History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Has history been tampered with?.......2007-10-23

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RAZQNMXM4M9CL Has history been tampered with? Yes, it has! Did events and eras such as the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Roman Empire , the Dark Ages, and the Renaissance, actually occur within a very different chronology from what we've been told? Yes, they certainly did!

The history of humankind is both drastically shorter and dramatically different than generally presumed.

Why is it so? On one hand, it was usual custom to justify the claims to title and land by age and ancestry, and on the other the court historians knew only too well how to please their masters. The so called universal classic world history is a pack of intricate lies for all events prior to the 16th century. World history as we learn it today was entirely fabricated in the 16th-18th centuries. It's likely that nobody told you before, but

there is not a single piece of firm written evidence or artefact that is reliably and independently dated prior to the 11th century.

Naturally, after what you've learned in school and university, you will not easily believe that the classical history of ancient Rome, Greece, Asia, Egypt, China, Japan, India, etc., is manifestly false.

You will point accusing finger to the pyramids in Egypt, to the Coliseum in Rome and Great Wall of China etc., and claim, aren't they really ancient, thousands of years ancient? Well, there is no valid scientific proof that they are older than 1000 years!

The oldest original written document that can be reliably dated belongs to the 11th century!

New research asserts that Homo sapiens invented writing (including hieroglyphics) only 1000 years ago. Once invented, writing skills were immediately and irreversibly put to the use of ruling powers and science.

The consensual chronology we live with was essentially crafted in the 16th century by the Jesuits.

The world history was compiled from contradictory mix of innumerable copies of ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts and other irrefutable proofs delivered by late mediaeval astronomers that were cemented by the authority of writings of the Church Fathers.

Early in life, we learn about ancient history. Children love the magical lessons of history - they are like fairy tales. Teachers recite breathtaking stories; very soon We learn by heart the names and deeds of brave warriors, wise philosophers, fabulous pharaohs, cunning high priests and greedy scribes.

We learn of gigantic pyramids and sinister castles, kings and queens, dukes and barons, powerful heroes and beautiful ladies, emaciated saints and low-life traitors.

Ancient history is based documents, manuscripts, printed books, paintings, monuments and artefacts - called primary sources.

The problem is that neither these ancient documents, nor events described therein can be irrefutably dated, moreover they contradict each other for the most part.

When a school textbook tells us that Genghis Khan in year X or Alexander in year Y, have each conquered half of the world, it means only that it is so said in some of the written sources.

There are no answers to simple questions:

When were these primary sources written?

Where and by whom were these sources found?

It is wrongly presumed that ancient and medieval chronicles, written by Genghis Khan's or Alexander the Great contemporaries and eyewitnesses, are readily available. Actually, only sources written hundreds or even thousands of years after the events are there, compiled mostly in the 16th 18th centuries, or even later.

As a rule, these sources suffered considerable multiple manipulations, falsifications and distortions by editing. At the same time,

innumerable originals of ancient documents under various pretexts were destroyed in Europe under various pretexts.

The names of persons and geographical sites often changed meaning and location during the course of the centuries.

Geographical locations became clearly defined on maps only with the advent of printing.

This made possible the circulation of identical copies of the same map for purposes of the military, navigation, education and governance tasks.

Historians from Oxford say: "hey, everybody knows that Julius Caesar lived in the first century B.C.

`Julius Caesar' statement is only a point of view as

there is simply no irrefutable documentary proof that Julius Caesar or any other great name of antiquity ever existed.

Better than that - extremely rare sources that can be reliably dated back to the 10th-14th centuries A D, do not show the polished picture of classical history.

They show a picture both contradictory and confusing.

All methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts are erroneous:

Radio-carbon C14 method produces dating with exactitude of plus minus 1500 years, therefore it is too crude for dating of events in historical timeframe!

The Almagest tractate, which lies as corner stone contemporary chronology, compiled in the 2nd century A D by Ptolemy, the founding father of astronomy, contains astronomical data of 9th to 16th century!

The Bronze Age,that has supposedly began 5000 years ago. Bronze is made of 90% copper and 10% tin, but the technology for tin extraction dates back to 14th century A D!.

All eclipses contained in manuscripts, like Thucydides one, relating 'ancient' events have exclusively medieval dating. All horoscopes cut in stone or painted in Egyptian temples, like Dendera have exclusively early medieval dating solutions.

Not quite what you have learned in school? Open your eyes, and, you will find sufficient proof to reach step by step the inevitable conclusion that the classical chronology is false and therefore, that the history of ancient and medieval world universally accepted today, is also false. Have a fresh outlook on everything said or printed about "ancient" and "enigmatic" Roman, Greek and Egyptian, medieval as well as all other "lost and found" civilizations.

Antiquity and Dark Ages are phantoms invented in the 16th 18th and polished in 19th 20thcenturies. Human civilization is in fact barely 1000 years old!

This book will change your perception of History forever!
What if Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt were invented during Renaissance?
What if The Old Testament was a rendition of events of the Middle Ages?
What if Jesus Christ was born in 1053 and crucified in 1086 AD?
Sounds Unbelievable?
Not after you've read "History: Fiction or Science?" by Anatoly Fomenko, the genius mathematician.
Armed with astronomy and computers Anatoly Fomenko turns History into a rocket science.

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

Hot Spots: Why Some Teams, Workplaces, and Organizations Buzz with Energy - And Others Don't

Average customer rating:

Hot Spots is well worth a 'truffle'
The Power of Thermal Convergence
Creating a Supercharged Environment.
HOT SPOTS is key to building a strong, collaborative organization and shouldn't be missed.
How to stay "hot" in our "chilling" organizations

Hot Spots: Why Some Teams, Workplaces, and Organizations Buzz with Energy - And Others Don't
Lynda Gratton
Manufacturer: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1576754189

Book Description

Bestselling author Lynda Gratton?a world-renowned authority on business strategy?takes an extensive look at Hot Spots?places and times where cooperation flourishes, resulting in productivity and excitement. Now, these previously unexplained flares of ideas and innovation are thoroughly examined, as Gratton shows how to develop of Hot Spots within ones own environment.

Customer Reviews:

Hot Spots is well worth a 'truffle'.......2007-05-25

The fundamental equation "Hot Spots = (Cooperative Mindset x Boundary Spanning x Igniting Purpose) x Productive Capacity" is the organising principle of this book. All material is very well organised to illustrate and support this insight. The style is conversational and authoritative. There is a lack of pretension that is refreshing in business literature. The material is supported throughout by real life examples. My favourite is the `Truffles' initiative at OgilvyOne. There are many other examples across many industries.

Professor Gratton uses language in a way that reinforces the main messages and makes concepts memorable: `Signature Processes' describe activities that powerfully convey a company's character and passion; `Boundary Spanners' move in many worlds, share information and connect people. `Big Freeze' and `Country Club' describe sub-cultures unlikely to produce hotspots!

Appendix A contains some fabulous material to help readers interested in creating their own `hot spots' - including many diagnostic questions and ways to map your system. Go on......treat yourself....... you deserve it!

