Review of The Marketing Mavens (Hardcover)

Noel Capon enters a thoroughly ploughed field of business writing and surprised this reader by digging up many fresh treasures. He achieves this through his savvy research project (this book is way more than the standard round-up of usual suspects,) and through choosing some left of field businesses to examine: The Mayo Clinic? The result is fresh writing, fresh thinking and recommendations that aren't necessarily all new, but are re-phrased and re-expressed for today's times.

I'm beginning to find marketing gurus like Aaker (Example: Building the Brand-Driven Business: Operationalize Your Brand to Drive Profitable Growth,) somewhat tired these days, and slipping behind the game in terms of what the age of the internet has done to personalise and redefine the relationships between organisations and their customers. Mass marketing, as it became defined in the post-war years up to the 1990s, is over and done with: everything is coming down to a one on one encounter, but on a large scale.

Capon clearly gets this, and communicates this. I particularly appreciate his writing on how organisations need to better integrate (break down those silos,) in order to serve the customer, and how organisations must measure what matters. For many marketers, as they'll see here, 'what matters' may be quite different from what they've been measuring to date. Well recommended. $18? Spend your money.




Click Here to see more reviews about: The Marketing Mavens (Hardcover)

Review of Biography of the Dollar: How the Mighty Buck Conquered the World and Why It's Under Siege (Hardcover)

Craig Karmin's new book, "Biography of the Dollar," explores a world that most of us in America take for granted - the world of currency.So, what's so important about the currency?My answer to that is simple- everything.

A free-flowing, stable currency is what makes all trade possible- both domestically and internationally.A lack of confidence in the underlying value of a currency can bring entire economies to a screeching halt.The results can be devastating- life savings are wiped out, hyperinflation can take root, debt is defaulted on, investment dries up.It can take decades for economies to recover.

If you're like me, you probably haven't given much thought to these issues.Because, as Americans, they seem to be such remote possibilities.But are they . . . ?

Karmin's book does an excellent job of informing the reader of how the US Dollar is created, distributed and used not only in the United States; but, throughout the world.Karmin covers many aspects of the Greenback- from printing (it costs 5.7 cents to print one) to foreign government's hoarding (60% of the dollars in circulation are overseas) to lending and interest rates (thank China, not the fed, for keeping US consumer borrowing rates low).

Karmin also brings to light the intense pressure that the Dollar is under every day from seemingly all sides:

-the U.S. Government's unwillingness to balance the budget,
-Asian and Middle Eastern countries growing less interested with "subsidizing" the value of the Dollar,
-the solidifying of the Euro as an alternative global currency, and
-the U.S. consumer's never-ending desire to "borrow-and-buy" their way through life

All of these factors have already played out to a certain degree in the declining value of the Dollar over the past couple years.Will the trend continue and how far will it go?Those questions are explored as well.

I highly recommend that anyone read this book- it is an eye opener without getting technical (economist-types will miss their I-L-S-M diagrams)- and it poses all the right questions to get American's thinking about the implications for the future- whether that be as vital as national security or as trivial as the cost of a hotel room in Paris.




Click Here to see more reviews about: Biography of the Dollar: How the Mighty Buck Conquered the World and Why It's Under Siege (Hardcover)

Review of It's Alive: The Coming Convergence of Information, Biology, and Business (Hardcover)

It's Alive has an unusual perspective.The authors argue that the valuable innovations of the next ten years are being developed in the research laboratories and advanced developments of organizations and companies today.The template is looking backward at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center in 1971 as a way to have gotten a preview of today's computer-connected society.

The book will primarily appeal to those with an interest in applying complexity science and biological analogies through information technology to large organizations.Most of the applications here require tens of millions of dollars to do.So for those in small organizations, the examples will seem out-of-reach.

The main advantage of this book over similar books is that it has more and more contemporary examples and a further development of its concepts than the predecessors that I have read.

