Book Description

Organizational Diagnosis and Assessment presents sharp-image diagnosis, a distinctive approach to organizational consultation and planned change, that reflects current research and theorizing about organizational change and effectiveness. The authors draw on multiple analytical frames to produce empirically grounded models of sources of ineffectiveness and forces for change, showing how consultants, managers, and applied researchers can break free of unproductive practices and ways of thinking to avoid uncritical adoption of management fads. They offer workable solutions to critical problems and demonstrate ways to meet organizational challenges like market downturns, technological change, and alliances with other organizations. Organizational Diagnosis and Assessment covers diagnosis and assessment of work groups, organizations, and whole systems. This volume develops analytical approaches for problem solving and strategy formation in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Diagnosis of public policy issues, like assessments of the effectiveness of health systems, is also addressed. Many of the models and techniques contribute to assessing the changing nature of the workplace, examining organizational decline and other life-cycle transitions; gendering; change and diversity in organizational culture and in workforce composition; the spread of new forms of work organization, including teams, flat hierarchies, and networks; new uses of information technology; and mergers and alliances among organizations.

Organizational Diagnosis and Assessment will be invaluable to advanced students, consultants, and applied behavioral scientists in social sciences, management, social work, organizational and industrial psychology, organizational sociology, nursing, and public administration.

Reviews (1)

Good theory book
This is a good theory book although its' title is missleading. Do not expect it to be an organizational diagnosis tool book. It goes through a lot of theory and pardigms and uses case interesting case studies. It is usful if you want to learn the basic OB theories (such as open system model, diagnosis models). The book also gives quite a comprehensive review of most HR areas of interest. But Saying that it bridges the gap between theory and practice is a bit too much. I do not feel as if I can take this book tomorrow morning and implement it in my work. It has potential but again, this is not a tool book ! ... Read more

Book Description

The authors of the hugely influential Corporate Cultures reunite to assess the effects of the last two decades of management trends and to offer new strategies for achieving corporate renewal. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A classic on corporate culture.
The other reviewers have summed up the best points about this book. Anyone studying organisational behaviour will be well advised to read this book. It brings you up-to-date in developments on the subject of corporate cultures in the 1990s. The book has global application. The notes at the end of the book are a useful reference to locate related articles and content.(My comments refer to the paperback edition.)

Corporate Cultures from 1980s to 2000s.
"In 1982 we published Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life. We were motivated to write the book because of a nagging feeling that something was missing in our ability to understand organizations. This missing link was obviously very subtle-but also extremely powerful. Along with other pioneers (Organizational Culture and Leadership - E.Schein, Corporate Culture and Performance - J. Kotter / J. Heskett, Built to Last - J. Collins / J. Porras), we ventured an idea about what lay underneath the rational-technical veneer of business. We tagged the phantom force 'corporate culture.'... In this, our new book, we plan"Deal and Kennedy write, "to chronicle changes that have occured-where they came from, why they happened, and their effect on business cultures. We also offer suggestions for how corporations can be revitalized in the wake of the grueling assaults since the early 1980s. Our hope is that modern managers can use our book to find a balance between the management actions needed to stay competitive and the human needs of workers to belong to meaningful institutions."

In this context, with their words, Deal and Kennedy basically :

* summarize the evidence that has emerged since they first wrote about the importance of culture to superior performance over the long haul.

* chronicle, one by one, the forces that have chipped away at the culture of companies since the early 1980s.

* discuss the shareholder value movement and the impact it has had on corporate decisionmaking.

* focus on downsizing, which has cut the soul out of many corporations.

* show how outsourcing has emerged as the new tool of cost cutters just when conventional cost-reduction approaches have begun to run out of steam.

* explore how merger mania has forced the most unlikely of combinations on workforces still reeling from the waves of cost cutting that decimated them in the early 1990s.

* look at how computerization, potentially a tool for liberating workers from drudgery, has instead isolated workers from one another and made them servants to machines.

* discuss how the combination of these factors has decimated traditional corporate cultures, replacing joy, commitment, and loyalty with fear, alienation, and self-interest.

I highly recommend this study to all executives.

Look Back in Anger
The last twenty years have seen two major trends: increasing study of corporate cultures, and increasing reason to rue the cultures' progress. Since 1982, when Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy published Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life, the havoc wrought by corporate upheaval has been measured as much by the spillage of ink as by the ruin of employee life. Short-term management, outsourcing, downsizing, reengineering, mergers, and the ever-popular leveraged buy-outs have taken their toll on once-strong corporate cultures. Today, when authors and analysts detect fear, cynicism, and anomie among corporations' employees, their blame is laid unhesitatingly at the door of senior executives. Look on thy works, ye mighty, and despair.

Now Deal and Kennedy are back with a sequel, The New Corporate Cultures, and they shall not fail or falter in condemning what they find. They devote the first half of the volume to a trenchant economic history of the last two decades, exposing the roots of these negative cultures with remarkable clarity and precision. Drawing largely from key books and articles in the field, Deal and Kennedy describe a Bizarro, anti-Rockwell world - culture of want, culture of fear, culture of denial - that makes you want to weep into your beer. Gone are the corporate cultures of yesteryear, supplanted by "negative influences that threaten the ability of businesses to thrive and compete."

This is a distinctly diffident claim, and rightly so. While few would argue that weak cultures are a good thing, even fewer have come close to proving that they impact the bottom line. John Kotter and James Heskett gave it a shot in their Corporate Culture and Performance (1992); as Deal and Kennedy admit, "in [Kotter and Heskett's] analyses, cultural strength itself did not seem to correlate significantly with financial performance." (Not that this stops Deal and Kennedy from deliberately skewing those data and presenting the results as revelatory proof, accompanied by a jab at Harvard academics.) Even if we presume that the strength of a corporate culture can be measured - for which Deal and Kennedy give neither formula nor method - we still don't know that a culture affects performance or ROI, rather than the other way around. Emboldened by proselytizing zeal, the authors have fallen victim to logical fallacy. True, Southwest Airlines is profitable, therefore it does not downsize. But it's bad logic to conclude that Southwest does not downsize, therefore it is profitable.