The Power of Thermal Convergence.......2007-04-21

In this volume, Lynda Gratton explains how and why "boundaryless cooperation fuels innovation...why some teams, workplaces, and organizations buzz with energy - and others don't." The business model she recommends is an "open" one. In fact, it is precisely what Henry Chesbrough brilliantly explains in Open Innovation and in his more recent book, Open Business Models. What is a "boundaryless" organization? GE is probably the most prominent example. (Curiously, there are no references in Hot Spots to Chesbrough, GE or its former CEO, Jack Welch.) According to Gratton, a "boundaryless organization" is one within which people are engaged in "purposeful conversation"; there are no barriers to communication, cooperation, and collaboration; and the organization has an ever-widening "net of involvement."

Those whom Gratton calls "boundary spanners" are very important because they break down the "walls" between in-groups and out-groups. They have a network of relationships that form a natural bridge between the two groups. (Chesbrough calls them "innovation intermediaries.") In a boundaryless organization, people feel energized and vibrantly alive. Their brains buzz with ideas as they share with others the joy and excitement of "exploiting and applying knowledge that is already known and genuinely exploring what was previously unknown." Relationships between and among those involved create a Hot Spot.

"One of the most profound insights about Hot Spots is that their innovative capacity arises from the intelligence, insights, and wisdom of people working together. The energy contained in a Hot Spot is essentially a combination of their individual energy with the addition of the relational energy generated between them." Hence the importance of (a) having a "cooperative mindset," (b) "boundary spanners," (c) "igniting purpose," and (d) sustaining sufficient "productive capacity." Gratton acknowledges that there is much of substantial value to be learned by examining best practices in exemplary companies (e.g. BP, PgilvyOne, Nokia, and Linux)but also other types of practices, notably what she characterizes as "signature processes" which embody a given organization's character. They arise from passions and interests within the organization. Whereas best practices "bring the outside in," signature processes "bring the inside out."

To Gratton's great credit, after identifying the "what" in the Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2, she focuses most of her attention on "how" and "why" in the remaining six chapters. I also appreciate the provision of information in three appendices, especially in the first ("Resources for Creating Hot Spots"). And I especially appreciate Gratton's decision to want until the final chapter before explaining how to design (or re-design) an organization in which Hot Spots "emerge." The process consists of five phases best revealed within Gratton's narrative (i.e. in context) but I do presume to suggest that Hot Spots are inevitable and can exist anywhere, both physically and electronically. The challenge is to encourage and support them without institutionalizing ("housebreaking") them. That is a very real danger, one which Bob Taylor obviously recognized when he insisted that the Xerox Corporation allow him to establish - with unlimited funding -- the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) which those at Xerox's corporate headquarters (in Connecticut) viewed as a "renegade" think tank. In fact, Taylor and his associates conceptualized the very notion of the desktop computer, long before IBM launched its PC, and it laid the foundation for Microsoft Windows with a prototype graphical user interface of icons and layered screens. Even the technology that makes it possible for these words to appear on the screen can trace its roots to Xerox's eccentric band of innovators. It is possible but highly unlikely that any of this could have been achieved, had the research center been absorbed within the Xerox corporate culture in the 1970s.

Guided and informed by Gratton's observations and recommendations, senior-level executives will be well-prepared to provide the leadership needed to avoid or overcome barriers to innovation within their organizations by nurturing a cooperative mindset, encouraging and supporting those who are "boundary spanners," igniting purpose at all levels and in all areas throughout the given enterprise, and - as a result -- sustain sufficient "productive capacity."

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out two of Gratton's earlier works, Living Strategy: Putting People at the Heart of Corporate Purpose and The Democratic Enterprise: Liberating Your Business with Freedom, Flexibility, and Commitment. Also When Sparks Fly: Harnessing the Power of Group Creativity by Dorothy Leonard-Barton and Walter C. Swap, Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration by Warren G. Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman, and Juice: The Creative Fuel That Drives World-Class Inventors by Evan I. Schwartz.

Creating a Supercharged Environment........2007-03-13

I've been involved in just a few of what Ms. Gratton calls Hot Sports. These were projects that somehow gathered together a group of people totally dedicated to success. They were good people, working at the limits of their capabilities and an amazing amount of work was accomplished in a very short time.

I had never realized that this would be the subject of academic study, or that it could be managed to occur as part of a regular business environment. Ms Gratton says that there are four criteria that must come together to make a Hot Spot work:

A cooperative mindset: when people are excited, willing, eager and able to work together
Boundary spanning: with people fromdifferent backgrounds, skill sets, and outlooks combine their expertise in new ways
Igniting purpose: there must be a question, task, vision that creates a shared goal
Productive capacity: people must be able to work together, resolve conflicts, and manage the rhythm and pace of their work.

HOT SPOTS is key to building a strong, collaborative organization and shouldn't be missed........2007-03-12

HOT SPOTS: WHY SOME TEAMS, WORKPLACES, AND ORGANIZATIONS BUZZ WITH ENERGY - AND OTHERS DON'T packs in details on what differentiates a thriving, busy organization from a stagnant one, and will find a special place in the busy manager's bookshelf as a basic reference to understanding organizational dynamics. Lynda Gratton has spent a decade uncovering and analyzing what contributes to Hot Spots: her research has uncovered four basic qualities and organization needs to support the creation of Hot Spots of excitement and cooperation. HOT SPOTS is key to building a strong, collaborative organization and shouldn't be missed.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

How to stay "hot" in our "chilling" organizations .......2007-02-23

Lynda Gratton has done it again. An astute observer of high performing organizations, Dr. Gratton offers an alternative way to resolve the endless pursuit of the right answers to the challenging questions of business growth, employee engagement and enterprise sustainability.

Based on her rigorous research and thoughtful reflection, Hot Spots deliver a provocative message. The organizations that buzz with healthy energy and draw talent to themselves produce innovative solutions and deliver results. Those are the outcomes rather than goals. The innovative and sustainable cultures cannot be engineered; they have to be nurtured and let the hot spots "emerge." Dr. Gratton convincingly concludes that focusing on the right things such as collaborative ways of working, cultivating relationships, and motivating people through meaningful purpose, vision, and goals is what really matters.

There is a new art of leadership that is modelled in the study. It is the leadership that knows how to create the environments that become magnets of diverse talent and paradigm changing ideas.

The book is a must for those of us who want to stay relevant in the evolving 21 century organizations.

Intellectual Property: Valuation, Exploitation, and Infringement Damages

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Intellectual Property: Valuation, Exploitation, and Infringement Damages
Gordon V. Smith , and Russell L. Parr
Manufacturer: Wiley
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This book is designed to simplify the process of attaching a dollar amount to intangible assets, be it for licensing, mergers and acquisitions, loan collateral, or investment purposes. It provides practical tools for evaluating the investment aspects of licensing and joint venture decisions, and discusses the legal, tax, and accounting practices and procedures related to such arrangements; examines the business economics of strategies involving intellectual property licensing and joint ventures; and provides analytical models that can be used to determine reasonable royalty rates for licensing and for determining fair equity splits in joint venture arrangements.

