Book Description
Unprecedented shifts in the age distribution and diversity of the global labour pool are underway
Within the decade, as the massive boomer generation begins to retire and fewer skilled workers are available to replace them, companies in industrialized markets will face a labour shortage and brain drain of dramatic proportions.
Ken Dychtwald, Tamara Erickson, and Robert Morison argue that companies ignore these shifts at great peril. Survival will depend on redefining retirement and transforming management and human resource practices to attract, accommodate, and retain workers of all ages and backgrounds.
Based on decades of groundbreaking research and study, the authors present innovative and actionable management techniques for leveraging the knowledge of mature workers, reengaging disillusioned mid-career workers, and attracting and retaining talented younger workers.
This timely book will help organizations sustain their competitive edge in tomorrow’s inevitably tighter labour markets.
Customer Reviews:
Great insight.......2007-05-14
Ken Dychtwald covers greatly the changes in today's workforce. From diversity to age, it all effects the shortage of skills and talent. This is a great book for anyone who owns, manages or plans on opening a small business.
Mieko Banjoko
"Where did all the good ones go?".......2006-09-27
In essence, the "workforce crisis" to which the title refers results from an insufficiency of talented, skilled, and principled people at a time when competition for them has never been more intense than it is now...and "the coming shortage" of them is certain to increase in months and years ahead. In the first two Parts of this volume, the authors explain how this "brain drain" threatens organizational performance, why a new workforce stategy is needed, why older workers (ages 55+) comprise "the biggest untapped resource" and how to optimize their services, why and how the "boomer bottleneck" disrupts productibity, how to rekindle employees' passion for work, why the best of the younger workers (ages 18-34) keep leaving, and how to connect with them. Then in Parts III and IV, they explain why flexible work arrangements are needed and how to make them work, why continuous education matters and how to make it pay off, why "variety will rule" and how to leverage it, how to evaluate the talent and skills of the current workforce and anticipate their needs, and finally, how to formulate and then implement strategies by which to avert a workforce crisis.
Readers will greatly appreciate the authors' no-nonsense approach to real-world issues. Their observations are based on extensive research and their recommendations are both practical and do-able. The provision of various case studies is a substantial value-added benefit. It is instructive to see how various organizations have either avoided or satisrfactorily resolved the "workforce crisis" each faced. There are two other books which should be read in combinbation with this one: Leigh Branham`s The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It's Too Late and Bradford Smart's Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping the Best People (Revised and Updated Edition).
Find a Parade, Jump in Front, Declare Yourself Grand Marshall.......2006-09-12
The "research" that the authors quote is their own but their "findings" are nothing more than information that has been reported ad nauseum in journal articles and news stories over the past several years. The book could have been condensed drastically without losing any of the points. The last 25% of the book is a "discussion guide" that may be more valuable than the guts of the book.
Borrow this one from the library.
Thought provoking book........2006-08-04
Good analysis of the problem and some suggestions for solutions. Employers are going to have to use older workers or go without in the near term. Raises some real questions about the importance of "guest workers" to the continued success of our economy. The labor has to come from somewhere.
An inspirational vision for any manager looking at the long-term picture.......2006-06-20
WORKFORCE CRISIS: HOW TO BEAT THE COMING SHORTAGE OF SKILLS AND TALENT predicts a crisis in the workplace as the huge boomer generation requires and leaves less experience holding the bag in the workplace. Companies must rethink their workforce management and attract and retain works of all ages, as a result. Decades of research have culled these strategies for reorganization in WORKFORCE CRISIS, which will prove an inspirational vision for any manager looking at the long-term picture.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Book Description
Is it possible to rescue your career and restore your reputation after a major professional setback? In an age when we're bombarded with press accounts of disgraced CEOs, politicians, and celebrities, this question is more important than ever. In Firing Back, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward lay out a novel five-step recovery process: "Fight, not flight" (face the difficult situation), "Recruit others into battle" (enlist the right assistance), "Rebuild heroic stature" (spread the true nature of the adversity), "Prove your mettle" (regain trust and credibility), and "Rediscover the heroic mission" (clear the past and chart the future).
Anchored in original research and decades of scholarly studies across fields, this book is packed with engrossing stories and first-hand accounts from humbled CEOs and executives from firms as esteemed as GE, The Home Depot, Morgan Stanley, Apple, Staples, and Hewlett-Packard, Firing Back offers a clear plan for any businessperson who needs to recover from career setbacks and reclaim lost prestige and reputation. The authors also identify common barriers to recovery that even seasoned executives can fall prey to, and explain how to surmount them.
Customer Reviews:
Rx: give it to a young manager.......2007-09-21
A profound study of CEO career setbacks and comebacks. As we are all CEOs of our own lives, there is no one who wouldn't profit from a close read, and re-read, of this excellent volume, including the latest fallen, e.g Michael Vick, Alberto Gonzales, Don Imus, Dan Rather, etc.
Many great quotes, Eastern wisdom to Broadway, telling anecdotes and insightful studies contained herein, but more than just anecdotes, the authors lay out a five-step blueprint on making a comeback: 1) fight, don't flee, 2) recruit others to help, 3) rebuild heroic stature, 4) prove your mettle and 5) rediscover your heroic mission.
Highly recommended. Rx: give it to a young manager, may just save him/her tons of grief down the road. Review by John A. Sarkett, author, Extraordinary Comebacks.
Did An Editor Read This Book?.......2007-08-24
I'm about a third of the way through this book and have had to stop reading several times, in sheer amazement. Was an editor from Harvard Press involved in this publication at all? It's full of run-on sentences, missing words, typos, repetitions (sometimes within the same sentence) and just plain bad writing.
I've come to expect grammar and spelling mistakes in popular fiction, but these authors should know better -- they're university professors. This book is just astoundingly badly edited. The authors need to pull it off the market, have someone go through it who knows how to write, and issue a revised version. Their many good points are being lost in the debris of poor composition.
Adequate.......2007-04-15
I bought this from a magazine recommendation. The recommendation highlighted the telling of past business titans who had failed and how they rebounded. I assumed I would have chapters on each different story, a beginning, middle and end. Instead, this is more a business management book on the theoretical discussion of comebacks, why some work and some don't. The business biographies are there, but they are told in short staccato versions to prove a point and not fully explored. Nothing wrong with that, just not what I had hoped for. For others, this book will be perfect. But if you are looking for multiple business biographies as was I, this is not for you.
A deep understaning of CEOs as humans.......2007-03-08
Unfortunately, much of the literature on CEOs depicts them as either Gods , demons or idiots. I have worked with many CEOs and have found them to be human beings - just like the rest of us. Jeff Sonnenfeld is one of the few authors who has actually interacted with hundreds of CEOs. This book depicts the 'human drama' of success and failure at the top of the executive world. It also has lessons about defeat, courage and perserverence that we can all use. Lots of books talk about what we can learn from success stories - few talk about what we can learn when we fail. From my experince, most of of learning comes from our losses - not our victories. We will all face adversity. We will all fail. 'Firing Back' gives us some great ideas about how to make a comeback when that happens.