Deal and Kennedy are offering antagonism over answers, and their petulance is ultimately as dispiriting as their findings. Although their attacks on reengineering and overpaid CEOs may be trite, at least they're supported by facts. But they reserve a particular vitriol for the young ("young money managers", "consultants, most of them young", "newly trained MBAs not eager to spend their time on factory floors", etc.) that is unseemly in a professor and a management consultant. And when it comes time for solutions, Deal and Kennedy submit five chapters of vague recommendations unsupported by suggestions for implementation. They propose, for example, that companies should create and publish fair criteria for deciding which jobs and people are retained. That's all very well - no one wants to feel his company's retention decisions are made by the Giant Claw from Toy Story, which chooses who will go and who will stay - but who decides what is fair, whether the criteria are met, and how ever-present performance metrics can be prevented from sapping workers' souls?

Unable to prove or retaliate, The New Corporate Cultures falls back on finger-pointing and name-calling. It's a pity, really, because the authors have much to offer. Their combination of cultural anthropology, secondary research, and intelligent prose is rare and welcome among the shelves of business literature, and their book is worth reading simply for its chronicle of the American corporation in the 1980s and 1990s. As diagnosis and prescription, however, The New Corporate Cultures needs a taste of its own medicine. If you're going to pour your readers a bitter cup, be certain that the suffering is justified by the cure.

New Corporate Cultures
Corporate leaders need to re-visit corporate values to keep on track. Allan Kennedy and Terence Deal have put a message for corporations in their book. Corporations depend on their people - and people need to feel positive about their work and work situation to make the company fly. The book gets into outsourcing, downsizing, mergers, globalization, shareholder value, and cultural leadership. A wake-up book, written in clear, simple terms, a worthwhile read. ... Read more

Book Description

Based upon classical and contemporary theory and empirical research, this book forms a sociological analysis of organizations, focusing on the impacts that organizations have upon individuals and society. Chapter topics include the nature of organizations, organizational structure, power and power outcomes,leadership, decision making, communication, change, organizational environments and interorganizational relationships, organizational theory, and organizational effectiveness. For individuals and industry professionals interested in the sociology of organizations and organizational behavior.

Reviews (10)

Practical & Balanced Book
This is a good & timely book that joins the recent debate on outsourcing. The book is a practical guide to understand the various aspects & nuances that a corporation has to consider while it is outsourcing its processes.

The authors makes a compelling reason to outsource... but while doing so, they continue to remain balanced in their approach. Of particular significance , is the chapter on Costs of Outsourcing. It is important to keep a count of all the costs mentioned there, (especially the costs of loss of goodwill), while determining the final benefits of outsourcing.

The best practices of GE, ABN AMRO, etc. are good examples to share.

Overall a good book to read..&, of course, ultimately you will have to decide whether outsourcing is appropriate for your business or not !!!

A wise book on Outsourcing Internationally
The book has some big names associated with it. This lends the book a great deal of credibility and offers a practical view to outsourcing.

Having lived through the journey of outsourcing, I almost felt that I was re-living the experience while reading the book.
Scott Bayman, President & CEO of GE's India Operations, has written the preface , which is particularly educative. It lends a good insight into how GE "persuaded" its managers to cut costs & enhance quality by outsourcing globally. The book clearly shows that Global Outsourcing cannot be done without a whole deal of planning, thought...& most important of all, leadership support. The thought of having a " champion" in the business to facilitate outsourcing & smoothen obstacles, is very appropriate. Case studies of Citibank, ABN Amro & Northwestern Mutual show how each business chose different paths for outsourcing based on their individual business goals & business situations. Read the Book. Outsourcing is here to stay & this book tells the reader how to outsource !!!

E-book
To buy the e-book, go to http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/
The e-book is really cheap.

Offshore outsourcing make sense!
I started reading the book early in the afternoon on Saturday on April 17th, but I only got up when I finished reading the book. The rich-in content, content-flow, and relevant content of the case studies are simply superb. I also amazed transparency and balance in the subject as well other alternate countries to India on outsourcing. The chapter 'Total cost of outsourcing' is another great attempt to educate the customers in pursuit of outsourcing. This is a definite resource book from project managers to CEO's who are in pursuit or practice of offshore outsourcing. The preface from Mr. Bayman is a good start to the book and the message is vital and clear to all the businesses - offshore outsourcing is a way to manage non-core (as well core) business processes to cut costs to compete head-head in the global markets.

Dr. Nandu's effort is worth spent on this book. I also congratulate George Albert who co-authored the book. I really enjoyed reading the book after all.

Should you outsource your IT requirements?
Dr Thondavadi's book is an important one for both executives and legislators who are confronted with strident voices fiercely advocating protectionist practices in regard to taking their information technologies offshore. This book brings a fresh rationality to the public debate regarding U.S. vis-a-vis offshoring practices and operations, especially as pertains to the use of IT systems. It is not intended to be an academic treatise on the subject; rather it is a practical playbook that can help decision-makers call the right plays from today's international scrimmage line. It's a quick read for busy people who need to learn the main issues of costs, quality and timing of "going off-shore" with their IT requirements. ... Read more

Book Description

Even the most carefully planned organizational changes can fail if individuals are not taken into consideration. The Human Side of Change is a step-by-step action plan for the change process that takes full advantage of an organization's greatest resource: its people. From planning to implementation to behavior change, Timothy J. Galpin shows how a well-orchestrated approach--one that pays attention to the soft side
aspects of the process--can make the difference between change for the better and no change at all.

Drawing on a decade of consulting experience with businesses and governments around the world, Timothy J. Galpin outlines a nine-step process for effectively combining the human and technical sides of change for successful mergers, downsizing, and restructuring.The Human Side of Change offers managers, frontline supervisors and human resource professionals valuable tools, techniques, and examples to help them gain support for change at all levels of an organization. With numerous charts, graphs, and a glossary of change-management terms, this book is both an ideal blueprint and an accessible quick reference for the implementation of stable and sustained transformation.

... Read more

Reviews (4)

untrustworthy
untrustworthy is the term that comes to mind to describe this piece of literature and its author. There really isn't anything "human" about the "change " galpin advocates in reality. In fact after hearing the man speak, one can only get the "whats in it for me" philosophy. Secrecy, abandonment of ethics and morals comes to mind when reviewing the work and the man. Deeply disappointed.

Pithy, Practical Guide to Mapping Change
This book is short and to the point. Proceding from the perception of a need to change, it directs the reader through myriads of questions and processes to be able to direct an organization through change.

Galpin points out repeatedly that change is a process that takes a period of time to institute. The model of change proposed is a nine spoked wheel outlining clearly the organizational steps required to proceed through the process. Appendix A and B are lists of questions that need to be addressed in this steps of the change process.

