Erik on Software

New Book Review: "Influence"

New book review for Influence: Science and Practice, by Robert B. Cialdini, Pearson Education, 2009, reposted here:

The quote by Tom Peters on the cover of the fifth edition is what helped compel me to purchase this text: "If everything were on the line in a negotiation, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have advising me than Bob Cialdini." A colleague of mine noted after the fact that this book recently appeared on a top-20 list of leadership books to read this year, but I have read my share of leadership texts, so what interested me was its apparent focus on negotiation. To some extent, this book is faintly reminiscent of an audio tape called "The Psychology of Selling" by Brian Tracy that a former colleague of mine recommended early in my career, because the focus here is looking at the factors that cause individuals to say "yes", and the techniques that most effectively use these factors to bring about such a decision.

This book is organized around the 6 psychological principles that direct human behavior and give these techniques their power: reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity. Although this book may have been written to engage the popular reader, the conclusions that the author, a psychology professor at Arizona State University, reaches are based on controlled, psychological research. As Cialdini entertainingly walks the reader through what he learned during his 3-year period of participant observation that served as input to this book, in my opinion although he is both successful at instruction as well as keeping the reader engaged, as with many texts the reader will need to extrapolate in order to apply personally, especially if what is sought is application to the workplace.

Judging by the location of dog ears that were left behind after my reading of this text, the portions I especially appreciated are the first chapter, "Weapons of Influence", the last chapter, "Instant Influence: Primitive Consent for an Automatic Age", and the many sidebars throughout the body of what the author provides called "Reader's Reports". In fact, it turns out that the author has found that the "Readers's Reports" are one of the most popular aspects among readers, and in my opinion these are similar to the "Letters to the Editor" one might find in a newspaper or magazine: people writing in to the author to share how the principles and techniques that are presented in this text have been encountered in the real world. Fascinating lessons learned rooted in science. Recommended reading.

New Book Review: "Dr. Peeling's Principles of Management"

New book review for Dr. Peeling's Principles of Management: Practical Advice for the Front-Line Manager, by Nic Peeling, Dorset House, 2003, reposted here:

The aspect of this text that originally drew my attention was that it is published by Dorset House, which has still yet to disappoint after reading several of their books, including "Waltzing with Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects", by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, as well as "The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice Successfully" and "More Secrets of Consulting: The Consultant's Tool Kit", both by Gerald M. Weinberg (see my reviews for all of these books). However, I admittedly was not sure what to expect from this text, even though it is subtitled "Practical Advice for the Front-Line Manager", because of the name "Dr. Peeling" within the title, a name of which I was not familiar.

Like me, the author works in a technical field, and although Peeling presents his management principles from the perspective of managing technical people, these principles can be applied to non-technical fields as well. Potential readers might want to keep in mind that this book is intended to be practical. The author explains in his introduction that after being thrust into management, he came up empty handed while searching for books that explain the basic theory and practice of management. "What I did not find were books that encapsulated best practice for someone facing management responsibilities for the first time. By the time I found such a book, I was well into my management career and had learned enough to know that I did not agree with much of what it contained."

The content of this book follows the journey of the author through management, and seeks to present what the author wishes he had known when he first found himself in a management role. Topics include managing people as individuals, managing problem staff and staff problems, managing people in teams - leadership principles, managing the practice of team leadership, project management, managing different types of staff, managing team culture, managing a failing team, organizing your team (and yourself), managing your universe, managing people outside your organization, revisiting common management themes, and managing in the real world.

While Peeling views himself to be a competent manager, he also views himself at best as only an average project manager, so the potential reader needs to keep in mind that although the advice that the author provides can be applied to a broader scope of individuals than originally envisioned, because there are substantial differences between management and project management not tied to a specific project, his chapter on project management is only a brief introduction. Plenty of books that focus on project management are readily available in the marketplace, so if the potential reader is looking for project management focus, it is advised to go elsewhere.

However, as a consultant who serves in leadership and project management roles while architecting and developing systems and software, I can attest to the fact that there is enough relevant material here to recommend to others seeking an alternative perspective to what might be found in other texts. And in addition, because the content of this book is shared by a manager, Peeling also provides a number of take-aways that the consultant might find useful to keep in mind when working with managers on client engagements. And somewhat reminiscent of Gerald M. Weinberg, Peeling periodically presents tangible rules throughout, such as "The Golden Rule of Management, which states that "You will be judged by your actions, not by your words, and your actions shall set the example of your team to follow."

