The best value of the year!

Marketing guru Dan Kennedy has filled this book with most of the business and marketing expertise people are spending thousands of dollars at his seminars to hear. Which makes this volume the best business value ever! This book is soooooo good and filled with valuable ideas that you have to take a breather every few pages just to digest it all--the ideas come at you so fast. If you don't think you can still make good money in your own business, starting with little or no capital, Kennedy will change your mind right away. Highly recommended.

Packed with Knowledge!

First published in 1996, this management literature classic builds a bridge between traditional, short-term oriented management systems and a more balanced approach integrating new types of measurements into a comprehensive strategy. This book looks senior managers in the eye and asks,"Are you ready for the future?" Some executives respond to the challenge of change by tinkering, adding a few nonfinancial metrics to the"instrumentation cockpit" that tells them how their corporate ship is running. Others have spurned Balanced Scorecard because it requires CEOs to accept feedback from all levels of their organizations so they will know if their assumptions remain relevant amidst rapid change. To date, however, more than 300 major organizations have used this system to enhance their performance, and future prospects. Abraham Lincoln once said that the best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time. With apologies to Lincoln, we recommend this book to all senior executives and managers - because the future will be here sooner than you think.

I wish that all managers would read this book

Fantastic book about the people side of software development. The ideas in this book, and the typical corporate environment, are worlds apart.

My experience has been that managers either don't know this stuff, or if they do know it, then they feel that they would just have to go out on too much of a limb to implement these ideas. This is a shame because most for the concepts in this book are the very things that enable software developers to thrive.

One of the main ideas that resonated with me was the idea of giving developers enough private space. I have never been a fan of open plan office space. I think that it works well for some professions, but not all, and certainly not for software developers. Legend has it that Microsoft lets each developer have their own office which they can furnish as they please. One programmer is supposed to have brought in bucket-loads of sand to make his office into a beach !

If you are a Manager then read this book and implement as much as you can. Otherwise buy a copy and leave it on your Managers desk.

Hands down the best book on consulting I ever bought!!!

Peter Block covers the intangibles of consulting: the politics, communications and the obstacles that derail the consultant/client relationship. This book is a MUST read, not only for consultants, but for anyone that works in or around companies that have politics, or bureaucracy, or people. That should cover just about all of us. This book helped me because it covered so much more then the business techniques of consulting, hey I'm a business consultant after all. Flawless Consulting helps you master communication and contracting gaffs, to understand why after much good advice the customer still does the wrong thing, and most importantly how your success can be assured despite those kind of issues.

Zen and the Art of Entrepreneurship

The book is about the 'Self' as businessman/woman. The key is the, periodic, precisely ordered and focused exercises. <br /><br />These are questions, Michael Gerber, aims at the heart and soul of being/becoming an entrepreneur. And so one is, if one is open to the questioning, able to pinpoint within oneself the barriers to becoming a truly creative person. Then, after self-reflection, one may come from a space, which was previously closed and oppressive, to an open and experiential one. <br /><br />There is a storyline in the book showing clearly how the entrepreneur becomes so easily a robot and a machine in the current business ethos. So how does one stay alive and renewed in what is essentially a mechanised business world? Well, this book tackles this dilemma - by making one confront oneself and ones susceptibility, and then enabling one to recover integrity and creativity from within oneself. Because, ultimately, it is not the techniques and methods which make for success, but who one is and how well one knows oneself, and continues to discover oneself. <br /><br />The book has its highest value in enabling self-knowledge as an entrepreneur.<br /><br />Michael Gerber in the book does, however, always present the avenues and methods for success in the greatest of practical detail (for example on sales he covers internet portal, direct mail etc. etc. etc. etc. - it's all covered - with advantages and disadvantages and practical application). There are downloadable worksheets, all very ordered and practical where one can try out, test and keep records about ones experiments with oneself, the business and the marketplace.<br /><br />I would have liked to say more on the practical side of the book, because it is hugely practical and applicable. But it is a year since I read a borrowed copy and don't have it in front of me. I am now ordering a copy for myself.<br /><br />Entrepreneurship, in my view, is a difficult business. It is one of the greatest challenges to oneself. It can be a disheartening and even degrading experience. Thank you, Michael Gerber, for enabling me to know the dangers, and for giving me clarity and understanding at the beginning of my new business.<br /><br />Finally, this is not a quick fix book, although because of the practical detail it can be used like one. But beware, for the book is about a journey one decides to make/take - and there are many adventures to be had along the way! :)<br />

dull

This is a dull book to read. It was scoped as useful for managers- but I found it aimed at professional coaches. Havent used anything I read in it. Will probably ebay it. Save your money & take your team out for a drink instead!

