Book Description

PRAISE FOR On Target

"A retailing dynasty, spanning a century and four generations, and still a hot-shot winner: that makes fascinating reading. Throw in legendary names, bare-knuckle business battles, and the discount wars, and you have a textbook that reads like a novel. On Target is a winner itself."
–Stuart Varney
Anchor, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board with Stuart Varney on CNBC

"An enlightening look at the history and culture of the Target Corporation, with compelling management lessons for all retailers."
–Kevin Kelleher, Chief Financial Officer, Sony Music Entertainment

"On Target is the perfect book to read for inspiration on how to connect with theAmerican consumer. It is an insightful study of a successful corporation and what made it that way. The book will become ‘the bible’ for a generation that wants to understand their own spending habits or tap into the culture of American retailing. Rowley artfully gets behind the business decisions that keep Target’s products ahead of the curve and connecting emotionally with its customers. For anyone who considers themselves a creative, marketing or innovative thinker, this is a rich read indeed."
–Lucy Danziger, Editor in Chief, Self Magazine ... Read more

Reviews (8)

From the Inside
As a 24-plus year team member with Target Stores I was skeptical in reading a book about a company that I know everything about, or so I thought. I was pleasantly suprised at Laura Rowley's "On Target." As an insider, I found the book to be accurate and balanced. Rowley gives a detailed account of the rich family history behind the Bulls-eye as well as examining Target's operations. "On Target" explores Target's advertsing strategies, service and technology, guidelines for growth, and looks ahead at some of the challenges the company faces. In addition, Rowley peeks into the philanthropic side of Target, exposes Target's artistic character, and reveals what separates Target from its competitors. "On Target" is well-written, easy to read, and hits the mark.

A sorry book
Quite possibly the worst book that I have ever read. It is an infomercial from start to finish. At least one comparison as to how efficiently Target is managed compared to other stores actually proves the opposite of what the clueless author intends (If you look at the numbers). It is pure hype with no real value to anyone who graduated high School.

Wal-Mart has competition find out more...
I believe that Target Corp is always lost in the shadow of the venerable Wal-Mart Corporation. This I believe is the first book that gives a complete and interesting account into the Target Company's history, philosophy, and activities.

It is good to know that in the future Wal-Mart will not be the only place in the world to shop. It is good to know that companies like Target will be there to challenge them even though they don't compete on the same level.

The book is a fast and light read, great for vacations, plane rides, and other excursions.
Yet the book goes to lengthy details about the many aspects of Target.

I highly recommend this book.

Light and easy read
If you are a fan of Target, or passionate about the retail industry (as I am!), 'On Target' is a broad overview of the history of Target. The first five chapters explore what Target is--a high end discounter--and some of the tactics the company uses in its success. Chapters 6-8 explore the history of the company, and recognizes the Dayton family for being honest, hardworking, and ambitious. Chapters 9-11 explore some of Target's challenges and strategy.

This book is a good overview, but at less than 200 pages only skims the surface of what makes Target. The author takes a very positive view, which may be entirely appropriate given the success of the company and the upstanding Dayton family. However, there were certainly challenges, mis-steps, and successes that went in to building the brand and the stores that could have gone much further in understanding the company.

A must read for industry watchers, and an enjoyable read for customers or suppliers. Not the definitive analysis of what or who makes Target what it is.

Interesting look at an interesting company
This book, written by a cousin of designer Cynthia Rowley, covers the basics of the Target Corporation: it's history, it's rise into American discount retail prominence and most importantly, the unique and unorthodox methods and philosophies Target utilizes. Unlike other corporations, Target actually seems to care about quality, value, their employees, and their communities. They donate annually 5% of their before-tax profits and oversees a working environment of trust and respect. The drab writing does not take away from their exemplary philanthropic ventures but it definitely beats the hell out of it. The one glaring problem that Target shares with so many other powerful retailers is their continued use of overseas labor. This often entails low wages, long hours, and lack of respect for the workers. According to the book, Target is concerned but that is not enough to stop them from providing the demand for cheap wares in the States. On a little side note, Americans are so bloody concerned with sweatshop labor and inhuman working conditions but when factories are set up in the States and inevitable costs rise such as union wages and health care benefits, those same Americans say that they refuse to pay for a $50.00 pair of pants made in America as opposed to paying $15.00 for a pair made in Taiwan. As quality rises, so does cost...

Anyways, short (only 200+ pages), but current, book written in a rather dull way. Spotlights Target's generosity and caring but also casts light on the continued problems concerning under-paid overseas labor. Rent it from the library or buy it used. ... Read more

Book Description

Conventional wisdom once told us big companies are unbeatable... and eat smaller competitors for breakfast.

Not anymore. These days It's Not the Big that Eat the Small... It's the FAST that Eat the Slow!

Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton discovered what separates today's icons of speed from everybody else.

They asked questions like:

• What is the difference between speed and haste?
• Where does business go to spot trends before the competition?
• How can leaders help people stop dreading high velocity and rediscover the thrill of deciding, acting and staying fast?

And studied the world's fastest companies like:

• H&M Europe's fast fashion phenomenon now poised to threaten apparel stores in America.
• AOL who gulped down Netscape and Time Warner in record time.
• Charles Schwab the new dominant name in discount and on-line financial services.

The results are in this sensational book... a national bestseller, translated all over the globe and universally praised.

Would you like to make speed a competitive tool in your business? Here's your roadmap!

Reviews (28)

Simple management philosophy that worths a read
I think most people understand the importance of "speed" in the marketplace. The problem lies in "how" to incorporate this element into their daily business before they or their companies had been eaten by someone else. I am sorry that the author had not done a good job in this respect. He said a lot about the advantages of being speedy, but not practical methods of pushing it through bureaucracy, redtape, human resistance to change, the long term committment of top management......... Perhaps I had demanded too much from such a small book. However, I really believe the author is capable of giving us more, judged by his smooth and intelligent writing skills and choice of words.

Below please find some copy and paste for your reference.

Speed, merely for the sake of moving fast, without a destination inmind, is haste. Eventually, out of control, speed will land you in big trouble. But imagine how many more races you would win if you had a big head start. Think about the advantage you would have if you knew what the future was going to look like and were able to spot trends before the competition. Consider the power of being able to think about things quickly and accurately, tackling in minutes the same big issues and questions the competition would be processing for weeks. pg 9

Question everything...all the time. If you want to hone your anticipatory skills, accept nothing. Question everything. Ask how and why of everything that's presented to you. pg 19

A fund manager's best year will likely be his or her first. He or she is without a need to defend the previous year's choices and is able to ruthlessly assess the viability and potential performance of holdings in the fund. Dr. Richard Geist, professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School. pg 101

It's not the strongest nor most intelligent of the species that survive; it is the one most adaptable to change. Charles Darwin pg 111

When you refuse to abandon, bad things always seem to happen.

p.s. The main book title is very interesting. I think if the author did add one more word "idiot" in the end, the impact will be even bigger.