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Rich Dad's Advisors: How to Attract Other People's Money for Your Investments--The Ultimate Leverage

Average customer rating:

Save your money this book is not readable
OPM: Other People's Money
The art of leverage
Great book to start a business with.
A good start on the big business picture.

Rich Dad's Advisors: How to Attract Other People's Money for Your Investments--The Ultimate Leverage
Michael A. Lechter
Manufacturer: Business Plus
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Cash flow is the foundation of every successful business, but investors do not have to start with their own money to build a business. Money can be made by acquiring an asset, turning an idea into a fortune, or building a business, using other peoples moneyOPM. This book will discuss different forms of OPM, how to find OPM, the consequences of using OPM, and the legal aspects and pitfalls of trying to access OPM.

Customer Reviews:

Save your money this book is not readable.......2007-10-21

I have to send this book back to Amazon. It is small type and dull as dust. I did not find anything useful in this and it was such a chore to read it I stopped at the third chapter. It just is not interesting to read and did not tell me anything I didn't know before.

OPM: Other People's Money.......2007-08-26

A true entrepreneur knows how to leverage other people's ideas and other people's money to create more wealth for everyone around them. Michael Lechter has outlined several ways to bring other people to the table to combine their investments with yours.

It's not the easiest read on the shelf. But, the content is great and the information is on the money.

The art of leverage.......2007-06-10

If you really want to be a Real estate investor,then this is the book to purchase.The book is an investment in itself.

Great book to start a business with........2007-02-15

I am mainly interested in real estate investment, so this book did not have a whole lot for me. It would be really great if you are looking for capital to begin a business. I just wanted money to buy houses with!!

A good start on the big business picture........2007-01-21

One of the concepts the Rich Dad series has taught me, and you see this throughout the free enterprise system, is that "he who creates the investment gets most of the gold".
Bill Gates. Warren Buffett. The real estate developer next door turning five acres into a small strip mall, or an apartment complex.

This book shows how it's done. From concept, to trademarking and patenting, to incorporating, to raising the funds, everything short of filing the IPO is included, albeit briefly. But that's OK, you'll need your own attorneys and professionals to customize these parts for your application, anyway. Just don't cut any corners.

Michael gives you examples throughout the book as to how the process should work... and a few examples of what happens when you cut corners. (it can get ugly at this level, gang!)

Thinking for a Living: How to Get Better Performances And Results from Knowledge Workers

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Excellent Buy - A must have
You have got to be kidding?
Insightful and pragmatic
Must-read if you have any Knowledge Workers in your company
Written by a manger for managers

Thinking for a Living: How to Get Better Performances And Results from Knowledge Workers
Thomas H. Davenport
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
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Knowledge workers create the innovations and strategies that keep their firms competitive and the economy healthy. Yet companies continue to manage this new breed of employee with techniques designed for the Industrial Age. As this critical sector of the workforce continues to increase in size and importance, that’s a mistake that could cost companies their future. Thomas Davenport argues that knowledge workers are vastly different from other types of workers in their motivations, attitudes, and need for autonomy—and so they require different management techniques to improve their performance and productivity. Based on extensive research involving over one hundred companies and more than six hundred knowledge workers, Thinking for a Living provides rich insights into how knowledge workers think, how they accomplish tasks, and what motivates them to excel. Davenport identifies four major categories of knowledge workers and presents a unique framework for matching specific types of workers with the management strategies that yield the greatest performance. Written by the field’s premier thought leader, Thinking for a Living reveals how to maximize the brain power that fuels organizational success.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Buy - A must have .......2007-09-17

I have read a number of Tom's books, but this one beats them all (I am saving up to buy another one!). The knowledge worker is an essential ingredient for innovation. Fascinating title, well prepared and perfectly laid out thoughts and a simple style writing makes this book a choice material for anyone seeking personal development or involved in self-directed learning. This book is a true blessing and I am glad I bought it. It is a steady reference for my knowledge management project and hopefully, practice.
The average knowledge worker believes in his skills and he can not be taken for granted. Davenport describes the knowledge worker's attributes fully and provides employers and senior management a new direction on how to view their organizational assets. It also helps the knowledge worker to realize his potentialities. After reading this book, my motivaion to improve myself has been further enhanced. Indeed, KM is an essential strategy for supporting performance

You have got to be kidding?.......2007-07-20

I endeavor to follow the addage that if you have nothing nice to say then say nothing; however, this work is redundant, virtually devoid of any actionable insights, and smacks of a self indulgent attempt to justify his own ideosycratic work habits. I kept going in hopes that one concept would justify my investment of mind. The only return on my investment is a book I can now confindently refer to those I distain and assiduously warn those I adore to avoid.

I am fairly sure the majority of previous reviews are from nodes in his social network who have seized upon his scintilating suggestion that effective knowledge workers maintain and nuture their relationships by treating them well. It is sycophantic myopia when work which could and should be great barely achieves mediocracy receives any praise whatsoever.

If Mr. Davenport reads these words please know that I harbor no ill will to you personally I just found this particular publication of your work seriously wanting.

Insightful and pragmatic.......2007-05-26

Though he starts with a fuzzy definition of knowledge workers, Thomas Davenport quickly gets to the point where his ideas are both illuminating and practical. His logical structure covering multiple approaches to improving the performance of knowledge workers both changes some foundations upon which to approach the task and also provides many practical ideas to implement.

Having focussed for many years on process improvement in software projects, I found his insights on the difference betwen professional practice and process improvement very helpful. The discussion on information technology covered a range of tools, and included some inspiring examples. There is certainly another book or few just on this topic. Completing the books with the topic of managing knowledge workers at first appeared out of order, but upon a second reading the flow of his ideas started to make sense.

Overall, Thinking for a Living has been inspiring and useful. I would recommend it to anyone who manages knowledge workers, or aims to improve their performance. And as Mr. Davenport argues, that is an important aim for just about all companies in the rich countries.

