Book Review Archive: March 2009

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.

Tuesday, 13 January 2009 - Book Review: The White Tiger

The white tiger: a novel by Aravind Adiga. Free Press, 2008.

Aravind Adiga's first novel was requested by several students, who said it was a story about an entrepreneur in India. It turns out that White Tiger is not about business. It is a ruthless portrait of contemporary India.

The main character begins life in poverty and deprivation in a village in northern India. He dreams of leaving his town and finds a job as a driver/servant for wealthy landowners who move to Delhi. Eventually, he commits a brutal murder to free himself from bondage and to obtain the capital to begin a business.

Behind the story of the Indian economic miracle, with glass office towers, luxury apartments and gigantic malls, is another story of those whom the economic miracle is leaving behind. This is the story of social injustice for the poor and uneducated, and about corruption and cruelty in all levels of society.

Some people find this book to be darkly humorous -- this reviewer did not. Nevertheless, the novel is a fascinating read. White Tiger won the 2008 Man Booker prize.

Thursday, 15 January 2009 - Book Reviews: Negotiating Globally

How to negotiate anything with anyone anywhere around the world by Frank L. Acuff, Amacom, 3rd ed., 2008.

After a brief discussion of the basics of negotiation, this book discusses how to greet, communicate and negotiate with people in 62 countries worldwide. This book also includes a brief summary of the business climate in 7 regions of the world.

Global negotiation : the new rules by William Hernandez Requejo and John L. Graham, Palgrave, 2008.

In this practical book, Requejo and Graham lay the groundwork for sustainable business relationships worldwide. The first part of this book discusses the multiple ways cultural differences in values and communication styles can cause misunderstandings between otherwise positively disposed business partners. The authors then discuss their model of global negotiation that includes intelligence gathering, communication and creativity. The last part of the book focuses on Indian, Chinese and Mexican negotiation styles.

Monday, 8 December 2008 - Book Review: The 4 - Hour Workweek

The 4-hour workweek : escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich by Timothy Ferriss. Crown Publishers, 2008.

This book promotes an alternative way to look at life and work. Ferris begins by describing the New Rich as people who live the millionaire lifestyle of complete freedom but have not yet earned the million dollars. The New Rich use their time effectively and work relatively few hours in positions that correspond to their strengths. Having read The World is Flat, the New Rich telecommute from home or remote locations, hiring third world employees by the hour to do boring time consuming tasks. In the end, the New Rich are able to live their entire lives doing what they want to do as opposed to what they are obligated to do.

This book offers some good ideas, such as managing one's time. Ferris also questions whether people find meaning in buying things or preparing to buy things. He suggests that people take mini-retirements throughout their lives instead of working at meaningless jobs for 30 years, saving retirement to the end. The emphasis is still on making "a ton of money," but to Ferris, this ton of money is for specific reasons.

Ferris regularly goes overboard with boasting and exaggerating, such that "snake oil salesman" comes to mind. Yet if you don't take it too seriously, this inspirational book is a fun read.

Friday, 12 December 2008 - Book Review: Outliers

Outliers : the story of success by Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown and Co., 2008.

Best selling author of The Tipping Point and Blink, Malcolm Gladwell studied the lives of people whose achievements go far beyond normal expectations to discover what makes people successful. He concludes that success arises out of an accumulation of advantages, such as when and where you are born, or what your parents did for a living. People like Bill Gates or John Lennon were enormously successful, not due to extraordinary talent but because of their extraordinary opportunities. But while they were incredibly lucky, but they also had the strength and intelligence to make the most of their opportunities.

In the second part of the book, Gladwell discusses cultural traditions and attitudes that are inherited from forebears. He studied cultural traits such as persistence and expression of respect to determine how much they matter to an individual's professional success. Not surprisingly, they matter a lot.

Gladwell concludes that "success is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky, but all critical to making them who they are." Like Gladwell's other books, Outliers is an interesting and easy read, sure to be a blockbuster best seller.

Wednesday, 15 October 2008 - Book Review: Followership

Followership : how followers are creating change and changing leaders by Barbara Kellerman. Harvard Business School Press, 2008.