Speed Plus Torque = Victory!
This is the first of two books by Jennings which I have recently read. (The other is Less Is More.) It was written in collaboration with Laurence Haughton. The subtitle reveals their core assertion: "How to Use Speed as a Competitive Tool in Business." Correctly, they stress the importance of using speed to achieve and then sustain a decisive competitive advantage. They also realize that there are times for an organization to be a sprinter but other times to proceed as if in a marathon.

In the Prologue, Jennings and Haughton explain that they "began with a blank canvas. No points to prove, no axes to grind, and no one to impress. We truly wanted to figure this 'speed thing' out and boil it down into easy-to-replicate tactics." They developed criteria for selecting the fastest companies and then focused on them: Charles Schwab, Clear Channel Communications, AOL, H&M, Hotmail, Telepizza, and Lend Lease. The book presents a number of real-life lessons from these high-speed companies and their full-throttle executives. The authors also provide "time-proven instructions on becoming faster than anyone else."

The material is organized within four Parts: Fast Thinking, Fast Decisions, Get to Market Faster, and finally, Sustaining Speed. In their Epilogue, the authors observe that, early on in their research, they discovered that "truly fast companies that have demonstrated the ability to maintain momentum aren't naturally any faster than their slower-moving rivals. But they are smarter." What's the difference? The truly fast companies avoid, "blow up," or get past various "speed bumps," refusing to be delayed or prevented from getting to where they want to be.

As I read this book, I began to think of an organization as a vehicle. As such, what are its requirements? First, a specific and appropriate destination. Next, a capable driver. Then, a sufficiently powerful engine and enough fuel to keep it running. Also, a transmission with different gears (including reverse), shock absorbers, and brakes. Gauges keep the driver fully informed of available fuel, oil pressure, speed, time, etc. Jennings and Haughton discuss "speed bumps" and could have just easily included a discussion of terrain and weather. A number of organizations -- S&Ls 15-20 years ago and dot coms more recently -- have failed because they could not cope with "rough roads" and "foul weather." In several instances, imprudent speed was a factor in their demise. I want to stress this point because Jennings and Haughton do not glorify speed per se. In certain situations, however, speed is the determinant insofar as success and failure are concerned. Rapid response to customers' needs, for example, or to a new business opportunity. To extend the vehicle metaphor, executives also need a multi-gear "transmission" as well as an accelerator and brakes...and the skill to use each as well as the wisdom to know when.

Jennings and Haughton have a Snap! Crackle! and Pop! writing style which is eminently appropriate to the subject. They also have a delightful sense of humor which substantially increases the entertainment value of their work even as they focus on an especially serious subject: business competition in an age and at a time when it has never before been so intense and when prudent speed frequently determines the difference between organizational life or death. This is a brilliant achievement.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Jennings' Less Is More as well as Curt Coffman and Gabriel Gonzalez-Molina's Follow This Path.

Good
Lots of good stuff. Some you'll have read in other books, but that's not a negative if such info is presented in a new way, as it is here. I do think the choices of AOL and Hotmail as fast company examples were dumb choices, since Hotmail never actually turned a profit, it just grew to become an enticing buy for Microsoft, which is when the owners cashed in. AOL's troubled history is famous enough I need not repeat it here. But the other companies chosen (Charles Schwab, Clear Channel, among others) as examples are "legitimate" companies, aiming for profit and succeeding while growing quickly. And it's because of those examples I recommend this book.

Some flaws, but overall a good value
There is an old story about the two fellows who went lion hunting in Africa. They searched for days to no avail, then suddenly-right in front of them-was a huge lion!
The lion saw them, too, and thought, "lunch!" One of the men reached into his knapsack, retrieved his running shoes, and began putting them on. His friend, incredulous, mocked, "You'll never outrun that lion." The first man responded, "I don't have to outrun the lion; I just have to outrun you!"

The speed of business has increased, along with the speed of change. Today, and in the years ahead, the prizes will go to the companies that anticipate the trends, then move most quickly and wisely to put themselves in the right place at the right time. Those firms that allow any employee-at any level-to tie them to tradition or to get in the way of progress risk extinction. Given the title, we'd expect to find the secrets in the pages of this book. Readers will find quite a few tips, some great lessons, snappy writing, and valuable summary lists at the end of each chapter. There's a lot of good content here, but also some annoying redundancy.

This well-organized book moves steadily and deliberately through a collection of strategies that stimulate thinking and action. A number of examples are offered to illustrate fast movement and not-fast-enough movement. Many of the anecdotes and case studies come from the same companies, which is both good and bad. We see deeper into these companies, but miss the opportunity to appreciate the strategies and actions of a wider range of organizations. Hearing about the same companies over and over again made me wonder if the authors had investigated any other examples. The sameness got old.

Toward the end of the book, the reader may sense some repetition, as if the authors forgot they had mentioned these things or were looking for filler to complete the manuscript at the end of their writing process. I sensed some redundancy in the main body of the book, but as the manuscript drew to a close I almost lost interest because I was reading words I'd already read.

There's a lot of good content in this volume, so I'll still recommend it. Look for the tips, the advice, and the strategies that will inspire you to make notes, turn down pages, and highlight various sections. While the book wasn't 100% for me, there are a lot of valuable and thought-provoking lessons in these pages. Many of the ideas and observations are sufficiently thought-provoking to stimulate change in the way you do things, particularly if you perceive yourself to be in a competitive environment.

This review refers to the hardcover edition.

Average Book
If you did not read many books of management, you will certainly profit from reading this book. There'a a total lack of care for personel but a lot of good ideas.
Read a book on Emotional Intelligence together with this one, mix them both and get to work! ... Read more

Book Description

Senior managers know that the Internet demands new business strategies. But for many of these executives, much about the Internet and e-commerce remains enigmatic. This important new book by strategy guru Michel Robert demystifies the Internet for executives and provides a comprehensive framework for developing Internet strategies that dovetail with an organization's overall business strategy.

Based on Robert's two decades of research and international consulting experience at more than 400 companies, the e-strategy model described comprises 10 e-drivers, corresponding to 10 key business strategies. These include: demand aggregation for obtaining better prices; build-to-order services that allow customers to configure products to their specifications; customer self-service; direct customer access for manufacturers; dynamic pricing; and others. Using many real-life examples, Robert describes how each e-driver works and how to combine them in a coherent strategy for making optimal use of today's most powerful strategic tool, the Internet. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Valuable reading (if you are objective)
I am always amused by "reviewers" who trash another consultant's book. Every guy with a phone and fax who thinks he is a consultant finds it in their interest to degrade other concepts.

