Book Description

From start-up enterprise to mature corporation, this latest edition of the best-selling original explores the seven predictable stages of organizational growth. It also identifies what must be accomplished in each stage to ensure continued development and provides practical guidance for implementing management systems. Thoroughly updated to reflect recent business developments, it contains all-new chapters on strategic planning and structure, along with many new company success stories including those of Starbucks, Jamba Juice, PacifiCare, and American Century Investors.

Click hereM to read the introduction to this important book. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A Must Read...
This book is a must read for anyone in business. For the entrepreneur, it can be used as a guide. For the more experienced business person, it can be used as a dose of reality. Having just completed my MBA and writing my thesis on this very topic, I only wish I had read this book 6 months earlier.

The authors provide an excellent framework for growing a business along with relevant case studies. And while it may look like a typical text book, it is less theory than most. This is one to be kept for years to come!

Thin on ideas, long on text
After having spent three years working at a pretty disorganized dot.com, I wanted to learn more about the right and wrong ways that young firms grow up. This book presents a fair framework that charts a company's growth, though it assumes that the troubles start when too many orders pour in and sales do not result in profits. (Not the case at a dot.com)

Firms are classified into four stages of development, and the text describes the good and bad of each. Some methodologies are presented for "scoring" the company for an offhand appraisal of its strengths and situation. (Kind of like the CMM scale, I guess)

But the worst part about the book was how tedious it was to read. The author spends hundreds of pages explaining just a few core concepts. The text describes, on and on, what the author is going to say next, then says it, and then reminds you about it for page after page. Just get to the point!

Great for beginning CEOs
After 2 successful startups and serving as an executive in three Fortune 500 enterprises, I was doubtful there would be much to learn here. I was surprised to find the book to be rich in insights for both the budding CEO and the experienced enterprise corporate officer. Especially valuable are the maps of where effort needs to be concentrated at various stages of growth and the discussion on the benefits and consequences of different leadership styles. I use the book now to train new corporate leaders.

Easing by understanding the trauma of corporate adolescence
Many entrepreneurs are unprepared for the rigorous organisational demands of rapid growth. As firms mature, the loose, informal management styles that drove them to success become inadequate. Original systems are strained, profits decline, and founders are ousted to make room for more experienced managers.

Drawing on the case studies of recent success stories, the authors show entrepreneurs how to make the successful transition from humble start-up to professionally managed firm without sacrificing the unique spirit that inspired the company in the first place. They provide readers with a framework they can use to evaluate their firm's growth objectively, anticipate problems, pinpoint solutions, and plan strategies that will move their company towards desired goals. They outline the seven predictable stages of organisational growth and identify what must be accomplished in each stage to ensure the company's continued healthy development.

Growing Pains provides the entrepreneur with many proven principles of professional management, offering guidance in such key areas as strategic planning, organisational structure, management development, organisational control, leadership, and corporate culture management. Thoroughly updated to address the realities of today's business environment, this book will help company founders deal with the personal and professional challenges they must confront as they transform their companies into professionally managed firms.

Eric G. Flamholtz is professor of management at UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management and president of Management Systems Consulting Corporation, which he cofounded in 1978. The author of more than one hundred articles and chapters on a variety of management topics, Flamholtz has also published four books. Yvonne Randle is lecturer at UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management's entrepreneurial studies program and vice president of Management Systems Consulting Corporation where she has been a consultant since 1983. She is the author of two books and numerous articles on increasing organisational effectiveness.

See also my review of: MAKING THE CISCO CONNECTION: The Story Behind the Real Internet Superpower David Bunnell with Adam Brate John Wiley & Sons, 2000 ISBN 0-471-35711-1

READ THIS BOOK to build a firm beyond just its founder.
If you have ever been in a start-up enterprise, where the founding member(s) are the driving force of the entrepreneurship, you will find yourself nodding your head up and down, by the time you get to page 10. This is reality! If the quest of the entrepreneurship is to build a lasting company, one that will have a legacy beyond its founder(s), you need this book. Look at GROWING PAINS as a roadmap, not a dictionary. This IS NOT a book to put in the library and rarely look at; rather it IS a book to keep open on your desk, to have dog-eared pages, highlights, and bookmarks, in dozens and dozens of places. For anyone who desires to move the start-up entrepreneurship into the Fortune 500 and beyond, this book IS a must-have. ... Read more

Book Description

Going far beyond previous empirical work, John Kotter and James Heskett provide the first comprehensive critical analysis of how the "culture" of a corporation powerfully influences its economic performance, for better or for worse. Through painstaking research at such firms as Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, ICI, Nissan, and First Chicago, as well as a quantitative study of the relationship between culture and performance in more than 200 companies, the authors describe how shared values and unwritten rules can profoundly enhance economic success or, conversely, lead to failure to adapt to changing markets and environments.

With penetrating insight, Kotter and Heskett trace the roots of both healthy and unhealthy cultures, demonstrating how easily the latter emerge, especially in firms which have experienced much past success. Challenging the widely held belief that "strong" corporate cultures create excellent business performance, Kotter and Heskett show that while many shared values and institutionalized practices can promote good performances in some instances, those cultures can also be characterized by arrogance, inward focus, and bureaucracy -- features that undermine an organization's ability to adapt to change. They also show that even "contextually or strategically appropriate" cultures -- ones that fit a firm's strategy and business context -- will not promote excellent performance over long periods of time unless they facilitate the adoption of strategies and practices that continuously respond to changing markets and new competitive environments.

Fundamental to the process of reversing unhealthy cultures and making them more adaptive, the authors assert, is effective leadership. At the heart of this groundbreaking book, Kotter and Heskett describe how executives in ten corporations established new visions, aligned and motivated their managers to provide leadership to serve their customers, employees, and stockholders, and thus created more externally focused and responsive cultures. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Great for connecting the dots...
This book is a staple for anyone looking to connect the dots between tangible shareholder value and intangible assets. In our work at ThinkShed we often see companies struggling to make the connection between culture (as a metaphor and measure of their operating model) and the direct impact it can have on shareholder value.

We work with companies to help them align their culture(s) to their stated strategy or two help them effectively merge cultures and we will often refer skeptical executives to this book. They read it and they get it! (We then help move them from "getting it" to "getting it done")

This book is a breath of fresh air in a sector that could well do with less rhetoric and more practical steps!

