Welcome to our Jewish Business Books webpage,
hosted by MyJewishBooks.com and edited by Chaim Hilton
Please browse my recommendations and selections, read a review, or add your own review by clicking an icon or bookcover. The orders are fulfilled by amazon.com; net proceeds are donated to tzedakah. If you want to recommend a charity, please send me an email at Admin@myjewishbooks.com
MyJewishBooks.com, Larry, and oFrah, are proud to welcome Chaim Hilton, a scion of a business oriented family who is a BT when it comes to Jewish business books.
Welcome Chaim!
We look forward to your brave counsel and wise advice. Take it away, Chaim.
Hi. Welcome to the business books section of MyJewishBooks.com. I am Chaim Hilton, or as jokesters like to say, Haim Chilton. Yes, I am a blond Jew and I am single, for all of your who are wondering. With that out of the way, I hope I can be a good guide each month, in the realm of business books.
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Sometimes business and Judaism don't mix well...
Chaim Hilton's MAY 2012 SELECTION
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The End of Leadership
By Barbara Kellerman, Harvard Business School
Spring 2012, Harper Business
One of our foremost leadership experts dismantles obsolete assumptions and stimulates a new conversation about leadership in the twenty-first century.
Becoming a leader has become a mantra. The explosive growth of the "leadership industry" is based on the belief that leading is a path to power and money, a medium for achievement, and a mechanism for creating change. But there are other, parallel truths: that leaders of every stripe are in disrepute; that the tireless and often superficial teaching of leadership has brought us no closer to nirvana; and that followers nearly everywhere have become, on the one hand, disappointed and disillusioned, and, on the other, entitled and emboldened.
The End of Leadership tells two tales. The first is about change—about how and why leadership and followership have changed over time, especially in the last forty years. As a result of cultural evolution and technological revolution, the balance of power between leaders and followers has shifted—with leaders becoming weaker and followers stronger.
The second narrative is about the leadership industry itself. In this provocative and critical volume, Barbara Kellerman raises questions about leadership as both a scholarly pursuit and a set of practical skills: Does the industry do what it claims to do—grow leaders? Does the research justify the undertaking? Do we adequately measure the results of our efforts? Are leaders as all-important as we think they are? What about followers? Isn't teaching good followership as important now as teaching good leadership? Finally, Kellerman asks: Given the precipitous decline of leaders in the estimation of their followers, are there alternatives to the existing models—ways of teaching leadership that take into account the vicissitudes of the twenty-first century?
The End of Leadership takes on all these questions and then some—making it necessary reading for business, political, and community leaders alike.
Kellerman's books have used by the Wexner Foundation and many Jewish communal groups to teach good and bad leadership
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Chaim Hilton's APRIL 2012 SELECTION
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The Founder's Dilemmas
Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup
Kauffman Foundation Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship
By Noam Wasserman, Harvard Business School
Spring 2012, Princeton University Press
Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: should they go it alone, or bring in cofounders, hires, and investors to help build the business? More than just financial rewards are at stake. Friendships and relationships can suffer. Bad decisions at the inception of a promising venture lay the foundations for its eventual ruin. The Founder's Dilemmas is the first book to examine the early decisions by entrepreneurs that can make or break a startup and its team.
Drawing on a decade of research, Professor Noam Wasserman reveals the common pitfalls founders face and how to avoid them. He looks at whether it is a good idea to co-found with friends or relatives, how and when to split the equity within the founding team, and how to recognize when a successful founder-CEO should exit or be fired. Wasserman explains how to anticipate, avoid, or recover from disastrous mistakes that can splinter a founding team, strip founders of control, and leave founders without a financial payoff for their hard work and innovative ideas. He highlights the need at each step to strike a careful balance between controlling the startup and attracting the best resources to grow it, and demonstrates why the easy short-term choice is often the most perilous in the long term.
The Founder's Dilemmas draws on the inside stories of founders like Evan Williams of Twitter and Tim Westergren of Pandora, while mining quantitative data on almost ten thousand founders. People problems are the leading cause of failure in startups. This book offers solutions.
Noam was a '92 grad of Wharton and Moore at Penn undergrad. After working for American Management for several years, he received his PhD from Harvard University in 2002, and received an MBA (with High Distinction) from Harvard Business School in 1999, graduating as a Baker Scholar. Despite being voted “Most Likely to Become a CEO” by his MBA section, Noam decided to pursue academia as a career and to enter the PhD program (thereby giving up on ever becoming a CEO!). Before coming to Harvard, he was a Principal and Practice Manager at a management-consulting firm near Washington, D.C., where he founded and led the Groupware Practice. He also worked as a venture capitalist at a firm in Boston. He received a BSE (magna cum laude) in Computer Science and Engineering from Penn, and a BSEcon (magna cum laude) in Corporate Finance and Strategic Management from Wharton. He lives in Brookline, MA, with his wife and seven children, loves coaching Little League, and completed Shas in 1997-2005 with the 11th Daf Yomi cycle.
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Chaim Hilton's MARCH 2012 SELECTION
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Search Inside Yourself
The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success,
Happiness (and World Peace)
By Chade-Meng Tan (Google Inc)
Spring 2012, HarperOne
Early Google engineer (employee number 107) and personal growth pioneer Chade-Meng Tan first designed “SIY - Search Inside Yourself” as a popular course at Google’s GooglePlex in the Silicon Valley intended to transform the work and lives of the best and brightest behind one of the most innovative, successful, and profitable businesses in the world . . . and now it can do the same for you. Meng has distilled emotional intelligence into a set of practical and proven tools and skills that anyone can learn and develop.
Created in collaboration with a Zen master, a CEO, a Stanford University scientist, and Daniel Goleman (the guy who literally wrote the book on emotional intelligence), this program is grounded in science and expressed in a way that even a skeptical, compulsively pragmatic, engineering-oriented brain like Meng's can process. Whether your intention is to reduce stress and increase well-being, heighten focus and creativity, become more optimistic and resilient, build fulfilling relationships, or just be successful, the skills provided by Search Inside Yourself will prove invaluable for you. This is your guide to enhancing productivity and creativity, finding meaning and fulfillment in your work and life, and experiencing profound peace, compassion, and happiness while doing so.
Born and raised in Singapore, Mr. Tan describes his childhood as “very unhappy.”
“It was the geek thing,” he says. He taught himself how to write software code at the age of 12. And by 15, he had won his first national academic award. At 17, he was one of four members of the national software championship team. But public attention and external rewards brought him no satisfaction. “It wasn’t making a difference,” he says. “I wasn’t any happier. There was a compulsion to be the best.”
Search Inside Yourself reveals how to calm your mind (MINDFULNESS) on demand and return it to a natural state of happiness, deepen self-awareness in a way that fosters self-confidence, harness empathy and compassion into outstanding leadership, and build highly productive collaborations based on trust and transparent communication. In other words, Search Inside Yourself shows you how to grow inner joy while succeeding at your work. Meng writes: "Some people buy books that teach them to be liked; others buy books that teach them to be successful. This book teaches you both. You are so lucky."
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Chaim Hilton's FEBRUARY 2012 SELECTION
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The Money Class
How to Stand in Your Truth and Create the Future You Deserve
Suze Orman
2012, Spiegel and Grau
WHAT WILL YOU LEARN IN THE MONEY CLASS?
How to find the courage to stand in your truth and why it is a place of power. What daily actions will restore the word “hope” to your vocabulary.
Everything you need to know about taking care of your family, your home, your career, and planning for retirement—no matter where you are in your life or where the economy is heading.
In nine electrifying, empowering classes, Suze Orman teaches us how to navigate these unprecedented financial times. With her trademark directness, she shows us how to tackle the complicated mix of money and family, how to avoid making costly mistakes in real estate, and how to get traction in your career or rebuild after a professional setback. And in what is the most comprehensive retirement resource available today, Suze presents an attainable strategy, for every reader, at every age. The Money Class is filled with tools and advice that can take you from a place of financial fear to a place of financial security. In The Money Class you will learn what you need to know in order to feel hopeful, once again, about your future.
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Chaim Hilton's JANUARY 2012 SELECTION
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Money and Power
How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World
By William D. Cohan
January 2012, Anchor paperback
The bestselling author of the acclaimed House of Cards and The Last Tycoons turns his spotlight on to Goldman Sachs and the controversy behind its success. From the outside, Goldman Sachs is a perfect company. The Goldman PR machine loudly declares it to be smarter, more ethical, and more profitable than all of its competitors. Behind closed doors, however, the firm constantly straddles the line between conflict of interest and legitimate deal making, wields significant influence over all levels of government, and upholds a culture of power struggles and toxic paranoia. And its clever bet against the mortgage market in 2007—unknown to its clients—may have made the financial ruin of the Great Recession worse. Money and Power reveals the internal schemes that have guided the bank from its founding through its remarkable windfall during the 2008 financial crisis. Through extensive research and interviews with the inside players, including current CEO Lloyd Blankfein, William Cohan constructs a nuanced, timely portrait of Goldman Sachs, the company that was too big—and too ruthless—to fail.
Chaim Hilton's OCTOBER 2011 SELECTION
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Best Practices Are Stupid
40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition
By Stephen M. Shapiro
October 2011. Portfolio Penguin
What if almost everything you know about creating a culture of innovation is wrong? What if the way you are measuring innovation is choking it? What if your market research is asking all of the wrong questions?
It's time to innovate the way you innovate.
Stephen Shapiro is one of America's foremost innovation advisrrs, whose methods have helped organizations like Staples, GE, Telefónica, NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and USAA. He teaches his clients that innovation isn't just about generating occasional new ideas; it's about staying consistently one step ahead of the competition.
Hire people you don't like. Bring in the right mix of people to unleash your team's full potential.
Stop asking for ideas. Asking for ideas is a bad idea. Define challenges more clearly. If you ask better questions, you will get better answers.
Don't think “outside the box;” find a better box. Instead of giving your employees a blank slate, provide them with well-defined parameters that will increase their creative output.
Stop applauding and recognizing people for doing their jobs. It reinforces that the status quo is good enough. Recognize people for doing the unexpected.
Failure is always an option. Looking at innovation as a series of experiments allows you to redefine failure and learn from your results.
Expertise is the enemy of innovation. Why? The more you know about something, the less likely you are to innovate and change the way you think about it. Bring people together from different disciplines.
Innovation can be idea driven or challenge driven. Albert Einstein said if he had an hour to save the world, he’d spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute finding solutions. From his experience, most organizations are spending 60 minutes finding solutions to problems that don’t matter. When you focus on challenges you’re able to create solutions that are relevant to the needs of the organization. By contrast, when you focus on broad ideas you don’t know which ones are going to be useful. This creates a lot of noise in the system and makes innovation much less efficient. An organization’s ability to figure out which problems if solved would have the greatest impact is probably the single greatest measure of whether an organization will be successful. A lot of times companies spend so much time on things that aren’t relevant. You’re not looking for solutions. You’re looking for problems and opportunities. It is about relevancy. If you use the mind-set of focusing on challenges it raises the question of where do you find the key challenges? Obviously you’ll find them in the marketplace, from customers, and also from employees. You don’t ask, “What’s your idea for the next big product?” You ask, “What problems, if solved, would help our customers?” It puts you in the mind-set of challenge-driven innovation, which ultimately becomes customer-driven innovation. It links back to challenges that will help your customers and help you grow your market.
Shapiro shows that nonstop innovation is attainable and vital to building a high-performing team, improving the bottom line, and staying ahead of the pack.
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Chaim Hilton's SEPTEMBER 2011 SELECTION
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Brandwashed
Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds
and Persuade Us to Buy
By Martin Lindstrom
September 2011. Crown
In his earlier book, Buyology, Lindstrom wrote about how and why people buy. He even mentioned how a basketball star who was not Jewish would draw out the two Hebrew letters of CHAI before an important shot, or how a Jewish man started a business to sell soil from the Holy Land to Americans.
In this new book, Lindstrom looks at how we are manipulated, and also how we behave as consumers.
Did you know that it is not just YOU who grabs for the-second-newspaper-from-the-top of a stack of newspapers? Or are you of those people who walks in small circles while talking on your mobile phone? Marketers know these things about people and they use this information to get you to buy and buy more. Pepperridge Farms plays on your nostalgia; ADP plays on your unfounded fear that a burglar will break in and attack your females; cereals market to kids based on peer pressure. Why do insurance companies use celebrities to market insurance and healthcare items to retired consumers. Sex sells. Just ask Unilever's AXE products.