From looking at technological developments that are available now and those that are in process, Christopher Meyer and Stan Davis see the maturing of the information technology revolution occurring at the same time as the commercialization of various "molecular" technologies (such as nanotechnology, biotechnology and materials science).Because the two fields operate conceptually in similar ways, the authors point to a convergence that has begun between the two fields that will probably grow in the future.They also draw key lessons from the way that evolutionary biology operates to prescribe for business organizations in the future.

Here's the book's structure:

Introduction

Part IThe Next Ten Years
Chapter 1Economic Evolution:Learning from Life Cycles

Part IICode Is Code
Chapter 2General Evolution:Learning from Nature
Chapter 3Biology and the World of the Molecule
Chapter 4Information and the World of Bits

Part IIIThe Adaptive Enterprise
Chapter 5Adaptive Management
Chapter 6Seed, Select, and Amplify at Capital One
Chapter 7Breeding Early and Often at the U.S. Marine Corps
Chapter 8Creating the Capacity to Respond at BP
Chapter 9Born Adaptive at Maxygen
Chapter 10Becoming an Adaptive Enterprise

Part IVConvergence
Chapter 11The Adjacent Possible

To me, the most interesting parts of the book involved advanced experiments and applications of technology to solve problems.Most of these I had not read about before.For the most part, these are written in ways that a lay person can easily follow.

The organizational examples were helpful to applying the concepts of an adaptive enterprise.Apply the six memes (gene-like qualities of ideas) for managing:

Self-organize; recombine; sense and respond; learn and adapt; seed, select, and amplify; destabilize.

Of the organizational examples, I found the Capital One and Maxygen examples the easiest to understand.The BP and U.S. Marine Corps examples seemed a little sketchy.

My favorite example in the entire book was of artist Eduardo Kac turning Genesis 1:28 into Morse code and translating the results into a DNA sequence.He then had the sequence inserted into live bacteria, and displayed the bacteria publicly where viewers could zap the bacteria with UV to create potential mutations.Now, that's technological convergence!

The book ends with some speculation about new applications of convergent technologies such as matter compilers, personal hospitals, universal individual lifelong mentors, experience machines and social-science stimulators.

Don't let the book's conceptual structure scare you off.Underneath the new definitions and concepts, there's a lot of common sense that most will agree with:Get experience fast; learn from your experience; keep it simple; be agile; get to the most valuable places first with the most; and communicate in all directions.

After you've finished reading the book, I suggest you think about how the book's principles could be accomplished on a shoe-string by an organization that you know well.In that way, you will play a valuable role in being a commercializer of advanced laboratory results.



Click Here to see more reviews about: It's Alive: The Coming Convergence of Information, Biology, and Business (Hardcover)

Review of How the Wise Decide: The Lessons of 21 Extraordinary Leaders [DECKLE EDGE] (Hardcover)

This engaging and extraordinary book is filled with fascinating stories and advice which is extremely valuable, even to those not in the business world. The authors have made a truly significant contribution on many levels - one which will improve lives in business and many arenas. It is also a page-turner. I couldn't put it down!



Click Here to see more reviews about: How the Wise Decide: The Lessons of 21 Extraordinary Leaders [DECKLE EDGE] (Hardcover)

Review of Power Ambition Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today . . . and the Lessons You Can Learn (Hardcover)

