Tag: McGraw-Hill Book Review Blogger

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Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Drucker: A Life In Pictures By Rick Wartzman

Drucker

Whenever I show this book to my friends around me, looking at the book title, the first reaction would often be, “Who is Drucker?  Could it be Peter Drucker?”

Indeed.  This is a photo book on the life of Peter Drucker.  Drucker was an Austrian-born American whose writings contributed to the foundations of the modern business corporation.  To quote from the author:

Drucker discerned some of the major trends and events of the twentieth century before almost anyone else spotted them: the Hitler-Stalin pack, Japan’s impending rise to economic power, the shift from manufacturing to knowledge work, the increasing importance of the service factor, the fall of the Soviet Union. “Peter Drucker’s eyeballs,” Harvard University’s Rosabeth Moss Kanter once marveled, “must contain crystal balls.”

Drucker: A Life in Pictures has done a good job in painting a picture of who Drucker was.  He was a teacher and was used to give lectures in universities.  He was a management consultant, worked with Jack Welch of GE and Donald Keough of Coca-Cola as well as other other large corporations like P&G.  He was a counsel for the government and had corresponded with the White House.  He was an adviser to the social-sector.  His wife and he took a deep interest in Japan after their first visit.  His books have been published in more then 40 languages.  Druker has played a role in educating the world on the development of management.  In his mind, he was always a writer and his legacy is his writing.  Of the 39 books of his, two-thirds of these books were written after he had reached his mid-sixties.

Interviewer: If you describe your occupation, would it be “writer”?

Peter Drucker: I always say I write.

Interviewer: What, then, has inspired your books more than anything?

PD: The same thing that inspires tuberculosis.  This is a serious, degenerative, compulsive disorder and addiction.

Interviewer: An addiction to writing?

PD: To writing, yes.

Drucker: A Life in Pictures is perhaps one of the more unique books I have reviewed.  While written by Rick Wartzman – executive director of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University, the photographs are by Anne Fishbein, curated by Bridget Lawlor.  A majority of graphic content comes from letters and memos, certificates and handwritten notes – all of which reveal a personal insight on one aspect of Drucker that may be less familiar to the readers.  At the beginning of each chapter, there is a brief interview, which further illustrates a personal side of Drucker.  Reading through the book is like  journeying through a museum in my own pace.  A recommended read for those who wish to know more about Peter Drucker.

Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (January 15, 2013)
ISBN-10: 0071700463
ISBN-13: 978-0071700467

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Emotional Vampires: Dealing With People Who Drain You Dry – By Albert J. Bernstein

I knew it even before I picked this book up from McGraw-Hill.  I am an emotional vampire!  Someone who has this tendency to drain the people around me dry, emotionally.  OK.  According to the author, since vampires metaphorically speaking don’t have reflection, they can’t tell if they are indeed an emotional vampire, even after reading this book.  So, in my case, I am either paranoid – unlikely – or lucky enough to recognize my shortfalls.  In the world of psychology, everything is on a continuum.  I hope I am on the milder end of it.

Back to the main purpose of Emotional Vampires.  It is to teach you how to deal with people who drain you dry in your daily life.  Out of eleven different personality disorders according to the manual of the American Psychiatric Association, the author has picked five: Antisocial, Histrionic, Narcissistic, Obsessive-Compulsive, and Paranoid.  They are more common and in 40 years as a psychologist and business consultant, the author has seen these five disorders constantly cause the most trouble for the most people.  At work, at home, or anywhere in between.

The purpose of this book is not to consider the morality of emotional vampires, but to teach you how to spot them in your life and give you some ideas about what to do when you find yourself under attack by the forces of darkness.

Emotional Vampires – while written with humor – is not an easy book to digest.  At least for me.  For the simple fact that if you can relate to the tactics against all five types of emotional vampires, you must be having quite a challenging day-to-day life having to face so many difficult people that drain you dry.  I can at most relate to one or two types of emotional vampires.  Moreover, I doubt all the five chapters of therapy and self-help for each vampire type would be applicable to you either.  Chances are, you may find none of the therapy tips personally relevant.  Or you may pass this book to someone whom you think has a degree of personality disorder and hope that he or she would improve.

Hence, my suggestion would be after reading the introductory chapters, jump to the part that is most relevant to you.  This book tends to describe a more severe end of the spectrum for each vampire type so as to be more encompassing.  Therefore, it can be quite depressing to read through everything at one go.