Marketing visionary Martin Lindstrom has been on the front lines of the branding wars for over twenty years. Here, he turns the spotlight on his own industry, drawing on all he has witnessed behind closed doors, exposing for the first time the full extent of the psychological tricks and traps that companies devise to win our hard-earned dollars. Lindstrom reveals:
New findings that reveal how advertisers and marketers intentionally target children at an alarmingly young age – starting when they are still in the womb!
Shocking results of an fMRI study which uncovered what heterosexual men really think about when they see sexually provocative advertising (hint: it isn’t their girlfriends).
How marketers and retailers stoke the flames of public panic and capitalize on paranoia over global contagions, extreme weather events, and food contamination scares.
The first ever neuroscientific evidence proving how addicted we all are to our iPhones and our Blackberry’s (and the shocking reality of cell phone addiction - it can be harder to shake than addictions to drugs and alcohol).
How companies of all stripes are secretly mining our digital footprints to uncover some of the most intimate details of our private lives, then using that information to target us with ads and offers ‘perfectly tailored’ to our psychological profiles.
How certain companies, like the maker of one popular lip balm, purposely adjust their formulas in order to make their products chemically addictive.
What a 3-month long guerilla marketing experiment, conducted specifically for this book, tells us about the most powerful hidden persuader of them all.
This book introduces a new class of tricks, techniques, and seductions – the Hidden Persuaders of the 21st century- and shows why they are more insidious and pervasive than ever.
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Chaim Hilton's AUGUST 2011 SELECTION
Adam Smith Can Kiss Our Butt (the Scottish one, not the Jewish (Goodman) one with the books and tv show)
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The Penguin and the Leviathan
The Triumph of Cooperation over Self-Interest
By Professor Yochai Benkler, Harvard Law School
April 2011. Crown Business
Yochai Benkler is the Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman Professor for Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School and the author of The Wealth of Networks and the paper Coase's Penguin which expands of the Coase Theorem. He received his law degree at Tel-Aviv University and a Juris Doctorate from from Harvard Law. He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer from 1995 to 1996. He coined the term “commons-based peer production” to describe collaborative efforts, such as free and open source software and Wikipedia which are based on sharing of information. His “The Wealth of Networks” examines the ways in which information technology permits extensive forms of collaboration that may potentially have transformative consequences for economy and society, such as Wikipedia and Open Source Software and blogs. Benkler coined the term JALT as a contraction of jealousy and altruism, to describe the dynamic in commons-based peer production where some participants get paid while others do not, and some agents get jealous of the rewards of another.
In this new book, Benkler questions and overturns the centuries-old practice of managing people through incentive structures – both rewards and punishment – based on an assumption of individual selfishness and that self-interest is the root of all behavior. Toyota and Wikipedia use human COOPERATION rather than behavior modification and control to achieve their desired ends. He shows how recent work in human behavioral and brain sciences and in evolutionary theory is helping us better understand how and why these systems work. Most people act more cooperatively and altruistically than academic models predict. ZipCar, Open Source Software, Chicago community policing, and Maine lobster fishermen are used in examples.
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Chaim Hilton's JUNE 2011 SELECTION
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LAUNCH
How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition
By Michael A. Stelzner
June 2011. Wiley
San Diego based Michael A. Stelzner was born Jewish, but later bacame an evangelical born again Christian, which he credits for making him successful. He was fired from one of his first jobs after 18 months, accused by a boss of something false, but his firing was liberating and he got a better job and greater confidence. He wrote a book on how to write White Papers, and he is the founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com, an online magazine that helps businesses answer social media questions.
In this new book he takes on the metaphor of FUEL to discuss how to launch a business. In order to propel your business to stellar growth and positive recognition, one needs rocket fuel. Primary fuel maintains your business and nuclear has a big impact and leaves a lasting impression on people
His Elevation Principle is that Great Content (Primary Fuel + Nuclear Fuel) equals attracting people (staff and tapping outside experts) MINUS (yes, minus) marketing messages. His point: do not mix marketing messages into your social media content.
Although I am not keen on the rocket, velocity, fuel metaphorical crap, Stelzner discusses how to develop an outward-focused mindset that inspires the content creation process; and discusses how to identify role models that could become tomorrow's strategic partners; build relationships with outside experts; implement the ten most effective types of content (the fuel);and discover new ways to market that don't repel people.
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Chaim Hilton's MAY 2011 SELECTION
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TOO MANY BOSSES, TOO FEW LEADERS
THE ART OF BEING A TRUE LEADER
May 2011. Free Press
Mr. Peshawaria has traveled the world and speaks an consults on management. He asks young and old around the world, “How many of your bosses have been great leaders?” The answer is usually '1', not more than '2.' He asks CEO's, their reports, an others, at what percent is your company functioning? Oh, about 65% on average. Is there something not known about management and leadership? Isn't it the same as it has been since antiquity, Pharoah and Moses, David, and Alexander? Yet, over $50 Billion is spent worldwide on management training and books and seminars. Such as this book.
And to what end?
Still, people thin maybe only 1 of their bosses was or is a leader.
Do people just not want to lead? How can they not know how?
Is another book needed?
Peshawaria has trained people at Coca Cola, Goldman Sachs, Amex, Morgan Stanley, and other international corporations. In this book he distills what he has learned and sets out a framework on how to lead.
Is he Jewish? No.
Should it be read by all Jewish visitors to this site? Yes.
How did Alan Mulally––an outsider to the auto industry—lead such a spectacular turnaround at Ford? How did Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack keep his company from imploding even as Lehman Brothers collapsed? What is it that enables such extraordinary leaders to galvanize their talents and energy, as well as the talents and energy of those who work for them, to achieve superior performance no matter what challenges they face? Rajeev Peshawaria has spent more than twenty years working alongside top executives at Fortune 500 companies and training them in leadership, including as Global Director of Leadership Development programs at American Express, as Chief Learning Officer at both Morgan Stanley and Coca-Cola, and as one of the founding members of the renowned Goldman Sachs leadership development program known as Pine Street. He knows precisely what makes the difference between those who are simply bosses and those who are superior leaders, and between those who continue to rise to the top levels and those who get stuck along the way.In this lively and remarkably empowering book, Peshawaria offers readers the opportunity to experience the highest level of leadership training available in the world. Introducing the three core principles he has observed are the foundation of the best leadership––that great leaders clearly define their purpose and values; that nobody can motivate another person because everyone comes premotivated; and that a leader’s job is not to directly produce results but to create the conditions that will harness the energy of others—he details his unique and proven program for achieving leadership excellence. Sharing a wealth of illuminating stories, from those of Mulally’s achievement at Ford and Mack’s at Morgan Stanley, to how Harvey Golub and Ken Chenault successfully restored American Express to long-term sustainable growth, how Neville Isdell turned the Coca-Cola Company around, and the continuing prowess of Jeff Bezos in growing Amazon.com, he first reveals how extraordinary leaders marshal and sustain the level of energy in themselves that is required and how they enlist a core group of proficient co-leaders. He then outlines how to harness the energy and talents of those at all levels of an organization, igniting their motivation by following his RED guidelines for addressing their core needs concerning their Role, their work Environment, and their career Development. Finally, he introduces his unique Brains, Bones, and Nerves framework for: developing a clear strategy for competitive advantage (the Brains); crafting an optimal organizational structure (the Bones); and fostering a highly cooperative and motivated company culture (the Nerves). Filled with specific tips about the vital questions to ask and simple but powerful steps to follow, Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders is a manager’s essential tool kit for long-term superior performance.
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Obliquity
Why Our Goals Are Best Achieved Indirectly
By John Kay, LSE
April 2011. Penguin
If you want to go in one direction, the best route may involve going in another. This is the concept of ‘obliquity’: paradoxical as it sounds, many goals are more likely to be achieved when pursued indirectly.
Whether overcoming geographical obstacles, winning decisive battles or meeting sales targets, history shows that oblique approaches are the most successful, especially in difficult terrain.
The Panama Canal, for instance, follows the shortest crossing of America; and yet it starts by following a south-easterly direction. The shortest straight line running from east to west goes through Nicaragua, and this ‘direct’ route is much longer. The people who first found this route weren’t looking west, and they were looking for silver and gold – not oceans. Charles Darwin weighed up scientifically the pros and cons of a happy marriage – but it was Emma Wedgwood who swept him off his feet. Some of the most surprising examples come from the world of business. At one time Boeing’s leaders would ‘eat, breathe, and sleep the world of aeronautics’. The company created the 747 and its fortunes soared. When in 1998 it shifted focus to shareholder return and return on investment the company, well, took a dive.
Obliquity is necessary because we live in an world of uncertainty and complexity; the problems we encounter aren’t always clear – and we often can’t pinpoint what our goals are anyway; circumstances change; people change – and are infuriatingly hard to predict; and direct approaches are often arrogant and unimaginative.
Using dozens of practical examples from the worlds of business, politics, science, sports, literature, even parenting, esteemed economist John Kay proves a notion that feels at once paradoxical and deeply commonsensical: The best way to achieve any complex or broadly defined goal-from happiness to wealth to profit to preventing forest fires-is the indirect way.
As Kay points out, we rarely know enough about the intricacies of important problems to tackle them head-on. And our unpredictable interactions with other people and the world at large mean that the path to our goals-and sometimes the goals themselves-will inevitably change. We can learn about our objectives and how to achieve them only through a gradual process of risk taking and discovery-what Kay calls obliquity.
Kay traces this pathway to satisfaction as it manifests itself in nearly every aspect of life. The wealthiest people-from Andrew Carnegie to Bill Gates-achieved their riches through a passion for their work, not because they set materialistic goals. Research has shown that companies whose goal (as declared in mission statements) is excellent products or service are more profitable than companies whose stated goal is increasing profits. In the personal realm, a large body of evidence shows that parenthood is on a daily basis far more frustrating than happy- making. Yet parents are statistically happier than nonparents. Though their short-term pleasure is often thwarted by the demands of childrearing, the subtle-oblique-rewards of parenthood ultimately make them happier.
Once he establishes the ubiquity of obliquity, Kay offers a wealth of practical guidance for avoiding the traps laid by the direct approach to complex problems. Directness blinds us to new information that contradicts our presumptions, fools us into confusing logic with truth, cuts us off from our intuition (which is the subconscious expression of our experience), shunts us away from alternative solutions that may be better than the one we're set on, and more. Kay also shows us how to acknowledge our limitations, redefine our goals to fit our skills, open our minds to new data and solutions, and otherwise live life with obliquity.
This bracing manifesto will convince readers-or confirm their conviction-that the best route to satisfaction and success does not run through the bottom line.
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Chaim Hilton's MARCH 2011 SELECTION
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THE ART OF THE THE TELL
TELL TO WIN
Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story
IGNITE YOUR SUCCESS BY TELLING PURPOSEFUL STORIES
BY PETER GUBER
March 2011. Crown
Howard Peter Guber was born on March 1, 1942, 69 years ago, in Boston. His father, Samuel, owned a junk metal business. Peter grew up as the youngest of three boys, in the shadow of Charlie and Mike. A graduate of Syracuse, Guber married Lynda Gellis in 1965 (the daughter of Brooklyn kosher meats magnate Isaac Gellis). With a law degree and MBA, he headed to LA and worked his way up at Columbia for 8 years, until he was fired and started his own music group and then ran Polygram's film unit. In 1982, he set up Guber-Peters at Warner Brothers, where is exec produced Steven Spielberg's 1985 film The Color Purple. He was loved, he was hated, he was screwed up, he was powerful, he was the quintessential Hollywood Jewish leader.
He was Studio Chief at Columbia Pictures; Co-Chairman of Casablanca Records and Filmworks; CEO of Polygram Entertainment; Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures; and is Chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group. He produced (or EP'd) “Midnight Express,” “The Color Purple,” “Gorillas in the Mist,” “Batman,” and “Rain Man.” He co-owns an NBA team. ( See TelltoWin.com )
What Guber understands is that to be successful, you must tell a story quickly. Today, everyone is in the emotional transportation business. More and more, success is won by creating compelling stories that have the power to move partners, shareholders, customers, and employees to action. Simply put, if you can’t tell it, you can’t sell it. And this book tells you how to do both.
