Reviews (93)

Beyond expectations for firms searching for answers
I admit I was skeptical of the promises this book made.The book went beyond my expectations.It gives a structured framework for culling newness out of tired competition.
Profound Insights into Marketing and into Life!
The authors show us examples of companies who were not satisfied with the socially accepted business paradigms of their industry and were eventive enough to create a whole new market for themselves with their intuition, grit and determination. Exciting! May even change your life!

If you do not own your own business, his could be fun reading
I have never made the time to review a book, but this book came highly reccommended by other reviewers.Since I cant know their business backgrounds, I'd like to help someone else in making the decision of reading this book.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Investments & Securities - General    5. Market segmentation    6. Marketing - General    7. Marketing Management    8. New products    9. Product Management    10. Strategic Planning    11. Business strategy   

Reviews (44)

"the book" for all executives and managers
It is not a book focus on "managing career transmission" as suggested by the title of the book. Actually it is the guide book on all management related topics on management effeciveness, leadership, negotiation and organizational behavior. Very clearly articulated, easy to read and down to earth. Another excellent example of Harvard's high intellegence assets.

Great Topic - kudos Mr Watkins!
My husband took the book out from the library for me and after reading the first few chapters I decided that this was a book to own. As you will keep going back to re-read the roadmap to help you on your new venture(s).
Most helpful!
Sound, practical advice for anyone climbing the corporate ladder. Great exercises and guidelines for conversations with new bosses as well as new underlings. Great help for those first 90 days and beyond. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Decision Making & Problem Solving    5. Executive ability    6. Leadership    7. Management    8. Strategic planning    9. Structural Adjustment    10. Management & management techniques   

Editorial Review

Climbing Mount Everest: dangerous. Hitchhiking in Colombia: very dangerous. Leading through change: perilous. Perilous but possible, say Heifetz and Linsky in their encouragingly practical guide to putting yourself on the line and negotiating the hazards of leadership. As the authors acknowledge, many leadership books are "all about inspiration, but downplay the perspiration." This one doesn't. Leadership is always a risky business, but those risks can be understood and reduced. Effective leadership comes from doing more than the technical work of routine management; it involves adaptive work on the part of the leader, and a willingness to confront and disturb people, promote their resourcefulness, and engage their ability to adjust to new realities. But adaptive change always encounters resistance. Heifetz and Linsky examine four forms of resistance--marginalization, diversion, attack, and seduction--before presenting a number of practical resistance-response skills to nurture and employ. Some are fairly obvious (like developing and maintaining perspective, and holding steady in the midst of change), and others more complex (like thinking politically when dealing with friends, foes, and fence sitters), but shimmering nuggets of insight and practical wisdom can be found in each. The dangers of leadership also spring from within, however, and the book's final section addresses ways to recognize and manage competing "hungers" and learn to distinguish one's roles from one's self. The authors' points are illustrated by the experiences of leaders from all walks of life, making this a useful and inspiring manual for anyone hoping to put themselves on the line and make a difference in the lives of others. Read more

Reviews (22)

If you're a leader . . . soak in this book
Let's face it: leadership is dangerous. As Heifetz and Linsky write in their introduction, "Each day brings you opportunities to raise important questions, speak to higher values, and surface unresolved conflicts. Every day you have the chance to make a difference in the lives of people around you. And every day you must decide whether to put your contribution out there, or keep it to yourself to avoid upsetting anyone, and get through another day. You are right to be cautious. Prudence is a virtue. You disturb people when you take unpopular initiatives in your community, put provocative new ideas on the table in your organization, question the gap between colleagues' values and behavior, or ask friends and relatives to face up to tough realities. You risk people's ire and make yourself vulnerable. Exercising leadership can get you into a lot of trouble."
Beneficial read
I captured some very useful leadership and management tools from this book.Well written and practical for today's busy leader.I gave it to my boss to read as soon as I finished.

Leadership on the Line
Very useful advice on issues that involve a lack of leadership in the workplace, and in life, in general. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Entrepreneurship    5. Leadership    6. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (41)

Effect of The Distribution of Advocacy Scores
By definition, the net promoter score is the percentage of respondents falling into the 9-10 range minus the percentage falling into the 0-6 range.Consequently, very different distributions of advocacy scores can yield the same net promoter score; for example, all of the response distributions shown below yield net promoter scores of 40.
Good book.. Very interesting
Good book. I think it is important that the author comments that the ultimate question could be different depending on the industry or product/service. Worth the read!