Emotional Vampires is packed with hands-on information.  It shows that the author has in-depth experience in this field.  Each section begins with a chapter describing what that particular type of vampire is.  Another chapter or two to drill down on the sub-types and how to protect yourself from them.  Next chapter on what to do when you have to live with an emotional vampire, be it as your spouse, your parent, your child, or etc.  In the event whereby through reading this book, you realize that you may be one, fear not.  There is a final chapter on therapy and self-help.

A book on psychology is often dry.  But not this one.  I have chuckled a fair bit while reading Emotional Vampires.  The following – my favorite – may have quoted out of context.  Nevertheless, it shows the lighter side of the materials.  In this excerpt, the author’s intend is to illustrate what a Daredevil is.

Women are socialized to recognize what needs to be done and to do it without being asked.  Lower-order creatures, like men, children, pets, and emotional vampires, cannot be trained to be this perceptive.  They must be given specific instructions.

If a woman sees a sock on the floor, she will pick it up and put it where it belongs.  If a man sees a sock on the floor, he will assume it is there for a reason and step on it.

Any stereotypical statement you might make about men applies to Antisocials, especially Daredevils.  They are masculinity made flesh.  As we will see shortly, Histrionics are the walking, talking personifications of feminine stereotypes.

It is difficult to summarize a practical guidebook that is so full of contents.  Instead, I am going to pick two case studies and share with you how Emotional Vampires benefits me.

Case Study #1: Bullies

I am blessed that my friends and families are not that crazy.  I don’t need to use any of the techniques I have learned to protect myself against them (in retrospect, I think I may want to pass this book to them so that they can protect themselves against me).  At work, it is a different story.  Once in a while, I come across someone who has this anger management issue.  They would yell at people in open office space.  Bang table, even swear at people.  It is impossible to please them.  Anger induces fear and that becomes their one and only modus operandi.  Because things get done when they bang table and scream at people, they continue doing so throughout their career.  If you have not met angry people at work, good for you.  For I have.

What to do about Bullies?  Yield or confront?  Either way, you’ll lose.

Bullies are angry people who have discovered, to their delight, that anger – which they would engage in anyway for its thrill value – also gets them power and control, at least in the short run.  In the long run, Bullies’ anger destroy them.  So what?  Knowing that the vampire who’s browbeating you right now will eventually get his or her comeuppance offers little comfort and no protection.

The hypnotic relationship between anger and fear has stood the test of time, and it will continue until you do something about it.  But what?

The key is to do the unexpected.

The first step is to ask for time to think.  Since Bullies are not normal people, they may want to try other ways to get you back into the battlefield, and not to go through a rational discussion.  There is a good chance that the confrontation may end right there (and you win).  If not, at least you have taken some time to plan the next course of action.

Next is to think about what you want to have happened.  Bullies won’t back down and admit that you’re right.  Would you want to be right or to effectively handle the situation?  Discard any possible outcomes that forces Bully to back down.  They won’t work.

The next step is my favorite: Get the Bully to stop yelling.  It is actually easier than it seems.  First, you should keep your voice soft.  Don’t oblige them by yelling back.  One trick is to say, “Please speak more slowly.  I’d like to understand.”  Reducing the speed will reduce the volume.  No one can yell slowly.  If you are on the phone, there is this ‘uh-huh’ rule.  We usually say ‘uh-huh’ when the other person is catching a breath.  When speaking with a Bully on the phone, stop your ‘uh-huh’.  After a while, the Bully will pause and ask, “Are you there?”  This interrupts the yelling.

Remember, whatever you do, don’t explain.  It is a form of fighting back or running away that fuels the Bullies.  Instead, ask, “What would you like me to do?”  This forces Bullies to stop and think because more often than not, clouded by all the angry emotion, they have no clue what you should do.

The last two tips are (1) don’t take criticism personally and (2) learn from criticism.  These tips aim to make you a better person and deal with the situation with a calm and rational mind.  There is a good chance that by looking from Bully’s perspective, a new solution may emerge.

Case Study #2: Obsessive-Compulsive

In the beginning of this entry, I have confessed that I am an emotional vampire.  I have gone through the checklist in the book and have scored pretty high.  Those who are close to me in real life or in the online gaming world should have no problem observing this aspect of mine.  Over the years, I am fortunate to have met great mentors and loving families who help me mature.  Have I done enough?  How useful is the therapy part of this book?  We are going to find out.

Obsessive-Compulsives see their existence as a battle against the forces of chaos.  Their weapons are hard work, adherence to rules, scrupulous attention to detail, and the capacity to delay gratification into the next life if need be.