Must-read if you have any Knowledge Workers in your company.......2006-11-09

Knowledge Workers are those people whose main professional output is Knowledge. Because all work requires some knowledge, the boundary can be arbitrary. So, depending on where you draw the line, Knowledge Workers represent ¼ to 1/3 of the labor force in the developed world. Doctors, lawyers, researchers, consultants, and computer programmers all share this trait.
We saw (in Corporate Longitude by Leif Edvinsson and Intangibles by Baruch Lev) that the market value of all publicly traded companies exceeded the market value of their tangible assets sometime in the early 90's. This gap has grown ever since. We assume that Knowledge accumulated inside a company is responsible for a good part of this difference. Ergo, our Knowledge Workers represent a very important, if mostly intangible, asset.
Because their main output is Knowledge, you can't quite measure what they are doing. If one of your best Knowledge Workers says she has her best ideas in the shower, you have no choice but to take her word for it. Knowledge Workers resist most controls on their quality and productivity. Sometimes this resistance is built into the rules of their professional associations (check out the rules and regulations of any legal or medical association and you'll witness this). Most Knowledge Workers hate bureaucracy and hierarchy. Some Knowledge Workers do not run on money: they prefer to be compensated with, for example, easier access to Knowledge.
Trouble is, our management models have changed little since the Industrial Revolution, so they're uniquely inadequate for managing Knowledge Workers. In fact, because the person who manages Knowledge Workers is in most cases a Knowledge Worker him/herself, this suggests that the ideal management model for Knowledge Workers must contain a "Player/Coach" flavor.
Enter Prof. Davenport, who has dedicated the past several years to the study of Knowledge Workers. This book distills most of what he has learned, and has a wealth of references to those who need more detail.
Knowledge Workers cannot easily be grouped into one category. One important lesson throughout the book is that, when coming to grips with the Knowledge Workers inside your company, you must segment them into different groups. After all, because Knowledge can be invented, discovered, packaged, distributed, or consumed, each Knowledge Worker you deal with will be active in one or more, but rarely all, of these activities. Prof Davenport proposes a basic taxonomy for this, with two dimensions: the level of interdependence among Knowledge Workers, and the level of Complexity of the work itself. This in turn spawns four basic models:
* Transaction Model (low interdependence, low complexity): The Knowledge Worker is essentially by him/herself and most of the situations he/she faces are repetitive. This is the only segment where "scripting" (ie, standard, pre-rehearsed speeches covering the most common situations) is effective. A good example of this is the 0800 customer-support people in a software company.
* Integration Model (high interdependence, low complexity): The task is repeatable but integration is critical, both intra-team and across disciplines. In this segment, the key is to establish tight process routines and standards. The best example of this is geologist/geophysicist/drilling engineer teams in oil&gas exploration.
* Expert Model (high complexity, low interdependence): Performance here is highly reliant on a person who contains most if not all the necessary Knowledge. Still, these people might profit from easy access to databases containing similar situations that took place in the past. Trial attorneys, systems analysts, and some types of medical doctors are excellent examples of this model.
* Collaboration Model (high complexity, high interdependence): People in these teams feel they're improvising all the time, when in fact there's an enormous degree of judgement in every decision made. This is the most difficult type of Knowledge-Worker team to improve in any organized way. Structured-deals teams in Investment Banks are probably the best example of this.
He is the first to admit that the above model is only a very basic first approach. When you do this in your company, you may find two or three of the above. Also, look out for hybrid situations. For example, a neurosurgeon fits the Expert model (without him, there's no surgery), but his supporting team (nurses, anesthesiologists, etc) fits the Collaboration model.
Prof. Davenport strongly encourages people to quickly move beyond the above models and develop their own Knowledge Worker segmentation models, and then to develop and use different management, performance-metrics, office-space, recruitment, remuneration, retention, succession, and IT-support strategies for each segment.
One set of research findings described in the book will not surprise most of us: business-process reengineering, a consulting buzzword in the past decade, has probably done more harm than good to the Knowledge Worker community.
The book also dispels some myths about Knowledge Workers with some hard research performed by Prof. Davenport and colleagues: for example, surprisingly few of them prefer to tele-commute (explanation: interaction among Knowledge Workers is critical to their success). Another interesting example is that they're not as much into electronic gadgets as we, coming from a geek stereotype, all thought.
Because it summarizes the author's past publications and research, the writing can be of variable quality, and progress from one chapter to the next is not exactly seamless, but neither of these foibles is enough to detract from the overall impact of a very timely and important book.
Some people may be offended by the summary at the end of each chapter; they didn't bother me, knowing there are so many print-challenged executives around us.
Highly recommended. Executive coaches dealing with technical teams may find this book invaluable.

Written by a manger for managers.......2006-09-10

I was able to go cover to cover in about 5 minutes. If you manage people that use their brains to do their work and you have no idea how to understand, manage and motivate them then this book might help you out a bit. I found it to be off-topic for me as I was hoping that it was going to be written for the people who Think for a Living rather than their managers.

Edison in the Boardroom: How Leading Companies Realize Value from Their Intellectual Assets

Average customer rating:

Convincing the skeptics
Very Good
Comprehensive
Visionary and Innovative Pragmatism
THE IP Value Extraction Methods Book of the New millenium

Edison in the Boardroom: How Leading Companies Realize Value from Their Intellectual Assets
Julie L. Davis , and Suzanne S. Harrison
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471397369

Book Description

Julie L. Davis and Suzanne Harrison

Today's corporations are always on the lookout for exciting new and innovative ideas that can be used to generate revenue. Up until recently, this meant taking these ideas and turning them into products or services, which could then be sold for profit. But today, a unique new concept is revolutionizing the way companies are getting value from ideas. Instead of incorporating them into products or services, today's innovations may be bartered, licensed or sold in the "idea" stage for tremendous amounts of money. For example, IBM currently receives well over $1 billion in revenue every year from licensing its intellectual property, unrelated to the manufacture of a single product. Today more and more companies are adopting this idea of turning their legal departments, where intellectual property is housed, from cost centers into profit centers.

Edison in the Boardroom: How Leading Companies Realize Value from Their Intellectual Assets takes an in-depth look at the revolutionary concept of Intellectual asset management (IAM). IAM is changing the way companies all over the world are doing business. In their careers as business consultants, the authors have been privileged to meet individuals who were clearly ahead of their time when it came to realizing value from their companies' innovations. Based on their interactions with the ICM Gathering--an international group of companies who meet several times a year to create, define and benchmark best practices in the area of IAM--the authors have compiled a wealth of knowledge and successful stories that illustrate how far businesses have come in their ability to leverage and monetize their intellectual assets.

Incorporating stories and teachings from some of the most successful companies in the worlds -- such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Procter & Gamble, Rockwell, Dow, Ford and many others -- the authors have made an exhaustive study of IAM and its implications for today's businesses. They have culled a hierarchy of best practices that today's companies can integrate into their own business philosophies to gain the best return from their intellectual assets.

Customer Reviews:

Convincing the skeptics.......2002-05-19

Professor Thomas G. Field, Jr., Franklin Pierce Law Center

Few variables are more likely to dictate short- and long-term commercial success than a firm's ability to convert intellectual assets into intellectual property (IP). The smaller the firm, the bigger the need, and the need only grows.
Most companies are careful to avoid IP infringement and are eager to sue direct competitors who do not. Many firms also educate key employees on their roles in perfecting and protecting intangible assets. Fewer give full attention to IP and antecedents that might nevertheless be regarded as assets. For example, those who would not hesitate to monitor and sue infringing competitors may not monitor non-competitors as potential licensees.
To extract the most from intellectual assets, many factors, e.g., legal, technical marketing and sales, must be weighed. Edison in the Boardroom offers important advice to help firms take steps to meet that need. Despite its reference to "assets" in the subtitle, however, most of this book focuses more narrowly - on IP, and on patents specifically.
Davis and Harrison, said to bring "a quarter century of IP consulting accomplishments between them," document that some companies have long engaged in trying to optimize the value of their intellectual assets. The authors also assign companies to a five-level hierarchy based on a range of IP-management strategies. A goldmining metaphor is usefully advanced at one point to describe those levels as: defensive (staking claims), panning (cost control), mining (deeper profit seeking), processing (integration), and sculpting. The heart of the book consists of five chapters that discuss these levels seriatim and offers a host of useful ideas and anecdotes.
The book is generally well-structured. For example, early in each of the five core chapters is a description of what "companies are trying to accomplish" at the corresponding level of IP-management sophistication. At the defensive level, of course, companies have processes for seeking, maintaining and enforcing IP. Yet, in the discussion of second-level companies, said to seek to reduce costs by exercising judgment about what is brought into and kept in their patent portfolios, it becomes clear how much various levels overlap. The first two topics may usefully be segregated for purposes of discussion, but it is hard to imagine any company that can afford, literally, to pursue protection without attempting to balance portfolio goals against concomitant costs. Indeed, one thesis of the second chapter is that no firm can seek the strongest protection for everything of potential patentability, much less seek it in every possible country.
The third chapter diverges considerably. Companies featured there are said to seek, e.g., to extract portfolio value as quickly and cheaply as possible. Several have gone well beyond suing competitors or easily discovered, non-competing infringers. The most aggressive of such firms regard IP departments as profit centers and actively solicit licensees. Their success is sometimes remarkable. As the authors point out, "Worldwide revenues from patent licensing have grown from $15 billion in 1990 to over $100 billion in 2000." Echoing the central theme of another recent book, Davis and Harrison also point out that, "Some experts estimate that companies are sitting on $1 trillion per year in unexploited licensing fees."
Fourth- and fifth-level firms are difficult to distinguish from ones discussed earlier - or from each other. For example, level-four companies are said to seek to integrate "IP awareness and operations throughout all functions of the company." That seems necessary, too, for allegedly less capable compatriots. Further, when level-five firms are described as embedding intellectual assets and their management into the company culture, it is difficult to find divergence.
The last are said to have as additional objectives: (1) staking a claim on the future and (2) encouraging "disruptive technologies." Still, these could easily been collapsed into "Get a Crystal Ball!" Heuristics for meeting them non-serendipitiously are weak.
Consider, for example, the mouse and graphic interface as commercialized on Macintosh computers. Steve Jobs is said to have derived both from the Alto computer developed by Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. While Jobs became a billionaire, "Xerox completely failed to get into the personal computer business, missing one of the biggest business opportunities in history." To avoid repeating such mistakes, Davis and Harrison suggest that companies should "identify ways the corporation can benefit from [ideas outside their business capacity] before moving on." They, not surprisingly, can offer little guidance.
One IP attorney recently stressed the need for his colleagues better to understand the identification, protection and use of intellectual capital "effectively to address strategic corporate objectives." Those for whom this is novel terrrain will find Edison in the Boardroom helpful.
Also, senior IP counsel better acquainted with the topic may find the book useful. Some will face difficulty in convincing those at the same level or higher in the corporate hierarchy of its importance. To the extent that their advocacy of the critical role to be played by IP counsel is perceived as serving selfish aims, the book should help allay suspicions.
For these and other attorneys, the value of Edison in the Boardroom could easily, and vastly, exceed its modest price.

Very Good.......2001-10-23

The authors provide an excellent framework for companies to manage their intellectual property - without using too much consultant speak.

They quote examples at different levels of their framework and look at companies who are suceeding at managing and valuing their IP effectively. This is a skill which can only be more and more wanted in the future.

The most interesting takeaway is that most companies are very bad in this field, and there are very few success stories.

Comprehensive.......2001-10-02

Julie Davis and Suzanne Harrison's book, Edison in the Boardroom, takes readers deep enough into the field of intellectual property management for them to incorporate presented theories into their respective professional disciplines - researcher, attorney, licensing exec, etc. - without the book becoming unwieldy. Excellent balance. This book can become a cornerstone text for any professional involved with intellectual property to direct his or her focus for additional study and to ensure his or her working knowledge of the challenges confronting professionals in other disciplines that together form a corporate intellectual property management program.

Visionary and Innovative Pragmatism.......2001-08-11

The basic concept of this book is very intriguing: Briefly examine the life and career of Thomas Edison and then suggest direct correlations between his achievements with real-world situations in which various companies are now deriving substantial value from their intellectual capital. The authors also make skillful use of Edison's own recorded thoughts and feelings. Of special interest to me was what he had to say about the creative process. For example, "Men are just beginning to propose questions and find answers, and we may be sure that no matter what question we ask, so long as it is not against the laws of nature, a solution can be found." This what the author refer to as "The Edison Mindset." Edison apparently had almost no concern about a given experiment's "failure" which he continued to view, rather, as non-success to that stage. Too often, senior-level executives become preoccupied with results and neglect the process by which they can be achieved. Among Edison's greatest (and perhaps least appreciated) achievements was the establishment of the first research laboratory in which he and his associates would collaborate on various projects. Edison was a pioneer in recognizing the importance of assembling the best available talent and providing them with sufficient resources as well as a culture wherein those talents could be fully utilized. Davis and Harrison obviously have this point in mind when observing that "benchmarking best practices without any regard for the underlying culture of the firm can be problematic."

NOTE: For those interested in this subject, I highly recommend Organizing Genius in which Bennis and Biederman examine the collaborative efforts of those involved at the Disney studios which produced so many animation classics; at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) which developed the first personal computer; at Apple Computer which then took it to market; at the so-called "War Room" which helped to elect Bill Clinton President in 1992; those active in the so-called "Skunk Works" where so many of Lockheed's greatest designs were formulated; at Black Mountain College which "wasn't simply a place where creative collaboration took place. It was about creative collaboration"; and at Los Alamos (NM) and the University of Chicago where the Manhattan Project eventually produced a new weapon called "the Gadget."

This is an extremely well-organized and well-written book in which Davis and Harrison use the life and career of Edison for guidance to understanding subjects of major importance today such as breakthrough innovation, collaborative effort, the development and management of intellectual property, and effective organizational transformation. They suggest that companies (indeed all organizations) function in one or more of five levels which comprise "the hierarchy of value" for intellectual property, a model created at Andersen's Intellectual Property Management Practice and then at ICMG:

1. Defensive: "If a corporation owns an intellectual asset (such as a great business concept), it can prevent competitors from using the asset."

2. Cost Control: "Companies focus on how to reduce the costs of filing and maintaining their IP portfolios."

3. Profit Center: "Having learned how to control many of their patent-related costs, companies at this level turn their attention to more proactive strategies that can generate millions of dollars of additional revenues while further continuing to trim costs.'

4. Integrated Level: In this level the IP function ceases to focus on self-centered activities and reaches outwardly beyond its own department to serve a greater purpose within the organization as a whole."

5. Visionary Level: "Few companies have reached this level of looking outside the company and into the future. In this level, the IP function, having already become deeply ingrained in the company, takes on the challenge of identifying future trends in the industry and consumer preferences."

After an excellent Introduction, the authors devote a separate chapter to each of the five Levels and then provide a case study of the Dow Chemical Company, followed by three appendices: Mining a Portfolio for Value, Competitive Assessment, and Integrated Performance Reporting. They suggest all manner of similarities and differences between and among these five Levels, in process suggesting also a wealth of strategies and tactics to consider when attempting to achieve the desired results at any of these Levels.