This book is filled with valuable and memorable information that will help any senior executive get a grip on the Internet and it's future implications.

I don't think the author ever intented for "E-Strategy" to be the encyclopedia of the Internet - I think he did a marvelous job of taking a complex topic that most managers don't understand and putting it in our language and context. I wish more authors took that approach.

A classic
"A portal is a web capability developed by an organization in which a company offers its own products as well as products from competitors." (Page 85) This definition shows a basic lack of understanding of what a portal is. "The client is the architect." (Page 103) Try telling that to the IT people. The illustrations on pages 98 - 99 are simplistic beyond belief. I've read many IT books in my time, but this one takes the cake!

Basic business strategy with some interesting nuances
There is nothing new or Earth-shattering in this book - it's about employing strategy within the context of e-commerce. The authors' agenda, from the preface, is to "... demystify the Internet ... which then empowers CEOs and their key executives to design their own Internet strategy and control their own destiny."

The central theme of the book is wrapped in three imperatives: (1) clarify your business strategy, (2) construct an "e-strategy", and (3) integrate the business and e-strategy.

While the ideas and approach are straightforward and basic, the real gems are contained in the interviews with key executives who have creatively conceived of viable (and innovative) e-strategies and have successfully integrated them into their overall business strategy. In my opinion the most interesting interview was with Philip C. Kantz (CEO, TAB Products). TAB Products makes folders, labels and other commodity items. Not the sexy stuff of e-strategies, but that's exactly what this executive crafted and it transformed his entire business. Not surprisingly the creative part of the strategy was minor compared to the leadership abilities that were required to transform a vision into action and results. This interview alone summarizes the entire message of the book. Each of the other four interviews provides insights about the creative, leadership and technical challenges of devising and implementing an e-strategy.

As you read this book don't be so quick to conclude that it is only stating the obvious. There are some wonderful ideas to be gleaned, inspiration and encouragement from executive interviews, and some subtle nuances in the authors' approach. The structure and message of the book puts e-strategy and the Internet into the familiar framework of business strategy 101. You'll benefit from the interviews, and will have a path marked with familiar landmarks towards implementing an e-strategy.

What's your business strategy?
A concise and easily read book on how to watch for the micro, macro, and mega changes that are coming our way. 

The obvious goal is to get you to use the consulting services, but still, there is solid information about re-thinking business models to accommodate the internet world.

Perhaps the most important advice given is to make sure you have a clear business strategy to begin with, update that strategy to be pertinent in this information age, and formulate your Internet strategy to further your business goals. "The Internet is another vehicle to help a company deploy its business strategy. Unfortunately, because of its pervasiveness, the Internet cannot be ignored."

There are several good pieces of information to use as you're thinking about your IT investment, such as: "Eighty-four percent of IT projects are late, over budget, or canceled. The cost to U.S. corporations is over $184 billion per year. Completed projects achieve only 60 percent of their objectives.

Charts, drawings, and lists help to make clear the authors' intent. Plenty of white space makes the book easy to read (even on a bouncing aircraft!).

False Advertising
If you read Robert's other book, The Power of Strategic Thinking, there is absolutely no reason to read this one. He (and McGraw Hill) put out the same book under two separate titles. Based upon its title, I was expecting the book to focus entirely on e-strategy and provide some innovative, insightful and applicable information. Instead, there was little or nothing "new under the sun" imparted in this book that he didn't already tell us in The Power of Strategic Thinking - which by the way is the much better book of the two. If you want information on e-strategy, save your money and look elsewhere. Jim Altfeld, Altfeld, Inc. Strategic Corporate, Marketing & Sales Planning. ... Read more

Book Description

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."–Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 511 b.c.

How do companies like IBM, Xerox, Motorola, Procter & Gamble, and NutraSweet dominate the competitive situation in their markets year after year? Each of these market leaders relies on an effective, well-organized competitive intelligence (CI) strategy to help them outwit, outmaneuver, and outperform the competition at every turn.

Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence presents the best thinking and most successful techniques from these and other leading firms on how medium- to large-sized companies can strategize and implement a competitive intelligence program across a wide range of business functions. Readers will learn the secrets of the best business intelligence operations as corporate CI leaders explain:

• How to demonstrate the value of CI to management
• How to get your sales force and other "troops" to bolster CI efforts
• Why competitive technical intelligence (CTI) is vital to technology-driven firms
• How to set up a CI resource center on the corporate intranet
• Why identifying key intelligence topics (KITS) can lead to competitive advantage

Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence is an indispensable resource for any organization that wants to take the lead in its market, maximize performance, and keep the competition wondering, "How do they do that?" ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Best Here is Amazingly Good
As with any anthology, some of the contributions are better than others. But the best case studies in this collection are of real value. In particular, I'd point to the case studies from Shell and other companies that describe how corporate intranets can be used to both collect competitive information from within your firm (sales reps, etc.) and then to make it availalbe firmwide, so that no one gets "blindsided." Any company that's not doing this doesn't understand, as one of the chapters puts it, the overriding importance of CI/Knowledge Management convergence.

I was also amazed by how forthright some of the contributors were, expecially the description of the organizational CI structures at firms such as P&G, Xerox and IBM. I don't know why they're sharing this, but these descriptions are worth the price of the book. Not that you'd want to copy them exactly, but it's vital to know how others organize their efforts in this regard.

And even the more "philosophical" contributions, include Robert Galvin's piece on CI at Motorola, were helpful.

No, it's not a really "how to" book, but it does reveal just how important CI now is to companies in the know, and why others should get onboard.

Nice Assortment of Articles, But Seen Them Before
This book is a decent one for your library shelf. It includes a fair variety of articles, quite often featuring widely known names in the CI field. The idea of "proven" and "strategies" may be a bit misleading however, as some of these so-caled proven strategies were really philosphies, tactics or concepts that worked for a short time but were shown to be difficult to sustain. Witness the recent public difficulties at Procter & Gamble or Daimler Benz for example and you'll understand this.