An Easy Read With Great Content
I read the original Harvard Business Review article, and thought I understood the concept.However, reading the book was inspiring, and I applied the concepts to our business immediately.The NPS methodology is so simple, but so powerful.The original aim of the method is to evaluate customer satisfaction, but I also recently applied it to reference checking for a job candidate.By asking if the reference would recommend that their best friend go to work for this candidate, I was able to build a surprisingly helpful picture of the leadership qualities of the individual under consideration.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Consumer satisfaction    5. Corporate Finance    6. Customer Service    7. Customer loyalty    8. Customer relations    9. Development - Business Development    10. Employee Training And Development    11. Management - General    12. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (58)

Highly readable, useful, and even inspiring
What happens when an organization needs to change (if it hopes to be successful in the future) but hasn't put much thought into what the process of change itself looks like?More than likely: failure.
Read it too late
This book is excellent for anyone going through or planning to make changes in any organization. The material is straight forward, concise, and right on target. I only wish I had read this book last year before attempting to make major changes in our organization

Very Helpful
I would recommend this book to any manager who is currently leading an organizational change effort. It's very practical. Kotter's Eight Steps are easy to follow. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Entrepreneurship    5. Industrial organization    6. Leadership    7. Leadership In Business    8. Organization Development    9. Organizational change    10. Strategic planning    11. Structural Adjustment    12. Business strategy    13. Organizational theory & behaviour   

Editorial Review

Spawned by a 10-year study of 2,000 firms conducted at Bain & Company, a global consultancy specializing in business strategy, Read more

Reviews (28)

Define your core business clearly
The authors of this book see 3 essential elements separating a good growth strategy, one that is successful from a poor growth strategy, one that fails:
Skip this one and read the sequel instead
This is not a terrible book- it has some interesting case studies which the authors use to prove their points. However, there is not a great deal in here that is new if you've read the sequel to this book first ("Beyond the Core", Zook), and have read other
Very Realistic and very useful
This book is very good, it explains very clearly the different growth concepts with clear definitions, and a very interesting growth matrix. in addition, unlike other books, this book uses a lot of real world examples to illustarte the different concepts and growth startegies. It explains how companies, that succeded, evolved from their core business and developed new products without getting lost in the process. Also, explains why and how some companies failed. The book is realistic, and gives you some tools and matrix that you can apply when analyzing and developing a growth strategy. You should also check out the web site, it has some examples of how to apply the gowth matrix. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate & Business History - General    5. Corporate Finance    6. Corporate profits    7. Corporations    8. Entrepreneurship    9. Growth    10. Industrial management    11. Management - General    12. Strategic Planning    13. Business strategy   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (22)

Just what we needed!
This book hits the "heart" of what many managers miss in planning change initiatives.This helps us remember that change isn't all number and business decisions.It's the people.I was able to immediately apply some of the ideas and resteered a change initiative successfully. Now all of my supervisors are reading and learning.

Fundamentals for helping an organization undergo change successfully
This book is the textbook for how an organization can successfully lead with change.I have used the 8-step method with various organizations and successfully 'seen-felt-changed' for the better.

Best Change Management Book I've Read to Date
I'm now in a "Change Management" role with my work, and decided to read some texts on the subject to further my understanding of the topic.Of those books that I've read, this one has clearly been the most helpful.Kotter articulates the steps of change in a way that connected with me, and made it real with a number of relevant examples.It's not onerous to read (<200 pages) but equally isn't "lightweight."While I would never recommend reading only a single book on the topic,I would definitely recommend that this be one of the books you read!
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Entrepreneurship    5. Leadership    6. Organizational Behavior    7. Organizational change    8. Structural Adjustment    9. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (47)

Are you adding or destroying value ? - Find it out with The Balanced Score Card
The financial performance of an organization is essential for its success. Even non-profit organizations must deal in a sensible way with funds they receive.
Aligning four key business areas to your vision and strategy
This book has become a classic in the field of business management.The 'balanced scorecard' has surely been referenced enough to include it in the dictionary.Robert Kaplan is the Arthur Lowes Dickson Professor of Accounting at Harvard Business School.His co-author David Norton is the president of Renaissance Solutions, Inc.
Effective for top down planning
The balanced scorecard approach is a very effective tool for top-down planning initiatives. The method will ensure that any business unit initiative is cross-checked with the broader corporate goals.The book provides an easy-to-understand yet detailed how-to guide to strategy planning.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate Planning    5. Entrepreneurship    6. Evaluation    7. Industrial Management    8. Industrial productivity    9. Management - General    10. Measurement    11. Organizational effectiveness    12. Strategic Planning    13. Budgeting & financial management    14. Business strategy   

Reviews (17)

First we start with a mistake...
Having observed the healthcare industry for the last couple of decades, I would like to point out a flaw in the author's recommendations:
the next 20 years, explained
Michael Porter, of value chain and competitive advantage fame, has taken on the US health care system.Your reviewer, who is speaking from inside the system, can guarantee that both his diagnosis and his proposed fix are bang on. In short, you bring the US healthcare system in line with other industries by making information about the outcomes of healthcare available to consumers, then letting them choose. How to get there from here takes up most of the book, and it is as brilliant and thoughtful as Porter fans have come to expect. Read this one.