Most useful are the eight topics relevant to change. There is a chapter devoted to each topic. The topics are teams, communications, culture, leadership, goal setting, performance measurement, coaching and rewards.

One of the most important concepts in this book is related to the idea that change cannot occur without changing the culture of the organization. Ten areas of organizational culture are identified. The change agent is encouraged to analyze each area of the culture and change all possible relevant aspects of the culture in order to support the proposed change.

Communication is also stressed. In order to involve all the organizational players, there needs to be communication to and from each person. Ongoing methods of distribution of information and acquiring feedback need to be implemented. It is not enough to passively submit to listening to feedback. Specific feedback needs to be sought.

This reviewer appreciated the pithy, pointed format of this book. Other individuals who have also read this book, told this reviewer that they think this book should be required reading for the healthcare industry. However, the book invites further discovery in the topic of change.

a book for all seasons
Timothy Galpin has written a book that is appropriate for the manager of a small independant organization or the CEO of a multinational corporation. What Galpin points out is that in order for change to work, it must be done with the human element in mind. He emphasizes discipline and honesty as essential attributes and the tool kits at the end of the text are well formulated and organized.

A resource tool for managing a changing environment
Over all, "The Human Side of Change" is an excellent resource tool in helping managers deal with a changing environment in the workplace. The author does a good job at identifying key issues that will assist you in improving your management/leadership skills. I think that every person in a leadership position, whether it be lower level, middle, or upper management, should take the time to utilize this book. I believe that overall it will improve your job performance, in your own eyes, and in the eyes of your employee's. ... Read more

Book Description

The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. From the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined an entire field to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business, here are the leading minds and landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.

This dynamic collection of articles features the latest theories on change management and real-world stories of successful turnaround efforts. With compelling first person stories about successful turnarounds, readers will learn how to address their own organizations' needs from such diverse figures as Rich Teerlink, Gary Hamel, and Bill Parcells. ... Read more

Book Description

Whether you are a leader or a pursuer, 24-7 Innovation takes you beyond the rigid policies, prescriptive processes, and fragmented organizational structures that have stifled true innovation for too long. This step-by-step book shows you how to instill a mind-set of continuous innovation at every level of your organization, one that will allow you to achieve and sustain a leadership position in any market. It outlines a lean, action-based framework designed to put your organization in the state of "perpetual innovation" that is necessary for creating sustainable business success. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Packed with useful information
This is not another innovation book with techniques for generating new ideas. 24/7 Innovation is about creating a culture of innovation within large companies. It addresses the issue of how to change the structure of an organization in order to brings out the best in its employees. There are a number of excellent examples throughout. My favorite is Koch Industries, a very anti-bureaucratic company.

Many business books cover only one topic (e.g., performance measures) and could be summarized in 20 pages. The rest is filler of sorts. Not this book. 24/7 Innovation covers a wide range of topics such as culture change, performance measurement, simulation, processes, and technology. And each is covered quite satisfactorily (some more than others), which means there is a lot to digest.

In many respects, this book deserves 5 stars. It is well written and insightful. The reason for giving it 4 stars is that, as other reviewers have mentioned, it was obviously written by a consultant. As such, it does have some jargon. However, it was easy to read and at times entertaining.

The combination of examples, frameworks, and techniques makes this a pragmatic book. But more importantly, this book makes you think differently.

Creating More Competitive Organizations
Mr. Shapiro argues that continuous innovation is the only possible source of competitive advantage in a rapidly changing business environment. Yet most companies organize themselves and their efforts in ways that will discourage the development and implementation of these necessary innovations. So rather than doing what you did yesterday better, he wants you to do something new today. This requires a major change in thinking from the typical "lower your costs" and "improve your quality" mentality of many companies. The book is enlivened by many examples from Europe, where Mr. Shapiro practices as a management consultant for Accenture.

One of the things I liked best about this book was the figure on page 18 that describes the organizational progress that is typically followed to go from a functionally bound operation to one that is an alliance-based network of capabilities with partners performing many noncore roles. Many people have difficulty in grasping the different approaches, and this figure may well be helpful to some of them.

The book's focus is around organizing new and improving on old capabilities. A capability is a holistic concept of something that enables "an organization to perform optimally in activities that typically require processes, people, and technology. Capabilities derive from an explicit strategy, and they deliver measurable results." It is in this context that innovation is conceived of as a capability. Mr. Shapiro wants you to focus on where outdistancing the competition will make a difference with the customer, and then use your innovation capability to enhance your capabilities in this differentiating capability. For a pharmaceutical company, this might mean improving the capability to generate new products to market. The main point here is that there is a combination of factors that need to be considered that is beyond what is contained in a single process. The best way to think in capability terms is to focus on some output of the organization that is meaningful to customers. He is also mindful of the problem of optimizing a system, rather than part of a system, as The Fifth Discipline has made us all sensitive to.

One of the nice qualities of this book is that Mr. Shapiro has a sense of humor, something rarely found in business books. He tells a very funny story about buying airline tickets on-line as a counterpoint to his emphasis on the importance of information technology.

Those who like to take an analytical approach to any problem will find Mr. Shapiro's thinking the most helpful. He has taken right-brained tasks and described them in left-brain terms. But be sure to pay attention to the Koch examples, which take a more right-brained approach to the challenge than most of the other examples do. For those with little intuition, this left-brained "connecting the dots" may be the only way to move forward. If you have also read nothing on improving corporate innovation, this is a good book to start with.

While I admired the book, Mr. Shapiro seemed to have limited his thinking in two important areas that you should be aware of. First, he sees innovation as being most valuable in creating new business models, yet he pays relatively little attention to this specific form of innovation in the book. Instead, most of the book talks about enhancing capabilities where an organization needs an external partner or to blend individual processes better. Second, he sees using information technology as a critical element to improving innovation. My own experience in studying innovation has shown that using more information technology is seldom a critical element in creating a new competitive advantage. Creating better communication and mutual understanding are often quite important, and these can be aided by simply better organizing the communications that take place now. So take this part of the book with a grain of salt.

I didn't know enough about the European examples to know how accurate they were. I was struck by many minor errors in the U.S. ones though. Since Mr. Shapiro worked in Accenture's New York office for 15 years and has many U.S. colleagues, I found these errors puzzling. The errors made me wonder how accurate the European examples are.

If you have already been through The Fifth Discipline, The Fifth Discipline Workbook, and The Dance of Change, you will probably find this book more general than what you need to expand your understanding of corporate creativity that leads to successful innovations.