You get what is expected with minor detractors.......2007-02-21
Sonnefeld and Ward deliver a book who's title delivers exactly what you would expect; understanding failure, how to reconstruct, rebound and fire back. Though the first 2/3rd of the book great care is taken to acknowledge failure and the barriers faced in an organization on the path to recovery. These are the most poignant sections considering most people rarely see the true causes of mistakes and the barriers they face in correcting them. In the remaining 1/3rd the rebuilding of your heroic stature is approached.
This is a 4 star book on merit of its content though given a 3 star rating because of dueling writing styles among the two authors and overuse of underdeveloped examples making portions of the book an awkward read.
Book Description
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney gives you the inside story on how he rescued the Salt Lake City Olympics--and how his own brand of leadership makes him one of the Republican Party's most compelling new stars.
Customer Reviews:
An Insight into How Romney Works!.......2007-10-22
If you want to know how Mitt Romney approaches business this is a valuable book to read.
Mitt Romney was doing really well in the business world until his dear wife Ann told him that God had been good to them and now it was time to give back. Romney did just that and turned around the Olympics. After that challeng he sorted out Massachusettes and now he has got his eye on the White House.
If you're American and qualified to vote you've got to read this book to find out who Mitt Romney is. A lot of people crticize him because of his faith. This guy has a great relationship with his wife, a great family, has been very successful in business and politics too. The President of the USA should be a man for everyone to look up at. Don't most people dream of being happily married to a beautiful woman, have great kids, become a Millionaire and then President of the USA? Maybe Mitt Romney is the man for the White House...read this book and it will help you decide!
Budget Inversion.......2007-09-04
Amazing what Mitt Romney can do with numbers. If in doubt, do without. He pulled the 2002 winter games off on a no frills budget and turned a scandal into a triumph.
It seems he gets so much grief just because he is a Mormon, but I'm amazed at what he can do and mostly impressed by his get up and go, can do attitude. His wife says he loves emergencies and crisis situations of any kind. He turns the financing of the games from a huge millions of dollars deficit into a millions of dollars profit. Throughout the whole crisis leading up to the games, he made it the mission of the whole team to be honest and forthright with each other and the public. It's blatantly apparent that he always makes an honest million and demands integrity of his team whoever they be. This book was truly inspirational in many ways. If you don't want to read the book or even hate Mitt Romney, at least read the "Prologue" and the first chapter. I love the story of the American flag from the World Trade Center bombing being brought into the Olympic stadium during opening ceremonies. It's really awesome!
There have been other budget inversions in our nation's history. The most remarkable one happened on the eve of this country's founding and was repaired by Alexander Hamilton, our nation's first Treasury Secretary. That tale is best told by Forrest McDonald in his biography of Hamilton.
These are great stories and must reads for government financiers!
Mitt Romney.......2007-09-01
I would never vote for Mitt Romney, and I hope he does not win. He is so full of himself and will lie just to get votes.
Pre-nomination Mitt..........2007-06-27
With a title like "turnaround" I was expecting Mitt to explain why he has reversed all of his positions on abortion, sexuality etc just in time for the Republican nomination.
Unfortunately not.
This book is about a simpler time when Mitt did not have to reverse or hide all of his principles in order to seek higher office. It tells the story of his rescue of the Olympic Games. It is actually quite good (although Mitt takes a LOT of the credit for things that others did). Unfortunately, it also reflects on the "old" Mitt rather than the Mitt 2.0 who is running for the nomination today...
Expect: Mitt Romney to win 2008 presidential election.......2006-12-03
Through this book, I belive in Mitt Romney. He could bring this nation together ...he has the heart and wisdom.
Book Description
High reliability organizations (HROs) such as ER units in hospitals or firefighting units are designed to perform efficiently under extreme stress and pressure. Using HROs as the model for the 21st century organization, Karl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliffe show readers how to respond to unexpected challenges with flexibility rather than rigidity and to reduce the disruptive effects of change by using tools such as sensemaking, stress reduction, migrating decisions, and labeling. Introducing the powerful new concept of "mindfulness," the authors outline five qualities of the mindful organization and the organizational skills needed to achieve them. Each concept is clearly expressed in vivid case studies of organizations that demonstrate mindful practices in action.
A Book in the University of Michigan Business School Series
Voted
Best HR Book of 2001 by HR.com
Customer Reviews:
Unexpectedly a good read.......2007-01-18
I was please with the writing of this book. Not only is it a good easy read, but Weick presents the material in an intersting fashion. SO far, it has been most helpful in understanding the components of managing a situation that is completely unexpected.
A must read.......2007-01-05
Like lots of business books, this one is a bit repetitive -- it feels a little bit like an HBR article expanded into a book. That said, it's discussion of high reliability organizations is invaluable -- not from an academic or theoretical perspective, but for its practical utility.
There are elements of high-reliability organizations, like sensitivity to operations and reliance on expertise that would help any organization -- i.e., you don't have to be on an aircraft carrier or in an emergency room to take lessons from this book and apply them to your organization to increase performance.
Plus it provides an end to a continuum that starts with organizations with purely repetitive operations and continues to high reliability organizations -- allowing you to evaluate where your organization fits on this new continuum, and therefore what level of applicability these practices have to you.
Commitment To Resilience; Deference To Expertise.......2006-03-26
Karl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliffe have written an eloquent and practical guide to reliability and safety that emphasizes the managerial point of view, but is also equally helpful to researchers or safety professionals. Perhaps the greatest thing the authors are able to accomplish in this book is in emphasizing the conscious mindfulness required in critical situations, and in distinguishing in observable and real-world ways the specific components of mindfulness as seen in safety-conscious High Reliability Organizations (HROs).
The authors distill the essence of reliability (and safety) into five essential qualities: preoccupation with failure, reluctance to simplify, sensitivity to operations, commitment to resilience, and deference to expertise. As a long time safety professional (with experience largely in the aviation and chemical processing industries) I couldn't agree more with the authors after reading the text associated with these five qualities. I have found that especially in larger organizations that deference to expertise is perhaps the most difficult of the five traits to be accepted in the workplace, as generally rank or seniority tend to be deferred to, particularly in a crisis. The airline industry has come a long way with the different iterations of Crew Resource Management (CRM), and of all (often unstated) the reasons that CRM has succeeded I think that deference to expertise is the single most important.
I like the concept of realistic audits the authors promote, and particularly enjoyed the insight regarding the vulnerability of Singapore to Japanese attack as it came to be understood by Winston Churchill, who had a penchant for realistic self-appraisal, to wit: "I ought to have known. My advisors ought to have known and I ought to have been told, and I ought to have asked." The point is that we frequently believe what we want to believe, not because we are intellectually dishonest, but because of the human tendency to seek out information that confirms our views, and not to seek out disconfirming information. A mark of a truly reliable and safe organization (examples include airline operations, nuclear power plants, aircraft carriers, etc.) is seeking out information which points toward problem areas, rather than viewing successes as being demonstrative of the quality of institutional planning and procedures. The example concerning the Moura mine disaster on p.135 makes the point quite eloquently: "HROs assume that the system is endangered until there is conclusive proof that it is not." There could be no better single- sentence summary of the book.