As a follow-up to the book Bad Leadership, author Barbara Kellerman writes about the complex relationship between those who have power, authority and influence and those who do not. Most organizations have systems and structures in which superiors control their subordinates. Yet sometimes the line that separates leaders from followers is blurred. In addition, leaders may find themselves following and followers end up with more power and influence than their leaders. And most managers are both superior and subordinate at the same time.

The most interesting part of the book is the discussion about different followership styles in Part II. Author Kellerman outlines five types of followers: Isolates, Bystanders, Participants, Activists and Diehards. These followers range from those who are completely withdrawn to those who are fully engaged, either in support of or in opposition to their leaders.

This book contains vivid examples of leadership issues. Most interesting are the chapters about Merck's marketing of its miracle drug, Vioxx; and about Cardinal Law and the Voice of the Faithful in Boston.

Tuesday, 21 October 2008 - Book Review: When Markets Collide

When markets collide : investment strategies for the age of global economic change by Mohamed A. El-Erian. McGraw-Hill, 2008.

This book is about the fundamental changes that are occurring in global economic and financial systems. Existing financial infrastructures and systems are under pressure. Economic power is shifting from mature to emerging financial markets. Global growth is now influenced by former debtor nations that are building unforeseen wealth and facing unusual challenges. For investors, the transformation in the global economy has significant consequences.

Author El-Erian, CIO of PIMCO and former CEO of Harvard Management Company presents a diagnosis of the present financial turmoil and offers explicit investment advice to readers on how to exploit new opportunities and minimize exposure to changing patterns of risk.

El-Erian sees four trends: 1) Realignment in global growth 2) Return of inflation 3) Structured finance has diminished the barriers to entry 4) The transfer of wealth. He recommends that firms retool risk management and pay more attention to the middle and back-office activities that are less glamorous. He recommends that investors invest more internationally and less in the US.

This lucid explanation of the credit crisis won the 2008 Financial Times and the Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year awards.

Monday, 27 October 2008 - Book Review: Hot, Flat, and Crowded

Hot, flat, and crowded : why we need a green revolution-- and how it can renew America by Thomas L. Friedman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008.

Following his blockbuster book on globalization, The World is Flat, Thomas Friedman has written another destined for a multi-year stay on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Hot, Flat, and Crowded focuses on three global trends that will soon undermine the quality of life of earth: Global warming, the rise of the middle class world-wide and rapid population growth. As billions more people adopt middle class consumption patterns, the effect on climate, natural resources and biodiversity will be devastating. In addition, the world will experience tighter energy supplies, a division between electricity haves and have-nots, and a transfer of wealth to petro-powers, which are largely anti-democratic.

After focusing on the problems of global warming, population growth, and consumerism in the first half of the book, Friedman outlines his solution in the second. He proposes "Code Green" to transform our our current Dirty Fuels System to a clean-powered, energy-efficient, conservation-based system. Friedman calls for a revolution, the largest innovation project in American history.

Overall, this is an optimistic book. Friedman says that thirty years ago, America could be counted on to lead the world in response to the important challenges of the day, but recently the US lost its way. The green revolution is an opportunity to become that city on the hill once again, providing leadership on healing the earth.

Friday, 12 September 2008 - Book Review: Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations... One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Penguin (2007).

After author Greg Mortenson failed in his attempt to climb to the summit of K2, the world's second tallest mountain, he began his descent. He became lost, disoriented and dangerously ill but stumbled upon an impoverished Pakistani village named Korphe, where he stayed for seven weeks among the Balti people who looked after him. As he left, he promised to return and build a school for them. This is the story of his work to fulfill that promise, and of his success in building 50 other schools for girls in Pakistan's and Afghanistan's poorest communities.

In this personal story about globalism, Mortenson portrays the lives of village elders, mujahideen and Taliban officials in this remote area of the world. He argues that the US must fight Islamic extremism in the region by collaborating to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, particularly for girls. It is also a story about a meaningful life created by one committed person, a mountain climber who became a humanitarian.

Also available in audiobook format at Ford Library.

Thursday, 25 September 2008 - Book Review: The Big Squeeze

The big squeeze : tough times for the American worker by Steven Greenhouse. Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.

For MBA students, the news over the past decade has been good. Employment opportunities have increased. Executive salaries have risen sharply. Corporate profits have soared. But for millions of workers, the news has been bad. For many, wages have stagnated. Heath and pension benefits have been cut back. And job security has disappeared.