To a greater extent now than at any prior time in human history, with all due respect to major developments such as the light bulb, telephone, automobile, and personal computer, corporations (indeed entire societies) seek "exciting, new, novel, and discontinuous innovations....For centuries, companies have linked ideas and money by embedding their new ideas (legally protected or not) into products to be sold or bartered. Today, however, an exciting new concept is revolutionizing the way companies extract value from their ideas: an idea no longer needs to be embedded into a product or service to create value. Today ideas are licensed, sold, or bartered in their raw state for great value." And they are getting that value through intellectual property management (IPM). Hence the importance of encouraging and supporting "The Edison Mindset."

Here in a single volume, the authors provide a comprehensive, cohesive, and cost-effective program. It remains for decision-makers in any organization now considering or at work on the design of an IPM to select whatever material in the book is most appropriate to their organization's specific needs. One value-added benefit of this book is that Davis and Harrison can assist with that selection process. A point made earlier, however, deserves repeating: "benchmarking best practices without any regard for the underlying culture of the firm can be problematic."

THE IP Value Extraction Methods Book of the New millenium.......2001-07-02

I throughly enjoyed the book, I read it in just a few hours. It is an informative text on how to make the most of your IP, especially for those companies that either have a great start by already having IP (patents) or those that want to get started developing it. This would have particular interest for those who want to start their journey in developing IP processes in their company. I have worked in this field for years and have read many books involving IP, but never has their been such a informative book. The nice thing is it is 100% up to date on what is going on and who is doing it. For instance, learn how Dow, probably the leader in the field of IP Practices, does what they do.

Davis and Harrison have taken their vast experiences and knowledge that they have obtained over the years of work with their clients and codified these experiences in a "best practices book", particularly focused on how to manage the IP you already have.

If you don't read this and you have an interest in this field, you will be missing what is likely to be the cornerstone text of the field.

John Cronin, CEO of ipCapitalGroup, Inc an IP Professional Services Company.

Beyond HR: The New Science of Human Capital
Average customer rating:

Must read

I would like to see the table of contents before ordering

Beyond HR: The New Science of Human Capital
John W. Boudreau , and Peter M. Ramstad
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Is your talent strategy a unique competitive advantage? As competition for top talent increases, companies must recognize that decisions about talent and its organization can have a significant strategic impact.

Beyond HR shows how organizations can uncover distinctive talent contributions, strategically differentiate their HR practices and metrics, and more optimally allocate talent to create value. Illustrations from companies such as Disney, Boeing, and Corning describe a new decision science called Talentship, that reveals opportunities by identifying strategy pivot points and the optimal talent and organization decisions that address them.

A unique framework helps readers identify their own distinctive strategic pivot points and connect them to talent decisions, showing how today’s “HR” can evolve to fulfill its potential as a source of strategic advantage.

Customer Reviews:

Must read.......2007-10-23

This book will change your thinking about managing "human resources." It's a must read for anyone making decisions that involve or impact people in an organization. The framework provides a very practical and usable tool to guide organizational decisions aimed at creating value through people, and the real world examples bring the framework to life. Again, anyone faced with managing human capital -- HRM professionals, organizational leaders, line managers, and consultants -- would benefit from reading this book.

I would like to see the table of contents before ordering.......2007-10-04

I prefer to order books online, but at a minimum, I would like to see the table of contents. If I cannot, then I will go to a bookstore where I can.

Janet McAllister

The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent

Average customer rating:

Still needs to take on the 900-pound gorilla
Don't Waste Your Time and Money
False Dichotomy between Creative and Technology Mindset
Florida's work is based on a fundamentally flawed assumption
Politically independent?

The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent
Richard Florida
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060756918
Release Date: 2007-02-20

Book Description

The most valued workers today are what the economist Richard Florida calls the Creative Class, skilled individuals ranging from money managers to make–up artists, software programmers to steady–cam operators who are in constant demand around the world. Florida's bestselling The Rise of the Creative Class identified these workers as the source of economic revitalization in American cities. In that book, he shows that investment in technology and a civic culture of tolerance (most–often marked by the presence of a large gay community) are the key ingredients to attracting and maintaining a local creative class. In The Flight of the Creative Class, Florida expands his research to cover the global competition to attract the Creative Class. The United States was, up until 2002, the unparalleled leader in creative capital. But several key events––the Bush administrations emphasis on smokestack industries, heightened security concerns after 9/11 and the growing cultural divide between conservatives and liberals––have put the US at a substantial dis–advantage.

Customer Reviews:

Still needs to take on the 900-pound gorilla.......2007-04-11

"If America continues to make it harder for some of the world's most talented students and workers to come here, they'll go to other countries eager to tap into their creative capabilities--as will American citizens fed up with what they view as an increasingly repressive environment."
-- Dr. Richard Florida, The Flight of the Creative Class

From this quote you can see immediately the sort of society Dr. Florida wants. Me, too. What's puzzling is he doesn't explicitly attach his shiny new cart of creativity to the thoroughbred of peace and political liberty.

In particular, you'd expect him to lambaste the Neocon Usurpers for launching expensive wars for isolated benefit of the Carlyle Group. Is he pulling his punches so Rush Bimbaugh won't accuse him of Bush-bashing? In general, why doesn't Florida boldly oppose the bonecrushing machinery of government per se?

That's my 900-pound-gorilla reservation about The Creative books. Otherwise, they provide a nice boost to the kinds of people we want to cultivate in society... or even want to be.

It appears many in public office, more semi-comatose Democrats than fully rabid Republicans, are interested in developing and retaining creative communities.

But are they willing to do what it takes?

The more political power they wield the less willing they are.

Rise shows that what Dr. Florida calls the three Ts of creative-class communities--Talent, Technology, and Tolerance--occur rarely. And when they do, it's more from the tolerance angle.

Austin, San Francisco, Seattle, Burlington (VT), Boston, the highest American cities on the creative-class list, achieve their vaunted status by spontaneous order. When governments catch up to what's going on and want to push people around, it's too late.

Tolerance is also another word for freedom. We can easily argue that liberty is fundamentally what the creative havenots have not. Talent and technology gravitate toward communities naturally when political leaders see their mission as preserving a natural order based on civil liberties.

They accomplish that mission mainly by removing government obstacles and keeping the infrastructure efficient.

Government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. -- Thoreau

Libertarians need no writer from the halls of the Carnegie Mellon Institute to tell us this dear Hamlet. But it's nice that in Rise Dr. Florida makes such a good statistical case for what creativity is, where it lives, and how we can nurture it. He also makes us aware that we, too, are paid-up members of the CC.

Flight is about politicians not getting the point of Rise.

...

For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]

Brian Wright
Copyright 2007

Don't Waste Your Time and Money.......2006-06-21

While I appreciated and generally agreed with the thesis Richard Florida puts forward that creativity is important for society, there were many times when I found his writing `style' to be annoying. I had almost put the book down after completing the first third of it. Mr. Florida's sensitivity to criticism and unabashed need to respond to every negative comment he received from his first book made me wonder just how narcissistic this man was. His ego flows onto each page and sometimes, in my view, gets in the way of his work and feeds a perception that he is not completely objective.