A Godsend....

I am new to investing in property and found the that book answered many of the questions that I had in relation to investing in the property market. <br />It is written in a clear and intelligent way with many helpful tips.

A Management Process for Overcoming the Peter Principle

What do General Electric, Citigroup, and Marriott International have in common? They have built on the original conceptual work by Walt Mahler at General Electric to establish sustainable methods for developing management breadth and depth. This valuable book outlines the key principles of that former best practice.

At a time when more and more companies are relying on headhunters to bring in leaders and management turnover is soaring among young talent,"growing your own" leaders is about to become a necessary core competence for the future. While almost everyone who is interested in the subject has read glossy articles about what General Electric does at its Crotonville facility, this book provides the core of the broader management process behind those articles.

The first part of the book focuses on six key transitions that help a leader develop. The second part shows you how to diagnose how individual leaders are doing, and how to help them make better progress.

The six transitions are:

from managing yourself to managing others

from managing others to managing managers

from managing managers to functional managing

from functional managing to business managing

from business managing to group managing

from group managing to enterprise managing.

At each transition, what the individual values and focuses on has to change dramatically. In organizations where this transition is not made explicit, you get almost all of the managers in the organization"stuck" doing things the wrong way, still looking from the perspective of their last job. That's the stuff that Dilbert and the Peter Principle are made of.

Although the book takes a large organization's point of view, in various places the points are translated into a small organizational context.

Based on my experience with leaders at all these levels, I certainly agree with the authors' points about the key challenges involved. I also think that their diagnostic methods are good. In most cases, the root cause for the problem lies further up in the organization with someone who is not focusing or working on helping managers develop.

The key weakness of the book is that in some elements the reader with limited business experience will still not be sure what to do. For example, the step from a functional manager to a business manager requires integrating all of the functions and perspectives in order to be successful. That is an enormous leap in knowledge, expertise, and experience. Although business school cases will help those with that experience, most managers will find it impossible to make the transition unless the business is very undemanding -- something that seldom happens any more.

My own experience suggests that basic learning has to be pursued throughout the organization that emphasizes skills like problem solving, locating and implementing the next generation of best practices, and developing a deep understanding of how to create superior business processes as the foundation for this kind of leadership development program. In advanced companies, you can add the concept of having people develop skills for innovating new business models. Then, this leadership development process can become truly powerful.

However you decide to go about it, the examples of setbacks and progress outlined in this excellent book will improve your ability to think about improving leadership in your organization. I urge you to read, consider, and apply what you learn.

After you have finished thinking about and using the book, I suggest that you also think about where else in your company you do not have a management process to do something important. For example, do you have a management process to keep you aligned with powerful trends beyond your control? Do you have a management process to create superior business models?

Be all the leader you can be!

An examination of"the centrality of emotion" when leading change

<br />This book first published in 2002 and I recently re-read it, curious to know how well John Kotter's core concepts have held up since then. My conclusion? Very well indeed. The Heart of Change is in several respects a sequel to Kotter's previously published classic, Leading Change, in which he observes that "Over the past decade, I have watched more than a hundred companies try to remake themselves into significantly better competitors...Their efforts have gone under many banners: total quality management, reengineering, right-sizing, restructuring, cultural change, and turnaround. But in almost every case the basic goal has been the same: to make fundamental changes in how business is conducted in order to help cope with a new, more challenging market environment. A few of these corporate change efforts have been very successful. A few have been utter failures. Most fall somewhere in between, with a distinct tilt toward the lower end of the scale. The lessons that can be drawn are interesting and will probably be relevant to even more organizations in the increasingly competitive business environment of the coming decade."<br /><br />Whereas in Leading Change Kotter examines the eight steps people tend to follow to produce new ways of operating, in this volume he and Dan Cohen examine"the core problem people face in all of those steps, and how to successfully deal with the problem." And the central issue is never strategy, structure, culture, or systems."All these elements, and others, are important. But the core of the matter is always about changing the behavior of people, and behavior change happens in highly successful situations mostly by speaking to people's feelings." (Those who do that effectively have what Daniel Goleman characterizes as"emotional intelligence.") Kotter and Cohen structure this book around the eight steps"because that is how people experience the process. There is a flow in a successful change effort, and the chapters follow that flow."<br /><br />They duly acknowledge the importance of clear thinking to large-scale change when selecting a strategy, locating information and then determining what to do with it, selecting possibilities for short-term achievements (i.e. picking"low-hanging fruit"), and formulating periodic progress reports. That said, I agree with Kotter and Cohen that effective leaders are sensitive to the emotions that undermine change (e.g. false pride, pessimism, cynicism, insecurity, and fear of the unknown), and they find ways to reduce those feelings. <br /><br />Effective leaders are also sensitive to the emotions that facilitate change (e.g. faith, trust, optimism, reality-based pride, enthusiasm), and they find ways to nourish and enhance those feelings. Most important of all, effective leaders master the"See-Feel-Change" approach: They help others to recognize a problem or a solution to a problem, then help them to visualize it as concretely as possible, anchored in human terms, so that they will be emotionally committed to the given change initiatives. Kotter and Cohen devote a separate chapter to each of the eight steps, explaining with a series of real-life stories how various people changed their organizations and how others can change theirs. John Kotter and Dan Cohen understand, of course, that change initiatives inevitably encounter resistance. However, they have demonstrated in their book that almost anyone can help give direction to, or energize, at least a part of one the eight steps."We need more of these people, and there is no reason we cannot have more. We need more people doing what they already do, but better - and there is no reason why that also is not possible." I agree.