While the American economy, corporate profits and worker productivity grew robustly, the median income for nonelderly households remained flat. Worker productivity climbed 60% but the hourly wage increased only 1% after inflation. In the economic expansion, the size of the pie increased, but the worker did not get a bigger piece.

The Big Squeeze explains what has been happening in the workplace. Weaving personal stories of workers with economic facts and data, author Greenhouse, labor correspondent for the New York Times, creates a disturbing picture of the economic environment for workers.

Some of the stories of worker abuse are outrageous. Employees at Taco Bell, Wal-Mart and Family Dollar were forced to work unpaid hours off the clock each week. Circuit City fired 3900 senior sales people because their wages and commissions were considered too high. At RadioShack's headquarters, 400 workers were fired in one day by email.

Greenhouse offers suggestions for government, business and labor to relieve the squeeze on workers.

Tuesday, 10 June 2008 - Book Review: Earth: The Sequel

Krupp, Fred and Miriam Horn. Earth: The Sequel, the race to reinvent energy and stop global warming. Norton, 2008.

In the 1980's, author Fred Krupp of the Environmental Defense Fund proposed the world's first cap and trade system to reduce the levels of acid rain. The cap and trade system placed a limit on sulfur dioxide, divided the total among polluters and allowed them to trade on the market. Companies learned they could make money by not emitting pollutants. Innovation was inspired throughout the market and within five years, emissions were 30% lower than the cap required by law. Krupp and Horn's new book, Earth: the sequel, makes the case that the same market forces can be brought to bear on the problem of global warming.

After making the case for a new cap and trade system, the authors discuss new and emerging energy technologies, including solar, biofuel and geothermal technologies. Most of the book is about the challenges and successes of the companies and people who make up the new clean energy industry -- inventors and investors; visionaries and venture capitalists; entrepreneurs and their start-ups. This upbeat book is hopeful about the opportunities to reduce greenhouse emissions and resolve our environmental problems.

Wednesday, 11 June 2008 - Book Review: The Trillion Dollar Meltdown

Morris, Charles R. The trillion dollar meltdown : easy money, high rollers, and the great credit crash. Public Affairs, 2008.

Almost daily the Wall Street Journal reports on the deepening credit crisis. Today, the front page includes a depressing story about bad loans, excessive risk taking and the need for large capital infusions. A year ago, consumer spending was strong, the market for investment grade credit was growing and the S&P 500 jumped 9% in three months. What happened?

According to financial writer, investment banker and lawyer Charles P. Morris, we are experiencing the result of a reckless financial environment -- twenty five years of free and unregulated financial markets. In the Trillion Dollar Meltdown, Morris provides a brief history of financial markets beginning with the Reagan era. He also discusses financial instruments, why they were developed and how they now contribute to the problem of leverage in our economy -- instruments such as CMOs, CSOs and SIVs.

After discussing the problem of growing inequality in America in this economic environment, Morris calls for oversight over the financial industry to restore transparency and integrity to American financial markets.

Two other new books on the credit crisis in the Ford Library are:

Bad Money : reckless finance, failed politics, and the global crisis of American capitalism by Kevin P. Phillips.

The New Paradigm for Financial Markets : the credit crisis of 2008 and what it means by George Soros.

Friday, 2 May 2008 - Book Review: All the money in the world

Peter W. Bernstein and Annalyn Swan, Editors. All the Money in the World: How the Forbes 400 make -- and spend -- their fortunes. Knopf, 2007.

Prominent editors and business writers provide an entertaining view into the lives of the wealthiest Americans of the past quarter century. After discussing the personal qualities necessary to become a multimillionnaire, the book describes how fortunes are made, how the superrich spend their money, and how heirs enhance or squander their fortunes.

Many individual stories are included, such as profiles of Oprah Winfrey and Warren Buffett, as well as the philanthropy of Ted Turner and Bill Gates. Lavish descriptions of how the rich live and lurid details about family feuds within the dynasties make for entertaining reading.

Wednesday, 7 May 2008 - Book Review: Forces for Good

Crutchfield, Leslie R. and Heather McLeod Grant. Forces for good : the six practices of high-impact nonprofits. Jossey-Bass, 2008.

