Amazon.com
For years, Warren Bennis has written about leadership in works such as Learning to Lead, Beyond Leadership, and the bestselling On Becoming a Leader. His aim in these well-received titles was to catalog the traits and styles of leadership that help individuals excel in their work. In his new book (and already another bestseller) Organizing Genius, Bennis declares the age of the empowered individual ended: what matters now is "collaborative advantage" and the assembling of powerful teams. Drawing from six case studies that include Xerox's PARC labs, the 1992 Clinton campaign, and Disney animation studios, Bennis and coauthor Patricia Biederman distill the characteristics of successful collaboration, showing how talent can be pooled and managed for greater results than any individual is capable of producing. Organized in easily digested chapters and written in clear, concise prose, Organizing Genius will be useful to folks finding their way in new organizational structures. The lessons Bennis and Biederman offer in the final chapter of the book don't constitute the obvious advice most business books convey; these are real experiences gleaned from the stories of collaboration they surveyed.
Customer Reviews:
I enjoyed reading this book ..........2007-02-08
Bought this book after a recommendation from Michael Gerber's website (E-Myth). It's interesting to see how real entreprenuers think, and how they interact in a group setting (i.e., how to be a leader) amongst highly intelligent and motivated employees (i.e., arrogant, know-it-all's). I especially liked the chapter on Walt Disney. I give it 4 stars because it's an enjoyable and insightful bedtime read.
Not from instruction---but from story........2006-11-06
I selected this book as a core text for the leadership development program on collaboration for my company. Bennis is simply the gold standard. In the glut of "Here's one thing that will change your life, move your cheese or fill your bucket simplistic and even dangerous books that cram the shelves and compete for our attention" this book stands out because it lucidly and clearly tells compelling stories. I don't know who Patricia Biederman is; but I'm guessing she is responsible for the clarity of the prose here. And that's reason enough to put her name on the front cover.
The responsibility I am charged with when I go to work everyday is to build leadership development that can impact business results.
This book can hel me do that because it teaches not by instruction---but by story.
Successful Structures for Super Team Perfomance.......2006-06-13
This is an informative book on leadership qualities and insights by Warren Bennis, who is a distinguished professor of business administration at USC, and who has also advised at least four presidents. Bennis discusses four organizations that were able to combine incredibly gifted people in such a synergy as to create hitherto unknown super-accomplishments: Walt Disney Studios with the first full-length animated film, Xerox and Apple with the first user friendly computer, Lockheed's Skunkworks with the first US jet fighter, and the Manhattan Project which yeilded the atomic bomb. What were the key ingredients to their success? What did they do wrong, but succeeded in spite of such matters? These questions are entertainingly answered in this book.
Among the fifteeen traits listed are: always having an enemy, seeing themselves as the underdogs, isolating themselves from unnecessary outside interferences, and hiring people that have both great ability and a talent for collaboration.
Interesting and Useful - Five Stars
Packed With Knowledge!.......2004-06-09
Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman describe the qualities that generate "Great Groups," capable of meaningful creative collaborations. Despite the myth of individual achievement and heroic leadership, the authors delve into major breakthroughs accomplished by group effort. Often Great Groups unite around the vision of a charismatic leader and work toward that leader's goal with obsessive commitment. Bennis and Biederman spend much of the book describing the workings of a half dozen such groups - from the Manhattan project to the founders of the Disney Studio to Bill Clinton's campaign team. These case histories read like individual short stories, but they each tell the saga of a driven creative collaboration. The authors conclude with lessons you can apply to bring the dedication of Great Groups to bear within your organization. We recommend this clearly written, logically organized book to leaders and collaborators in any industry, with two caveats. First, acquiring the requisite charisma is up to you. And, second, as to the authors' fulsome praise of obsessive work habits, well, that's so `90s.
Really Great Insights.......2004-03-19
I got tremendous value out of this book. While I did not see or connect with all the Great Groups that Bennis used as case studies, there are powerful ideas and insights in every one of them. I have summarzied his 15 "Take Home Lessons" in a one page handout and include it in the materials for our School for Innovators and on operational Thinking Expeditions. I also got a video of "Fat Man & Little Boy" - the Manhattan Project (which is cited in the book) and have referenced it often as an example of a powerfully urgent Great Group coalesces and collabortes differently. For anyone trying to not just launch a fastforward team, but who also wants to inspire that team to greatness, this is a must read. Caution: this is not a "how to do it" book - rather it tells the story and paints the picture, and its up to the reader to take his or her own learnings and how to out of it (iontuitively).
Book Description
There's too much work to be done. Your organization can't handle the load. That's when you begin to consider outsourcing some of your business functions. But how can you choose the right suppliers and ensure maximum results? In this book, Laseter--of the world-renowned consulting firm Booz?Allen & Hamilton--shows companies how to address that challenge through the dynamic pursuit of balanced sourcing.
