Reviews (1)

150 Years Of International Harvester
Excellent and informative book! Lots of small pictures of pretty much every tractor and farm implement IH made from their beginning until about 1979. This book also covers war production,refrigeration equipment,and trucks.I didn't find anything on construction equipment. There is a brief mention and a couple of picures of the Cub Cadet original. A must have for any IH library. ... Read more

Book Description

In this book, the authors integrate the three dominant approaches to organizational development-learning, performance, and change-to create a dynamic lens through which to analyze any HRD program or initiative. ... Read more

Book Description

Manufacturing the Future: A History of Western Electric is the first full-length history of the Western Electric Company, the manufacturing arm of the Bell System. As a manufacturer in the communications revolutions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Western Electric made new products such as telegraphs, telephones, an early computing machine, radios, radar, and transistors. The book demonstrates, through Western's 1882 acquisition by Bell Telephone, that vertical integration was a lengthy process rather than a single event. It also shows the coming of age of industrial psychology and describes the advent of civil rights in corporate America. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great background for understanding the Internet age.
I'm actually an analyst of the telecom industry, so I come to this with a special interest. Nonetheless, I would highly recommend the book for those interested in some real foundations to understand the communications revolution. (and not just sound-byte Internet history). It's a pity that the name Lucent Technologies isn't in the title, because that's the real subject of the book. It's a history of Western Electric, which after a 120 year "pit stop" at AT&T ultimately spun out to become Lucent. The best part is the early chapters where we learn about the competition between the telegraph and Bell's telephone, the coalescing of local telephone companies under Bell's leadership, and ultimately the emergence of AT&T (with Western Electric)as the "Bell System" that most of us grew up with. Don't be put off by the fact that Lucent commissioned the book. It's a throughly documented, balanced, and obviously professional undertaking. ... Read more

Book Description

In this bestselling work of investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize winner George Anders presents a behind-the-scenes account of a struggle that rocked Wall Street and stunned the computer industry.

When Carly Fiorina took command of Hewlett-Packard in 1999, she was venturing further than any woman previously had into traditional men’s territory. Leading the opposition against her daring plan to rescue the $40 billion-dollar company from decline—which included the $20 billion acquisition of archrival Compaq—was Walter Hewlett, son of HP’s late co-founder and defender of "The HP Way."Not since Wall Street operatives battled over the fate of RJR Nabisco had a takeover drama so captivated the media and the public.

Drawing on unparalleled access to HP insiders and written with a novelist’s flair, Perfect Enough is a spellbinding chronicle of hope, ambition, betrayal, and family pride. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

An HP CEO not focused on HP business
This book falls into an interesting category, those books that are irresponsible by omission. George Anders' primary irresponsibility was his failure to point out that Carly Fiorina has never been focused on solving key HP business problems. This was clear in the Compaq merger debate this book reviews where she failed to answer the issues that Walter Hewlett and other critics raised in a substantive way.

It is even more true today -- it is clear from her recent activities that Carly Fiorina has essentially given up on HP and HP business problems and instead is focusing completely on personal interests. In reviewing the topics of her last 10 business speeches, only one (her Oracleworld keynote) promotes HP business interests. The other 90% focus on a variety of personal interests - her desire to be viewed as a great humanitarian, gender celebrations, etc. At the very minimum, HP shareholders, who have suffered a loss of 49% in the value of their shares during the Fiorina administration, deserve to have her focus her efforts on HP business. Surely this huge investment of her time in marketing herself as a great humanitarian etc can wait until she leaves HP. It only demeans HP to have a CEO (who HP has paid over 100 million dollars in cash, stocks and options) cost its shareholders 49% plus the time value of money of their investment and add insult to injury by public demonstrating to all her lack of interest in her job.

Anders' book could have been a valuable contribution if it had simply emphasized Fiorina's lack of interest in the true duties of her job.