Each day, my mother's mailbox contains a dozen or so letters from nonprofits, soliciting financial support. She selects one or two to support and for the rest, she writes the date on the envelopes and files them chronologically in a box. In her basement, boxes of these letters date back to the 1970's. She intends to support those organizations eventually -- once she determines those that do the greatest good. But how to know which nonprofits have the greatest impact?

Forces for Good provides a rigorous and analytical look into extraordinary nonprofits and how they create large-scale social change. The authors surveyed thousands of nonprofit CEO's and conducted more than 75 interviews to identify six practices that are essential for achieving significant results. For any non-profit, the secret to success is to mobilize outside groups, such as government and business, to be a force for good. Greatness has more to do with how nonprofits work outside the boundaries of their organizations than how they manage their own internal operations.

The book examines 12 extraordinary nonprofits to help answer the question: What makes great nonprofits great. Among the 12 extraordinary nonprofits are well-known organizations, such as Habitat for Humanity and Teach for America, as well as one non-profit located in Durham, Self-Help, a housing and economic development organization.

Research for Forces for Good was sponsored by the Fuqua School's Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship.

Tuesday, 13 May 2008 - Just Java. No Jive

Four Cups of Starbucks

Fuqua's Start-up Cafe proudly serves Starbucks coffee. MBA's crowd the counter, getting their fixes of caffeine at $4 a pop. Outside of Fuqua, Starbucks seem to be everywhere. Stores can be found around the globe and in the US, they are located surprisingly close to other stores. Two of the top Starbucks are within fifteen yards of each other. What it is about the product and the company that is irresistible to more than forty million customers?

Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale of Caffeine, Commerce and Culture explores the rise of the Starbucks Corporation and the caffeine-crazy culture that fueled it success. This is a story of how a small Seattle coffeehouse took a standard commodity, shaped it into a luxury product and made it synonymous with a cultural experience. The book includes anecdotes about familiar products and stores, and covers free trade and global issues related to coffee production.

It's not about the Coffee: Leadership experiences from a life at Starbucks. The founding director of Starbucks International describes the strategies he used to build Starbucks into the success it is today. Behar helped establish the Starbucks culture, which stresses people over profits. He shares his ideas and skills that transported the company from a regional outlet to global brand. The voice of experience and in-house examples from a popular company provide a foundation for a discussion of leadership skills.

The Starbucks Experience: 5 principles for turning ordinary into extraordinary. Consultant Joseph Michelli studied the Starbucks Corporation and extracted five principles underlying the company's success:

Make it your own
Everything matters
Surprise and delight
Embrace resistance
Leave your mark

He also describes how to reach out to consumers, communities and workers, how to seize growth opportunities in every market, and how to custom-design a fully satisfying experience.

Grande Expectations: A Year in the Life of Starbucks' Stock is a book about the stock market and corporate finance. Using Starbucks as a real life case, the author, a financial journalist, demystifies Wall Street by illustrating how investor expectations and company performance create investment opportunities. Fuqua faculty member Rebecca Zarutskie wrote an extensive review of this book for the Duke Magazine.

Tuesday, 20 May 2008 - Book Review: Karma Queens, Geek Gods, & Innerpreneurs

Rentel, Ron. Karma queens, geek gods, & innerpreneurs : meet the 9 consumer types shaping today'€™s marketplace. Twelve, 2007.

This guide to nine influential consumer groups is an entertaining analysis of what people are buying, what activities they enjoy and what attitudes they express. Using a system the author calls C-Types, consumers are grouped into portraits derived from key attitudes and behaviors, their social status, and demographic factors.

This reviewer's personal favorite is named "Middlemen" and is primarily composed of a segment of the 21 to 35-year-old male demographic. The average MiddleMan is an unmarried college graduate, who refuses to grow up. The MiddleMan often makes a good salary, but lives with his parents, and if not them, he lives communally with other young people, sharing expenses. He has ample disposable income to spend on gaming at home. A MiddleMan owns an Xbox, Playstation, and/or Nintendo Wii. He participates in fantasy sports leagues. He still buys his clothes at American Eagle, just as he did in high school. He never cooks at home but primarily eats fast food, often late at night.