"This will be a super book to provide to new purchasing people and to reinvigorate experienced purchasing professionals. It was great to see many of the concepts with which we have experimented logically explained. I wholeheartedly endorse it."--Jean Mayer, executive director, manufacturing procurement operations, Ford Motor Company
Laseter and Booz?Allen coined the term "balanced sourcing" to describe a model for ensuring competitive pricing from suppliers while simultaneously nurturing cooperative relationships. Drawing upon Booz?Allen's experiences with leading companies, Balanced Sourcing lays out the six organizational capabilities that make up the firm's field-tested strategy. Detailed case studies of four prominent corporations-Honda of America, Cisco Systems, SUPERVALU, and Florida Power & Light-show you the broad applicability of this model for companies in industries from manufacturing to services to high-tech.
"Too many 'best practice' guides present a one-size-fits-all solution, such as copying the so-called Japanese model of sole sourcing. In fact, the best Japanese companies do not treat all suppliers as sole-sourced partners and you should not either. Balanced Sourcing is full of practical tools and models that will help you think through appropriate strategies for each of your suppliers."-Dr. Jeffrey K. Liker, associate professor, industrial & operations engineering, and co-director, Japan Technology Management Program, University of Michigan
Get real-life lessons from around the world on: **Creating sourcing strategies **Building and sustaining supplier relationships **Leveraging supplier innovation?and much more! Make the most of your outsourcing with this one-of-a-kind best practices guide!
Customer Reviews:
Slanted charts?.......2000-03-08
Why are all the charts in this book slanted? Who edited this thing? Random.
Excellent Primer to Supply Chain Managment.......1999-06-10
Clearly laid out, well-written, and concise. Tim's model matched well with my experience, but afforded me an opportunity to organize my thinking on the subject. He should give lessons on writing for business.
A good introduction to new logistics concepts.......1999-05-20
Is a nice book, the concepts are very clear and easy to understand even if you are not and english speaking person. Is a good presentation of a sourcing model.
Great book ! Puts it all together in one place.......1998-12-12
Excellent reference on how to balance competition while still maintaining partnership status. Helps to explain how to take advantage of the entire scope of partnership relationships with suppliers while maintaining cost effectiveness.
SJL- VP National Association of Purchasing Management
An expert take on competition and cooperation.......1998-10-30
The title refers to a "model for ensuring competitivepricing from suppliers while simultaneously nurturing cooperativerelationships." The author brings his experience from the consulting firm Booz*Allen & Hamilton, and presents detailed case studies from Honda of America, Cisco Systems, SUPERVALU, and Florida Power & Light. Copyright 1998 by Michael Pellecchia.
Book Description
Successful business alliances today are critical to the competitive advantage of many companies. Mastering Alliance Strategy presents state-of-the-art thinking and practices for using partnerships effectively. This essential resource will help you understand and use alliances better, whether you are a new or seasoned alliance professional, a business-development specialist, a line manager, or a top executive. The authors argue that the secrets to success lie not solely in the intricacies of a deal but also in the strategy and organization behind the deal. They draw ideas and tools from years of research and reporting on four elements that are key to an effective alliance strategy:
- Designing the alliance and crafting the agreement
- Managing the alliance after it is launched
- Leveraging a constellation of alliances
- Building an internal alliance capability
Customer Reviews:
Inject Risk into Business Relations for Higher Return.......2003-12-01
James D. Bamford, Benjamin Gomes-Casseres and Michael J. Robinson have put together an interesting collection of essays about the life cycle of alliances and the people in charge of these alliances. Rightly, the authors emphasize alliance strategy rather than strategic alliance. The essays are grouped around four themes: designing alliances, managing alliances, competing in constellations and building an alliance capability. Practitioners can reflect on their own alliances to see what they eventually can do better to further improve their performance in each of the four areas. The authors close their treatise by looking at some master builders. The authors correctly point out that there is no one solution for all. What works in one company can fail in another. Corporate culture plays a key role in making difficult to successfully borrow alliance best practices from other companies for another organization usage. As a side note, "Building, Leading and Managing Strategic Alliances" by Fred A. Kuglin is a good complement to the topics covered in "Mastering Alliance Strategy."
Amazon.com
Was IBM, "The Solutions Company," partly responsible for the Final Solution? That's the question raised by Edwin Black's IBM and the Holocaust, the most controversial book on the subject since Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners. Black, a son of Holocaust survivors, is less tendentiously simplistic than Goldhagen, but his thesis is no less provocative: he argues that IBM founder Thomas Watson deserved the Merit Cross (Germany's second-highest honor) awarded him by Hitler, his second-biggest customer on earth. "IBM, primarily through its German subsidiary, made Hitler's program of Jewish destruction a technologic mission the company pursued with chilling success," writes Black. "IBM had almost single-handedly brought modern warfare into the information age [and] virtually put the 'blitz' in the krieg."
The crucial technology was a precursor to the computer, the IBM Hollerith punch card machine, which Black glimpsed on exhibit at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, inspiring his five-year, top-secret book project. The Hollerith was used to tabulate and alphabetize census data. Black says the Hollerith and its punch card data ("hole 3 signified homosexual ... hole 8 designated a Jew") was indispensable in rounding up prisoners, keeping the trains fully packed and on time, tallying the deaths, and organizing the entire war effort. Hitler's regime was fantastically, suicidally chaotic; could IBM have been the cause of its sole competence: mass-murdering civilians? Better scholars than I must sift through and appraise Black's mountainous evidence, but clearly the assessment is overdue.