For those people who read or have seen the CI Review, you'll recognize that these chapters first appeared as articles in that venue. Some of the chapters are now several years old, stale, and the individuals, departments or companies involved have undergone major shifts in their approaches to CI and to the topics of these articles. I should note that this doesn't mean that the information is invalid, indeed, it is helpful more often than not. However, "proven" strategies are enduring... some of the ones highlighted here were "practiced" for sure, but "proven" may be a bit of a marketing stretch. I'd still recommend this book to those individuals new to the field, and those who haven't accessed this material before in its other forms. ... Read more

Book Description

Market Leadership Strategies for Service Companies reveals the key strategies for creating and sustaining a market leadership position for any service business. Service industry experts Craig A. Terrill and Arthur G. Middlebrooks affirm that in order to become a dominant market leader, a service company must find ways to:

• Define their service business and the benefits customers receive
• Reveal the intangible aspects of the service experience
• Move in a different direction from competitors by addressing new, intense, and unmet customer needs
• Put people back into the equation, not just automate and reengineer to increase operational efficiency
• Find ways to move away from the parity battles (i.e., fights over the perceived equality of the same type of service from different companies) in their particular industry

Reviews (4)

Whoever heard of a New "Service" Development process?
Until now, it seems that most every book written on the topic of developing something new at a company has replaced the word "Product" with the word "Service" and carried on as if nothing changed.

Well, it has.

Products and services are two different business animals, and these authors FINALLY call a spade a spade and then deal with the consequences. While many of the approaches between new product development and new service development are deceptively similar, the authors point to some key differences that substantially affect results.

They answer questions like: When do you solicit customer input? How can reengineering save money but kill a service your company offers? Why are company new service brainstorming sessions ineffective? The answers seem intuitive - but only after you've read it.

It also gives you some talking points about why "Being better" can trap your company as an also-ran. I winced during and after taking their survey.

The part of reading this book that wasn't fun was realizing the work I needed to do in my company. The fun part was knowing I now have a map to get there. I found the book readable and useful, and I've already made changes based on its recommendations.

The Best Marketing Service Book I Have Ever Read
As the Managing Partner for a major consulting firm and having spent 13 years in the services sector, I can honestly say I have read hundreds of business books. This is by far one of the best I have ever read.

Terrill and Middlebrooks provide scores of frameworks and client examples that provide a literal How-To roadmap for anyone serious about growing their company -- in an extremely profitable way.

I found especially insightful the authors perspectives on how to fill the financial growth gap that most companies find to be the most challenging part of their longer term strategy. From new product development to segmentation to positioning and branding to communications, Terrill and Middlebrooks basically give you an MBA in a book.

I have to admit I have borrowed their concepts fairly liberally since I read this book as it serves only to provide my clients (as well as my company) with the best possible solutions to their growth challenges.

Thanks guys for taking the seminal thinking that already exists in the services sector several steps further.

Bravo!

The Best Services Leadership & Excellence Book I Have Read
I am the Managing Partner for a company that serves scores of clients every year, all seeking to improve their businesses.

Having spent the last 13 years in the services sector and constantly searching for new ways to serve my clients better, I finally found the book that teaches you how to "be the best that you can be."

Middlebrooks and Terrill provide scores of frameworks and examples from their vast experiences to lead the reader from point a to point b. Borrowing lessons learned from Fortune 10 companies to $20 million business to business specialty companies, I truly felt like I received a second MBA--for a lot less money.

The best insights I received from their book was tied to how to help my clients fill that strategic anomaly called the revenue and profit growth gap. This book helped me better understand not only how to help my clients (as well as my company)fill this gap but also the variety of approaches I have at my disposal to help them achieve their longer term plans.

From new product development to segmentation to branding and positioning to communications, this book is definitely an invaluable resource and a definitive how-to guidebook.

I am a better business leader and my clients will be better served as a result of reading this landmark book.

Thanks guys for providing me with an incredible roadmap for future success.

A No Non-Sense book on Services Marketing
Market Leadership Strategies for Service Companies is an interesting book for companies in the services sector. The book explains in detail the key strategies which every service company needs to implement if it wants to become a market leader. The book is universally applicable as the services sector is witnessing tremendous growth more so in countries like India. ... Read more

Book Description

"If management is an art, then surely Jack Welch has proved himself a master painter." - BusinessWeek

Boardroom legend Jack Welch is widely regarded as one of the most effective CEOs in business history. Welch’s groundbreaking programs—including Six Sigma and Work-Out—along with his numerous strategies on business leadership have helped transform GE into the global benchmark for maximized productivity and labor efficiency.

Now, The GE Way Fieldbook explains how you can implement the same programs that helped turn GE into a $100 billion juggernaut. Drawing from his unprecedented access to GE’s top-level corridors of power—including a never-before-published full-length interview with Jack Welch—veteran business author Robert Slater packs innovative strategies, easy-to-use diagnostic exercises, detailed questionnaires, and more into the most hands-on, applications-oriented book ever written on General Electric. Only in The GE Way Fieldbook will you find:
*"The Boca Raton Speeches"—Never-before-seen excerpts taken from Jack Welch’s internal speeches to GE employees
*More than 100 exercises, overheads, and exhibits from the files of Jack Welch and GE
*The most complete treatment of GE’s Six Sigma program ever published
*Step-by-step action plans that are blueprints for implementing Six Sigma and Work-Out—and creating the boundaryless organization

The fieldbook has become one of today’s most popular, effective teaching tools—but never before has one focused on the inner workings and strategies of a specific company. Let The GE Way Fieldbook give you an inside look at the stunningly successful Jack Welch era at GE, provide the techniques and tools you need to focus every worker in your organization on progress and growth, and outline a strategic roadmap for implementing GE’s business practices—and removing the boundaries to success—within your own organization. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Bad ideas made simplistic
This book is quite simply, horrible. I could overlook the fact that it assumes the reader just graduated first grade, if the ideas, methods and tools were any good. Reading this book, I have to believe GE got where it did in spite of Jack Welch, not because of him. These are not the concepts that revolutionize a business. The first great idea offered? An employee suggestion program. Wow, thanks. An entire book could be written on the futility of such efforts. Employees can't change the bad systems they are trapped in. Then we get the 4 E's. This is Jack Welch's idea that all managers in the organization must posess four ingredients: energy, be an energizer, edge, execution. Anyone familiar with Myers-Briggs, or True Colors personality type methodologies will see that Welch is basically saying he's after one personality type (I'll let you guess which one). This is nuts. The strive should be for diversity in personality types, especially on a leadership team. A good mix of idea people, action people, detail people, people who care about people, etc. And on that topic - caring about people, I hope the Jack Welch way doesn't become "the way". The ideas presented here about performance appraisals and forced distributions are not only stupid they are inhumane. I would refer you to the fine book "Abolishing Performance Appraisals" by Tom Coens and Mary Jenkins for a more enlightened view on people and performance.

The stuff about six sigma is not bad, although I'm not a big believer that you can problem-solve your way to excellence. It is possible to make entirely defect-free that which you should not be making at all.

In short, skip this book. The ideas are nothing new, and in many cases wrong, and the tools and illustrations are too simplistic to be of value.