For marketers, this all adds up to products that appeal to immediate gratification, expensive products with cheap thrills and products with a strong brand identification. Eight other portraits in the book are similarly entertaining.

Friday, 23 May 2008 - Book Review: Microtrends

Penn, Mark J. Microtrends : the small forces behind tomorrow’s big changes. Twelve, 2007. Political adviser Mark Penn identifies more than 70 trends in work, politics, lifestyles and relationships that are changing the way we live. Some of the trends are obvious. Older Americans are continuing to work after retirement age. Middle income people are buying second homes and having elective surgery in greater numbers. Americans are pampering their pets.

The fun begins when Penn presents trends that are contrary to popular belief. Penn refutes the conventional wisdom that Americans' attention spans are shrinking in the internet age. He presents evidence that a sizable number of Americans want substance and depth in communication. (Note: this chapter is 4 pages long, as is typical for this book.)

Surprising trend in career aspirations -- Sniper. When young men were asked in a poll, "What do you think you will most likely be doing in ten years," a small but significant number gave the open-ended answer "Sniper."

Trends in spending: Women and girls drive the majority of consumer electronics purchases in America. Women outspend men on technology 3 to 2.

In politics, the wealthiest and best educated US citizens have become less interested in America's economic and strategic challenges than they are in candidates' personalities. By contrast, America's regular voters are more issue-focused than ever before.

Over the past 40 years, France's wine consumption has fallen faster than any other country (except the United Arab Emirates). Per capita consumption fell from 20 liters in 1962 to 8 in 2001.

Wednesday, 28 May 2008 - Book Review: New Titles on Peter Drucker

Cohen, William A. A Class with Drucker: The lost lessons of the world's greatest management teacher. AMACOM, 2007.

Edersheim, Elizabeth Haas. The Definitive Drucker. McGraw-Hill, 2007.

Peter Drucker is widely respected as one of the great thinkers on management. Throughout his career as teacher, writer, and philosopher he inspired students and business leaders alike with countless books and articles, lectures in the classroom, and informal conversations with friends and colleagues. Since his death in November 2005, several new books have been published, highlighting his wisdom, creativity and humor.

In A Class with Drucker, William Cohen shares stories and insights into Peter Drucker's teaching methods, his inspiring ideas and his life experiences. He also relates personal anecdotes about Drucker and his life. As a PhD student at Claremont University, Cohen studied under Drucker, who was a gifted and passionate teacher. Cohen maintained a lifelong friendship with his mentor and created a personal tribute to the man who changed his life.

This reviewer's favorite section of the book was the chapter about the value of ignorance. Drucker worked with companies worldwide, having little experience or knowledge in the relevant industries. He claimed that he brought his ignorance to the problems at hand, because ignorance is a key component for helping others solve a problem.

"Ignorance is not such a bad thing if one knows how to use it and all managers must learn how to do this. You must frequently approach problems with your ignorance; not what you think you know from past experience, because not infrequently, what you think you know is wrong." p.59.

The value of ignorance is not even mentioned in a second new book about Peter Drucker's ideas, In The Definitive Drucker by Elizabeth Haas Edersheim. Rather than being an omission by the author, this is a testament to the wide range of Drucker's management thinking. Haas Edersheim's book is a distillation of Drucker's management concepts and summary of his views on current business practices and economic trends. The author uses real-world business examples from her own consulting practice, as well as Drucker's, to highlight key themes in Drucker's more recent writing. These themes include: Serving the customer; Capitalizing on opportunities; Innovation; Knowledge workers; and Leadership.

Friday, 30 May 2008 - Book Review: The Opposable Mind

Martin, Roger L. The opposable mind : how successful leaders win through integrative thinking. Harvard Business School Press, 2007.

Author, and Dean of the Rotman School of Business, at the University of Toronto, Roger Martin studied fifty superior business leaders to discern a shared theme -- what makes these people successful? He found that these successful business leaders had a special way of thinking. When faced with problems, they all were predisposed to construct solutions using diametrically opposing ideas, those that seem, on the surface, to be mutually exclusive. Successful leaders avoided settling for one alternative or another, but instead they produced a synthesis that was superior to either of the opposing ideas. Martin calls this thinking process Integrative thinking.

