Editorial Review

Combining perspectives of "a doer and a teacher" with experiences of two dozen professional service firms representing the ups and downs of the Old and New economies, Read more

Reviews (2)

Strategic Foundations for a PSF
This is the first book published by a group of professors at Harvard University that have been studying PSF for nearly two decades. They teach a program called LPSF (Leading Professional Service Firms).
Not for serious consultants
I've spent over 10 years with Big 5 consulting firms and read this book with a great degree of enthusiasm, given the background of the authors.But I was very disappointed!The book is laced with "feel good" examples about what other firms are doing in running their practices without actually formulating any definitive conclusions or suggestions (as one would find in David Maister's work).It appears more like the authors talking about their experiences/adventures with no particular audience in mind.So if you want to read this book, do not expect any serious advice coming out of it.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Entrepreneurship    5. Management    6. Management - General    7. Professional corporations   

Reviews (5)

Definitely worth exploring but first be aware of your perceptual sensitivity to the world!
Peripheral Vision: Detecting the Weak Signals That Will Make or Break Your Company
Blindsided
Sometimes the numbers don't tell the story, the noise on the peripheral does.Often that noise is small - a blog post, an irate customer, a competitor changing thier business.These small signs can indicate bigger changes to come.It involves not only knowing where to look but how to deal with it (the book is a bit weaker on some of the how to deal with it stuff)
Seeing and Doing Directions for the Adaptive Enterprise
For a number of years, business books have been extolling the virtues of responding sooner and more appropriately to what stakeholders (employees, customers, users, distributors, partners, suppliers, investors, lenders and the community) require or would benefit from.Such books are filled with great anecdotes about organizations that don't pay attention . . . and far fewer anecdotes about organizations that succeed.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Management    5. Marketing    6. Marketing Management    7. New Product Development    8. New products    9. Strategic Planning    10. Business strategy   

Reviews (7)

Standing on the shoulders of Kouses & Posner
Broadbent and Kitzis have produced a remarkable work.I have found their work to be like a capstone, integrating many streams of thought that have gone before.Unfortunately, the work suffers from lack of awareness of the leadership literature."The Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes & Posner predates this work by more than 3 years, yet Broadbent and Kitzis, while seemingly familiar with "The Leadership Challenge" do not acknowledge their debt.Readers who enjoy "The New CIO Leader" will benefit from Kouzes and Posner's seminal and very readable work on leadership.
You Want To Fix The Mercedes or Drive It?
The times they are changing. The direction of change for Chief Information Officers (CIOs) has had different answers from different people. In their December 2004 book, entitled The New CIO Leader: Setting the Agenda and Delivering Results (2005, Harvard Business School Press, 338 Pages, ISBN 1591395771), Marianne Broadbent (Associate Dean of the Melboune Business School) and Ellen S Kitzen (Group Vice-President of the Gartner Group's Executive Programs) argue that the choice is yours. You can choose to be a new CIO Leader or be relegated to Chief Technology Mechanic. The authors do an outstanding job of discussing the seas change, until the book loses some of its luster from what appears to be their interpretation of Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (CobiT).
Pedantic and boring
Buried in various places in this 287 page book are few intellectual gems which strikes a chord with reality. Otherwise, the authors of this book never seemed to have touched a server nor managed an IT department.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business/Economics    3. Chief information officers    4. General    5. Information Management    6. Information resources manageme    7. Information resources management    8. Information technology    9. Leadership    10. Management    11. Technology & Industrial Arts    12. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (29)

