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Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't

2012-11-03 11-54-07
Author
Jim Collins
PUBLISHER
Harper Business
DATE
March 2001
PAGES
300
LANGUAGE
English
ISBN
978-0066620992

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REVIEW

This book starts with a simple statement - “Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great.” In essence what Collins means by this statement is that becoming ‘good’ is too often ‘good enough’. He explores this concept through a systematic study of a handful of publicly traded companies considering the question, “Can a good company become a great company and, if so, how?”

His conclusion from this investigation is a good-to-great framework that identifies three essential categories for a company to become great: disciplined people, disciplined thought, and disciplined action. While all of these principles are fascinating, this book review focuses on one in particular from the disciplined people category: Level 5 Executive Leadership. Collins discovers that leaders of truly great companies are not flashy big personalities but rather those with an ability to “build enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.” He contrasts this with what he calls Level 4 Effective Leadership. An effective leader is able to inspire commitment to a vision and stimulate higher performance but lacks the Level 5 personal traits. The three levels below these he describes are: Competent Manager, Contributing Team Member, and Highly Capable Individual. As one example of Level 5 leadership, Collins uses Dave Packard (from Hewlett and Packard) as an example of a true Level 5 leader. Despite being one of Silicon Valley’s first billionaires, Packard spent his whole life in the small home he had built in 1957. When he passed away, Packard gave his entire $5.6 billion dollar estate to charity and his euology delivered by his family mentioned his past as a farmer but made no mention of his business success or the company Hewlett Packard.

For further details on this concept of Level 5 Leadership and the other principles of disciplined people, thought, and action, we recommend picking up this book.

 
We do need to point out though the fact that most companies in Collins' book did not do so good for the period from 2001 to 2010. Maybe there is more at play than just skill? Luck in choosing the right heuristic at that time!"
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Topics: Decision making | Book | Nobel prize | Thinking | Choosing

Thinking, Fast and Slow

2012-10-22 12-15-45
Author
Daniel Kahneman
PUBLISHER
Doubleday Canada
DATE
November 1, 2011
PAGES
497
LANGUAGE
English
ISBN
978-0-385-67651-9

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REVIEW

This is very sobering book for all of us so called experts. A truly remarkable eye-opener.
Professor Kahneman, a psychologist and winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics, "for having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision-making under uncertainty", does just that. He shows us how we make decisions and how we, very often, are not aware how we make them even though we think we are fully logical and in control. This book provides ample moments for self-reflection and also practical tips for preventing bias in decision making.
At times the book is not easy to read. At times the tone seems a bit childish where at other moments the tone is more academic. I really liked the short summaries at the end of each chapter.
For (project) managers and executives there is enough material here to seriously start rethinking and evaluating the way we make decisions and come to conclusions. For that reason alone I can highly rcommend the book. Kahneman's work has been very influential in recent years in the realm of forecasting and project governance.
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Topics: Science | Smart | Thinking

This Will Make You Smarter: New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking

2013-01-14_15-25-57.png
Author
John Brockman (ed)
PUBLISHER
HarperCollins Publishers
DATE
February 6, 2012
PAGES
415
LANGUAGE
English
ISBN
978-0-06-210939-2

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REVIEW

As Jason Zweig puts it, "we should each invest a few hours a week in reading research that ostensibly has nothing to do with our day jobs, in a setting that has nothing in common with our regular workspaces."
That is the reason why we wholeheartedly recommend this book. Although the complete contents of this book is available on the web at the website of EDGE.org we still bought it as this is one of those books you keep picking up every now and then to browse through.
This book contains 165 contributions to the EDGE question of 2011: "WHAT SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT WOULD IMPROVE EVERYBODY'S COGNITIVE TOOLKIT?" by 165 distinguished contributors. To name a few, Susan Fiske, Daniel C. Dennett, Daniel Kahneman, Steven Pinker and Rebecca Newberger Goldstein. These contributors come from a myriad of backgrounds and disciplines ranging from philosophy to quantum physics to literature to geriatrics. this wide array of backgrounds makes for a great read with many true eye-openers and also some I-told-you-so's.
This concept of one question with one, in most cases short answer makes this book an easy read. Not that the contents is always easy to read or understand. In most cases the contributors make a compelling argument for their respective answers. Some of the answers to the question, in no particular order are: "Possibility Spaces: Thinking Beyond Cause and Effect"; "Inference To The Best Explanation"; "Experimentation" and "The Edge of the Circle"
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The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power

2012-10-22 12-34-55
Author
Joel Bakan
PUBLISHER
Free Press
DATE
March 7, 2005
PAGES
240
LANGUAGE
English
ISBN
978-0743247467

REVIEW

Check back soon as we are reading this book now.
 
So far very promissing. You gotta love the title.

How to Debate a Creationist

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Topics: Debate | Evolution | Darwin | Evidence | Creationist | Skeptic | Book review

In honor of the 150 anniversary of Charles Darwins's The Origin of Species, and in the face of opposition to modern biology, Skeptic society is pleased to offer one of it's top selling resources as a free PDF download for one week only.

Th 22-page handout edition includes: 25 evolutionist answers to 25 creationist arguments, and 10 answers to Intelligent Design creationist arguments.

Review

This leaflet provides an easy read and a good understanding of some of the arguments creationists use. On the flip side it also provides a good understadning how evolutionists look at things.

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