The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels

Book Description

Whether challenged with taking on a startup, turning a business around, or inheriting a high-performing unit, a new leader's success or failure is determined within the first 90 days on the job.

In this hands-on guide, Michael Watkins, a noted expert on leadership transitions, offers proven strategies for moving successfully into a new role at any point in one's career. The First 90 Days provides a framework for transition acceleration that will help leaders diagnose their situations, craft winning transition strategies, and take charge quickly.

Practical examples illustrate how to learn about new organizations, build teams, create coalitions, secure early wins, and lay the foundation for longer-term success. In addition, Watkins provides strategies for avoiding the most common pitfalls new leaders encounter, and shows how individuals can protect themselves-emotionally as well as professionally-during what is often an intense and vulnerable period.

Concise and actionable, this is the survival guide no new leader should be without.

"Few companies develop a systematic 'on-boarding' process for their new leaders, even though this is a critical function with major organizational implications. Michael Watkins's The First 90 Days provides a powerful framework and strategies that will enable new leaders to take charge quickly. It is an invaluable tool for that most vulnerable time-the transition."

-Goli Darabi, Senior Vice President, Corporate Leadership & Succession Management, Fidelity Investments

"Every job-private- or public-sector, civilian or military-has its breakeven point, and everyone can accelerate their learning. Read this book at least twice: once before your next transition-before getting caught up in the whirl and blur of new faces, names, acronyms, and issues; then read it again after you've settled in, and consider how to accelerate transitions for your next new boss and for those who come to work for you."

-Colonel Eli Alford, U.S. Army

"Watkins provides an excellent road map, telling us what all new leaders need to know and do to accelerate their learning and success in a new role. The First 90 Days should be incorporated into every company's leadership development strategy, so that anyone making a transition in an organization can get up to speed quicker and smarter."

-Suzanne M. Danielle, Director of Global Leadership Development, Aventis

"Michael Watkins has nailed a huge corporate problem and provided the solution in one fell swoop. The pressure on new leaders to hit the ground running has never been greater, and the likelihood and cost of failure is escalating. Watkins's timing with The First 90 Days is impeccable."

-Gordon Curtis, Principal, Curtis Consulting

"The First 90 Days is a must-read for entrepreneurs. Anyone who's been the CEO of a start-up or early-stage company knows that you go through many 90-day leadership transitions in the course of a company's formative years. In this groundbreaking book, Michael Watkins provides crucial insights, as well as a toolkit of techniques, to enable you to accelerate through these transitions successfully."

-Mike Kinkead, President and CEO, timeBLASTER Corporation, serial entrepreneur, and Cofounder and Trustee, Massachusetts Software Council

Customer Reviews:

Good way to get prepared.......2007-07-04

It just makes sense, and is very thorough. Many things I would not have thought about, or gotten around to thinking about - we live in such a fast paced world that it would have been a challenge to do. Luckily, I had a cross country trip, so this gave me the time to read this book and compile my "list" of notes and apply them to my upcoming job change. Bottom line - many good new perspectives that I simply would not have thought of. Highly recommended.

Practical and Actionable. It is an excellent book on the subject of management transitions........2007-06-22

As a human resources professional, I have seen a great deal of management transition. Many succeed but some do not. Unfortunately for our people and our organizations those that do not leave a stream of damage in their wake.

Recently I wrote a review about Scott Eblin's, "The Next Level" and I called it a real disappointment. This book is not and it is a far more actionable and practical approach to managing transitions.

One of the reasons this book is so practical is that each section not only provides you with clear direction but each section also ends with an action checklist. This make creating a 90-day transition plan doable and improves your prospects for success.

Lastly, the steps from this book create a framework that a company can use to create a "transition strategy" for all its new and upwardly moving managers. This alone will enable a firm to increase their odds that a new hire or promotion will be in the "win" column.

*****First 90 Days.......2007-06-10

I only ordered this for a superior and he is VERY VERY happy with the book...he asked for it by name so we ordered three copies! Thank you for the great service you provide.

A Must Read.......2007-05-30

Great book for all business leaders who are advancing to a new role or coming from the outside into an organization. Simple, easy to read with pertinent lessons for a successful transition.

Some great tips, but often not well developed or organized.......2007-05-28

We bought this book along with the "New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan" and read them side by side.

Pro:
-"STaRS" concept is excellent. Start-ups, Turnarounds, Realignments and Sustaining success are all different scenarios that you might be thrown into, and the environment you join directly affects what you need to do.
-Checklists are helpful, when available, to boil thoughts down to the most essential elements
-There are many good tips interspersed throughout the book that are good reminders of the basics you need to adhere to in order to be successful
-Breaks the "sink or swim mindset" often associated with starting a new position

Con:
-Does not really address the time opportunity BEFORE you start a job and in my experience is a major lost opportunity that I've been able to surprise and delight. Set up pre-meetings, arranging for email/phone and a place to sit, etc. as a chance to listen and learn without the pressure to perform. Any items that can/should be done ahead of time appear to me as afterthoughts, underdeveloped, and often out of sequence in this text.
-Would not serve as a handy reference... better chapter summaries and a stronger introduction with time lines and meaty chapter outline would have been helpful both now and in the future
-I think that many good concepts like "STaRS" were underdeveloped or under leveraged... I sense more detail that was perhaps omitted
-To me, many of the illustrations were filler and did not offer additional information
-Sometimes poor or awkward word choice or idea sequence (e.g. rather than "Promote Yourself" why not just call it "Prepare Yourself" as this is what you are really saying, so why not just say it that way?)
-Real life examples were unnecessarily detailed, consuming time and space that I think could be better used by the author as he's clearly brilliant and has some great observations
-I think that the scope is too narrow, picks up after you've started the job (day 1) and neglects the opportunity (and chaos) beforehand of the interview, moving, doing "pre-work" to get your basics at work set-up

Bottom line: While there were some interesting moments, I was disappointed. The book does offer several cautionary tales of CEOs who crashed and burned, and if nothing else serves as both warning and motivation to be smarter about your transition.