There are many more interesting observations in the book, the most enlightening of which can be found in chapter five. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of a "learning culture" beginning on p. 136, and find that one of their most salient observations is also one of mine from years of industry experience, that being the concept of "learned helplessness." When people attempt to bring safety issues to the fore but are quickly dismissed, they learn to keep to themselves. This is a major problem, especially in large organizations, and the advice proffered by the authors is both sound and cogent. I was absolutely delighted to see the long-overdue examination (p.140) of "de minimus error" in which context is examined as it relates to seemingly unconnected small events. In this situation, people frequently seek out separate, small reasons for each deviation, ignoring the accumulating evidence that there is actually one large problem responsible for all the disparate events. Though the authors did not note it as an example, people familiar with the Apollo 13 accident will no doubt realize how the controllers had to fight off this kind of error willfully. (I think that Apollo-era NASA was an excellent example of an HRO.)
There are many more issues that Weick and Sutcliffe bring to the forefront in this book, from intelligent rule-making, to flexibility of response. My advice to any manager or safety professional is to put this book at the top of your reading list. It is easy to read, easy to digest, comprehensive in scope, yet universally applicable across industries. Even if you are not involved in an industry like nuclear power or aviation where large issues of life and death are literally in your domain, this is still mandatory reading. Any business can learn for the examples cited (which range from a merger-induced railroad meltdown at the "bad" end of the reliability scale, to nuclear-powered aircraft carrier operations at the "good" end of the reliability scale.)
I highly recommend this book to managers, safety professionals, researchers, and anyone else interested in becoming more informed about reliability and organizational safety.
Cal State Hayward Student.......2006-03-21
Good Book - easy read - thorough case studies of Union Pacific merger with Southern Pacific (and how UP botched the job because they didn't plan for the unexpted). Other analogies used: operations on an aircraft carrier, operations in a (nuclear) power plant.
Used as a textbook for a class - no free-reading here. Book was adequate.
A solid introductory text.......2006-01-07
Drs Weick and Sutcliffe provide a very readable presentation of a complex subject. Geared towards the business audience (but also a good introduction for researchers), it provides a clear outline of the underlying issues in managing complex organizations as well as concrete methods for transforming your organization into one capable of dealing with uncertainty.
Book Description
Legendary auto executive Lee Iacocca has a question for every American: Where have all the leaders gone?
The most widely recognized business executive of all time asks the tough questions that America's leaders must address:
• What is each of us giving back to our country?
• Do we truly love democracy?
• Are we too fat and satisfied for our own good?
• Why is America addicted to oil?
• Do we really care about our children's futures?
• Who will save the middle class?
A self-made man who many Americans once wished would run for president, Iacocca saved the Chrysler Corporation from financial ruin, masterminded the creation of the minivan, and oversaw the renovation of Ellis Island. Since then he has created the Iacocca Institute for leadership at Lehigh University and the Iacocca Foundation, which funds research for a cure for diabetes. Lee Iacocca believes that leaders are made in times of crisis -- such as today. He has known more leaders than almost anyone else -- among them nine U.S. presidents, many heads of state, and the CEOs of the nation's top corporations -- and is uniquely suited to share his wisdom, knowledge, and wit about the leadership of America.
Author of the gigantic number one bestsellers Iacocca: An Autobiography and Talking Straight, Lee Iacocca famously doesn't mince words and offers his no-nonsense, straight-up assessments of the American politicians most likely to run for president in 2008, including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Mitt Romney, and John Edwards.
Confessing that he has "flunked retirement," Iacocca calls on citizens of all ages to vote, get involved, and choose our leaders carefully. Along the way, he shares stories about the prominent people he's met and known, including the time he smoked cigars with Fidel Castro, what Bob Hope told him about how to live a long life, what Lady Sarah Ferguson said to him as they danced, why Bill Clinton woke him up in Italy, what Robert McNamara taught him about success, how Frank Sinatra sang for him personally, and whom Pope John Paul II asked him to pray for. We learn what he discussed with Warren Buffett, DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche, Ronald Reagan, Senator John Kerry, Congressman John Murtha, Prince Charles and Camilla, former Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar, rapper Snoop Dogg, financier Kirk Kerkorian, Ted Turner, Bob Dole, and many more.
Knowing that the times are urgent, the iconic leader shares his lessons learned and issues a call to action to summon Americans back to their roots of hard work, common sense, integrity, generosity, and optimism.
Where have all the leaders gone?
Lee Iacocca has the answer.
Customer Reviews:
WHERE HAVE ALL THE LEADERS GONE?.......2007-10-25
MAN, DID LEE TELL IT LIKE IT IS. WHAT A TERRIFIC BOOK! WHAT AN EDUCATION
I GOT FROM THIS BOOK AS TO THE ILLS IN OUR GOVERNMENT (BUSH) AND THE AUTO
INDUSTRY. HOW HIS CHARITY EFFORTS WERE HAMPERED BY GREED AND ARROGANCE.
HIS IDEAS TO TRY TO CORRECT THE ILLS HE MENTIONS ARE NOT DRAMATIC OR OF
EXTREME REVOLUTIONARY FORM, BUT SIMPLE GIVE AND TAKE METHODS.
TOO BAD THE LAST SEVEN (7) PATHETIC BUSH YEARS WERE NOT SEVEN (7) YEARS OF
TRUE LEADERSHIP UNDER LEE---HE WOULD BE A TERRIFIC PRESIDENT, BUT NOBODY'S
TOY.
Where have all the leaders gone?.......2007-10-25
I was a little let down by this book. Iacocca makes sense, but the book is long on criticism and shorter on leadership solutions than I expected. I bought it for a research project and at least the 9 Cs will be useful. It was an entertaining and thought provoking book and I enjoyed reading it. It just wasn't as useful for my academic purposes as I had hoped.
Answer: They've gone into hiding!.......2007-10-18
Review: "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?"
For the past several years, I have been wringing my hands about the growing dearth of leadership in our nation. I suspect this arises as education snobbery pushes common sense aside in favor of intellectualism. When I learned that Lee Iacocca, one of our greatest contemporary leaders, was similarly concerned and had authored a book on the subject, I was eager to read it. I was confident that he would have some good ideas and would offer some sound advice.
Discouragingly, I was wrong.
Where have all the leaders gone? I wonder if the author chose the title, since the book does not give us a direct answer. On the chance that was because he could not figure it out, here is my answer: They have gone into hiding, Lee, just like you!
According to his memoirs, as documented here, Lee Iacocca had at least three opportunities to serve his country in government and in positions as high as President. His reasons for passing on those solicitations were the same as usually uttered by other very capable people; they are not confident about their ability to participate effectively in the degradingly duplicitous and disingenuous management system that we currently call "politics." That, of course, has left leadership positions open to those who are comfortable in that paradigm. Hence today's situation.
As an alternative, he recommends that we all get more conscientious about voting, and evaluate candidates much more critically before going to the polls. Gee; thank's Lee. We never thought of that!