I was once at a G.A., the General Assembly of Jewish federations, and a leader told how she went around her organization and asked employees what the mission of the group was and what their top priorities were. They couldn't. There was no single clear mission statement. She knew she had to change that in order to survive and grow and thrive. She should read this book to help her
Historically, stories have always been igniters of action, moving people to do things. But only recently has it become clear that purposeful stories – those created with a specific mission in mind – are absolutely essential in persuading others to support a vision, dream or cause.
Peter Guber, whose executive and entrepreneurial accomplishments have made him a success in multiple industries, has long relied on purposeful story telling to motivate, win over, shape, engage and sell. Indeed, what began as knack for telling stories as an entertainment industry executive has, through years of perspiration and inspiration, evolved into a set of principles that anyone can use to achieve their goals.
Guber shows how to move beyond soulless Power Point slides, facts, and figures to create purposeful stories that can serve as powerful calls to action. Among his techniques:
Capture your audience’s attention first, fast and foremost
Motivate your listeners by demonstrating “authenticity”
Build your tell around “what’s in it for them”
Change passive listeners into active participants
Use “state-of-the-HEART” technology online and offline to make sure audience commitment remains strong
To validate the power of telling purposeful stories, Guber includes in this book a remarkably diverse number of “voices” – master tellers with whom he’s shared experiences. They include YouTube founder Chad Hurley, NBA champion Pat Riley, clothing designer Normal Kamali, “Mission to Mars” scientist Gentry Lee, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank, former South African president Nelson Mandela, magician David Copperfield, film director Steven Spielberg, novelist Nora Roberts, rock legend Gene Simmons, and physician and author Deepak Chopra. After listening to this extraordinary mix of voices, you’ll know how to craft, deliver -- and own – a story that is truly compelling, one capable of turning others into viral advocates for your goal.
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Chaim Hilton's FEBRUARY 2011 SELECTION
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Tough Calls from the Corner Office
Top Business Leaders Reveal Their Career-Defining Moments
By Harlan Steinbaum
February 2011. Harper
When former CEO Harlan Steinbaum (associated with Sanus, SupeRX, Medicare-Glaser) decided to buy back his retail drug chain with his partners, his life changed dramatically. The personal impact that this one business decision — this “defining moment” — had on Steinbaum made him wonder if others had experienced similar kinds of “moments” in their own careers. To find out, he reached out to over 36 of the most successful people in the country — leaders from companies such as Verizon, Chrysler, ESPN, Ogilvy & Mather, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Wellpoint, and Panera Bread Company — to pinpoint the career-defining decisions that were integral to their success. The result is Tough Calls from the Corner Office, a collection of rich business wisdom, stories of tough decisions and hard victories won, and lessons from a lifetime of achievement in the world of business.
Tough Calls from the Corner Office offers lessons, principles, strategies, ideas, and solutions drawn from every stage in a successful career, from early key choices to the final leave-taking from the world of work. Given access to such visionaries as Union Square’s restauranteur Danny Meyer (who quit law school for the food biz), ESPN’s Bill Rasmussen (who started ESPN after he was fired), Build-A-Bear's Maxine Clark (she quit Payless to start stuffing bears), and Let’s Make a Deal's game show leader Monty Hall, Steinbaum shares their experiences, told in their own words, so that others might learn from them.
In a time when many people are at a professional crossroads, Tough Calls from the Corner Office offers inspiration and the confidence to believe that tough decisions can be the first step to extraordinary success
“Tough Calls from the Corner Office is a unique casebook of management decision making. Each case is incisive, authoritative, original . . . and short. Harlan Steinbaum’s new book can usefully be read by both students and managers. - Murray L. Weidenbaum, Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (1969-1971), former Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors (1981-1982)
“This book is wonderful. I enjoyed every story -- every part of it. The stories in this book should inspire and give confidence to the many people looking to make their mark in business, or for that matter life.” - General Richard B. Myers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
Steinbaum, a member of St Louis' Temple Israel, is a former CEO of two leading pharmaceutical companies. The essays are intimate, candid, and inspiring. Often deeply revealing, frequently dealing with tough situations like strikes, layoffs, and bankruptcy.
Click the book cover to read more.
Chaim Hilton's JANUARY 2011 SELECTION
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WHY WE WIN
Scorecasting
The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won
BY TOBIAS MOSKOWiTZ and L.JON WERTHEIM
January 2011. Archetype
In Scorecasting, University of Chicago behavioral economist Tobias Moskowitz teams up with veteran Sports Illustrated writer L. Jon Wertheim to overturn some of the most cherished truisms of sports, and reveal the hidden forces that shape how basketball, baseball, football, and hockey games are played, won and lost.
Drawing from Moskowitz's original research, as well as studies from fellow economists such as bestselling author Richard Thaler, the authors look at: the influence home-field advantage has on the outcomes of games in all sports and why it exists; the surprising truth about the universally accepted axiom that defense wins championships; the subtle biases that umpires exhibit in calling balls and strikes in key situations; the unintended consequences of referees' tendencies in every sport to "swallow the whistle," and more.
Among the insights that Scorecasting reveals:
Why Tiger Woods is prone to the same mistake in high-pressure putting situations that you and I are
Why professional teams routinely overvalue draft picks
The myth of momentum or the "hot hand" in sports, and why so many fans, coaches, and broadcasters fervently subscribe to it
Why NFL coaches rarely go for a first down on fourth-down situations--even when their reluctance to do so reduces their chances of winning.
In an engaging narrative that takes us from the putting greens of Augusta to the grid iron of a small parochial high school in Arkansas, Scorecasting will forever change how you view the game, whatever your favorite sport might be
Click the book cover to read more.
Chaim Hilton's DECEMBER 2010 SELECTION
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DOES THIS MAKE MY ASSETS LOOK FAT?
A Woman's Guide to Finding Financial Empowerment and Success
BY SUSAN HIRSHMAN
2010. St Martin's Press
A comprehensive and coherent breakdown of basic financial and wealth management information from a J.P. Morgan financial adviser. An increasing number of women are controlling more and more of the wealth in America, but studies suggest that women's financial literacy is not increasing. Hirshman, who counsels investors on their personal finances, uses comparisons with dieting--a framework also used in Alice Wood's excellent Wealth Watchers--and the metaphor holds up well: both dieting and investing require discipline, take time, and yield rewards. Hirshman presents reviewing a net worth statement as "stepping on the financial scales," and investment categories as the basic food groups. Though it's not overtly stated, the advice is aimed at an audience with a fairly old-fashioned view of finances--she speaks passionately about the need for women to be equal partners in their marital finances and admonishes women that "a man is not a financial plan." Hirshman provides all of the information necessary for a solid financial background, and cheers on her readers with a positive message: "The only person responsible for you is you."
Click the book cover to read more.
Chaim Hilton's MAY 2010 SELECTION
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Showing Up for Life
Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime
Bill Gates Sr. with Mary Ann Mackin
Bill Gates (Jr.) (Foreword)
May 2010, Broadway
Bill Gates Jr., the co founder of Microsoft, grew up in a household that was led a father who was no schlub. He was a leader in the Seattle business and philanthropic and United Way community and discussed issues with his son. Bill Gates, Sr.,, now 83, is an attorney, philanthropist, husband and father. Counting his children-Kristi, Libby, and son Bill--among his proudest achievements, Gates stays close to home and largely abstains from name dropping, though the Gates keep some impressive company. Raising three good kids who are good citizens makes him proud. His own father dropped out of school in Eighth grade to support his own family. He believes in the combined power of men and women who "show up" for the people they love and the causes they believe in. He witnessed the power of public will to take on and surmount great challenges and he believes our society works better when people think less about "me and mine" and more about "us and ours." He’s come to know many wonderful and interesting people -- from his own sister Merridy, who taught him a lasting lesson about generosity and whose own life prospects narrowed considerably because their father dad didn't believe girls needed an education -- to Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter, the latter who introduced him and millions of other people to the importance of talking openly about "bare penises" in places where such words were never spoken In order to raise awareness of the importance of condoms in the fight against HIV-AIDS.
But he is discouraged by a public education system where only a third of our children graduate from high school ready for college. (All of my children were college-ready, though it did take his son more than 25 years to finally collect his Harvard degree.)
In short essays that are conversational in tone, Gates enumerates his optimism and tenets for successful life-hard work, generosity and curiosity-along with what he's learned from people like his scoutmaster Dorm Braman, his son Bill, his late wife, Mary, and his current wife, Mimi, as well as friends from the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. government. .
Click the book cover to read more.
Chaim Hilton's APRIL 2010 SELECTION
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RETHINKING THE MBA
Business Education at a Crossroads
By Srikant Datar, David A. Garvin, and Patrick G. Cullen
2010,
Do you go to Business School to learn or to earn?
Many think that business education is about skipping classes to network and just interview for two years to get the best, highest paying job
Did MBA cause the economic meltdown?
Is business ethics courses and the MBA OATH just crap and a good PR campaign?
Three Harvard Business School scholars have written this examination of the curriculums that shape many top investment bankers, consultants and chief executives. They write thatschools emphasize quantitative and theoretical analysis too much. Social responsibility and common-sense skepticism is just given lip service in school.
Maybe business school is not the place to find CEOs? Maybe law school is the place. MBA wonks are not engaged with the curriculum and overconfident haughty jerks.
For decades, MBA graduates from top-tier schools set the standard for cutting-edge business knowledge and skills. Now the business world has changed, say the authors of Rethinking the MBA, and MBA programs must change with it. Increasingly, managers and recruiters are questioning conventional business education. Their concerns? Among other things, MBA programs aren't giving students the heightened cultural awareness and global perspectives they need. Newly minted MBAs lack essential leadership skills. Creative and critical thinking demand far more attention.
In this compelling and authoritative new book, the authors: It document a rising chorus of concerns about business schools gleaned from extensive interviews with deans and executives, and from a detailed analysis of current curricula and emerging trends in graduate business education; it provides case studies showing how leading MBA programs have begun reinventing themselves for the better; it offers concrete ideas for how business schools can surmount the challenges that come with reinvention, including securing faculty with new skills and experimenting with new pedagogies
Rich with examples and thoroughly researched, Rethinking the MBA reveals why and how business schools must define a better pathway for the future.
Click the book cover to read more.
Chaim Hilton's JANUARY 2010 SELECTION
We emphasize Tikkun Olan and Tzedaka. And we are drawn to supporting aid, and focusing on Maimonides outline for charity. Columbia Business School Dean, Glenn Hubbard, sets out a controversial view on giving aid in Africa. Does it do more harm than help ?
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The Aid Trap
Hard Truths About Ending Poverty
By R. Glenn Hubbard and William Duggan
2009, Columbia
Hubbard and Duggan, respectively dean and lecturer at Columbia Business School, make the case that current foreign aid and Third World projects—particularly in Africa—aren't working and that the developed world must rethink how it allots aid money. The authors dissect (and disagree) with the U.N.'s Millennium Goals strategy for attacking poverty, pet project of Jeffrey Sachs and a host of celebrities. They condemn the strategy as a charity trap, that perverts local economies and keeps corrupt leaders rich. The authors contend that poor countries can attain prosperity and self-sufficiency only if aid money goes to cultivating a functioning business sector. Microfinance, they say, is working but stops short; they propose something much more ambitious: a new Marshall Plan, an almost prohibitively daunting task given the vast differences among developing countries, the controls each puts on business and the input required from other developed nations. But the plainly stated thesis and the authors' willingness to confront conventional wisdom and examine and energetically attack the problem are refreshing and necessary.
Click the book cover to read more.
Chaim Hilton's JANUARY 2008 SELECTION
I was drawn into this book by its Acknowledgements. The author was so generous to others and gave so much credit to others, that I was amazed by his openness, and before I knew it, I was deep, into the book.