Book overlooked Fiorina's poor performance
This book, unfortunately, did not have real coverage in the two areas that I regard as most important: quality of sales and marketing execution and wisdom of business investment decisions. When any CEO steps into a position like the one Fiorina did, what investors most want is the highest quality marketing and sales of existing products and the best business judgement available concerning future investments. Anders' famously tells us what the HP Board had for lunch one day but failed to provide insight into these two key areas.

There were major failures in both areas that Anders could have warned us about. For example, HP has fallen from number 3 when Carly took over to number 6 in the digital camera market. It was critical to move from number 3 to at least number 2 in this market in order to have a good business here and instead we find she fell to a pathetic and unsustainable number 6. Her VP responsible for this disaster still has his job, apparently with an office near a beach in San Diego. Before Carly, when this general area was a wildly successful one for HP, a previous HP VP lived close to the key HP imaging site in Boise, Idaho. Anders could have warned us this was failing and why.

I was also very disappointed that Anders did not warn us about the poor new business investment decisions being made Fiorina aside from Compaq. Heavy investments in "digital entertainment" may provide Carly with an excuse for her hobnobing with Hollywood and music industry people but is unlikely to yield much in the way of profit. About the time he retired Jack Welch (former CEO of GE) mentioned that he had never met Carly. I doubt she has much time for people like Welch that were in the position to buy billions of dollars of HP products because she spends so much time with people that are unlikely to buy anything including Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson, Sheryl Crow, Oprah Winfrey, Ben Affleck, the Sopranos etc. There does not appear to be a real business agenda here -- it seems social in nature. This obvious perspective should have been noted in Anders' book. Surely the fact that Carly Fiorina has taken her eye off the ball at HP, and this has been going on for many years, deserves to be at least duly noted.

Sympathetic but insightful
There are two sides to every merger and in the case of Hewlett Packard and Compaq Computer, the competing sides weren't just the companies. They include the historians documenting it.

For Perfect Enough, George Anders gained access to HP CEO Carly Fiorina and her fellow board members and executives. It provides a full picture of the genesis of the computing deal. Explaining the frustration board members felt at the company's inability to keep up with competitors benefiting from the Internet boom such as Dell Computer Corp. or release a killer new product since the laser printer in the early 1980s, Anders stresses that the board members - and not just Fiorina- were seeking a radical makeover for HP.

Peter Burrows' competing book about the merger, Backfire, paints Carly Fiorina as a brilliant marketer and communicator who stumbled into HP after one of the worst executive search jobs of all time by Christian Timbers. Her first two years was good idea after good idea followed by poor execution after poorer execution. The Business Week journalist implies the Compaq merger was primarily a way to deflect attention away from her inability to turn the company around after her first two years there.

Anders' more sympathetic account is fascinating at times such as its description of the complex relationship between Fiorina and David Packard's daughter Susan Packard-Orr. But, Burrows' book - unencumbered by any sense of loyalty to Fiorina, who snubbed the author - digs deeper into Fiorina's past by interviewing her ex-husband and childhood friends, thereby providing a much fuller picture of the executive, if not the entire organization.

Taken together, the two books complement each other nicely. It remains to be seen if the same can be said for the merger.

Seems a fair enough assessment of the situation
I came to HP as a result of the Compaq merger. This book provides a lot of insight into why HP does things the way it does, and from where I sit provides a much more balanced assessment of the merger than does the other book on the market. I use the information gained from the book in my dealings with the very much "blue" organizations that still exist within the company.

This is still a hidebound company, and the good ol' boys that have been around can't deal with the concept of a strong female leader. And there are still too many employees wearing blinders which say "Bill and Dave's way or the highway." Well, Bill and Dave brought an absolutely staggering amount of over-design into the company, and while that may have worked in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, it gets in the way in today's marketplace more often than not. Kudos to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anders for not bowing to the pressure from the GOBs and telling it like it is.

And to the 21+ people who recommended Bill and Dave's Excellent Adventure over this book - it's time to move on, folks. They did many wonderful things - but Bill and Dave's time has passed.

