The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber

The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber (Mar 3, 1995)

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; Third Edition edition (March 3, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887307280
• ISBN-13: 978-0887307287
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches

Technician, Entrepreneur, Manager

The reason most small businesses don't work is that they are run by a "Technician", someone who knows how to do the technical work involved in a job, without much thought to two other, equally important roles described in the book, the "Entrepreneur" and the "Manager".  These are not separate people, but distinct elements of our personalities.  In other words, while we might be biased towards one, we all have all of them, and to successfully run a small business, they must all play a role.

• The Technician is someone - a bicycle mechanic, computer programmer, cook, etc... - who is an expert in his or her craft.  This often leads these people to go into business for themselves - they're good at what they do, and they know it, so why not reap the rewards of their labor?  The technician is happiest doing the work they are good at and ignoring the rest, which is, in the end, a recipe for failure.
• The Entrepreneur is the dreamer, the one who sets out to do something new, who reaches for the stars.  The Entrepreneur lives in the future, thinking about what could be (rather than in the present).  The Entrepreneur is often frustrated by how slow the world seems to move.
• The Manager is the detail-oriented one, who dots the i's and crosses the t's, the one who remembers to pay the bills, and wants a well-organized world with no surprises; a world where things happen in an orderly, predictable manner.

All of these components are necessary in the founder of a business: without the Entrepreneur, you might as well keep working for someone else as a Technician.  Without any technical ability, the Entrepreneur must rely on others to get anything done, and without the organizational abilities of the Manager, the other two would probably find themselves with the electricity in the office turned off because they had other things to do than pay the bills.

The "Franchise Prototype"

If the business is to thrive, it must move beyond the founder: a business that is wholly dependant on the founder and their abilities is not really a business, but rather a very burdensome job for founder.  Every time you are out sick or take a vacation or are otherwise absent, the business stops too. 

A real business is one where the founder has created a system so that the business can run itself without their constant presence.  The book describes this as the "Franchise Prototype".  The inspiration for this comes from franchise businesses such as McDonalds, Subway, Burger King and so on, where there are manuals describing in minute detail how to run the business, so that customers will have the same experience the world over.  The book does not suggest that you necessarily try and create a business to be franchised, just to treat it as if it were in some critical aspects: you need a well-documented system to run the business.  Instead of running the business (fixing bicycles, writing computer programs, cooking), you need to work on the business - you need to spend time creating a business that is an entity that can operating and thrive on its own.

The Model

The model your business should follow must have these attributes:

• It provides consistent  value to your customers - it can't be great one day and lousy the next.
• It should not require brilliant people to work: certainly, you may need someone with some bicycle mechanic training if you're running a bicycle shop; the idea is not to have people with no skills, but simply to not depend on having people of rare talent in order to work, and indeed to utilize the people with as little skill as possible.  The system is what takes ordinary people and enables them to consistently do high quality work.
• Everything about the business should be documented in operations manuals.
• Everything about the model should be uniform: from the dress code to the facilities, everything should follow previously agreed upon standards.

Innovation, Quantification, Orchestration

Innovation is creativity applied to providing a product or service in a more efficient, higher quality, or more profitable way.  You need to be continuously innovating in order to improve your business.

Quantification is combined with innovation to determine what actually works.  If you're not measuring it, how can you tell if a change is good or bad for business?  If you spend money for a new web site, and you're not measuring how much money is coming in through it, how can you tell if the money spent on it was worth it?  You need as much data as possible - with time you'll learn what the critical numbers are, and be able to tell how things are going by keeping an eye on them.

Orchestration is the standardization of what works: once you've tried and measured some particular innovation, it must become part of "standard operating procedure".  Once something has been orchestrated, it becomes a part of the business that everyone has learned and knows, not some secret recipe that lies only within the mind of the founder.  This ensures consistent quality for your customers.

Aims, Objectives, Opportunities

The author explains that in order to make your business work, you must have a "Primary Aim" in life - not business, but your life.  Without that, your business may come to consume you.