The moral argument turns on one question: How much did IBM New York know about IBM Germany's work, and when? Black documents a scary game of brinksmanship orchestrated by IBM chief Watson, who walked a fine line between enraging U.S. officials and infuriating Hitler. He shamefully delayed returning the Nazi medal until forced to--and when he did return it, the Nazis almost kicked IBM and its crucial machines out of Germany. (Hitler was prone to self-defeating decisions, as demonstrated in How Hitler Could Have Won World War II.)
Black has created a must-read work of history. But it's also a fascinating business book examining the colliding influences of personality, morality, and cold strategic calculation. --Tim Appelo
Book Description
IBM and the Holocaust is the stunning story of IBM's strategic alliance with Nazi Germany -- beginning in 1933 in the first weeks that Hitler came to power and continuing well into World War II. As the Third Reich embarked upon its plan of conquest and genocide, IBM and its subsidiaries helped create enabling technologies, step-by-step, from the identification and cataloging programs of the 1930s to the selections of the 1940s.
Only after Jews were identified -- a massive and complex task that Hitler wanted done immediately -- could they be targeted for efficient asset confiscation, ghettoization, deportation, enslaved labor, and, ultimately, annihilation. It was a cross-tabulation and organizational challenge so monumental, it called for a computer. Of course, in the 1930s no computer existed.
But IBM's Hollerith punch card technology did exist. Aided by the company's custom-designed and constantly updated Hollerith systems, Hitler was able to automate his persecution of the Jews. Historians have always been amazed at the speed and accuracy with which the Nazis were able to identify and locate European Jewry. Until now, the pieces of this puzzle have never been fully assembled. The fact is, IBM technology was used to organize nearly everything in Germany and then Nazi Europe, from the identification of the Jews in censuses, registrations, and ancestral tracing programs to the running of railroads and organizing of concentration camp slave labor.
IBM and its German subsidiary custom-designed complex solutions, one by one, anticipating the Reich's needs. They did not merely sell the machines and walk away. Instead, IBM leased these machines for high fees and became the sole source of the billions of punch cards Hitler needed.
IBM and the Holocaust takes you through the carefully crafted corporate collusion with the Third Reich, as well as the structured deniability of oral agreements, undated letters, and the Geneva intermediaries -- all undertaken as the newspapers blazed with accounts of persecution and destruction.
Just as compelling is the human drama of one of our century's greatest minds, IBM founder Thomas Watson, who cooperated with the Nazis for the sake of profit.
Only with IBM's technologic assistance was Hitler able to achieve the staggering numbers of the Holocaust. Edwin Black has now uncovered one of the last great mysteries of Germany's war against the Jews -- how did Hitler get the names?
Download Description
'IBM and the Holocaust is the stunning story of IBM's strategic alliance with Nazi Germany - beginning in 1933 in the first weeks that Hitler came to power and continuing well into World War II. As the Third Reich embarked upon its plan of conquest and genocide, IBM and it's subsidiaries helped create enabling technologies, step-by-step, from the identification and cataloging programs of the 1930s to the selections of the 1940s. IBM and the Holocaust takes you through the carefully crafted corporate collusion with the Third Reich, as well as the structured deniability of oral ageements, undated letters, and the Geneva intermediaries - all undertaken as the newspapers blazed with accounts of persecution and destruction. Just as compelling is the human drama of one of our century's greatest minds, IBM founder Thomas Watson, who cooperated with the Nazis for the sake of profit. Only with IBM's technologic assistance was Hitler able to achieve the staggering numbers of the Holocaust. Edwin Black has now uncovered one of the last great mysteries of Germany's war against the Jews - How did Hitler get the names?
Customer Reviews:
IBM and the Holocaust.......2006-12-08
I did not want to read this book.
My grandfather worked for International Time Recording (ITR) in Endicott, NY before IBM was formed and Mr. Watson came on board. My father's first job, at the age of seventeen, was caretaker of the Watson Homestead. My family has had a hand in virtually every product that issued from the IBM manufacturing effort since its inception in 1924. I have deep affection for the company my family labored to build.
I approached "IBM and the Holocaust" with a high degree of skepticism. The book sat on my nightstand for two months before I opened it. Finally picked it up for the sake of completing my 14-book IBM historical reading cycle.
This book is astounding. It is impeccably researched, artfully written, highly detailed, painstakingly documented, remarkably objective and thoroughly engaging.
"IBM and the Holocaust" has finally exposed the undeniable truth: IBM became the world's most powerful corporation largely because it assisted in identifying, cataloging and exterminating millions of innocent people for Hitler. The evil that lurks in IBM history was not exposed previously only because IBM management was smart enough and powerful enough to "hide its tracks" in Nuremburg. No investigator has ever dug deeper into IBM history than Edwin Black.
A close reading of the book makes it absolutely clear that Mr. Watson (IBM CEO) knew the exact purpose, goal and expected outcome of the IBM solution in Europe. The book details the fact that unlike previous IBM engagements for the Third Reich that were completed by Dehomag (IBM's German subsidiary), the engagement in Romania (1941) was conducted directly under the management of IBM New York. That engagement resulted in the swift identification, transportation and extermination of hundreds of thousands of innocent Jews. All in the name of "IBM."