Chapters that I especially appreciate include Chapter 9, "Organizing Your Team (and Yourself)" and Chapter 10, "Managing Your Universe". In the former, the author recommends, for example, to "reduce your level of perfectionism on appropriate tasks", and that "two roles you might want to delegate are those of operations manager and routine personnel manager." In the latter, the author offers, in his own words, "the hard-won experience of my own mistakes." He writes, for example, to "remember that managerial incompetence is much more prevalent than conspiracy", and offers several recommendations with regard to managing office politics. And his brief instruction to "accommodate benign neglect" is one of the best take-aways for me personally.

New Book Review: "Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture"

New book review for Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework (Third Edition), by Kim S. Cameron and Robert E. Quinn, Jossey-Bass, 2011, reposted here:

In the introduction to this book, the authors share the familiar Tom Peters quote, "If you're not confused, you're not paying attention", because the purpose here is "not to offer one more panacea for coping with our turbulent times or to introduce another management fad." In the words of the authors, this book "provides a framework, a sense-making tool, a set of systematic steps, and a methodology for helping managers and their organizations adapt to the demands of the environment. It focuses less on the right answers than it does on the methods and mechanisms available to help managers change the most fundamental elements of their organizations" at the cultural level.

While the authors also state that other proposed approaches to measuring organizational culture have been proposed, and that their intent is not to provide an extensive review of this literature, they also provide what I consider important background information to the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI), which includes the facts that the OCAI (based on the Competing Values Framework) is probably the most frequently used instrument for assessing organizational culture in the world today, and that although some versions are longer, some including up to 24 items that together describe organizational culture, the 6 items that are used in this book provide a simpler synthesis that addresses fundamental manifestations of organizational culture.

After walking through the OCAI current profile worksheet, which addresses basic assumptions (dominant characteristics, organizational glue), interaction patterns (leadership, management of employees), and organizational direction (strategic emphasis, criteria of success) that typify the fundamentals of culture, the authors present the two major dimensions organized into four main clusters that define organizational effectiveness. The first dimension differentiates effectiveness criteria that emphasize flexibility, discretion, and dynamism from criteria that emphasize stability, order, and control. The second dimension differentiates effectiveness criteria that emphasize an internal orientation, integration, and unity from criteria that emphasize an external orientation, differentiation, and rivalry.

These four main clusters can be visualized as the Clan, Adhocracy, Hierarchy, and Market quadrants of a graph. Because these quadrant names were derived from the scholarly literature, the authors also conveniently provide counterpart names to which they think business executives and other nonacademic audiences might better relate (Collaborate, Create, Control, Compete). The authors note that while designed to assess organizational culture, these clusters can also be used to assess leadership roles, organizational effectiveness, and management roles, and provide several examples that demonstrate applicability to these other areas. In chapter 6 and Appendix B, the authors even provide an extension to the Competing Values Framework based on the Management Skills Assessment Instrument (MSAI) to address the personal behavior change on which a change in organizational culture depends.

In my opinion, the nine managerial competencies addressed for management across the four quadrants are more tangible (Clan = managing teams, managing interpersonal relationships, managing the development of others, Adhocracy = managing innovation, managing the future, managing continuous improvement, Hierarchy = managing acculturation, managing the control system, managing coordination, Market = managing competitiveness, energizing employees, managing customer service), although while the authors present at length the fact that the four quadrants for organizational culture depend on a "Means-Does Not Mean" analysis to be completed by stakeholders in order to determine what chosen future state organizational culture actually means in a relative sense, this analysis is not provided in the context of managerial competencies directly since these are intended to lead to the desired future state organizational culture.

Overall, however, Cameron and Quinn present the process to diagnose organizational culture extremely well, and they do note repeatedly, as can be expected, that it is not possible to present a cookie-cutter approach because of the continuum nature of culture. From the perspective of a consultant, I especially appreciate the many examples that the authors provide that demonstrate example company profiles and shifts in company culture over time. The average culture profiles for various industry groups that the authors present are also well received, although it is important for potential readers of this book to realize that the categorizations for these groups are very broad.