Average customer rating:

Good program with textbook
Graduate Students Guide
Good college textbook
katz

Introduction to Management Science
David R. Anderson , Dennis J. Sweeney , and Thomas A. Williams
Manufacturer: South-Western College Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Study Guide to accompany Introduction to Management Science: Quantitative Approaches to Decision Making
Managing Human Resources (5th Edition)
Essentials of Business Information Systems (7th Edition)
Corporate Finance (with Thomson ONE - Business School Edition 6-Month Printed Access Card)
Financial Management: Theory and Practice with Thomson ONE

Accessories:

Study Guide to accompany Introduction to Management Science: Quantitative Approaches to Decision Making

ASIN: 0324202318

Book Description

ASW's Introduction to Management Science: A Quantitative Approach to Decision Making provides thorough, application-oriented coverage in a very readable writing style. This is the leading text on the market. Simply put, it's a classic! The problem-scenario approach introduces quantitative procedures through situations that include both problem formulation and technique application. The extensive linear programming coverage includes problem formulation, computer solution, and practical application. The text covers transportation, assignment, and the integer programming extension of linear programming, as well as advanced topics like waiting line models, simulation, and decision analysis. A large selection of problems includes self-test problems with complete solutions and case problems. Excel spreadsheet appendices are included as well.

Customer Reviews:

Good program with textbook.......2007-08-22

I had to use this text for a sophmore level management science course. While the book is extensively detailed, it is written for graduate school level course work. The program that comes with the text is much more useful for the undergrad student tackling business statistics.

Graduate Students Guide.......2006-03-10

This book is an essential guide for every graduate student. It makes mathematical and technical concepts of management science understandable and useful.

Good college textbook.......2006-02-25

This book provides thorough explanations, good tables, graphs, examples and self-test questions with most of the answers in the back of the book.

katz.......2005-04-19

Trust Me. This is the only book that you'll need to get started started in this area. The authors have done an excellent job in producing such a work, that takes care to explain all the details of management science.

I used this text for my professional exams (CIMA) and the it was great. All the chapters in this book are cleanly written to take that I doesn't leave anything unexplained. However, the following chapters are the ones that I like the most in this book:

1. Introduction to LP
2. LP: Sensitivity Analysis: Amazing work here.
3. LP Applications: formulation of problems in this chapter may be bit difficult at first, but keep reading and you'll learn and appreciate the work that the authors have put in.
4. LP - Simplex Method: My favorite chapter. Is highly readable. This one chapter alone is worth the book.
5. LP - Simplex Sensitivity.
6. Integer LP
7. Project Scheduling - Great, well written chapter, another favorite of mine.
8. Decision Analysis - Good but the problems are repetative.
9. Markov Process - An introduction only, but the application of markov process to accounts receivable anlaysis is very useful for anyone wondering about the applications of markov processes.

Overall a great book that is worth its price.

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Average customer rating:

good, but didn't agree with some of the info
Powerful
Great Reporting on a Fascinating Topic
An entertaining and thought provoking read
a must read

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Malcolm Gladwell
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
The Wisdom of Crowds
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

ASIN: 0316010669
Release Date: 2007-04-03

Amazon.com

Gladwell includes caveats about leaping to conclusions: marketers can manipulate our first impressions, high arousal moments make us "mind blind," focusing on the wrong cue leaves us vulnerable to "the Warren Harding Effect" (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president). In a provocative chapter that exposes the "dark side of blink," he illuminates the failure of rapid cognition in the tragic stakeout and murder of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He underlines studies about autism, facial reading and cardio uptick to urge training that enhances high-stakes decision-making. In this brilliant, cage-rattling book, one can only wish for a thicker slice of Gladwell's ideas about what Blink Camp might look like. --Barbara Mackoff

Book Description

Blink is about the first two seconds of looking--the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of "thin slices" of behavior. The key is to rely on our "adaptive unconscious"--a 24/7 mental valet--that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea. Gladwell includes caveats about leaping to conclusions: marketers can manipulate our first impressions, high arousal moments make us "mind blind," focusing on the wrong cue leaves us vulnerable to "the Warren Harding Effect" (i.e., voting for a handsome but hapless president). In a provocative chapter that exposes the "dark side of blink," he illuminates the failure of rapid cognition in the tragic stakeout and murder of Amadou Diallo in the Bronx. He underlines studies about autism, facial reading and cardio uptick to urge training that enhances high-stakes decision-making.In this brilliant, cage-rattling book, one can only wish for a thicker slice of Gladwell's ideas about what Blink Camp might look like.--Barbara Mackoff

Customer Reviews:

good, but didn't agree with some of the info.......2007-10-11

This book was an interesting read until I reached the chapter "Seven seconds in the bronx" I disagree that police officers should be taught to look at a persons face when most officers are killed by the HANDS of another person. I agree that a lot can be learned by evaluating a person's facial expressions; however, I am always skeptical about persons who second guess anothers actions. I had an appreciation for the book as a whole. I would never encourage a police officer to focus on an offenders facial expression, PERIOD! Take a ride in a patrol car and see what body part you focus on.

Powerful.......2007-10-11

Amazing and insightful information written in a very engaging style. This book can help you be more objective, evaluate opinions of others, avoid prejudice, even help relationships including marriage. Very astute insights to help decision making. I highly recommend it.

Great Reporting on a Fascinating Topic .......2007-10-10

Gladwell takes a fascinating topic -- how the mind works without us knowing it -- and does some of his best reporting work. He covers a broad spectrum of research and events that are fascinating, especially when connected under the broader topic. I've read it twice and referred to it several other times. I was hoping for something at the end to give me clarity on what to do with the information now that I have it, but it wasn't there. That may have been intentional on the author's part; he might want us to draw our own conclusions. But that was an expectation I developed as I was reading that wasn't fulfilled in the end. That does not in any way take away from the quality of the writing and the expansiveness of the information. "Blink" quickly made my list of favorite reads.

An entertaining and thought provoking read.......2007-10-09

An engaging and easily read essay on the way we think, and how "shooting from the hip" isn't always such a bad thing...when it's backed up by experience. Gladwell's research into an area completely removed from his own arena of expertise is detailed and thorough. He approaches the subject with enough humility and honest curiosity that the reader feels he is more along for the ride than being lectured from the podium as are most tomes on psychology and sociology. Especially noteworthy are his many references to specific studies and the occasional invitation to participate in a few prove to be...illuminating to say the least (I swore I wasn't bigoted, until...).

a must read.......2007-10-09

I've been recommended to read this book by my mentor, and I have to say he was right (as very often he is). This is definetely the kind of book that make you say: hey, I didn't know, but know that I'm thinking about, that's true!