Without Obsessive-Compulsives to do the unpleasant and painstaking tasks that make the world go, nations would fall, businesses would grind to a halt, and households would collapse into utter confusion […] Obsessive-Compulsives want to create a secure world by making everybody Obsessive-Compulsive.  Only then can they be safe from themselves.

1. Always Know Your Top Priority – Checked

The author wrote that I should think about what I’d like to have carved on my tombstone, and work toward that.  The other details will take care of themselves.  Coincidentally, the one most life changing book I have read is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  One of the habits is to begin with an end in mind that uses the same technique.  It is the one habit that I remember the most from that book and I use it from time to time.

2. Judge Not.  Lest Ye Be Judged – Checked

During my younger day as a manager, my supervisor – a great mentor – one day summoned me into his room.  He knew that I was a meticulous person and a competent professional.  His only criticism was on my management style.  The way that I always saw the negative attributes in people.  So he said to me, “Exploit others’ strengths, not weaknesses.”

After that day, I seek to recognize good things on people before the negative stuffs.  It helps, a lot.

3. Goof Off – Checked

The books says, I should spend a little time every day just sitting and doing nothing.  Learn to relax.  I knew those moments of I idly waiting for my wife to get off work everyday are in fact doing good to me.

Note to myself: The next time I go for a walk after lunch, stop playing with my phone.

4. Specify Products and Don’t Meddle in Process – Checked

It is true.  People with my kind of unique personality often get lost in the process.  We are famous for not seeing forests because of all the trees.  Once upon a time, my mentor said to me, “Manage the outcomes, not the process”.  That was also the defining moment when I switched out of micro-management style and have a much better life thereafter.

5. Criticize Only on Thursdays

And for the rest of the week, praise others for the things they have done right.  Only criticize on Thursdays, including the things I do.

I suppose I could pay more attention to my inner thought.  Perhaps instead of commenting while driving that “he should signal” or “he shouldn’t speed so excessively”, I should observe the better drivers on the road and say, “look, he gives way” or “look, he signals”.

6. Publicly Acknowledge at Least One Mistake per Day

And two on Thursdays.

You mean I have to admit that I am wrong?!  My friends must be laughing when reading this because I seldom do so.  Maybe I shall put an effort on this.  This seems so … hard.  But I’ll try.

Conclusion

Emotional Vampires was originally published in 2002.  Due to popular demand, the author has released a revised and expanded second edition.  This book is packed with useful tips on how to deal with people who drain you dry.  It is useful to me.  I highly recommend this book for those who wish to live a happier life.  We cannot avoid emotional vampires.  It is best to protect ourselves against them.  And if we can become a better person or help others in becoming one after reading this book, that would be a bonus.

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 2 edition (May 25, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0071790950
ISBN-13: 978-0071790956

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Boundless Potential By Mark S. Walton – Midlife Onwards Is Going To Get Better!

This book I received from the publisher McGraw-Hill surprised and inspired me at the same time.  Boundless Potential is a perfect book for those who are crossing or have long crossed midlife.  Even for the younger crowd, it is always good to read ahead and have an end in mind.  Before I go into the specifics, here are some questions for you.

  1. Do you feel unchallenged at work?  As in, work no longer taps onto your full potential.  You feel as though there is so much more you could do, although you are finding it hard to pinpoint what that is.
  2. Would you like to retire early so that you do not need to work but rather enjoy doing things that you like instead?
  3.  BIG question here: Do you believe that our brain, like other human organs, is fated to wear out over time?  That is, to lose its resilience and the ability to function as we get old, really old?

If your answers are yes, you and I are on the same boat.  In contrary to common beliefs, our brain works in a different way once we pass our midlife.  In fact, a better way.  The key is to reinvent ourselves in order to recognize and unlock our potential.  What is shocking to me is that I have this wonderful picture of what retirement is.  No more work.  No need to get up for work, and I can indulge in any hobbies – old or new.  Even travel around the world sounds like a good plan.  Have you dreamed about what your retirement is?

Now, what if I am to tell you that you should continue to work for as long as you can, be it as seventies, eighties, nineties, and beyond? And that retirement to pleasure alone could possibly kill you faster (curiously, my mother once told me about her concern over my dad’s retirement)?  Boundless Potential is packed with tons of real life stories on how people reinvent themselves towards the second half of their lives.  How they found a sustainable mean to pursue their dreams, and be happy ever after.  In fact, it appears to me that because these people are happy with their work and the positive contribution to the society and those around them, they live longer.  And they live a much fulfilled life possibly than those who sip beer over sunset at a farm populated by sheep (that is my dream retirement before reading this book).