A great foundation for understanding corporate culture
This book, while very academic, gives a solid understanding of several theories about corporate culture and its effects on performance (both short-term and long-term). Rather than starting out with an agenda, they studied hundreds of companies taking analyst's and insider's opinions for information about the culture and then looked at the results. Probably the best finding was that the most successful cultures were those that valued all three interests- customers, shareholders, and employees- consistently.

important research on company performance
If you buy into the argument that the only responsibility of a business is to its stockholders and that paying attention to areas outside of this will result in a lesser-performing company, the research of two Harvard Business School professors suggests just the opposite. John Kotter and James Heskett studied the performance of 207 large firms over an 11-year period. They wrote of their findings:

"Corporate culture can have a significant impact on a firm's long-term economic performance. We found that firms with cultures that emphasized all the key managerial constituencies (customers, stockholders, and employees) and leadership from managers at all levels outperformed firms that did not have those cultural traits by a huge margin. Over an eleven-year period, the former increased revenues by an average of 682 percent versus 166 percent for the latter, expanded their work forces by 282 percent versus 36 percent, grew their stock prices by 901 percent versus 74 percent, and improved their net incomes by 756 percent versus 1 percent."

Consider that final finding again: The companies that paid attention equally to customers, stockholders, and employees outperformed those that didn't in growth of net income over the 11-year period by a factor of 756. Paying attention to more than just returning profits to stockholders can have a huge payoff.

Heskett and Kotter's research presented in this book is important reading for anyone tracking company performance in relation to its culture.

Intellectual, Informative Book on Corporate Culture
This book, though it reads like a textbook or reference, provides good information about this topic and once getting past the writing style, is one that businesspeople could learn from.

Practical and insightful.

Read The Management Masters Series first book Corporate Culture...A must read of this topic, highly recommended.

Academic, but practical, must-read book
Most popular and influential books on business management present the highly personal observations, interpretations, opinions, and conclusions of the author. The author's tenets - often in the form of a "newly discovered" business trend or critical success factor that business executives can ignore only at their own peril - seem objective and impersonal because they are supported by real-world examples that provide strong evidence in their support. Examples that do not support the premise are conveniently ignored or dealt with in a cursory, simplistic manner.

Basically, these books are the result of sharp minds drawing conclusions from their own experience. This approach is certainly valuable and has contributed many valuable ideas about the various means of improving business performance - and probably many more faulty notions that have led management up the garden path.

John Kotter and James Heskett's "Corporate Culture and Performance" sits at the other end of the spectrum from this norm. The book is in effect a report on their scientific investigations of a hypothesis. The authors set out a number of hypotheses and then test them against the hard data of long-term business performance. In doing so, they present solid insights into some of the conventional wisdom spouted by management consultants and authors of business books.

The fundamental source of their hypothesis is the question "What is the relationship between corporate culture and business performance?" The fruits of their research yield important observations on the nature of this relationship.

The authors' well-structured research study, and their sharp analytical abilities permit them to trek deep into the jungle of issues surrounding corporate culture. By speculating and then testing their notions against the research data, they uncover some insights that might be undervalued because they seem so intuitively obvious. One of these is central to the book, namely that "adaptive" cultures - ones that help organizations anticipate and adapt to environmental change - are the most effective at helping a company achieve good long-term financial performance.

If the book and - more important - the research were not infused with the analytical skills of the authors, the book would leave the reader with a great many empirically verified observations about culture and management and an understanding of the key issues, but with no practical way of dealing with the issues.

However, the authors have a lot to offer in the way of practical tips. For example, in presenting a fundamental dilemma, they follow it up with a research-tested approach for dealing with the issue:

"Holding onto a good culture requires being both inflexible with regard to core adaptive values and yet flexible with regard to most practices and other values....And it requires providing strong leadership, yet not strangling or smothering delicate leadership initiatives from below....

"...executives need to differentiate basic values and behaviors that aid adaptation from the more specific practices needed to perform well today. This distinction needs to be made explicit when talking about culture...although executives need to foster pride among employees, they also must be as intolerant as possible of arrogance in others and in themselves. They need to confront, and make others confront, as many of their failings as is practical."

In spite of its many qualities, it is easy enough to see why the book isn't likely to top any best-seller lists. In many places it reads too much like a doctoral thesis, severely limiting accessibility. The academic lingo - "Within the limits of this methodology, we conclude from this study...." - and the occasional embalming of the text in footnotes don't add to the readability, and certainly don't lend the text the "personality glamour" that appeals to the mass-cult audience of best-sellers.

However, the writing does have style and a dry humor, and - above all - important empirically verified, occasionally illuminating facts that business people would be better off knowing and using, rather than stumbling along in the dark. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (18)

A great read!
You've seen Wag the Dog and Primary Colors, you've watched politicians talk out of both sides of their mouths, you've seen the President get into trouble only to have the spin doctors bail him out. Ever wonder where it all started? This book is what you new to read to find out.

Larry Tye gives you the reader an in depth look at Edward Bernay's and the birth of public relation or the beginnings of spin. From Bernay's start in the 1920's to his revolutionary ideas of parading women down the streets of New York to promote smoking you'll get a fist hand look at how spin works.

Read through the 260 plus pages and see why we use spin, how public relations can and does affect public opinion. Watch and learn from the father or master of the public relations. Larry Tye has a well researched and extremely detail account of the beginnings.

Fascinated and educated are the two words to describe what I walked away from this book with. Fascination about Bernay's ability to make things come out his way and sway the public to follow, educated has to how spin control works in today's culture. A great read for all!

a compelling and unexpected biography
Larry Tye takes on a subject that few journalists would regard of savory: the biography of a PR man. One might dismiss PR people as not meriting attention or even toleration. But Tye walks a fine line here because the life of Eddie Bernays has some tension and complexity, and the book makes that clear. He is a worthwhile character study, not just for people in the communications industry, but also those in business more generally, politics, or interested in consumer and opinion issues. As Freud's nephew, Bernays carried around more heritage than most, and how he shoulders that burden creates interest. Bernays also placed himself at the forefront of an industry's development, and that creates another set of issues. The book is fraught with the same conflict that many deal with in communications: are they adding egocentric bias to information, or warping it for vested powers? Lastly, Bernays had a role in helping leaders develop their visibility, but does he stand as a peer at their shoulders? Tye does a great job at making us reflect on these issues in this highly readable book.

the father of spin:edward l bernays & the birth of PR
The book is entertaining in parts and provides interesting information to someone who has no prior knowledge on Bernays. But considering the impact Bernay's ideas & work made on PR and spin and consequently the American way of life, I found the writing style to be rather flippant; and the book, as a whole, skimpy. From the research material available and the interviews which he had conducted, Tye could have written a more substantial if not a scholarly piece, irrespective of his sentiments for Bernays the person. Perhaps, that was not his intention. However, Tye did make a bold claim with his title, and I naturally expected more from his book.