For those who need training wheels
The text of this book could be reduced to 20% its original size if the author addressed the reader as a competent, intelligent manager. Instead, it's filled with cute pictures and 'how to's' I've heard the GE Way is good; don't opt for the Fieldbook.

The Jack Welch Way is the Only Way
I have read everything that has ever been written about the golden boy of corporate america - Jack Welch. He is a genious for our times and this book is just another example of his legendary managerial style. An easy read that is filled with key information to turn any company into an industry leader and any manager into a corporate leader. This book details everything a manager will ever need to know. A MUST BUY !!!!!!

Microsoft Reader makes this title a mistake
I wish I had purchased the hardcopy. Ebooks have a long way to go! I have a laptop and a desktop but there is no way to share this between the two devices. Also, I can't tell how to back this up and restore it if my hard drive crashes. When I'm done with it, I can't give it to someone else. The bookmarking and highlighting is kind of cool, but nothing you can't do with a paper copy. I'm very unimpressed. I'm really regretting that I bought this in electronic format!

Lessons from the Legendary Leader.
"Jack Welch is arguably the most lauded CEO in the world...Such leading magazines as Time, Fortune, and Business Week all lavished praise upon him. They described him at times as the best CEO in America; at times, these magazines credited GE with being the best-run company in the nation...Welch built GE into the most successful American corporation of the late twentieth century by forging and then implementing a series of business strategies that have become his trademark: Business is simple. Don't make business overly complicated. Face reality. Don't be afraid of change. Fight bureaucracy. Get boundaryless. Use the brains of your workers. Find the best ideas, inside or outside your company, and then put those ideas into practice. These strategies and others have formed the building blocks of Jack Welch's battle for corporate revolution...The Welch strategies have been described in a number of popular business books...Most of these books describe the aforementioned business strategies, and others as well, and give an excellent overview of what Welch and GE have accomplished. What The GE Way Fieldbook sets out to accomplish is not simply to explain the strategies but to offer a blueprint of how other companies can implement those strategies expeditiously and seamlessly in their own business...In contrast with the other fieldbooks, The GE Way Fieldbook is the first of its kind to focus on the inner workings and business strategies of a specific company...While we include much of the GE story throughout the book, the primary objective is to provide a road map for those wishing to implement GE's practices in their own organizations. As a result, most chapters include not only textual material but also self-assessment exercises, action steps, and internal GE documents. It is worth noting that these documents, most of which have been provided by General Electric, have never appeared in book form" (pp.1-2).

In this context, Robert Slater divides his book into two main sections. But, in this review, I only focus on the first section as follows.

I. The GE Way: A Fieldbook for Corporate Revolution: In this section, he focuses on the different GE business strategies and initiatives within four learning modules.

1. The Leadership Module (Chapters 1-4): In this module, Slater explains:

* five characteristics of best quality leaders described by Jack Welch in 1997.

* key GE leadership ingredients-the four E:energy, energizer, edge, and execution-, and authentic leadership model of GE as refined views of Welch on leadership in 1999.

* advices of GE's successful executives to GE's senior and middle-level executives all around the world:

(1) Performance: Focus on current job performance...,

(2) Expertise: Become proficient in one business/technical area...,

(3) Ownership: Don't whine about your career...,

(4) Challenge and Visibility: Take the hard job...,

(5) Mentors/Supporters/Role Models: Broaden your base support...,

(6) Global Experience/Cultural Breadth: Expose yourself and family to different cultures early...,

* GE's assessment-360 degree feedback- and reward policy.

2. The Empowerment Module (Chapters 5-6): In this module, Slater explains:

* Welch's Work-Out model and six basic objectives of this model:

(1) reducing bureaucracy,

(2) improving organizational processes,

(3) empowering employees; reducing vertical boundaries,

(4) breaking down intra-organizational walls,

(5) developing formal alliances or informal relationships with customers,

(6) developing other extra-organizational relationships.

* how GE implements this Work-Out model.

3. The Organization Module (Chapters 7-10): In this module, by providing a series of questionnaires and other self-assessment exercises, Slater explains Welch's boundaryless organization strategy as the GE's emerging culture and the soul of GE's integrated diversity.

4. The Customer Module (Chapters 11-15): In this module, Slater presents a complete picture of GE's Six Sigma program, how it began, how it works, what impact it has had on the company, and what Jack Welch thinks about it. Welch argues that "Six Sigma is the most important management training thing we've ever had. It's better than going to Harvard Business School."

I highly recommend this invaluable guide. ... Read more

Book Description

Praise for Jackpot!
Harrahs Winning Secrets for Customer Loyalty

"Any gambler knows the importance of a trustworthy house, and Harrahs has certainly earned its reputation for integrity." –Alan C. "Ace" Greenberg, Chairman, Bear Stearns

"Jackpot is a fast read about a fascinating industry, packed with marketing and operational nuggets that every business leader should know." –Sergio Zyman, Author, The End of Advertising As We Know It

"In Jackpot, Robert Shook has adroitly described how Harrahs, under the leadership of Phil Satre and his team, have moved this company into the forefront of the gaming industry by implementing modern technology and initiatives without compromising the vision and culture of Bill Harrah." –Frank Fahrenkopf, President, American Gaming Association ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Motivate yourself
Great book -- the lessons taught are for all service based organizations. Learn how to create customer loyalty and enjoy your business more. Must read!!

best marketing book I ever read
I have read other books by Robert L. Shook, and he is an accomplished writer of business books. He's at his best with Jackpot. This book is both informative and entertaining. Shook takes his reader behind the scenes at Harrah's, a gaming company with 26 casinos and reveals how the company is able to compete so successfully against billion-dollar properties in the Las Vegas market. Harrah's secret, as the subtitle states is how it wins customer loyalty and does it better than its competition. This is an excellent book for any business reader engaged in a highly competitive industry, and, in particular, goes head to head with the big boys. Shook's writing style is superb--he interwines anecdotal material that makes for a fascnating read. True, this is a business book, but at times, it's such a page-turner, you feel you're reading a novel.

This book is a "winner!"
This book is about an outstanding culture that is culminated from the founder's passion, integrity and leadership.

Jackpot provides cutting-edge lessons and ideas that are being exposed for the first time in topics such as: marketing and customer loyalty, building market share, and preserving high integrity.

Harrah's placed its chips on integrity and serving the customer. It's no wonder they are so successful.

"very FUNNY book"
This book is a riot! I could not put it down. One of the funniest books on gambling I have ever read.(and I've read 100 books on Vegas/Gambling.Go straight to page 43 first- "there is no underworld presence today in Las Vegas"- this author really knows how to write satire.The book is just filled with one funny story after another about how everything now in gambling is on the up & up.Robert Shook is more humerous than that Connecticut Senator whose trying to protect children from the entertainment industry.Another fun thing to do with his book- circle the word "lawyer" and then underline all the Federal & State laws that his book exposes.God Bless America! We should all feel blessed to have a comedy writer like Robert.