This book is about the leadership lessons that can be learned from studying some of the greatest western leaders of the ancient world. Those six great leaders were Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar and of course, Xenophon. Wait a minute, who was Xenophon and if he was so great why don't I recognize his name? Feeling a bit ignorant I asked my adult sons at dinner if they knew whom I was speaking about since they'd both had excellent Classical Educations while attending six years at Boston Latin School. My question produced nothing but blank looks. That made me feel a little better, but didn't answer my question.
Xenophon (430-354 BC), was "a young scholar from Athens, and is an example of a reluctant leader who came forward in time to crisis to fill a void. He found himself in command of an army of Greek mercenaries--mostly Spartans--trapped in the middle of the Persian Empire in the region known today as Iraq. Xenophon's mission was to organize these soldiers, motivate them, and get them home alive." Upon hearing this information, one of my sons quickly volunteered, "Oh, I get it, X is famous for actually having an Exit Strategy to get his army out of Iraq!" Touché, son!
The best part of this book is the brief over-views of the cultures and eras of these leaders and learning about their exploits. That part of the book was absolutely a page-turner and fortunately most of the book is comprised of these historic profiles and the lessons that could be garnered from their styles of leadership. I very much enjoyed learning about Xenophon, who is given credit in this book for showing Alexander the Great that there was a crack in the military might of the Persian Empire and Alexander made full use of that information as soon as he could. The weakest portion of the book is taking those examples of leadership techniques and comparing them to the founders and CEO's of major companies. That was just a bit much of an awkward reach for this reviewer. Fortunately, I suspect both the co-authors also realized that this comparison was somewhat weak and didn't dwell on it too much. As fabulously successful as some of the contemporary CEO's may have been, Sam Walton and Wal-Mart or Ray Kroc and McDonalds really don't stand up side-by-side with these former kings, emperors and generals. If those ancient leaders made a mistake thousands, maybe millions of their followers and perhaps they themselves were killed and the history of the world was changed forever. Another example of what happens to the major political players in the ancient world involved the death of Alexander's father King Philip. When the latter was struck down by an assassin,
Alexander and his mother immediately removed any political enemies including King Philip's new wife and infant son. He didn't say "My way or the highway" as was often-used in the book to describe a modern corporation management style, "Alexander ordered the executions of anyone he considered a rival.He spared his older half brother, but many members of the Macedonian aristocracy were put to death, including Philip's new wife and infant son, who were roasted alive over hot coals."
It was bites of reality like the above that made me feel the comparisons of those ancient conquerors and modern business builders and managers didn't belong on the same playing field.
If Dennis Kozlowki, started believing his own public relations press releases and dipping into company funds to enjoy a lavish, imperial lifestyle, he simply ended up disgraced, broke and in jail--not poisoned by his own generals, as was Alexander the Great. When Hank Greenberg was voted out of AIG by his board of directors for some of the same management mistakes made by Julius Caesar, the penalty wasn't exactly equal. In fact, the AIG Board of Directors didn't realize that they were doing Hank a great favor in light of what happened to AIG not long after their actions. Hank might have been able to avoid the company's fall.
John Prevas makes the history in the book come alive and I even ordered another of his best known books "Hannibal Crosses the Alps." ( Please feel free to read my review of that title). He is a true classical scholar who combined his scholarly study with his mountain climbing hobby and actually traveled the various routes believed to have been used by Hannibal when he totally surprised the Romans by bringing his entire army including the War Elephants over the Alps in mid-winter. By actually hiking the various very dangerous routes, Dr. Prevas pinpoints the only route that might have been passable for Hannibal's army. His on-the-ground research and writing remind me very much of another couple of historians who also liked to test their theories before publishing them. Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison of "Christopher Columbus, Mariner" adventures and Thor Heyerdahl of "Kon-Tiki" and "Ra and Ra II" fame, were the other two writers that popped into my mind as I read this excellent volume.
This is a well-done book that includes a short introduction by former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani.There are obvious lessons to be learned from studying history and from studying the leaders of past history.Many of the greatest leaders of the 20th Century were students of history including Harry S. Truman and Winston S. Churchill. They too were looking for helpful leadership advice and styles. I enjoyed it even though I felt the basic premise was a bit of a stretch. The book is still a good read.



Click Here to see more reviews about: Power Ambition Glory: The Stunning Parallels between Great Leaders of the Ancient World and Today . . . and the Lessons You Can Learn (Hardcover)

Review of The Jubak Picks: 50 Stocks That Will Rebuild Your Wealth & Safeguard Your Future (Hardcover)

Being an avid reader of Jubak's column in MSN's moneycentral, most of his theses and discussions on macro trends (the usual suspects - BRIC, commodities/food, infrastructure, aging population and money management) seemed a little tired, and that perhaps was why the book didnt meet my expectations.While Jukak's exposition of the key macro trends are systematic and well-made, most readers familiar with his column and financial press in general, may be hard pressed to find any new dramatic insights from this discussion.

