Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Reviews. Show all posts
The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization
Peter Drucker, King of management gurus, has five essential questions for every organization. This book includes content from five of today’s thought leaders, to supplement Drucker's questions and bring them up to date.
Summit on leading in crisis
Recently I was lucky enough to score an invitation to the Summit On Leading In Crisis hosted by Bill George, former CEO of Medtronic, and now Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School. George gathered four very experienced panelists to discuss their “personal stories from the trenches”.
Bill George began the discussions with observations from his new book, “7 Lessons for Leading In Crisis”. I’ve read the book since the forum, and it’s a good read. George sees crises as opportunities for excellent leaders to show what they’re worth. He calls crisis “The Ultimate Test of Leadership”. The seven lessons range from “Face Reality Starting With Yourself” to “Go On The Offense, Focus On Winning Now”. The seven lessons are the basis for a useful discussion with your managers and leaders about how they face crises and where they have opportunities for improvement. Earlier posts by George had slightly different lessons, and these look as if they have changed to make them more useful to a general audience, (as opposed to an earlier post by George on the Wall Street Journal site where one of the lessons was "Build a mountain of cash, and get to the highest hill.").
At the summit the book was sold with a study guide that I think was just as useful as the book. It provided each of the lessons with a set of questions and conversation starters that many leadership teams and coaches could include in their regular after action reviews.
George’s opening remarks mainly centered on our current economic crisis. His point was that it wasn’t a failure of mortgage lenders, economic policies or government regulation. The current crisis is a failure of leadership. Each of the speakers following Bill took up his theme, followed by some of their personal illustrations. Here are a couple that stuck with me…
Mary Carlson Nelson, Chair and former CEO of Carlson Companies was the first to speak after Bill. She made the valuable point that it can be easy to blame leadership without recognizing that there are many great leaders in great organizations who have been caught up in the current economic cycle and are weathering the crisis as best they can.
David Gergen, Director of the Center for Pulblic Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School, talked widely across politics and the economy. Overall he came down on the side that it’s not just great leadership that will get us out of this…it also takes the light hand of appropriate regulation to stop the worst excesses of a free for all economic market. I liked his philosophy. Life is rarely a case of either this or that, most things are usually a case of both this and that.
Anne Mulcahy, Chair and former CEO of Xerox, talked about how most of the recovery in our economy will actually be driven by small nimble organizations rather than large multinationals and conglomerates. Many of the books and theories of leadership look as if they are written for CEOs and super-executives. In reality, the millions of actions of regular people and small to mid-sized organizations acting with integrity in their own best interests drive most of business and most of our economy.
Finally, John Donahoe, Chair and CEO of eBay. Donahoe was what you would expect from a West Coast high tech executive…relaxed in chinos and an open shirt, engaging and personally humorous. (I wonder what he was like before eBay as a high-powered consultant from the east coast). The story that I remembered most of Donahoe’s was his description of his son’s job search post college. You might imagine that Donahoe could call up any one of his network and find a “job” for his son. I’ve even known CEO’s in large public organizations who have found “internships” for their children, knowing full well the positions their children are getting are nothing like a real job in terms of the way they are treated or experiences they will be given. Donahoe’s boy is looking out for his own future like any other college grad. Apparently he sat at home for a long time with no job until he eventually volunteered to work for free at something he loves.
I liked that story best of all the summit tales. Taking personal responsibility, acting with integrity and finding a way of making a valuable contribution to others are real markers of leadership.
The summit will be televised on TPT and local public television stations in the near future. The audio is available from Minnesota Public Radio and I imagine it will soon be broadcast nationally. Check it out for some very interesting reflections on leadership from some very heavy hitters in business.
What is the best book about doing business in China?
“Managing the Dragon” by Jack Perkowski! There are three things that make a business book stand out for me among all the many very ordinary books that are published each month. The author needs to know what they are talking about, They need to have something new to say, and they need to be able to write it in an interesting way that I can relate to.Perkowski manages to do all three in a book about business that reads like a combination between a personal biography and a travel guide. Throughout the book three themes are continuously repeated, if not always explicitly: Connectedness in relationships, Trust, and Perseverance. I imagine that these three values would also be strong contributors to Perkowski's self-identity.