A "must-understand" for leaders concerned with long-term prosperity
Many thanks to Vijay Govindarajan (VG) and Chris Trimble for this grand exposition of ideas first shared in the Spring 2005 California Management Review and the May 2005 Harvard Business Review.VG and Trimble's "Forget, Borrow, Learn" framework is the most powerful recipe for corporate reinvention that I have encountered.
Raising Tigers
In Nature it is rare for one species to successfully rear the young of another species. The difficulties, for example, of a tiger cub being raised by a herd of elephants are easy to imagine. If the tiger isn't accidentally trampled underfoot while it is still too immature to look after itself, it is only a matter of time before some astute members of the elephant herd recognize they are raising a natural enemy, and trample it underfoot on purpose.
How to start a new business structure inside an established success
Even the most successful business eventually hits a growth ceiling which can lead to stagnation and new industry emergence: but most businesses can use their profitable platform to make changes with a little extra innovation, which is explored in Vijay Govindarajan & Chris Trimble's TEN RULES FOR STRATEGIC INNOVATORS: FROM IDEA TO EXECUTION. Start a new business structure inside a large, established company structure with the rules here: they are accompanied by industry profiles of companies which have successful made such changes, and provides ideas managers can't afford not to consider. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business Enterprise    4. Business/Economics    5. Creative ability in business    6. Entrepreneurship    7. Management    8. New Business Enterprises    9. Strategic Planning    10. Structural Adjustment    11. Business strategy   

Reviews (29)

I wish I'd changed my mind before purchasing this
Gardner's book is full of banal and often incorrect observations. It's hard to believe he has received over 20 honorary degrees from universities around the world if his ideas are this unoriginal. He chooses the staggeringly bad examples of Margaret Thatcher, George Bush and BP CEO John Browne as people who have successfully changed minds. He doesn't mention that Thatcher and Bush antagonized large sections of their countries' populations, completely failing to change their minds, in fact hardening their positions of opposition; in large part due to these leaders' own refusal to ever change their minds or consider alternative policies. Gardner lavishes praise on Bush for switching from isolationism to an interventionist foreign policy after 9/11, without any mention of the PNAC team that had already planned to invade Iraq even before 9/11.
Changing minds with one point of view
I found the first 50 pages or so to be intriguing, after that it became a grind to endure. Mr. Gardner makes very indirect references to the impact of the media on the vignettes that he recounts, yet seemingly asserts that the individuals involved acted in a vacuum.
Disappointing
Changing Minds is very disappointing - average to very poor writing, poor development of ideas, ideas that have been shown to be weak or invalid constructs, and very little substance.You will learn very little about how to change anyone's mind or your own.Reading this book and finishing it is a grind. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Applied Psychology    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Leadership    4. Management - General    5. Motivational & Inspirational    6. Psychology    7. Cognition & cognitive psychology   

Reviews (5)

Book review
I ordered this for my boss. He said it gave him some direction for a project he is working on.

Their most important book thus far....

A repeat of the other two books - little help for those who need alignment
If you are a CIO, Head of HR, or other so called "support" function looking for help on how to align with the business, this is not the book for you.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate Planning    5. Industrial Economics (General)    6. Industrial management    7. Industrial organization    8. Industries - General    9. Management - General    10. Management Science    11. Strategic Planning    12. Business strategy   

Reviews (10)

"Where did all the good ones go?"
Find a Parade, Jump in Front, Declare Yourself Grand Marshall
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.Thelast 25% of the book is a "discussion guide" that may be more valuable than the guts of the book.
Thought provoking book.
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. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Human Resources & Personnel Management    5. Labor    6. Labor Force    7. Labor supply    8. Management - General    9. Manpower planning    10. Personnel And Human Resources Management    11. Personnel management    12. United States    13. Labour economics    14. Personnel & human resources management   

Reviews (5)

Taking negotiation beyond us vs. them...
Most books on negotiation that I've read focus on the tactics you use when you're face-to-face with the opponent.But what if you take a step back and shape the negotiation before you even show up?That's the general direction of 3-D Negotiation: Powerful Tools to Change the Game in Your Most Important Deals by David A. Lax and James K. Sebenius.I can see where this would give you a step up in numerous situations...
Insightful & essential
As a very fast-moving entrepreneur, I have to negotiate constantly.I'm
Lawyers' Alert -- Buy This Book to Settle the Cases You Just Can't Resolve
During a recent conversation with former Disney General counsel Lou Meisinger about negotiating the resolution of commercial litigation, he suggested breaking impasse during the mediation of high-stakes litigation by "transforming the litigation into an opportunity to make a deal."
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Leadership    5. Management - General    6. Negotiating    7. Negotiation in business    8. Business negotiation   

Reviews (2)

Highly recommended
Apgar's focus on learnable risks offers some very useful frameworks for applying risk management concepts to a real-word competitive business environment.