Some of you may be skeptic.  How to reinvent?  What is my hidden talent?  After all, while there are pages and pages of success stories, majority of us may well have an unproductive or unfulfilled retirement.  To answer that question, the author presents a three-step approach.

First, you have to discover your fascination, your dream so as to speak.  It is not an easy task.  For some, this discovery journey may take place in a much later part of life, if at all.  A fascination is a direction that pulls you forward, regardless of the obstacles ahead of you.  It is something that both your heard and mind want.  No one can tell you what that is.  It may be something you chance upon if you open your eyes wide enough.  I am the optimistic one.  To me, finding your fascination is like finding your soul mate.  Those who are singles are often worried that they would never find that someone to spend the rest of their lives with.  But yet, many people are getting married or are living together.  Do some soul searching along the way: Where is my fascination?  I don’t know what yours is.  I am quite sure I haven’t found mine yet.  It is unlikely that I know the answer today.  But I shall keep this at the back of my head, just in case I stumble upon my answer.

Second, once you found your fascination, it is time to find your flow.  What is a flow?  It is the highest level of human happiness that is generated when fascination is translated into action.  The paragraph below best illustrates the concept.

Contrary to what we usually believe […] the best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times.  The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limit in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult or worthwhile.  Optimal experience is thus something we make happen.

With this specification, I can probably look back on my life thus far and identify a few flow moments.  When I was a consultant before my major career switch five years ago, I used to give training workshops and facilitate focused group discussions for the senior officers of my clients’ organizations.  It can be extremely stressful because while what I preached was derived from a defined framework, no two audience groups are the same.  Different corporate or team culture may require different means to unlock their enthusiasm so that they are more receptive to the training materials.  It is an art.  I have to observe on the spot and talk to people during breaks in order to understand how best to engage them.  For those highly intelligent groups, challenging questions that are new to me may come my way.  Teasing out ideas may not be easy.  Looking back, those were my happy moments.  And I reckon I did quite well because our team constantly received praises and recognition from our clients.  Could I reverse engineer my fascination knowing what my flows are?  Maybe I am fascinated by training and learning with people?  What about those moments when I played music with my band at Orchard for charity?  Could music be my calling instead?

Back to the reinvention framework the author has proposed, the third and final step to this process is to envision your structure.  A structure that is created by you for success in midlife and beyond.  Is it going to be a project, a role, a career, a business, or a nonprofit? Whatever the structure is, it is certainly required in order to sustain and grow your fascination.  It is probably something so new and different that you have to sell the idea to those around you and to establish one yourself.

Boundless Potential is written in a highly readable form.  It is not possible to summarize all the inspiring case studies in one blog entry.  Since I love reading this book (and for my future reference), here are some of my favorites.

An interview with Marion Rosen who was nearly 95 when the author conducted the session.

When we are at the height of our knowledge and the height of our lives, why should we give that up?  Why should we not use what we have gotten in 60, 70, 80, 90 years?  And hand it on to where it is wanted?  It seems ridiculous to me.

If you don’t use your potential, it hits back at you.  It strikes back, because it works on you, it wants to come out.  And in order not to come out, you have to hold it back. And that is very bad for your health, very bad for your personality, very bad for your relationships. It doesn’t work!

The second quote would take a while to explain (that can be found in the book of course).  It has something to do with our wisdom deriving from our maturity, experience, and the changes to the brain.  It does sound convincing.  I don’t need to see further but looking at my dad to know that this much is true.  My father has recently reinvented himself into someone who produces beautiful Chinese Calligraphy (previously he was giving Tai Chi lesson to the folks in Hong Kong and making training videos).

State-of-the art neuroscience has determined that the human brain was never designed for decline or retirement but for continual reinvention and success.  In fact, extraordinary powers become available to us in the second half of life that were not available in the first  […]  The mature brain, when properly maintained, has the potential to be continually transformed – to draw upon and synthesize its vast storage banks of knowledge and experience in ways that can be downright startling.

Another big question for you: What is the secret of living happily ever after?  The answer could be as simple as play hard, so that you can work hard (not the other way round!), and pay it forward.

Unlike “simpler” animals, [the Athenians] reasoned, we humans are “composite creatures” who want more than to eat and sleep our lives away.

Thus, attaining genuine happiness – eugeria – requires a full-out lifelong pursuit of worthy goals through the three components of our humanity: body, mind, and soul.