One example that Martin uses is a local company, Red Hat in Research Triangle Park. In the mid 1990's the software industry was dominated by two business models. In the proprietary software model, companies invested heavily in research and development, guarded their intellectual property and charged high prices. These companies had high profit margins. The alternative model was the free software model where suppliers sold CD-ROMs that included both software and the source code. Prices were low but volume was high. These seemed to be the only two alternatives. In 1995 Red Hat's Bob Young decided that Red Hat's LINUX software would be downloaded from the internet, but the company would generate revenues through its ongoing service relationship with customers. Red Hat vaulted over its competitors and became the industry leader in its market.

In most of the book, Martin breaks the thinking process into constituent parts and shows how individuals can be taught to improve their integrative thinking skills. He also highlights CEO's with integrative thinking skills, including Isadore Sharp (Four Seasons Hotels), A.G. Lafley (Procter & Gamble) and Piers Handling (Toronto International Film Festival).

Wednesday, 2 April 2008 - Book Review: China Road

Gifford, Dan. China Road : a journey into the future of a rising power. Random House, 2007. Available in both Print or Audiobook

China Road is a travelogue about a journey across China, from Shanghai to the outer most reaches of the country, to the border with Kazakhstan, a journey of three thousand miles. Author Rob Gifford is a reporter with National Public Radio with extensive experience working and living in China. He travels along Route 312, the Chinese Mother Road, stopping at cities and towns along the way, interviewing Old Hundred Names, the common people, the regular Joes, about their lives and what it means to live in China's heartland today.

The book begins in Shanghai, China's most modern city. The urban economy is booming and for professionals there, life is good. There is no question that the future is even brighter. But China is a huge country and as he leaves Shanghai and travels west, Gifford finds a growing gap between urban rich and rural poor. He speaks to migrant workers, impoverished peasants, prostitutes, truck drivers, Tibetan monks, and even a hermit. He finds that the old cradle to grave provision by the state has collapsed, leaving many people worse off than before. For them, life is "Ren chi ren," or "Man eat man.".

Gifford skillfully interweaves both humor and history throughout his story, making China Road an informative book and a very entertaining read. His observations are insightful and personal, yet the book also presents many strategic and political issues that effect China's economic development.

Thursday, 10 April 2008 - Book Review: The Future of Management

Hamel, Gary. The future of management. Harvard Business School Press, 2007.

Beginning with the premise that long term business success is fueled by management innovation -- new ways of mobilizing talent, allocating resources and building strategies -- this book is about changing the current management model based on control and efficiency.

Author and consultant Gary Hamel describes a need for bold new management principles. When these principles are applied systemically throughout an organization and are part of an ongoing program of progress, they convey a competitive advantage. Using these principles, the author shows how to build a company that is continually renewing itself, how to make innovation everyone's job and how to create a company where everyone gives their best.

Using examples from Whole Foods and Google, the author shows how his principles of management innovation operate in real time. He also discusses how established companies like General Electric, Procter & Gamble, and Whirlpool have reengineered their management processes.

Tuesday, 15 April 2008 - Book Review: What were they thinking?

Pfeffer, Jeffrey. What were they thinking? : unconventional wisdom about management. Harvard Business School Press, 2007.

Why do companies that are led by intelligent and dedicated people make so many mistakes? Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer shows that executives often make decisions that have unintended consequences, because employees and customers respond in ways that make the situation worse for the company. As an example, relying on incentive pay is usually harmful to the company in the long run. And extracting wage concessions from labor is counterproductive.

Companies also make mistakes by using simplistic models of people and organizations that are not realistic, which leads them to make bad decisions. And companies overcomplicate straightforward choices when sometimes the answer is obvious.

In 28 short and engaging chapters selected from the author's column in Business 2.0, this book presents critical topics on leadership, organizational strategy and public policy. Numerous examples, data and insights challenge conventional beliefs and accepted management wisdom.

Wednesday, 23 April 2008 - Book Review: Creativity: Unconventional Wisdom ...

Herb Meyers and Richard Gerstman, Editors. Creativity: Unconventional Wisdom from 20 Accomplished Minds. Palgrave, 2007.