For example, consulting services might technically fall under the "services" group, which obviously encompasses a wide spectrum of companies, although in such a case it might be beneficial to look at cultural profiles of client industry groups. As a consultant in the software industry, I could not help but notice that this book ties in well with a book I read several years ago entitled "Balancing Agility and Discipline: A Guide for the Perplexed", by Barry Boehm and Richard Turner. While that text is narrowly focused on choosing a software development methodology, a culture dimension of plots reminiscent of those seen in the book under review here can be seen as output from what Cameron and Quinn provide.

Interestingly enough, while the term "changing" sits alongside "diagnosing" in the title of this work, it is really not until Appendix C and Appendix D that the former is addressed with any substance. It is actually understandable why this is the case - change is multifaceted and covered by numerous other titles - but I would personally like to see the authors expand on these appendixes in another book, because the content provides hints for initiating organizational culture change and improving personal management competencies that specifically address the quadrants discussed in the book. Well written and focused business text recommended to anyone seeking understanding of organizational culture or personal management competencies as they relate to their own situations or to situations of customers and clients.

New Book Review: "The Servant"

New book review for The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership, by James C. Hunter, Prima, 1998, reposted here:

Recently recommended by the instructor of a University of Illinois leadership training course my colleagues and I attended, this book is one of the best leadership texts I have read during my career. Although readers may be initially drawn to this text for the lessons in leadership it provides for the business world, what Hunter presents here is intended to be holistic, covering relationships both inside and outside the workplace. In the words of the author, at the time of writing a general manager of a large manufacturing facility, his life was falling apart at home and work, and after discussions with his wife and reluctant talks with his pastor, ended up spending a week at a monastery in northwestern Michigan "to sort things out". While financially successful, his wife made it clear there were issues with the dynamics between he and his family, and his human resources manager suggested  that he take a look at his leadership style after employees campaigned for union representation.

In sharing his experience at the monastery, Hunter tells a good story and masterfully weaves in the principles he learns discussing leadership with several other individuals, including the former CEO of an airline turned monk who led the discussions, a drill sergeant, a public school principal, and a women's basketball coach. The teacher first discusses the differences between leadership and management, and power and authority, and then presents the pyramid style of management paradigm and how it came to be so popular in the United States, followed by Maslow's hierarchy of human needs with which many readers will already be familiar, and the servant leadership model which he discusses one element at a time and that serves as the focal point throughout the remainder of the book. The simple explanations of sometimes weighty topics, classroom dynamics between individuals of varied backgrounds, and author vulnerability are what makes this book work. The ninety other consistently positive reviews here that stretch over a ten-year period are a testament to the effectiveness of what Hunter, at the time of publication a consultant at a labor relations and training consulting firm, has to share with readers in this quick, but engaging text.

Past Book Review (November 16, 2008): "Medical Errors and Medical Narcissism"

Past book review (i.e. posted prior to starting this blog) for Medical Errors and Medical Narcissism, by John D. Banja, Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2005, reposted here:

 

Published almost four years ago at the time of this review, it is rather interesting that other readers have not yet shared their thoughts about this book. Quite simply, this is an extremely well written, well organized text, and the subject matter is relevant to a large segment of society. Health care touches almost everyone, and understanding the mind of the health care worker, especially the physician, is important when assessing medical errors. According to author Banja, Associate Professor in the Center for Ethics at Emory University, behavior that he refers to as "medical narcissism" can have a profound influence on how the physician reacts to occurrences of such errors. Before Banja discusses narcissism in health care, he first explains error and rationalization, and follows the discussion of narcissism with chapters on forgiveness, remedies, and empathic disclosure.