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The Opposable Mind
How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking
by Roger L. Martin
December 2007, HBS Press
The author is the Dean of University of Toronto's business school and formerly with the Monitor Group. What I like about the book is that it is about thinking and not actually doing. When you read other books, you learn aboutwhat a leader did, how he or she executed a strategy. You don't learn about how they came to a decision. Think of JFK and Cuba/the Bay of Pigs decisions. You know his final decision, but what is more interesting is how he put together a team to help him to decide. Roger Martin writes that each business decision and environment and strategy situation is different. This book teaches you to emulate how leaders think. Successful businesspeople engage in what Martin calls integrative thinking, or allowing two opposing ideas to exist simultaneously in on the mind, and resolving the tension of the OPPOSING models by forming entirely new and superior ones (sounds Marxist dialectic, doesn't it?) Drawing on stories of leaders as diverse as AG Lafley of Procter & Gamble, Meg Whitman of eBay, Victoria Hale of the Institute for One World Health, and Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, Martin shows how integrative thinkers ASK PROBING QUESTIONS and understands the trade-offs. For example, should you outsource your customer service when you trade off costs for service levels? Martin also presents a model for strengthening your integrative thinking skills by drawing on different kinds of knowledge-including conceptual and experiential knowledge.
Martin wirtes that Integrative Thinking involves four steps:
salience (allowing more complex features to be considered),
causality (many dimensions and interactions, and not all interactions are a straight line single cause and effect),
architecture (seeing the whole sum of the parts while developing the parts), and
resolution of the tensions.
But one item in Chapter 5 stands out and it is something most people will forget. You can read so many biz books, but unless you shut off the radio and tv and sit down in silence and write down the answers to these questions, nothing will help you. They are:
STANCE: Who are you in the world. What are you trying to accomplish?
TOOLS: With what tools or models do I organize my thoughts and perceive and understand the world?
EXPERIENCES: What are the expiernces you will use to build your repertoire of sensitivities and skills?
We shape are tools, and later our tools shape us.. and if your tools re not the right toolset, then acquire new ones.
Chaim Hilton's DECEMBER 2007 SELECTION
Oy. Poor Kevin Colvin. He emailed his boss at Allied Irish Bank and said he had to be in the Big Apple for a family urgent issue. He actually went to Worcester for a Halloween party and dressed as a guy with a wand or perhaps a radical fairy. Kevin Colvin posted a pic from the party on his facebook page which was then sent to his boss by a loving co-worker (isn't competition and snitching awful?). Kevin Colvin should have read the book below:
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The Sick Day Handbook
Strategies And Techniques for Faking It
by Ellie Bishop
Conari Press
The alarm goes off, and the thought of your morning commute, a buttoned-up shirt, and e-mail makes you want to cry. You don't want to go to work-YOU CAN'T. So what's a 9-to-5er to do? KISS: Keep it Simple, Sickie. "I'm (sniffle) not feeling well, got this scratchy feeling in my throat (cough), think it'd be best for me to sit this one out, boss." Click. Congratulations, you just called in sick and were lying through your down comforter about it. Ahh, the thrill of deceit!
Let's be honest-at least briefly. Sometimes you just need a day. The Sick Day Handbook is your guide to freedom. In Ellie's words, "This is a course in manipulation . . . This is about lying." Anyone who reads to "the end" and follows Bishop's creative instructions will have earned their DDD: Doctor of Downright Devious. Filled with symptoms and prescriptions for common illnesses and proper stage-setting techniques to pull off the previously unthinkable Tuesday-after-a-long-weekend call-in (your pregnant friend had the baby!), you'll have a pool of credible excuses just waiting to be used (scripts included). If you thought it couldn't get any better-well, read on. Your boss will think you are such a moral person (what a doll . . . taking care of your elderly neighbor and her 3-legged cat all the while suffering from Vertigo and an IBS flare-up) he'll practically beg you to take a day off! So what are you waiting for, nervous dialers? Get your slippers on-daytime television awaits you. Learn our tricks and no one will ever doubt your "flu" again!
Chaim Hilton's NOVEMBER 2007 SELECTION
My friend Akiva B. turned me on to this book. Thanks Akiva. I do not think I would want to hang out with the author, and he seems a tad too energetic and manic for me. Think of a young version of James Cramer but without the self-knowledge that it is an act. Cuz it isn't. But it is an interesting and informative read.
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An American Hedge Fund
How I Made $2 Million as a Stock Operator & Created a Hedge Fund
by Timothy Sykes
September 2007, BullShip Press
Sykes tells the story of how he took $12,415 of gift money he received for his Bar Mitzvah and turned it into a $1.65 million fortune in a few years of frenetic stock trading. Giddy from his rapid ascent but still naive in many ways, Sykes went on to found a hedge fund and, after initial success, was stung by steep losses. Now just 26 years old and a budding media personality, Sykes is deluged by people looking to emulate his early success and says that's why he wrote the brutally honest tale of sudden wealth and hubris. "It's inspirational but also cautionary," he said. There's a bit of James Cramer in Sykes. He is manic and somewhat eccentric self-promoter. I most enjoyed his stories of trying to find investors and whether they needed to be entertained, and his stories of college at Tulane. He decided to take night classes so that he could trade during the day. Realizing that he had few friends, he decided to pledge a frat. But when a frat member called him and asked his to perform a mindless errand, Sykes refused. Sykes was in the middle of a stock position trade and could not leave. Wrong answer. He got dinged, but he made $1500. Click the book cover to read more.
Chaim Hilton's OCTOBER 2007 SELECTION
These two book are not necessarily Jewish, but the highlight the lives of some very interesting Jewish business investors and business leaders.
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100 Minds That Made the Market
(The Fisher Investment Series)
by Kenneth L. Fisher
August 2007, Wiley
When you walk by the New York Stock Exchange and other markets, you take it for granted, and forget all the people who built the markets into what they are today. Ken Fischer, a Forbes columnist and the founder of the firm that bears his name, manages over $40 Billion in assets and OPM (Other People's Money). He is ranked among the 300 richest Americans, and he has an interest in financial history and the lives of the (MOSTLY) men who created the modern market. It is fascinating to read of early day Jim Kramer's, the serious leaders, the flamboyent investors, the sexcapades of Joe Kennedy, the buyers, the sellers, the rogues and the saints. The book is split into 11 sections covering: The Dinosaurs (Astor, J. S. Morgan, Vanderbilt, Girard, the Rothschilds); Journalists and Authors (Dow, Jones, Forbes, Barron, Engel, Graham, Bernhard); Investment Bankers and Brokers (August Belmont, Emanuel Lehman and his son Philip, J. P. Morgan, Jacob Schiff, Charles Merrill, Gerald Loeb, Sidney Weinberg); The Innovators ("Lucky" Baldwin, Russell Sage, Babson, Cabot, T. Rowe Price); Bankers and Central Bankers (Law, Hamilton, Biddle, Paul Warburg, Benjamin Strong, Natalie Schenk Laimbeer); New Deal Reformers (Joseph Kennedy, William O. Douglas); Crooks (Ponzi, Whitney, Meehan, jerry and Gerald Re, Tellier); Technicians (Evangeline Adams, Robert Rhea, Irving Fisher, Keynes, Gann, Gould); Speculators (Jay Gould, Diamond Jim Brady, Fisher Brothers, bernard Baruch); Wheeler Dealers (James Fisk, William Durant, Charles Morse); and Miscellaneous (Hetty Green, Patrick Bologna, Cyrus Eaton). Click to read more
Chaim Hilton's SEPTEMBER 2007 SELECTION
I was at the beach in August, and my favorite activity is sitting and reading the wedding announcements in The Sunday New York Times. And lately I was feeling envious of all the grooms who are financial analysts and hedge fund associates. Which drw me closer to picking up the following book:
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How I Became a Quant
Insights from 25 of Wall Street's Elite
Edited by Barry Schachter and Richard R. Lindsey (President of Bear, Stearns Securities Corporation)
July 2007, Wiley
Quants are the backbone of today's investment industry, or so they think. Their mathematical models are the basis for most financial market innovations, such as derivatives, structured investment products, trading strategies, and portfolio selections. But what they actually do, and how they do it? I really do not have the time to enroll in the MS program at Columbia in Financial Mathematics. So I read this instead. In How I Became a Quant, more than 24 quants tell their war stories and detail the unexpected paths. Peter Carr, head of Quantitative Financial Research at Bloomberg, tells of his progression from cornering the local paper delivery market as a boy in Toronto to teaching at Cornell to ultimately helping Bloomberg start up its quant group. Leslie Rahl, President of Capital Market Risk Advisors, describes how she excelled in math and science as a girl, went on to MIT--so as not to be seen as "weird," as she thought might happen at other schools--and joined Citibank at a time when they had only two women VPs in the entire worldwide organization. Andrew Weisman, Managing Director of Merrill Lynch, reveals an academic background that began with study of the classics--Plato to Popper, Beowulf to Virginia Woolf, and oddly enough, swimming lessons.
Other contributors are David Leinweber, Ronald N. Kahn (Barclays), Gregg Berman, Evan Schulman, Mark Anson, Thomas Wilson (ING), Neil Chriss, Bjorn Flesaker, Peter Jackel, Andrew Davidson, Clifford Asness, Stephen Kealhofer, Julian Shaw, Mark Kritzman, Bruce I. Jacobs and Kenneth N. Levy, Tanya Beder, Allan Malz, Peter Muller, Andrew Sterge, and Jack Marshall. I especially liked Andrew Davidson of his own firm. He was a Mathlete in high school and went to Harvard, and studied with Myron Scholes at the University of Chicago in grad school, but not before he worked in physics at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. He is not into equations, some of which in adds to essay (none of which I understood), but he likes to guess at answers. His theorem: If it May Be True in Theory but it won't work in practice, Get Another Theory; and Lemma 1: If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. These are the stories behind their careers. Click to read more
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The Goal
by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox
North River
In a business text disguised as a novel, a remarkable cast of actors dramatizes a fascinating tale of discovery and redemption. In the story, the manager of a troubled plant, Alex Rogo, learns from a mathematician turned consultant, Jonah, that many of his management practices and economic assumptions are faulty. Also, his marriage is on shaky ground due to his long work hours. . When his district manager tells him that profits must increase or the plant will be closed, he retools his thinking, and he convinces everyone else at the factory to get with the new program. The story's flow is slowed by extraneous dialogue and subplots, but it's still a good story and a captivating format for serving up the author's message--that businesses weighed down by archaic habits can be wildly profitable when fresh mathematical methods are implemented with courageous persistence. Click to read more
Chaim Hilton's AUGUST 2007 SELECTION
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The New Rules of Marketing and PR
How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting,
Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly
by David Meerman Scott
June 2007, Wiley
Whether you run a business or a Jewish organization, if you want to reach members or customers, you have to be online or have podcasts. The Internet has changed the way people communicate and interact with each other. The New Rules of Marketing and PR shows you how to leverage the potential that Web-based communication. Finally, you can speak directly to customers and buyers, establishing a personal link with those who make your business work. You can reach niche buyers with targeted messages that cost a fraction of your big-budget ad campaign. Rather than bombard them with advertising they'll likely ignore, you can focus on getting the right message to the right people at the right time.
Forget about press releases. David makes the distinction between a press release vs. a "news release." The name of the game is to focus on two objectives before you issue a "news release." Number one, think about the buyers we want to reach, second think about the problems that they have or the problems they are trying to solve. This changes everything in the public relations world as we used to know it. In the case of the old rules, you have to write about your own product and the news surrounding it and in the new rules if you focus on the problems that your buyers have you will have much stronger results and David goes into details on how to make that happen. We even go into a MySuccessGateway.com case study. David also gives the example of Cruisecompete.com an online travel agent with different cruises. They did a series of news releases using keywords that their buyers were looking for. For example: Their customers were searching on the following 3 keyword phrases; Thanksgiving cruise, Christmas cruise, and New Years Cruise, this is how their customers were looking for cruise information. They understood what their buyers were looking for by asking their customers. They interviewed their buyers and did their own research. They used Marketwire for their distribution. They inserted anchor text links for the phrases. (The phrases are in blue, and link to their landing pages.) Christmas Cruise for example was one particular landing page. Now they have moved people off of the news release on to their landing page. They went into search engine and they inserted "new years cruise," that is why they created an anchor text link for the phrase to drive the user back to the new years cruise landing page. Click to read more
Chaim Hilton's JULY 2007 SELECTION
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A Perfect Mess
The Hidden Benefits of Disorder
How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place
by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman
2007, Little Brown
Like Freakonomics, here is a book that combines counterintuitive thinking with stories from everyday life to provide a striking new view of how our world works. Ever since Einstein's study of Brownian Motion, scientists have understood that a little disorder actually makes systems more effective. But most people still shun disorder--or suffer guilt over the mess they can't avoid. No longer! With a spectacular array of anecdotes and case studies of the useful role mess can play, here is an antidote to the accepted wisdom that tight schedules, neatness, and consistency are the keys to success. Drawing on examples from business, parenting, cooking, the war on terrorism, retail, and even the meteoric career of Arnold Schwarzenegger, coauthors Abrahamson and Freedman demonstrate that moderately messy systems use resources more efficiently, yield better solutions, and are harder to break than neat ones. A Perfect Mess will help readers assess what the right amount of disorder is for a given system, and how to apply these ideas onto a large scale--government, society-- and on a small scale--in your attic, kitchen, or office. A Perfect Mess will forever change the way we think about those unruly heaps of paper on our desks.