Book failed to predict big Fiorina problems
I was very disappointed in Anders' book. He should have focused on those aspects of Fiorina's character that have led to further HP degeneration. Providing such predictive value is a key contribution of a good book, and the author has failed us enormously in this area. Two examples of this foreseeable degeneration have occurred in the last couple weeks:

First, on page one of the San Jose Mercury-News of 4-9-03, Fiorina found it necessary to pay tribute to a local Marxist-feminist that passed away. She has been supporting this woman's commie-inspired institute with HP money/resources. These actions are, at best, idiotic. These problems could have been predicted by Anders if he had analyzed her far-left "e-inclusion" speeches. Instead, he ignored her radicalism.

Second, Fiorina has demeaned US combat troops in the field by routinely flying the US flag on the wrong HP flagpole. This happens at many sites -- a good example are the flags at 10435 North Tantau, Cupertino. Because these flagpoles are oriented orthogonal to the street, the US flag belongs on the center flagpole. Fiorina disrespectfully flies it on the inside pole. That Fiorina has not bothered to instill in her people the need to get this right at a time when US troops are dying in combat is a disgrace. Even the Germans, who several years ago occupied a site two blocks north, managed to fly the US flag on the proper pole.

If Anders had done his job properly in this book, he could have predicted problems of this sort would arise. This could have raised the visibility of these issues to the point where she would have been dismissed before causing these problems. Instead, both HP and the nation are still suffering from her bad management. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Daimler-Benz conspired with the Nazis during the war.
The basic premise of this book is that Daimler-Benz, the maker of Mercedes-Benz automobiles, placed profit before principle and committed criminal acts during World War II. The evidence is displayed as if presented by a prosecutor in court. There is little room for doubt or deception. The book is not always easy to read and the story line is at times hard to follow. There are too many abbreviations that require frequent clarification. Maps should have been included that would have assisted the reader in following the location of the many Daimler-Benz plants. The "story" is important and represents an original contribution, however, the book could have been more "user friendly". ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

How do corporations achieve change? In the first analytic book about Hewlett-Packard, Deone Zell also offers an ethnography of corporate redesign, documenting Hewlett-Packard's radical reorganization of both a manufacturing and a research division. Because she writes from within the process as it unfolds, Zell is able to demonstrate how the inclusion of employees in every step of redesign can inspire the knowledge and commitment to transform an organization.

Hewlett-Packard is among a growing number of companies in the United States exploring what is called sociotechnical systems (STS) redesign. As competitive pressures have grown, interest in STS has increased because it has the potential to catalyze comprehensive organizational change and avoid the pitfalls of a piecemeal or small-scale approach. STS works from the ground up, involving front-line employees in analysis and redesign of the entire organization and in explicit examination of an organization's culture.

In Hewlett-Packard's California Personal Computer Division, production operators worked alongside managers to redesign their printed circuit assembly line into self-managing teams of employees. In the Santa Clara Division, a very different workforce of engineers, initially unwilling to standardize their creativity, had to develop commercial applications and become more responsive to customers in order to survive.

On the basis of Hewlett-Packard's success, Zell concludes that, with top-level support and a high investment of resources at the outset, redesign can inspire relatively rapid change, especially suitable for organizations in fast-paced environments. As one H-P manager commented, "Empowerment is no longer a nice thing to do. It is now a business imperative." ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An In Depth INsight into Radical Culture Change
This book give 2 in depth studies from HP factory and R&D environments. I found the insights and information invaluable in my work as a consultant. As a consult to HP I found that the atmosphere rang true. I have recommended it to HP top managers and they have ordered it too!

An inspirational and eye-opening book!!!
This book gives organizations a vision of positive and effective change. It confirms that it is possible with the correct ingrediences... ... Read more

Amazon.com

Bang, bang: welcome to the culture of speed. Blur the Canadian origins. Ramp up international sales, especially to the U.S. Establish useful corporate alliances. Out go sluggish and dated product lines. Bye bye, redundant employees. Whoosh, grab companies with useful technologies like Bay Networks. Oops, down goes the stock price. Pull back, holding your breath. That's the story of Canada's Nortel Networks in a nutshell. More comprehensive detail about how Nortel established the groundwork for Internet-based corporatenetworks on wireless communications and fiber-optics connections is offered in Larry MacDonald's Nortel Networks: How Innovation and Vision Created a Network Giant.