A sentinel work on healthcare reform
Michael Porter and Elizabeth Teisberg have presented a sentinel work in the field of healthcare management.American healthcare is capable of providing the very best skill, professional expertise, and technology the world has ever seen. What is failing in our healthcare system is the management and business organization required deliver value to the recipients of this expertise-- patients.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Cost control    5. Cost effectiveness    6. Economic Conditions    7. Evaluation Of Health Services    8. Health Care Issues    9. Health Policy    10. Industries - General    11. Management - General    12. Medical Economics    13. Medical care    14. Public Policy - Economic Policy    15. Quality control    16. Business strategy   

Editorial Review

Sometime during the last 30 years, the service economy emerged as the dominant engine of economic activity. At first, critics who were uncomfortable with the intangible nature of services bemoaned the decline of the goods-based economy, which, thanks to many factors, had increasingly become commoditized. Successful companies, such as Nordstrom, Starbucks, Saturn, and IBM, discovered that the best way to differentiate one product from another--clothes, food, cars, computers--was to add service.Read more

Reviews (32)

How to Sell the Sizzle
Authors B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore look at the ways that corporations create engaging experiences for their customers to boost sales. They amass examples that confirm the developing trend toward an "Experience Economy." Their premise is that the post-industrial economy has evolved beyond delivering commodities and services, and is now poised to deliver "experiences." These experiences can include everything from a meal at a theme restaurant to a Disneyland vacation. The premise is interesting, but before you hit the trend button, realize that this is not the first time marketers have courted customers with powerful retail experiences. However, it may be the first time sellers have used virtual reality and Hollywood-style animated props. This intellectually interesting book dares to be far out and to pursue the concept of engaging customers to its extremes. We recommend this book to business owners or marketers more as a theoretical introduction to the "Experience Economy" than as a marketing manual. If you feel intrigued and engaged, that's the point. For more information, please refer to Disney World.

Curtain-Call Economics
Wow!I was so fascinated with this insightful book that I coined the above phrase.Curtain-call economics is the thrust of this book.How would your customer describe his experience with your company?How entertaining, how engaging, how educational and how beautiful was his experience?This book is chock-full of real-life examples of how to capitalize in this new arena comprising our economy.First there arose an industrial era, then a service era, now, an experiential era.With all types of services abounding and ubiquitous, your differentiation will be in providing the superior experience.This book categorically and metaphorically allies you with the absolute fundamentals for positioning your establishment for success.So, in keeping with one of the teachings of this book on building suspense, I will just say that there is an era immediately following this 'experience' economy that is delineated with much delight at the conclusion of the book.

More Exciting Than it Sounds
With a title like "The Experience Economy" and a tagline that reads "Work is Theatre and Every Business a Stage," one would think this would be an exciting and daring book on innovative business strategies. Daring it most certainly is; the metaphor comparing work to theatre is adventurous and eye-opening. But it is also overdrawn, and is rooted too much in theory and not so much in practical example. A particular disappointment was that the book did not really address how online businesses can create experiences for their clients; it is geared primarily towards offline busineses. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Customer services    5. Development - Business Development    6. Diversification in industry    7. Entrepreneurship    8. Marketing - Product Management    9. Product Management    10. Business strategy    11. Sales & marketing   

Reviews (4)

A good "door" to be opened by those interested for Innovation
A collection of reviews in Innovation Strategies/Policies/Theories/Practices some of them related with case studies in big companies.
state of the art on innovation
I'm searching for new ways to develop an entrepreneurial area at the university, and this book gave us more tools and knowledge to center in creativity rather than business plan the entrepreneurial curricula.
A Good Introduction to Innovation
While by no means a great book, this collection of articles on innovation from the Harvard Business Review is a good introduction to the art of innovation, as it is written in a simple but effective style. The articles also address the topic of innovation in a variety of ways, thus ensuring that almost everyone will find something useful that is written in a style conducive to their preferences.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Development - Business Development    5. Entrepreneurship    6. Organizational change    7. Organizational effectiveness    8. Structural Adjustment    9. Technological innovations    10. Project management   

Reviews (14)