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Pink Ribbons, Inc.
Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy
by Samantha King
2006
The Jewish community is heavily involved in the pink ribbon and breast cancer cure movements. The pink ribbon is the symbol for the fight for a cure and the fight for early detection. Each year, corporations promote pink shaded products and their core products, from bags to yogurt to cars, to support breast cancer research. Pink Ribbons Inc. explores the Susan G. Komen Foundation's Race for the Cure 5 Kilometer runs and other events with large corporate sponsorships. But does this actually overshadow the efforts for prevention and education? King examines the history of philanthropy and how breast cancer became such a prominent cause, garnering far more support and publicity than other diseases, demonstrating the ability of American women to flex their political and economic muscle on behalf of an important cause
Chaim Hilton's JUNE 2007 SELECTION
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Confessions of a Municipal Bond Salesman
by Jim Lebenthal, with Bernice Kanner
and a foreword by Paul A. Volcker
2006
He's Jim Lebenthal, and muni bonds are his babies
He is a showman who went to Andover and Princeton, and worked for Disney, Henry Luce and David Ogilvy before landing on Wall Street.
This book is a year old, but still an enjoyable read. I remember watching Mr. James Avram Lebenthal's unusual commercials promoting triple tax free municipal bonds, and then the ads by his daughter, Alexandra, who took over the business from her father, Jim, and her grandmother. (A friend of mine once sat next to Alexandra on a jet flight. He missed his opportunity to ask her out. Maybe she was his bashert?) In this memoir, Jim Lebenthal journeys from Hollywood reporter to Academy Award winning short filmmaker (for Disney in 1959), to copywriter for Ogilvy & Mather and Young & Rubicam (and Restless), to a famous, media savvy bond salesman. His father suffered several strokes when Jim was a teen, and his mother, Sayra, had to take over Lebenthal and Company, an odd lot bond house, fully. Lebenthal tells us about his successes and setbacks. He explains how to recognize opportunity and how to persevere to overcome obstacles. An excellent salesperson, he imparts a few secrets on how to sell and how to avoid procrastination and roadblocks to success (although effort is no guarantee of success, it's just a license to keep at it).
In the words of Jim:
A good ad makes you say the following: I didn't know that, I'll Bite. Tell me more.
Happy at Work? Would you do that job as a hobby without pay?
Never leave a job without at least one success under you rbelt
Advertising is an investment in your brand
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Never Say Never
The Insider's Guide to Risk Management (
by Len Biegel
Brick Tower Books (October 25, 2007)
One-fourth to one-third of all American companies say they are not prepared for a crisis. This concise book on crisis management is by a well-known expert in crisis management whose clients have included Tylenol, American Airlines, and Homeland Security. For example, what if you are the CLAIMS CONFERENCE, and it is discovered that $$ have been misspent...
Issues are best addressed early and head-on - thus avoiding a crisis. That is the essence of effective public affairs.
The best crisis is the one that is prevented. And this can be the result of management commitment to listening to and spotting early warnings; effective management of issues before they become crises; and a culture that fosters a commitment to crisis readiness as part of the corporate structure.
As the Tylenol tamperings of the 1980s set a new paradigm for crisis management, the events of September 11, 2001 and the ongoing war on terrorism have set yet another paradigm, which includes a call for companies to:
Make a full-time commitment to crisis management; Employ communications techniques to maximize crisis prevention; Address crisis preparation as a global commitment; Be sensitive to the communication of risk; and Recognize the Web as both an asset and a threat.
Reputation is crucial. It can be severely damaged if it is not handled with candor and concern.
Preparation pays countless dividends when a crisis has hit. Bad things do happen to good companies and organizations. Those who overcome the bad times most easily are those who have prepared to face the difficulties. Decisions in a crisis must be based on the facts, not instinct alone. And delivering bad news can be painful. The faster and more directly you get it out, the sooner you can move beyond initial confusion and impressions - and the more credible you will be in the long run.
* Above all - companies that show they care about the customers, their communities and the public at large fare better than those who don't.
Kinky Sex, professionalism, the saving of NYC, Jewish business history, France, Jewish refugees, Wall Street all mix together in the fascinating tale of a unique investment bank, and how egos clashed as the fight ensued for control of the secretive firm.
Chaim Hilton's APRIL 2007 SELECTION
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The Last Tycoons
The Secret History of Lazard Frères & Co.
by William D. Cohan
2007, Doubleday
grand and revelatory portrait of Wall Street's most storied investment bank
Wall Street investment banks move trillions of dollars a year, make billions in fees, pay their executives in the tens of millions of dollars. But even among the most powerful firms, Lazard Frères & Co. stood apart. Discretion, secrecy, and subtle strategy were its weapons of choice. For more than a century, the mystique and reputation of the "Great Men" who worked there allowed the firm to garner unimaginable profits, social cachet, and outsized influence in the halls of power. But in the mid-1980s, their titanic egos started getting in the way, and the Great Men of Lazard jeopardized all they had built. William D. Cohan, himself a former high-level Wall Street banker, takes the reader into the mysterious and secretive world of Lazard and presents a compelling portrait of Wall Street through the tumultuous history of this exalted and fascinating company. Cohan deconstructs the explosive feuds between Felix Rohatyn and Steve Rattner, superstar investment bankers and pillars of New York society, and between the man who controlled Lazard, the inscrutable French billionaire Michel David-Weill, and his chosen successor, Bruce Wasserstein. Cohan follows Felix, the consummate adviser, as he reshapes corporate America in the 1970s and 1980s, saves New York City from bankruptcy, and positions himself in New York society and in Washington. Felix's dreams are dashed after the arrival of Steve, a formidable and ambitious former newspaper reporter. By the mid-1990s, as Lazard neared its 150th anniversary, Steve and Felix were feuding openly. The internal strife caused by their arguments could not be solved by the imperious Michel, whose manipulative tendencies served only to exacerbate the trouble within the firm. Increasingly desperate, Michel took the unprecedented step of relinquishing operational control of Lazard to one of the few Great Men still around, Bruce Wasserstein, then fresh from selling his own M&A boutique, for $1.4 billion. Bruce's take: more than $600 million. But it turned out Great Man Bruce had snookered Great Man Michel when the Frenchman was at his most vulnerable.
THREE FUN BOOKS
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HOW TO CUT A CAKE
AND OTHER MATHEMATICAL CONUNDRUMS
BY IAN STEWART
2006
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Why Do Buses Come in Threes?
by Robert Eastaway, and Jeremy Wyndham
and a Foreword by Tim Rice
2005
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Chaim Hilton's MARCH 2007 SELECTION
It's not just a Jewish thing. You run into assholes, bullies, creeps, jerks, tormentors and egomaniacs at work, in life, even at the synagogue or Jewish communal organizations. The suppress dissent. They think that in order to convince people of their opinion that they may not allow open dialogue. There are those among us who make co-workers or other members feel bad about themselves, they act like poison, make good people quit, and act-out to the detriment of the group.
Professor Sutton was told by his father at age 8, that he should avoid jerks. He has tried to follow this rule. And has now created a book on the topic. In opposition to Jim Collins book about being passionate about (on the bus or off the bus), Sutton says that sometimes you need to just not care about certain aspects of work and be dispassionate in order to ignore the bullies.
Take the exam: Are u an Arse hole
http://electricpulp.com/guykawasaki/arse/
Now don't get me wrong. Sutton does not want a company of wimps. He knows the confrontation is useful and necessary. But he writes, "Every organization needs the no asshole rule because mean-spirited people do massive damage to victims, bystanders who suffer the ripple effects, organizational performance, and themselves... The effects of assholes are so devastating because they sap people of their energy and esteem mostly through the accumulated effects of small, demeaning acts, not so much through one or two dramatic episodes." (pages 27-29)
Sutton lists "the dirty dozen" tactics that assholes use: 1. Personal insults; 2. Invading one's "personal territory"; 3. Uninvited physical contact; 4. Threats and intimidation, both verbal and nonverbal; 5. "Sarcastic jokes" and "teasing" used as insult delivery systems; 6. Withering email flames; 7. Status slaps intended to humiliate their victims;
8. Public shaming or "status degradation" rituals; 9. Rude interruptions; 10. Two-faced attacks; 11. Dirty looks; and
12. Treating people as if they are invisible.
Sutton conitnues that a "ONE asshole rule" can complement the NO asshole rule, writing that "Decades of research on how human groups react to 'deviant' members implies that having one or two assholes around may be better than having none at all." A single highly exposed rule-breaker can spur others to do the right thing." For instance, while people are less likely to litter on a clean surface than a messy one, they are even less likely to litter on a surface with a single piece of garbage than on one with no garbage at all. The norm violation sticks out like a sore thumb and reinforces good behavior. "A token asshole reminds everyone how not to behave."
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The No Asshole Rule
Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't
by Robert I. Sutton
2007, Warner Business
Robert I. Sutton is Professor of Management Science and Engineering in the Stanford Engineering School, where he is the former Co-Director of the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization, an active researcher and cofounder in the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and a cofounder and active member of the new "d.school," a multi-disciplinary program that teaches and spreads "design thinking." Dr. Sutton received his Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from The University of MichiganHe was named by Business 2.0 as a leading "management guru" in 2002.
Sutton studies the links between managerial knowledge and organizational action, innovation, and organizational performance.
There have been many reactions to Sutton's book. A distraught San Francisco police captain who was given the book as a gift was insulted by the book, thinking that it was about his management style. An attorney reported that she was going to display a copy of the book on her office because she thought it might cause clients and colleagues to be nicer to her. HR people held workshops where they used the book. An office assistant had the book on her desk; her boss told her to take it off her desk and bring it home, because it was making people uncomfortable. She suggested that the real reason that her boss wanted her to get rid of it was that he is an asshole -- and didn't want to face the fact....An HR executive told me yesterday that her boss -- a total asshole -- had three copies of the book on his desk. She couldn't figure out if it indicated a complete lack of self-awareness about his effects on others, an admission of his problem, or even the start of a change effort. Perhaps he just bought them for the chapter on "The Virtues of Assholes.".... "If we are nice to each other, we will be nice to customers."
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Book cover: Today's deluge of business books exhaustively addresses problems with leadership, corporate strategy, sales, budgeting, incentives, innovation, execution, and on and on. But scant attention is devoted to a problem that plagues every workplace: Assholes. In a landmark Harvard Business Review essay, Stanford Professor Robert Sutton showed how assholes weren't just an office nuisance, but a serious and costly threat to corporate success and employee health. In his new book, Sutton reveals the huge TCA (Total Cost of Assholes) in today's corporations. He shows how to spot an asshole (hint: they are addicted to rude interruptions and subtle putdowns, and enjoy using "sarcastic jokes" and "teasing" as "insult delivery systems"), and provides a "self-test" to determine whether you deserve to be branded as a "certified asshole." And he offers tips that you can use to keep your "inner jerk" from rearing its ugly head. Sutton then uses in-depth research and analysis to show how managers can eliminate mean-spirited and unproductive behavior (while positively channeling some of the virtues of assholes) to generate an asshole free--and newly productive--workplace. Enlightening case studies include an analysis of how Google's "don't be evil" maxim helped launch the company to unprecedented early growth, how JetBlue and Southwest Airlines "fire" passengers who demean their employees, and how a "belligerent" e-mail from Cerner CEO Neal Patterson made his company's stock plunge 22% in three days (and how his graceful apology helped the stock bounce back.