This ongoing quest, they believed, was “the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”

Hardcover: 262 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (March 16, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0071787852
ISBN-13: 978-0071787857

External Link: McGraw-Hill Asia

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

The Cloud Revolution By Charles Babcock – If You Need To Know What Cloud Computing Is As Of Today, This Is It

If you happen to fall under the category of someone who has heard of the term “cloud computing”, may have some ideas of what it is, but cannot quite pinpoint what it does and how we can benefit from it, “The Cloud Revolution” written by editor-at-large of InformationWeek Charles Babcock will get you acquainted with the topic in no time.  While the book is still technical in nature, those who have worked in and with the technology industry should have no problem following the materials from start to end.  The ideal audience would be those in the professions of application and system architect, data center specialist, business analyst, and all the way to CIO, CTO, and COO.  What “The Cloud Revolution” provides is a snapshot of where cloud computing is today and presents the snapshot in an easy-to-understand manner.  This includes both its potential and challenge.

In a nutshell, cloud computing enables on-demand network access to a shared pool of resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released.  It simplifies and drives down the cost of operations while enabling the business users to tap onto the computing power in a way never dreamed before.  Today, most businesses over provision what they normally need in terms of computing resources due to operational spikes.  But yet, when there is an unforeseeable demand spike, some businesses fail to delivery (have you ever tried to buy movie tickets online during the holidays?).  The idea is that instead of buying more and more servers to cater for the spikes and leave the servers way under utilized in normal day operation, outsource the spike (or even the entire operation) to the cloud.  How much would that cost?  For example, Amazon’s Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2) charges $0.085 per instance per hour.

The cloud economy is hard to ignore.  Take web hosting as an example.  Most bloggers do not host their websites in a server at home (having said that, I know some do).  For those who have opted for a paid service, we often have to be mindful on how much disk space and monthly bandwidth we utilize.  Right after my holiday to Spain, I have published articles that came with photos on a weekly basis.  During the 12 weeks publication period, I had experienced spikes that busted my monthly bandwidth quota and had the site shutdown momentarily several times.  There are web hosting companies out there that have grown into a significant size and offer unlimited disk storage and monthly data transfer.  That is way more that what I would dream of (though I have my reasons to stay with my existing hosting company).  And that is an illustration on how such an economy of scale can benefit the consumers.  Imagine what this could mean for the corporates.

As highlighted in the book, there are challenges that corporate users faced with cloud implementation.  Not having a control on where the corporate data resides can be an issue.  It could be a security risk too.  There have been talks about ‘private cloud’ or even a ‘hybrid cloud’ in achieving the economic of scale that lowers the cost using existing data center setup as a benchmark.  If corporates can host their in-house applications through virtualization, outsource the spikes to a public cloud, or even consider conducting the system test, user acceptance test, stress test, and etc. that often do not contain real life data outside the private cloud, they may be able to reap the benefits of cloud computing.

Another barrier of taking cloud computing to the next level – as mentioned in the book – is that some of the major standards are still very much proprietary.  And it seems to me that the open standard is still at its maturing stage.  I think one of the reasons why this book is so named is because if the corporates wish to skip through the proprietary stage, the corporates need to get together and voice out what they want: No vendor lock-in.  That is a revolution in a sense, besides the fact that to make cloud computing works, there are changes in almost all levels.

The book has quoted some noteworthy implementations.  On the private sector, there is SalesForce.com’s cloud platform – Force.com.  On the public sector, in USA, there is NASA’s Nebula Cloud Computing Platform.  The author has also quoted a number of major players in cloud computing.  If you wish to pick up one book to know what cloud computing is as of today, “The Cloud Revolution” would be it.

External Link: To browse the book in Amazon.com, click here.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Happiness At Work By Dr. Srikumar Rao – Parables And Advice That Could Be Life Changing

By now, I have joined the workforce for a decade and a half and I consider myself – after years of learning and finding my way – pretty happy at work.  I manage to maintain a good level of work life balance, I have built good rapport with my colleagues, and I take pride in my daily work that contributes at an organisational level.  OK, there are ups and downs.  But overall, I am contented.  So what can “Happiness at Work” possibly teach me?  It turns out that there are more than I have anticipated.  And throughout my working life thus far, I have met friends who are more prone to feeling angry, envious, afraid, exhausted, disgusted, drained, anxious, betrayed, confused, cheated, frustrated, guilty, humiliated, impatient, inadequate, vulnerable, manipulated, embarrassed, neglected, heartbroken, trapped, fatigue, victimized, resentful, or worn out – borrowing the descriptions from the book.  I sincerely wish that they could take some time, read this book, and make a positive change to their lives.