Fascinating Biography of an Amoral Man
Bernays is generally acknowledged as the Father of PR. But, is he also the Father of Spin?

Tye writes a fascinating biography of this key communications individual, filled with the key episodes that earned Bernays his moniker. From getting women to smoke to getting people to eat bacon, Bernays always seemed to figure out a way.

But, Tye focuses heavily on these episodes and gives short shift to the implictions and consequences of Bernays's actions beyond fattening the bottom line. While it is true Bernays could not have fully appreciated all the consequences, his relentless drive to serve his clients reveals a man who forgot that public relations means being the conduit between the public and the client, not being another salesman, no matter how clever.

If you're interested in seeing the modern fruition of Bernays's tactics, then I suggest Michael Levine's Guerilla PR: Wired, which updates Bernays's ideas into the digital age.

Overall, this book is well-worth reading if you're interested in a man's actions. But, if you're interested in seeing how a man's actions can affect the world, then you might be better off with another book.

okay but not great
Larry Tye attempts an ambitious view of Edward Bernays but falls short. While his stories are entertaining he fails to draw a connection between his ideas and the results. Frankly, I found Michael Levine's Guerilla PR Wired to be a much better and useful read. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Concise introduction to Ownership and Control
The introduction by Jensen and Weidenbaum claims that much of the information in this 1932 classic is out-of-date, and therefore not of much use to the reader. I beg to differ. While the references may seem obsolete to university professors who are experts in the field, to the average reader the depression era examples of the growth of the importance of stock issues and the separation of management and control are some of the best available. Moreover, companies like Standard Oil, Fox Pictures, and General Motors are readily identified by the average person. In fact, this book kills two birds with one stone. It provides unsurpassed explanations of the relationship between ownership and control of the modern corporation while providing the reader with some very interesting (and sometimes entertaining) case studies in the history of corporate America. Come to think of it, I would recommend skipping the new introduction all together. It is poorly written and serves only to cheapen the text that follows.

Much of the text consists of tables and charts. Therefore, reading this book will not take long. Anyone who is planning to enter a college business program (i.e. MBA) would do well to read this book as an introduction to the legal and financial workings of public corporations. Without the new introduction, this book would be worth five stars - EASILY. ... Read more

Book Description

The John Deere Way presents timeless business lessons from one of America’s top brands. Even as many American manufacturers struggle with low-cost foreign competition, John Deere has not only prevailed, but increased its market share by offering superior quality products built tough and in accordance with time-tested business values. This book shares the company’s management principles and corporate values and shows how those values guide the company to increasingly greater success. For business owners and leaders who want to know what real long-term success constitutes—and how to achieve it—The John Deere Way is the only way. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

Hamburger History
This book opens with Fred Turner, the former chairman of McDonald's and former fast food french fry maker, answering his own phone. I have thought about that image ever since reading it, when this book first came out (right after Turner retired, with one of the lakes at McDonald's corporate H.Q. named after him), and Mike Quinlan took over. Quinlan also, like Turner, had "ketchup in his veins," having started out in a restaurant like turner.

The book hits the ketchup and vein image so hard, in fact, that by contrast, I worry for the company now that Jack Greenburg, trained as an attorney, is the Chairman, and now that he has made Mr. Kindler, another lawyer who was with the law departmen of General Electric, head of an operating division. What would Ray Kroc make of this?

Mr. Love captures the drama of Kroc almost losing control of the company to another insider who mis-interpreted McDonald's as a real estate company that incidentally marketed hamburgers. No, said Kroc, it's a hamburger company that just needs real estate.

Getting a grip on what the company is today is more possible by reading what it used to be. Business guys are often impatient with history, and they show it by so frequently repeating it.

Made me crave french fries............
I read and enjoyed Fast Food Nation a few years ago and wanted to read more about McDonalds as a corporation that began quite modestly and is now an internationally recognized symbol. This book while critical at times is far less disparaging than Fast Food Nation.

From a business perspective this book offers insight into managemnt, advertising, product development and expansion. I admit I skimmed the long passages on fanchising. The best parts are those describing the fateful meeting of the McDonalds brothers and Ray Kroc who took their idea of trasty, well produced fast food and spun into a national phenomenon.

I enjoyed the chapter dealing with how McDonalds made its foray into the international market as well as how new products were developed. The best ideas came from the franchisees. Kroc was convinced little poundcakes would be top sellers and also introduced a "Hula Burger" of cheese and pineapple ?!? The idea of a chicken entree was oringinally to be a deep fried chicken pie and the mcnuggets began as onion bits deep fried.

It was interesting to read and I liked seeing the evolution of a corporation.

Behind Play Land and Ronald McDonald
The story behind the ubiquitous golden arches, and the man who expanded them coast to coast, (and today they reach the edges of the Earth). This book provides a reader friendly, detailed synopsis of McDonald's through decades of the original brothers, to Ray Kroc's entry and exit of what would become one of the most recognized oranizations of the world. (Whether this fact has positive or negative implications is another matter entirely). This is a good book about Mickey-D's and sheds light on many other aspects of American history, diet, culture, business and advertising.

Two brothers named McDonald went west to California from the north-east. They came with about about $8 dollars in their pockets (according to them) and got jobs moving props on movie sets in Hollywood (sound familiar?) After some initial business ventures the brothers opened their own small restaurant in San Bernadino.

Meanwhile, in the Midwest Ray Kroc left school at 16, and like almost all other achievers that reached his level of success, he had a strong work ethic and a hard-driving tenacity to succeed. Expecially at concepts that intially proved successful (hence SOP procedures). How ya build opon something that has a good and successful foundation. A gifted, successful salesman from an early age, he got a job selling paper cups and sold them for 17 years as one of the top salesman of his company. Some of his clients for example, were Wrigley field's vendors, among other Chicago establishments. In his late thirties, he started selling shake mixers. McDonald's comes into the picture when Kroc noticed that two brothers who owned a drive-in hamburger restaurant in Southern California, kept ordering lots of shake mixing machines, when Kroc's mixer business was dying out everywhere else in the country. He met the McDonald brothers and was greatly impressed by their practices. Ray implored them to expand and they replied "who'd want to do it, we don't," and Kroc became the seller of their franchises in the Midwest. He was very successful at establishing McD's in that part of the country (hint).

For his work he didn't earn a lot because of the deal he made with the brothers (an inkling of what was to come). So he added a creative and logical way to profit from his diligent work in spreading the franchises. He formed a separate corporation, and when setting up franchises he'd purchase the property where a new McDonald's was to be built, from his own original corporation he created. (Read Robert Kiyosaki's "Loophoes of the Rich" for details). So, with his corporations being the owner of the property, Kroc would either collect the rent, or a percentage of the restaurant's profits, whichever was greater, by contract structure. This allowed him to be compensated more fully in addition to his original deal with the McDonald brothers, which wasn't the most favorable.