Interesting episodes that you have always lived, and know you can understand why

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

Average customer rating:

5 stars for 5 dysfunctions
Definition of Team ?
Education View
Can't Say Enough!
Engaging Story, Powerfully Simple Ideas

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
Patrick M. Lencioni
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators
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Accessories:

Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators

ASIN: 0787960756

Amazon.com

Once again using an astutely written fictional tale to unambiguously but painlessly deliver some hard truths about critical business procedures, Patrick Lencioni targets group behavior in the final entry of his trilogy of corporate fables. And like those preceding it, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is an entertaining, quick read filled with useful information that will prove easy to digest and implement. This time, Lencioni weaves his lessons around the story of a troubled Silicon Valley firm and its unexpected choice for a new CEO: an old-school manager who had retired from a traditional manufacturing company two years earlier at age 55. Showing exactly how existing personnel failed to function as a unit, and precisely how the new boss worked to reestablish that essential conduct, the book's first part colorfully illustrates the ways that teamwork can elude even the most dedicated individuals--and be restored by an insightful leader. A second part offers details on Lencioni's "five dysfunctions" (absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results), along with a questionnaire for readers to use in evaluating their own teams and specifics to help them understand and overcome these common shortcomings. Like the author's previous books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, this is highly recommended. --Howard Rothman

Book Description

In The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Patrick Lencioni once again offers a leadership fable that is as enthralling and instructive as his first two best-selling books, The Five Temptations of a CEO and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive. This time, he turns his keen intellect and storytelling power to the fascinating, complex world of teams.

Kathryn Petersen, Decision Tech's CEO, faces the ultimate leadership crisis: Uniting a team in such disarray that it threatens to bring down the entire company. Will she succeed? Will she be fired? Will the company fail? Lencioni's utterly gripping tale serves as a timeless reminder that leadership requires as much courage as it does insight.

Throughout the story, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams even the best ones-often struggle. He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team. Just as with his other books, Lencioni has written a compelling fable with a powerful yet deceptively simple message for all those who strive to be exceptional team leaders.

Customer Reviews:

5 stars for 5 dysfunctions.......2007-10-10

My business partner and I made this required reading to all employees. We started with the management team and quickly found that establishing trust (the first step) across the team was the hardest. Once we accomplished this first step, the rest came much easier. Implementing and using the exercises in this book have helped align our company across all levels. It has helped catapult our growth in 2007.

Definition of Team ?.......2007-10-02

While the model would be beneficial in training a group on team fundamentals, the writing and the story actually hinder the message.

"Relieved, Kathryn was more than happy to give Mikey everything she asked for. But she knew better than to say so right there. "I'm not sure about all of that, but I will see if I can make it happen."

I am not so naive that I think lies and manipulation doesn't happen from management to employees. I am surprised when it is from the hero in the model who touts team trust and commitment, then lies and pretends that she will work hard and go to bat for the employee being asked to leave. People who are honest when it works for them and not honest when that works for them aren't trustworthy. I lost respect for Kathryn right there on page 159.

How about: "Yes, I'm sure we can." Or "Let me give that to HR and have them get in touch with you" or "I will get back to you on the severance agreement." Those are truthful and authentic, not pretending that you are going to pull strings or go the extra mile when it's not true and you're actually relieved with what little the employee asked for. Does the end justify the means?

Sports Teams are about performance and not personalities that get along with everyone else on the team. Does every man on a professional football team get along with every other male on the team? If the team member they all dislike for whatever reason they dislike him, continually catches the football and scores... the team keeps him.

I do not see the conversations that happened between the CEO and an executive in The Five Dysfunctions (TFD) occurring in professional basketball. Can you see the coach telling Michael Jordan, you are excellent in your chosen field, but the other team members complain about your attitude and you did call one of them an S.O.B, so we're going to dismiss you from the team. In TFD their personality and attitudes, not their performance was the issue for dismissal.

There are several instances where the writer sets the stage for some dramatic event. They never happen. The chapters involving the CEO Kathryn and the executive Mikey are anti-climatic.

The storyteller tries to build Mikey up with sentences like: "But Mikey was cleverer than the average executive." (Really, that's the sentence.) The story goes on to explain that the CEO thought Mikey was coming to terms with the dismissal.... and ends the chapter with "But she was wrong."
I was waiting for something "dramatic" to happen, here it is:

Mikey then says her husband is an attorney and it won't be easy to make a case for termination. The CEO explains then your behavior would have to change, because you don't like to be criticized, don't apologize, roll your eyes and called a team member an SOB. Mikey was "stunned" and "Confronted with stark evidence, she realized the weight of her dilemma." She resigns and leaves before any co-worker could see her.
Yea, that's cleverer. Stark evidence of what? Not having "artificial harmony?" (One of the five dysfunctions)

I think it would help if any book written on Team Building would begin by defining what the author means by the word "Team." Not just reference Sports Teams as an analogy.(This book references a basketball team) Even though you can pull examples of great coaching or instances from sports teams, the rules are different in sports teams and work teams. If the team concepts work so well, why don't all sports teams do well in their competitions? Maybe,it has more to do with the coaching (leaders, management) than the "team."

I understand this was to be a simple story to illustrate the Five Functions of a workgroup or team. I agree the five functions are valuable and foster a place of safety and creativity. Seeing them spelled out and discussed could benefit a team. Although is it really a revelation that any team would be a better team if they operated with the five functions than a team that didn't?

Education View.......2007-09-30

I bought this book because it is required for a graduate level education class that I am enrolled in. Although the story is set in the business world, the strategies suggested are also applicable to the educational setting as well.

This is a quick and easy read. I like that it is not preachy...it just tells a story and allows the reader to take what he/she needs to take from it.

Can't Say Enough!.......2007-09-29

This is an easy read -- but the concepts are powerful.

I took a highly disfunctional group of talented people -- and using the concepts presented, now have a high performance team.

Ok, it took several years -- and some effort -- but this book gave us a roadmap.

Go to their website -- and use the on-line Team assessment to measure you're progress.

Seriously, this book really helped us -- and we are really doing great! No lie...