The book starts off with his opinions (and rationale) on fundamental and technical investing ("both are wrong"), identifying common themes and stocks that move according to that theme, and an overview of his method of stock selection. He then organizes his thoughts in this book based on a list of macro themes, evidence and arguments to support these themes and 'risks' associated with that trend.For each trend, he identifies key stocks that are his picks to play that sector. In addition, each chapter also lists additional stocks that he considers to be worthy additions if one were to overweight that theme/sector in one's portfolio, including mutual funds/ETFs that could mimic his opinion expresses in a particular chapter.

The book then concludes with a comprehensive list of his picks and short blurbs on that stock, including which chapter that stock or associated theme was mentioned.For the more experienced reader who may choose to buy this book, this particular section is perhaps more useful - quick scan of the list and then explore in detail when needed. If you are more familiar with the investment media, you may find the under-representation of healthcare stocks a bit unusual when most authors touting the aging population focus on medical device companies like Stryker, Medtronic, etc. while Jubak focuses on money management. A relative novice investor may benefit tremendously from the discussion on the trends and specific stocks for that trend.If you are not familiar with Jubak and his thought process, you may want to check out Moneycentral's website to view his portfolios (he has 4 different ones; he will be monitoring the 50 stocks mentioned in this book as well) before you invest in this book.

In short,good investment for a relatively new investor; if you are already tuned in to the financial press, monitoring his columns and portfolio on Moneycentral is a better pick.



Click Here to see more reviews about: The Jubak Picks: 50 Stocks That Will Rebuild Your Wealth & Safeguard Your Future (Hardcover)

Review of The Difference: How Anyone Can Prosper in Even The Toughest Times (Hardcover)

I found this author from Oprah's web site and read this book.What I love about Jean Chatzky's book The Difference is that she gets to the point in a very calming way.

Money is often times linked to survival and fear in the modern society.I know many of us are raised to have this love-hate relationship with money.For instance, we love to have more money (e.g. one way to get there is to save and invest) but then we spend them instead of keeping them.In Jean's book, she started off describing the research she has done on the individuals who are classified in the following categories:
1.Wealthy
2.Financially Comfortable
3.Paycheck to Paycheck
4.Further In Debtors
Instead of being judgmental to any group of individuals, she simply pointed out "The Difference" wealthy people & financially comfortable people have (traits, the things they do, their beliefs, etc) versus individuals who are in the paycheck to paycheck & further in-debtors categories.Jean never for once went down the path to portray the "wealthy greedy" nor did she judge the "further-in-debtors" as financially irresponsible in her book.Instead, she mentioned many things wealthy and financially comfortable do are things paycheck to paycheck & further in debtors can learn to do to improve financially and our overall happiness (you can find her detailed suggestions in this book).She inspired all of us that to become financially comfortable and/or wealthy is not unrealistic goal in this life time through the research, her findings in the research and her interviews

I love these interviews.I used to have a gut feeling the not all wealthy and/or financially comfortable people are evil/greedy but I had no solid proof of such.Furthermore, if one has watched the news lately, it really does shaken some of my faith about this gut feeling I had all along (especially those news I hear about Wall Street big wigs cashing bonuses, etc).However, Jean's interviews in each chapter helps re-assuring us that pursuing financial goals does not automatically turn us into wealthy greedy categories.In fact, if we read through these interviews, one might realize the inner strengths many of the wealthy & financially comfortable individuals have and is something to admire and follow some of their paths.

Excellent book to get inspired to get our finances together.I highly recommend it!






Click Here to see more reviews about: The Difference: How Anyone Can Prosper in Even The Toughest Times (Hardcover)