Your "Strategic Objective" is what you want to do with the business in order to fulfill your "Primary Aim" in life.  This could be simply to sell the business on for a million dollars after 10 years, or develop a business that generates $100,000 in annual revenue without your involvement, or whatever else will allow you to live your life as you see fit.  There are several important considerations, the first of which is money, and how much if it you are aiming to make. 

The second thing to consider is whether a given opportunity is, as the book says, an "Opportunity Worth Pursuing"; something that can meet your financial needs, first and foremost.  The key question to ask is: "does the business I have in mind alleviate a frustration experienced by a large enough group of consumers to make it worth my while?".  Another key consideration when determing what kind of business your in, is to look not at the thing you sell, but the feeling you create for your customers about your product and business.  An insurance company sells you a financial instrument, but the feeling they are really selling is "peace of mind".  A flashy car is more than just a bunch of metal and plastic, it's an image, and a feeling.

Organization Strategy

Rather than starting out and just "jumping in", you need to determine, from the beginning, what roles your company needs, and who will fill them.  The example given in the book lists 12 positions, and explains how they are divided up between two founders in a company, who must not only fill those roles, but define them so that they can, as the company grows, easily find people to place in those positions, with a well-defined structure and environment for them to thrive in.  "Replace yourself with a system", to quote the book.  Each position should have a "position contract" with a list of things for which that position is accountable, and even if few people are performing multiple jobs, they should agree to and sign those contracts.

Management Strategy

The management strategy outlined is once again, a matter of having systems in place.  Certainly, you need people that believe in what your company does to make those systems work, but having a system in place that doesn't require a fantastic manager.

People Strategy

The people strategy is outlined as a sort of "game" to be played

• The 'game' is not simply a condescending way of getting people to do what you want.
• Make sure it's something you'd be happy to do yourself; otherwise other people wont' want to participate either.
• Allow for rewards and victories, but don't make it so that people can reach the 'end' of the game.
• Be open to change when it's necessary.
• It is not self-perpetuating - it has to be nurtured.
• It has to make sense.  Weird and arbitrary rules discourage people.
• There has to be fun involved - maybe not always, but without it, work is only dreary, something to get away from as early as possible every evening.

Marketing Strategy

You must speak to people's unconscious minds - all the rational arguments in the world won't win over someone whose unconscious mind has already said 'no'.  You need to learn about your key demographics, and how they think and regard not just products, but the world around them.  You need to gather data about who they are.  Learn about how other people market to similar demographic targets.

Systems

The book discusses three kinds of systems that are important for your business, with an eye to adopting them in order to make things ever more predictable and consistent.

• Hard systems are physical things that systematically resolve problems and free people to concentrate on meaningful work for your customers.  They are things that are introduced to solve time consuming problems that do contribute to the success of the company.  An example might be a tool to make cleaning a kitchen faster and more efficient.
• Soft systems are "people systems" - those practices and methods put in place to give people a framework for doing their job.  These systems, in many cases, make it so that relatively less-skilled people can do high quality work, because they're following a system created by an expert.
• Information systems are systems put in place to gather information and data about the business and its operations.  With actual data, it's possible to test different hypothesis and see which ones work the best.  With data, it's possible to know how the business is doing compared to the same metrics at an earlier date in time.

Review

"Gerber loves to exhort people to develop powerful visions for theircompanies." -- Fortune

"Thanks to Gerber l have freed up over three hours a day, significantly increased my sales, more than doubled my bottom line, and been able to take my first vacation in four years." -- Trish Lind, T. Lind Graphics, St. Paul, Minnesota

"Without a doubt, the most important message for our company over thenext decade." -- The John Hancock Insurance Group

Product Description

In this first new and totally revised edition of the over two million copy bestseller, The E-Myth, Michael Gerber dispels the myths surrounding starting your own business and shows how commonplace assumptions can get in the way of running a business. Next, he walks you through the steps in the life of a business -- from entrepreneurial infancy through adolescent growing pains to the mature entrepreneurial perspective: the guiding light of all businesses that succeed -- and shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether it is a franchise or not. Finally, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business. After you have read The E-Myth Revisited, you will truly be able to grow your business in a predictable and productive way.