D.Matthew Hayden
author
Vegas Stories ... Read more

Book Description

No one believed the IRS could ever run like a twenty-first-century business. Until it did.

When Charles O. Rossotti became Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service in 1997, the agency had the largest customer base-and the lowest approval rating-of any institution in America. Mired in scandal, caught in a political maelstrom, and beset by profound management and technology problems, the IRS was widely dismissed as a hopelessly flawed enterprise.

In Many Unhappy Returns, Rossotti-the first businessperson to head the IRS-recounts the remarkable story of his leadership and transformation of this much-maligned agency. In the glare of intense public scrutiny, he effected dramatic changes in the way the IRS did business-while it continued to collect $2 trillion in revenue.

Through fascinating accounts of heated Congressional hearings, encounters with Washington bigwigs, frank exchanges with taxpayers and employees, and risky turnaround strategies, Rossotti serves up a colorful story of leadership and change against daunting odds.He also underscores why every honest taxpayer should demand reform in the broader U.S. tax system.

Infused with keen wit and hard-won business wisdom, Many Unhappy Returns illuminates the perils and possibilities of leading large, complex organizations in a transparent world.

... Read more

Book Description

In The Leadership Engine, Noel Tichy showed how great companies strive to create leaders at all levels of the organization, and how those leaders actively develop future generations of leaders. In this new book, he takes the theme further, showing how great companies and their leaders develop their business knowledge into "teachable points of view," spend a great portion of their time giving their learnings to others, sharing best practices, and how they in turn learn and receive business ideas/knowledge from the employees they are teaching.

Calling this exchange a virtuous teaching cycle, Professor Tichy shows how business builders from Jack Welch at GE to Joe Liemandt at Trilogy create organizations that foster this knowledge exchange and how their efforts result in smarter, more agile companies, and winning results. Some of these ideas were showcased in Tichy's recent Harvard Business Review article entitled, "No Ordinary Boot Camp."

Using examples from GE, Ford, Dell, Southwest Airlines and many others, Tichy presents and analyzes these principles in action and shows how managers can begin to transform their own businesses into teaching organizations and, consequently, better-performing companies.

Reviews (4)

Robert Knowling?
I just read the intro to this book by Robert Knowling. As far as I can tell Robert Knowling was booted out of Covad having delivered dismal results. He is listed as CEO of Simbion, which according to Hoovers has 1-5 employees and $50-$100K in revenues. He is even featured on the cover. Am I missing something?

Nothing new
I was somewhat disappointed in this book despite its endorsement by one of my business school classmates. Professor Tichy discusses already well known principles of leadership within the context of what is promoted as a "new" approach. Only a few individuals and companies are profiled and are used repeatedly throughout the book. The examples cited fit awkwardly into the message that is being presented. The title of the book attributes greatness to the individuals profiled based on only one attribute--a belief in teaching and learning. This seems such a narrow focus on which to base such accolades.

A New "Business Classic"
Those who are familiar with my reviews of other business books already know that on several dozen occasions, I have strongly recommended The Leadership Engine (1997) which Tichy wrote with Eli Cohen and Nancy Cardwell. He teams up with her again in this book, expanding and enriching his concept of leadership development at all levels throughout any organization, regardless of its size or nature. Hence the importance of what Tichy calls a "Virtuous Teaching Cycle": Everybody teaches and everybody learns; all practices, processes, and values promotion teaching; all teaching is interactive to generate the effective exchange of knowledge; thereby, maximum use is made of everyone's skills and talents to ensure all-level alignment for smart and rapid response to needs, problems, opportunities, etc. Tichy asserts (and I agree) that hypertransformation (in established organizations) and hypergrowth (in start-ups) are essential to business success. The challenge in established organizations is to overcome what Jim O'Toole characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." For start-ups, the challenge is to achieve appropriate scale while ensuring that new employees are brought on line and up to speed ASAP. In ten chapters, and with prevision as well as eloquence, Tichy explains how various organizations (notably GE) have met those and other challenges.

Unlike other authors who address many of the same issues, Tichy also includes a substantial Handbook (pages 285-394) which consists of ten Sections: The Teaching Organization, The Hand You have Been Dealt, Building Your Teachable Point of View, Pulling It All Together, Building a Team Timetable Point of View, Architecting the Leadership Pipeline, Scaling the Teaching Organization, Building Teaching into the DNA, Global Citizenship, and finally, Start the Journey. In the Handbook, Tichy explains provides decision-makers with with just about everything their need to know to design, implement, and then strengthen their own Teaching Organization, one within which the Virtuous Teaching Cycle sustains leadership development at all levels.

In his Introduction to the Handbook, Tichy quotes a brief statement from Thomas Stewart's most recent book, The Wealth of Knowledge:

"The knowledge economy stands on three pillars. The first: Knowledge has become what we buy, sell, and do. It is the most important factor of production. The second pillar is a mate, a corollary to the first: Knowledge assets -- that is, intellectual capital -- have become more important to companies than financial and physical assets. The third pillar is this: To prosper in this new economy and exploit these newly vital assets, we need new vocabularies, new management techniques, and new strategies. On these three pillars rest all the new economy's laws and its profits."

Tichy includes this brief statement because it is directly relevant to his own objectives in The Cycle of Leadership but also because, unless and until an organizations has all three pillars (not one, not two but all three), it cannot survive major challenges which await them, many of which have yet to be revealed. That is to say, the Teaching Organization can only be built on the foundation they provide.

"Winning leaders are teachers, and winning organizations do encourage and reward teaching. But there is more to it than that. Winning organizations are explicitly designed to be Teaching Organizations, with business processes, organizational structures, and day-to-day operating mechanisms all built to promote teaching." However, Tichy doesn't stop there. More importantly, the teaching that takes place is a distinctive kind of teaching. It is interactive, two-way, even multi-way. Throughout the organization, 'teachers' and 'students' at all levels teach and learn from each other, and their interactions create a Virtuous Teaching Cycle that keeps generating more learning, more teaching, and the creation of new knowledge."

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Peter M. Senge's The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990) and The Dance of Change: The Challenges of Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations (1999), William Isaacs' Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together: A Pioneering Approach to Communicating in Business and in Life (1999), Carla O'Dell's If Only We Knew What We Know: The Transfer of Internal Knowledge and Best Practice (1998), and Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak's Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know (1997).