This book contains the individual stories of 20 accomplished people, including entrepreneurs, designers, authors, sculptors and architects who reveal their personal histories, their inspirations and their ideas about creativity. Among the people are profiled are Nandan Nilekani, CEO of Infosys, a company of over 66,000 employees headquartered in Bangalore, India, which pioneered the concept of outsourcing services to corporations worldwide.

Nilekani defined business creativity as the ability to see a pattern of potential opportunity among a number of seemingly unconnected things and visualizing a future that others do not see. For Infosys, those disparate elements included changes in the Indian economy, development of technology that permitted people in India to work for clients in the United States and greater freedom in Indian capital markets.

My personal favorite story was Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer. He described his creativity as coming from two sources, his shyness and his love of computers. As early as high school, he worked hard on computer designs with pencil and paper, making a game of designing them to work with few computer chips. Much of his creativity has stemmed from this desire to simplify things. His main goal in life has been to build things that work and serve useful purposes at affordable prices.

Several product designers are profiled in the book. Among them is Chris Bangle, chief of design at BMW, who feels the creative process of designing a car is similar to an author writing a story or creating a character. In addition, Roland Heiler, head of Porsche Design Studio (Austria), says that taking risks is important when creating unique products that function well and look beautiful.

Friday, 21 March 2008 - Book Review: 24/7 How Cell Phones and the Internet ...

Hanson, Jarice. 24/7: How Cell Phones and the Internet Change the Way We Live, Work, and Play. Praeger, 2007.

Media guru Marshall McLuhan had a famous slogan in the 1960's, "The medium is message". He meant that communication media had a meaning separate from the content. At the time, he was talking about television and film. But the slogan still applies. Technology changes the culture and the way people relate to each other. Every generation has a particular communication technology that helps to define their worldview and their way of communicating.

Author Jarice Hanson claims that in their short histories, cell phones and the internet have sparked significant changes to traditional attitudes, values and behaviors. Perceptions of time and space are altering. Public and private activities are blurring.

While these technologies provide obvious benefits, such as the ability to telecommute and to stay closer in touch with family and friends, there are are also costs. Employees are expected to be available for work 24/7 and to accomplish more in less time. People are under more stress. Individuals are spending less time with others in interpersonal communication and more time online or leaving messages.

By understanding the nature of these changes, we can make better decisions and create our own future.

Tuesday, 5 February 2008 - Book Review: Beyond Success

Ottinger, Randall J. Beyond Success: Building a personal, financial and philanthropic legacy. McGraw-Hill, 2008.

When Tom Keller was Dean of the Fuqua School, he once noted that there were two phases of life: the acquisition phase and the divestiture phase.

MBA students are focused on the first phase, acquisition. After graduation, these young men and women work long hours, take risks and make sacrifices for rewards that will come later. Inevitably as years pass, these young men and women will be successful at this phase and will achieve financial independence. And just as inevitably, they will someday be middle aged and find themselves in the second phase, divestiture, and may be surprised that this phase presents them with a different challenge -- how to make a positive impact with their time and assets, building a personal and philanthropic legacy.

For people starting to think about establishing their legacy, the book Beyond Success illustrates the issues involved in managing wealth, philanthropy and family. How much is enough? How should people structure their lives to do well and to benefit others? How should people structure their wealth to enable their children to fulfill their dreams without undermining their motivation? How do people manage to leave something of lasting value at the end of life?

After providing a framework for creating a new vision and develop a road map for success, this book offers number of success stories. One is Mario Morino, who sold his company, Legent Corp to Computer Associates, and later formed Venture Philanthropy Partners, and who is now involved in Fuqua's CASE (Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship) program. Also mentioned in this book is John C. Whitehead, formerly CEO of Goldman Sachs, who is also involved in CASE.

Tuesday, 12 February 2008 - Book Review: Made To Stick

Heath, Chip and Dan Heath. Made to Stick: Why some ideas survive and others die. Random House, 2007.

Several weeks ago, a staff member at Fuqua sent an email to the "everyone" list warning drivers to avoid flashing their lights to oncoming cars, or they may be shot by a gang member. In reply another staff member noted that this was an urban legend that had been around for some time. The sender acknowledged that the story may not be true but still felt the warning was worth sending. This left me wondering -- Why is this urban legend so successful? What is it about this story that makes it stick?