As a result of reading "IBM and the Holocaust", I no longer view Mr. Watson as the glamorous benevolent industrial icon depicted in hollywoood newsreels. Though the affectionate "shop talk" tossed through the air when I was young still captures my imagination, Mr. Watson is no longer the focus of my unqualified admiration.
Watson, for me, now stands beside Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Mellon, Jeffrey Skilling, Kenneth Lay and all the other American Industrialists throughout history who had many fine qualities yet are outrageously flawed--so good yet so very, very bad.
This book is remarkable. Have since read "Internal Combustion", Banking on Baghdad" and "War Against the Weak."
Edwin Black is "the bomb."
If you have an interest in history, corporations, corruption, good, bad, evil or fine nonfiction; you will appreciate the works of Edwin Black.
NancyRae Kjelgaard
Tallahassee, FL
December 7, 2006
a tale of two maniacs.......2006-08-03
Once upon a time in America there was a tabulating company executive who had almost done time for illegal business practices. This executive believed that the only way that he could stay in business was by selling the best tabulating machines on the market, and mercilessly crushing his competitors. Unfortunately for humanity, this maniac was doing business in a country run by another maniac, who had come to power by fomenting ethnic hatred. Even as things went down the drain, and the persecution of the Jews and other minorities reached loathsome heights, the American business executive didn't want to terminate his activities in Germany, and was supportive enough of the Nazis to accept the highest medal the Nazis could give him.
Even worse, by the time the war was in full swing, and the Nazis began the Holocaust the maniac of which I write, Tom Watson of IBM, saw no need to terminate IBM's business relationships with the Nazi governments, and, provided irreplaceable services in organizing the Holocaust. In France, where a courageous IBM employee refused to cooperate, the Nazis were "only" able to murder 25% of the Jews. Where IBM cooperated, as in the Netherlands, rates of 75% resulted. Life isn't fair; the brave Frenchman who refused to cooperate died at Dachau, the company that gladly cooperated wasn't punished. The horror, the horror.
Edwin Black has done a superb job of documenting (most of) this horror story in indisputable detail. Nevertheless I suspect that he doesn't tell the entire story, particularly when he claims that nobody guessed what was going on. Anyone who understands just how indispensable IBM's punch card machines were to the Allies during the war, "our ability to organize wouldn't have been remotely near what it was without them" to paraphrase one mathematician involved, must have wondered how the Germans were able to coordinate the logistics of their Blitzkrieg. Anyone in the punch card industry would have known of IBM's presence in Germany.
All in all this is a great book illustrating the banality of evil.
This book is chilling, and is a "must read".......2006-04-21
Reading this book, and the knowledge that IBM had during WWII and the genocide of millins of humans puts a face on cooprorate greed and hate unjlike any of the comparisions given to Halliburton today. IBM aided Hitler in his termination of the Jews, and others, and it has never, to my knowledge owned up to this, nor have they done any actions to make changes in the way companies help with genocide. Great book, great writer.
An Extraordinary Work.......2006-03-18
As proud as I am to be an American, this thoroughly documented, utterly revealing book, has for the first time made me look at the extents to which U.S. corporate greed and the amorality of one man, Thomas J. Watson, chairman of IBM, will go to satisfy there lust for money and power.
It is hard to believe that it took from the early 30's to 2001 before anyone, anywhere, put it all together. How could an American icon of business turn out to be a war criminal and go on to preside over, and build on to, a company which most of us used to consider as a proud example of American business ingenuity and integrity.
A shocking, sickening, and gut wrenching account of the most vile group of humans ever assembled, the Germans of the Third Reich, and how they could not possibly have achieved the sheer numbers of murders during the holocaust, had it not been for day to day involvement, and complete knowledge, of IBM and Thomas J. Watson.
I highly recommend this book.
Painful but needs to be exposed.......2005-08-14
I recently finished reading your extremely interesting book "IBM and the Holocaust" and want to commend you for a thorough investigation of the subject. Several years ago I too had been to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and seen the exhibit of the Dehomag Hollerith machine and wondered what was the entire story. Now I know, and I no longer view IBM the same way as I once did. Thanks for a well researched and interesting, if depressing, examination of when corporate loyalty and profits are placed above human suffering and survival.
Book Description
Driven by rapidly changing business environments and increasingly demanding consumers, many organizations are searching for new ways to achieve and retain a competitive advantage via customer intimacy and CRM. In this context, new strategic frameworks and cooperation with everybody along the whole value chain are needed to allow managers to deal with the changes in shopping patterns of consumers. This book presents a new strategic framework that has been tested successfully with various global companies. New management concepts such as Collaborative Forecasting and Replenishment, CRM, Category Management, and Mass Customization are integrated into one holistic approach with a view to jointly develop customer bonding and loyalty. Experts from companies like McKinsey, Procter&Gamble, Accenture, and AC Nielsen, as well as authors from renowned academic institutions, offer valuable insights on how to redesign organizations for the future.
Customer Reviews:
A must read!!!.......2004-02-27
Read this book if you wish to know how collaboration based partnership concepts like CPFR, ECR, CCRM etc will rule management approaches. This is the way forward....