Great Team Building Ideas
After hearing about all the corporations with failing management, my business team went looking for some guidance. I learned a lot from this book about building and teaching teamwork, leadership skills and trust within a team. I really enjoyed the business case examples from other corporations. Our team is now going through the exercises in the leadership handbook in the back of the book and know it will help us all be better leaders. I highly recommend this book for any business team looking for some leadership training. ... Read more

Book Description

A brand’s meaning—how it resonates in the public heart and mind—is a company’s most valuable competitive advantage. Yet, few companies really know how brand meaning works, how to manage it, and how to use brand meaning strategically. Written by best-selling author Carol S. Pearson (The Hero Within) and branding guru Margaret Mark, this groundbreaking book provides the illusive and compelling answer. Using studies drawn from the experiences of Nike, Marlboro, Ivory and other powerhouse brands, the authors show that the most successful brands are those that most effectively correspond to fundamental patterns in the unconscious mind known as archetypes. The book provides tools and strategies to:
• Implement a proven system for identifying the most appropriate and leverageable archetypes for any company and/or brand
• Harness the power of the archetype to align corporate strategy to sustain competitive advantage ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Marketing to the subconscious
This is the the future of marketing: Less emphasis on numbers, focus group, statistics; more on appealing to customers emotionally. This book shows how universal stories can be used to appeal to customers, even though neither the customers nor the businesses may be consciously aware of it. I would recommend this book not only to marketing professionals, but to anyone who would like to know him/herself better.

WELL-WRITTEN, BUT COULD HAVE BEEN AN ARTICLE
Behind every great brand is a great story. The authors explain, quite eloquently, how marketers can make their brands or products invincible by discovering the "soul" of their brands, and then expressing that soul in ways that tap into universal stories or "archetypes." It's the case studies (Nike, Ivory etc) that bloat this interesting but overdrawn idea into a book, but if you don't mind a used copy, I'd recommend this on a brand manager's desk.

Mythic Marketing
Lord of the Rings. That was the first thing I thought of when I read the synopsis about The Hero and the Outlaw.

I was somewhat doubtful about their premise, I must admit. Archetypes are powerful and they sell, undoubtedly, but that's for books and movies. But marketing?

Yet, books and movies are marketed and sometimes quite successfully. Steven King. Tom Clancy. Star Wars.

So, perhaps interweaving some of Jung's ideas and marketing is not such a bad idea, after all.

When I combined these very ancient concepts with some of the more modern strategies suggested in Michael levine's Guerrilla pR: Wired, I did see an impact.

Perhaps, despite claims to the contrary, we should not look to the future for marketing success, but to the past, for ideas that have a proven track record as ageless and as timeless as our dreams.

This title provides innovative marketing concepts
Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson have wrote a book combining archetypal, mythic figures with modern day marketing. There are many time-tested concepts behind the consumer products we buy and use everyday. At times, we may feel a connection to a product because it's association has been in our archetypal consciousness for many years.

One criticism I have is the book gets into a little too much detail about specific projects and study methods. This happens when the authors talk about clients they have worked with. I don't mean the book is one long advertisement for their marketing consultant services, it is not.

You might appreciate how they relate a core group group of archetypes and how they relate to contemporary consumers. Such as Outlaw, Hero, etc. I found myself comparing these with what is generally called "demographics" and looking for possible fits, depending on the product or services sold.

What I very much appreciate is their mention of those who "manage meaning" have a responsibility to act ethically and think through their advertising and marketing campaigns. Having worked in consumer products and now in advertising, I know this is often not the case.

You'll get a lot out of this read.

A Missing Link in Marketing and Brand Strategy
This book marries one of the most fundamental elements of psychology to market positioning and brand strategy. Using the Jungian archetypes, the authors simplify the development of solid brands. They are replete with wonderful illustrative examples. Since the archetypes are subconscious, it has been difficult for us as marketers to understand how they operate in brand development and giving meaning to brands. The authors offer a very simple method to analyze the brand's archetype and where it fits within the competitive product category.
Even if you are not a marketing person, you will enjoy reading the archetypes, trying to figure out what most appeals to you personally - and no surprise those are usually your favorite brands.
Well written and calls upon many ancient and modern authors who understand how people behave and why. ... Read more

Book Description

In the bestselling tradition of The HP Way, The Spirit to Serve describes how one of the most successful hoteliers of the twentieth century built Marriott International from a respectable $50-million-a-year enterprise into the mammoth $9-billion multinational giant of today.

Told in the words of J. W. Marriott, Jr., The Spirit to Serve distills years of hard-earned wisdom and experience into twelve timeless lessons that managers at any level can implement in their own business lives.

Reviews (8)

Inspiring business advice from a non-business book
Ran into a copy of this succint biographical book at the Sydney Marriott alongside the Bible/Gita/Buddhist manual, and I wasn't too sanguine about something from the hospitality industry being too relevant to me. But this slim, easy read may actually connect with almost any business person. More so if you are in any way related to customer services or marketing.

Without skipping any beat on chapters of glorious prose, ala TypicalBusinessBook, it shoots straight from the gut about the tenets of Marriott -- how with sheer determination it shot to the big league from a small cottage inn, the MBE leadership style of Marriott (the younger Marriott that is) who prefers to walk his troops instead of boardroom inertia, lessons in team building, the importance of listening to all the levels of the organization, codifying past experiences into business philosophies (not the usual "Best Practices" bromide that is bandied about in elite echelons of business) etc etc.

In all respects, a hidden business gem of a book.

Now the million (ok, 11) dollar question. You can imagine how I got my copy. So would I *buy* this book if I had to? For the basement price, and for the simple but compelling REAL WORLD lessons, most likely yes.

An Excellent Book About Business Principles
I really enjoyed this book. I was vacationing at a Marriott Hotel and actually bought this book I wanted to read it so much (even though I thought it should just be given away to the guests). It did not disappoint me. As one of the other reviewers noted, it was a well-written, easy read.

Mr. Marriott inspired me with the business tips contained in the book. I especially enjoyed reading about the checklists that Marriott Hotels uses in its business. I really like checklists too. Why invent the wheel everytime you want to do something? Why try to remember all of the steps needed to complete a task, such as making up a room at a Marriott Hotel? Why not just find out what works and put it on paper?! In this way, a business can create a standardized process that can be taught to its employees, instead of relying upon each individual's whim. This idea is also discussed in Michael Gerber's excellent book, The E Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It.

I also enjoyed reading J. W. Marriott, Jr's criticisms of his father's way of making decisions (I also thought it was interesting that he was so negative with regard to his father, in a published book). Jr. said that his father fretted too much about decisions and basically drove himself crazy. Jr. says in this book that one should not try to make a perfect business decision. That involves too much angst and is a waste of time. One should gather the necessary information to make an informed decision as best as one can, then actually make the decision. The price of pefection is prohibitive.

