change Books

This is one in a series of several dozen volumes that comprise the "Harvard Business Review Paperback Series." Each offers direct, convenient, and inexpensive access to the best thinking on the given subject in articles originally published by the Harvard Business School Review. I strongly recommend all of the volumes in the series. The individual titles are listed at this Web site: www.hbsp.harvard.edu. The authors of various articles are among the world's most highly regarded experts on the given subject. Each volume has been carefully edited. Supplementary commentaries are also provided in most of the volumes, as is an "About the Contributors" section that usually includes suggestions of other sources that some readers may wish to explore.

In this volume, the reader is provided with eight articles whose authors provide a variety of perspectives on how to lead an organization through a process of significant change while minimizing fear, frustration, and resistance. All of the articles first appeared in the HBR over an extended period of time, from March-April, 1992, to October, 2005; some but remarkably little of the material is dated. Here are some of the important business issues to which four contributors direct their (and our) attention:


Which seem to be the most common mistakes made by executives? ("Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail," John P. Kotter)
Comment: Kotter identifies eight and suggests how to avoid or repair them.

How to focus only on what is most important? ("Tipping Point Leadership," W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne)
Comment: The co-authors of Blue Ocean Strategy explain how "tipping points" can result in fundamental changes when a sufficient number of people embrace and support a powerful idea. They examine how a newly appointed police commissioner, in less than two years, turned New York into the safest large city in the nation by following a four-step process to bring about rapid, dramatic, and lasting change with limited resources.

Why is follow-through "the DNA of decisive cultures"? ("Conquering a Culture of Indecision," Ram Charan)
Comment: In all of his various books and articles, Charan stresses the importance of making correct decision and then taking effective action to achieve desired results, whatever they may be. To change a culture of decision, he insists, leaders must ask hard questions such as "How robust and effective are our social operating mechanisms?" GE has forged a system of ten tightly linked operating mechanisms that, Charan suggests, comprise its "secret weapon."

Why are leaders sometimes "on" and other times Not? (""Moments of Greatness: Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership," Robert E. Quinn)
Comment: Quinn identifies four "awareness-raising questions" which leaders must ask and then answer honestly so that they can challenge themselves to have a positive impact on their own lives and on those around them. These questions "often lead to high-performance outcomes, and repetition of high-performance outcomes can eventually create a high-performance culture."

Which factors correlate with the success or failure of change initiatives? ("The Hard Side of Change Management," Harold L. Sirkin, Perry Keenan, and Alan Jackson)
Comment: Based on their research on change initiatives at 225 companies, the co-authors of this article concluded that it is possible to predict the probable results of such initiatives by considering what they characterize as four "DICE factors" within a diagnostic framework. Once the evaluation has been completed, the executives involved can then "shine a spotlight on the interventions that would improve their chances of success."

As I indicated earlier, at least some of the material in this volume is dated. However, the insights shared in these articles as well as in the other remain relevant. Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out the recently published Harvard Business Review on Making Smarter Decisions as well as other series titles in the Harvard Business Review Paperback Series such as those Effective Communication, the Innovative Enterprise, Leadership at the Top, and Measuring Corporate Performance.

Also Michael George's Authentic Leadership and True North, Jack Welch and Suzy Welch's Winning, Michael Ray's The Highest Goal, Ram Charan's Know-How, and Deborah Ancona and Henrik Bresman's X-Teams, Richard Ogle's Smart World, and James O'Toole's The Executive's Compass.

I picked this book up at an airport to have something to read on my flight, and I was not disappointed in the least. It provides excellent information and insight on leading organizations during times of change.

In Kotter's essay, "Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail", he analyzes common errors of leading through change, and converts them into 8 steps for transforming an organization: (1) establishing a sense of urgency, (2) forming a powerful guiding coalition, (3) creating a vision, (4) communicating the vision, (5) empowering others to act on the vision, (6) planning for and creating short-term wins, (7) consolidating improvements and creating still more changes, and (8) institutionalizing new approaches. Kotter shows how these 8 principles can lead to either the downfall or the success of an organization.