Harvard Editors Are Taking CRM To a New Level.......2003-11-04
Great Book, great value. It really seems Harvard is catching up with Wharton, Kellog and other marketing champions in the academic area. This book is outstanding; it links theory and business life nicely - the case studies do their work...You can read about the newest developments in the CRM field (mass customization, collaborative customer relationship management and category management, VMI and CPFR) and you understand how to boost your business. Just do the things the other companies displayed in the book did...
I really recommend this book!
Book Description
Working Across Boundaries is a practical guide for nonprofit and government professionals who want to learn the techniques and strategies of successful collaboration. Written by Russell M. Linden, one of the most widely recognized experts in organizational change, this no nonsense book shows how to make collaboration work in the real world. It offers practitioners a framework for developing collaborative relationships and shows them how to adopt strategies that have proven to be successful with a wide range of organizations. Filled with in-depth case studies—including a particularly challenging case in which police officers and social workers overcome the inherent differences in their cultures to help abused children—the book clearly shows how organizations have dealt with the hard issues of collaboration. Working Across Boundaries includes
- Information on how to select potential partners
- Guidelines for determining what kinds of projects lend themselves to collaboration and which do not
- Suggestions on how to avoid common pitfalls of collaboration
- Strategies proven to work consistently
- The phases most collaborative projects go through
- The nature of collaborative leadership
Customer Reviews:
Collabrative Processes.......2007-09-01
Every year brings forth a new crop of books relating to business management or operations. Many are overpriced, a large number are worthless (`How to Manage Like Jack the Ripper'), and a minority are actually very good. This book published in 2002 is one of that minority.
Russell Linden has chosen to specialize in the study of collaboration and collaborative processes. Over the course of over twenty years of analysis and application he has developed some very sound ideas on what makes collaborative efforts work and what causes them to fail. One dose not have to read very far into this book to see that effective collaboration in an age of globalization is absolutely essential for business successes. It also becomes clear that collaboration is the cornerstone of knowledge based enterprises, which includes most government agencies.
Linden has developed a collaborative model composed of four elements: 1) the basic requirements for collaboration to work (shared goals etc.): 2) the necessity for building effective relationships; 3) the establishments of mutually recognized `high stakes' (i.e. recognition that collaboration will produce significant benefits); and 3) building a constituency for collaboration (people committed to making collaboration real). In the course of discussing his model, Linden, provides important insights on the important role of champions and the concept of institutional culture. He also illustrates his discussion with well chosen case studies to drive home the functionality of his model. Linden also provides good information on he often lost art of
internal collaboration as well.
This book is particularly relevant to the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) where barriers of secrecy, a culture of insularity, and a belief that information is power has long prevented real inter-agency collaboration and worse has encouraged building barriers against collaboration even within single agencies. See "Spying Blind" by Amy Zegart (2007, Amazon.com).
Working Across Boundaries: Both entertaining and instructive.......2004-06-10
What do James Madison, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Peter Drucker, the Book of Exodus, Robert Frost, Vince Lombardi, T.S. Eliot, Dr. Spock and Albert Einstein all have in common? They are all quoted in Russ Linden's new book, "Working Across Boundaries: Making Collaboration Work in Government and Non-Profit Organizations." Linden ties them all together in an entertaining and instructive manual for managing in today's work environment.
Linden's book is for practitioners, a group that includes me, since I have been practicing at this profession for almost 30 years. He holds true to the purpose he has set for the book, which is to help practitioners address the hurdles to collaboration and adopt strategies that lead to succesful collaboration, in order to achieve better outcomes for their customers and communities.
What I like best about the book is the use of stories to instruct and inform. Stories are the core tool in relationship building....I know that my bosses, often rely heavily on the stories told them by their constituents to make critical policy decisions....Linden's stories about the collaborative work of the Baltimore Child Advocacy Center; the National Marine Fisheries Service; the City of Charlotte, North Carolina, and others provide practical examples of how his models work in the real world.
He not only suggests numerous techniques for establishing practical, collaborative efforts. He also adds a series of four "resource" chapters at the end of the book with illustrations of how these techniques have been applied, the most-asked questions about collaboration together with their answers, an assessment tool, and a summary of the situations in numerous organizations that have served as the basis for his conclusions and models.
I especially liked Chapter 6 on "Forming Open, Trusting Relationships Among the Principals." It gave me some helpful hints on working with my council.
Linden's book is a must-read for anyone trying to overcome the obstacles he says were created by James Madison and his buddies , who "consciously designed an inefficient government to keep men free." This "built-in" inefficiency and fragmentation cries out for the cure of collaboration.
Solid Book on an Important Subject.......2004-05-14
Anyone who has worked in government has probably experienced the twin frustrations of people protecting their turf on the one hand while covering their rear with the other. But being effective these days means working in teams, often across the old hierarchical reporting structures of agencies, divisions and units.
Linden's book uses a variety of case studies to explore how collaboration can work, and what the pitfalls can be. He defines collaboration initially as what "occurs when people from different organizations (or units within one organization) produce something together through joint effort, resources, and decision making, and share ownership of the final product or service." His examples range from land management to criminal justice to education to intelligence--all areas where multiple agencies or organizations had to collaborate in a high stakes environment.