The author indicates that "it is important to note that the variance, departure, or straying from the standard of care that is presently being offered as a definition of error must be morally problematic, or uncomprehending, or unintended by the actor. Simply calling an error 'a failure to accommodate the standard of care' would imply that medicine could not have progressed since Hippocrates without its practitioners making 'errors', which seems intuitively wrong. The failure to follow the standard of care, then, must be unwarranted and, overwhelmingly, the errors discussed in this book are just so". And "it is grossly unfair to hold health professionals to a standard of competence that defines 'error' in a way that exceeds ordinary and reasonable levels of performance. Because imputing error can have onerous repercussions, health professionals and especially risk managers must insist on a coherent understanding of error and resist imprecise definitions that could confuse or compromise hospital policy on patient safety and managing adverse outcomes. Consequently, the definition of error that will be used throughout this book is: 'An error is an unwarranted failure of action or judgment to accommodate the standard of care'."

Following his discussion of medical errors, Banja then takes a look at how such errors are handled, providing many examples of such scenarios, which suggest "a temporally tight juxtaposition of immense anxiety and concern for the patient's welfare, followed closely or even simultaneously by the provider's intense anxiety about his or her own welfare. The lock-step nature of these dual anxieties is key". As the author continues with his presentation, he indicates that it is unfortunate that there is no national consensus (i.e. within the United States) that dictates how such errors need to be communicated to affected parties. According to cited studies, what is often the case is that information associated with such errors is withheld, and in one study where disclosure practices of over 200 hospitals were examined, the conclusion was that only 10% to 20% of serious, preventable, iatrogenic harms that occurred to patients were disclosed. What is often the case, according to surveys of physicians, is that harm-causing medical errors are often rationalized.

One of the most interesting portions of the text is the discussion on the origins of medical narcissist characteristics (emotional disengagement, ideological rigidity, and compulsiveness), which often start in childhood and are later reinforced during medical training. And the author's later secular discussion of forgiveness is superb. While Banja indicates that there is no consensual definition of forgiveness, a very compelling presentation is presented of what true forgiveness might look like from psychological and moral perspectives, beginning with a quote which reads as follows: "What is annulled in the act of forgiveness is not the crime itself but the distorting effect that this wrong has upon one's relations with the wrongdoer and perhaps with others". The cognitive-emotive-behavioral triad that the author presents is powerful. Forgiveness for the forgiver from each of these, respectively, might be: "I will stop thinking about the offense", "I will cease to feel anger and hatred toward the offender", and "I will not seek revenge"; forgiveness for the forgiven might be, respectively: "I will acknowledge and admit my wrongdoing", "I will feel and express sorrow for what I did", and "I will desist from committing that wrong again and make amends".

The stumbling block for the medical narcissist, however, is that forgiveness "requires a humbling of the self and a relinquishment (at least temporarily) of grandiosity". Considering the lengthy discussion on errors and how errors are handled, this book would not be complete without the chapter on remedies, which includes sections on tort reform, the blameless and nonpunitive environment, and mindfulness. And the following chapter discusses the empathic disclosure of medical error, how errors arguably should be handled. Within the closing pages, the author indicates that he "wrote this book with a particular kind of health professional in mind. He or she is one who believes it is immensely important to: (1) maintain a professional distance or guardedness with patients that largely precludes empathically reacting to their anxiety or suffering, (2) appear utterly competent always, (3) understand and ground that competence in scientific method and a densely clinical vocabulary, (4) never admit ignorance, hesitation, or error, (5) direct and control the conversation with patients always, and (6) use the power of his or her white coat to direct how the patient should behave and feel".

Past Book Review (January 25, 2009): "Alpha Project Managers"

Past book review (i.e. posted prior to starting this blog) for Alpha Project Managers: What the Top 2% Know That Everyone Else Does Not, by Andy Crowe, Velociteach, 2006, reposted here:

 

The subtitle for this work would probably be more aptly worded "What the Top 2% DO that Everyone Else Does Not". However, at the same time, the content of this book should not be expected to provide concrete actionable items to address the individuals targeted in the dedication, worded by the author thusly: "To any project manager who has ever lain awake at night and wondered if there were not a better way". The conciseness that Andy Crowe provides here is commendable, but the less than 200 pages of content provided in the compact format of this book does not leave room for much more beyond a presentation of the project manager study he conducted. Unlike the comments of some other readers, however, this reviewer thinks that even though this study was not exactly scientific, there is much to be gained here even if such knowledge is solely limited to the fact that the author actually conducted formal research to determine what helps positively differentiate the top portion of project managers.