I hope you find this book as enjoyable and as inspiring as I did.

Excellent business advice
I stayed at a Marriott in Denver last week and found a copy of this book in the nightstand. I expected it to be hogwash and instead found it to be the most useful business book I've ever read. It is a quick read (about 150 pages, not the 240 mentioned in the Amazon catalog). It is entertaining without being self-indulgent and informative without being preachy. The anecdotes revealed an appropriate level of introspection (my one quibble is that Mr. Marriott claims that his family and faith come before business and yet also describes himself as a workaholic). I'm not in the hospitality industry and yet I found dozens of parallels to my own business (computer software and book publishing). Most interesting were the frank assessments of Marriott's business mistakes. He truly used them as an opportunity to learn. The book is chock full of excellent and thought-provoking strategies and totally devoid of the cheesy buzzwords so prevalent in, say, the latest Tom Peters books. Although I have no association with Marriott, the book will cause me to examine the entire service industry in a new light.

Good principles to be learned here.
I am a real estate investor and read this book to learn some principles which apply to my profession. Marriott clearly related historical anectdotes, business principles and his thought processes. I got some insight into Mr. Marriott's personality as well. He has an impressive track record, sound business principles and morals, and a clear and appropriate focus. I found this book very readable and full of things I can apply to my own business.

Take care of associates and they can take care of customers.
I bought "The sprit to serve" 2 weeks ago for prepare the interview J.W. Marriott Hotel in Seoul on 20th of February. It really helped me to know J.W. Marriott hotel itself, the CEO's hotel management mind, Marriott hotel's begin, success, risk and stable success. I was impressed by the sentence "Take care of associates and they can take care of customers" I read this book 3 times and I will read more for the second interview and just for study hotel management. I'd like to study more about hotel management. I read this book in Korean so I am searching Marriott's way in english and I found the review of this book in amazon. It will help me very much. I really want to be Marriott's family after read this book. In first interview I did my best but still have some regret not to say about this book and my spirit.Good Luck to me. Thank you. ... Read more

Book Description

Empower Your Business to Succeed by Learning

?How Organizations Learn gets to the practicalities and realities of organizational learning. This is not a fad; it's the outline of effectiveness for organzations of the future.?

?Parick Canavan, corporate vice president and director of global leadership & organization development, Motorola

In this essential volume, authors DiBella and Nevis outline exactly what it means to be a learning organization. And they offer sound advice on how to increase the learning capabilties of your own company. Here you will discover a powerful array of tools and techniques for leveraging your organization's unique learning style, as well as a productive framework that will help your company learn more fully and adapt more quickly in today's volatile marketplace. A practical fusion of theory, original research, and real-world methodology, How Organizations Learn is the most comprehensive work to date concerning this all-important competitive advantage.

... Read more

Reviews (3)

Change through learning
There are many books on the change process but few address the learning that must occur by those who are changed. DiBella and Nevis provide a tool for you to analyze the learning capability of your organization, as well as to help you identify those learning leverage points that need to be tweaked for the organization to achieve its goals.

An Organizational Learning Model That Makes Sense
In my quest to learn about organizational learning, I have probably read the majority of what has been written on this topic. I have found this book by Anthony DiBella and Edwin Nevis to be the most useful in providing insights to capacity development while building on some solid theoretical foundations.

The authors build on the work of giants in organizational development, but their approach is considerably more pragmatic, consistent with the movement of organizational theorists to link their work to practice. They describe the importance of involved leadership and provide examples of how that would look. They note the difficulty of linking specific outcomes to learning inputs, because of the time lags that exist. They note that "learning itself becomes transparent over time, and we fail to recognize what we have learned or accomplished" (DiBella & Nevis, 1998, p. 199). Another feature is the acknowledgment that leadership is not vested in a single individual but rather "is exhibited both vertically and horizontally throughout any organization" (p. 76), a view that is espoused by enlightened leadership writers and valued by employees around the world.

They present organizational learning as a learning cycle, consistent with the beliefs of other theorists and practitioners. By using the learning cycle as a foundation, the authors set up a model of organizational learning as a continuous process, similar to continuous quality improvement processes or the widely recognized experiential learning model of David Kolb.

The authors respond to an identified need for tools to measure organizational learning and offer a variety of methods by which organizations can be analyzed and improved. Their model is grounded in theory, but it offers tools for translating the theory into organizational practice.

In addition to providing a meaningful model, describing organizational learning styles, and identifying facilitating factors (those factors that could be changed to enhance organizational learning capacity), the authors offer practical advice on how to enhance the factors that contribute to more productive organizational learning.

The DiBella/Nevis model is the most concrete and complete of all of the organizational learning resources reviewed. Unlike most of the writings about organizational learning, there is a research base, a research tool, and guidance on planning organizational interventions.

Their model makes sense with what we understand about learning. It also makes sense with what we know about the way organizations work. And helping organizations learn makes sense for individuals and society.

Director of the Center for Learning, Northwestern Michigan College

In-depth, practical, best book on learning organizations!
I am an organization consultant and have found DiBella and Nevis's book very useful. For instance, they provide a practical framework for assessing learning in teams. This book lacks the usual faddish gibberish surrounding learning organizations. I believe this book is significant, particularly for trainers and consultants. I chose this book to review in-depth for Training Media Review magazine. Solid, useful conceptual presentation. ... Read more

Book Description

Offers a comprehensive approach to strategic planning: how to formulate strategic plans that will develop the company's strengths, be responsive to changing business conditions, and chart a productive and profitable company future. Provides numerous charts, worksheets, and other resources.

... Read more

Book Description

This new edition in the Sociology for a New Century Series is a wonderful supplement to any course in the undergraduate or beginning graduate curriculum that focuses on globalization. It is the first book published for undergraduates which presents a coherent explanation for how "globalization" took root in the public discourse and how "globalization" represents a shift away from "development" as a way to think about non-western societies. The book is full of case studies that help to make the intricacies of globalization concrete, meaningful, and clear to students.

Reviews (3)

Fabulous!
Usually professors who assign their own book for a class tend to be egotists.McMichael bucked that trend, however, by assigning his book which explained everything I ever needed or wanted to know about how the world works.The structure of the book makes it easy for anyone to understand and explains the state of the world today using historical context, which I found fascinating.However cheesy this may be, I honestly think the world would be a better place if more people read this book.

An excellent place to start
I completely agree with Mr. Jones' review.I can name countless books that offer strong arguments and good research.I can also recommend many books that are written with such clear and graceful style that they are a pleasure to read.McMichael is one of the few authors who can manage to combine these two aspects.I thank him for making it both easy and interesting for me to learn about this field of study.