High stakes is one of the four keys for Linden. There must be something important enough to motivate the collaboration. The other keys are strong relationships among the collaborators, the existence of a constituency for collaboration, and what he calls "the basics" -- openness, skillful facilitating, etc.
What makes it all work is collaborative leadership--individuals who can pull others along with them into a productive team effort. One chapter discusses the qualities of effective collaborative leaders, who must subordinate their own egos to ensure that all participants have a real stake.
If "Working Across Boundaries" has a fault, it is that he has many good ideas and observations that don't fit neatly into the four-element structure, but that he doesn't want to leave out. Every chapter includes some of these "extras" and many of them are grouped in a separate chapter, "More Keys to Successful Collaboration" (including such things as measuring results, using each party's strengths, etc.). Since it is almost all good advice and worthwhile reading, this is really only a minor structural complaint.
Also useful are the resource materials at the end of the book, including a sample agenda, a collaboration "contract" and some assessment materials. These are good templates for anyone starting a new collaborative effort.
In describing the qualities of successful collaboration, Linden is also aware of the structural and personal challenges that collaborations often face. Budgets, for example, are usually built in line items to specific organizations; in fact, organizations are largely defined by their budgets. So sharing resources across organizations requires trust and mutual commitment. Accountability, too, both at the level of the individual employee and at the organizational level, is especially challenging when the outcome is the result of a cross-agency collaboration. On the other hand, when collaboration produces better results, as it often does, participants can all share in the glory.
Working Across Boundaries- An Effective Tool.......2004-04-26
Todays managers must use numerous skills and resources in order to be effective and successful. And although there are numerous tools and techniques available to assist managers in their daily jobs, sometimes the best solution is simply working together. Or in other words, collaborating. This is what Russ Linden's new book, "Working Across Boundaries: Making Collaboration Work in
Government and Non-Profit Organizations" ultimately encourages and demonstrates. Russ Linden has provided numerous case studies throughout the book to assist the reader with relating to particular issues confronting organizations. He also provides a wealth of resources including sample agendas, contracts, assessment tools and programs used by a variety of agencies and individuals.
The author has taken on the challenge of documenting the benefits, techniques, and tools needed to successfully implement collaboration in the workplace and with outside organizations. I highly recommend "Working Across Boundaries" to all government managers. Congratulations to Russ for a great book on a difficult subject.
A Glimpse into the future of Collaboration.......2004-04-24
"Working Across Boundaries" is a glimpse into the future of how "virtual government" is evolving in the dawn of the 21st century. This book isn't full of academic concepts. Russ Linden paints a picture using real examples of the dynamics to which public sector leaders will need to respond in order to be successful. Practitioners will be able to pick up this book and start applying its principles immediately.
Amazon.com
Mitchell Lee Marks and Philip H. Mirvis, who separately and together have worked on more than 50 major corporate "marriages," offer a useful distillation of the myriad lessons they've learned about this vital and increasingly common business activity in Joining Forces: Making One Plus One Equal Three in Mergers, Acquisitions, and Alliances. By examining their own projects, along with various other winners and losers, they've identified a number of specifics that can help ensure that such combinations ultimately succeed. Included are details on preparation, managing transition, minimizing stress, and developing an entirely new culture.
Book Description
If 750f all mergers fail, what makes the 25ucceed?
Mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances are all the rage in today's business world. We have seen and will continue to see in the coming years major shifts in computers, electronics, banking/financial services, healthcare, and telecommunications. Large corporations as well as small, entrepreneurial companies are discovering significant strategic advantage when they merge or align business processes. Joining Forces is a guide to making these combinations successful.
From pre-merger planning to post-merger alignment, Mitchell Marks covers the three key components of a successful transition: hardware (organizational structure), software (policies and processes), and people.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Read!.......2001-04-17
Many mergers, acquisitions and alliances fail due to lack of preparation before, lack of care during, or lack of focus after the deal. Joining Forces is a sober, to-the-point manual directed at business leaders who want to provoke successful combinations, as well as managers and employees who have to deal with the burdens, both mental and physical, of combinations. For the past decade, corporate America has embraced M&A - often with mixed results - and the consolidation pace seems to be accelerating. But too few people inside and outside of the companies involved understand what the combination process means or how it should be handled. Organizations must be willing to focus on the psychological impacts of a combination on their employees. Joining Forces provides a rough sketch of how this can be accomplished - minus any unnecessary strategic details or legalese. We [...] recommend this book to executives, managers and employees at every level - all of whom probably will have to face the realities of corporate consolidation some day.
Clear, concise and on target!.......2000-12-06
In 1998, Marks/Mirvis and Clemente/Greenspan set the M&A world on its head with two very different yet equally groundbreaking books. The former pair's pioneering guide focused on preparing for the transition, team building, and identifying psychological barriers, while the latter duo revealed the secrets behind successfully combining cultures, strategies and processes in their timeless classic-- Winning at M&A. I've read them both many times -before, -during and -after each of my firm's acquisitions, and while new copy-cats and rip-offs continue to be published, no books as effectively walk the reader through the problems, their detailed solutions, and most importantly -- the real-life examples that offer step-by-step guidance on how to succeed. Deals fail all the time and these authors explain why and what they've done to turn failure into success. After each read, the information is still fresh, relevant and insightful. Virtually every other book on the subject is either fluff, history, or a cheap imitation. This is the real deal.