I also found Ram Charan's essay, "Conquering a Culture of Indecision", to be extremely helpful. He outlines the steps for creating greater communication, turning that into action, and providing follow-through and feedback.

Also of great interest to me was Eric Abrahamson's "Change Without Pain". He defines the difference between "tinkering" and "kludging" (tinkering with a college education). He also offers helpful operating guidelines that make quite a bit of sense.

Different essays will be more relevant for different individuals, but all in all, this compilation of essays provides excellent insight, and should be required reading for executive teams in the midst of major periods of change.

Paul Harmon's book is quite simply a masterpiece, one of the best technical books ever written. He writing is lucid and every page contains nuggets of insight. Unlike most technical books this one actually provides useful examples that you can immediately put to good use. Harmon begins the book with a masterful background into the business process field (worth the price of the book alone) and then gets into the nitty gritty laying out a methodology for analysis and change. An essential book for anyone remotely interested in business process change.

I really liked the first edition of this book. It has an overall approach plus a toolkit to start a business process redesign project. This second edition have only a very overall approach. It puts together many things not well integrated. It seems the author didn't select the topics, just included it.

Yes, the approach in three level is an interesting framework, but it's not enough for what is missing from the first edition.

Business Process Change provides a very clear and comprehensive discussion of the methodologies surrounding successful business process management. This has become my new guide for developing a BPM Group within our organization. I very much look forward to more writings by Paul Harmon.

This is about the best Business Process book I have read so far. I worked in a IT transformation for a big Telecommunications company which entailed adopting a new approach to Business Process and Operational Process Development and I found this book very useful. This book with the book Business Process Management - Practical Guide to Successful Implementation provided me with most of the knowledge needed.

I think this is the best book that I have seen that allows an organization to consider business process at the enterprise and department level. I have been engaged in business process management in the government for years, trying to define the processes, trying to communicate them, trying to improve them. This is by far the best treatment and guide I have seen. This is what I have been looking for and couldn't find.

This book is comprehensive compared to some of the face reading books like Joey Yap's(great too) or others. It could have gone with more case studies at the back though(Not that the number of case studies wasn't enough)

This excellent book is based on ancient Chinese wisdom tweaked to accommodate the needs of modern psyches. Well written, organized, and photographed, it describes techniques that have nothing to do with "reading the future" or performing amusing parlor tricks. Instead, they may give you a new ability to understand and accept yourself and every other being on the planet. While this introduction cannot go as deep as Jean's workshops (see http://wisdomofyourface.com/), it provides a fine basic text from which to begin your exploration of a fascinating premise.

I saw myself, and so many others I know, in the pages of this book, and found myself coming to a deeper level of understanding and compassion for everyone.

Learning about what drives patterns and behaviors in life, has brought profound meaning, resolution and revelation to key relationships in my life - both past and present - as well as given me tools to better relate and respond to others to manifest more harmony in my life.

I have more understanding about why both my marriages failed and I've also come to understand what I will need in a partner to sustain a lasting marriage and how to see signs of it in his face. My relationship with my school-age daughter has improved drastically because I now understand what makes her tick and I know how to better anticipate and respond to her in ways that nurture her based on her special, elemental nature - because it's written all over her face!

The Wisdom of Your Face is a major contribution to the art of Chinese Face Reading. The clarity of its approach, with pictures to exemplify each characteristic, makes it iviting for all. If you have any interest in Chinese Face Reading, this book is a "must" for your library!

A must read for everyone. We must ALL act now to save our planet from self-destruction!

He says the climate is important and supports us taking care of it, by driving smaller cars. Yet he still flies around in his own jet. hmmmmmm.