If you are trying to decide whether to read Michael Hammer's The Agenda or 24/7 Innovation, take 24/7 Innovation.

How can you continuously create improved business models?

Building continuous change.
Titles can be deceptive, particularly when chosen with an eye to capitalizing on fashionable jargon. 24/7 Innovation is primarily about building a climate of continuous organic change and is more about change management and organizational learning than innovation in the commonly used sense of product and service innovation. However, as the author rightly points out, change and innovation in all its forms tends to be seamless, and success depends on embedding a system of goals, relationships, attitudes, processes and technology that work together to support continuous challenge to the status quo in support of superior customer service.

Shapiro argues for what others have called a 'tight-loose' structure, one within which a limited number of well articulated principles allow for substantial freedom of action at all levels and locations, with carefully selected measures and incentives to link endeavour to the core goals. The author's preferred metaphor is jazz, which encourages creativity within simple structures.

He claims that his approach differs from others - particularly reengineering and TQM - in seven respects. While the attributes are not all as uncommon as he implies, they are worth quoting, as they are all important:
"• It is strategic. Innovation is targeted at the critical parts of the business that differentiate it from its competitors.
• It is pervasive ... permeat[ing] every aspect of an organization ...
• It is holistic, acknowledging the ... interdependence of all aspects of the business
• it is focused on creating value ... not ... cost cutting and streamlining without regard for the impact they have on customers and other stakeholders ... and customers in particular.
• It emphasizes governance ... referring to the leadership of a business that sets the standard ...
• It uses technology as an enabler, rather than an answer.
• It recognizes the critical role of people. Innovation is carried out by people for people. Success comes from an uncompromising commitment to an organization's people."

A strength of the book is the structured way in which the elements required for success are set out and explained. This is a 'how to' - a blueprint - but not the simplistic 'seven step' framework that so many authors offer. It works logically through the various capabilities and attributes needed, with guidance on how to build them.

Filled with consultant hype
Shapiro provides a number of interesting examples. These constitute the primary utility of the book.

The structure of the book does not hang together. For example: "Capability" seems to be a major concept, but Shapiro never provides a clear definition.

The material in the chapters does not relate well to the chapter titles. Shapiro claims the chapters outline a framework for understanding and generating innovation. Beyond his assertion, there is nothing to substantiate that claim.

One finds lots of grandiose claims for insightful analytical frameworks which go unfulfilled. Very disappointing.

Shapiro sounds like a consultant hawking his wares.

As W. Edwards Deming noted well and often, experience without theory is meaningless. Shapiro not only displays a lake of theoretical perspectives to organize and highlight insights in his examples, he seems to be unaware of such theories and their relevance.

The book jacket, which I assume he wrote, indicates that Shapiro is "...recognized as one of today's most influential consultants in the area of process capabilities." If true, this, once again, demonstrates the dearth of talent in the consulting arena.

If you know the theories, you can pull some interesting material from this book. The value will come from your knowledge and efforts not from those of the author.

Innovate or Evaporate
As Shapiro explains, when offering this "blueprint for surviving and thriving in an age of change," the term "blueprint" is a capability which combines people, processes, and technology that together "deliver business performance as defined by an organization's strategy. This is a key point, one which Bossidy and Charan emphasize in their recently published book, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done. It is important to keep in mind that any "blueprint" provided in a book such as this must almost always be modified to serve the specific needs and objectives of a given organization. This is precisely what Shapiro has in mind when, in the Introduction, observes "in some respects writing a book that describes best practices for innovation that says that best practices are insufficient is slightly ironic. But to try and copy what another company is doing, lock stock and barrel, is just another form of box thinking. Instead, connect the dots. Make connections. Consider what some companies in this book have been doing and consider them in the context of your own business situation. And then try and use these to create new ideas for fostering innovation." Hammer wrote The Agenda to disabuse those who view reengineering as a "silver bullet." I'm certain that Shapiro hopes his readers will view the "blueprint" delineated in Part 1 of 24/7 Innovation for what it is while understanding what it is not...and cannot be expected to do. Change is inevitable.

Long ago, someone divided people into three categories: Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who ask "What happened?" Shapiro views desirable change as as fundamental and pervasive. "It affects customers, suppliers, alliance partners, and anyone who touches [or is touched by] the company. But in today's age of change, success requires nothing less. That's why 24/7 innovation is the only way to achieve a unique and enduring competitive advantage." One of the words now having the loudest buzz is "convergence." (Not long ago, two of the loudest buzzers were "synergies" and "integration.") As Shapiro clearly demonstrates while examining four companies (GlaxoSmithKline, Invensys, The Real Estate Assessment Center of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and BC Hydro) in Appendix A, the most effective organizations are indeed those which achieve and then sustain an appropriate convergence of process, people, and technology. That is, they become and then remain what Shapiro describes as an "organic organization." In his book, he offers all manner of strategies and tactics as well as real-world examples to suggest HOW any organization (regardless of size or nature) can use the principles of "24/7 Innovation" to achieve that formidable objective. ... Read more

Book Description

Rosabeth Moss Kanter is at the forefront of management thinkingand practice--a leading figure in the attack on organizationalrigidities, boundaries, and top- down traditions whose ideas arespearheading a period of great discovery and change in the businessworld.

Here, for the first time, is the essential Kanter: thecutting-edge ideas and wisdom of nearly two decades that are even morerelevant today. With Rosabeth Moss Kanter on the Frontiers ofManagement, the renowned management guru presents a sweeping look backacross a decade of change in business--what has worked well, whathasn't, and what businesses still need to learn--as well as apenetrating look forward at the hard work of leadership and innovationstill to be done.

In this landmark book, Kanter has integrated allher Harvard Business Review articles and the framing essays she wroteas Editor into a powerful new statement. The six sections span today'smost critical topics--strategy, innovation, customer focus, globaltrends, planning for change, strategic alliances, compensation systems,and community responsibility. They are joined by overviews and a freshnew introductory chapter to reinforce a single, timeless message: theimportance of treating people as assets and of providing the tools andconditions that liberate them to use their brainpower to make adifference.