The Real World of Mergers.......2000-03-30
Marks and Mirvis are veterans of the merger battlefield and report the action extremely well. The book is filled with examples and approaches to resolving some of the most common problems encountered when two firms integrate. The other plus about the book is its heavy emphasis on the people and cultural issues that so often get ignored in most corporate combinations.
Insights into mergers and aligning business processes........1999-03-06
Discusses the strategic advantages of companies merging or aligning business processes. The authors provide guidelines for making these arrangements successful. The book covers factors driving combination activity and delves into the details of the process, from initial planning and cultural due diligence to the integration of structures, policies, and practices. The authors also give guidelines on assisting in the subtle, delicate process of psychological adjustment. Recommended.
Book Description
Offshoring and outsourcing have generated substantial savings and often controversial news coverage for many companies. But these technologies aren’t even close to being the real story. Two of business’ leading strategy thinkers argue that the only sustainable advantage will come not from using technology to cut costs—but to get better faster than rivals. The authors identity two key forces—dynamic specialisation and productive friction that will dramatically reshape the competitive landscape and show what firms must do to understand, build and exploit these forces before their competitors do.
Customer Reviews:
Analyses and Prescriptions for Bringing More Actionable Knowledge into Your Organization.......2007-10-18
Around 1990, business reached one of those tipping points that change everything: You could now add knowledge, expertise, and capability better and more cheaply by involving those outside your organization than you could by building up your organization internally.
Authors John Hagel III and John Seely Brown focus on a few elements of this change as it had developed into management practices by 1995, outline the benefits of going in this direction, and describe what to do in broad outlines.
They build the book around five big themes:
1. Process outsourcing and offshoring provide access to specialization that you cannot otherwise match.
2. Flexible connections with suppliers, customers, and distributors allow you to make the most of these relationships.
3. Letting outsiders help establish the plan and agenda allows you to go in more productive directions than if your organization calls all of the shots.
4. Strategy development has to shift towards building capabilities from these dimensions. Prior approaches to strategy development are largely obsolete.
5. Shifting IT architecture and software to permit rapid flexibility in adding connections to other organizations.
The book will remind you of a shorter version of Michael Porter's books on competitive advantage and competitive strategy, except with a changed focus on developing capabilities. The book also shares Porter's affinity for using abstractions and general language that makes it hard to follow the arguments in the book. Also like Porter, you won't find very many examples.
What I found most inexplicable about the book is the authors that ignored the broader topic of continuing business model innovation (the issues presented here are just a subset of those opportunities) and the newer ways that companies are accessing new knowledge and capabilities (such as through the worldwide contests conducted by Goldcorp and Procter & Gamble). Indeed, I was shocked to see none of the most successful business model innovators cited in the book. Instead, there are lots of references to narrow studies that describe obsolete practices for strategy and implementation.
But if you want to learn how to rapidly throw together a global sourcing and distribution network for a large company that can be flexibly changed as the needs arise, this book is an excellent resource.
Good introduction to some important global trends.......2006-12-01
I recently heard John Hagel present on this book. In the book John and his co-author John Seely Brown discuss how recent changes in the world will force, indeed are forcing, companies to change how they think about offshoring and outsourcing, innovation and even their core business processes. They describe how a combination of "Converging forces generate margin squeeze" where those forces are digital technology (driving down interaction costs) and public policy (deregulation, trade and market liberalization and globalization). These trends are certainly real and visibly changing our world as we watch. Not only can "Customers can access more information about more vendors, negotiate more effectively with still more vendors, and switch from one vendor to another whenever they find greater value" but companies have more options for how to piece together the resources they need to do business. These new conditions and options, though, require companies to change the way they plan, operate and turn a profit and it is these changes that the book mostly discusses. The authors argue that these trends and opportunities are actually changing what it means to be a company. Redefining the role of the firm from economizing on market transactions, the original raison d'etre of most companies, to one of accelerating knowledge and capability growth.
The book does a good job of showing how some companies are competing in ways that would be unimaginable just a few years ago and the authors lay out a compelling case that companies who do not respond to these new threats and opportunities are taking an enormous risk. Whether or not you believe the change will be as widespread as the book implies, the changes are real and will impact your business to at least some degree and this makes the book worth reading.
board implications for sustainable advantage........2006-02-19
John Hagel is a Senior Advisor at McKinsey & Company. For two decades, John Seely Brown was Executive Director of the legendary Palo Alto Research Center. The authors argue that the only sustainable edge is to generate shareholder value through constant innovation. Current approaches to strategic thinking are inadequate to the task.
The book has one irritating quality and one large value for Board members.
This is a small booked packed with lots of ideas. I was distracted by the use of "new words" to describe old concepts. It is almost as though the authors are trying to invent a new vocabulary using concepts that could be best explained in plain English. Examples of this business psychobabble include "radical incrementalism," "performance fabrics," "process networks," and "productive friction." These are really not new concepts but they have invented new words. I want to read a business book that would help me improve my company's effectiveness. I didn't sign up to learn a new language.