Engaging Story, Powerfully Simple Ideas.......2007-09-11

Patrick Lencioni's book The Five Disfunctions of a Team is a simple read with powerful ideas for how we need to evaluate and reshape teams. I like his use of fables in business literature to give you a good story backed by common-sense organizational development advice that isn't so common-sense.

Read it!

Statistics for Management and Economics (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac )

Average customer rating:

Not so good!

Statistics for Management and Economics (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac )
Gerald Keller
Manufacturer: South-Western College Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Managerial Accounting

ASIN: 0534491243

Book Description

This worldwide best-selling business statistics text teaches students how to apply statistics to real business problems through the author's unique three-step approach to problem solving. Students learn to IDENTIFY the right technique by focusing on the problem objective and data type. They then learn to COMPUTE the statistics either by hand, using Excel, or using MINITAB. Finally, they INTERPRET the results in the context of the problem. Keller's approach enhances student comprehension as well as practical skills. The book offers maximum flexibility to instructors wishing to teach concepts by hand or with the computer, or by using both hand and computer methods.

Customer Reviews:

Not so good!.......2005-12-10

Now in my second statistics course, I have a great base in statistics. This book seems to confuse everything that i've already learned. I would recommend using The Basic Practice of Statistics over this book anyday.

Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape

Average customer rating:

Fair
Well-written, concise, with specific examples
Open Business Models for Those Who Rely on Technology Innovation and Need Intellectual Property Protection
Innovation requires an open mind...and the courage to challenge "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom."
The World It Is a'Changin

Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape
Henry Chesbrough
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1422104273

Book Description

In his landmark book Open Innovation, Henry Chesbrough demonstrated that because useful knowledge is no longer concentrated in a few large organizations, business leaders must adopt a new, “open” model of innovation. Using this model, companies look outside their boundaries for ideas and intellectual property (IP) they can bring in, as well as license their unutilized home-grown IP to other organizations.

In Open Business Models, Chesbrough takes readers to the next step—explaining how to make money in an open innovation landscape. He provides a diagnostic instrument enabling you to assess your company’s current business model, and explains how to overcome common barriers to creating a more open model. He also offers compelling examples of companies that have developed such models—including Procter & Gamble, IBM, and Air Products.

In addition, Chesbrough introduces a new set of players—“innovation intermediaries”—who facilitate companies’ access to external technologies. He explores the impact of stronger IP protection on intermediate markets for innovation, and profiles firms (such as Intellectual Ventures and Qualcomm) that center their business model on innovation and IP.

This vital resource provides a much-needed road map to connect innovation with IP management, so companies can create and capture value from ideas and technologies—wherever in the world they are found.

Customer Reviews:

Fair.......2007-06-21

This is another pretty good book from the author. As in his earlier book, he starts with the motivation for open innovation, which is an old idea but that is not well practiced. In this new book he addresses many of the shorcomings of the first book, such as getting real value out of the partnerships that can be formed while overcoming internal issues, such as NIH. He then talks about different ways companies go about this. What drives you crazy is that he seems unaware that companies have been doing this forever. In the consumer electronics industry, for example, open innovation is mostly the model. Companies like GE, TI, and RCA were examples. In the case of GE and RCA they go back almost 100 years.

Well-written, concise, with specific examples.......2007-06-02

As with his previous book Open Innovation, Chesbrough provides a concise and easily read review of important new trends in high-tech management. In this book the focus is on the path an innovation takes to profitability in the marketplace. Among the topics reviewed are novel "intermediate markets" for ideas and technology.

I particularly appreciated the chapters of the book that provide nine examples of companies that are more-or-less "pure play" innovation intermediaries. Companies like Innocentive, Ocean Tomo, and UTEK are profiled in depth. I appreciate the specificity, which will allow the reader to evaluate Chesbrough's insights into the future: By following up on the progress of these companies, we'll see how well Chesbrough hit the mark. This specificity is rare in business books.

It will be interesting to see where Chesbrough's interests flow in future. I would welcome a focus on public sector research institutions. A comparison of the innovation and commercialization models among universities, NIH, NASA, ESA, etc. could be helpful to policy makers as Open Innovation ideas gain wider acceptance.

Open Business Models for Those Who Rely on Technology Innovation and Need Intellectual Property Protection.......2007-05-14

This book is misnamed. Rather than being about open business models, the book's topic is about how to open business models to benefit from access to more technological innovation and strengthen your competitive posture through intellectual property.

As a result, Professor Chesbrough creates a misapprehension that successful open business models are almost always linked to technological innovation as their main purpose and benefit. My own research (with Carol Coles in The Ultimate Competitive Advantage: Secrets of Continuously Developing a More Profitable Business Model) indicates just the opposite point: Technological innovation is rarely the most effective way to open up your business model to create improvements.

So, this book's value is mostly to those who work in achieving or creating more benefits from technology innovation. If that is your interest, you've come to the right book. If that's not your interest, skip this book.

Why do those involved in achieving or creating more benefits from technology innovation need to open their business models? Professor Chesbrough points to several influences:

1. Technological innovation is coming from more sources than ever before. As a result, you will be developing inferior technology without accessing the best of what the world has to offer.

2. Most intellectual property isn't used for any practical purpose. That's a waste of social and company resources.

3. The protections for intellectual property are stronger now, and your pathway to progress will be blocked without collaborating with those who have complementary IP.

4. Product cycles are shorter and costs of developing new technologies are higher; open business models offer the promise of getting to market sooner at lower cost so that your business has a better chance of earning a decent return on new technology.

5. Large companies need to make new product development more productive if they are to meet their growth goals.

Professor Chesbrough does a nice job of developing those themes. He balances theoretical arguments with case histories of recent practices.

Of even more value, he explains how companies will have a hard time finding all of the technology they need without help. As a result, he feels that intermediaries will turn out to be important to helping connect organizations. His case histories of such intermediaries are very interesting in showing how difficult it is to play such intermediary roles without deep pockets.

For those who are new to the subject of technological innovation in the context of business models, you will find his descriptions of what a business model is (see page 182) and types for assessing your business model (see pages 132-133) to be helpful. The only quibble I would make with his types is that in his examples he assumes relative undifferentiation in industries and business types where there are often large nontechnological differentiations.