About the Author

Michael E. Gerber is the founder and CEO ofE-Myth Worldwide, based in Santa Rosa, California. He is also the bestselling author of The E-Myth Contractor, The Power Point, The E-Myth, The E-Myth Revisited, and The E-Myth Manager, as well as a highly sought-after speaker and small business revolutionary.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins

About the Book:-

Hardcover: 300 pages

Publisher: HarperBusiness; 1 edition (October 16, 2001)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0066620996

ISBN-13: 978-0066620992

Firnando Chau Review


Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
1: Good Is the Enemy of Great
2: Level 5 Leadership
3: First Who... Then What
4: Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith)
5: The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles)
6: A Culture of Discipline
7: Technology Accelerators
8: The Flywheel and the Doom Loop
9: From Good  to Great to  Built to Last
Epilogue: Frequently Asked Questions
Research Appendices
Notes
Index
--



Amazon.com Review

Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come. -- Harry C. Edwards

From Publishers Weekly

In what Collins terms a prequel to the bestseller Built to Last he wrote with Jerry Porras, this worthwhile effort explores the way good organizations can be turned into ones that produce great, sustained results. To find the keys to greatness, Collins's 21-person research team (at his management research firm) read and coded 6,000 articles, generated more than 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and created 384 megabytes of computer data in a five-year project. That Collins is able to distill the findings into a cogent, well-argued and instructive guide is a testament to his writing skills. After establishing a definition of a good-to-great transition that involves a 10-year fallow period followed by 15 years of increased profits, Collins's crew combed through every company that has made the Fortune 500 (approximately 1,400) and found 11 that met their criteria, including Walgreens, Kimberly Clark and Circuit City. At the heart of the findings about these companies' stellar successes is what Collins calls the Hedgehog Concept, a product or service that leads a company to outshine all worldwide competitors, that drives a company's economic engine and that a company is passionate about. While the companies that achieved greatness were all in different industries, each engaged in versions of Collins's strategies. While some of the overall findings are counterintuitive (e.g., the most effective leaders are humble and strong-willed rather than outgoing), many of Collins's perspectives on running a business are amazingly simple and commonsense. This is not to suggest, however, that executives at all levels wouldn't benefit from reading this book; after all, only 11 companies managed to figure out how to change their B grade to an A on their own.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.



Review


One of the top ten business books of 2001 -- Business Week


The Challenge 


Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning.


But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?


The Study 


For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?


The Standards 


Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck.


The Comparisons 


The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good?


Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't.


The Findings


The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include:


Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness.


The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence.


A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology.


The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap.


“Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.”


Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings?


About the Author


Jim Collins is a student and teacher of enduring great companies -- how they grow, how they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies.Having invested over a decade of research into the topic, Jim has co-authored three books, including the classic Built to Last, a fixture on the Business Week bestseller list for more than five years, generating over 70 printings and translations into 16 languages.His work has been featured in Fortune, The Economist, Business Week, USA Today, Industry Week, Inc., Harvard Business 


Review and Fast Company.


Driven by a relentless curiosity, Jim began his research and teaching career on the faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he received the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1992.In 1995, he founded a management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, where he now conducts multi-year research projects and works with executives from the private, public, and social sectors.


Jim has served as a teacher to senior executives and CEOs at corporations that include: Starbucks Coffee, Merck, Patagonia, American General, W.L. Gore, and hundreds more.He has also worked with the non-corporate sector such as the Leadership Network of Churches, Johns Hopkins Medical School, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Non-Profit Management.