Ever at the frontier, Kanter has published this book asa compelling call to action. Together, her articles and essayscrystallize the real work of business leaders and serve as aprovocative reminder of why they should never lose sight of the factthat values--and people--are the foundation of business success. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

drivel
I apologize for being trite, but this book is drivel. Ms Kanter is not on the frontier, but rather at the tail end, making random observations as they go past. ... Read more

Book Description

"[An] important new book . . .Mr. O'Toole puts soul and values squarely back into a vital topic, leadership."
--Tom Peters
The New York Times Book Review

"A deeply philosophical and eminently practical study of leadership as change."
--James MacGregor Burns
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, and author of Leadership
Current management philosophy advocates an outmoded Machiavellian approach to running organizations: Leaders are told in countless books that they can only accomplish their goals by being tough, manipulative, dictatorial, or paternalistic as the situation requires.
In Leading Change, noted management theorist James O'Toole proposes a provocative new vision of leadership in the business world--a vision of leadership rooted in moral values and a consistent display of respect for all followers. As O'Toole brilliantly demonstrates, values-based leadership is not only fair and just, it is also highly effective in today's complex organizations.
When leaders truly believe that their prime goal is the welfare of their followers, they get results. The finest leaders--from political giants like Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln to contemporary CEOs like Max De Pree and James Houghton--have always shared leadership with their followers. They create organizations that encourage change and self-reevaluation; they foster an atmosphere of open-mindedness and fresh thinking, in which assumptions can be challenged and goals reassessed.
Grounded in the ideas of moral philosophy, Leading Change powerfully transcends the standard how-to management primer to define a challenging new approach to leadership. As O'Toole so persuasively argues, growth and change are possible, indeed necessary, and they will be effected by individuals who have the stature and the courage to lead morally. This important book, at once thought-provoking and totally practical, is bound to take its place as one of the landmark business volumes of our times.
"Jim O'Toole has written the essential work for organizations to survive and thrive in today's changing world. His intellectually penetrating thinking shows us how the sometimes conflicting problems we wrestle with--often in piecemeal fashion--fit together to form a complete picture, even as the picture itself continues to change. His message is so critical to the very existence of every organization that any leader who fails to heed his advice condemns his or her company to mediocrity and/or early death. It's that basic."
--Warren Bennis
Professor and founding chairman of the Leadership Institute
at the University of Southern California
Author of An Invented Life and Why Leaders Can't Lead
... Read more

Reviews (12)

weLEAD Book Review by the Editor of leadingtoday.org
Author James O'Toole is definitely not afraid of creating controversy. His book is a refreshing approach to leadership in many ways. Stylistically and philosophically, Leading Change is a different kind of book about leaders and the natural resistance of the change process. O'Toole left a comfortable 20 year university chair in academia to begin working with the Aspen Institute. This experience was a major inspiration in writing this enterprising book.

Perhaps the most daring aspect of Leading Change is O'Toole's clear repudiation of the contingency theories so prevalent today in leadership research and coaching programs. He obviously did not come to this conclusion frivolously. This work includes his observations and experience from over two decades of working with both corporate leaders and with respected mentors such as Bennis, Drucker, Gardner, DePree and others! O'Toole loudly proclaims that the contingency theories so revered today simply don't work in the long run. He maintains that by their very design they typically destroy trust between leaders and followers. He then offers a values-based alternative, which is a primary focus of the book.

Leading Change begins with O'Toole drawing a number of deep analogies from a painting by James Ensor. He immediately draws you into the books theme by probing a number of profound leadership questions and scenarios analogous to paintings theme. As an author, he seeks to answer three related questions:

1. What are the major causes of resistance to change?

2. How can leaders effectively and morally overcome that resistance?

3. Why is the dominant philosophy of leadership, based on contingency theory, neither an effective nor a moral guide for people who wish to lead change?

To answer these questions O'Toole divides the book into two halves. The first half deals with leaders and the second half with followers. The main theme of his work is to seriously question the validity of contingency theory and propose the alternative of value-based leadership behavior. O'Toole writes, "Instead, values-based leadership is an attitude about people, philosophy, and process. To overcome the resistance to change, one must be willing, for starters, to change oneself. In essence, then, values-based leadership is "unnatural.""

If you want to read and digest a book that will challenge both you and much present thinking about leadership, this book is definitely for you!

Strategies for Challenging the Status Quo
It is extremely difficult to overcome what James O'Toole calls "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." In Leading Change), O'Toole explains why. Organizations and their leaders must not simply change to accommodate new realities; they must transform themselves effectively. According to O'Toole, "today's executives believe they are struggling with an unprecedented leadership challenge to create internal strategic unity within a chaotic external environment....Executives know what needs to be done and even how to do it. Nonetheless, they are unable to lead change effectively. Explaining the sources of this paradox and offering a practical way to resolve it are the purposes of this book."

Leading Change is divided into two parts within which O'Toole addresses three related questions:

1. What are the causes of resistance to change?

2. How can leaders effectively and morally overcome that resistance?

3. Why is the dominant philosophy of leadership, based on contingency theory, neither an effective nor a moral guide for people who wish to lead change?

For O'Toole, values-based leadership is provided by those he calls "Rushmoreans": They possess courage, authenticity, integrity, vision, passion, conviction, and persistence. To vary degrees, "Rushmoreans" listen to others, encourage dissenting opinion among their closest advisers, grant ample authority to their subordinates, and lead by example rather than by power, manipulation, or coercion. Granted, history produces very few Washingtons, Jeffersons, Lincolns, and Roosevelts. Nonetheless, according to O'Toole, there is much of value to learned from them by those who struggle with an unprecedented leadership challenge to create internal strategic unity within a chaotic external environment..."

In Part One, O'Toole explains why values-based leadership is more effective than any other, notably "tough" or "amoral" leadership which is frequently (and inaccurately) characterized as being "realistic." For O'Toole, democratic leadership "is not about voting; it is about the democratic value of inclusion. There is nothing oxymoronic, chaotic, or ineffective about leadership based on that moral principle."

In Part Two, O'Toole shifts his attention to followers inorder to discover why we all resist change that would be in our self-interest to embrace, and, why followers so often resist the leadership they claim to crave. For O'Toole, Shakespeare had it right when explaining resistance to change: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/But in ourselves." In Chapter 7, O'Toole briefly examines 33 of the most popular hypotheses concerning the root causes of change. They include the usual suspects: homeostasis (ie change is unnatural), stare decisis (ie status quo is preferable), inertia (ie difficulty of altering course), self-interest (ie What's in it for me?), and fear (ie of unknown). Of course, there are exceptions to each of the 33; also, all 33 are never present in the same situation; moreover, no single one can totally account for all forms of resistance to change.