Reading “Happiness at Work” is a journey.  The author has divided the book into bite-size chapters filled with parables and advice.  The materials are largely derived from his experience of conducting workshops to corporate executives on this very topic.  Some of the parables and ideas, I observe, are based on Indian tradition or Buddhism so they could be familiar to some, intriguingly foreign to others.  Depending on your background and level of experience (or shall I say how unhappy you are at work in reality?), be prepared to be confronted and you may find yourself denying or not wanting to accept what the author says.  I too, at times.  But if you read this book with an open mind and go through the exercises as instructed by the author, you may be surprised at how you would view the world and yourself differently.  Some parables, you may recognize, are similar to other self help books or real life stories.  Such as the idea of beginning with an end in mind from the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Steven Covey (which may also be based on materials from elsewhere).  Or the powerful theme of “This, too, shall pass” that I use daily, in fact, prior to reading this book.  There are still much to learn such as always being positive may not be the most ideal way of dealing with the external factors, investing on the process instead of the outcomes, understanding that there is no right or wrong and the different mental models that work or do not work for you, examining what happiness is and how some are able to attain that, and more.

One powerful lesson I have learned, perhaps, is that there is no dream job or passionate work.  Passion is what inside of us and our ideal job will find us once we start kindling that enthusiasm.  One colleague at work joked with me when he saw me carrying this book.  He said, “Are you not happy at work?  Why do you need to read this book?”.  I humbly think that even if you think you are happy at work, there are still much to learn, to your surprise.  “Happiness at Work” has a high re-read value as you would need practice and constant reminder to get the ideas to work.  And it can be a nice gift for your friends too.

External Sites: Purchase this book from Amazon.com, Dr. Rao’s official site.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Numbers Rule Your World By Kaiser Fung – With Depth, And Figures To Support

It is hard not to make the comparison between “Numbers Rule Your World” and “Freakonomics”.  Even the book has made a reference once.  Ten real life case studies are used, paired up in five chapters, to illustrate how different aspects of statistics affect our lives.  Blogger statistician Kaiser Fung has made the topic surprisingly accessible, narrated in an engaging manner.  Each chapter, the author picks two contrasting statistically related topics, juxtaposes them by taking turn to have the story told, and arrives at a conclusion.  The narration is honest, impartially inquired from different angles.  One of the author’s objectives – besides convincing us that like it or not, numbers play a major role in our world today – I believe, is to expand our mind and horizon when interpreting certain situations as numbers are presented.  And to appreciate what goes on behind the scene in your everyday life.

To impart the various aspects of statistical thinking upon his readers, the author uses the case studies of highway engineers versus Disney ‘Imagineers’, epidemiologists versus credit modelers, insurers versus test developer (education), anti-doping agencies (sport) versus polygraph (lie detector), and the chances of jet crashes versus jackpots.  Each case study – unlike Freakonomics – is backed up sufficiently by figures and facts.  At times, I have to slow down my reading and think through the numbers, which I do greatly appreciate.

In practical term, how would reading “Numbers Rule Your World” help your work and life?  For one, when you take in the news around you, you may wish to see things in a different perspective.  Should you take in the reported figures on the papers as they are?  Why are things or processes made that way?  Some see an imminent risk, others do not.  Should you follow the crowd?  At the end of the book, the author has made a bold statement that if you know how to use numbers in making everyday decisions, you rule the world.  While I am unsure if most of us has the ability and even access to a reliable data-set in using numbers in making decisions, this book does change the way how I see this world operates when it comes down to numbers.

External Links: Purchase This Book from Amazon.com, the Author Kaiser Fung’s Website.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Your Next Move by Michael Watkins – A Good Resource For Your Major Career Transitions

A new book by Michael Watkins
I have read Michael Watkins’s “The First 90 Days” quite a number of years ago.  Arguably one of the must-have books for the corporate executives.  In fact, the initial reception was so successful that the author has released a similar book targeting at the public sector.

6 years have passed since the author talked about critical success strategies for new leaders at all levels, what you should do and tackle on the first 90 days in your new role.  Like many I suppose (half a million English copies sold and translated to 26 languages), I have a high anticipation for “Your Next Move”.  Perhaps because I have gone through a few major career transitions in the past, or perhaps I may be anticipating a new move (don’t we all?), “Your Next Move” is an engaging read.  I find myself constantly reflecting on my past transitions as well as reflecting upon what some of my colleagues – my bosses included – have done right or wrong when they first stepped onto their new roles.

While it may take a C-level to fully benefit “Your Next Move” (i.e. CEO, COO, CFO, and etc.), executives in any form of leadership capacity should find the first 5 chapters (out of eight) useful.  Namely, the followings:

  • A promotion up the career ladder.
  • A promotion amongst your peers and now, you are the boss. 
  • A move from the position of authority to the position of influence.
  • Joining a new organization with a new corporate culture.
  • Relocating to a new geographic location and faced with a new culture.