Kroc was selling the franchises and focusing on keeping the model and SOPs identical for every franchise. Perhaps an analogy to the assembly line of the Ford. Kroc had a methodology. If a winning method was not altered or diluted by individualistic owner operators or franchise restaurants here and there across the country, the sales, expansion, and growth would continue. McDonald's had tapped into what a large part of the American public wanted in post WWII America. Ray later bought McDonald's from the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million cash. When he discovered after the deal was finished that the original McD restaurant in San Bernadino was not included, and was to be kept by the brothers, Kroc had forced them to change their restaurant's name on legal grounds, and then and built a franchise across the street to put them out of business. The brothers asked for this, and likely didn't understand 3 major things: 1. ethical business practices 2. the law 3. common sense.

Advertising: to help solidify more growth and consumer loyalty, Kroc knew the value of kids. He hired top advertising people: enter Ronald McDonald. After some marketing tests in some particular regions, came the major nationwide promotion to get the kiddies pleading with their parents that they wanted to go to Mickey-Ds. Have you heard kids clamour their parents to do this? I have. And today, McDonald's has continued the kid-concept by investing large amounts into the Playgrounds added onto many of its' stores.

McDonald's represents many things about American culture. To Americans, and today throughout the world. No matter what you think of Mickey D's it's quite an interesting story of how it started, evolved and came to it's ubiquity today. It's a fact that those golden arches are more recognized than the Christian cross. Again, whether we think that's good or not leads to several other issues involving, chemicals and food science, general health, obesity, globalization, homogenization, marketing to children, and corporatization.

For additional insights into the McDonald's phenomenon read, Jennifer Talwar's "Fast Food, Fast Track" and Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal," and Fumento's "Fatland."

Interesting And Relevant To Today
The story behind the ubiquitous golden arches, and the man who expanded them coast to coast, (and today they reach edges of the Earth). This book provides a reader friendly, detailed synopsis of MacDonald's through the decades of the original brother to Ray Kroc entry and exit of on of the most recognized emblems of the world. (Whether this fact is has positive or negative implications is another matter entirely). This is a good book about Mickey-D's and sheds light on many other aspects of American history, culture, business and advertising.

Two brothers named McDonald went west to California from the north-east. They came with about $8 dollars and got jobs moving props on movie sets in Hollywood (sound familiar?) After some initial business ventures the brothers opened their own small restaurant in San Bernadino.

In the Midwest Ray Kroc left school at 16, and like almost all other achievers that reached his level of success, he had a strong work ethic and a hard-driving tenacity to succeed at a concept that in+tial+ly proved successful. How ya build on something good. A gifted successful salesman from an early age, he got a job selling paper cups and sold them for 17 years as one of the top salesman of the company. Some of his clients were Wrigley field among other Chicago establishments. In his late thirties, he started selling shake mixers. McDonald's comes into the picture when Kroc noticed that two brothers who owned a drive-in hamburger restaurant in SoCal, kept ordering lots of shake mixing machines, when Kroc's mixer business was dying out everywhere else in the country. He met the McDonald brothers and was greatly impressed by their practices. Kroc become the seller of their franchises in Illinois, and was very successful at establishing and McD's in the Midwest.

For his work he didn't earn a lot because of the deal he made with the two brothers (an inkling of what was to come). So he added a creative and logical way to profit from his diligent work in spreading the franchises. He formed a separate corporation, and when setting up franchises he'd purchase the property where a new McDonald's was to be built. He'd collect the rent or a percentage of the restaurant's profits, whichever was greater. This allowed him to be compensated more fully in addition to his original deal with the McDonald brothers, which wasn't the most favorable.

Kroc was selling the franchises and focusing on keeping the model and SOPs identical for every franchise. Perhaps an analogy to the assembly line of the Ford. Kroc had a methodology. If a winning method was not altered or diluted by a franchise restaurant here and there across the country, the sales, expansion, and growth would continue. McDonald's had tapped into what a large part of the American public wanted in post WWII America. Ray later bought McDonald's from the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million cash. When he discovered after the deal was finished that the original McD restaurant in San Bernadino was not included, and was to be kept by the brothers, Kroc had them change their restaurants name, and he built a franchise across the street to put them out of business.

Advertising:
To help solidify more growth and consumer loyalty, Kroc knew the value of kids. He hired top advertising people: enter Ronald McDonald. After some marketing tests in some particular regions, came the major nationwide promotion to get the kiddies pleading with their parents that they wanted to go to Mickey-Ds. Have you heard kids clamour their parents to do this? I have. And today, McDonald's has continued the kid-concept by investing large amounts into the Playgrounds added onto many of its' stores.

McDonald's represents many things about American culture. To Americans, and today throughout the world. No matter what you think of Mickey D's it's quite an interesting story of how it started, evolved and came to it's ubiquity today. It's a fact that those golden arches are more recognized than the Christian cross. Again, whether we think that's good or not leads to several other issues involving, chemicals and food science, general health, obesity, globalization, homogenization, marketing to children, and corporatization.

For additional insights into the McDonald's phenomenon read, Jennifer Talwar's "Fast Food, Fast Track" and Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal," and Fumento's "Fatland."

Best Book ever written about fast food chain
This is an incredible history and in depth anaylsis of McDonalds. Well written, easy to read and extremely well researched. I've re-read it at least 20 times and purchased several copies for friends... ... Read more

Reviews (29)

GREAT BOOK! Anyone you gives it less than 5 stars is nuts!
I was forced to read this book...against my better wishes, my hellish American History professor assigned this book to our class. As I read the title I remembered thinking: "how in the world is an assembly line job interesting enough to read about?" About the only thing I thought the book had going for it was the foreward by Michael Moore. It looked like I was going have to spend another weekend plodding though a boring book when I could have been spending it at the movies or out with my friends. It turned out to be one of the best weekends of my life. The books was hilarious -- It was real, gritty, sharp and wonderfully written. After reading the introduction, I was hooked: I locked myself in my room, unplugged the telephone and didn't put down the book until I was finished. That was ten minutes ago -- now I am online looking to see if he has written any other books...I was disapointed to see that he hasn't. Ben Hamper -- wherever you are -- I have joined the ranks as your loyal fan. Even though you no longer work for GM, I hope you will find another story out there and tell the world about it.