I found the last chapter to be by far the most helpful, in describing three case histories (IBM, Procter & Gamble, and Air Products) for showing how large organizations went from closed to open business models for the purpose of technological innovation. In fact, the discussion of Procter & Gamble's practices is the best one that I have read. That point, by itself, is sufficient to commend this book to you. I suspect that almost everyone will be doing what Procter & Gamble is doing now ten years hence.

Excellent work, Professor Chesbrough!

Innovation requires an open mind...and the courage to challenge "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." .......2007-03-14

What is an open business model? In Chapter 1, here's Henry Chesbrough's response to that question: "A business model performs two important functions: it creates value and it captures a portion of that value. It creates value by defining a series of activities from raw materials through to the final consumer that will yield a new product or service with value being added throughout the various activities. The business model captures value by by establishing a unique resource, asset, or position within that series of activities, where the firm enjoys a competitive advantage."

Having thus established a frame-of-reference, Chesbrough continues: "An open business model uses this new division of innovation labor - both in the creation of value and in the capture of a portion of that value. Open models create value by leveraging many more ideas, due to their inclusion of a variety of external concepts. Open models can also enable greater value capture, by using a key asset, resource, or position not only in the company's own business model but also in other companies businesses."

These two brief excerpts are provided because Chesbrough`s definitions of various terms are far clearer and more authoritative than mine could possibly be. Also, these excepts address the "what" so that in the balance of this brilliant book, Chesbrough can then focus almost entirely on the "why" and "how" concerning the design, implementation, modification, and performance measurement of open business models.

I was especially interested in what Chesbrough has to say about what several quite different exemplary companies -- including IBM, Qualcomm, Genzyme, Procter & Gamble, and Chicago (the musical stage show and film) -- share in common: "each started with an idea that traveled from invention to market through at least two different companies" which shared the work of innovation, and, all were assisted by effective management of an open business model. Chesbrough also devotes a substantial attention to IBM whose type 3 business model (i.e. multiple segmentations, "inside-out" mindset) reached a financial crisis in 1992. Had the IBM board not replaced its then CEO with Lou Gerstner and fully supported his leadership throughout an immensely complicated and equally difficult transformation , it is probable that IBM would not have survived. Gerstner deserves much of the credit for the success of that "cultural revolution" (as he once described it) but much credit should also be assigned to IBM's open source business model. Procter & Gamble is another company which completed an especially difficult transition from having internal staff members who protected (hoarded?) various technologies so that other companies, including potential competitors, could not use them to becoming a company with a much more open approach to innovation. Chesbrough notes that P&G began to pay much greater attention of external licensing of its technologies, (e.g. to BearingPoint), now strongly supports openly partnering for driving growth equity joint ventures (e.g. with Clorox), and an entirely new perspective on competitive advantage.

According to Jeff Weedman, vice president of P&G's external business development: "There are many kinds of competitive advantage. The original view here was: I have got it, and you don't. Then there is the view, that I have got it, you have got it, but I have it cheaper. Then there is I have got it, you have got it, but I got it first. Then there is I have got it, you have gotten it from me, so I make money when I sell it, and I make money when you sell it." To me, that in essence describes the primary competitive advantage of the open business model.

I also appreciate what is rarely provided in other business books: detailed notes (Pages 217-242) which are clustered per chapter. As I read them, it seemed as if Chesbrough were standing next to me, supplementing his narrative with additional comments that are always informative and frequently entertaining. What also struck me about Chesbrough's notes is that they enable him to acknowledge various sources with appreciation and admiration. His was obviously an open source approach to the research for this book and then to the writing of it.

To thrive in the new innovation landscape, change agents must have both an open mind and the courage to challenge what James O'Toole characterizes, in Leading Change, as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." They would also be well-advised to absorb and digest the material in this book. Congratulations to Henry Chesbrough on a brilliant achievement.

The World It Is a'Changin.......2007-03-04

We have become accustomed to the fact that innovation has become a standard of the industrial world. Indeed companies like Microsoft market (very successfully) what is essentially nothing but an arrangement of bits. One of the things that this book brings to mind is that a lot of other companies (Procter & Gamble, Air Products) are innovative in a business that you wouldn't think of as being particularly innovative.

This book is exploring fairly new ground in its concept of 'Open Innovation,' that is creating a marketplace for innovation itself. You might not be able to capitalize on your new innovative idea, perhaps Air Products can, or perhaps you can use something that Procter & Gamble has done. And where that's a market like that, there are new specialty companies in the business of marketing innovation between companies.

We live in a time where the future is going to require major changes, peak oil and global warming to name two harbingers of change. Companies that continue to live in the old world are going to have a very hard time -- go look at Ford and GM

Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities

Average customer rating:

The Best Hope for Public Schools
Very good book for college class...
Golden Dancer

Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities
Robert Eaker , Richard Dufour , and Rebecca Burnette
Manufacturer: Solution Tree
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Policy | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement
Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don't Learn
On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities
Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work (Book & CD-ROM)
If You Don't Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students: Guide to Success for Administrators and Teachers (Kids' Stuff)

ASIN: 1879639890

Product Description

The focus of Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities is answering the most common question posed by schools seeking to start their transformation into professional learning communities: Where do we begin? In the Introduction, the authors present the PLC concept, making the book accessible to those who have not yet read Professional Learning Communities at Work and providing a review of the framework for those who have. The main focus of the Introduction is that PLC is not a cookie-cutter approach, but rather a process that can be complex and non-linear. The book provides the reader access to a solid conceptual framework and concrete illustrations of how schools operate when they are functioning as PLCs, as well as to assessments for determining the effectiveness of their efforts.

Customer Reviews:

The Best Hope for Public Schools.......2007-06-26

As a public school teacher and teacher trainer I feel strongly that the best reform schools can make is involving teachers and administrators in professional conversations as colleagues about teaching and learning. This book is a very good "how to do it" manual.

Very good book for college class..........2007-05-10

I needed this book for a college class. The price of the book was very reasonable and I was quite pleasantly surprised that the book was actually interesting. This is one book that I plan to keep and not sell back to the school. I think the book will be a good resource even after I've finished my degree work.