Peter Drucker asks a very important question: "What is the environment ready for? One has to do it [ie seek change] at the right time." Hence the importance of timing as well as having all of the Rushmorean values. But together, they are still insufficient if (for whatever reasons) there are no followers. In Chapter 9, O'Toole discusses J. Edwards Deming inorder to illustrate this "curious and troubling aspect of human behavior": reasonable men and women often resist acting on social knowledge which will advance their collective self-interest." How ironic that Deming's managerial methods which were so effective in helping to defeat the Japanese during World War II were then rejected by American industry but refined and and employed by the Japanese to win world markets and then, and only then, were Deming and his managerial methods embraced by American industry in desperation to learn the "secrets of Japanese management."

In Chapter 10, O'Toole shifts his attention to Robert Owen (1771-1858) whose "paternalistic" treatment of his own employees earned an immense personal fortune for him but, meanwhile, he was widely reviled for mollycoddling the workforce (and thus not creating even greater profits) or for being a manipulative capitalist "in the government's pay." Alas, as O'Toole notes, "Owen never learned how to overcome the deeply rooted resistance to change, a skill that is a prime characteristic of great moral leadership." As a result, "humanity suffered for nearly a century from that singularly consequential flaw of one of history's gentlest souls."

In the final two chapters of Leading Change, O'Toole examines what he calls "the despotism of custom" and "the ideology of comfort." Anyone in any organization (regardless of size or nature) who has attempted to be a change leader is already familiar with both. The question remains, how to overcome them? Everything which precedes these two final chapters creates a frame-of-reference within which O'Toole correlates and galvanizes his key points. Obviously, he fully understands why there is such great resistance to change. Also, he fully understands why visionaries such as Robert Owen fail to attract the support they need. He concludes this brilliant book with a rejection of leadership by command, manipulation, or paternalism...insisting once again that only value-based leadership can be both moral and effective. "Once a leader makes that commitment, all the other pieces will eventually fall into place, bit by bit."

Challenges Us to Think!
This is one of those rare books that truly challenges us to think about our approach to leadership and its consequences. With numerous historical and contemporary examples, O'Toole contrasts tough, situational leadership with democratic, values-based leadership.

By using tough leadership examples like Lee Kuan Yew who led Singapore from a Third World country to the First World and Jack Welch who probably has the best performance record of any modern CEO, he makes his task of showing the superiority of values-based leadership all the more difficult. In addition to the Rushmoreans - Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and T. Roosevelt - he uses contemporary examples like Nelson Mandela and Max De Pree to illustrate the lasting impact of values-based leaders.

He makes us question whether the short-term gains of tough leadership are worth the long-term consequences, even for Singapore and General Electric. His message is all the more relevant now that we have seen the damage caused by the Enrons of this world. His is a critical message and, if heeded, could make this a better world.

Breath of Fresh Air
If you are a liberal arts major who found yourself ending up in the business world, you will eat up this book. Starting with an analysis of leadership thru the meaning of Christ Comes to Brussells, an 19th century early expressionist work, the author leads you thru Plato to Evans-Pitchard in an analysis on leadership. It also provides a great rebuttal for moral relativism

Leading Change by Moral Example
Leading Change is divided into two roughly equal parts. Part one: Leaders Leading Change introduces the idea of "values-based" leadership. Values-based leadership is inclusive, enabling others to lead by sharing information and fostering a sense of community. Institutionalizing continuous change and renewal are hallmarks of values-based leadership. At the bottom line is the moral principle of respect for people. This philosophy of leadership is contrasted with a Realist-relativist-contingency school of leadership that is more authoritarian, tough, and less "democratic." These two schools of leadership are exemplified in an interesting way by means of several profiles of historical and corporate leaders. O'Toole concludes that amoral leadership ultimately doesn't work because it is based on a relativistic and situational ethic. It does not foster the inalienable right of the pursuit of happiness.
Part Two: Followers (and Leaders) Resisting Change, tries to answer the question: Why is change resisted? O'Toole presents a list of hypotheses to answer this question, all having some validity. Of interest is his examination of the reasons for the initial rejection of some very profound managerial philosophies and practices that ultimately attained great success and broad acceptance. Those reasons are summarized as fear, loss of power, and resistance to the imposition of the will of others. I recommend the book. It is accessible and interesting, offering a well reasoned argument for value-based leadership.
Author James O'Toole taught for over twenty years on the faculty of the Graduate School of Business at the University of Southern California. He is the author of twelve books and over seventy articles and is currently vice president of The Aspen Institute. SWS ... Read more

Book Description

This new edition, like its predecessor, will help people understand and cope with organizational change. New material includes the "Focus On" sections of each chapter, which apply key theories to contemporary cases of stunning change in corporate America, such as those of Napster, Microsoft, Ford, and GE. ... Read more

Book Description

Most books on mergers and acquisitions focus on process management, human resource management, or the financial aspects of the deal. This book brings together the essential elements of each domain, including subjects that are often overlooked or treated only superficially by other texts. These subjects include post-merger integration, business alliances, deal structuring and strategies, financial modeling and simulation, assumptions-driven planning, and valuing intellectual property. This book is unique in that M&A activity is discussed as a series of interdependent activities and in the context in which each activity actually occurs.While intended for students in mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, business strategy, industrial organization, and entrepreneurship courses at both the MBA and undergraduate level, this text has broad market appeal. The material has worked quite effectively in both executive development and training programs. The book also has substantial appeal for those who are hoping to become or who are actively pursuing careers as financial analsyts, chief financial officers, corporate treasurers, operating managers, investment bankers, business brokers, portfolio mangers, investors, as well as corporate development and strategic planning managers. Others likely to have an interest include bank lending officers, venture capitalists, business appraisers, actuaries, government regulators and policy makers, and entrepreneurs. The generous use of practical, timely, and diverse examples and contemporary (including e-commerce) business cases with solutions makes the text suitable for distance learning, self-study, as well as for large lecture focused courses. The book presumes only a basic knowledge of accounting and finance. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

A winner for the classroom!!!
A winning approach to introducing and explaining complex M&A problems...great source of information on regulation, policy issues, and trends...successfully integrates the legal, financial, operational, accounting, and human aspects of M&A...full of excellent case studies and easily understandable examples...very useful chapter on valuation including many topics not covered in other books on this subject...don't have to be a Ph.D. in finance to understand what is going on...written in an entertaining yet highly readable way...great integrative case at the end of the book that illustrates much of what is discussed throughout the book...I'm considering using this as my primary textbook in my MBA corporate restructuring class.