Jim invests a significant portion of his energy in large-scale research projects -- often five or more years in duration -- to develop fundamental insights and then translate those findings into books, articles and lectures.He uses his management laboratory to work directly with executives and to develop practical tools for applying the concepts that flow from his research.


In addition, Jim is an avid rock climber and has made free ascents of the West Face of El Capitan and the East Face of Washington Column in Yosemite Valley.

Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

About the Book:-
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Crown Business; 1 edition (June 15, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0609610570
ISBN-13: 978-0609610572

Amazon.com Review

Disciplines like strategy, leadership development, and innovation are the sexier aspects of being at the helm of a successful business; actually getting things done never seems quite as glamorous. But as Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan demonstrate in Execution, the ultimate difference between a company and its competitor is, in fact, the ability to execute.
Execution is "the missing link between aspirations and results," and as such, making it happen is the business leader's most important job. While failure in today's business environment is often attributed to other causes, Bossidy and Charan argue that the biggest obstacle to success is the absence of execution. They point out that without execution, breakthrough thinking on managing change breaks down, and they emphasize the fact that execution is a discipline to learn, not merely the tactical side of business. Supporting this with stories of the "execution difference" being won (EDS) and lost (Xerox and Lucent), the authors describe the building blocks--leaders with the right behaviors, a culture that rewards execution, and a reliable system for having the right people in the right jobs--that need to be in place to manage the three core business processes of people, strategy, and operations. Both Bossidy, CEO of Honeywell International, Inc., and Charan, advisor to corporate executives and author of such books as What the CEO Wants You to Know and Boards That Work, present experience-tested insight into how the smooth linking of these three processes can differentiate one company from the rest. Developing the discipline of execution isn't made out to be simple, nor is this book a quick, easy read. Bossidy and Charan do, however, offer good advice on a neglected topic, making Execution a smart business leader's guide to enacting success rather than permitting demise. - S. Ketchum

From Library Journal

Bossidy, an award-winning executive at General Electric and Allied Signal, came out of retirement to tend to Honeywell (and bring it back to prominence) after it failed to merge with General Electric. Charan has taught at Harvard and Kellogg Business Schools. Collaborating with editor and writer Burck, they present the viewpoint that execution (that is, linking a company's people, strategy, and operations) is what will determine success in today's business world. Bossidy and Charan aver that execution is a discipline integral to strategy, that it is the major job of any business leader hoping not just to be a success but to dominate a market, and that it is a core element of corporate culture. Details of both successful and unsuccessful executions at corporations such as Dell, Johnson & Johnson, and Xerox, to name a few, support not only their how-to method for bringing execution to the forefront but also the need for it. Each author addresses specific topics in paragraphs that begin with either "Larry" or "Ram," and this easy style adds to the appeal of a very readable book. Recommended for academic and public libraries. Steven J. Mayover, Philadelphia
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Book

The book that shows how to get the job done and deliver results . . . whether you’re running an entire company or in your first management job

Larry Bossidy is one of the world’s most acclaimed CEOs, a man with few peers who has a track record for delivering results. Ram Charan is a legendary advisor to senior executives and boards of directors, a man with unparalleled insight into why some companies are successful and others are not. Together they’ve pooled their knowledge and experience into the one book on how to close the gap between results promised and results delivered that people in business need today.

After a long, stellar career with General Electric, Larry Bossidy transformed AlliedSignal into one of the world’s most admired companies and was named CEO of the year in 1998 by Chief Executive magazine. Accomplishments such as 31 consecutive quarters of earnings-per-share growth of 13 percent or more didn’t just happen; they resulted from the consistent practice of the discipline of execution: understanding how to link together people, strategy, and operations, the three core processes of every business.

Leading these processes is the real job of running a business, not formulating a “vision” and leaving the work of carrying it out to others. Bossidy and Charan show the importance of being deeply and passionately engaged in an organization and why robust dialogues about people, strategy, and operations result in a business based on intellectual honesty and realism.