What makes this study of particular interest is that information on effective project management is obtained not just from project managers, but from customers, team members, and senior management as well, providing a type of 360-degree peer review, because as the author explains, project managers frequently do not have accurate images of themselves as professionals. A total of 860 project managers were included in this study that provided 4,398 such stakeholders. This book discusses 8 major areas where top performers stand apart: attitude and belief, focus and prioritization, communication, approach, relationships and conflict, alignment, issue management, and leadership. In the opinion of this reviewer, the conclusions of this study that highlight real and perceived differences between Alpha project managers and the other 98% of the project manager pool can serve as yet another aid along the path of personal continuous improvement.

Within the closing pages of this book, the author remarks that "it is almost universally true that small things can make a big difference. The gap between the Alphas and the other 98% of the population may be quite large on some levels; however, most of this is caused by very subtle behaviors and differences. Both groups show up for work, plan their projects, manage their teams, deliver the results, and gain the customer's acceptance. In most regards, what they have in common is much greater than what separates them". Also, "when an entire population possesses highly similar characteristics, any advantage, however small, can have very significant implications. Small differences in behavior and practices can account for large outcomes, both actual and perceived".

Past Book Review (January 1, 2009): "The Designful Company"

Past book review (i.e. posted prior to starting this blog) for The Designful Company: How to Build a Culture of Nonstop Innovation, by Marty Neumeier, Peachpit Press, 2008, reposted here:

A beautifully designed text. The author's description of this work as an "airplane book", compressed into a size readable during a single flight, is accurate, as this reviewer read the less than 200 pages of heavily white-spaced content during just a couple train rides of a Chicagoland work commute. That this book has a lot of white space plays to its advantage, because of the topic, which is well suited to what the author also calls a "whiteboard book" (often called a white paper in business) on how to build a culture of nonstop innovation.

According to Neumeier (this reviewer is not familiar with the author's previous books), this book follows his first two books in this series, "The Brand Gap" and "Zag". While the first of these showed "how to bridge the distance between business strategy and customer experience with five interconnected disciplines", and the second drilled "down into the first and most strategic of these five disciplines, radical differentiation", this third book shows "how to transform your company by unleashing the full potential of creative collaboration".

The introduction discusses "wicked problems", traditional business and management, design, branding, and agility. During this initial discussion, which sets the stage for successive chapters on design, aesthetics, and change, explains that the solutions to some business problems are never right or wrong, just better or worse, and that measurable quality has been so successful that it has become a commodity.

Neumeier indicates that "the management innovation that is destined to kick Six Sigma off its throne is design thinking", because "in an era of Six Sigma sameness, it's no longer enough to get better. We have to get different. Not just different, but REALLY different". And while the phrase "innovative design" often brings to mind technology products, "design is rapidly moving from 'posters and toasters' to include processes, systems, and organizations". The author proposes a new definition for design: "change". Anyone who improves a situation is a designer.

Even leaders can be designers, since leading is "the act of moving people from an existing situation to an improved one". The author explains that everyone uses design thinking to some extent, but certain people are more well suited to it, tending to be empathetic, intuitive, imaginative, and idealistic, and he explains why these traits do not translate into soft-hearted, illogical, scatterbrained, and mulish. The second chapter explains that beauty, aesthetics, requires integrity, harmony, and radiance. "Aesthetics gives us a toolbox for beautiful execution."

The third chapter, the heart of the book, shares 16 of the leverage points that Neumeier and his firm, Neutron, have used with their clients to launch them on a trajectory of change: taking on wicked problems, weaving a rich story, establishing an innovation center, bringing design management inside, assembling a metateam, collaborating concertina-style, introducing parallel thinking, banning PowerPoint, sanctioning spitballing, thinking big and spending small, designing new metrics, instituting branded training, learning through acquisition, adding a seat to the table, recognizing talent, and rewarding with wicked problems.

If the reader does not have the time to read the entire book, which is highly unlikely in the opinion of this reviewer, reading the last two pages of the third chapter is a must for anyone in business, which summarizes the emotional benefits of working in a designful company. In addition, some readers might be interested to know that the author provides a 13-page summary of the book following this third chapter, and actually welcomes the reader to use exact quotes from this summary to use in their own presentations, permission this reviewer rarely sees. Also, the book provides 9 pages of abstracts for 34 recommended books.