Best business book I've ever read
I am in the process of completing my MBA. I have had the pleasure of using this book in my graduate class on mergers and acquisitions. This book was written with the student in mind...clear, filled with very helpful examples and highly relevant case studies, and extremelly well documented. It made the subject come alive for me and helped me understand how M&A utilizes all aspects of what I have learned in various business classes during my undergraduate and graduate years. Upon completing the book, I felt that I had an excellent understanding of the subject matter. I wish I could say this about so many of the other books I have used in the myriad business courses I have taken over the years. This book is definitely a keeper for my personal library as a great reference book on the subject.

Examples, Examples, and More Wonderful Examples
Unlike so many books on this subject, you do not have to be a Stanford MBA to understand the author. The writing is crisp, clear, and to the point. While the author covers a great deal of material, there is little wasted verbiage. The author does a good job of blending theory and practice in his writing, while drawing heavily on numerous academic studies to substantiate the points being made.

The book is chock full of lucid examples to illustrate ideas that are commonly used by investment bankers, brokers, and other analysts. I have read a number of finance books both in school and in my own practice which claim to discuss such challenging topics as M&A and this is one of the few that does an effective job. This book is clearly for the serious student, i.e., one who is interested in getting a solid grounding in the subject. Those looking for a passing acquaintance with the subject should stick with the trade press and the WSJ.

Insufficient and Lacking
This book is quite disorganized. It seems that the author would have been better served to take some time out to go over the book again prior to releasing it. It reads like a disorganized combination of miscellaenous ideas. The result is a confused presentation that neither serves the practitioner nor the academic MBA student. The book also seem to rehash parts of a treatment of M&A that has been out for many years in other books such as Gaughan's Mergers Acquisitions and Corporate Restructurings. This book does not add to the field but merely repeats what is already out there in other books and does so in a poorly organized way.

Best in Class
I believe this book can be readily classified as best in class in terms of completeness, ease of reading, copious use of examples and business cases, inclusion of solutions to case studies in the book, writing style, and currentness.

I have been teaching corporate finance for a number of years. This is by far the best book on M&A that I have seen. My students have found it highly useable, as it doesn't presuppose an in-depth knowledge of accounting and finance as do other books on the subject. Moreover, while this book is extremely comprehensive, it is tied around a central theme which illustrates how the various activitie involved in an M&A transaction interact. The quality of the cases is also quite high. They are current, and they are inserted into the text at timely moments to illustrate key points. The author also displays an uncanny ability to explain complicated subjects in a clear, concise way without "dumbing it down" for the relatively sophisticated reader. Many of the case studies also come with solutions, so the reader, not having the expertise of the author, has some idea how to tackle the case. This also eliminates the need to buy a separate text with case studies or solutions to case studies found in the text used by the students.

Unlike some texts, the author is not consumed by a need to do a detailed discussion of the literature, resulting in page after page of torturous prose containing minutiae, much of which is contradictory and whose results are amazingly statistically insignificant. Mercifully, this author has discovered ways to illustrate key points and summarize key conclusions with recent academic studies. The text also provides an exhaustive listing of relevant literature.

This book is clearly for anyone who is serious about learning a complex and challenging subject such as M&A. ... Read more

Book Description

Real Time Strategic Change advocates a fundamental redesign of the way organizations change. The result is a powerful approach that involves an entire organization in fast and far-reaching change. Interactive large group meetings form the foundation for this proven approach, enabling hundreds, even thousands of people to collaborate in crafting their collective future. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Insightful!
Consultant Robert W. Jacobs walks you through his "Real Time Strategic Change" program, which, he explains, has been successfully implemented in numerous companies and organizations. He discusses how and why it works, and points out why other commonly used change strategies don't. Although the book achieves its mission nicely, it gets bogged down by continuous, detailed examples of each step in the process, which provide little in the way of illumination. His excellent guidelines for change still manage to shine through. We [...] recommend this book to all those who are or will be involved with implementing individual, group or organization-wide change.

Making Change Possible and Positive
As an OD practitioner, I highly value Jake's simple but powerful method of making change happen.His approach overcomes the root cause for so many befuddled change attempts.The whole idea that involvement must precede commitment isn't new but the easy-to-accept approach is.With a little practice, anyone with high concern for both the relevance of the change and the well-being of the people making the change can apply Jake's ideas and make almost any change scenario more effective and lasting.Similarity to most problem-solving processes with slight twists to connect a change process with the strategy of the organization provides familiarity which employees need when working differently.

For the past 4 years I have been applying Jacob's key principles to a variety of change interventions including groups from 10 to 350 employees.The natural hesitation from Senior Leaders is quickly overcome when they see the power that commitment can have in quickly lowering resistance and developing an almost unbridled desire to move to a new state.Employees who initially greet the process as potentially laborious, quickly see that "going slow now to go faster later", as a friend once said, is really worth it.

This book is a key text and resource in a Masters in Management class that I teach.Students frequently leave class with insight and return the next week telling me that they have already applied some of the thinking in their daily management of the business.To their delight, Jacob's mental model gives students enhanced ability to envision and plan change initiatives.Often I get e-mail suggesting that this book has been one of the best investments that they made during their masters program and that the book is a reference that they rely upon.

In a nutshell, my experience with Jake's philosophy and process has completely restructured my thinking about how to facilitate change initiatives of any size.The results have compelled me to vigorously teach this process to all levels of leaders in the organization and in the classroom.

Making Change in REALLY BIG Groups
This is a great overview of Real-Time Strategic Change (RTSC), a method for involving dozens, hundreds or even thousands of people in the planning of organizational change. The meetings usually require a single bloc ofthree days and two nights.

The underlying theory is that people supportchanges that they help to plan. Processes such Future Search or SearchConference can be used by smaller groups (usually 15 to 65 people) todevelop an initial plan. RTSC can bring that plan to an entire company forrefinement and implementation planning.

Ford Motor Company's Mustangdivision used a version of RTSC to introduce total quality management inthe 1980s, responding to the challenge of Japanese automobiles.

Generallyspeaking, RTSC involves the "whole system" - everyone who isinvolved in the development of a product or service as well as thecustomers who buy it. In the food industry, for example, an RTSC conferencewould include suppliers of raw materials and grocery retailers as wellinternal groups such as Logistics, Manufacturing, Sales, etc. Suppliers andcustomers can provide information on how the company stacks up comparedwith competitors, often by using a panel discussion format.Industryexperts may also provide information on key trends.