Chaim Hilton's JANUARY 2007 SELECTION
Happy New Year. When Gert Boyle was thirteen, she fled Germany with her family.
Her father had a shirt factory in Augsburg, Germany. When Hitler came to power, her father traveled from Germany to Portland Oregon to scope out the environment. That is how Ms. Boyle escaped Nazism and ended up in Oregon. In 1938, her father bought a hat company from the Rosenfeld brothers and chnaged the name to the Columbia Hat Company (named for the Columbia River). Gert loved to sew and made the company's first fishing vest. At the University of Arizona, she met her husband at a drunken frat party, and after graduation, they married and moved back to Portland.
By the 1970's, the firm was generating $800,000 a year. But three months after her husband, Neal, 47, took an SBA loan for $150K, and put up his life insurance and houses as collateral, he died. Gert had to take over the busy, and a year later, sales had dropped 25%.
She was tough. She hired, she fired, she told off creditors and bankers. She faced three union strikes, so she moved production overseas. In the mid 19070's they decided to focus on their core competencies: typical outdoor leisure clothes. In 1986, the developed the Quad parka for hunters, but decided to market it to skiers and call it the Bugaboo coat. Over 5 million have been sold. This helped them to go public in 1988.
This is the story of how she succeeded as a tough Jewish woman in the apparel business.
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One Tough Mother
Taking Charge in Life, Business, and Apple Pies
By Gert Boyle, Chairman of Columbia Sportswear
with Kerry Tymchuk
January 2007, Carroll and Graf
How the mother of three, the daughter of a Jewish man who fled Nazi Germany, turned a struggling ski-wear company into a billion dollar industry leader, Columbia Sportswear.
When a heart attack claimed Gert Boyle's husband in 1970, the forty-six-year-old housewife and mother of three found herself at the helm of Columbia Sportswear, a small outerwear manufacturer in Portland, Oregon, that was struggling financially. With no business experience whatsoever, Boyle was faced with the challenge of running Columbia, which had been founded in 1937 by her father - a Jewish immigrant who had fled Hitler's Germany. Boyle and her son Tim persevered, turning a company that in 1970 had forty employees and less than $800,000 in annual sales into the leading seller of skiwear in the United States, with more than 2000 employees and over a billion in annual sales. Along the way, thanks in part to a creative marketing campaign that billed her as "one tough mother," Boyle established herself as an industry icon, and the first woman ever inducted into the International Sporting Goods Hall of Fame. One Tough Mother presents an honest and often irreverent account of Boyle's journey from a childhood in Nazi Germany to incredible success in America. She offers insights into succeeding in business and in life, and shares many of the advertisements and strategies that have made her so recognizable. Click the book cover to read more.
Chaim Hilton's DECEMBER 2006 SELECTION
I was invited to the book party for "The Mystery of the Kaddish: Its Profound Influence on Judaism" by bond-trader, real estate investor, cantor, celebrity-advisor, and lawyer, Leon Charney. He even belted out a prayer at the end of his reading, in a posh dining room of a prestigious international bank. In addition to hob-nobbing with a couple famous rabbis, and a few investors, I stood next to a cashew chomping, Joe Franklin. I felt like asking him whether it was true that he raped comedian Sarah Silverman (as she states in her film, Jesus is Magic), but that would have been silly and inappropriate, I also chatted with author, Dan Kurzman (Fatal Voyage), who told me about his forthcoming book on Hitler's Plot Against Pope Pius.
But the real highlight was when I was standing far in the back of the room, away from the action, and I spied a very fit, older gentleman, also sitting far in the back and looking slightly bored. It looked like "Ace" Greenberg, of Bear Stearns, UJA Card Calling, and bridge fame. After he got up and left the reading, I saw that he had left his nametag on the floor... "Alan C. Greenberg, Esq., it read. ... so, yes, it was the famous investor and author (Memos from the Chairman ).
Which brings me to my book recommendation for December.
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The Real Deal
My Life in Business and Philanthropy
by Sandy Weill, with Judah S. Kraushaar
October 2006. Warner
The Sandy Weill story is truly one for the ages. Starting with $30,000 in borrowed cash in 1960, and relying on uncanny entrepreneurial instincts in the corporate world, he made himself a billionaire and became one of the most powerful bankers in the world. After rising to become the president of American Express, Weill saw his empire crash and burn. Undaunted, he started over with a second-tier consumer loan company called Commercial Credit, which eventually led to his position as CEO and then chairman of Citigroup. While at Citigroup, Weill delivered an astounding 2,600% return to investors--better than legendary CEO Jack Welch or investor Warren Buffett during that same period. But success is never an easy path, and Weill shares all the high and low points along the way--warts and all. His ascent to power has been documented by the business media over the years, but never before has Weill gone on the record, revealing his brutally honest and unvarnished side of his astounding life and career trajectory.
Weill started humbly. The fact that he is Jewish put him at a marked disadvantage in starting out on Wall Street in the 1950s. Weill turned his outsider status to advantage by mastering the unglamorous ledger sheet and back-office fundamentals of business and in developing an exquisite feel for the unconventional business opportunity.
According to Biz Week, "Weill built the upstart Shearson Loeb Rhoades from the broken pieces of haughty old-line brokerages unable to adapt to the Computer Age. In 1981, Weill sold Shearson to American Express, and many Wall Streeters assumed he soon would dislodge the seemingly soft, patrician Robinson as CEO. Instead, it was Weill who resigned in frustration after belatedly realizing that he would never run AmEx. In 1986, at age 53, he again started from scratch, acquiring a rundown consumer finance company in Baltimore. Over the next decade, Weill transformed Commercial Credit through a series of bold acquisitions into Citigroup, the world's largest and most profitable financial institution."
Weill writes about the time he started his own firm with three partners: Shortly after we set up shop, the four of us and our wives convened at Arthur's home on Long Island to celebrate. It was a festive occasion, and we all openly shared our aspirations. To this day, I remember the others stressing over and over their desire to become wealthy. Given that Joanie and I were raising two toddlers and lived nearly hand to mouth, the talk was certainly seductive. Still, what I remember most from that dinner was my declaration that the money should be secondary-what mattered more to me was to build a great firm: one that would lead the industry, employ lots of people, endure over many years, and importantly, command respect. Over the next forty-three years, I never altered my priorities.
Weill is honest about some flaws. For example, during the negotiations to sell Shearson, Weill told Cohen that he would push hard for his appointment to AmEx's board of directors. When Robinson pushed back, Weill promptly caved but did not inform Cohen until days later at the end of a shared Friday afternoon cab ride home. As Weill got out, he blurted out the bad news and slammed the door in Cohen's face. Yet when Cohen on his own successfully lobbied Robinson for the board appointment, Weill was furious at his protégé's disloyalty. "Now I looked completely foolish," Weill writes. And Weill's quasi-paternal relationship with Dimon, now CEO of JPMorgan Chase, took a decisive turn for the worse, after Citigroup hired Weill's daughter, Jessica Bibliowicz, in 1994. Bibliowicz, a mutual fund marketer several levels down from Dimon, disagreed with him about a marketing initiative. "At some point, I decided to sit in on some of the discussions," Weill writes. "Coincidentally, I adopted a point of view that turned out to resemble Jessica's." Fancy that. When Dimon declined to vault Bibliowicz ahead of others into senior posts, Weill bristled at "a hurtful treatment of my daughter." Weill comes across as a man whose ego is as towering as his ambition. Click the book cover to read more.
Chaim Hilton's NOVEMBER 2006 SELECTION
Why is Andy Grove seen as the business example for this decade? Born to a Jewish family in Hungary in 1936, Andras Istvan Grof survived the Holocaust and survived Soviet occupation. He escaped, studied, and helped build Intel into a top corporation, spreading paranoia through the Silicon Valley (hehe). According to Andy, a company, such as Intel, is always one wrong answer away from disaster, and a closed mind is a trap door to the abyss. You must accept all opinions and weigh and judge them. Andy believes that STRATEGY IS DESTINY. As the author of the book below write, "In business you often don't see the cliff until you've already walked over it. Visibility on the ground is bad, and the roadmap--well, that can't be trusted either. To spot the next cliff, Andy Grove was willing to let go of his instincts--since they could be wrong--and view himself as a student might: from outside, peering down with the wide-angle, disinterested perspective of the observer. Did the man below seem aware of his surroundings? Was he choosing the correct path? Was there a 1,000-foot drop ahead?"
The author asks: What can others learn from Grove's odyssey? As we face a future where change is not only constant but accelerating, reality will transform itself more swiftly than most humans--or most companies--are hard-wired to handle. Even startups that overturn one reality are easily overturned by the next big change. Grove has escaped natural selection by doing the evolving himself. Forcibly adapting himself to a succession of new realities, he has left a trail of discarded assumptions in his wake. When reality has changed, he has found the will to let go and embrace the new. He never lost his Hungarian refugee's apprehension of the risk of imminent failure.
Grove had never been one to rely on others' interpretations of reality. In Hungary, "reality" was shaped by one's position in the government system. At Intel, Grove fostered a culture in which "knowledge power" would trump "position power." Anyone could challenge anyone else's idea, so long as it was about the idea and not the person--and so long as you were ready for the demand "Prove it."
I think the most exciting part of the story is how Grove and Moore brought Intel back from it's losses in the eighties, moved away from memory chips, and overcame the after effects of laying off 8000 employees in 1986 after losing $180 million.
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ANDY GROVE
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF AN AMERICAN
By RICHARD S. TEDLOW, HBS
November 2006. Portfolio
The definitive biography of an enigmatic business legend. Andy Grove, the CEO of Intel during its years of explosive growth, is on the shortlist of America's most admired businesspeople, along with Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, and Bill Gates. Brilliant, brave, and willing to defy conventional wisdom, Grove is, according to Harvard Business School professor Richard S. Tedlow, "the best model we have for leading a business in the twenty-first century." Grove gave Tedlow unprecedented access to his private papers, along with wide-ranging interviews and access to his closest friends and key business associates. Nothing was off limits, and Tedlow was free to draw his own conclusions. The result is not just a gripping life story but a fascinating analysis of how Grove attacks problems. Born a Hungarian Jew in 1936, Andras Istvan Grof survived the Nazis only to face the Soviet invasion of his country. He fled to America at age twenty, studied engineering, and arrived in Silicon Valley just in time for a historic opportunity. He became the third employee of Intel, working for the legendary Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce. As talented as he was as an engineer, Grove became an even better manager, as we learn from exclusive excerpts from his secret management diaries. Tedlow shows us exactly how that penniless immigrant taught himself to lead a major corporation through some of the toughest challenges in the history of business. This is an inspiring biography that will enthrall anyone who cares about technology or leadership. Click the book cover to read more.
Chaim Hilton's OCTOBER 2006 SELECTION
Mazel tov to Yeshiva University. They are the recipient of a $300 million gift from Ronald P. Stanton, 78, who chose business over the rabbinate, and ended up becoming a billionaire. In honor of YU, I recommend the following book:
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Moral Issues of the Marketplace in Jewish Law
by Aaron Levine, YU and Young Israel of Avenue J
January 2005, Yashar Books
PODCAST AT : http://www.yasharbooks.com/2005/12/moral-issues-of-marketplace-in-jewish.html
Rabbi Bleich, Rosh Yeshiva and Rosh Kollel of YU wrote, "Both student and scholar will glean new insights from the erudite analyses presented in this volume." By use of the case study method, this book presents and analyzes moral dilemmas of the marketplace from the perspective of American law, secular business ethics, and Jewish law. The types of moral dilemmas with which are dealt are those that one encounters in everyday life in the roles of market participant and citizen. Economic analysis and public policy considerations are a feature of this work. Through Dr. Levine#s interdisciplinary approach, this book shows that secular scholarship and economic analysis open up vistas, nuances, and subtleties for cases discussed in ancient and modern Jewish law sources. The moral dilemmas in this work are organized topically. The topics include: professional ethics; fair competition; marketing ethics; labor relations; privacy issues; public policy; and ethical issues in the protection of property.