Golden Dancer.......2006-09-22

In the movie Inherit the Wind, the story of Golden Dancer is related to the audience. Golden Dancer was a beautiful and expensive wooden rocking horse that a family bought for its child after saving for it. The first time the child rode the horse, it collapsed as the wood was rotten to the core; so, is the DuFour premise as found on page 37. His conclusion that all students can achieve at the same level (learn specified topics) is asinine. He argues that all that is needed for struggling students is more time and support. He refuses to take into account intelligence and student effort (responsibility) in his equation. If his premise has any chance of coming true, teachers will have to dumb down what they teach to the lowest common denominator. Additionally, he and his colleagues lump all "traditional schools" into the same problem heap. His approach is simplistic and insulting. I would give this book zero stars, but that is not an option.

Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management

Average customer rating:

No 'one size fits all' solutions here
A balanced, practical look at management "beliefs"...
Finally ... A Management Book Worth Reading
Find your company in this book and squirm
Hard to Believe

Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management
Jeffrey Pfeffer , and Robert I. Sutton
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Decision-Making & Problem Solving | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action
The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
What Were They Thinking?: Unconventional Wisdom About Management
Thinking for a Living: How to Get Better Performances And Results from Knowledge Workers
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning

ASIN: 1591398622

Book Description

The best organizations have the best talent. . . Financial incentives drive company performance. . . Firms must change or die.

Popular axioms like these drive business decisions every day. Yet too much common management “wisdom” isn’t wise at all—but, instead, flawed knowledge based on “best practices” that are actually poor, incomplete, or outright obsolete. Worse, legions of managers use this dubious knowledge to make decisions that are hazardous to organizational health.

This practical and candid book challenges leaders to commit to evidence-based management as a way of organizational life – and shows how to finally turn this common sense into common practice.

Customer Reviews:

No 'one size fits all' solutions here.......2007-08-21

In this well written book, Stanford Professors Pfeffer and Sutton demonstrate the dangers of copying others, blindly applying conventional wisdom, or accepting ideologically based fables without understanding how the underlying human behavioral principles and fundamentals apply to the situation at hand. It asks us to look at the underlying assumptions about how people think and operate - are people really motivated only by the stick or the carrot? Is the relational model for the `rest of life' really different than the relational model for our `work life'? If neither assumption is a fundamental truth, should we be using policies and practices that make these assumptions?

It encourages leaders and organizations to constantly `be in learning' rather than looking for `the answer' in a best practice book or seminar. Simply put, `copy & paste' of someone else's answer is seldom, if ever, your answer on a performance improvement test. If you are thinking that evidence-based management means, "show me who is using this practice", or "show me where this policy is working"; read the entire book. What at first sounds like a declaration that only statistically proven, historical practices should be accepted as the basis for future practices is in itself a dangerous half-truth that will limit the future to a repeat of the past. Hard Facts is recommended for leaders who will read the book in its entirety. Dennis DeWilde, author of "The Performance Connection"

A balanced, practical look at management "beliefs"..........2007-07-12

Pfeffer and Sutton take a hard look at a few management beliefs that have seemed universally accepted in one form or another. Of the ones presented, I have heard and read the most about 1) best organizations have the best people, 2) strategy is destiny, and 3) change or die. The authors have done a very good job at showing that some beliefs are not always true under all circumstances and, in fact, quite often false or at least "half-truths". I also found the financial incentives chapter particularly compelling as it seems that a more balanced reward system is better for most companies in the long run.

I found most of the advice for handling these beliefs to be very sound although a recurring theme is just take a step back, look at hard evidence, and not necessarily follow "the crowd". This book would be best appreciated and most easily "implemented" by executive management but is also a very interesting read for anyone who wants to build out their general management knowledge. Overall, a pretty insightful and practical read.

Finally ... A Management Book Worth Reading.......2007-07-09

The problem with the puffed up, presumptuous world of management literature and reasearch is that it is neither. Most books are an appalling mixture of presumed truths, mishmashed ideas set up, many times as a "science." In fact it Management is much more a dismal art than Economics ever was a dismal science.

But now enter the duo who wrote this book... the true essence of the book could be:

1) lesson of wisdom... wisdom in the Platonic sense -- knowing what you do not know and being smart enought to admit when you do not know and brave enought to continue on using;

2) evidence-based management. This means empirical management, hard facts, not preconcieved notions of how the world is or should work.

Evidence-based management is based upon a scientific approach and this book take evidence-based medicine as its template for how to arrange business. In evidence-based management there is no immutable truth -- science and the socratic method of inquiry mean that the playing field is level. Poeple are able to challenge preconceived ideas, but they must also be willing to submit their ideas to the scrutiny of analyse. Pfeffer et al, give good examples of preconcieved ideas that are either not true or half-baked. Incentive pay is one -- it works in simple, non-dependent environments where individuals control results. It does NOT work in highly structured environments where results depend upon complex interactions with others... ie. Cold-callers should be incentivised by pay-for-performance, but doctors and teachers clearly should not -- and all the imperical evidence supports the above assertion.

So why do people have such a knee-jerk reaction and assume that everyone only needs to be incentivised to spur them ever onwards to better results...? Pfeffer et al, suggest that it is popular culture and sort of presumed ideological supposition that is never challenged.

Other ideas challenged in this book by Evidence-based Management tecniques are:

STRATEGY: Its nowhere near as important as knowing what to do. In fact concentrating only on strategy is most often wrong. What is much more necessary is having a process to implement changes little by little.

LEADERS: Not as important as billed. Change at the top has almost no correlation with corporate performance. Leadership does matter to a degree, but not as much as good systems of work. Here again is the banal overwhelmed by the sexy presumption that someone who is in power of a company must "actually control results" -- as Pfeffer et al show... they clearly do not. Good process, good middle line managers who implement well and who know and listen to process management determine which companies will succeed more than good leaders.

This book was one of the few management tomes that I actually looked forward to reading when I picked it up. I have already ordered "The Knowing-Doing Gap." A very refreshing change and real wisdom for a wretched genre.

Find your company in this book and squirm.......2007-06-19

This excellent book lays out why and how companies fail to drive their business based on evidence, and instead "miracle cure" advice and personal reactions - largely to the detriment of everyone involved. The book quickly lays out why you should take an evidence-based approach and some guidelines on how. The meat of the book comes in chapters on various half-truths that are dangerous in terms of managing people and organizations:

- Is work fundamentally different from the rest of life and should it be
- Do the best organizations have the best people
- Do financial incentives drive company performance
- Is strategy destiny?
- Is it change or die
- Are great leaders in control of their companies (and should the be)?