In his book, 'An Inconvenient Truth', Al Gore writes about a
"hockey-stick" graph, with "global average temperature" on
one axis, and time on the other axis. "GLOBAL WARMING" IS
SCIENCE FICTION. Temperature varies from point to point.
What people call temperature, is what mathematical
physicists refer to as a value assigned to a point in a
temperature field. There are potentially an infinite number
of readings one may obtain in a given region of space. But
to assign a single temperature reading to a given region of
space is misleading. For example, putting a thermometer
under a bed, beside a window, or on top of a radiator in a
given room may give you a different reading, with or without
you in it. A temperature reading should only be assigned to
a single point, and not a space. For to assign a single
temperature reading to a region of space, such as a room, or
a city, is misleading. The earth is a very big place. For
example, on a hot day in India, it may be a cold night in
Canada. A global average temperature reading is essentially
meaningless since there appear to be a countless number of
places, or points, upon the earth, or slightly above the
earth, where a temperature reading might be taken. If your
population size is infinite, or vast, how large should your
sample size be in order to obtain a meaningful statistic,
such as an average? If you cannot determine what the global
average temperature is today, or was yesterday, why would
you claim global warming is taking place? Why would
academics, or politicians, lie? ("Fifty thou a year, buys a
lot of beer." - Timbuk 3).


The 'Kyoto Accord' will help establish the creation of a
global economic planning agency. Have you noticed that the
manufacturing sector in North America has been disappearing
has factories are closed "here", only to open up "there"?
The Wealth of a Nation is determined by what that nation can
produce. The Living Standard of a Nation is determined by
what that nation can consume. Don't confuse WORK with INCOME.
They who advocate "enviro-mentalism" are not really concerned
with weather patterns, but are interested in economics. If
they really cared about helping the global poor, would they
not open up factories overseas without closing them
domestically? Instead, they are behaving as if transportation
costs are negligible. Do not most Americans live within 30km
of their jobs?


Consider, as another example, the irrational belief that
enviro-mentalists (such as Al Gore) are advocating, that it
is possible to save electricity by not using it. A magnet
rotating inside a coil of wire will generate an electrical
current in that wire: engineers call this INDUCTION.
A TURBINE is essentially a giant magnet placed inside a giant
coil of wire: In order to generate electricity, the giant
magnet must be rotated, according to scientists. (Where
these giant magnets come from, is another story.) In theory,
the pressure of steam, water, or air against the vanes of a
wheel turn the magnet inside the turbine, generating
electricity; In nuclear power plants, nuclear energy is used
to heat water, converting the water into steam, and the
resulting steam pressure is used to operate the turbines which
provide households with available electricity. The turbines
are not going to stop producing electricity, just because you
stop using it. By definition, the only way you can SAVE
ELECTRICITY is BY STORING IT, as in a rechargeable battery.
If you are a customer of a hydroelectric company, you can save
money by not using electricity. However, if you choose not to
use the electricity which the turbines generate, that
electricity will be wasted, like an untappped natural gas leak.
Gasoline is made from oil: Conserving gasoline makes more
sense than conserving electricity, so why don't "they" ban
landscaping (lawn mowers)?


In the name of "enviro-mentalism" a philosophy of "act local,
think global" is emerging, which in practise means the creation
of a local "slave labour" population and a "no-fly list",
restricting travel for some. An elite "work" force of "symbol
analysts" is emerging, university-educated "citizens" who will
manage the "locals". Imagine a dog with a leash around his
neck, which leash is attached to a stick in the ground. The
owner/manager tells the dog, "You are free to roam. as you are
able (allowed) to". That is the future that enviro-mentalists
are advocating: The new economy is about serving females, and
offering males (the boyim) opportunities to serve females. The
future looks a lot like the past, only without the black oil
and the gasoline-powered lawnmowers. The future is FEMDOM.
Fight the future. Resistance is not futile. Ever read the
play, Lysistrata?

This book is badly written and poorly reasoned, a shallow, tendentious screed that promotes environmental apocalypticism at the expense of common sense and sound policy. Gore seems to think that until recently, the Earth's climate was stable and that CO2 emissions are driving temperatures to unprecedented levels. In fact, the world is still quite a bit cooler than it was during the Middle Ages, when greenhouse gas emissions were neglible. When people realize how much Gore's absurd proposals would cost, and that they would accomplish little more than to drive American industry into the arms of the Chinese, even those who are conned by his reasons will have second thoughts.