Perkowski knows what he’s writing about. He went to China in 1991 after a successful career on Wall Street, and founded a automotive parts company currently selling over US$500m and 30% of that outside China. His book outlines how he came to make the connections in China that enabled him to start and build his business, and the various challenges he has faced since.
He has a number of new things to say. For example, many people talk about the challenge of enforcing Intellectual Property Rights, (IPR), in China. Local laws do little to protect IPR, and writers often draw negative conclusions about the Chinese character and society as a result. Perkowski, on the other hand, has a purely economic take on the situation. He talks about the sort of products that are regularly knocked off, the kinds of buyers they have, and the distribution systems. His take is that all of these do much more to explain what happens in China than any judgemental comments about Chinese morality. His own business success shows how he has accommodated and succeeded in the Chinese market without compromising his principles. And the something new? Products with the most proprietary content and highest-technology value are probably the best products to take to China and the easiest to protect. (You’ll have to read the book).
Other counter-intuitive concepts in the book?
• You don’t need a local partner in China, and you might even be better off without one.
• You don’t need to learn Mandarin
• The real reason for the Chinese cost of manufacturing, (it’s not lower labor costs)
Not every one of Perkowski’s plans came out well. He discusses how he went through Plan A to begin his company, (it failed), Plan B, (which also failed), and he eventually settled on Plan C, (the success). The story of his three different strategies and how he learned from his mistakes is a lesson in persistence and humility many leaders can learn from. He describes his journey in China as a marathon.
There is a lot of discussion in the book about baijiu, the local alcoholic drink without which no business dinner seems complete. Many of the stories are funny and entertaining in their own right, and would stand up to inclusion in any collection of witty travel writing. Perkowski also uses them as a platform to talk about the importance of mutual respect, being willing to share, acting kindly toward others and having a sense of humility. All of the various dinners and social drinking sessions seemed to build supportive relationships that furthered the business without being focused on the business.
Finally Perkowski makes two points in his book that are interesting and easy for me to relate to. Firstly, he debunks the popular notion that China is different because it relies on Guanxi, which can best be described as “a network of influence and supportive social relationships”. A lot of foreigners emphasize the extent to which this is important in China, likening it to nepotism or cronyism. In fact, most successful people in any culture rely on networks of influence and social support. Managing The Dragon describes how China is the same, rather than focusing on how it is different. Perkowski uses his own career story to illustrate how important it is to be socially intelligent, and how he has benefited from the support of others.
The other concept emphasized in the book to which I readily relate is the importance of trust. If employee and customer engagement means contributing time, talent and resources to the organization it is impossible to imagine engaging people without trust. The importance of trust is a central theme throughout Managing The Dragon. The book looks at both the benefits of positive trust, and how difficult business is in the absence of trust.
Of all the business books on China I have read, this is one of the few that looks at how doing business in China is much the same as doing principled business anywhere else. No fancy tricks or “gee whiz” formulas. And at the end of the day, Perkowski sounds like a good guy to share baijiu with.
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Postscript: After this review was written Jack Perkowski left Asimco. I'm not sure of the circumstances, and I'm not sure they are relevant. However, here's another review of Perkowski's views of doing business in China, this time from the China Law Blog at http://www.chinabusinesslawblog.com/2009/02/want-lasting-relationships-in-china.html Interestingly, the emphasis in the article is on one of the key themes in the book that I picked up on: the importance of trust.
"Implementing ITIL Change and Release Management", by Larry Klosterboer
Larry Klosterboer, author of "Implementing ITIL Change and Release Management" has written the comprehensive overview of managing ITIL based change strategies for IT Operations Managers and Directors.So why is a psychologist reviewing an IT change management book?
For starters, many of my clients are IT and information systems specialists. Most are going through pain, change and challenges related to keeping up with the rapidly shifting demands of their customers, the adoption of new technology, and of course, the economy.
What makes this book different is it specifically speaks to the change and release methodologies you need to manage these three technology pressures. In particular, this book focuses on issues of Content, (Structure, Strategy, Process, Product) and Roadmap, (Project management, Governance, Implementation, Contingencies). This is both its strength and weakness.
In a recent interview Klosterboer offered these critical words of advice from his book:
5 must-dos
• Engage the organization-- implementing change and release management cannot be done in a corner.
• Establish strong policies so process documents never need to be interpreted on the fly.
• Use tools to automate the process rather than defining a process which fits the tools.