The leader’s most important job—selecting and appraising people—is one that should never be delegated. As a CEO, Larry Bossidy personally makes the calls to check references for key hires. Why? With the right people in the right jobs, there’s a leadership gene pool that conceives and selects strategies that can be executed. People then work together to create a strategy building block by building block, a strategy in sync with the realities of the marketplace, the economy, and the competition. Once the right people and strategy are in place, they are then linked to an operating process that results in the implementation of specific programs and actions and that assigns accountability. This kind of effective operating process goes way beyond the typical budget exercise that looks into a rearview mirror to set its goals. It puts reality behind the numbers and is where the rubber meets the road.

Putting an execution culture in place is hard, but losing it is easy. In July 2001 Larry Bossidy was asked by the board of directors of Honeywell International (it had merged with AlliedSignal) to return and get the company back on track. He’s been putting the ideas he writes about in Execution to work in real time.


From the Back Cover

“If you want to be a CEO—or if you are a CEO and want to keep your job—read Execution and put its principles to work.”
—Michael Dell, chairman and CEO, Dell Computer Corp.

“Good practical insight and advice on managing for results at firms of any size. Execution is key, and this book clearly explains what it means and how it brings together the critical elements of any organization—its people, strategies, and operations.” —L. R. Raymond, chairman and CEO, Exxon Mobil

“The best-thought-out plans in the world aren’t worth the paper they’re written on if you can’t pull them off. And that’s what this book is all about. Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done is well written and gives sound, practical advice about how to make things happen. It is well worth the reading.” —Ralph S. Larsen, chairman and CEO, Johnson & Johnson

“Larry Bossidy recognizes how execution in a business defines the true greatness of a company. He captures a lifetime of building winning formulas and puts them in a simple and practical context for executives at any level. Read it!” —Ivan Seidenberg, president and co–chief executive officer, Verizon

“For those managers who have struggled to make it happen, fix a problem, get it done—or otherwise transform winning strategies into genuine results—here’s the missing medicine from two who know from long experience what works and what doesn’t. Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan offer a compelling leadership prescription, and it comes down to realism, discipline, and above all, great execution.”
—Michael Useem, professor of management and director of the Center for Leadership and Change, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

“Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan define the true meaning of leadership from an implementation point of view. Larry is the expert on productivity in the world of business, and this book demonstrates how leadership is the key to achieving ongoing financial success.” —Richard Schroeder, cofounder of Six Sigma Academy

About the Author

Larry Bossidy is chairman and former CEO of Honeywell International, a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader. Earlier in his career he was chairman and CEO of AlliedSignal, chief operating officer of General Electric Credit (now GE Capital Corporation), executive vice president and president of GE’s Services and Materials Sector, and vice chairman of GE.

Ram Charan is a highly sought advisor to CEOs and senior executives in companies ranging from start-ups to the Fortune 500, including GE, DuPont, EDS, and Colgate-Palmolive. He is the author of What the CEO Wants You to Know and Boards That Work and the coauthor of Every Business Is a Growth Business. Dr. Charan has taught at both the Harvard Business School and the Kellogg School of Northwestern University.

Charles Burck is a writer and editor who collaborated with Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. Earlier in his career he was an editor at Fortune magazine.

The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison

The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (April 13, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465019358
• ISBN-13: 978-046501935

From getAbstract.com

• What the theory of “pull” is
• How the three levels of pull work
• How to use pull to your advantage

“Pull” is the latest business dynamic that soon will be sweeping through an institution near you. At least, that’s what business consultants John Hagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison predict. The authors, all members of the Deloitte Center for the Edge, make a solid, well-researched case for their strategic analysis, using detailed, candid accounts from active participants in a world where people use connections, knowledge and resources to solve problems. This is where the book sings: Its numerous colorful examples illuminate the benefits of pull. While this scholarly work provides some useful suggestions, the authors are more successful at defining and breaking down their theoretical information than at offering a how-to guide for using pull at your next business meeting. getAbstract recommends this volume to executives who want to move their companies ahead in the digital age and to unite young technology rats and traditional workers.