I'm sorry, but we're tired of rolling up our sleeves and donning our thinking caps to evaluate - as Jerry Brown cleverly put it over ten years ago - "the evil of two lessers." Since people of your caliber choose to excuse themselves, our role defaults to bottom-fishing. Carp, mud puppies and other scavengers; all junk fish with no fight in them, and never worthy of our table. Not worth fishing for! Why bother?
The last sentence in the book is, "Won't you join me?" My first take on that was surprise: 'join you in what?' However, on second thought, I guess my answer is, "Yes." We are all doing the same thing as you. We are bitching and complaining, but keeping far enough away from the mud-wrestling pit that we will not get splattered.
Harry Truman was a lot like Lee Iacocca in many ways - common, practical, decisive, responsible and plain talking. Wonder where we would be today had he felt the same way and let things default to lesser men.
The above notwithstanding, I give Lee's book high marks.
First, because the author is Lee Iacocca, a staunch, real life American icon - someone with a story every youngster should know about. Second, because there is so much more in the book that in conversations with family and friends, no matter what the topic, I currently find myself mentioning what Iacocca had to say. I guess that means I think what he had to say on those things is worth knowing about.
Solutions for Secretaries of Small NPO's
The Manitou Passage Story
O.K., we get it. You hate Bush. But, what about leadership???.......2007-10-10
This book isn't about leadership - it's a collection of hateful rants aimed at the Bush presidency. Touting the "success" of the Chrysler K car (!?!?!) was laughable and delivering a mean-spirited attack about the president's actions on 9/11 was churlish and really low. I'm glad my president had the good sense NOT to look panicked to the world (kids at school) and to assess his safety before heading back to D.C. This book masquerades as a book about leadership, but it is really an octogenarian's platform for spewing his political dogma and venom.
Thank Goodness I Got This From The Library.......2007-10-02
I thought Iacocca might have some interesting observations on leadership based on his years at Ford and Chrysler. After all, this is the man whose inspired leadership saved the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Instead, Iacocca has done a good job of impersonating a liberal version of Ann Coulter as he splashes his hatred (no other word describes it) of George Bush on page after page.
Iacocca lists his traits of a leader -- he calls them his Nine Cs of Leadership -- then pours out his bile on George Bush by describing the president's inadequacies in each. Here's an example under the "C" for CRISIS: "On September 11, 2001," Iacocca writes, "we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. Where was George Bush? He was reading a story about a pet goat to kids in Florida."
I would agree that President Bush has shortcomings in terms of his leadership skill, especially as a communicator. But I believe Iacocca takes far too many cheap shots in his latest book for it to have any credibility as a learning tool. I'd like to suggest that Iacocca add one more "C" to his list to make it an even ten: CIVILITY. A good leader (and writer) understands the dangers of overkill.
Book Description
Under Andy Grove's leadership, Intel has become the world's largest chip maker and one of the most admired companies in the world. In
Only the Paranoid Survive, Grove reveals his strategy of focusing on a new way of measuring the nightmare moment every leader dreads--when massive change occurs and a company must, virtually overnight, adapt or fall by the wayside.
Grove calls such a moment a Strategic Inflection Point, which can be set off by almost anything: mega-competition, a change in regulations, or a seemingly modest change in technology. When a Strategic Inflection Point hits, the ordinary rules of business go out the window. Yet, managed right, a Strategic Inflection Point can be an opportunity to win in the marketplace and emerge stronger than ever.
Grove underscores his message by examining his own record of success and failure, including how he navigated the events of the Pentium flaw, which threatened Intel's reputation in 1994, and how he has dealt with the explosions in growth of the Internet. The work of a lifetime,
Only the Paranoid Survive is a classic of managerial and leadership skills.
The Currency Paperback edition of
Only the Paranoid Survive includes a new chapter about the impact of strategic inflection points on individual careers--how to predict them and how to benefit from them.
Customer Reviews:
Great Insight Into a Business Leader's World.......2007-10-20
This book covers the history of Intel, some great stories, his management approach and even the daily regime of a business warrior. I highly recommend. And another thing I like - it is relatively short.
Enriching Personal Real-Life Account by Someone Who Had Managed a Mega-Size Corporation!!! .......2007-03-20
The real value of this book is that it is written by someone, Andrew Grove, who has actual experiences and managed a start-up right up to a mega successful corporation. There are tons of management and marketing books written by people, based on case-studies and analysis, but lack actual experiences managing or working in a corporation.
The main concept of this book is on strategic inflection point, which is a time in the life of the business when its fundamentals are about to change. This change can either infer an opportunity to rise to new heights or signal the beginning of the end. Hence, this book is about the impact of changing rules, guidelines to assist in identifying those situations and about finding your way through those uncharted territories. This book serves to raise our awareness of going through cataclysmic changes and to provide a framework in which to deal with them.
This book uses Porter's competitive analysis strategy in terms of the 6 forces as a base. The 6 forces are
1. Power, vigor and competence of existing competitors
2. Power, vigor and competence of complementors
3. Power, vigor and competence of customers
4. Power, vigor and competence of suppliers
5. Power, vigor and competence of potential competitors
6. Power, vigor and competence of substitutes
Once a very large change happens in one or several of these 6 forces, a "10X" force is in effect. Very often the transition from a normal business environment to that of a "10X" business environment is very gradual and thus, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact time in which the "10X" force came about. Strategic inflection point comes about when this balance of forces shifts from the normal environment to that of the new "10X" environment and it is difficult to pinpoint its exact occurrence.
The circumstances that help to identify this strategic inflection point are
1. Presence of troubling sense that something is different such as changes in customers' attitudes, entrant of new competitors, etc.
2. Growing dissonance or misalignment between corporate statements and operation actions.
3. Emergence of new framework or actions.
4. New set of corporate statements is generated.
Andrew gave an analogy of working your way though a strategic inflection point to be just like venturing into the valley of death, the perilous transition between the old and the new environments. It is difficult to know the right moment to execute the appropriate actions. Since timing is everything, it is attractive to undertake these changes when the company is in a healthy financial state. This means "acting when not everything is known, when the data aren't in.", merely relying on "instinct and personal judgments" (Chapt 2). Hence it is a matter of training your instincts to pick up a different set of signals.
The only way we know whether a change signals a strategic inflection point is through the process of clarification that comes from broad and intensive debate. This debate should involve technical discussions, marketing discussions and considerations of strategic repercussions (how will it affect our business if we make a dramatic move; how will it affect if we don't?). The more complex the issues are, the more levels of management should be involved because people from different levels of management bring completely different points of view and expertise. The debate should involve people from outside the company, customers and partners with different areas of expertise and interests. When dealing with emerging trends, you may very well have to go against rational extrapolation of data and rely instead on anecdotal observations and your instincts. (chapter 6). Constructively debating tough issues and getting somewhere is only possible when people can speak their minds without fear of punishment.
Andrew offers a few guidelines to discern "signal" from "noise"
1. Is your key competitor about to change? Suggested using the "silver bullet test": If you had just one bullet, whom among your many competitors would you save it for? When the answer to this question stops being as crystal clear, it is time to sit up and pay special attention.
