Allen believes that people experience stress when they are over committed. The key to a stress-free life is to manage the to-do list and Allan has developed a simple and effective method for dealing with heavy workloads. As people begin to close the loops on commitments, they can relax and focus on what needs to done with increased productive energy. When their minds are clear and their thoughts are organized, people can accomplish more than they ever thought possible.

Most of the book Getting Things Done is prescriptive. Allen has a specific method and he shows the reader how to implement it. Allen's new book Making it all work contains much of the content from the original book, Getting Things Done, with additional motivational material. In Ready for Anything, Allen discusses his principles in a series of 2- or 3-page chapters.

Getting Things Done and Making it all Work are also available in audiobook format from the Ford Library.

Monday, 16 February 2009 - Book Review: Superclass, the Global Power Elite

Rothkopf, David. Superclass : the global power elite and the world they are making. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008.

The superclass is comprised of the 6000 most influential people worldwide. Included in the group are top government leaders, military generals, key executives and shareholders from giant corporations, Arab sheikhs, influential artists and scientists, and leaders of the world's religions. Membership in the superclass is transitory and lasts only as long as someone has the power to influence millions of people internationally. Overrepresented are people who trace their cultural roots to Europe, who attended an elite university in the US, and who are men who work in business and finance. People from Africa and women are seriously underrepresented.

The superclass redirects massive assets among markets; creates, dislocates or eliminates jobs around the globe; determines the viability of governments; and plays a vital role in shaping the global era. As a group the superclass helps define the tenor of our times and decides what our priorities are. The superclass possesses a disproportionate amount of power in the world.

Author Rothkopf discusses relationships among these global leaders and their implications. He addresses the nature of inequality of wealth and power and questions whether national borders are still relevant. He discusses trends in global power and makes some predictions about the future.

Wednesday, 18 February 2009 - Book Review: Buying In

Walker, Rob. Buying in : the secret dialogue between what we buy and who we are. Random House, 2008.

The mass market is dead, according to author Rob Walker. So is the couch potato consumer, who used to care what four out of five dentists recommended. Yet the new consumer purchases more branded products than ever before. In today's environment where there is a paralyzing abundance of options available to the consumer, what makes people buy what they do?

The first part of the book is about branding, how marketers attach an idea to a product. Consumers will often participate in creating this meaning even though they don't fully understand it themselves. Also important to consumer choice is the eternal tension between people wanting to be individuals, unique and special, and desiring to be part of something larger than themselves. Plus, consumer choice is about self expression. Product choice is powered by emotion, often unconscious to the consumer.

Walker also discusses new forms of marketing, such as hiring regular Americans to talk up products with friends and acquaintances, or to drop suggestions for purchases at stores. He also includes dozens of stories about branded products, including Timberland boots, PBR beer, the iPod and Red Bull. Interestingly, the section on Red Bull cites a study by Dan Ariely, Baba Shiv and Ziv Carmon, all of whom are or were at Fuqua at one time.

Monday, 23 February 2009 - Book Review: While America Aged ...

Lowenstein, Roger. While America aged : how pension debts ruined General Motors, stopped the NYC subways, bankrupted San Diego, and loom as the next financial crisis. Penguin Press, 2008.

My sister is a salaried engineer for a company that was spun off from General Motors. She emailed recently:

Yesterday a man in sales with 25 years, and a reputation of being a very hard worker, was "let go." The rumor is there will be 52 more salaried people let go between now and the end of next week. Interestingly, we found out that they just hired 11 salaried people. People hired after 1995 do not get the same retirement benefits as those of us hired before 1995. They are firing people who have been here a long time and replacing them with hirees with fewer retirement benefits."

Using three case studies, this new book in the Ford Library discusses the pension crisis that is looming over American industry. Author Roger Lowenstein begins in Detroit in the 1940's, where the UAW bargained for pensions in labor contracts. General Motors complied because promises for future benefits did not incur costs in the present. Pension and health care costs for retirees would not come due until many years in the future. Over time, the union's success brought the company to the brink of bankruptcy as the number of retirees grew, the benefits grew and those promises came due.

Lowenstein also discusses two other cases, transport workers in New York City, whose union led a strike in 2005 that brought the city to a standstill, and the pension crisis in San Diego, sparked by city officials who doled out benefits to city workers but declined to impose higher taxes. The final chapter in the book suggests changes in the ways corporations, unions and the government manage benefits, paying for them in the present, instead of charging them to a future generation.