The first chapter deals with professional ethics. In Section 1, the issue of False Goodwill is explored. When must the the opportunity to capture legitimately-earned goodwill be passed up? The cases explore these issues in the setting of a number of moral dilemmas a rabbi faced in the course of going about his professional duties. In Section 2, the issue of truth telling in the context of labor and crisis negotiations is discussed. Can false demands, false promises, false threats, diversionary tactics and insincerity, all common tactics in negotiations, be used? Is the standard of truth telling during negotiations different from the standard of truth telling in other settings? The second chapter deals with the ethics of various competitive tactics in the marketplace.
To what extent does Jewish Law protect an established firm from competitive pressures of new entrants ( I remember when a newstand opened across from an existing newsstand at Columbia University. Should I boycott the new entrant? ) Jewish Law espouses rules of "fair competition" for competitors. Is the maximization of consumer welfare the only criterion? How does American Law differ from Jewish Law on this issue of protecting an established firm from the competitive pressures of new entrants? Also discussed is non compete clauses. Can a "post-employment restrictive covenant" be used on employees who are terminated or leave? How are trade secrets handled? Can I "steal" customers from my old employer if I plan to give them better service? How do you handle commercial relationships when one party has leverage or power over the other? How much leverage can you exert (or exploit) and still be moral? Can the weaker party escape an obligation, claiming insignificance and weakness? Is it okay to ripoff AT&T and ConEd since they are so huge? If it costs $5000 to sue me for non-payment of $50, and I know that the company will just ignore my transgression, may I exploit my weakness to save money and avoid my obligation? If leverage is exercised, does this violate oshek (extortion) and the prohibition of lo tahmod (coveting)? What about the rabbinical extensions of the biblical prohibition of ribbit (the charging and the payment of interest on loans)?
Chapter 3 deals with ethical issues (virtuous dealings, acceptable behavior) in marketing, TELEMARKETING, thwarting telemarketers, pressure tactics (reminds me of the time my friend's car broke, and the Jewish mechanic, whose office was plastered with various Rebbe posters, said it would cost $800 to fix the battery, but then came down to $500 to replace the $85 battery), pricing policies, and salesmanship. Can I obtain information from a salesman, and then purchase the product elsewhere without compensating the original salesperson?
Section 3 asks whether an employer can amend the work rules on an employee when these rules were not agreed to by the employee before he signed the contract. Chapter 4 focuses on workplace privacy. Does Jewish Law validate pre-hiring screening for drug, tobacco and alcohol abuse? Can handwriting analysis be used?
Can re-testing occur? Can employee e-mail be opened? Chapter 5 takes up ethical issues of the marketplace and public policy. If the government's law regarding "deception" in advertising is less stringent than Jewish Law, what rule may you use. Must we answer to a higher authority? If the government allows whistleblowing and Jewish Law does not... what is a potential whistleblower to do? When is disclosure allowed and may you respect a whistleblower? In Chapter 6, property rights are explored. May a to protect his property against theft? May a student protect herself against cheaters? How safe must you maintain your property? What is liability? The following case is used as an example when comparing American and Jewish law: Lee v. Chicago Transit Authority, in which a drunk man, in a stupor, was electrocuted in 1977, by the third rail of a Chicago elevated train while urinating on the tracks. Was the Chicago T.A. liable?
Click the book cover above to read more.
Chaim Hilton's SEPTEMBER 2006 SELECTION
September, and my thoughts are with what may become America's Tisha-b'Av for the next decade: namely 9/11 and Katrina. Speaking of Katrina, did you know that Tom Oreck of those vacuum cleaner television commercials is not only from New Orleans (Harahan), but Jewish? Tom Oreck is on the board of his local synagogue and has been to Israel several times. His great-grandfather's surname was Oreckovsky, but he thought that didn't sound American enough, so he shortened it to Oreck.
What can Tom teach us? Just before Hurricane Katrina made landfall last Aug. 29, Tom Oreck, president and CEO of cleaning products manufacturer and retailer Oreck Corp., took off from New Orleans on a plane bound for Houston. With him were his wife, his kids, his dog and his company's backup tapes. When he touched down, he FedExed the tapes to the company's backup data center in Boulder, Colorado, and began piecing his company back together. His lesson... First of all, in today's networked environment, when one IT system breaks down, they're all down, for all intents and purposes. Second, the public telecommunications system cannot be counted on. And lastly, although a good business continuity plan is essential, recovery from a disaster depends on what Oreck calls "aggressive improvisation" by employees. "Our business is about three things. It is about marketing. It is about controlled, aligned distribution. And it is about quality, both in the product and in customer service," says Oreck. In the end, everything is - like it or not - linked. And so a breakdown anywhere in the system is a breakdown everywhere in the system.
So it is with the Jewish people.. no?
Speaking of making connections, our book suggestion of the month is below. Jeffrey Gitomer's family also changed their name.. from Zhitomersky. His rule is "(good) advice is useless unless you follow it."
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Little Black Book of Connections
6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships
by Jeffrey Gitomer
2006, Bard
People in all kinds of jobs, in big and small companies career builders, sales people, and aspiring executives will love this edgy, practical, and fun book. In the spirit, style, and format of the bestselling Little Red Book of Selling, the country's number 1 sales trainer, Jeffrey Gitomer, offers a fresh take on networking and connecting your way to success. The Little Black Book of Connections is based on the power of give value first. It's about how you can climb the ladder without stepping on people's backs. It's about how to earn the respect of a powerful mentor without begging. It's about how to build stronger relationships with customers, bosses, co-workers, vendors, friends, and family. It's about being in the same room with powerful people. It's about how to connect and how to not connect. It's about how to say the right things to the right people in the right circumstances to make the right impression. The book is small. The cover is classic black cloth. The four-color text graphics makes it attractive and easy to read the compelling content is easy to understand and implement
Click the book cover above to read more.
Chaim Hilton's SUMMER 2006 SELECTION
I am still struck by a speech I once heard at a UJA dinner in NYC I which Lawrence Zicklin, the former ceo of Neuberger and Berman received an award. The speech by his son was so great that I put my IRA into a NB.com fund. (which reminds me, we need to edit a book on raising financially responsible Jewish children... for example, should 25% of their allowance be set aside for tzedaka; should you match dollar for dollar the money they earn at part-time jobs, etc.) ... I haven't found a book by Larry Zicklin to highlight on this site, or a syllabus from his Wharton Legal Studies classes, so instead, I will recommend an oldie but goody. Howard Schultz's autobiography of growing up Jewish in NYC and begging for a job at Starbucks, winning the job, quitting, competing, then, with the help of investors and basketball teammates from Seattle's Jewish community, buying Starbuck's from the men who founded it in 1971, and changing its business model into an international coffee bar chain.
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Pour Your Heart into It
How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time
by Howard Schultz
1999, Hyperion
Kirkus Reviews wrote: "A chatty history of Starbucks by its CEO, who announces that he considers the company to be only in its third chapter (which is nowhere near the eleventh). Schultz first heard of Starbucks in 1981 when he sold to the fledgling business a number of expensive coffeemakers, and he fell in love with the company immediately. He calls the meeting bashert (Yiddish for destiny), and while the Seattle-based group may have had another word for it, Brooklyn-bred Schultz does seem particularly suited to Starbucks. He repeatedly swoons over the coffee and details at length the process that turns a small green bean into a dark brown drink in a green cup. His enthusiasm for his product is palpable when he writes of ``the romance of the coffee experience'' at Starbucks, though his tips about how to run a company are less valuable. Schultz does offer some useful war stories--especially his dinner with the Seattle partners, who found him ``too New York''--and his idea of putting even part-time workers on the company's health-care plan is both admirable and cost-effective, saving money on employee turnover. Schultz, who bought the company for under $4 million, should have more specific points to convey about how he made Starbucks worth over $270 million in a half a decade. And much of the Starbucks story is overly familiar, while elsewhere, the narrative would be better served if the events were discussed chronologically: It's jarring to jump from the 1996 success of Frappuccinos and ice cream to the devastating Brazilian frost of 1994. Though this is unsatisfying as a skim-milk latte in places, Schultz is less a braggart and more a true believer than many CEOs, and (with Business Week staffer Yang) he provides a pleasing read." Click the book cover above to read more.
Chaim Hilton's JUNE 2006 SELECTION
I once met Attorney Ross at a QEFSG party for a former Apprentice. Ross was personable and available. So... of course George Ross is Jewish.. you need that right hand man, Jewish kopf to run a large business, don't you? Such a mensch. He even took off for Yom Kippur during the taping of the Apprentice one season.
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Trump Strategies for Real Estate
Billionaire Lessons for the Small Investor
by George Ross
And
Trump-Style Negotiation
Powerful Strategies and Tactics for Mastering Every Deal
by George H. Ross
Attorney Ross, a real estate attorney and former teacher at NYU, has been featured on "The Apprentice" as a boardroom judge, and his observations play a vital role in influencing Mr. Donald Trump's decisions. His books describe how Mr. Trump identifies potential properties and how he finances, negotiates, and markets his big deals. And how he negotiates deals. Ross advises that prepared investors start small, build slowly, and finance projects with other people's money. "Based on my experience, more fortunes are lost than made [in real estate]. You can and will lose if you don't know what you are doing."
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Sometimes you feel like a robot at work. Hopefully these books will help you to focus and work for a higher purpose.
![[The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable]](http://www.sefersafari.com/0375414576.jpg)
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Jewish Business Ethics
The Firm and Its Stakeholder
by Moses L. Pava (Editor), Aaron Levine (Editor)
Jason Aronson; (December 1999)
Derived from the eighth Orthodox Forum Conference sponsored by Yeshiva University which dealt with business ethics and Jewish tradition. Click the book cover above to read more.
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What Queen Esther Knew
Business Strategies from a Biblical Sage
By Connie Glaser and Barbara Steinberg Smalley
Rodale 2003
The ancient story of Queen Esther, the impoverished orphan girl who rose to become the Queen of Persia, has inspired and captivated millions over the years. Connie Glaser and Barbara Smalley, authors of Swim with the Dolphins, recognized something remarkable in this biblical tale-it contained a recipe for contemporary women in the business world to achieve their every dream of success, recognition, and financial abundance. Whether readers are familiar with Queen Esther's story or not, her example as a strategist, persuasive speaker, risk-taker, and whistle-blower will inspire and empower women to become the champions of their own careers. Glaser and Smalley take the reader through the life of Queen Esther using her experiences and triumphs as allegories for women's success in business. With their combined knowledge of the business world, the authors open up a world of possibilities with headings such as: -Ascending to Power: Making a Positive First Impression -Find a Mentor to Open Your Eyes and Doors -It Pays to Know the Palace Gossip -Take Calculated Risks -Mapping Out Your Plan of Attack -Free Yourself from Approval Addiction. From Esther's start as a contestant in the ancient world's largest beauty pageant to her triumph over the evil Haman, the authors use her example as a strategist, a risk-taker, and a persuasive speaker to provide a new archetype for contemporary women's success in business. Along the way, they answer questions such as: Do I really need a mentor, and if so, how do I find one? What can I do to be taken more seriously? How can I get the credit and recognition I deserve--without seeming pushy or aggressive? How important is risk-taking to my career success? Smart, savvy, and strategic, Queen Esther provides an impressive role model for women today. Click the book cover above to read more.
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Business Ethics
A Jewish Perspective
by Moses L. Pava
KTAV
In the twenty-first volume of the Yeshiva University/ KTAV Library of Jewish Law and Ethics, a Yeshiva University professor explains the relevance and applicability of Judaism's religious law and moral vision to the realities of the businessperson's practical life. Pava divides the book into three parts. Part 1 discusses why people often fail at business ethics and how they might succeed. Part 2 discusses the goals, substance, and method of Jewish business ethics. Part 3 examines corporate social responsibility and the use of inside information. Pava interprets classical Jewish writings in light of our contemporary business world. In a society where ethics seems to be a concept of the past, businessmen and businesswomen, Jews and non-Jews alike, could benefit from Pava's keen insights and practical approach
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Managers Not MBAs
A Hard Look at the Soft Practice of Managing and Management Development
by Henry Mintzberg
Berrett-Koehler Pub; (May 15, 2004)
The trouble with "management" education, says author Henry Mintzberg, is that it is business education, and leaves a distorted impression of management. In Managers Not MBAs, he offers a new definition of management as a blend of craft (experience), art (insight), and science (analysis). An education that overemphasizes science encourages a style of managing the author calls "calculating," or if the graduates believe themselves to be artists, the related style "heroic." According to the book, neither heroes nor technocrats in positions of influence are useful - what's really needed are balanced, dedicated people who practice a style that can be called "engaging." Such people believe their purpose is to leave behind stronger organizations, not just higher share prices. Managers Not MBAs explains in detail how to cultivate such managers, and how they can transform the business world and, ultimately, society. Click the book cover above to read more.