The distresses with Gore's propaganda book for global warming are manifold. The first and worst sin Gore commits is he's NOT FAIR AND BALANCED in his struggling argument that global warming is real, caused by man, and the single-biggest threat facing the world. If Gore was FAIR AND BALANCED in his presentation, he could persuade more readers to give him the benefit of the doubt. Gravely for him, his presumptuous, one-sided and absolutist/elitist argument for global warming--where he brainwashes the reader to believe that global warming is 100% fact through arrogant declaration but no foundations--actually sours the reader and makes Gore appear as a fanatical, ideological DEMAGOGUE with an agenda and shabby credibility.

The most flagrant trespass in Gore's book is it's constructed to indoctrinate grade school/high school kids in the Religion of Global Warming. This is indisputable if we look at the layout of Gore's propaganda: it's short on text, full of colorful graphs, size 30 fonts on some pages, and full of pictures. With this shortcoming of substance, it's clear Gore's slideshow-turned-book was NEVER designed to make an intelligent argument about global warming's allegedly looming threat. It was designed to proselytize impressionable kids at the K-12 levels to believe in the Religion of Global Warming.

The predicament of failure of substance is found everywhere in Gore's propaganda book. He never has many sources to credibly validate the legitimacy of graphs and projections he cites!!!! Even gloomier for Gore's trustworthiness is that his sources come from biased, agenda-driven organizations whose "statistics" you cannot trust--if you're being intellectually honest, which the majority of sycophant-reviewers here refuse.

For instance, a purportedly "authoritative" chart claiming to show 2005 was the hottest year EVER in the history of humankind was conducted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an ideological group sponsored by the UN!!!! Their whole mission statement is to prove that global warming is to be blamed on human activities, so any statistics emerging from their partisan group must be discounted. However, unfair and unbalanced Gore has the insolence to cite this statistic as "authoritative."

Another misconstruction in Gore's argument of ideology is to blame man and global warming for Africa's abysmal problems with genocide and civil wars!!!! Despite the insanity of this supposition, Gore shamelessly alleges that this is so, yet if we analyze his thinking, it can easily be discreditable. Gore's accusatory misconstruction is we (read: US and the West) are single-handedly to blame for the murderous genocide and afflictions in Africa because of our alleged contribution to global warming!!!!

Gore charges the US "helped manufacture the suffering in Africa," as he bases this antagonistic accusation on the supposition that US greenhouse gas emission caused the drying up of Lake Chad--which he then misuses to account for the genocide in Darfur!!!! To any intellectually honest person, of course, the ethnic cleansing and civil war in Darfur are mainly caused by Muslim Janjaweed fighting the non-Arab rebels who are in turn fighting the Sudanese government. With self-hating, anti-American allegations like these, Gore's credibility itself suffers.

Yet another, equally heavy reprimand Gore deserves is for the irrational conclusions and methodology he continually abuses to arrive at his presumption that the scientific community has a consensus that global warming's manmade. In example, Gore mendaciously cites a Science magazine study of every massive, peer-reviewed article on global warming from scientific journals and magazines. He cites this utterly dissolute study to pretend to prove that there's consensus among EACH AND EVERY SCIENTIST ON THE PLANET that global warming is manmade. However, killing Gore's believability is the mortifying fact that said Science magazine study only reviewed TEN PERCENT of every available article on global warming. With this contemptible restriction on what a proper population sample of articles would be, Gore assumingly and pitifully declares that there is basically complete, 100% consensus on the fiction that every single scientist on earth is in unison about global warming.

If this is reliably the case, as Gore forges it to be, then why in the hell are there so many scientists who outright dispute Gore's BS allegations?!?! Some prominent critics of global warming are French geophysicist Claude Allegre; director of the Office of Climatology at Arizona State University Robert Balling Jr.; Associate Professor of Geology and Environmental Science at University of Auckland Chris de Freitas; and so on and so forth. These scientists only scratch the surface; for a more comprehensive list of authorities discrediting global warming, simply do a Google search or check Wikipedia.

Gore's book stumbles in its ineffective struggle to convince the reader of the conclusiveness of global warming. Instead, Gore and his fellow, global-warming co-conspirators simply incriminate themselves as ideologues menacingly dismissing the REAL, BIGGEST threat to the world: Islamic terrorism. Gore often speaks of his kids' kids hating our current generation for not addressing global warming, but they'll likely hate our generation more if we succumb to Gore's advice and pursue the unreliability of global warming while ignoring terrorism!!!!