2. Is your key complementor about to change? Does the company that in the past years mattered the most to your business seem less important today? Does it look like another company is about to eclipse them? If so, it may be a sign of shifting industry dynamics.
3. Does it seem that people who for years had been very competent have suddenly gotten decoupled from what really matters? If key aspects of the business shift around us, the very process that got us where we were might retard your ability to recognize the new trends.
Generally you cannot judge the significance of the strategic inflection point by the quality of the first version or release of the product. You will need to draw on your experiences to discern its possible impacts.
Strategic dissonance is the divergence between actions and statements; saying one thing and doing another. Strategic dissonance is an automatic reaction to a strategic inflection point that probing for it is perhaps the best test of one.
Clarity of direction, which includes describing what we are going after, as well as, describing what we will not be going after, is exceedingly important at the late stage of a strategic transformation. This book defines strategic plans as statements of what we intend to do, whereas strategic actions as steps we have already taken or are taking. Strategic plans are abstract and are usually couched in language meant for the company's management. Strategic actions matter because they immediately affect people's lives. The most effective way to transform a company is through a series of incremental changes that are consistent with a clearly articulated end result.
This book mentions the "Taillight" approach - some companies may profitably wait for others to test the limits of technological possibilities or market acceptance and then commit to following, catching up and passing them.
A question that often comes up at times of strategic transformation is whether you should pursue a highly focused approach, betting everything on one strategic goal or should you hedge. It takes every erg of energy in your organization to do a good job pursuing one strategic aim, especially in the face of aggressive and competent competition. It is hard to lead the organization out of the valley of death without a clear and simple strategic direction. Demoralized organizations are unlikely to be able to deal with multiple objectives. Thus, hedging is expensive and dilutes commitment, and is not recommended.
"Most companies don't die because they are wrong; most die because they don't commit themselves... The greatest danger is in standing still" (Chapter 8).
The leader needs to show interest in the elements leading to the strategic direction, by getting involved in details that are appropriate to the new direction and by withdrawing attention, energy and involvement from those things that do not fit. At times like this, the calendar is the most important strategic tools in communication. Andrew emphasizes that communicating strategic change in an interactive exposed fashion is important and necessary such as corporate email announcements and meetings, etc.
Companies that successfully navigate through strategic inflection points tend to have a good dialectic between bottom-up and top-down actions. Bottom-up actions come from the ranks of middle managers, who by the nature of their jobs are exposed to the first whiffs of the winds of change, who are located at the peripheral of the action where change is first perceived and who catch on early. But by the nature of their work, they can only affect things locally. Their actions must meet halfway the actions generated by senior management. While those managers are isolated from the winds of change, but once they commit themselves to a new direction, they can affect the strategy of the entire organization. The best results seem to prevail when bottom-up and top-down actions are equally strong. When the top management lets go a little, the bottom-up actions will drive towards chaos by experimenting, by pursuing different product strategies, by generally pulling the company in a multiplicity of directions. After such creative chaos reigns and a direction becomes clear, it is up to senior management to reign in chaos. A pendulum-like swing between the 2 types of actions is the best way to work your way through a strategic transformation. What is needed is a balanced interaction between the middle managers, with their deep knowledge but narrow focus and senior management, whose larger perspective could set a context.
An organization that has a culture that can deal with these 2 phases - debate (chaos reign) and a determined march (chaos reined in) is a powerful, adaptive organization. Such an organization has 2 important attributes:
1. It tolerates and even encourages debates. These debates are vigorous, devoted to exploring issues, indifferent to rank and include individuals of varied backgrounds.
2. It is capable of making and accepting clear decisions, with the entire organization then supporting the decision.
This book emphasizes on the concepts by reliving a few of Intel's crisis; the mid-80s shift from memory to microprocessors business, RISC vs CISC architecture and during the fall of 1994 the floating point bug associated with Intel's flagship device; the Pentium processor. The magnitude of this crisis is so significant in that a tiny flaw in the microprocessor's floating point unit could mushroom into half a billion dollars' worth of damage in less than 6 weeks. This was later narrowed down to 2 key factors. First the success of Intel's merchandising "Intel Inside" program, which has projected a strong Intel image right to the end-user, became a double-edge sword in that end users directly contact Intel for a replacement microprocessor. In a normal incidence, it is likely to be the computer manufacturers who will perform the recall and replacement. But Intel's identity is so strong with the end-users that they became the ones asking for a recall and replacement. Second, the other factor is attributed to Intel's sheer size. Intel had become gigantic in the eyes of the computer buyers. And thus the huge cost in replacement.
This book also relates the transition of the computer industry in the 80s vertical alignment to that in the 90s; the horizontal alignment. This came about with the appearance of the microprocessor and then the personal computer. The "10X" force came about when the technology permitted the integration of several chips into one single chip and this same microprocessor enabled the production of all kinds of personal computers. As the microprocessor became the basic building block, economics of mass production worked its charm giving extremely cost-effective PCs. Over time, this changed the entire structure of the industry and a new horizontal industry emerged. As a result of this trend, companies previously successful in the vertical alignment, but who failed to adapt or recognize this "10X" force failed and no longer existed today. Examples are Wang and Cray. At the same time, this change also spelled opportunities for new entrants such as Dell and Compaq. Thus when an industry goes through a strategic inflection point, the practitioners of the old industry may have trouble, while on the other hand, this new environment provides opportunities for new entrants into this industry.
The key characteristics of horizontal industries is that they live and die by mass production and mass marketing, bringing cost-effective solutions and more specialization, i.e the best in class for that particular market segment such as TV monitors, memory, storage devices, etc.
The new rules of the horizontal industry are
1. Do not differentiate without a difference. Do not introduce improvements whose only purpose is to give you an advantage over your competitor without giving your customer a substantial advantage. Example is a "better PC" departed from the mainstream standard and hence giving rise to software incompatibility.
2. Grab opportunity when there is a technology break or change coming along.
3. Price for what the market will bear. Price for volume. Work like the devil on your costs so that it becomes profitable. This leads to economies of scale whereby by being a large-volume supplier, you can spread and recoup those costs. In contrast, cost-based pricing will often lead you into a niche position.
To be a leader or survivor in a horizontal and commoditized industry, this book provides some food for thought. A prime example is Intel exiting the commoditized memory industry in which they were once in the lead, until the entrance of the Japanese manufacturers.
Rhetoric and boring!.......2007-01-11
This book is rhetoric and boring with a few examples of successful and unsuccessful ventures so I started reading about Grove and his background.
The influence of communism in his early years seems to have put Grove in the paranoia groove. The culture of paranoia is clearly seen in Intel's business today- slow decision making, trust issues with employees and even customers!
Hire and fire culture has made the remaining employees work the system to `survive' rather than innovate and thrive.
Compare and contrast this Apple or for that matter even AMD and you will realize these companies are more in tune with their customers and employees (and hence their stock holders) in terms of basic trust.
We are not in a communist environment anymore. By being paranoid Grove's Intel has proved, you can only survive and barely at that.