They wrap up with a call for evidence-based management. The book is well-written, funny in many places and slightly depressing (if you don't see yourself or your company in any of the "how not to" stories I will be astonished) but very worthwhile. Some of my favorite quotes include:
"If doctor's practiced medicine the way many companies practice management, there would be far more sick and dead patients, and many more doctor's would be in jail"
"If you think you have a new idea, you are wrong. Someone problably already had it. This idea isn't original either; I stole it from someone else
Sutton's Law"
"Treat your business as an unfinished prototype"
"No brag, just facts"

In particular they recommend making sure you have identifed cause and effect when considering past successes, taking account of changing circumstances and establishing why something was effective before adopting it. They emphasize the importance of attacking assumptions and establishing which are pre-conditions for success. The book lays out plenty of evidence on the importance of narrow testing of new ideas before rolling them out, especially in ways analogous to the double-blind study used in medicine. They discuss the importance not of individual leaders being great but of them building a structure within which people can be successful (think Toyota) and they conclude by reminding us that wisdom is knowing what you know and what you don't know while still acting on the best available data and being willing to change as new data becomes available.

I would also recommend three other books I have reviewed recently:
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning
Tom Davenport's book shows one aspect of evidence-based management - driving company behavior with analytics - and uses some of the same examples (Harrah's, for one)
Making Robust Decisions: Decision Management For Technical, Business, & Service Teams
David Ullman's book is a great discussion of decision-making in the face of uncertainty, a key skill in evidence-based management
The Halo Effect: ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers
Phil Rosenzweig's book disses many of the same business trend half-truths with even more wit than this one. If you are cynical about fix-everything-with-technique-X books, and you probably should be, this is a great book

Lastly if you are more technically minded and enjoy this book, you might enjoy the one I have just finished:Smart Enough Systems: How to Deliver Competitive Advantage by Automating Hidden Decisions

Hard to Believe.......2007-06-04

Pfeffer & Sutton's book is all about how bias and incorrect "common sense" can lead us astray in making management decisions. They show how a great deal of what passes as business management advice is just not all that good. In fact, some of it is, as the title says, total nonsense.
That said, it was far less of a book than I wanted it to be. The title, you see, has this really bold lettering for HARD FACTS. In smaller type underneath is the rest of the title. In fact, on my copy the Total Nonsense is in bigger type than the Half-Truths part (the latter even being gray on a black background). Yet, as I read the book, I kept looking for the HARD FACTS and found a lot of references to Half-Truths. The basic premise seems to be that while most advice is correct in some settings, it is only when it is taken as truth for all time that it becomes dangerous.
I wanted graph after graph of facts from all the studies people mention but never put into digestible form. I wanted to get the translation of management studies into facts that I can use. However, what I did get was basic management book stylistic convention: assertion of some truth followed by an example from one of seven (plus or minus two) case studies. Not that this is all bad, far from it. But it seemed sad given the large HARD FACTS on the top. In fact, I find the convention easy reading. But it doesn't really give me the HARD FACTS. I guess I would have to go into the footnotes (ugh), read all the studies mentioned (ugh, ugh), and then draw the graphs, charts, and summaries (ugh, ugh, ugh). That is what I thought this book would do and doesn't.
So I think it becomes another interesting book that will be put aside for another interesting book in about five months. Are there good insights? Sure. Do I trust all their sources? I don't know why I should since they never explain why they do (the "lots of studies" logic). So maybe they are right, but it is hard to believe.

Predictable Surprises: The Disasters You Should Have Seen Coming, and How to Prevent Them (Leadership for the Common Good)

Average customer rating:

Enlightening
On Target - Bullseye - Should have seen it coming
Predictably bad
Predictably OK
Updating the March of Folly

Predictable Surprises: The Disasters You Should Have Seen Coming, and How to Prevent Them (Leadership for the Common Good)
Max H. Bazerman , and Michael D. Watkins
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Decision-Making & Problem Solving | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Planning & Forecasting | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Systems & Planning | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Deals | Blowout Books | Stores | Books

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Judgment in Managerial Decision Making
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The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels

ASIN: 1591391784

Book Description

Most events that catch us by surprise are both predictable and preventable, but we consistently miss (or ignore) the warning signs

This book shows why such “predictable surprises” put us all at risk, and shows how we can understand, anticipate, and prevent them before disaster strikes.

There is a universal fear factor surrounding this subject: that society and the workplace are filled with disasters in the making that we could prevent if we only knew what to look for. This book plays on that fear and offers a positive, proactive resolution to it.

Customer Reviews:

Enlightening.......2007-08-27

The book jumps around but makes clear and valid points. A great eye opener! I would recommend this to students, leaders, informed citizens...just about anybody. I'm definitely getting more copies for friends and loved ones.

On Target - Bullseye - Should have seen it coming.......2005-10-07

Anyone who has worked for some sort of organization, government agency, business, university or whatever, will empathise with "Predictable Surprises" by Bazerman and Watkins. This book focuses on the early and late warning signs, the cover-ups, the denials, and the eventual consequences of failing to take action to avert disaster. I've been in far too many situations where I observed that the peple "in charge" (really??) were blindsided by their own limited vision to the realities of what was happening within their organizations.

There are two "Predictable Surprises" that weren't included. First, Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath in New Orleans. Anyone visiting that city and talking with one's professional compatriates could have seen coming what unfolded before our eyes. The warning signs and studies were out there and ignored. That's why those who had a reasonable level of education left town and paid attention to the evacuation notices.

The other predictable surprise that was missed was the sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. I'm Protestant but know a lot of fine Roman Catholic people. I heard things as long ago as fifty years and knew then that this situation was going to explode in the public domain. "Predictable Surprises" provides the principals that explain why this particular surprise was kept under the radar so long.

An outstanding book that should be read by everyone working in the corporate world, a government agency, a university, the military, or a non-profit organization. Your life may depend on knowing what's in this book.