Excellent new perspective on risk
This is a fantastic book with powerful insight about the failing of portfolio theory when it comes to understanding and managing business risks. Apgar offers wonderful examples to illustrate how business risks are actually learnable and he creates a framework for preparing yourself to be good at learning about and mitigating risk.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Corporate Finance    5. Management - General    6. Risk And Insurance Administration    7. Risk management    8. Risk assessment & analysis for business   

Reviews (4)

good introduction to negotiation
I don't have much experience in negotiation. But in the last few months I realized that having good negotiation skills is major to be successfull in both professional and private life.
HB Essential Guide to Negoitiation - easy to read
This was a very easy to read and understand book.The worksheets in the back of the book were helpful.Highly recommend.

An Essential and Invaluable Introduction
This is one of the volumes in the new Harvard Business Essentials Series. Each offers authoritative answers to the most important questions concerning its specific subject. The material in this book is drawn from a variety of sources which include the Harvard Business School Press and the Harvard Business Review as well as Harvard ManageMentor�, an online service. I strongly recommend the official Harvard Business Essentials Web site (www.elearning.hbsp.org/businesstools) which offers free interactive versions of tools, checklists, and worksheets cited in this book and other books in the Essentials series. Each volume is indeed "a highly practical resource for readers with all levels of experience." And each is by intent and in execution solution-oriented. Although I think those who have only recently embarked on a business career will derive the greatest benefit, the material is well-worth a periodic review by senior-level executives.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Negotiating    5. Business & Management   

Reviews (2)

13? Book is nothing but stale dough - NO MEAT you will gain
I honestly can't belive this qualifies as a book. Sure, Harvard is a excellent school. However, don't let this book fool you.

Perhaps the most valuable volume in the series....
This is one of the volumes in the new Harvard Business Essentials Series. Each offers authoritative answers to the most important questions concerning its specific subject. The material in this book is drawn from a variety of sources which include the Harvard Business School Press and the Harvard Business Review as well as Harvard ManageMentor�, an online service. I strongly recommend the official Harvard Business Essentials Web site (www.elearning.hbsp.org/businesstools) which offers free interactive versions of tools, checklists, and worksheets cited in this book and other books in the Essentials series. Each volume is indeed "a highly practical resource for readers with all levels of experience." And each is by intent and in execution solution-oriented. Although I think those who have only recently embarked on a business career will derive the greatest benefit, the material is well-worth a periodic review by senior-level executives.
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Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business/Economics    3. Management    4. Management - General    5. Supervision of employees    6. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (3)

How to redefine a role "that is fast becoming obsolete"

Refocusing the CFO's Role and Reducing Workload!
Of the original 36 "excellent" companies listed in the '82 book "In Search of Excellence," only two (Wal-Mart and IBM) remained in the '02 Forbes top 100 companies based on similar criteria.Jeremy Hope believes that CFOs must adapt their activities in such an era of rapid change.
How CFOs move beyond managing numbers
Jeremy Hope's REINVENTING THE CFO: HOW FINANCIAL MANAGERS CAN TRANSFORM THEIR ROLES AND ADD GREATER VALUEtells how CFOs are moving beyond managing numbers and reports: now companies except them to provide strategic support and leadership to enhance manager performance and bottom line alike - on top of their jobs of budgeting and processing transactions. Jeremy Hope has co-founded the Beyond Budgeting Round Table, a nonprofit collaborative helping organizations improve performance management - and REINVENTING THE CFO tackles the nuts and bolts, outlining seven roles CFOs must embrace to change their company's finance operations. An excellent set of reflections on the changing CFO role and how to achieve the most from it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business Executives    4. Business/Economics    5. Chief financial officers    6. Corporate Finance    7. Corporations    8. Finance    9. Management - General    10. Management & management techniques