Nortel started out in the late 19th century as the telephone-manufacturing arm of Bell Canada, originally building telephones based on the designs of a leading U.S. telecom manufacturer, Western Electric Co. For a time it also produced a host of consumer electrical products like fire alarms and radios, and served as a major supplier for the Canadian military during WW II. But by the late 1960s, Nortel began exploring digital telephone switches, long before other telecommunications companies, including U.S. behemoth AT&T, which became its eventual customer. In 2000, Nortel was spun off as an independent corporation by its parent company.

MacDonald, a technology writer for various newspapers, including the Ottawa Citizen and the Financial Post, and a former Canadian federal government economist, ably documents Nortel's history with a mixture of reportage and analysis. He calls the government's sanctioning of Nortel's monopolistic position as the preferred supplier for Bell Canada "a covert industrial policy"--one that allowed the company to grow into the international player that it is. What's in store for the future? MacDonald speculates that Nortel and its California-based competitor Cisco Systems will join forces. But then who would want to risk a bet on any predictions in the topsy-turvy world of technology? --Paul Weinberg ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The History of Telecommunications - ( Nortel Version)
Hello! - The magic word that was adopted as a standard to start a telephonic conversation in 1880. To me it was a surprise that we needed a standard to start a conversation. But then the technologies behind the millions of conversations and communications across the globe have constantly defied standards to create discontinuities at a rapid pace. Today, voice is a small component of the global traffic. Digitization has made it possible to carry Data, Voice and Video at unimaginable speeds - You can shift a large public library from coast to coast within 14 seconds. But this seems to be just the beginning. Amazed? Read on.

The book traces the history of telecommunications from the discovery of the telephone till today's high speed digital transmission through optic fibers. Nortel is at the center stage throughout the book while Cisco and Lucent are seen as its major competitors. The Telecom Industry is thus not a part of the "new economy" and players like Cisco are new players in the old economy Industry. This is what I infer from this book.The secret behind Nortel's success and survival for over hundred years , weathering economic and technological discontinuities seems to be its ability to continuously innovate through investments in R&D and by promoting an entrepreneurial work culture.

Nortel has been "at theright places at the right time"- Enchasing on discontinuities . Cisco is the champion in routing data traffic while Nortel is attempting to use its expertise in telephony and beat Cisco by using a combination ofpacket and circuit switching.

Also see my review on " Making the Cisco Connection- David Bunnell". I am not willing to take any bet!

A powerful theme lacks the punch of narration. Reads like a text book on telecom history.

Profile of a Network Giant
Throughout 14 crisp and lucid chapters, MacDonald explains "how innovation and vision created a network giant." First, he provides a brief history of the company and then identifies its key executives, from C.F. Wise, Sr. (president 1895-1913, chairman1914-1917) until Frank Carlucci (chairman, 1999-present). What a colorful history it has been thus far.

My primary interest, however, is in the company today and (especially) in its prospects for the future inthe face of what is certain to be ferocious competition. As MacDonald observes in the Introduction, "Nortel is at the forefront of laying down the information superhighways now revolutionizing the lives of everyone everywhere. Indeed, Nortel has a good-shot at becoming the number one provider of Internet infrastructure...This book, in providing a look at the emergence and prospects for Nortel, is, in part, an introduction to one of the biggest stories now unfolding: the fierce rivalry of three titans [ie Nortel, Cisco Systems, and Lucent Technologies] to construct and expand the networks of the future."