I be
Unlike the songs of Bruce Springsteen that focus upon the working class of America, Hamper provides one with a glimpse into the life of an American factory worker. This book shows the lived experiences of people that have now become transperent voices in mainstream society. What Hamper does is provide a forum for these voices to be articulated. This book should be a mandatory reading in college classrooms. Specifically, english majors, sociology majors, and communication majors would benefit from the insight and rhetoric displayed through the harsh but real voice of Hamper. More books like this should be read by members of our society both in and out of the academic forums. In sum, I would recommend this book to the masses.

Best book I've read yet
Being from a manufacturing town, I can tell you that the stories and reflections in this book ring true. It is a great book. I actually lost the book because it was passed on to so many other friends. The book ends a little weird, but these types of personal reflections on life sometimes do.

An interesting read
I have no doubt that this is an accurate description of life at GM during his tenure. I wonder if it is similar now? Anyhow, I can see why many companies are now drug free at least in theory. I also wonder how many of these problems were self inflicted. Whatever is true Ben Hamper has certainly given us something to think about.

An interesting read
This is certainly a tale of life at GM. I wonder how many people had similar experiences. I also wonder how much of the problem was with the author. There is no question in my mind that much if not all of what he says took place. I have worked in environments where the normal rules do not apply - still do sometimes. I can also see why so many businesses are drug free workplaces today at least in theory. The stories he tells about how managers are selected rings especially true to me. I work in the defense industry and seldom see anybody capable promoted. There is a current reaction against that phenomenon going on right now with a rash of people starting their own companies. ... Read more

Book Description

The numerous anecdotes alone are worth the price of the book . . . most readers will find themselves asking why everyone doesn't run a business as preached by the chief executive of Continental Airlines.—The Washington Post Book World

. . . in an age where managing seems increasingly complicated, some of Bethune's prescriptions are refreshingly straightforward.—Business Week

From Worst to First outlines Gordon Bethune's triumphs . . . about the turnaround he's led at Continental, a perennial basket case that's become an industry darling.—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

From Worst to First is [Gordon Bethune's] story of Continental Airlines' turnaround under his command . . . The blueprint has worked . . . Fortune magazine named Continental the company that has 'raised its overall marks more than any other in the 1990s.'—The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

All of Gordon Bethune's proceeds from this book will be donated to the We Care Trust, a nonprofit organization that assists Continental Airlines' employees and their families in times of need. ... Read more

Reviews (43)

Packed With Knowledge!
With literary assistance from journalist Scott Huler, Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune describes how he transformed the near-bankrupt airline into one of the best companies in the industry. He describes the massive changes he made to improve the product, changing a low-cost, unreliable airline to a top competitor that emphasizes customer service. The transformations he brought about by exerting strong leadership reshaped financial controls and employee-supplier-creditor relationships. The book is a fascinating read, written in a straightforward, this-is-how-it-was style, typified by Bethune's characterization of the company he took over as a... "lousy" airline with terrible service. Sometimes he gets a little repetitious in summarizing the action at each new step in the transformation, but that's just a minor complaint about an otherwise excellent book.....

Excellent coaching tool for managers improving their teams
Gordon has written management book for the 21st century in a style that's all his own. Although he's clear to point out the ideas aren't new, Gordon's storytelling style offers a fresh, unique perspective for today's managers.

Using clear, simple language that anyone can understand and relate to, Gordon explains how his real-life experiences led him to the management theories that made Continental an overwhelming success. You don't have to be an executive to benefit from executive insight. This book shares the ideas and leadership abilities that make Gordon worth his executive salary -- ideas that work just as well for managing 4 people as 40,000.

Because he's my uncle, I know these stories are authentically told. It was especially fun for me as a relative to see how much of his personality is communicated in the book. Nothing can substitute for meeting Gordon, but the book is a good start!

From Worst to First is best viewed as a coaching or teaching tool. When teaching, repetition is often the rule, and you'll find that here. It can be a slight interruption if you're not actively involved in coaching a team, but if you are, read a little of this book each day and see how many of the anecdotes and ideas you can apply to your own team. You'll be surprised at how much a crop duster's son has learned over the years!

Worth seeing book with simple but important knowledge
This book told the story of the great comeback of Continental Airline in an interesting and straight-forward way. We can understand clearly how Continental could do that within 2 years after Gordon Bethune became the Chief Executive Officer.

Continental Airline used to be a low-cost, employee-hated, huge leverage company with terrible service and financial situation. The new CEO Gordon Bethune used a ¡¥Go Forward Plan¡¦ which emphasize the product, employees, suppliers and creditor relationship to turnaround this huge but ¡¥horrible¡¦ airline giant.

Gordon Bethune put the emphasis on the product itself, making employees as business partners through communication, admitting and apologize for the mistakes, controlling financial situation. This shows that transformation requires a lot more than controlling cost.

The structure of the book is clear with key points always showing on the topic. Gordon Bethune used numerous examples and stories to illustrate the strategies he applied and what are the rationales behind. Despite the repetition of some contents, it is full of knowledge!

Great book!
I have read this book over and over again, and it's great everytime. I'm no businessperson, but I understood every word because Bethune's easy to understand anecdotes made the book an enjoyable and understandable experience. I highly recommend this book to any airline enthusiast!

too repetitive
I enjoyed the style of writing and the anecdotes. But for someone who was searching for a way on HOW they changed Continental, I was a little disappointed.
Some of the explanations are enlightening and many others are standard textbook material. A crucial message is imparted on the reader, however the great disappointment is that this message is repeated over and over and over. You understand the point after 20 pages or so.
A book for a junior in the airline business or just someone with a particular passion for the airline world. I don't recommend it to anyone who hopes to find complex explanations or examples in this book. ... Read more

Book Description

This hands-on guide to corporate finance focuses on converting the theory and models in corporate finance into tools that can be used to analyze, understand and help any business. The second edition classifies all decisions made by any business into three groups: decisions on where to invest the resources or funds that the business has raised, decisions on where and how to raise funds to finance these investments, and decisions on how much and in what form to return funds back to the owners. All sections of the book are traceable to this framework. Also, four very different firms are used as examples throughout the text to illustrate the universality of corporate financial principles across different firms in different markets and across different types of decisions. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Like Tina Turner once said, "Simply the Best"
This book is just plain great from top to bottom.Damodaran makes it easy to get both the "bird's eye view" as well as the nitty gritty detail you want in a corporate finance text.I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something beyond an elementary understanding of finance.

Awesome
Its easily the best book on corporate finance (yeah! I have read brearley and myers, benninga, ...).

Highly recommended. If you want to MASTER corporate finance. simply buy and read the book. The case studies and excel spreadsheets are very good. Another recommendation for a good financial analysis book is the book by eric helfert - financial analysis. Both books teach finance in common speak which goes a long way in understanding this topic for a new student.