Only for business managers?.......2006-08-28
Contrary to popular opinion on this website, I found this book to be boring, repetitive and badly written. It was so boring I struggled to finish it during a journey where I had little else to do. This book summarizes a few events that were significant to Intel and offers advice on how similar business changes should be handled. Being an engineer, and not a manager, I found this to be vague and rambling. However I do agree with the book's title - Only the Paranoid survive. I think this outlook is useful for everyone, and not just business types.
Lengthy Writing.......2006-01-27
I picked up this book after seeing some good reviews about it.
The whole book is about "Strategic Reflection Point".
I was disappointed that Andy Grove didn't try to explain SRP in a more concrete manner. After finishing the book, I still have very vague & abstract knowledge on SRP.
Nevertheless, Andy Grove is still one of the best CEOs I admired.
Average customer rating:
- Still Relevant
- The new Economics
- Demings Philosophy in A Book
- This Book Really Struck Home
- Applied common sense (which is far from common)
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ASIN: 0262541157 |
Book Description
"Long-term commitment to new learning and new philosophy is required of any management that seeks transformation. The timid and the fainthearted, and the people that expect quick results, are doomed to disappointment."
According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.
previously published by MIT-CAES
Customer Reviews:
Still Relevant.......2007-09-05
I remeber reading and listening to Dr. Deming in the 80's and now that I am the Lean Manager I still refer to his teachings. this book is a must have in your library
The new Economics.......2007-06-05
This is a very good book, it gives me a new insight on how a good management is supposed to be. I would never know about all this good stuff other than reading this.
Demings Philosophy in A Book.......2007-01-22
W. Edward Deming is one of my leadership heroes (Peter Drucker, Henry Ford, Alfred Sloan, Steven Covey are a few others). Deming was a genius. I own several video and DVD's from his 4 day seminars and have read many books by his followers.
This book is Deming on Deming. He does a excellent job with his own theory (seems like a dumb statement, but a brilliant man can be a poor writer). The only beef I have with the book is that it makes me cynical about and arrogant relating to American Management practices (this of course, is a reflection on my own character and not the authors).
This book is a lexicon of things to do and things to not do in order to run a successful business; now AND in the future. It teaches that the important thing is not to focus on the how, but rather the why. The "How" changes, but "why" should not (Constancy of Purpose, Common Aim).
If you are a Deming disciple you must own this book and also his last book, THE NEW ECONOMICS. If you are new to Deming I'd recommend the NEW ECONOMICS first because it summarizes his philosophy nicely into four areas of Profound Knowledge and is less likely to cause negative thinking about American management. In my opinion, we need more hope and positive thinking, not more criticism.
Positive books on Deming include just about every other book I've read about his philosophy. So, once you've read someone else's book about his philosophy, it's time for you to read this book.
The content of this book is so broad and deep that it changed my understanding of the world I live in fundamentally. This has caused communication problems for me with others. Helping others make the same paradigm shift without the knowledge Deming gives is hard to accomplish. So a knowledge gulf is created by reading this book. In some ways this book accomplishes too much. It's scope is too broad. Perhaps it is like giving sticks of dynamite to a child. It's too powerful to play with without wisdom.
The content and authorship of this book deserves 5 stars, but I give it 4 stars for it's effect on me.
This Book Really Struck Home.......2007-01-09
I can't say enough about the revealing content of this book. I have worked as a Six Sigma Blackbelt for 4 companies, over 12 years, and Dr. Deming is spot on about the sorry state of the management of most manufacturing companies in the US. Why can't we just listen???
Maybe if enough of us pick this book up, read it, and absorb it...
Applied common sense (which is far from common).......2006-10-24
Since the 1950's, W. Edwards Deming has been telling the simple truth about how to do high-quality, productive, and satisfying work. Out of the Crisis is his original book that pulls together common sense, knowledge of people, serious statistics, and systems thinking. Many examples, at first reading, may appear far away from software development, but look again. Challenge yourself to make a difference: read this book.
Book Description
"An in-depth step-by-step guide to help you develop, test, and maintain your business continuity plan."
The business continuity planning process consists of six key stages:
1. Risk management 2. Business impact analysis 3. Business continuity strategy development 4. Business continuity plan development 5. Business continuity plan testing 6. Business continuity plan maintenance
Although there are many publications that explain business continuity planning, very few provide detailed methods on how to implement it; even fewer cover implementation of all six stages.
Business Continuity Planning Methodology is a single, comprehensive, text that explains the principles of business continuity planning and presents an easy to follow step-by-step methodology to implement its six stages. The methodology considers protection of mission critical business processes, resources, and services. It focuses on key resources such as IT systems and infrastructure, manufacturing and production equipment and products, facilities, work areas, vital records, and critical data. The methodology is consistent with business continuity industry standards, guidelines, and best practices such as ISO/IEC 17799, NFPA 1600, COBIT, and DRI International.
This book gives readers the skills to manage risks, conduct a business impact analysis, develop a business continuity strategy, and develop, test, and maintain a business continuity plan. The main body of the book contains chapters structured according to the six business continuity planning stages:
Risk Management This chapter introduces the key concepts of risk management and describes a framework for managing risks to business continuity. The framework includes steps for risk assessment, risk control options analysis, risk control implementation, risk control decision, and risk reporting. The chapter explains the concepts and implementation of these steps through examples of business continuity risk.
Business Impact Analysis This chapter describes the steps for conducting a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and explains the implementation of these steps through an example BIA scenario. The BIA steps include assessment of financial and operational impacts, identification of mission critical business functions and processes, identification of critical IT systems and applications, and determination of recovery requirements. Topics in this chapter include comparison of BIA and risk management; BIA benefits and responsibilities; methods of conducting a BIA; disaster-to-recovery time line and events; elements of the BIA such as Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD), Recovery Time Objective (RTO), Recovery Point Objective (RPO), Work Backlog, and Data Loss; summarized findings; and BIA report content.
Business Continuity Strategy Development The business continuity strategy development framework presented in this chapter is designed to help the reader determine the best strategy that will enable a timely and cost-effective recovery from a potential business disruption. It describes the steps to identify recovery requirements and options, conduct a cost-benefit assessment, and identity and select the most viable recovery options. This chapter also discusses general considerations for developing a business continuity strategy, and provides recommendations for recovery contracts and service level agreements.
Business Continuity Plan Development This chapter is a guide for developing an effective business continuity plan based on the results of the preceding stages. It explains the detailed structure and content for an effective plan and covers the key plan execution phases: initial response and notification, problem assessment and escalation, disaster declaration, plan implementation logistics, recovery and resumption, and restoration. Numerous examples of plan activities, procedures, and tasks help to explain the content required in the plan. This chapter also addresses the requirements for an emergency response plan and crisis communication plan.
Business Continuity Plan Testing This chapter introduces the key concepts of business continuity plan testing and provides a framework for developing an effective test plan. The topics include test objectives, test benefits, test methods, test scenarios, test evaluation criteria, and test budget. The framework then explains the sequence of test plan development steps and addresses various issues and concerns that influence the test plan, such as test constraints, strategy, logistics, and risks.
Business Continuity Plan Maintenance The focus of this chapter is on maintaining the business continuity plan in a constant ready-state. It describes activities needed to ensure that the business continuity plan always remains accurate, current, and complete. Topics covered in this chapter include business continuity plan change management, plan testing, training, and audit.