According to MacDonald, one of the main factors in the Nortel's success this far [i.e. when the book was published]has been its ability to capitalize on discontinuities,"those sudden breaks in the environment or the way things are done." For example, the transition from analog to digital telephonesystems, from wired to wireless communications, and from copper-based to fiber-optic transmission systems. Also, the deregulation of the telecommunications industry, allowance of interconnection to the telephone network by the FCC (1971), and then the break-up of the AT&T monopoly. MacDonald does a brilliant job of examining and explaining this theme of discontinuities as well as other themes which also relate to "the role of institutional arrangements" and to "the internal dynamics of the corporation."

As he thinks aboutan uncertain future, MacDonald suggests how Nortel has differentiated itself thus far from its two main rivals: its lead infiber optics, the relatively greater amount of its research anddevelopment, its greater diversification of both product andgeographic distribution, its speed advantage over Lucent to embrace growth opportunities of the Internet and IP networks, and through the leveraging of its strengths in optical transmission. Of course, how long Nortel can sustain these competitive advantages remained to be seen then and serious problems have since developed or have at least been revealed.

Who will derive the greatest benefit from reading this book? All of the executives now employed by Nortel, Cisco, and Lucent as well as by other "players" such as Siemens, Alcatel, and Ericsson. Also, all of the executives at other companies which now have (or seek) B2B relationships with any of the aforementioned "giants." Finally, other executives such as I who are not directly involved but are eager nonetheless to learn how and why some companies become "giants" (at least for a time) and others don't. I am deeply grateful to MacDonald for what I have learned from his book and thank him, also, for presenting his material with style,grace, and (when appropriate) a sense of humor. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Compelling and Frightening, and thoroughly entertaining
I enjoyed this book so much, I just ordered a dozen for my friends and clients...need I say more!You will too...it is so well written and documented...no wonder Forbes and Wall St. Journal wanted Flanagan amongst their ranks...incredible book.

It reads like a superb novel!
We all heard the "news on speed" sensationalist hype about Enron, et al.Mr Flanagan tells the real stories that the hype came from.And he kept my interest all the way through, which surprised me no end.His skillful literary references,the "interviews with Mr. B," and the sheer storytelling make this business book as readable as any good novel.I wish all of Wall Street would read it!

MUST Read for anyone who owns stock
This the most compelling work I have ever read on this topic.Flanagan builds the characters like in a novel, reports the facts like a top notch reporter, and provides incredible insights into the rotten world of big businss.He is remarkably witty and keeps you begging for more.It is a real education and an enjoyable reading journey, like none I have read in a long time.I thought I'd o.d.'d on business topics but this one makes you hope Flangan is writing the next version!! Every shareholder and Board member needs to read this and soon!

Save Your Time And Money
Author makes some points that are rather obvious and then proposes solutions that you may or may not agree with.Overall, I found this book mediocre at best - just another financial journalist trying to make a buck with a provocative title.

Save your time.Save your money.

Setting the record straight
Dear Sirs:

I am the author of Dirty Rotten CEOs, and I must point out a serious error in the review posted by the anonymous reader from Mount Kisco, N.Y.He states that the highest paid executive in 2001 was Michael Dell, not Larry Ellison, and takes me to task for that mistake.But it is the reader whois dead wrong. The top earner in 2001 was indeed Larry Ellison, whose total compensation for 2001 was $ 706.1 million.(Michael Dell was a distant second in 2001, at $201.3 million.)Those figures come from Forbes magazine, May 13, 2002, p 116, andwere reprinted in my book on page 25.

In view of that drastic error, I would like to request that hisreview be removed . Yes, there were some regrettable but minor errors in my book (corrected in the subsequent edition).But the reader committed a whopper, using figures from the wrong year!I would suggest you kill that review, or print my reply immediately after it.

Sincerely,

William G. Flanagan ... Read more

Book Description

Profit. Conflict. Love. Sacrifice. Relive the legacies of the world's most enduring family-run businesses

Centuries of Success is the first book to chronicle the colorful success stories and timeless lessons of some of the world's oldest family businesses. This one-of-a-kind work blends complete family histories with corporate philosophies and business sensibilities that are practical, adaptable, and enduring.