"Extreme Programming Explained" offers a thorough and good overview of the Extreme Programming (XP) approach to software development.

This book covers the fundamentals of XP and describes some of the benefits of this approach to developing software. While this approach may not suit all developers, project managers or companies, this book offers an interesting overview of XP.

I believe the basis in software development for business is in this book.
You can have the technique, the skills, and the money, but you will need the human side for any agile way of working.
This is not the silver bullet, but you NEED to read this book.

I came across this book in the Bibliography section of Scott Berkun's "The art of Project Management".

First, the structure. Well, this book is under 200 pages. So when Beck talks about keeping what is essential, he is surely applying it while writing books.

Second, the content. The book takes the reader from understanding business risks associated with software development, to understanding the changing economics of software development & why XP can fit the demands of an ever changing business scenario. The book then establishes what XP is, what are its features, what are the activities, who are the X players & then links the roles, activities, & features together across each phase in a typical XP project. While Beck is persuasive about the usefulness of XP, he has also included a chapter at the end of the book which talks about projects where using XP may not be advisable. And yes, such a project is an outsourced development project.

XP presents many interesting features. Traveling light - or code & tests together being all you need - sounds like a dream; nano-releases - or doing a daily or hourly build so that at any time you have a full system working, no matter the completeness of desired functionality - , building a system story by story, & going back & revisiting scope ever so often are all features that can be immensely valuable to the business & to the project team.

As a result of all this, & more such practices, XP resembles to an extent Darwinian evolution in some ways. Trying many things & keeping what works, designing for today's needs & changing that with tomorrow's requirements tomorrow but not today can be seen as interesting commonalities between Darwinian evolution & XP!

Overall, I think the book is great introduction to XP. I'd have liked case studies as well to understand how well good theory fits general projects of any kind, but this book does not cite too many such projects. Nevertheless, pick it up if you want to understand what the XP evolution is all about.

S!

This book is a good introduction to different aspects involved in extreme programming.

The author is the initial proponent of XP. First part of the book explains the present day software development realities(like deadlines etc) and the pitfalls that take place due to these time sensitive expectations. Author moves onto explain the necessity for XP and what are the basic guidelines of XP.

The author should be commened for covering where XP is impractical and should not be used. The book explains the life cycle of a XP project and different roles that are part of this radical process.

XP is not suitable for many present day organizations(due to age old approaches that are already implanted in the system); but should be considered for time sensitive deliverables. This book will definitely give a headsup on how to approach XP.

Small negative: The book takes too much time on what is wrong in other traditional approached to software development(for the size of the title:about 200 pages)

This is an excellent book, short, concise, and well-written. To derive the full benefit of the book, I recommend reading it three times.

The first time you should just try to grasp the concepts of XP and adapt your attitude to be willing to try XP on a real project. If you are a heavy-weight methodology old-timer, this might be a big step for you. Approach it with an open mind.

Only having read the book completely, should you attempt an XP project. That will prepare you for the second reading. Now you can begin to fully grasp the power of its concepts and their implementation. Reading the book retrospectively will shed new light on most of the books contents. Much of what was previously fuzzy or abstract will become lucid.

The third time through should be when you teach using XP. I found more benefit when teaching a formal course than when performing OJT, especially when training those who have more historically traditional development attitudes.
The reason Beck has experienced so much success with XP is because XP works. This book truly explains how to embrace change.

Inertia and status quo will undermine, need innovation.

2. Organization crisis often triggers substantial innovation and change.

3. Companies proactively generate crises and opportunities by creating and solving problems.

4. Excellent managers are those whose unit have no performance gaps today but are able to define future opportunities to energize the organization now.

5. Managers must be clear about products, markets, technology, and timing and define objectives or standards to access performance.

6. A vision people can believe in can add passion and enthusiasm to an organization. A vision people do not understand or believe in undermines management's credibility and is a source of great cynicism.

7. When vision helps create the core values of an organization, it can provide the foundation for the culture or social control system essential in rapidly changing environments.