This book also contains the following appendices: a summary of deliverables resulting from the six stages of the business continuity planning process; summary of business continuity standard guidelines and best practices; business continuity resource information; and a glossary of business continuity terminology.
This comprehensive text is an excellent resource for those who develop business continuity plans, manage business continuity projects, or want to learn about the subject of BCP. It is a valuable reference for people seeking certifications such as CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) or CBCP (Certified Business Continuity Professional).
Customer Reviews:
An Essential Resource.......2005-12-21
This book should be on every Business Continuity Planner's bookshelf. It succinctly presents the DRII Professional Practices - there is no "fluff" in this book.
This volume deserves to be an essential part of every BCP's toolbox.
wholistic approach - VERY GOOD!.......2005-07-26
This book is comprehensive and covers all the bases. No matter the size of your organizatrion, this book will give you solid guidelines and examples of starting a Business Continuity Program, managing it and performing all the other functions needed to help protect your company in the event of any sort of disruption or disaster.
Absolutely the best - A MUST BUY .......2005-03-04
This is the first Amazon review I've every submitted - but this book deserves my time. The book is full of rich content, it's well organized and is the perfect resource for both beginners and seasoned Business Continuity Planners. If you buy only one book, make this the one.
Mike Hydanus
President
Sage Consulting Group, LLC
Amazon.com
Many Americans have resisted the notion that their country is an imperial power. The idea seems to contradict the values of the Republic and its Founding Fathers. But in Empire of Debt, prominent financial analysts Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin argue passionately that not only is the United States an empire, but it is also one whose end is coming soon. Bonner and Wiggin are the brains behind www.dailyreckoning.com, an iconoclastic and irreverent market advisory service that has long raised concerns about American indebtedness and warned of a looming dollar crisis. In Empire of Debt, a sequel to their earlier doom-and-gloom book Financial Reckoning Day, they elaborate on their argument that the U.S. economy is about to implode.
Bonner and Wiggin enumerate a long list of chronic ailments that imperil the American financial system--a massive trade deficit, soaring personal and government debt, a housing bubble, runaway military expenditures. These problems "hardly disturb the sleep of the imperial race," the authors write. "[But] all empires must pass away." Bonner and Wiggin argue that American imperial delusions are similar to the fantasies that fueled the dot-com market mania. They recommend readers buy gold as insurance in the event of a financial crisis. Empire of Debt flounders when discussing how America indebted itself; the authors blame the Federal Reserve Board's low interest rates but gloss over the fact that rates were slashed because the U.S. teetered on the brink of deflation in 2002 and 2003 (a topic they give more attention to in Financial Reckoning Day). As hardcore free-marketeers, Bonner and Wiggin also seem to long for the pre-welfare days of the 1920s but forget how that period's policies led to the Great Depression. That said, Empire of Debt contains many revelations that will open eyes. --Alex Roslin
Book Description
In Empire of Debt, maverick financial writers Bill Bonner and Addison Wiggin provide you with the first in-depth look at how the American character has shifted to accommodate its new imperial role; how we have abandoned the private virtues of personal liberty, economic freedom, and fiscal restraint; and how the government has gained control of public life and the economy.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting read but no viable solutions offered.......2007-10-10
Empire of Debt points out many flaws in our current economic system. We have learned to live off the "kindness of foreigners", who provide all our products in return for pieces of paper. We live off and the fruit of earlier generations while passing on the bills onto future generations. The abuse of credit to juice up current consumption would surprise even David Hume who lamented about the modern (18th century), practice of passing on the today's debts to future generations as compared to the ancient Romans. Hume would be surprised by our audacity to not only pass on the debt of wars but of mere day to day operating expenses.
Many of these points are hammered home repetitiously and to people that uninitiated in the economics of the problem it may come as a surprise. If foreigners do not fund our lifestyle by loaning us money we can not live the way we do. And, since we are letting the dollar fall in value these foreigners are getting a queasy feeling as their investments in the USA become smaller and smaller, especially, the Saudis with their $800B future generation fund looking like a stack of Polish war bonds. Something will give; it's only a question of time.
There are no good solutions here. Bonner and Wiggin make the case for gold and seem to indicate a gold standard would be at least part of a solution. They also point out that only 58,000 metric tons of gold have been mined since 1971, which they contrast with the out of control monetary growth in the US. Of course, the amount of goods in circulation has also gone up explosively since 1971 and if the money supply, which would equal the gold supply if it were indeed linked to gold, would result in severe DEFLATION. More goods chasing less money. This is what happened in the 1890s and 1900s which resulted in the agitation for Silver to increase the money supply. Western states owing money to eastern bankers in a period of falling prices could not service their debts, etc. Later the discovery of the cyanide process allowed gold to be extracted from South African mines causing the gold supply to increase greatly resulting in inflationary effects. This points out why gold is no panacea; there is no intrinsic connection between the amount of gold in the world and world production of goods and services. There must be a balance between the two for price stability.
The authors point out the poor history of fiat paper money systems, like our own. The fact is that it much easier to move a zero on a ledger sheet or print more currency than to exercise discipline in the growth of the money supply or to exercise spending restraint. Now, with money growth not only the providence of the Fed but of financial institutions the system is more out of control than ever.
For people that think the autopilot of the gold system is the answer to prevent the abuses described in this book, the record of the depression era should give pause. True, managing the world trade through a gold system would put limits on grasping politicians and incompetent financiers. However, this system has been gamed before to the detriment of all. The fine clockwork of the gold system requires everyone to play by the rules. If a country is exporting a lot gold flows into their country, money supply grows prices rise and the system naturally balances as foreigners stop buying at the higher prices. In the 1920s the USA had such a situation and by resorting to open market operations the Fed was able to "sterilize" these inflows, screwing our trading partners. Today, we could guess who would be sterilizing their inflows, the Chinese. The gold standard also shackled all the gold standard countries together so when the depression hit it knocked out all countries that were on gold. Silver standard countries like China were not affected immediately.
This was a fun read with a little bit or ranting at certain figures and some bizarre takes on history. Yes WWII had to be fought maybe not WWI and the Civil War was necessary to prevent the country from falling into chaos. There are no clear solutions out of this mess.
Caustic & Straightforward, But..........2007-07-31
Darkly humourous--unlike assessments written at dailyreckoning.com; however, I disagree with the authors' view on the Second World War. I don't think that America, "empire" or not, Depression or not, would have sat back and allowed Germany and Japan to conquer the world.
It was Germany's ambition to conquer America, but to leave that to the next generation. It was Japan's ambition to conquer the world, too, which deliberately gave the West the false impression that by establishing its Diet (parliament) that it had embraced democracy. We would have been left with a world run by Germany and Japan that possibly would have resulted in the end of everything once each acquired nuclear weapons and used them to challenge each other in a showdown for world dominance.
I agree with their point too that America has ceded more and more states'rights to the federal government. To this can be added the "line-item veto" (since ruled unconstitutional) and a desire to give "fast-track" authority to the president to negotiate under GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) thereby bypassing Congress.