Each profile features:

Book Description

This work traces the history and background of the once great American consumer electronics manufacturing industry, an industry that was plagued and finally destroyed by an American-Japanese cartel subverting enforcement of our traditional trade laws. The work is not a "Japan-bashing" diatribe, but a call for changes in Washington, and a return to free trade in our domestic and foreign commerce. ... Read more

Book Description

Tucked away in one of Europe's most far-flung corners, the Finnish Nokia Corporation has emerged in the past decade from near-obscurity to become a global powerhouse in mobile communications and a leader in the development of third-generation wireless services.

How did they do it? How did the 140-year-old company manage to survive the political upheavals of its age? What re-creations did the company undergo as it moved from forest-industry enterprise to European technology conglomerate to global cellular phone maker--and now, to its latest incarnation, as a mobile Internet vendor?

The Nokia Revolution probes behind the company's official, often enigmatic veneer to uncover how Nokia operates, how its chief executives think, and how it listens to the pulse of the market. As such, it is the first strategic study of this extraordinary company, focusing on the way Nokia has built its existing capabilities into competitive advantages.

The book probes far beyond the breezy articles and lightweight press release recyclings. It concentrates instead on the company's extraordinary historical evolution, the creation of its global focus strategy, and the innovations that are preparing Nokia for a mobile information society.

The Nokia Revolution transcends the immediacy of a single company or industry profile. It offers keen insights into what it's like to compete in a fast-cycle, cutthroat, volatile environment. And it offers compelling lessons for both established industry leaders who need to sustain and renew their marketplace dominance and upstarts seeking to topple the giants. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

The revolution of Nokia's ideas
This is an inspiring story in an inspiring book. Steinbock told us how Nokia prepared their revolution, how Nokia finally dominates the world of cellular market. To some extend, Nokia was brought Finland into the world economic map. If you want to know the secret of Nokia success, maybe this book could be one of the great sources to do so.

a good lesson for businessmen
Nokia Revolution has such a detailed history of this famous cell phone company from its very beginning of a wood pulp factory to the leading mobile and internet company now, that it taught me a lot more about how a business really works than how a successful company looks. Nokia, according to my poor knowledge before, is merely a famous company whose cell phones are said to be the most durable product that won't be broken even if you drop it a thousand times to the ground. This book makes me think much deeper into the struggle the company went through to get this kind of fabulous quality and services to satisfy customers' needs.

What is my thought in theNokia Revolution?
Before reading that book you should to ask your self why you reading it. Did you read it because of fun or as a buisness searching source. If you reading it for fun the book would be kind of boring and dump, but if you read it as a source you would benifit and that will be great for you. The book is a kind of historical book, the author just put facts on his own way. Althought the book have no fun it is generally a good historical book.

The story could have been tighter...
This would have been a much better read if it was written in half as many pages. It took me a great amount of effort to get past the initial history chapters and get to where the real deal is -- the past decade under Jorma Ollila. But then, this is probably as precisely anyone can try to understand a company like Nokia. Also if everybody gets the "secret" behind a company's success, won't everyone else beat the company at it's own game?

a nice historical point of view
Did you know that Nokia started out in the mid-1800s as a forestry plant in Finland? Yes you heard right: a forestry plant! This is a very well written book about the history of the Nokia Corporation, its ups and downs, successes and tragedies. If you've ever wanted to know what Nokia was like before it became a mobile communications giant, then you should read this book. However, be forewarned that this book is not for the casual reader as it can get very technical in terms of economics. ... Read more

Book Description

In Birth of the Chaordic Age, Dee Hock argues that traditional organizational forms can no longer work because organizations have become too complex. Hock advocates a new organizational form that he calls "chaordic" - simultaneously chaotic and orderly. He credits the worldwide success of VISA to its chaordic structure: It is owned by its member banks, which both compete with each other for customers and cooperate by honoring one another's transactions across borders and currencies. The book shows how these same chaordic concepts are now being put into practice in a broad range of business, social, community, and government organizations. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

A book that will change our world. A must read!!!!
Sorry, but is not a another book on how to make more money in business. This book is a must read for all. It changed my life. Dee Hock is a true visionary and leader for the new millennium. Certainly everyone who feels that there must be a better way to approach the myriad of problems our world is experiencing will delight at the liberating possibilities that Hock presents here. Please read it and know that there is a path to bring our collective societal behavior into harmony with our values by employing the very organizing principles that are found throughout nature. I deeply thank Dee Hock for having the courage and perseverance it took to bring this message to the world.