The good news is that Boards and CEOs ought to carefully consider their matrixed approach to talking about strategy. They call this matrixed approach "dynamic specialization."
The current fad is to talk about business models organized along industry lines. The authors argue that industry focus is insufficient for a proper conversation about strategy. Within that industry-focused model, there needs to be a second strategic focus.
They see this new strategic focus along three dimensions:
Infrastructure Management. Financial services, pharmaceuticals, and the computer industry are already structured in significant ways along these lines. State Street Corporation is an example of a company that services the financial services industry but its value clearly revolves around infrastructure management. UPS revolves around infrastructure management of logistics. An infrastructure management theme works well for relatively routine, high volume business activities.
Product Innovation. Specialized biotech companies are taking on more of R&D activities so that large pharmaceutical companies can focus on scale intensive manufacturing and distribution. There are specialty design shops that serve the fashion industry. There are specialty semiconductor design shops that serve the electronics industry.
Customer Relationship. These firms concentrate on identifying target customer segments, getting to know that segment very well, and using its resources to mobilize third party products and services to address the needs of their customers. Physicians who practice general medicine, financial planners, real estate agents, and attorneys all provide this framework. Accenture is a company with this type of framework.
From a strategic perspective, most companies today like to say that they do all three types of services within their walls. But each approach requires different economics, different skills, and different cultures. When Boards accept the CEOs notion that all three models are appropriate in the strategic mix, the inevitable implication is sub optimization of one or all of these strategies.
This sub optimization increases company vulnerability to its more focused competitors.
Laurence J. Stybel
Boardoptions.com
lstybel@boardoptions.com
Difficult to read.......2006-01-22
The book is extremely poorly written. Very difficult to read. The ideas are not new. Don't buy it.
Good analysis but limited examples.......2005-11-14
Not being a specialist in business strategy I thought there was a lot of great material with excellent insights and analysis in this book, but I would have liked to see more examples or case studies that supported their views. I was suprised that after a slow start the sections on dynamic specialization and productive friction were brilliant and I think even surpass Clayton Christenson's anaylsis of the mechanisms of innovation inside corporate cultures.
In the early parts of the book, particularly the acknowledgements, it appeared that this might be another treatise on how great outsourcing is, but no matter where one stands on the issue it's established that it's a fact of life for corporate america and that the business strategy to leverage specialization outside your core competencies is going to determine future success. To take Paul Graham's analogy a bit further" "Companies are going to learn about outsourcing and specialization the same way a gene pool learns about new environmental conditions."
There's a lot of great insight to take away from The Sustainable Edge, though I wish there were more examples that illustrate their ideas.
Book Description
This practical resource provides up-to-date coverage of how to structure and negotiate profitable corporate alliances, covering both the strategic benefits and potential risks involved in these complex arrangements.
In clear and straightforward language, this handbook explains the proprietary rights issues involved and then walks the reader through the chronology of a deal, from the definition of objectives to the decision to seek an alliance, identification of potential partners, negotiations, and closing. Corporate Partnering is full of practical forms covering all aspects of strategic alliances annotated with crisp, clear commentary that explains the real-world issues addressed by each provision and how alternative solutions may be used to accomplish different aims. These carefully crafted agreements cover the broad range of areas from supply and distribution agreements, product and technology licenses, and research and development agreements, to investment and investment-related arrangements.
Thoroughly revised and updated to reflect the latest developments the Third Edition includes a chapter on sales agency and manufacturer's representative agreements, expanded discussions of antitrust and misuse issues, and updated form agreements, rights summaries, and checklists.
Book Description
A first-time collection of the old classics and best new thinking on how to build and manage strategic business relationships.
Selling Points Features all-star names in marketing including Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Gary Hamel, and Kenichi Ohmae Provides a broad and diverse look at strategic alliances including why and how they provide strategic advantage, the counterintuitive logic behind allying with your competitors, and how to effectively build and maintain cross-border
Books:
- Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business (Adweek Books)
- Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present
- Powerful Conversations: How High Impact Leaders Communicate
- Practical Business Ethics
- Riding The Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business
- Schaum's Outline of Statistics and Econometrics
- Smart Talk for Achieving Your Potential: 5 Steps to Get You from Here to There
- Solution-Focused Counseling in Middle and High Schools (ACA)
- South American Handbook 2007: 83rd Edition (Footprint South American Handbook)
- Starting an Online Business All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Because Writing Matters: Improving Student Writing in Our Schools
- One River
- Credit Risk Modeling: Design and Application
- Health Law and Policy, A Survival Guide to Medicolegal Issues for Practitioners
- Managing Bank Risk: An Introduction to Broad-Base Credit Engineering
- Stories Rabbits Tell: A Natural and Cultural History of a Misunderstood Creature
- Only You Can Save Mankind
- Basic Accounting: The New Standard for Interactive Multimedia Learning
- Ibn Khaldun: An Essay in Reinterpretation
- Digestive Physiology and Nutrition of Marsupials
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
How to Make Collaboration Work: Powerful Ways to Build Consensus, Solve Problems, and Make Decisions
On Becoming A Leader: The Leadership Classic--Updated And Expanded
When Sparks Fly: Harnessing the Power of Group Creativity
Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge (Collins Business Essentials)
Geeks and Geezers