8. The essence of a vision company is the translation of ideology into goals, strategy, tactics, and policies, processes, and every thing that the company does.

9. Vision must be accessed against actual performance.

10. Managers prioritize performance gaps and make clear the most critical problems.

11. Managers can create opportunities gaps by raising performance standards.

12. Organizational learning is about finding good-enough solutions to important problems.

13. If strategy or vision is wrong, no amount of diagnosis and root cause analysis will help.

14. If a diagnosis reveals in congruencies between one or two organizational building blocks, incremental change is possible.

15. Norms are widely shared and strong held social expectations. Compliance to the norm is considered right. Noncompliance is punishable. Variance exist across an organization and its subunits.

16. Organizations with widely shared norms and values often show great consistency of attitudes and behavior. When core values are diffuse, operating norms are apt to be diffuse.

17. It is difficult to actively shape core values and culture without a clearly articulated competitive vision.

18. Finding the right strategy, vision, and purpose are essential for long-term success and have important motivational properties.

19. Without credible strategy and profit, people won't pay much attention to any so-called noble purpose.

20. Widely shared norms can be powerful determinants for attitudes and behavior.

21. Control comes from the knowledge that someone who matters to us is paying close attention to what we are doing and will tell us how we are doing.

22. A social control system's effectiveness is measure against whether is supports or hinders managers in accomplishing their critical tasks.

23. Providing clear and consistent signals about what is important and should be attended to and what is inappropriate and should not be tolerated is how managers help people focus.

24. People want to contribute their talents at work. "What America does right"

25. In a study of 2,000 managers from Asia, Europe, Africa, and the United States managers recognized the importance of designing workplaces that stimulate creativity and implementation of new ideas. Groups that had comparatively strong norms were rated as most innovative.

26. Managers recognized to stimulate creativity, one had to be prepared to encourage risk taking and accepting failures.

27. The managerial challenge is to design rewards consistent with underlying values of the employees.

28. In 1991, FedX 5,000 employees generated 7,500 suggestions for improvement.

29. A companies future success depends on its ability to develop new technology and improve substantially the reliability of the product line and customer service.

30. Employees need to give the help customers wants, not the help a policy or procedure dictates.

31. Systems of participation and involvement lead people to feel responsible.

32. Behavior leads to attitudes. A series of small commitments progressively builds into larger commitment patterns.

33. Getting people involved and excited about their jobs increases productivity. People see their ideas count and they feel important, a sense of dignity prevails. Jack Welch, "If you're not thinking all the time about making every person more valuable, you don't have a chance."

This book exemplifies the business of the Harvard Business School. It draws snippets from many case studies (available for purchase separately), it ties into seminars and tailored sessions sold at fancy prices to industry, and it presents one of several competing but overlapping theories of what divides successful and unsuccessful companies. It is often compared with Clayton Christensen's book "The Innovator's Dilemma" (obliquely referenced in the preface, but not appearing in the index or bibliography), and indeed both deal with the question of how established companies deal with technologies (in the loosest sense) that change markets. Of the two, I vastly prefer Christensen's book because he tells coherent stories that reach conclusions. This book introduces situations without enough detail to get a true feel for what is going on. In one extreme case ("... John Torrance at Medtek ...", p. 61), a reference is introduced that has no antecedent. The authors of books in this genre like to name drop to show you how broad and deep is their knowledge; therefore you should regard their version of gospel as more credible than their rivals. (How about a case sometime on business school professors?) There are "figures" and "tables" which I suspect are PowerPoint pastes from their lectures. Some of them are referenced (weakly) in the text -- most of them have no direct connection to the exposition. In short, the book gives the impression of being slapped together in haste. For the most part, it is well edited -- a few punctuation lapses notwithstanding. But it needed more editing for content. The table on page 13 says that the "Winchester" company fell victim to its success in disk drives, but the term "Winchester disk" refers not to a company but the code name of a very succesful product prior to its announcement. (Cf. http://www.....htm among other similar web references.) On page 163 they say that IBM lost key control to Intel and Microsoft by betting on the wrong PC design. The conclusion is true, but has nothing whatever to do with the false premise. Now these are all throwaway lines in the book, but they undermine the credibility of the main argument. As an earlier reviewer here put it, the book is about five chapters too long, again, I suspect, because it was produced in haste in order to sell to HBS program participants and in order to get on to the next piece of work. For those who haven't been exposed to the basic ideas (e.g., culture matters), it may well be invaluable, but it ain't the one, true gospel.