Written by Chip Heath, formerly a faculty member at Fuqua and now at Stanford, and his brother Dan, a consultant at Duke Corporate Education, Made to Stick explores why some ideas thrive and others fade away.

The authors analyze hundreds of sticky ideas, including compelling stories, persistent rumors, urban legends, conspiracy theories, proverbs and jokes. What emerges is a common set of six traits normally present in a successful idea. The 1992 Clinton campaign's slogan "It's the economy, stupid," is an example of the simplicity principle. Urban legends often combine a vivid concrete image, an unexpected outcome and an emotional ending, such as the man who wakes up in an icy bathtub with no kidneys. Wendy's "Where's the Beef" commercials from the mid-80's draw on the credibility principle as consumers are invited to see for themselves.

Finally in the epilogue, the authors suggest ways to transform and communicate ideas to make them more successful.

Tuesday, 26 February 2008 - Book Review: The Black Swan

Taleb, Nassim. The black swan : the impact of the highly improbable. Random House, 2007.

The Black Swan is a follow-up to the author's 2001 best-seller, Fooled by Randomness, about the role chance plays in life. Fooled was controversial when released and continues to be a classic text in the hedge fund industry. Writing a general-interest book about probability is in itself quite an accomplishment. With Black Swan, it looks like the author (Lebanon-born, Wharton MBA, doctorate in mathematical finance, Wall Street hedge trader) has done it again.

This time, Taleb uses the image of a black swan to describe an event that is highly improbable yet causes a huge impact. Plus, after the event occurs, people concoct explanations for its occurrence in an attempt to make it seem predictable. The terrorist attack of 9/11 is a black swan. So is Black Friday in 1987. So is the development of the internet. Black swans can be either positive or negative, but either way, they have a huge influence on history.

The Black Swan considers fundamental questions about the nature of randomness. The central thesis is that the outliers, not part of the bell curve, are too often ignored by social scientists and these outliers have enormous importance for individuals, government, science and society.

On a personal level, our love for explanations tricks us into thinking we understand how the world works. We tend of overestimate rationality in our lives. In reality, we cannot predict as much as we think we can. In our increasingly uncertain world, what we don't know is more relevant than what we do know. It is possible to create positive black swans, but to do so requires a focus on trial and error, and an ability to recognize opportunities when they present themselves.

In the end, I have to say that this reviewer found the author's ideas to be interesting but his writing style made this book a chore to read. Taleb considers himself to be a philosopher and he writes with energy and passion. Unfortunately, his numerous philosophic off-topic comments and irrelevant ramblings distract the reader from the argument he is making. Maybe I'm an outlier on this since other reviews have been very positive -- except those by statisticians, who were predictably negative about his numerous insults to their profession.

Thursday, 31 January 2008 - Book Review: Travels of a T-Shirt...

Rivoli, Pietra. Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An economist examines the markets, power and politics of world trade. Wiley, 2005

In 1979, when I worked at Ohio State, Honda built a factory in Marysville, Ohio. The economy in the Midwest was in shambles following the Arab oil embargo of the 70's. Employment climbed to 10% and inflation was 12%. The mortgage on our first home was 13%, which looked like a bargain after rates climbed to 16%. Everyone we knew in Ohio tried to "buy American," but after the Honda factory opened in Marysville, using unemployed (non-union) autoworkers, we began to wonder what it meant to buy American.

Twenty years later in 1999, an economist from Georgetown University's school of business, watched a crowd of students on campus protest the evils of globalization -- capitalism, corporations, the IMF and the WTO. A young woman grabbed the microphone and shouted to the crowd, "Who made your T-shirt?" Was it a child in India living in poverty for Nike's profit? The economist began to wonder what it meant to be global, but unlike me a generation earlier, she traveled the world to investigate. Six years later, she published a book about the people, politics and markets that created her cotton T-shirt.

This is the story of globalization -- the story of real people on three continents, woven together with economic and political lessons, that addresses the sometimes surprising winners and losers in the global economy. Using a simple product, the story shows that free markets aren't always free, that victims are sometimes beneficiaries, and that nothing about globalization is simple. This book is both a good read and informative text, as well as a key resource for Fuqua's Global Institute, August 2007.

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