An indispensable guide
This book is one of my best investments I have ever made. It is perfectly suited for 1st year MBA students with no prior exposure to finance. The first principles chart appearing at the beginning of each chapter always drags the students to the basics of why we are doing things. Prof Damodaran seems to be an excellent teacher and makes corporate finance a fun subject. The support web site has wealth of information and most importantly solutions to problems(I have never understood why many books hardly bother to give answers to problems)are given. Don't do a corporate finance course without this book.

Great potential. Next edition should be a blockbuster.
The text gets 5 stars for the orientation, organization, and the on-line resources for the text. It describes exactly what you would want in an Applied Corporate Finance course. Unfortunately, I have to deduct 3 stars because the text contains too many typos and smple calculations which I specifically want my students not to make. This has been frustrating for my students, as well as myself. However, I am confident that when this problem is cleaned up, the book will be among the best Applied Corporate Finance text in the market. I strongly recommend a new, corrected edition.

THE BEST BOOK ON THE TOPIC
This is not just the best book on corporate finance, but ranks as one of the best technical books I ever read. Extremely well organized with examples not just close to real life but REAL LIFE itself.

The knowledgeabout brazilian economy is astonishingly accurate.

Forgot to mention theweb site that helps the reader. Very useful and updated. A perfectcombination.

I Recommend without restrictions. ... Read more

Book Description

Corporations are often so focused on making short-term profits for theirstockholders that they behave in ways that adversely affect their employees, theenvironment, consumers, American politics, and even the long-term well-being of thecorporation, says Lawrence Mitchell in this provocative book. This is a significant issuenot only in the United States but also in the world, for many countries are beginning toemulate the American model of corporate governance. Mitchell criticizes this emphasison profit maximization and the corporate legal structure that encourages it, and he offersconcrete proposals to bring about more socially responsible corporate behavior.Mitchelldeclares that managers should be freed from the legal and structural constraints that makeit difficult for them to exercise ordinary moral judgment and be held accountable for theiractions. He suggests, for example, that earnings reports be required annually rather thanquarterly, that the capital gains tax be increased on stocks held for fewer than thirty days,and that elections of corporate boards of directors be held every five years rather thanevery year. Mitchell places the problem of corporate irresponsibility within the broadercontext of American life and demonstrates the extent to which contemporary corporatebehavior represents a corruption of our cherished liberal values of personal freedom andindividuality. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Suggestive But Too Theoretical
This fascinating and suggestive book makes a strong argument that an undue emphasis on financial performance has caused American corporations to shirk their responsibilities to workers, creditors, communities, or any other group except stockholders. To prove his point, author Mitchell, a business law professor at George Washington University, tackles a vast range of topics, from industrial sociology and shareholders' derivative suits, to Enlightenment individualism and comparative corporate governance. This makes for fascinating reading, and is designed to show that capital markets force corporate managers to focus on short-term financial results. However, it also left me with the sense that Mitchell's theoretical stretch exceeds his empirical grasp: none of the issues is really developed in any depth.

In particular, Mitchell fails to systematically compare the behavior of public and non-public corporations in the U.S., or to compare American corporations with corporations operating in less-individualistic legal and cultural environments abroad. Yet such comparisons would be crucial to testing his points about the harmful impact of financial markets on American corporate management. In reading the book, I also wondered whether the pressures to maximize short-term returns are less the result of "American individualism" and more the result of a business environment where hostile takeovers are easy and executive compensation is tied to stock prices. In any event, these issues can't be resolved by theorizing. Mitchell needed to interview some managers to find out what really makes corporations tick.

This is a pity since Mitchell writes well, has common sense, and cares about ordinary Americans who spend most of their working lives in large business organizations. His concerns about warped corporate priorities were entirely vindicated by the scandals at Enron (where shareholders as well as workers were screwed by corporate managers bent on boosting short-term share values), which were exposed only AFTER his book appeared in 2001. We need more books pointing out that American-style capitalism isn't the last word on business and can take a heavy toll on humane values. I just wish that Mitchell had crossed his T's and dotted his I's.

Learned but heavy
I found myself being frustrated by the convoluted nature of his arguments to prove - IMO - unnecessarily academic and esoteric points. The writing style, while reasonably light, does labour on some issues to justify and support his arguments to a degree that is a little too involved. While I fully appreciate that Mitchell needs to properly formulate and support his arguments (and he is right in most of what he says I must add) - the shear "readability" suffers from the overly-academic rigour present. I would happily accept less rigour for have more anecdotes of misbehaviour for a more "easy read". Nevertheless what he says is very important, solid and I agree wholeheartedly with it.

Superb.
The way Mitchell breaks down the corporate system in America today is outstanding. The way it practically predicts Enron is eventfully precise. His view for the future is one that is intricately complex, but at the same time simply logical. Great reading for those who are already knowledgeable about the subject or those newly acquainted with it.

Lawyer-Author-Reformist: Double Oxymoron Overturned

I just realized this is the third book by a lawyer I have absorbed in this month's reading, and that is somehow a scary thought. If lawyers are starting to write popular reformist tracts against unfettered capitalism and the export of the flawed U.S. approach to capitalism, something very interesting must be happening in the dark recesses of our national mind.

This is not an easy book to read but on balance it is a very important book and one that would appear to be essential to any discussion of how we might reform the relationship between the federal government with its 1950's concepts and regulations, corporations with their secularist and short-term profit and liquidation notions, and the people who ultimately are both the foundation and the beneficiaries (or losers) within the political economy of the nation and the world.

The author lays out, from a business law perspective, all the legal and financial reasons why our corporate practices today sacrifice the long-term perspective and the creation of aggregate value, in favor of short-term profit-taking. He makes a number of suggestions for improvement.

Toward the end of the book, citing Lipsett but adding his own observations, he digs deep and summarizes our corporate culture as one that threatens traditional forms of community and morality (Lipsett), while increasingly dominating--undermining--foreign governments and cultures. Elsewhere in the book the stunning failure of our form of capitalism in selected countries is explored.

Although there are adequate notes, there is no bibliography and the index is extraordinarily mediocre--not containing, for example, the references in the book to oversight, political, or regulation. One star is deducted for this failure by the publisher to treat the book's content seriously. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

A rare business biography/classic by Alfred P. Sloan Jr.
Alfred P. Sloan Jr. was CEO of General Motors from 1923 to 1946. This book was originally published in 1964. Sloan is seen as the first person to have worked out systematic organization in a big company, planning and strategy, measurements, the principle of decentralization - in short, basic concepts of a discipline of management. This is a difficult book to review, since it is more a historic piece on GM's history and development from Sloan's perspective than an autobiography. It does not discuss the individual Alfred P. Sloan Jr., it discusses Alfred P. Sloan Jr. as professional manager. The chapters also come across as business school lessons in different subjects, ranging from general management through to accounting, marketing and compensation strategies.