There are many points that get overlooked in his analysis. Why are people gravitating to Austin, Texas? Mr. Florida postulates it is because the city is open to new ideas and diverse. While I am certain that there are people who choose to relocate based on perceptions of how open and diverse a given area is, it makes more sense to look at more practical motivators such as taxes, real estate prices, crime rates, or climate. Tangible factors such as these get little mention. The assumption made by Mr. Florida is that a heterogeneous, open society is more creative than a homogenous, closed one. I guess that Japan and South Korea don't count.

I could go on, but I would not recommend this book.

False Dichotomy between Creative and Technology Mindset.......2006-05-11

Richard Florida's work has many culturally helpful things to say. A kid's review - well argued by the way - has pointed out that Florida's work has a right brain bias. I agree, and I don't mind.

The US leads in entertainment and cultural innovation. Its writers, artists, musicians have inspired the rest of the world for a century. Today though, we fall behind in math as India and China educate engineers by the thousands. Both kinds of professionals are needed to create DIGITAL content. Communications technology without a stimulating variety of cultural content would be vapid, robotic and regimented. Humane, funny, vulnerable, caring, prankish creatives make the technology math heads produce worth watching, listening to, interacting with.

Florida's cultural creatives are the people who do this. Without them, you get the aesthetics of the the first experiments in 3D animation in the early 80's. No art direction and horrible colors. Digital technology has to present something pleasing to the eye,the ear, the soul. And the sensibility that creates this is a different kind of sensibility from algorithmic math and logic. When married, you get Apple. When kept separate you get Sun microsystems.

But wait tech heads. Great content still needs fabulous technology to get encoded into bits, sent 20,000 miles and decoded. Records don't get made without audio engineers.

Can we get over this petty squabbling and admit that techies and artists need each other? Do we all have to be little DaVinci's to close the gap? If Florida complains about President Bush subtly or not so subtly in this book, it's because Bush doesn't get half of the equation. Have you ever heard Bush say anything about the arts in his two terms as president? Short sighted, I think, and worth a complaint or two.

Florida's work is based on a fundamentally flawed assumption.......2006-04-28

Richard Florida divides people into two groups, those in the creative class such as artists, musicians, and engineers and those not in the creative class, mainly people not engaged in so called "creative work". Based on his research into the characteristics of these groups he concludes that India and China are not the real threat in terms of high tech competition and it is the smaller European nations with more open political climates that are the real threat. Obviously, Florida is not an engineer or a real scientist since anyone in the high tech field knows that India and China are the main competition for high tech jobs and the massive offshoring of engineering jobs is even lowering the number of students in college pursuing these fields. The main problem is that Florida doesn't realize that an engineer with a 4 year university degree is not the same as a writer, musician or artist that may have no education at all especially in difficult math and science courses. He mistakenly believes these two separate groups to be equal and the same in terms of contributing to high tech innovation and development. For writers an open political climate is necessary to make a living writing controversial books. However, for an engineer an open political climate is not essential in most cases but a stable modern environment where he feels confortable living and working is needed. Furthermore, Florida makes a huge deal about the "Gay Index" where high concentration of gays indicate a high concentration of the creative class and high tech innovation. This may be true in western civilization but in China and India it is irrelavant. Florida also seems to have given up on his "Technology" element of economic development for America because in his latest article for USA Today he states something to the effect that high tech innovation can be outsourced anywhere and America can only maintain its lead if it concentrated on "culture", "art", "music" and "improving retail service" jobs. In conclusion, Richard Florida's creative class theory where "Talent", "Technology", and "Tolerance" is needed for economic development is fundamentally flawed. Florida's writings lack the rigor and unbiased analysis of a real engineer or scientist but is designed to sell books to a socially liberal audience.

Politically independent?.......2006-02-08

I bought this book after seeing Mr Florida talk on CSPAN-2. He does have some interesting things to say about creativity, but...

I found it very difficult to finish.

Mr Florida claims to be politically independent, but he doesn't even hesitate to engage in the sort of casual Bush bashing one see's only in the extreme left, and along with this he repeats almost every silly platitude of same, including the ridiculous "pentagon holding a bake sale to buy a bomber" bit.

If he's politically independent, then I'm the King of Siam.

And his solution? right out of the leftists playbook, we have to spend more, lots more, way more than we ever have, "several orders of magnitude more" on "education", "culture" and "the arts."

Anyone interested in buying a used book? Only read once...

The Strategic Management of Intellectual Capital and Organizational Knowledge

Average customer rating:

Outstanding!
An Essential Compendium for the Serious Strategist

The Strategic Management of Intellectual Capital and Organizational Knowledge

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Book Description

Increasingly, the challenge of management is to create and supply knowledge in order to sustain organizational performance. However, few books on management strategy have been written using this concept as a foundation. This unique volume adopts a knowledge-based approach that will complement
and perhaps supplant other perspectives. Editors Nick Bontis and Chun Wei Choo look at the literature through the lens of strategic management and from the vantage point of organizational science. The thirty readings have been carefully selected and commissioned to provide the best literature
available--from articles newly written for this book and from existing publications.

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding!.......2005-08-15

Everytime I open this book I learn something powerful to help make sense of the organizational environment around me. The book has a huge price, but it also offers huge value.

An Essential Compendium for the Serious Strategist.......2003-05-26

Not a faddish management consultant recipe book. This reference tome contains an important selection of the latest thinking on organizational management. The authors' various perspectives on managing from a knowledge perspective lead the reader to do some serious thinking. I find myself returning to it again and again for further insights.

Value Driven Intellectual Capital: How to Convert Intangible Corporate Assets Into Market Value

Average customer rating:

Non-Quantitiative & of Limited Value
Good quick Introduction
An invaluable introduction to IC Management
A great place to start
Value-Driven IC

Value Driven Intellectual Capital: How to Convert Intangible Corporate Assets Into Market Value
Patrick H. Sullivan
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471351040

Book Description

How do firms like Hewlett-Packard, DuPont, Dow Chemical, IBM, and Texas Instruments routinely convert the ideas of their employees into profits that sustain the corporation?

How can buyers and sellers calculate the assets of the acquired firm in a merger or acquisition?

How can an organization affect the firm's stock price using the leverage of intellectual assets?