The Right Stuff for Maximum Human Progress
If you are interested in the best way for people to work together in organizations, you must read Dee Hock's account of the founding and development of Visa. His thinking has played a key role for those who are trying to apply chaos and complexity theory to organizations, and to seminal thinkers like Peter Senge and Arie de Geus. Now, you can read the simple, humble thoughts that can turn ordinary people into extraodinary combinations of effectiveness. I loved the aphorisms interspaced through the book and the down-to-earth way that Dee Hock shared his experiences and thoughts. Think of this as the opposite of Chainsaw Al, and with greater results. Anyone who wants to move beyond the command and control culture that tends to dominate in most organizations should read Dee Hock's account of Chaordic Organizations in the new Chaordic Age. If you liked The Fifth Discipline, The Dance of Change, or The Living Company, this is must reading for you.

Stick to the article.
Like many others, I bought this book because of the outstanding article written about Dee Hock in one of the first issues of "Fast Company." So I waited...and waited...and waited for Hock to come out with this long-planned volume (replete with many publishing delays).

The result. Yeech. I couldn't stomach more than 10 pages or so. In the future, let's keep the writing to others writing *about* Mr. Hock. This book reads like someone who's been cooped up in the study a bit too long. In the original article, there was an exciting thesis about creating organizations in which power was pushed away from the center. And Visa, Hock's brainchild, was a brilliant manifestation of that principle.

But the book is about...ummmm, what? "Old Monkey Mind" musings? Who can follow these meanderings? Readers of the article are bound to be disappointed. At least we get a little insight as to why the author is no longer at Visa. Tough to imagine that a man with this sort of obvious brilliance could function trying to run the nuts-and-bolts of an increasingly static (and less chaordic) organization.

A Must Read Book
The Birth of the Chaordic Age is the most exciting and hope filled secular book I've read in my 80 years of political life.

Lack of response
I cannot review this book which I purchased simply because even though my credit card has been debited I have not received the merchandise of my last and first shipment. I have been repeatedly trying to tell you are using the wrong postal address but cannot seem to get through. You are so automated but took no provision for cases like this one.

Hellooooooooooooo! ... Read more

Book Description

"Well researched . . . both a history lesson in brand development and a walk down memory lane."
––USA Today

Sole Winner of the 2001 International Motor Press Association Ken Purdy Award for Excellence in Automotive Journalism

"A fascinating read for anyone connected to the automotive industry. And for those of us in advertising who owe VW a debt of gratitude for raising the bar, Kiley’s insights into the historic Beetle ad campaign of the late ’50s alone are worth the price of the book."
––Larry Postaer, cofounder and Director of Creative Services, Rubin Postaer & Associates

"David Kiley has painted a vivid and insightful picture of the genesis of Volkswagen . . . an intimate view of the personalities and business intrigue in the unfolding Volkswagen drama."
––Dr. David Cole, Director, The Center for Automotive Research, Ann Arbor, Michigan

"David Kiley has captured what made the company and the brand so special. . . . It is a valuable read for anyone in business . . . a fun and important story about a fun and important brand."
––Donny Deutsch, Chairman, Deutsch, Inc.