The book consists of two parts. "Part One is an integrated continuous story of the main lines of General Motors' progress, involving the origin and development of the corporation's basic management concepts in the areas of organization, finance and product." It discusses the extreme growth and development of the automobile industry from the early 1900s through to the early 1960s. It also discusses the methods General Motors introduced used to manage the corporation (Sloan all through the book keeps emphasizing the concept of the corporation). He later became known as a committee-man, because he used different types of committees to get/keep various divisions talking and working with each other.

"Part Two consists of individually distinct sections dealing in some detail with engineering, distribution, overseas operations, war and defense products, incentive compensation, and other aspects and branches of the enterprise." This part of the book discusses in greater detail the different experiences and events during Sloan's reign as CEO. It discusses some very interesting subjects, such as the evolution of the automobile, relationships with dealers, World War I and II efforts, and personnel and labor relations. Chapter 23 and 24 are really the conclusion to this book.

Yes, this is a great book. It is a TRUE business classic. It discusses all the subjects involved in business from a CEO's point of view. I was amazed to see the amount of detail Sloan has gone through while writing this book, there are plenty of quotes from annual reports, memoranda, conversations, etc. However, some readers will be disappointed by the lack of insight into Sloan's personal life. This particular edition includes an introduction by Peter F. Drucker, who explains why this book is MUST reading for all MBA and business students, but also all people that want to be serious about management. Highly recommended. The book is written in simple business US-English.

Half a century of US history told from GM's perspective
Sloan offers a unique first-hand perspective of the forces that shaped the auto industry and much of consumer marketing.

I found the account of GM's entry into consumer finance and the forces at work during the great consolidation periods of most interest.

Sloan seems to be able to keep his ego in check and deliver the facts in a straightforward manner.

Discussions of the DuPont principles of comparison for unlike businesses and the board politics that shaped General Motors are helpful to executives even today.

Great!!!
I think it's really a great book, not only for any industry engineering people or student, but for any student studying management. Alfred Sloan was a great businessman and I respect him and his business thought.

Sloan's system thinking
Sloan's work successfully embodied the essence of system thinking.

If Only Mr. Sloan were around today...
Alfred P. Sloan's account of his time with General Motors is a "just the facts, ma'am" telling of how the world's largest manufacturing concern teetered, tottered, and eventually overcame it's problems to become the symbol of American Industrialism that it is today. It's not a fast-paced nor exciting read but it is splendidly written and full of information that could only come from who was arguably the best leader of General Motors. ... Read more

Book Description

From FORD TOUGH

The accident is serious. There are injuries, maybe deaths. The site is unstable. We are in contact with authorities.

Bill Ford Jr. drove to World Headquarters and was met in his 12th floor office by Vella and by Neil Golightly, who was in his first weeks as director of the chairman’s office, with duties that were part public affairs and part executive assistant for Ford. Golightly remembers Ford being visibly concerned and distraught when he walked into the office and sat down for updated information on the accident. Details were still sketchy.

"Do you think I should go?" Ford asked.

Golightly was barely three weeks into his job and still getting to know and understand the man he worked for. The company’s CEO was out of the country. Its head of public affairs was out of town. The chairman bore the company name and the Rouge was an unstable accident scene at a volatile, 78-year-old powerhouse with boilers fed by natural gas. Golightly followed his first gut reaction and advised Ford not to go.

"That’s ridiculous," Ford said. "I’ve got to go."

"Generals don’t go to the front lines," another company adviser told the chairman.

"Bust me down to private then," Ford responded, "because I’m out of here." ... Read more

Book Description

From esteemed New Yorker writer Mark Singer comes this cautionary tale of the Penn Square Bank, the oil and gas broker in an Oklahoma City shopping mall whose collapse in 1982 staggered America's banking industry. Recounting the whole spectacular story and its colorful characters, Singer makes brilliantly (and hilariously) clear what actually happened and why it had to happen in boom-time Oklahoma. Nowhere else did money flow in quite the same spontaneous fashion. "[A] tale of wonderful verve" (New York Times), Funny Money comes to life through Singer's vivid prose and continues to resonate in today's culture of corporate corruption. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Corrections to reviews
As someone who has grown up in Oklahoma City and graduated from high school the year that the collapse had happened, I knew of some of the persons involved through other people.

The red piggy bank logo belonged to Sooner Federal Savings and Loan, and sat on top of 50 Penn Place.

Penn Square Bank had built what is now known as The Tower a couple of blocks down the street. They never moved into it, they were shut down while they were still inside the north end of Penn Square Mall, and the building was finished out after the closure.

Singer has relatives here in Oklahoma in the oil business, so he hadsome insight into the things that had happened.

If you want more detail, Belly Up goes into much more greater detail and is harsher in it's treatment of the characters involved.

Okiesmo Lives
Growing up in Oklahoma my only real memory of the Penn Square Bank failure was when they pulled down the red-piggy-bank logo from the top of the building.It was something that was talked about on the national news every evening, but it wasn't well understood just how such a small local bank could cause such a ruckus.

Mr. Singer's book explains what was at the bottom of all of the trouble, how Penn Square fell from grace, and in the process of doing so provides interesting commentary on Oklahoma culture, as well as some history and other facts pertaining to the oil business.The book is very well written and quick paced, providing just enough detail to be considered in depth, while not languishing on unnecessary detail.

It is interesting to remark that the same conditions that caused everyone to say oil at $100 per barrel was a no-brainer arethose that caused people to put forth the indestructible nature of internet-retailing.The Okiesmo of wildcats in pursuit of oil bears striking resemblance to the aggressive idiocy of venture capitalists fighting to put money into business plans that ignored common sense.

This book is satisfying on a lot of levels, the depth of information on the figures behind the bankruptcy, the environment that spawned and incented those figures and also the culture, both nationally and locally, which created this collapse.This is a very interesting book, and I highly recommend it.

interesting read on the Penn Square failure
Singer, an Ivy Leaguer from Oklahoma, gives us a pretty good look at how the failure of Penn Square bank nearly took several much larger ones with it back in 1982.

Where Singer's portrayal contrasts with that of others is that he speaks from personal and cultural acquaintance with many of the primary characters.This does not stop him from having a little fun at the expense of what he calls 'Okiesmo', the wildcatting and high-living ethic of the oil and gas industry, but it does mean that he sees his subjects as being (in most cases) basically decent human beings who made bad assumptions and boneheaded business decisions.