From Publishers Weekly

Exploring the paradigm shift in business brought about by innovations in communication technology, this collaboration from three consultant-authors provides a succinct metaphor for the shift in the information economy-from "push" to "pull"-but little else. Though they provide an effective survey of the effect of more interactive, ubiquitous and on-demand communication, it already feels dated; the essential messages that Hagel, Brown, and Davison derive-networking is key, you should pursue your passions, many traditional ways of doing business are over-are old news in the business self-help section. The examples they provide focus primarily on individually-driven collaborative efforts (wikis, online gaming) and make poor analogies for someone looking to revitalize a corporation or present a compelling case for change to colleagues or an intransigent CEO. Professionals who already know that the Internet isn't just a phase will need more information than this book provides.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President of the United States of America
“The Power of Pull examines the “how question”—how can we effectively address our most pressing challenges in a rapidly changing and increasingly interdependent world? In The Power of Pull, John Hagel, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison highlight fascinating new ways in which passionate thinking, creative solutions, and committed action can—and will—make it possible for us to seize opportunities and remain in step with change.”


Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
“The Power of Pull will do for our 21st-century information-age institutional leadership what Peter Drucker’s The Concept of the Corporation did for industrial-era management. This book begins to create a body of learnable principles that will revolutionize our ability to access and work with knowledge flows.”


Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google
“Hagel, Brown, and Davison have given us a provocative and insightful look at the power of today's knowledge flow. If you want to meet the challenges of working and living in the 21st century, this book should be your guide.”


Joichi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons and Internet venture investor
“Connecting many important threads through beautiful metaphors and wonderful narratives, the authors provide both a mind-expanding view of how the world is changing and a solid framework and context to approach the future for anyone interested in surviving and enjoying it.”


John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends
“In times of unprecedented change, we as individuals and institutions can have extraordinary leverage and influence if we marshal the passion, knowledge and resources necessary to achieve great things. The Power of Pull empowers and guides us to make the most of today’s enormous possibilities.”


Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class and The Great Reset
“Stop whatever you are doing and read this amazing book. The authors totally nail it. Digging beneath the surface of stuff that distracts us on a daily basis, they unpack the deep forces that really truly matter and provide a guidebook each of us can use to unleash passion, transform how and why we work, and restore destiny and dignity to our lives.”


Mark E. Tucker, Former Group Chief Executive of Prudential plc, Member of the Court of the Bank of England
“We live in a global village, where borders are blurred, where all humanity could and should be responsible for the well-being of others. The Power of Pull proposes fresh insights that coalesce into a powerful way forward in this new world. This erudite manual for change is a testament to the creativity and insight of its authors.”


Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com
“As social media and enterprise cloud computing continue to exert their democratizing influences, the Power of Pull will become a key principle for success. The individuals who learn how to use these tools most effectively are the ones who will pull their institutions into new heights of rapid innovation, improved performance and significant achievement.”


Walter Isaacson, President and CEO, the Aspen Institute, and author of Einstein: His Life and Universe
“This brilliant and exciting book shows how to pursue your passions by harnessing the power of networks. Success no longer comes from possessing knowledge; instead, you have to participate with others in creating a flow of knowledge. The power of ‘pull’—the ability to draw out people and resources for each endeavor—can transform both individuals and institutions.”


Hasso Plattner, Founder and Chairman of SAP Supervisory Board
“This is a seminal work that explores the personal and professional implications of a powerful convergence of technologies, ranging from in memory databases for speed, massive parallel processing in the cloud, access via telephone for anything, anytime, everywhere. We are just beginning to understand what this means for us. The authors help us to understand where and how pull will change our lives and our work given the new digital infrastructures re-shaping our landscape. It offers us a roadmap that we neglect at our peril.”


John Doerr, Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers venture capital
"The Power of Pull is a powerful new meme for navigating and networking in the 21st century.”