Do not pass GO, READ this book
I am a big fan of Pfeffer and Sutton. We refer to their "Smart Talk Trap" phrase and article in our book, "The Thin Book of Naming Elephants." So when I saw this title, I immediately ordered it.
An End to Faddism!
The marketplace for business advice is crowded with conflicting advice, many of which are retreads of older versions claiming to offer breakthrough results.The "really bad news" is that breakthroughs rarely happen - the wise manager will not simply jump for what is in vogue.
Back to management based on evidence
Jeffrey Pfeffer is Professor of Organizational Behavior and Robert I. Sutton is Professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. They are the author of business bestseller `The Knowing-Doing Gap' (2000). This book was published in 2006 and consists of 9 chapters.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Decision Making & Problem Solving    5. Decision making    6. Industrial management    7. Management    8. Management - General    9. Management & management techniques   

Editorial Review

Business leaders who maintain that emotions are best kept out of the work environment do so at their organization's peril. Bestselling author Daniel Goleman's theories on emotional intelligence (EI) have radically altered common understanding of what "being smart" entails, and in Read more

Reviews (67)

read between lines
This book is worth to read. You will find plenty of interesting ideas and things u can use in u life, even if u are not manager and is not planning to be. U can advance to some level by reviewing and using some clear techniques.
Innovative & brilliant; yet...
In modern times perhaps no one has clarified the distinction between leadership (an influence relationship) and management (an authority relationship) better than the seminal work of the University of San Diego's Joseph C. Rost. With both fresh perspective and renewed vigor, though, Daniel Goleman and his colleagues have once again put a "face" on leadership... as if it actually has something to do with human relations!
Extra Credit - Class Group Book Review
Best selling author Daniel Goleman, who popularized a theory of emotional intelligence (EI) via his 1995 bestseller Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, has teamed up with colleague EI researchers, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee to advance a new leadership concept - Primal Leadership.The authors focus on the four EI domains (self awareness, self management, social awareness, and relationship management), and link them to leadership success that affected several organizations' bottom lines positively by bringing out the best in people, a concept called "resonance".It is revealed that EI domains or competencies create leadership styles that reinforce resonance as well as those that create dissonance.Drawing from a decade of the authors' collective research and the real life experience of leaders in the trenches, a connection is made where leadership demands more than conventionally recognized intelligence, but emotional intelligence as well.The key to this is to use emotion to balance the reality of work and organization demands without unduly upsetting people to impact staff results.In a twist, the authors find that the encouragement to use EI originates internally.Furthermore, they offer a learning plan as a mechanism to sustain transformation rather than a performance outcome model.In the end, the book correlates its concepts to the organization as a whole to create the desired outcome of an organization with resonance that favorably influences the bottom line of the organization. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business/Economics    3. Emotional intelligence    4. Emotions    5. Entrepreneurship    6. Executive ability    7. Leadership    8. Management    9. Psychological aspects    10. Psychology    11. Management & management techniques   

Editorial Review

In their previous book, Read more

Reviews (21)

Overview, technique and implementation
An outstandingly well written book that decribes the balanced scorecard and provides excellent examples. An effective, practical guide for C-level executives and mid-level managers for implementing strategic scorcarding. I recommned this book for the breadth and depth of the explanation of the subject matter and concise implmentation examples.

If you can measure it, you can manage it
The Balanced Scorecard was initially designed as a financial and non-financial corporate performance measurement tool.Organizations focused on strategy have taken the Balanced Scorecard and transformed it into a strategic tool for measurement.These 5 key principles transform the Balanced Scorecard:
Highly Recommended!
The fact that executives keep trying new strategic initiatives despite their abysmal rate of failure is, like second marriages, a triumph of hope over experience. Or, it may indicate just how much pressure top managers face to improve their profits. By one estimate, nine out of ten companies fail to execute their strategic visions. Yet, CEOs - who witness a world in constant flux - continue to introduce change initiatives. Are they trapped in the operational definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Or, are they just ready for this book? Authors Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton offer wise counsel to help executives break the cycle of strategic flops. They advise executives to transform their companies into "Strategy-Focused Organizations" using the "Balanced Scorecard" and "strategic mapping" tools. With these initiatives, CEOs can ensure that every employee pays attention to strategy implementation. Kaplan and Norton, the all-star co-author team who wrote "The Balanced Scorecard" and "Strategy Maps", have done it again, in this well-organized but somewhat dry volume. We strongly recommend this book to any manager who is responsible for designing or implementing a strategic change initiative. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate Planning    5. Entrepreneurship    6. Executive Management    7. Forecasting    8. Leadership    9. Management - General    10. Strategic Planning    11. Business strategy    12. Organizational theory & behaviour    13. Performance Measurement