Predictably bad.......2005-06-14

A major shortcoming of Bazerman and Watkins' book is the failure to provide adequate evidence to support their arguments about what they call "predictable surprises", which they define as "an event or series of events that take an individual or group by surprise, despite prior awareness of all of the information necessary to anticipate the events and their consequences." Bazerman and Watkins build their case substantially on just two examples: aviation security failures leading to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and auditor independence concerns leading to the collapse of Enron and Arthur Anderson. Several other examples are discussed in less depth throughout the text, however many of these are not actually predictable surprises under the definition provided. For example, global warming is discussed a number of times; however global warming has been in public discussion since the 1930s, and today a substantial majority of people believe not only the concept of global warming but that current warming is man-made. By 2050, this subject will have been under study for 120 years and popular consensus will have been achieved for 50-60 years. This is certainly predictable, but hardly a surprise. The United States' looming crisis in entitlement spending also falls in this category.

Flaws exist in other anecdotal support as well. For example, Bazerman and Watkins cite aviation security failures as an occasion when overly discounting the future lead to a predictable surprise. Quick calculation based on figures provided in the book show that, using equal discount rates for the expected future cost of security and the future cost of disaster, even with a disaster probability as high as 10% for any given year, the airlines would be ahead on a cost basis. The total destruction of both World Trade Center towers and the massive ensuing death toll was not reasonably foreseeable by the airline industry; based on the typical passenger plan carrying 78 people, this was the equivalent of an absurd 41 simultaneous aircraft disasters! Given the cost of implementation and the low probability of such a large disaster, even at a full cost of nearly $50 billion, the airlines' decision to oppose security measures on a cost basis was reasonable. The full scope of this surprise was unlikely enough that it should not be termed "predictable."

Despite some good analysis of reasons predictable surprises occur and ways to avoid them, this book is critically weakened by its lack of evidence. Bazerman and Watkins try to make it stand largely on just the aviation security and auditor independence failures; however these are insufficient evidence for their broad analysis and conclusions, particularly given the weakness of those arguments provided. This book would be substantially more persuasive with more anecdotal support.

Predictably OK.......2005-05-11

In a world ruled by probability, all predictions eventually come true (no matter how impossible.) That said, ignoring the obvious can be disastrous, but the authors methods for prioritizing risk were disappointing.

Updating the March of Folly.......2005-02-23

The authors have found a memorable phrase to describe a depressingly common phenomenon - the occurrence of a disaster or failure that has been widely and often publicly predicted. The term `predictable surprise' will undoubtedly enter the managerial and political language.

They have provided a valuable analysis of why these predictable disasters occur and what can be done to prevent them (while recognizing that there are also such things as `unpredictable surprises' which can not be avoided through these processes).

The book is invaluable for the clear way in which it brings the elements together and for the vividness and immediacy of the examples chosen to illustrate the points. The result is a book that is very readable as well as being immediately useful, even if many of the points have also been made elsewhere by other authors. The book provides a template against which organizations can assess their defences against `predictable surprises', and I suspect that every organization will find gaps in its armour when it measures itself against the recommendations in the book.

The authors also use the book to mount a stinging attack on the failures of the American political system (and by extension those of other countries) and the need for fundamental reform. Their attack on the activities of the special interest groups and their direct responsibility for some of the worst disasters that the US has suffered is particularly pointed. One can only hope that the criticisms will be listened to and acted upon, and that politicians as well as business people will read and note them.

Throughout the book, the systemic, interconnected nature of the processes that lead to predictable surprises is very clear, but the authors do not, in my opinion, highlight the fact as strongly as they should. They do point out that depletion of international fisheries is a classic case of 'the tragedy of the commons', one of several archetypal forms of systems relationship, but virtually every example that the authors cite could well be illustrated with simple systems diagrams based on one or other of the classic 'systems archetypes'. Systemic issues require systemic solutions and the leverage for systemic change may be located well beyond the area of control of the immediate actors - another fact that shows up clearly in the course of the authors' examples.

It is probably no coincidence that I was strongly reminded of Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly as I read the book. The perspective and coverage is different, but the themes of willful ignorance, willful inaction and willful pursuit of perceived short-term self interest as fundamental drivers of future disasters are common to both. If Tuchman were still alive, I would have confidently expected an analysis of Iraq to follow her masterful analysis of the Vietnam war, the American War of Independence and the drivers of the Reformation. In its own way, Predictable Surprises provides a contemporary update of the ways in which we continue the march of folly.

The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably (4th Edition) (Pie)

Average customer rating:

The very best pricing manual
Looking for guidance/framework on how to price our products ...
Great Book
Excellant.
The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably (4th Edition)

The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably (4th Edition) (Pie)
Thomas T. Nagle , and John Hogan
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Microeconomics | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Decision-Making & Problem Solving | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Pricing | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0131856774

Customer Reviews:

The very best pricing manual.......2007-09-23

I bought a second copy of this book after loaning it to too many people to know who had had it last.

The book is not light reading, is highly technical and has more than a little math to comprehend. But, it is worth it.

The strategic thinking is very focused.

If you are stuck on how to price your product or how to combat price competition, read this book.

Looking for guidance/framework on how to price our products ..........2007-03-08

We have the challenge of taking new products and services to the marketplace and really were looking form some guidance on a place to start. The area we are working in is really developing a new market as well. So we were wondering "What Price do we place on these product and services?"

We could not afford the experts on pricing (aka Strategic Pricing Group now part of The Monitor Group). And were looking for a place to start. All research including reviews from Amazon pointed us to start with this book. To myself and our endeavor, it the first 3 weeks of owning the book, I have read several chapters multiple times and the foundation framework on pricing is shares has already proven to be worth many times the price of the book.

On top of it, it is easy to read. Thanks to the people who took the time to make this book.

Great Book.......2007-02-18

This book is a great guide to the topic of pricing. I'm an MBA student and I believe students as well as professionals can benefit from reading this book. It contains structures and frameworks to work out a tailored pricing strategy and they all make sense. Lots of good examples from business practice illustrate the application of the theories.
The book is relatively quantitative for a marketing book, which I find great because there is no argumentation based on psychology and belief, but on quantifiable parameters - one can see the consulting practice of the authors.
What the book pretty much lacks is a citing of new academic research studies of the topics discussed. There are extensive references, however.
All in all a great book to newcomers in pricing as well as experienced pricers.

Excellant........2007-02-11

This is one of the best books in pricing. My Pricing professor recommended that I buy this and said that marketing managers regularly refer to this book in practice. This is a great buy.

The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: A Guide to Growing More Profitably (4th Edition) .......2007-02-06

Worth buying it. Good and useful material.

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