The only thing Singer lacks is a deeper exploration of the factors at the upstream banks (Seafirst, Continental, Michigan National, Chase, and more) that allowed Penn Square to balloon out of control.As someone who has seen a few related documents that he can't say much about, I can tell you with certainty that the 'wild and crazy guy' ethic was not limited to Penn Square, and that without the eager participation of larger banks, the whole affair would have been relatively insignificant.Good book for those interested in Oklahoma history, the gas drilling industry or (naturally) the Penn Square failure. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

A must for the entrepreneur!
If you are thinking about setting up your own business, or have actually started up yours, you better read this book. It could really save you many a headache.

I did not quite understood why companies would behave in given ways. Even worse, I had not realized how to cope with common entrepreneurial problems until I came accross Dr. Adizes' work.

"Lifecycles" is written in an enjoyable style. Once you start reading it you will not put it down. Dr. Adizes book deserves all praise.

Repetitous and Convoluted
Lots of common sense. A few good insights. But all buried beneath mountains of endless repetition. Simple ideas obscured by turning them into psudo-mathematical formulas. Endless repetition. Dozens of made-up acronyms. Did I mention endless repetition. Of the same ideas. Repeatedly. Author laments no room for specific case studies, which might have actually given some color and life to the book. Of course there was no room for real-life examples. He was too busy turning simple ideas into obscure psudo-math and impossible-to-follow diagrams. Repeatedly.

Why Read This Book?
If you are a person who desires to create change in your organization, improve profitability, manage the implementation of Strategic or Succession plans, or build a management development process, This book is for you! Most of my clients cannot put the book down as they read about their organization and how predictable companies grow and die.

I insist my clients read this book in order for me to help them build strategic or succession plans, as well as implement them. I do not have a CEO or Senior Exec, who has read the book and found it usesless or meaningless. This book helps me communicate with executives, as to what they see and experience within the company, in order for me to help them.

This is a "MUST READ" before you begin a "Change or Strategic Implementation Process." This is not a "touchy-feely" book. It is right to the point, and has good examples of each element. My favorite part is the Insultant vs Consultant discussion.

It's All in the Subtitle
Adizes really does explain how and why corporations (indeed all organizations) grow and die...and what to do about it. He has identified a series of specific "lifecycles. His analysis of each (within a sequence) is especially valuable because, as he explains each with meticulous care, each lifecycle is best understood within a broad as well as deep frame of reference. A careful reader of Corporate Lifecycles can thus determine (a) where his or her organization is now within the sequence, (b) what will be required to reach or return to Prime or Stable (the two most desirable locations within the sequence), and (c) what to expect in terms of obstacles, perils, etc. en route.

Because the ideal combination, the ideal balance, of four critical "factors" (ie performance, administration, entrepreneurship, and integration) will always be a "moving target" under constant "attack" by internal as well as external forces, each organization must constantly be aware of what that ideal combination is for it at any given time, what that ideal balance should be. Change is the only constant.

There really isn't another book quite like Corporate Lifecycles. My brief comments can only begin to suggest Adizes' knowledge, wisdom, and experience which enable his reader to understand how and why organizations grow and die...and what to do about it.

Must read for company owners
This book offers an excellent overview of everything you need to know to run a company, and when it's best not to try. It won't tell you how to execute, but it will tell you what your biggest problem will be in each phase of business. Having seen failed ventures and successful companies, I can take out this book and point to the exact page that describes the failure or success of the company. It's eerie, and would provide you with a headstart on understanding what, how and why to do when starting your own business, and also what sort of company you would be a good leader for. ... Read more

Amazon.com

"With cellular telephony... we saw an enormous gap between what was and what should be. I mean, [the fixed phone system] makes absolutely no sense. It is machines dominating human beings. The idea that people went to a small cubicle, a six-by-ten office, and sat there all day at the end of a six-foot cord, was anathema to me" So says Craig McCaw, who staked what once amounted to $3.5 million dollars of long-term debt on the idea that in the not-too-distant future, America would be ready to cut that six-foot-cord... and whose epic risk paid off big in 1994 when AT&T bought for $12.6 billion the nationwide cellular-phone empire McCaw had for the past decade stealthily patched together, leveraged buyout by leveraged buyout.

His story is told here by O. Casey Corr, who covers business and technology for The Seattle Times. Corr starts with the 1969 death of McCaw's broadcasting-tycoon father, whereupon Craig and his superrich Seattle family realize they are actually flat broke. At once risk-loving and shrewd, young Craig starts buying one small cable outfit after another in the Pacific Northwest as the fledgling industry picks up steam through the 1970s. But sensing the real wave of the future is the wireless phone, McCaw seizes on the FCC's mid-1980s decision to jettison its Byzantine application process for wireless regional franchises in favor of a lottery system--a move that transformed wireless speculation from a sleepy insider's game dominated by AT&T into a nationwide feeding frenzy, all at a time when cell phones and their transmission were still wildly expensive and their mass popularity more than a decade away. Leveraging one high-risk purchase against the next, eventually with the help of junk-bond king Michael Milken, McCaw gobbles up most of the infant markets. But he's smart enough to dodge his debt by selling off the entire thing to AT&T in 1994 for a dazzling $12.6 billion. He has since moved on to future-minded projects such as Teledesic, his $9 billion partnership with Bill Gates, Boeing, and Motorola to create what the book calls "an Internet in the sky, a satellite network that provides fast, cheap Internet access worldwide."

The dissolution and triumphant reconstruction of the McCaw family fortune is an intricate tale of shrewdly choreographed deals, and Corr tells it well, in an assured, crystal-clear and tautly paced entrepreneurial narrative. That said, Money from Thin Air does a better job of dissecting the technical minutiae of McCaw's empire-building than it does at dramatizing or interpreting the personalities or psyches of its main players, foremost McCaw. Corr tries hard to paint McCaw as another of those quirky, New Economy, redwood forest visionaries à la Bill Gates, full of complexities. But Corr fails at making much of a vivid character of McCraw or hitting the essence of what drives him to take such vertiginous risks. Perhaps that has to do with the one quality in his subject he seems to nail--McCaw's seeming desire to be as invisible (or, many of his employees would say, inaccessible) as possible. By Corr's own admission, McCaw agreed to all of two interviews for this book before he got bored and politely waved Corr away. You may not get caught up in the characters of Money from Thin Air, but you'll keenly follow McCaw as he profits his way across the frontier of an emerging telecommunications market. --Timothy Murphy ...