Unless you have freshly graduated from school, you should have experienced at least one of the above transitions.  The author uses real life examples to kick start each chapter (masked by fictitious names of course) and present the unique challenges faced.  Guidelines to overcome the challenges are then presented in concise points that come with graphs, tables, and supported tools.  The materials are practical, down to earth.  One tip off my head is for those who are posted overseas to put family matters as the first priority and perhaps to start a blog to continue having family and friends’ support (!).  It is evident that they are a result of years of dialogue between the author and the leaders.  In several occasions, the author brings in different analogies to illustrate his points.  Such as the organizational resistance to change as compares to the immune system of our human body (that has its merit for being resistance to potentially bad changes).  Or to apply engineer’s thermodynamics concept to an organization environment.

The last three chapters are more for those who are in the position to turnaround an organization in trouble and to realign an organization in dire need for change.  To accomplish that, the author introduces the STARS model – start-up, turnaround, accelerated growth, realignment, and sustaining success.  And for those who are in the field of human resource or organizational excellence, there is also a concluding chapter on the design of “companywide transition-acceleration systems”.  A list of what company can do to help new leaders in transition.

As a final note, “Your Next Move” covers a wide range of topics on career transition that also includes organization politics, which I find valuable as it is not a topic that can be easily dealt with.  Useful tools aside, it is certainly a good set of checklists and tips (or guidelines) based on the lessons learned of many.  Some of which I wish I had a chance to read during my past career transitions.

Hardcover: 256 pages
Suggested Retail Price: S$43.50 (US$26.95)
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press (October 6, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1422147630
ISBN-13: 978-1422147634

You may wish to get this book from Amazon.com.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

The Silver Lining by Scott D. Anthony – Now It’s the Time to Innovate

The Silver Lining

“The Silver Lining” is a timely read.  Great Disruption is here, today.  Just about half a year or so ago, companies were further revising down their targets, cutting cost, and have stayed cautious for the uncertain times.  The economic downturn affects both the multinational corporations and the local companies.  I have had a chat with some of the local business owners and all of them have experienced some level of hardship with their business, have made or at the verge of making some difficult decisions.  As for myself, an employee of a MNC, I too am frustrated with the disruption to the funding that is much needed to continue fueling some of the key initiatives.

The bad news is: resource has become scarce.  The good news is: constraint is the enabler of innovation as pointed out by the author of “Silver Lining”.  It is the time to transform and leave the old market.  Because for many, not to transform is the way to extinction.  Scott Anthony uses case studies from Cisco, Google, Nintendo, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, and more to illustrate what they have done differently from others, in making them successful through the challenging times.

What strikes me as the most interesting idea from this book is that innovation is not necessarily a random encounter.  Instead, it is a discipline that can be structured for success.  In his book, Scott Anthony shares with us a toolkit to audit the organization’s innovation capabilities.  He takes us through the pruning and diversification of the innovation portfolio, how we can ‘refeature’ our offerings in order to cut cost, and how we can effectively innovate.

Some of you may ask: how exactly can we innovate besides gathering a group of people with diverse disciplines and hope for some big ideas to spark off?  The organization and the internal processes have to be structured in a way to make innovation repeatable, hence increases the innovation productivity.  We have to be creative to experiment and test our key assumptions.  Sharing the innovation load can be an option too if we need to lower the expenses and risk.  And in uncertainty times, we may need to look into the ‘low end’ and see what customers value.  All the details can be found inside the book.  “Silver Lining” ends with one chapter on how you can strengthen your personal innovation muscle (which I find it useful) and another one – which is my favorite – on the 10 disruptive developments to watch today according to Scott Anthony.

Excess is a root cause of many innovation struggle.  There are already organizations out there that look at the current time of uncertainty as their silver lining.  New innovation is brewing in the horizon ready to change the game.  The question is: will your organization emerge as a winner?

Hardcover: 145 pages
Publisher: Harvard Business Press (June 1, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1422139018
ISBN-13: 978-1422139011

You may wish to get this from Amazon.com.

Official Site: The Silver Lining Playbook.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Mission, Inc. by Kevin Lynch and Julius Walls, Jr. – Using Business for the Common Good, Yes We Can

Mission Inc

By the authors’ definition, social enterprises are businesses whose purpose is to change the world for the common good.  And “Mission, Inc.” is a practitioner’s guide of building and sustaining such businesses of unique nature.