I read many business books - from Drucker to Peters, etc., but this one is very insightful, practical, and easy to follow! One day I will own my own business and this book will be by my side!

Captivating stories. Could have reduced the length of the book by 5 or so chapters to avoid repeating the same concepts.

Many successful companies continue to live onto their past success stories and forget the drastic changes taking place in the market. This symptom ultimately makes their successes short-lived and their market positioning easily challenged,and overtaken, by other not-so-famous competitors. To evade such perils, this book explains lucidly the idea of discontinuous innovations through which "culture of innovation" can be obtained and finally reach to an ambidextrous organization. Without innovation no organization can ever think of surviving in this cut-throat competitive market. The concepts in the books are easy to understand via appropriate examples and related explanation.

In this day and age, computing and business are synonymous. Still, providing the right programs and the computers that can run these applications can be expensive. Updating them all on a regular basis is often an exercise in futility.

Many businesses are finding their answers in cloud computing. Simply put, cloud computing allows individuals to access their work on the web. An online service holds the all the necessary programs in virtual reality and users need only log in to work. Thus, users don't have to actually own the particular application on their professional or personal computer, don't have to worry about storage, and never have to add updates. Moreover, as long as the person has internet access, he or she can access this work anywhere and at any time.

Cloud Computing looks at both the pros and cons of web-based applications. Although it would seem that the benefits highly outweigh the concerns, anyone wishing to use these systems has to do their homework to make sure that the providers they use are secure. It's also extremely important to make sure that service match the company needs.

I strongly recommend this timely and instructive book to all those involved in developing talent in professional service firms or any business seeking to hire, retain and prepare their younger employees for leadership. Although much of the book discusses methods for retaining and promoting women, who now make up half of the graduates of our finest universities and grad schools, it also has great applicability to Gen X and Y men, many of whom would prefer to have part-time schedules and are as likely as women to work some hours from home. In place of the more widely accepted, rigid up and down, "all or nothing" ladder, the authors advocate a more flexible, option-providing lattice as a model for the workplace. Berko and Weisberg convincingly show that the lattice, or MCC, much better accommodates what they call the "sine curve" of a modern career - the different periods where employees can dedicate varying amounts of time to advancing within their firms.
The authors demonstrate that flexible work arrangements, such as permitting young mothers to "ramp up" after a maternity leave, are an incomplete substitute for a more comprehensive process that meets the interests of employees to modify and adjust workloads, where that work is performed and the opportunity to customize their careers to closely match their long-term objectives. Only a career-long methodology will address the overriding interests of the organization to hire and keep their best talent while providing enough flexibility, not just in dealing with maternity leave, but over a several decade career path.
The book is particularly helpful because it provides the reader with a framework for implementing MCC and case studies showing how well-respected firms have successfully customized MCC to recruit and retain their highly regarded employees while broadening their leadership pool.

An excellent book that squarely confronts a major challenge that businesses face today - how to address the core issue of retaining top talent. The book starts by outlining the six main demographic and cultural trends that are impacting the workforce. In a nutshell, the retirement of the baby boomer "bulge" cannot be replaced by the much smaller generations that follow (Gen X, Gen Y). In addition, the growing number of women in the workforce and the changing views of men in the workforce has made "work/life balance" possibly the single most critical factor in choosing whether or not to remain at a job - and even whether or not to take a job.

So, faced with a shrinking talent pool and the overwhelming economic advantage in keeping excellent people, rather than hiring and training replacements, what is an organization to do? According to Mass Career Customization, is to allow employees to customize their careers the same way they customize computers that are purchased from Dell. Giving employees the option to "dial up" for more intensity, increased learning experiences, more extensive travel when they are younger, or when their kids are older, or when their spouse is on a break and allowing them to "dial down" for a slower career advancement, reduced salary, and restricted opportunities when raising small children or caring for aging parents. By providing this option, in a way that is fair and companywide (which is the problem with well meaning flexible work arrangements - which are usually "one-offs") organizations allow people to customize their career and remain with the company as their life circumstances change.