In the end, all businesses survive on innovation...

After the"popping of the e-bubble" the last few years have been a tad hard for many businesses. Huge losses, unemployment (not so much in the UK) and a renewed focus on core activities have not made for the most innovative of environments. Now in 2004/05, with profits recovering, the next two challenges for business are innovation for growth and operational effectiveness for decreasing marginal costs and customer satisfaction.

"What if" is an innovation consultancy who offer a set of steps and practical ideas of how to enhance innovation in your business. This book is the follow up to"What If" (this is an improvement in layout, but you don't need both books). The innovation stages are great and it helped me to understand at a high level where my current team are strong and weak, but I think it is the practical nature of the ideas, tools and methods that is the strength of this book.

I really like the different ideas for enabling creative thinking - random connections, opposites, physical trials, focused"hothousing"...each will help you to advance from the normal set of brainstormed ideas that your workshops probably generate at the moment - how many of them couldn't anyone in your industry think of?

What if is a consultancy as well and it is possible that I might get to work with them sometime soon - I am really looking forward to trying out with the experts some of these techniques.

Mind expanding stuff when applied to your eveyday problems - might even help you enjoy your work more - now wouldn't that be a thing!

Good read

Great, easy to understand, advice from people who really understand the business. Some of their"true stories" had me laughing out loud since they so clearly mirror the mistakes I have made too. There is some really invaluable advice for people starting out but also dozens of great tips for wizened veterans like myself who think we know it all but seem to have forgotten a lot of it!

Leaping Over the Barriers You Create Against Innovation

This book clearly deserves more than five stars. It has positively influenced more technology executives than any other book.

The book does a wonderful job of explaining how traditions, bureaucracy, disbelief about the potential of new technologies, and misconceptions about the market hurt companies. Professor Christensen is a Boston Consulting Group alum, as am I, and that firm has been very interested in the question of why dominant firms lose out to new entrants featuring innovative technologies. Professor Christensen has written the best work on this subject that it has been my pleasure to read. Unlike most academics, he is rigorous without being dull or irrelevant to those who must operate businesses. I particularly found his exploration of the differences between a sustaining and a disruptive technology to be very useful. His insights into how accounting and financial concerns can"stall" organizational progress were also valuable.

His cases (especially the hard disk ones) accurately capture many of the classic"stalls" that delay organizational progress. For example, tradition says that everyone focuses on serving the current customers. That's where the bread and butter are. Also, the overhead structure is established to serve those current needs.

Both perspectives no longer serve when a disruptive technology is involved, and he persuasively argues that being first with disruptive technologies is usually very important.

Bureaucracy comes into play because the authorization process requires a lot of confidence by those who will bet their careers that the market and financial projections will be achieved. The bureaucracy also increases the likelihood that an error will be made, or an unnecessary delay will occur.

Disbelief comes from the tendency to misdefine who the customers will be and to underestimate the long-term potential of the technology. Professor Christensen puts in some nice technology development/time charts in to show how to better anticipate a new technology expanding from a lower need-defined market into the mainstream market.

Misconception comes in because people misunderstand the danger of the disruptive technology, and how to manage it. THE INNOVATOR'S DILEMMA is very hepful here because it provides a model of best practices to cure the misconception stall here.