Past Book Review (December 13, 2008): "Reward Systems"

Past book review (i.e. posted prior to starting this blog) for Reward Systems: Does Yours Measure Up?, by Steven Kerr, Harvard Business School Press, 2008, reposted here:

 

The core content that Steve Kerr presents here is a simple, effective process to improve the corporate reward system in three high-level steps: define performance in actionable terms, devise comprehensive metrics, and create reward systems that work. Before these steps are presented, the author provides a background to this material by discussing how a reward system can be used to get what one wants, arguing that although "the basic principles behind a successful reward system are as well known as putting out the monthly payroll, and doing it well is actually less expensive than doing it poorly, these principles are usually violated, even by managers who perform their other duties competently" and there is "a huge competitive advantage to be had by doing it well".

The table that accompanies this discussion, "Dysfunctional behaviors resulting from faulty reward systems" is especially effective. For example, organizations want innovative products and new ideas, but they tend to reward employees who don't make mistakes, and often get risk-averse behavior instead. Using an illustration from the research of B. F. Skinner, Kerr explains that "'blaming the rat' underlies this book's most important purpose, which is to change your definition of the problem. Instead of saying, 'My people aren't motivated and it's not my fault,' you'll say, 'My people - at least, the great majority of them - aren't to blame for the things they do that I don't like; it's my reward (and measurement) systems that are at fault.' Viewed through this lens, the bad news is that you are responsible for the dysfunctional behaviors that so bother you. Like Skinner's insight, this is painful. But the good news is that if you're causing it, you can fix it[.]"

The discussion of the first step in this process centers on the bull's-eye exercise puts into actionable terms for an employee any mission or vision statements or principles of a firm. For the second step, Kerr discusses commonly used ranking systems such as quartiling, bifurcation, and quotas, and explains that rather than being matched against coworkers, employees need to be assessed according to articulated standards for assessing performance, setting compensation, and considering promotions. The bulk of this book is contained within this chapter, including an extremely well-written section with practical (and often entertaining) examples on measuring the right things, beginning with an important sidebar on objective versus subjective metrics.

Additional discussions in this chapter include the measuring of everything that is important, and both anticustomer and customer-friendly metrics. The chapter on the third step includes discussions on how to reward things the right way (financial, prestige, and job content rewards are examples of what many firms currently grant), as well as how to evaluate such reward systems. With this book, Steve Kerr provides a compact, highly readable essay that almost anyone in the workforce can benefit from reading, from leaders evaluating their teams to employees of firms attempting to understand how their workplace might reward individuals to job seekers evaluating their next opportunities. Well recommended.

New Book Review: "The Personal MBA"

New book review for The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business, by Josh Kaufman, Portfolio / Penguin, 2010, reposted here:

Of the many reviews I have written here, writing a review for this text was among the most difficult because "The Personal MBA" has a large target market consisting of a wide variety of potential readers, and the vast majority of reviews here are very positive. Because of this situation, I fall back on my review philosophy, which is to write as objectively as possible, taking into account the claims of the author in terms of their goals, as well as comparing to other materials in the marketplace. What is not necessarily fair is to write solely based on my knowledge or experience, which often times does not match the backgrounds of the target audience.

Admittedly, this text is very well written. The writing style and organization of Kaufman contributes greatly to readability, and I enjoyed this aspect of this book. Many business works have a lot of fluff, and in general most of this text provides substance that will be appreciated by many readers. In addition, the history behind this book is interesting in that it came about as a natural step after the author created a heavily visited blog listing books and resources he had found valuable in his studies, so readers can be assured that this text was not written from an ivory tower perspective but resulted directly from reader interest.

The author writes at length in his first chapter as to why this book should be read. It is not easy summarizing this chapter in a few short sentences, but Kaufman mentions that what he provides here is "a set of foundational business concepts that you can use to get things done. Reading this book will give you a firm foundation of business knowledge you can use to make things happen. Once you master the fundamentals, you can accomplish even the most challenging business goals with surprising ease." Later, the author calls this text "a self-directed crash course in business", and provides an extensive discourse as to why the traditional MBA does not provide significant value.