I have seen the value of this in my own life, as my wife is now on the "intense track" (I think the dial broke off in her hand when she pushed it past 10 :) ), and my job is flexible and allows me to handle the child care (and read lots of business books). I think that this is an outstanding tool for companies to use in recruiting and retention - and, as the authors point out, it has tremendous "option value". That is, most of the employees (90-95%) will choose the "normal" path, but simply knowing that other options exist for them makes the company a very attractive employer.

Obviously, changing the corporate HR system to incorporate this in a "fair" way is where the challenge gets difficult. What I admire most is that the authors are working for a company (Deloitte) that is implementing this program - so the theory has been tested (at least a little) before being written about.

Of course, no book is perfect and I think this book shows an evolution in thought as the writing progressed - becoming a little more refined in thought towards the end. As a specific example, I think the early focus on the difference between a "corporate ladder" (up or out) and a "corporate lattice" (multiple paths) is not as valuable as the core aspects of customization (mid book) or the "option value" which is only touched upon at the end. Also, I would have simplified the model as I believe most of the factors that are measured (Pace, Workload, Location/Schedule, Role) are actually correlated. But those are quibbles - the demographic research is compelling, the conclusion is solid, and the problem addressed is excruciatingly relevant for employees and employers alike.

The sign of a great innovative breakthrough is that the moment you learn of it, it's easy to embrace. Everyone who reads this book will agree that it's time to think differently about the workplace; mass career customization is the future. The authors describe a new model and vision for career progression that will likely transform organizations. Mass career customization is a concept that can benefit individuals who need a new lens for thinking about their careers. This concept can also help organizations in their ability to attract, retain and develop talent. The authors present a new method of managing the myriad of preferences and career paths that employees desire; application spans from Gen X and Gen Y to working parents and everyone who wants to create a career path to fit their life.

This book is very much like the adult version only with pictures. It would be good for later elementary ages through probably middle school. Being a teacher of lower elementary, I enjoyed it myself!

I love this book. It is a wonderful book to spark family conversations about the power of change. The illustrations are terrific and allow small children to follow along easily. We read this book often and talk about change and the benefits of trying new things. Extremly relevant and well done.

Mia Redrick
Author, Time for mom-Me-5 Essential Self-care Strategies for Mother's

This edition of "Who Moved My Cheese?" is beautifully illustrated and was enjoyed by all of my children from 2 to 12. As an adult, I also throughly enjoyed the book and recommend for children from ages 1 to 99!

I didn't know how well the illustrations were going to be, but I was pleasantly surprised. It covers the entire story line of the adult version and is tailored perfectly for kids. My five-year-old loves it.

Calling it "magical cheese" does not make it easy for kids to understand. This book is a disgraceful attempt to sucker more money out of parents who want their kids to succeed. Let's think about the original book and the message it tries to impart. The types of change that the original tries to prepare us for will not come up in a child's life. This has to be the longest picture book in history and frankly it is condescending. No child will ever sit down to read it. The author foolishly takes a very adult, complicated matter and tries to dumb it down with pretty illustrations... somethings don't dumb down. I have to admit when I read this I became frustrated, bored and confused. The author is completely unable to comprehend that painting the mice and using simple words does not mean that a book works for children. This is a mockery of parents who want to find good books to help their children. Picture books are targeted at children who are typically under five and this book... I know I could never get my nephew who is 14 to sit down and listen to it. Extremely insulting that the author would be out to make a quick buck like this.

The book was in great shape as it was described! Shipping was fast! Transaction was smooth and great!

I had to purchase this book for a U.S. government class that I took. I found this book well organized with memorable examples. Moreover, it has key words and concepts printed on the edges, which makes it easy to study and helps to focus on the main points. The authors also took advantage of graphic organizers. Furthermore, they picked up current events and created "to-think-about boxes." I love history, but always thought that politics is a bit tedious. Yet, with the exception of one or two topics I found this book very engaging.