Maybe you too share the same sentiment with me and wonder why our economy rewards businesses that do not bear the full cost of the products they sell, passing the true cost to our next generations or the indigenous peoples.  There are initiatives out there such as the Equator Principles (see Wikipedia) as guidelines for the institutions to finance with the environmental and social responsibilities in mind.  And there are social enterprises of various forms – for-profit or nonprofit – that compete with the traditional business.  As the authors rightfully put, to change the world, your business has to be successful.  To be successful as a social enterprise faces a different set of challenges.  “Mission, Inc.” tackles these challenges by unlocking the ten paradoxes of social enterprise interjects with lots of concise and relevant tips and formula.

Kevin Lynch is the president of Rebuild Resources and Julius Walls, Jr. is the president and CEO of Greyston Bakery.  Both come with solid credential in this topic.  I would describe their book collaboration as passionate, honest, packed with useful tools and real life stories from more than a dozen social enterprises.

Though I am not from the social enterprise background, there are quite a number of major takeaways for me.  I enjoy reading the various aspects of running a business condensed into something easy to absorb.  Like how to derive a business plan, how to read the company financials (I am hopeless when it comes to balance sheet and income statement), the practical ways to enhance the internal process within an organization, and more.  For those who are already in this business or planning to join one, “Mission, Inc.” is a strong recommendation.  For the rest, “Mission, Inc.” opens our eyes to the reality of using business for the common good.  I am very keen to see the day when social enterprise passes the tipping point.  What a world it would be.

Paperback: 187 pages
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers (January 1, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1576754790
ISBN-13: 978-1576754795

You may wish to get the book from Amazon.com.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty by Ram Charan – Loud and Clear, Concise Yet Actionable

Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty

The message is clear, the timing couldn’t be more appropriate, getting the right things done in difficult times calls for a different kind of leadership, a different set of strategy.  It is because the rules have changed.  Global economy no longer favors a revenue growth strategy; profitability and cash-efficiency are now the keys to survival.  “Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty” is as current as a business book can get.  As mentioned in the book, liquidity crisis in September 2008 has brought down a few US Investment Banks; by November, our world economy has entered into recession or a slowdown in growth for some countries.   Ram Charan – a world-renowned adviser to business leaders and corporate boards – makes it loud and clear that unless the business leaders do the right things, they would well be joining the list of Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers, James Cayne of Bear Stearns, Daniel Mudd of Fannie Mae, Richard Syron of Freddie Mac, Martin Sullivan of AIG, Ken Thompson of Wachovia, Alan Fishman of Washington Mutual, and Fred Goodwin of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

“Leadership” is primarily targeted to the CEO, CFO, COO, Business Segment Managers, the Board of Directors, and their supporting offices.  It also touches onto other key supporting units such as Research & Development, Public Relations & Investor Relations, Human Resources, Information Technology, Supply Chain, and General Counsel.  Starting with the CEO role, Ram Charan has authoritatively stressed the importance of cash efficiency, the intensified real time management mandate, the decisive confidence that a CEO must exhibit, amongst other essential leadership traits that he has highlighted in his book.

For the Sales and Marketing people at the front lines, what should the new organizational structure be?  How should the new set of key performance indicators be like in this downturn?  Which customers to drop?  How to protect brand reputation? 

For the CFO, in this toxic environment, being called to step up as a leader of the organization, what are the things that need to be done?  Do people outside the CFO office understand the effects and impact of a shortage of liquidity and how their decisions can affect liquidity?  Are the real time metrics of cash flow, cash generation, cash collection, cash usage, and etc. ready at hand?  Can the budgeting process become a streamline exercise that only takes a few days?

For the COO, what is the lowest cash break even point that is achievable?  How to get there?  For the R&D, how to make the best use of resources?  For the Supply Chain, how not to compromise cash flow and customer service?  For the HR, what are the considerations for head count reduction?  What about compensation, succession and talent planning, and training?  For the Board of Directors, what kind of guidance shall be given during hard times?

According to Ram Charan, for those companies that survive this economic uncertainty, they will emerge smaller, fewer customers, sell fewer products, fewer suppliers, few layer of management.  However, the process will be simpler and more efficient and the company will become stronger.  “Leadership” is concise (138 pages) and after working in the consulting and corporate environment for more than a decade, I believe that it is of beneficial to the business leaders and their supporting officers as well as the internal and external advisers to the business.  Even for those who have just started their career, this is a good book to give the readers an overview on the key components of an organization and the role each component plays.  I wish I had read such a book when I was much younger.

Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (December 22, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0071626166
ISBN-13: 978-0071626163

External Link: Ram Charan