Neither the author nor myself has an MBA, although we have both gone to business school (and I also have a graduate degree). While I cannot speak for the author, in my opinion there is substantial material in this text to provide to the business neophyte. However, I was unfortunately not overly impressed with the material Kaufman provides after chapter 6, which is midway through the book. The author makes up on this aspect to some extent by providing an appendix entitled "How to Continue Your Business Studies" that lists dozens of texts in a variety of business topics, although this list serves as a reminder that, as communicated in the introduction, what the author provides here is an introductory text.

If you do not have time to read this whole text, I recommend reading chapter 2, entitled "Value Creation" on creating value for customers. The summary that the author provides on the "Twelve Standard Forms of Value" (product, service, shared resource, subscription, resale, lease, agency, audience aggregation, loan, option, insurance, capital), for example, is very well done. The "Ten Ways to Evaluate a Market" is also especially well done. The author obviously summarizes and synthesizes material from disparate sources very well, but the reader needs to be aware that much of the content provided is just that, a CliffsNotes-styled survey of what the author has determined is fundamental to studying business.

From the perspective of a consultant, be aware however that this material is sometimes overly summarized and synthesized. For example, in his 3-chapter presentation on understanding systems, analyzing systems, and improving systems, many important topics are glossed over, and unless the reader understands the substance that is waiting for them within the reading lists the author provides, they may minimize the importance or complexity of the topics. For example, the definition that the author provides for "Return on Investment (ROI)" is limited to "simply dividing the amount of money you collect by the amount of money you spent, then subtracting by 1.00."

However, there would be no need for texts such as "The Consultant's Scorecard: Tracking Results and Bottom-Line Impact of Consulting Projects", by Jack Phillips (see my review), where several ROI calculations are detailed at length, if this calculation were so simple. Fortunately, Kaufman points the reader in the right direction, and presents in an entertaining manner, and so this book is recommended to anyone new to business topics, especially aspiring entrepreneurs. One of the best features of this text are the many quotes from other sources that introduce each of the subtopics in the 12 chapters provided here, and for this reason alone this book is worth a read.

Past Book Review (January 10, 2009): "The World's Newest Profession"

Past book review (i.e. posted prior to starting this blog) for The World's Newest Profession: Management Consulting in the Twentieth Century, by Christopher D. McKenna, Cambridge University Press, 2006, reposted here:

A discussion of the consulting industry from its early origins in the late 1800s is what makes this book unique. The commentary that McKenna offers is superb. And some readers may be interested in the substantial end notes provided for this history, something rarely seen in books of this genre. While management consulting is the focus, a limited discussion of technology consulting is also provided.

The subject of this book is the answer to the question of "just how had the leading management consulting firms come to achieve such a dominant economic and cultural position?" As McKenna explains, "the historical explanation for the dominance of management consulting, as it turns out, was not to be found in the pragmatic choices of university graduates, but in a set of regulatory changes in America during the 1930s, the 1950s, and the 1980s that were bolstered by the strategic development of new markets by the leading management consulting firms."

"American antitrust regulation shielded early consultants from competition from rival professionals even as entrepreneurial firms created new lucrative practices by concentrating on particular market segments[.]" In fact, "this regulatory history helps to explain why most of the leading management consulting firms in the world are American in contrast to the other business professions, like law or accounting, where state regulation did not favor one geographic market over another."

"Remarkably, the regulatory history returned to haunt management consulting firms at the end of the twentieth century because corporate board members had come to rely so heavily on professionals to reduce their corporate liability. Throughout the twentieth century, state regulation, as much as international innovation, first shaped and then reshaped the evolutionary path of management consulting."

Very timely reading, especially in light of the recent (January 2009) revelation that PricewaterhouseCoopers was the auditor of Satyam Computer's doctored accounts. McKenna discusses the seemingly similar (and familiar) case associated with Arthur Andersen and Enron, but not until the ninth chapter, and this is not the focus of the book (there have been other texts solely focused on the Enron case if that is what interests the reader).

This book provides remarkable insight into the consulting industry, and is recommended reading for all consultants, those who are considering consulting as a profession, and all business professionals seeking better understanding of the consulting industry.