• Train each person for the role they will fill rather than creating generic process training.
• Build reports that people will use.
5 don'ts
• Don't forget to gather and agree on solid requirements before moving on to implementation.
• Don't believe implementation of a tool is the hardest part.
• Don't think you can implement release management without appropriate staffing.
• Don't underestimate the importance of a definitive media library.
• Don't settle for a general, high-level process that nobody really follows.
It’s the very first of these, engaging the organization, that is truly critical, and often overlooked or given not enough attention. Engaging people means getting them to devote their time, talent and trust to supporting your goals.
It's also true that the book deals largely with the Organization level of analysis. To be truly comprehensive change managers need to have a strategy to deal with the Group and Individual dynamics that get stirred up by organizational change.
The various chapters in this book work through the content and roadmap you need to lay out for your organization to get on top of change and release management, using the ITIL structures, but don't provide much detail on how to engage the staff and customers. Add in expertise on the People issues, (Mindsets, Reactions, Engagement, Acceptance, Commitment) or supplement it from elsewhere and the book would be perfect.
"What Would Google Do?" by Jeff Jarvis
“What Would Google Do?” is a provocative title because Jarvis knows Google is unlikely to do many, if any, of the things he writes about. Things like run a bank, build cars or get involved in hospitals and insurance. What he tries to do is get at the essence of what has made Google successful, and use that to hypothesize how Google’s terms of engagement could be applied to other industries. Interesting…
When I was an economics student I learned there were only four engines of prosperity and wealth:
1. Arbitrage: The classic buy low/sell high, either across time, across space or between different buyers’ perceptions of value.
2. Compound growth: Reinvesting your winnings, no matter how modest, and letting exponential growth provide you with a healthy return.
3. Leverage: Borrowing to maximize the returns compared to the capital invested.
4. Value Enhancement: Addling labor, capital or marketing to a product to improve its value in the market place. What most of us do by going to work and laboring for wages and salaries.
Jarvis says that in the new market place all that has changed. Google has made “free” into a business model, and encouraged us to make money by “getting out of the way”.
In reality, what Google has done is removed one of the most significant barriers to a free market: getting perfect or near-perfect knowledge to consumers at near zero cost. In the old economy one of the reasons people made a lot of money in the four ways above was because they had access to knowledge at a cost most couldn’t attain. They knew where to invest, where to leverage, how to add value and where the best price differentials were. Google changes all that. Google commodifies everything and enables everyone equal access to all parts of the market at the lowest visible cost.
The book is in two parts. First, Jarvis sets out new business realities in a world where instantaneous knowledge is near perfect and near free. Second, Jarvis looks at specific industries and speculates on what they would look like if they were run in a way that takes most advantage of the new business realities.
Here are a couple of examples. “Atoms are a drag” and so in the new world businesses should try to be as virtual as possible. Avoid buildings, trucks and stock in your business…manufacture just in time to meet consumer demands, and distribute using existing infrastructure that you access at the lowest possible cost. This is the model Amazon uses for selling and distributing books and many other goods, and it works. “Answers are instantaneous” so your consumer responsiveness better be lightening fast. “Everything is searchable” so you had better be transparent, honest and capable of recovering from your mistakes.
One of the most significant areas of analysis in the book is the section on ethics. The message seems to be that when everything you do is searchable and visible to all you better be good. Although the approach is very pragmatic and utilitarian it nevertheless encourages all business people to be honest, open, collaborative and self-regulating. Not a bad admonishment for businesses everywhere.
I like this book largely because of the second half. It’s interesting to look at how Jarvis envisions Google running retail: responsive, collaborative, and virtual. In Jarvis world restaurants would aggregate all the information available about who orders what with what, and use it to offer you specials, discounts and wine/food pairings based on your tastes and the tastes of the people you emulate. Airlines get out of the business of “moving atoms” and get into being a social marketplace where people can exchange travel options. Car companies collaborate with consumers to produce vehicles people really want, (a purple electric SUV with DVDs, a child’s high chair and no stereo perhaps).
Jarvis personal style is a little irritating. I learned too much about how much he earns, how successful his meetings are at Davos and what it’s like to run an internet community of his devoted fans. Still, the book has many valuable insights into doing business in a modern economy. It’s worth it just for the great chapters on “If Google ruled the world”.
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