Harvard Business Review
“In a ferociously dynamic world, what happens if we can’t plan but can only adapt? We must move, say the authors, from push to pull. At the center of the pull strategy is an individual (not a corporation) who has access to knowledge flows, takes advantage of porous boundaries and serendipitous interactions, and occupies new creative spaces to achieve a novel order of performance. I know. It’s a complex model with several moving parts. But it makes for an exhilarating read as the authors sublimely reinvent the world of enterprise."


Bloomberg Businessweek
“[T]his year’s must-read book on innovation . . . The book is a smart analysis of why executives need to broaden their thinking about innovation—and take action, now.”


MIT Sloan Management Review
“Provocative…the beauty of The Power of Pull is that the authors bring such seemingly disparate ideas into one simple, overarching imperative: Stop pushing; start pulling.”


800-CEO-READ
“The Power of Pull provide[s] great insight into the quickly changing world of information. On the surface, [it is a] book about technology and business, but on a deeper level, reveal[s] much more about the future of communication, culture, and people.”

Product Description

In a radical break with the past, information now flows like water, and we must learn how to tap into its stream. Individuals and companies can no longer rely on the stocks of knowledge that they’ve carefully built up and stored away. Information now flows like water, and we must learn how to tap into the stream. But many of us remain stuck in old practices—practices that could undermine us as we search for success and meaning.


In this revolutionary book, three doyens of the Internet age, whose path-breaking work has made headlines around the world, reveal the adjustments we must make if we take these changes seriously. In a world of increasing risk and opportunity, we must understand the importance of pull. Understood and used properly, the power of pull can draw out the best in people and institutions by connecting them in ways that increase understanding and effectiveness. Pull can turn uncertainty into opportunity, and enable small moves to achieve outsized impact.


Drawing on pioneering research, The Power of Pull shows how to apply its principles to unlock the hidden potential of individuals and organizations, and how to use it as a force for social change and the development of creative talent.


The authors explore how to use the power of pull to:

• Access new sources of information
• Attract likeminded individuals from around the world
• Shape serendipity to increase the likelihood of positive chance encounters
• Form creation spaces to drive you and your colleagues to new heights
• Transform your organization to adapt to the flow of knowledge

The Power of Pull is essential reading for entrepreneurs, managers, and anybody interested in understanding and harnessing the shifting forces of our networked world.

About the Author

John Hagel III is the co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge. He is the author of a series of best-selling business books, including Net Gain, Net Worth, Out of the Box andThe Only Sustainable Edge. He lives in Burlingame, California.


John Seely Brown is the independent co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge and a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California. He is co-author of the best-selling book The Social Life of Information. He lives in Palo Alto, California.


Lang Davison is executive director of the Deloitte Center for the Edge. He was also the collaborating writer for the best-selling and critically acclaimed book Net Gain, Net Worth, authored by John Hagel. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

The Business Rules: Protect Yourself and Your Company from over 100 Hidden Pitfalls by Jo Haigh

The Business Rules: Protect Yourself and Your Company from over 100 Hidden Pitfalls by Jo Haigh

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Piatkus Books (October 5, 2006)
• ISBN-10: 0749927062
• ISBN-13: 978-0749927066

Product Description

The business world is awash with legal pitfalls and opportunities. If you own or run a small-to-medium sized business (with a turnover of up to 10 million) you cannot afford to miss out on this book. Jo Haigh is a business expert who gives presentations to companies on how they can protect themselves - as individuals and as a group - from a range of potentially fatal pitfalls. In this accessible and practical book, she highlights essential - yet very often unknown - business practice to provide valuable insight and guidelines to alert and arm you before you enter the proverbial lion's den of the business world. The Business Rules draws on current legislation and case histories. It covers approximately 80 key topics, divided into sections: Business structure; Funding; Compliance; People and personal liabilities; Management; Tax and accounting; Exiting