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The Long Tail
Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More
by Chris Anderson
July 2006, HyperionBooks.com TheLongTail.com
From Publishers Weekly: Wired editor Anderson declares the death of "common culture"-and insists that it's for the best. Why don't we all watch the same TV shows, like we used to? Because not long ago, "we had fewer alternatives to compete for our screen attention," he writes. Smash hits have existed largely because of scarcity: with a finite number of bookstore shelves and theaters and Wal-Mart CD racks, "it's only sensible to fill them with the titles that will sell best." Today, Web sites and online retailers offer seemingly infinite inventory, and the result is the "shattering of the mainstream into a zillion different cultural shards." These "countless niches" are market opportunities for those who cast a wide net and de-emphasize the search for blockbusters. It's a provocative analysis and almost certainly on target-though Anderson's assurances that these principles are equally applicable outside the media and entertainment industries are not entirely convincing. The book overuses its examples from Google, Rhapsody, iTunes, Amazon, Netflix and eBay, and it doesn't help that most of the charts of "Long Tail" curves look the same. But Anderson manages to explain a murky trend in clear language, giving entrepreneurs and the rest of us plenty to think about. Click the book cover above to read more.
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Taking Stock
A Spiritual Guide to Rising Above Life's Financial Ups and Downs
by Benjamin Blech
2003, Amacom
What is it about money that not only makes us feel secure but also drives us to measure our true worth by our financial standing? Whether we've experienced unmet monetary goals, job loss, or outright financial crisis, too many of us have let the stress of financial issues obscure our higher priorities. Taking Stock is a revelatory book filled with the wisdom and practical tools to move toward a lifeview in which success is defined by spiritual clarity, not by the promises money seldom delivers. The author has been through his own rags-to-riches-and-back-to-rags saga, through which he learned money's true place and value. Examples from his own experience and from community and business life are sprinkled with teachings from the world's religions -- not to mention a healthy dose of common sense. To the religious and nonobservant alike, Taking Stock reveals: the role money plays in our lives; why we envy others for things we don't need; the difference between failure and failing; and how to "start over" using new definitions of success and happiness. The book closes with Prescriptions for Each Day of the Week, each one an inspiring and beautiful story with a gentle, clear moral. With compassion, humor, and profound wisdom, Taking Stock gives readers not only a way to cope, but also a deep appreciation for what they have -- not what they're missing. Click the book cover above to read more.
The Power of Nice
How to Conquer the Business World With Kindness
by Linda Kaplan Thaler, and Robin Koval
September 2006, Doubleday Currency
Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval have moved to the top of the advertising industry by following a simple but powerful philosophy: it pays to be nice. Where so many companies encourage a dog eat dog mentality, the Kaplan Thaler Group has succeeded through chocolate and flowers. In THE POWER OF NICE, through their own experiences and the stories of other people and businesses, they demonstrate why, contrary to conventional wisdom, nice people finish first. Turning the well-known adage of "Nice Guys Finish Last" on its ear, THE POWER OF NICE shows that "nice" companies have lower employee turnover, lower recruitment costs, and higher productivity. Nice people live longer, are healthier, and make more money. In today's interconnected world, companies and people with a reputation for cooperation and fair play forge the kind of relationships that lead to bigger and better opportunities, both in business and in life. But being nice doesn't mean acting wimpy. In fact, nice may be the toughest four-letter word you'll ever encounter. Kaplan Thaler and Koval illustrate the surprising power of nice with an array of real-life examples from the business arena as well as from their personal lives. Most important, they present a plan of action covering everything from creating a positive impression to sweetening the pot to turning enemies into allies. Filled with inspiration and suggestions on how to supercharge your career and expand your reach in the workplace, THE POWER OF NICE will transform how you live and work. Click the book cover above to read more.
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Mind Set!
Reset Your Thinking and See the Future
by John Naisbitt
October 2006, Harpercollins
In recent years, as John Naisbitt gave speeches across all continents and advised political and business leaders across the world, he would be asked with greater and greater frequency: "How do you know what you know? How do go about making these insights? How can we learn the process?" In Mind Set!, John Naisbitt reveals how to develop and experience the power of 11 cognitive tools that will allow readers to understand the trends transforming their daily life and the world around them, so they can anticipate and act on the future. In a narrative that is captivating in its scope and reach - ranging from Yao Ming and the NBA to Goethe and Global Domains - Naisbitt liberates readers from the limitations of our routine ways of thinking with a step-by-step program to incorporate these new attitudes of mind and apply them in making decisions. Part One reveals the 11 mindsets that will help readers achieve clarity in today's extremely confusing world, and provides step-by-step instructions on how best to liberate themselves from their rigid perspective. Part Two examines a broader perspective and identifies the five global shifts that will inform every reader's ideas about the future. Click the book cover above to read more.
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The Bible on Leadership
From Moses to Matthew-Management Lessons for Contemporary Leaders
by Mr. Lorin Woolfe
AMACOM
Woolfe, a bible student, management consultant and therapist, uses examples from the various bibles to teach management lessons. Click the book cover above to read more.
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Case Studies in Jewish Business Ethics
(Library of Jewish Law and Ethics, V. 22)
by Aaron Levine
Ktav
A rabbi and an economist, Levine draws on his extensive scholarship in both fields to apply American and Jewish law to ethical issues in business. As the title implies, Levine, who teaches courses at Yeshiva University, presents case illustrations and then explores which Jewish laws apply and which principles can be induced. The cases fall into the following categories: advertising and marketing, salesmanship, pricing policies, labor relations, and consumer and social ethics in the marketplace. Levine sets the tone for his book in an early chapter on moral education in which he offers contradictory opinions on telling the truth. He asserts that it is "a sin to lie," but then introduces the concept of "permissible lies." Throughout the book, Levine follows this pattern of presenting contrary views, often taken from the Talmud, but, in each instance, he provides a definitive judgment. He also presents a number of problems for students to solve by applying the principles he has set forth, though the lack of any discussion of these problems reduces their usefulness. Chapter summaries would have been helpful, and the book ends abruptly without a conclusion. Frequent repetition is a further weakness. Careful editing could have improved this impressive contribution to a complex subject. Click the book cover above to read more.
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The Kabbalah of Money
Jewish Insights on Giving, Owning, and Receiving
by Rabbi Nilton Bonder
SHambhala
The Courage to Be Happy Sylvia Boorstein Where does happiness come from? How is it possible, in the face of suffering and loss, to remain responsive and compassionate toward all people? On The Courage to Be Happy, bestselling author and meditation teacher Sylvia Boorstein looks into core teachings of Buddhism and Judaism, and emerges with complementary truths about the happiness that is always available to us, despite external circumstances. Boorstein uses her "two vocabularies" - one Buddhist, the other Jewish - to tell how, after years of meditation and prayer, she came to know why the Buddha was called in his time "The Happy One." Fearless and challenging, The Courage to Be Happy is most of all, about the real meaning of this moment. Click the book cover above to read more.
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Yiddishe Kop
Creative Problem Solving in Jewish Learning, Lore and Humor
by Rabbi Nilton Bonder
SHambhala
A rabbi and graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, Bonder offers an intriguing glimpse into what he views as the Jewish tradition of life: negotiating information, understanding, wisdom, and reverence in order to use both faith in God and daily experience to live life with insight and closeness to God. Bonder's revisitation of the mystical awareness of the Talmud and the teachings of the rabbis should prove popular with spiritual seekers and devout Jews alike. Click the book cover above to read more.
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Thou Shall Prosper
Ten Commandments for Making Money
by Rabbi Daniel Lapin
Wiley, 2005
Combining pop psychology, snippets of Jewish lore, homespun homilies and quotations from a daunting variety of sources, Lapin offers a manual on how to make money by succeeding in business. Lapin, a super-conservative Orthodox rabbi and talk show host, insists that everyone is in business "unless you are a Supreme Court judge [sic] or a tenured university professor." (Excluding professors fits with Lapin's devaluation of them, since he believes that higher education doesn't prepare for "real life.") The material is organized into 10 chapters of advice, beginning with the notion that "business is moral, noble and worthy," and ending with the admonition not to retire. Throughout, Lapin urges behavior that will produce more business and, thus, more money. For example, he unabashedly recommends attending synagogue or church services in order to make business contacts. Similarly, he encourages giving charity to an organization that has members who "are in the best position to advance your business objectives." Lapin justifies these dubious actions by interpreting the fifth commandment ("Honor thy father and thy mother") as a mandate to form relationships for business purposes. His struggle to ground his financial advice in Jewish tradition is abandoned as he expounds an anti-environmentalist stance. He digresses still further from both Judaism and wealth-building when he gives tips for public speaking based on what his father taught him (talking without a manuscript or notes and not grasping the rostrum). Lapin's book may appeal to patient readers who share his conservative political and economic views.
. Click the book cover above to read more.
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Does Measurement Measure Up?
How Numbers Reveal and Conceal the Truth
by John M. Henshaw
Johns Hopkins Press, 2006
There was once a time when we could not measure sound, color, blood pressure, or even time. We now find ourselves in the throes of a measurement revolution, from the laboratory to the sports arena, from the classroom to the courtroom, from a strand of DNA to the far reaches of outer space. Measurement controls our lives at work, at school, at home, and even at play. But does all this measurement really measure up? Here, John Henshaw examines the ways in which measurement makes sense or creates nonsense. Henshaw tells the controversial story of intelligence measurement from Plato to Binet to the early days of the SAT to today's super-quantified world of No Child Left Behind. He clears away the fog on issues of measurement in the environment, such as global warming, hurricanes, and tsunamis, and in the world of computers, from digital photos to MRI to the ballot systems used in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. From cycling and car racing to baseball, tennis, and track-and-field, he chronicles the ever-growing role of measurement in sports, raising important questions about performance and the folly of comparing today's athletes to yesterday's records. We can't quite measure everything, at least not yet. What could be more difficult to quantify than reasonable doubt? However, even our justice system is yielding to the measurement revolution with new forensic technologies such as DNA fingerprinting. As we evolve from unquantified ignorance to an imperfect but everpresent state of measured awareness, Henshaw gives us a critical perspective from which we can "measure up" the measurements that have come to affect our lives so greatly. Click the book cover above to read more.
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The Running of the Bulls
Inside the Cutthroat Race from Wharton to Wall Street
by Nicole Ridgway
Gotham Books, 2005
Those profiled in this book make for good copy, but they are not your average Wharton student.
From Publishers Weekly: Wharton, the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, has a glamorous reputation that is fueled in part by illustrious alumni, like Donald Trump and Ronald Perelman, and Forbes reporter Ridgway makes a big deal of its prominence. The institution's distinction, however, does not rub off onto Ridgway's undistinguished account of the 2003-2004 academic year. She follows six seniors as they make their way through the corporate recruitment process while completing their degrees. Though she tries to make everything sound special (it happened at Wharton!), what she lays out is a series of generic experiences-from internships to interviews to job offers-that could have taken place at any business school. The students themselves present a limited range of high-achieving personalities, and since there's never any doubt that they'll be able to find jobs, Ridgway is unable to infuse their stories with any real dramatic tension. What might have made an interesting magazine article proves too thin when stretched to book length. Wharton officials are bound to love it, though-there's barely any acknowledgment that other business schools exist, or any substantial challenge to the school's prestige. Click the book cover above to read more.
Jessica is a former cheerleader from Texas; she is a member of a sorority (but she doesn't put that on her resume). She is highly driven, intense, and doesn't make too many friends. Shrrevar ponders whether to return to India or stay in the USA. Jon comes from a Penn mother and Penn father. Will Jon beomce an entrepreneur? Grace from Cali weighs a marketing offer from NYC or a consulting offer. Shimika is profiled, the first member of the family to attend college. Anthony speaks five langauges, but that does not help him land a job offer. Regi wants to be a banker, but an illness makes him re-evaluate his plans.
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