"If you’re a fan of modern Volkswagens, you’ll find this book fascinating reading . . . one of the more remarkable comeback stories of the past few decades ... essential reading for students of marketing."
––European Car magazine

"Getting the Bugs Out is not only a fast-paced business story, but it also provides valuable insights into the major successes and blunders in marketing and manufacturing. . . . Kiley skillfully weaves the VW saga around the personalities involved, both in the U.S. and abroad."
––Myron Kandel, CNN Financial Editor

"Good storytelling about one of the great stories in the auto industry."
––www.thecarconnection.com

"Kiley ... deftly reports on the mystique and the reality of one of the auto world’s enduring legends."
––Publishers Weekly ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Excellent Read
I love the Volkswagen story. My family had nothing but Volkswagens growing up. It was my first car like so many others. I have a collection of Volkswagen books that are lovely pictorial salutes to the cars. And I loved reading another book, Small Wonder, about the Beetle from conception to about 1970. Kiley does a very good job of covering ground that has been gone over before in order to get you to the early 70s when the company really began to fall apart. Then, he is the first to really go into inner workings of the company from that point on to where the company almost went out of business in the early 1990s. And then into the fabulous comeback more recently. I work in the marketing field, and have been a student of VW's marketing story. So, besides loving the subject, I learned a lot here too. Extremely worthwhile book for VW lovers as well as for anyone with something to sell to the public.

Highly Recommended!
David Kiley's insightful tome is as charmingly idiosyncratic as his subject, the VW Beetle or "Bug." Beginning with the Bug's nasty political genesis as Hitler's "people's car," Kiley follows the methods marketers used to shape its 1960s and 1990s commercial identities. Kiley covers the Bug's marketing history, from the obtuse (managers didn't understand that it was essential to VW's U.S. identity) to the brilliant (its sales renaissance). We [...] recommend this book for its fascinating history, but also for its examples of marketing strategy and internal corporate knife-fighting that just might teach you a trick or two.

As a VW owner, this is a great insight ito the company
I'm a die hard VW loyalist now. So when I saw this book I had to see what it was all about. Incredible story! Very well written!

It was incredible to read about all the things that went on within and without the company, it helps to understand the car a lot better :) If you're at all interested in VW's or car company history in general, this is a must read.

A great read. As a VW driver it's great to learn the history
I'm an avid VW driver, and when I saw this book I had to read it. It's great! The VW story is incredible, I never would have guessed that there was so much interesting history there.

The references to the advertising brought back some good memories. I remember each ad and how great they were.

A dfinite must read!

J.

So now we know....
Geez, the management folks at VW are a bunch of arrogant bastards - much like the folks at Ford, GM and Daimler Chrysler. This book is a great history and a really interesting and enjoyable read. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Well written, interesting book
Yes, I have also read Diesel's Engine by Lyle Cummins, the youngest son of Clessie Cummins, the co-founder of Cummins Engine. If, in reading DE, I am a proven crazy person, then I am, so discount what I say next. If one is fascinated by diesel engines, then this is a "must read." I have not completed the book yet, but having read 300 or so pages and I must say there is much beyond the engines. If you are a Harvard Business Review type, this will have much for you about entrepreneurism, the family business, enterprise capitalization, growth, corporate strategy, the inventor and his role in a technology driven business, timliness, single business small town employers, transportation trends, product quality, employee relations and more. I like reading about successes, but feel like this book portrays an almost charmed life of something impossible to duplicate. If every corporation were as successful as Cummins is portrayed, then we would reach corporate nirvana. Can what has been written here be true? Buy the book, write your own review, and we'll see what you think. ... Read more

Book Description

As the only major orchestra without a conductor, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is a shining example of a highly effective management style based on collaborative leadership.

Leadership Ensemble is designed to show business leaders in any industry how to re-create the successful "Orpheus Process" in their own companies by dismantling top-heavy hierarchies; developing flexible, responsive strategies and decision-making procedures; and unleashing employee creativity, responsibility, and productivity. The authors delineate the eight core principles of collaborative management, including shared and rotated leadership, passionate dedication to mission, clarity of roles within an organization, and learning to listen. Spiced with anecdotes and case studies, Leadership Ensemble is an entertaining, practical guide to survival in today's speed-of-light business environment.
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