About the Author

* Jo Haigh is trained in law and accountancy, and has over 25 years' first-hand business experience. She owned her own company for 11 years * She teaches hundreds of people every year for the Institute of Directors' director diploma courses in Pall Mall and works with CEOs across the country through TEC and the Academy of Chief Executives * She works as a corporate financier and has been on the board of over 30 companies. She was Young Graduate Entrepreneur of the Year at age 26 * Jo Haigh has written many articles for her local press and has been on BBC Radio (Leeds and Sheffield) * She lives in Huddersfield

Firnando Chau Review

Driving Change: The UPS Approach to Business by Mike Brewster & Frederick Dalzell

Driving Change: The UPS Approach to Business by Mike Brewster & Frederick Dalzell

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (June 12, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401302882
• ISBN-13: 978-1401302887

From Publishers Weekly

Near the outset of this meticulous survey of UPS's history, business journalist Brewster sums up the message he wants businesspeople to take away: that UPS may be seen as at once humdrum and wonderful to behold. But he goes heavy on the humdrum in a book whose clear-cut lessons are too rudimentary for the corporate audience he's courting. It's only when the author focuses on little-known trivia and insider information—gleaned from what the jacket copy touts as his unprecedented access to the delivery giant—that his account approaches the wonderful. In recounting the evolution of the American behemoth from the Gold Rush days when 15-year-old Jim Casey transported everything from bail money to morphine, Brewster turns up some shiny nuggets: the trucks are brown so dirt won't show; in Zambia, UPS uses canoes to make deliveries; in New York City, the company would prefer to offer the city government an annual payment instead of tracking thousands of parking tickets. Like UPS lifer Greg Niemann, whose Big Brown: The Untold Story of UPS(Jossey-Bass, Feb.), Brewster heaps praise on UPS, leaving skeptical readers to wonder what remains untold. But Brewster's emphasis on UPS business strategies won't be of much help to the management audience. It's better suited to UPS's beloved everyman Joe. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Ask anyone to name some Washington State business start-ups and you will most likely hear the names Microsoft and Starbucks, but few realize that United Parcel Service began as a small bike messenger service in Seattle around 1905. Unlike companies such as Kodak, Microsoft, and Xerox, which were built around a break-through product or idea, founder Jim Casey took a basic existing service and reengineered it through modernized equipment and impeccable service. The buttoned-down Boy Scout look of the UPS driver remains a direct reflection of the owner's vision of presenting a clean-cut image that would take the package-delivery service out of the alley and make it respectable. Brewster traces the roots of UPS from messenger service to regional West Coast truck-based delivery service to what it is today, the largest private multinational air parcel carrier with a massive airline fleet and one of the largest and most sophisticated sorting facilities in the world. With unprecedented access to the company's facilities, historical records, and employees, Brewster provides the most in-depth look at this highly regarded company to date. Siegfried, David
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

For the first time ever, one of the "World's Most Admired" companies opens its doors for a fascinating, lively, and most of all instructive look at how it does businessWe see them everywhere -- those brown trucks with the golden logo, the drivers delivering their share of 14 million parcels handled daily. To most of us, UPS is a reliable fact of life. But to well-informed businesspeople, Big Brown is a company to emulate. Quietly and steadfastly, UPS has earned a reputation as one of the leading companies in America, known as much for its innovative practices as its skill in creating satisfied customers and employees.
Just in time for the company's hundredth anniversary, UPS has allowed authors Mike Brewster and Fred Dalzell unprecedented access to their facilities, their workers, and their history -- including their mistakes. What emerges are clear-cut lessons from which any business can benefit. Driving Change is an enlightening, absorbing, and dynamic account of a company at the very fulcrum of global commerce.

About the Author

Mike Brewster is a business journalist and the author of the books Unaccountable and King Capital. He lives in New York City. Frederick Dalzell is a historian and consultant whose recent books include Rising Tide: Lessons from 165 Years of Brand Building at Procter & Gamble. He is a partner in The Winthrop Group, a firm specializing in historical research and archival services, and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Firnando Chau Review