Work is done in acombination of large and small group settings. In the large-group sessions,people are assigned to sit at round tables of eight to ten people. Theseare "max-mix" groups representing different departments ororganizations. Following various presentations, the groups are asked todiscuss what happened and formulate a brief response. This helps keep themeetings lively and creative.

In the classic RTSC format, senior managerspresent an overview of their proposed plan to the entire group. After smallgroup discussions, people use post-its to write what they agree with, whatthey disagree with, and what questions they have. The managers have a fullnight to review this feedback. They return the next day to answer thequestions, reinforce areas of agreement, and respond to areas ofdisagreement. This can be a lively event!

People then move intoimplementation groups to write more detailed action plans to helpkick-start the change process.

The large groups generate a great deal ofenergy, an important factor in successful change.

While Jacobs provides agood overview for agenda development, he has little to say about the veryimportant logistics of a meeting like this. Important topics includemeeting site selection, room size, room arrangement, methods for sharinginformation, and audio-visuals. When I facilitated an RTSC conference, Ihired someone to manage a team of 10 people devoted to conferencelogistics. While some practitioners have published handbooks on this topic,I don't see any that are widely available. So that is a hole in Jacobs'book. ... Read more

Book Description

With today’s fast-paced and hectic way of doing business, change in the workplace has become an everyday reality. Change happens rapidly and sometimes with very little notice. Major changes such as mergers, takeovers, and layoffs can leave employees feeling confused, fearful, or disheartened. Managing Change at Work helps managers work through organizational change with strategies for providing positive leadership while dealing effectively with resistance and other trouble spots. The newly updated third edition includes competency assessments to help managers become adept change leaders who will inspire and motivate their employees.

Learning Objectives:To explore changes taking place in organizations today.To explain how organizations can prepare for change.To clarify human reactions to change and how to deal with them.To explain team involvement and visionary leadership. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Okay, but...
This book covers some of the basics, but you also need Beitler's "Strategic Organizational Change."

Managing Change at Work Revised Edition
This really was a fifty-minute book, but it was packed with well thought-out skills and strategies.It is a book that you will be able to turn to again and again for tips and tricks to use as different situationscome up during organizational changes.The topics not only prepare you forchange, they guide you through it and position you for the future.Youwill be able to identify your own style and recognize areas that need to beimproved to facilitate change allowing you to create a one-minute advantageover your competitors.It covers not only how to deal with people andtheir attitudes but also topics as important as establishing an actionplan.I recommend this book to anyone that needs a simple, concise guideto help move their company forward in today's and tomorrow's fast-pacedcompetitive environment. ... Read more

Book Description

The Fun Way to Get Employees to Respond Positively to Change!. Who said change can't be fun! Certainly not Carolyn Nilson: In Games That Drive Change she delivers an exciting assortment of 100 ready-to-use games that add joy to work, create an atmosphere of self-directed learning, build trust, foster communication, and get even change-resistant employees to respond positively, creatively, and productively to the new business environment of continual change. Each game stands alone and is easy to understand--works well with experienced as well as novice trainers, teams, and managers--contains reproducible templates and answer sheets for easy use--and has a specific goal with measurable outcomes. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Should be a tool used during planning of a major change
We're in the midst of a major corporate change. Our change agents needed to use this book to incorporate some of the activities during the planning stages of this project. The games focus heavily on the design and thought processes of beginning the change process. Some of the objectives on some of the activities include (may be rephrased in my own words): make the point that rewards and punishments need to be re-designed to manage change; engage a group of planners in a 'futuring exercise';

encourage people to think in broader terms regarding re-engineering; Identify major business processes and break them down into steps; identify dyxfunctional communication games we play with each other without thinking.

I was looking for activities that would help bridge the gap with the employees during this monumental change. This book has some activities around that. But not really specific to my need.

In all fairness, I was looking for activities that would help department trainers overcome the usual resistance to change that generally occurs with major systems changes. I didn't find it in this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Meet the JacMar family: successful, committed, and--like every other business family--trying to strike a balance between their professional and personal lives. The JacMars are a composite of actual business families. As Gerald Le Van follows them from the bedroom to the board room, he identifies the key issues and problems faced by every business family today.

Le Van, a highly sought-after speaker and consultant, has helped many business families successfully navigate through times of turbulence and transition. In The Survival Guide for Business Families, he makes his secrets available to the public for the first time. He leads the reader step-by-step through thirty-nine questions that everyone involved with a family operated business must address in order to plan for the future.

Designed as a self-help book, The Survival Guide for Business Families teaches families to recognize the emotional and organizational work that only they--and not their lawyers, accountants or financial advisors--can do to secure their future. It gives them the communication and coping skills to get through crises, such as a leadership transition. Le Van shows that business families are not alone in their struggle, and that they can not only survive, but prosper. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

If you advise business families -- or own one: read this
Business families are different. They have all the components of other families but they have a business. And that makes them different. It's because the two create some extraordinary opportunities and some powerful pressures at the same time. After the business has been built questions begin to arise: What would happen to the business if dad (or mom) suddenly died? When will dad and mom want to retire? How can they unlock the value from the business with safety? Who should run the business? If there are siblings - will they all be involved? If not, how can the family's wealth be fairly distributed? In the beginning business families typically seek advice from traditional advisors - the attorney, accountant, banker, insurance agent or broker. The problem is these professionals are trained to apply specific tools to achieve goals. Often discussions begin with wills and trusts, tax strategies, financing options or risk shifting with insurance. But after documents are prepared, something isn't "right" and they aren't implemented. The reason is the work was begun in the wrong place. And the goals the advisors were trying to achieve weren't the client's real goals.

This usually isn't for a lack of trying. The advisors thought they were working on the client's goals but they weren't. The proof is that the family frequently won't implement the wills, trusts and other tools. The family isn't sure what is "right" for them. And until they really work on it - they can't be.

Mr. LeVan's book is the product of working with family businesses. The first 29 years was in the practice of law. The next decade has been spent working as a consultant helping families discover what they want to do and then how to work together to find the best way to do it. He calls it their "family work" and his book carves a path through this area using 39 questions. He demonstrates with a series of steps and anecdotes from his experience how the family work is a process of exploration that helps them discover how best to merge a business plan with a family plan that will preserve the integrity of both.

I'm an insurance broker and family business owner. This book and its concepts have been helpful to me in working with clients - and with our own family business. If you're an advisor of family businesses or own one - this book can help. ... Read more