Three other stalls are often important: Procrastination (delaying when delay is costly); Ugly Ducklings (avoiding what is unattractive, physically or financially); and Communications (not getting the message or not understanding the message). I suspect all 3 play a big role in the cases here, but I could not tell from the way the cases were written. I hope in his future work, Professor Christensen will also tie his thinking into the idea of innovation itself.

I personally favor an 8 step process for improving innovation. One, measure everything you can in an area to understand how the measurements can help you improve. Two, apply the same approach to your most important activities. Be sure to consider how and why noncustomers do not find your offerings appealing. Three, seek out the best practices in other industries in these important activities, and estimate where these best practices will be in five years. Four, assemble a new combination of best practices from these cases that goes beyond what any one company will be doing in five years. Five, imagine the best that anyone will ever be able to do, ever, as the ideal best practice. In the case of disruptive technologies this would involve spotting them well in advance and being able to pursue them without pain to the rest of the organization, and pursuing very rapid adoption that leads to dominating the new marketplace. Six, find ways to approach the ideal best practice. Seventh, put the best people, resources, and incentives together to create great success in exceeding the future best practice and approaching the ideal best practice. Eight, repeat steps one through seven.

Do buy, read, and apply the lessons of THE INNOVATOR'S DILEMMA. This is pure gold. Also, send Professor Christensen a friendly note to encourage him to do more studies like this one on innovation. He deserves our support.

I also suggest that you set up some skunk works to advance potentially disruptive technologies, as a way to develop more experience in improving your innovative potential. You may also wish to study Cisco's attempt to be technology agnostics, to see what you can learn from their experience as well.

Let innovation reign supreme!

Very informative

I found this book one of the most useful that i have purchased regarding the catering industry.It is an industry that i have just started working in and the in depth information has been invaluable to me.
Everything is clearly set out in the book,easy to find exactly what you want to know and easy to read and take in.
The book doesnt make everything seem rose tinted,you get the facts,running such a business is hard work and this book makes that very clear,all the pitfalls are pointed out,but it is also encouraging in starting up such a business as long as you plan and are prepared.
Recommended.

Less gas, more class

I bought this book because it's about a company that I actually quite like and wanted to know more about. A lot of other business books just give you the author's opinions, while others are just corporate histories, and what's nice about this book is that it gives you all of that at once. You get the story of Cobra from the beginning, along with everything that Karan Bilimoria learned along the way. Although I bought it mostly for the corporate history side, there are also a lot of lessons on sales, marketing and financing a business. The style is light and accessible, and the book doesn't suffer from trying to cram too much in. I think it would be a good book for business students and young businesspeople, or just anyone who wants to know a bit more about a cool young company.

excellent book

I started my own business up in May this year and wish I'd bought this book alot earlier. It is excellent and anyone wanting to start up their own business should buy it. The advice given is great and from my own experience I know exactly where he is coming from. It has been through more luck than judgement that I did set up the business the way he suggests in the book. Personally, I wouldn't have set it up any other way because it really gives you a foundation to start from. It has certainly given me alot of ideas to work on and I know I'll always be rereading this book.

Just what we needed

We found this book very useful, it gave us simple guidance where we were unsure and even answered questions we had not yet thought about. <br /><br />We had wanted to start a B&B but had always been put-off, as it seemed a bit too daunting and complicated. Now, having worked through this thoughtful book, we feel ready to take the first steps.

A Landmark Case History

Most people want to read about what Jack Welch, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have done as managers. They would learn a lot more by reading about what Yvon Chouinard has to say about how he developed Patagonia.

This case history is filled with the kind of common sense wisdom that almost all companies and business leaders lack, including the best-known celebrity CEOs. Accounting rules don’t require us to look at environmental damage so most companies don’t think about the harm they cause in this regard. Yet if we don’t do what we can to do less environmental harm, what’s the point of having money in a spoiled world?

Most people don’t really want to run or work in businesses full time. They would rather be doing something they enjoy more. Mr. Chouinard’s approach to Management by Absence and letting his people use flex-time to go surfing when conditions are good examples of how such flexibility can be created in a successful enterprise.

Most importantly, Mr. Chouinard is a good example . . . a model leader. That’s true because, in part, he wants to set a good example . . . something most business leaders don’t care about today. They just want to make money.

A hundred years from now, people will be reading this book as a model of doing the right thing . . . long after everyone has forgotten the names of the best selling business CEOs today. Get ahead of the curve by starting with this book.