Identifying a firm's assets, especially its intellectual assets-the proprietary knowledge expressed as a recipe, formula, trade secret, invention, program, or process-has become critical to a company's overall vision and strategic plan and essential in such transactions as stock offerings or mergers. In the era of the knowledge-based company, where the firm's genius and future lies in its ideas, a firm's collective know-how has become a measurable commodity-and as much a part of its bottom line as the condition of its cash investments, plant, and equipment. Extracting and measuring the real value of knowledge is essential for any corporate head who knows how high the stakes have become for corporate survival in the information age-where the innovative idea is as good as, if not better than, gold! Value-Driven Intellectual Capital is a corporate and financial executives' handbook to the new world of intangible assets-what they are and how to convert them into cash or strategic position. Written by one of the seminal thinkers in the field, and the key organizer of the ICM Gathering, a group of leading-edge knowledge-based companies, Value-Driven Intellectual Capital explains the new, boundary-expanding world of intellectual assets-where translating an innovative idea into bottom-line profits involves a tightly focused strategy with clear directives for making it happen. A blueprint for turning corporate knowledge, know-how, and intellectual property into a sustainable competitive weapon that will build a firm's reputation and market share, this practical, insightful book outlines:
* Basic concepts underlying IC (intellectual capital) and corporate value creation
* The linkage between IC, business strategy, and profits
* The different kinds of value-including qualitative and quantitative -firms realize from their IC
* Activities required to produce the value firms desire from their IC
* Methods for calculating the dollar value of companies-for market capitalization and mergers or acquisitions
* An economic model of an IC company

The book's appendix is a valuable distillation for corporate and financial executives, managers, researchers, and analysts of IC's basic working concepts and definitions, including the principles underlying value creation and value extraction, the concepts and strategies used by successful companies, the sources of value for knowledge companies, and the mechanisms used to convert that value into real profits. And since it is managerial talent that turns intellectual property into business assets, the book provides an arsenal of key concepts, methods, and processes for aligning with and using intellectual property as an active element of a firm's business strategies. It concludes with a discussion of how value is extracted from human capital, focusing on its elusive magnetic core: creativity and productivity. In an era in which firms are increasingly accountable to shareholders and success is judged solely by stock price, knowing how to measure and extract the value of a firm's intellectual assets has become one of the most critical and essential skills needed by CEOs today. Reflecting the most innovative thinking from some of the most sophisticated firms in the world, Sullivan's Value-Driven Intellectual Capital is a manifesto, a clarion call to excellence for any corporate or financial executive, merger and acquisition partner or investor who understands how much future corporate survival and success depends on the simple enduring genius of a good idea and the need to convert those ideas into corporate value.

Visit our Web site at: www.wiley.com/

Customer Reviews:

Non-Quantitiative & of Limited Value.......2002-05-24

For individuals actually interested in quantitative measurements of intellectual property value, this book is largely a waste of time. The text is full of a lot of business school "value creation" idealism and has little practical value in my opinion. Indeed, for those really interested in valuing intellectual property and intangible assets, see the associated book by Gordon V. Smith and Russell L. Parr. This text has everything you are looking for and this book is unnecessary.

Good quick Introduction.......2001-03-18

This book has its good points and its bad points. The good thing is that it is very well written, concise and easy to read. It brings important points to light and is a good start at dealing with a large complex issue. The bad aspect is that the book tends to rely on the experience of the author in developing the models that are at the heart of the book, rather on validated and tested truths.

A good place to start....

An invaluable introduction to IC Management.......2000-07-17

"In 1999, CEO Magazine and Arthur Andersen hosted a roundtable luncheon for CEOs interested in discussing intellectual capital (IC) and its impact on the firm as we know it. The luncheon drew 17 CEOs representing both manufacturing and service industry companies. All were intrigued by the potential hidden value that the intellectual capital perspective suggests lies untapped within their businesses, but none knew what kinds of value they could obtain from their company's intangible assets or how they might go about it. They just knew that there was hidden value in their companies and that it was somehow wrapped up in the thoughts, skills, innovations, and abilities of their employees. They wanted to learn more about this value: how to harness it, direct it, and extract value from it. This book is written for those CEOs and for anyone else who wants to know how to extract the hidden value that resides within the firm's intellectual capital. As of this writing dozens of firms actively engage in extracting value from their IC. The people directing the activities for these firms have formed a community (called the ICM Gathering) to share their ideas and success stories. With the expectation of a very few proprietary bits of information that could be useful to competitors, these firms are willing to share their knowledge, and this book draws heavily on their experiences. The purpose of this book is to help businesses profit from one of their most important assets, their intellectual capital" (from the Introduction pp.3-4).

In this context, Patrick H. Sullivan divides his book into three major parts as follows:

I. The Relationship Between Intellectual Capital and Corporate Value (Chapters 1-4). In this part, he basically:

* defines and discusses intellectual capital and its importance, and outlines some of the basic concepts underlying corporate value.

* describes a three-dimensional IC framework that reveals the IC aspect of the firm, and outlines the four key elements of the IC framework.

* discusses the kinds of value that intellectual capital provides to the firm, including direct and indirect, offensive and defensive, and internal and external value.

* discusses the ways managers may determine which activities are required to produce the firm's anticipated IC value.

II. Valuing Knowledge Companies (Chapters 5-7). In this part, he basically:

* discusses the concepts that underlie determining the amount of value that intellectual capital has for an organization.

* discusses the quantitative value of knowledge companies in two different kinds of situations: the value as a going concern (the stock market value), and the value in a merger or acquisition scenario.

* discusses the following questions: When determining how much to pay for a knowledge company being acquired, how does the potential purchaser make the calculation? Is the frame of reference an accounting or financial one? Or is it an intellectual capital one?

III. Managing Intellectual Capital (Chapters 8-12). In this part, he basically:

* describes the key elements involved in extracting value from intellectual property, including key decisions and decision-making processes, including who is involved, what information is needed by the decision-makers, what work processes are necessary to provide this information, what databases are needed to store the information, and how each decision will be implemented.

* discusses the similarities and the differences between intellectual property and intellectual asset and the implications this has for the intellectual capital management process.

* describes the relationship between knowledge, knowledge types, and intellectual capital, and introduces the relationship between knowledge and profits, the concept of value creation and value extraction.

* discusses management of the firm's core human capital and how they may be best employed.

* identifies the steps required of companies that want to implement and intellectual capital management capability.

In addition to these three parts, to reinforce the reader's knowledge, he discusses basic intelectual capital management (ICM) concepts and definitions, and provides a brief overview of the evolution of ICM as a working discipline in the appendix.

I highly recommend this invaluable study to all executives and HR practitioners.

A great place to start.......2000-07-07

I found this book very helpful for people in organizations that are complex. For small companies, sometimes we take for granted that managing human capital can be as easy as yelling over the top of a cube wall, and that applying for a patent can be amonumental achievement. But in companies where these things are routine, and systematic approaches are needed, Sullivan seems to present some credible, sound logic towards hot to approach these problems. This is not a how-to book, but returns to business management fundamentals to lay the ground work for an approach. There are no how-to books in this field, but this is an area that requires thought by readers, and Sullivan doesn't presume to know all the answers and detail. I have already applied many of the principles he presents in this book in my own company.

Value-Driven IC.......2000-07-02

This was an extremely disappointing book. Given Dr Sullivan's credentials, I was disgusted with the lack of substance within the book. For example, having stated that Financial analysts heve not given sufficient thought to developing a valuation approach to knowledge companies, and that the presented framework can be used in IC valuation, I didn't expect to be presented with several pages of "Price is the amount a purchaser is willing to pay..Cost is the amount of money required to produce an item." Believe it or not, most of us knew this already.

Be prepared for plenty of insightful and leading edge pearls of wisdom: "Parents are often asked by their child 'How much do you love me?' ..tends to fall back on answers like 'A lot!'. The point is that some things, even very important ones like love, do not lend themselves to accurate or quantifiable measurement."

It appears that Dr Sullivan didn't have anything knew to contribute and filled the book any way he could.

To assume that the book is providing anything useful to semi-educated personnel is merely patronising.

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