Buy Gold!.......2007-07-24
The book is exactly about what the title says it is:
1. The United States has become an empire. And like all the empires that have come before (Page 49 has a list of them), there will come a time, sooner or later, when it will no longer be an empire.
2. Unlike empires of the past, which were financed by resources (tribute, human, mineral, etc.) of the places colonized or taken over by the empire, the United States empire is financed by debt. The US government is over $36 trillion in debt, largely to foreign debtors, while individual Americans are burdened with consumer debt such as credit cards and mortgages--without any sign of letting up.
The first section of the book talks about empires, describing those of Genghis Khan, Ancient Greece and Rome, and Austria-Hungary. According to the authors, the United States first started to become an empire with Theodore Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders". But it was really Woodrow Wilson's adventures in Mexico, and later World War I, that really established the idea of the United States as an empire. From then on, whether it was FDR in World War II, Johnson's Vietnam...all the way to Reagan's Cold War and Bush's Iraq...we have spent much blood and treasure trying to make the world a better place for democracy, or fight commies, or terrorism, or whatever. All financed by increasing debt, of course. Domestic welfare programs such as FDR's New Deal, Johnson's Great Society, etc. also got financed similarly. At some point all this debt must be paid, and it would not be a pretty thing if all our debtors, one day, demanded all their money at once!
Meanwhile, while America (and Americans) are running up all this debt, the rest of the world (read China and India primarily, but Russia and Brazil as well) has been actually making things, building up their factories and selling products, all for lower wages than America (and the developed West, for that matter). Inflation is also eating into the (meager) savings of Americans.
The last section discusses investing in stocks, real estate, etc. Most Americans invest to get something for nothing, and end up getting poor results. The smarter way to invest, according to the authors, is to buy stock in companies that the investor, using what they call "insider" information--private information and personal experience. (Unfortunately, the authors don't seem to clearly distinguish this from "insider trading", which is illegal!)
The theme running through the book is "Buy Gold". This comes to the forefront in the last few pages, where the authors compare gold to paper currency. While governments can print as much paper money as they think they need, it's harder for them to do that with gold. Gold will always be worth something, while paper currency can (and has) lost value.
This is a good read. I especially liked the history of all of the empires in the past, and how the United States compares to them. What will happen at the end of the American Empire is (necessarily) an open question, but we can all be prepared.....
Bill Bonner king of "doom & gloom".......2007-07-07
His solution is to buy gold/silver & dig
yourself a hole in a ground to live in.
Show Your Love for Your Kin and Yourself -- Read Empire of Debt.......2007-07-01
Through your life, few books are worth trading your time to read them for your time expressing your love for others, making others laugh and helping your neighbors.
Empire of Debt is one of those books you should read.
Like most books, the story does not begin until several chapters ahead and like most books, Empire of Debt suffers from the wrong chapter sequence.
Here's a better chapter sequence to get you to the story faster:
Part 1
[should read -- sets the stage of how the U.S. overthrew the American Republic]
The Road to Hell (5)
The Revolution of 1913 and the Great Depression (6)
How Empires Work (3)
Part 2
[optional read -- yet helpful if you do not know this history]
Nixon's the One (8)
Reagan's Legacy (9)
The U.S.'s (America's) Glorious Empire of Debt (10)
Still Turning Japanese (14)
Part 3
[must read -- the real story]
Modern Imperial Finance (11)
Welcome to Squanderville (13)
The Wall Street Fandango (15)
Something Wicked This Way Comes (12)
Subversive Investing (16)
Part 4
[optional read -- coda commentary about past empires]
Empires of Dirt (2)
Dead Men Talking (1)
Slouching Toward Empire (Introduction)
Part 5
[optional read -- for history buffs only]
MacNamara's War (7)
As We Go Marching (2)
Book Description
Since 1980, the number of people in U.S. prisons has increased more than 450%. Despite a crime rate that has been falling steadily for decades, California has led the way in this explosion, with what a state analyst called "the biggest prison building project in the history of the world." Golden Gulag provides the first detailed explanation for that buildup by looking at how political and economic forces, ranging from global to local, conjoined to produce the prison boom.
In an informed and impassioned account, Ruth Wilson Gilmore examines this issue through statewide, rural, and urban perspectives to explain how the expansion developed from surpluses of finance capital, labor, land, and state capacity. Detailing crises that hit California's economy with particular ferocity, she argues that defeats of radical struggles, weakening of labor, and shifting patterns of capital investment have been key conditions for prison growth. The results--a vast and expensive prison system, a huge number off incarcerated young people of color, and the increase in punitive justice such as the "three strikes" law--pose profound and troubling questions for the future of California, the United States, and the world. Golden Gulag provides a rich context for this complex dilemma, and at the same time challenges many cherished assumptions about who benefits and who suffers from the state's commitment to prison expansion.
Customer Reviews:
Lots of Good Stuff.......2007-05-13
As a researcher in criminology and recidivism, this book proved to be very helpful!
bought for another.......2007-02-19
i purchased for a friend who is an inmate
he has praised the book to me
A disappointment.......2007-02-04
This book could have used an editor. I struggled through 200 of the 250 pages (before the notes at the end) before giving up. I was hoping to read an inside account of how the prison unions gained power to promote the building of more prisons, or perhaps an in-depth review of how politicians manipulated the public to be tough on crime. Instead, I find a hard to follow mish-mash of various vaguely related topics (farm worker struggles in the central valley, problems in Latin America, etc.). Although never outright stated, it seems her main conclusion is that California built all these prisons, and then toughened the laws to fill them, because the state wanted to develop land in rural areas. Huh? Could it be that that instead no one else wanted prisons near them, and rural locations were the only place they would be accepted, partly because locals were more interested in the prison jobs? And if this is the conclusion, one would think there would be some analysis disproving that it wasn't politicians getting tough on crime first, and overcrowding then driving the building of prisons in rural areas, rather than the other way around.
The other problem is that the writing appears like someone trying to sound important, rather than trying to explain something. The sentence structure was difficult to follow, with too many adjectives, etc. Here is an example from page 54: "The pivotal verb 'to reproduce' signifies the broad array of political, economic, cultural, and biological capacities a society uses to renew itself daily, seasonally, generationally." Also, the constant quotes in the middle of the text, apparently to give the air of authority missing in the text itself, was distracting. Why not use footnotes? An example from page 43: "The location of defense and other high-technology jobs (Soja 1989; Oliver et al. 1993) exacerbated the state's residential and income segregation (Walters 1992; Mike Davis 1990; Bullard et al. 1994).
There are a few good points buried in this book. For example, the point that California politicians got tough on crime at a time when crime had already started to decline for two years. Or the fact that the definition of crime determines how many criminals there are - an increasing crime rate doesn't necessarily mean an increase in crime, it can simply reflect a change in the definition of what is a crime (possession of smaller amounts of drugs, etc.). Or that the determinate sentencing we now have was partly a result of prisoners suing to be treated equally under the parole rules, with a very unintended consequence. I wish the book had focused on aspects like these, and had been written in easier to follow language.
An excellent book
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