Here's a quick summary of a variety of recent and forthcoming business related books:
CRACK THE FUNDING CODE by Judy Robinett explains “How Investors Think and What They Need to Hear to Fund
Your Startup.” The preface, written by
Kevin Harrington of Shark Tank is filled with some amazing statistics in
that he estimates he has heard roughly 50,000 pitches, funded about 800 of them
and saw 150 actually make money. Both he and Robinett stress the importance of
packaging a concept so as to “pitch to investors’ needs” (be they profit
margins, sales volume, etc.). Robinett begins with a section on how to think
like an investor and then segues to finding the right investors, what investors
are looking for, and closing the deal. She
also includes several helpful appendices with information on “power connecting,”
a strong pitch deck example, and a due diligence checklist. CRACK THE FUNDING CODE should be a particularly valuable for those, like our Entrepreneur class students, who are seeking funding for new and innovative ideas.(Jan. 2019; Amacom)
THE WISE ADVOCATE by Art Kleiner, Jeffrey Schwartz, and Josie
Thomson focuses on Strategic Leadership, particularly in relation to what we
know about neuro-science and how are brains work. The authors describe a wise advocate as “the
person who believes, and can inspire others to believe, that the problem is
worth solving; that it cannot be solved in conventional ways; … that a new way
of looking at things is available to them; and that they can all make a
difference together if they act on this belief.” Two types of leadership –
transactional (“exchanging gratifications”) and transformative (more adaptive
and strategic) – are discussed. Given increasingly complex issues and problems,
they recommend calling on the “inner wise advocate” and use a variety of
scenarios (from running a large international plant to personal setbacks at
work) in order to illustrate their points about the need to reframe and think
differently about a situation. Throughout the text, they emphasize “habits of
mind” which will lead to better decisions and outcomes. (Jan. 2019, Columbia UP)
Mihir Desai is the
Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School, and his latest text, HOW FINANCE WORKS, is filled with charts, diagrams and
equations. As such, Desai takes a
complicated subject about which he is very knowledgeable and tries to simplify
it for those who are relatively new to the discipline. Building on his almost
two decades of teaching experience, he deftly employs interactive exercises and
case studies to prompt questioning and learning. Desai is also the author of Wisdom
of Finance (2017), which was long-listed for the Financial Times &
McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.
(Apr. 2019, Harvard Business Review)
WHY DO SO MANY
INCOMPETENT MEN BECOME LEADERS? is
a challenging question and title of a new book by Tomas
Chamorro-Premuzic, a professor of business psychology at University
College London and at Columbia University, and an associate at Harvard's
Entrepreneurial Finance Lab. Chamorro-Premuzic
explores various facets of leadership in chapters with titles like “Why Most
Leaders Are Inept,” “What Good Leaders Look Like,” and “Measuring a Leader’s
Impact.” Along the way, he discusses, the
gender imbalance in more powerful positions; noting for example, that at
Fortune 500 companies in 2017 women made up 44% of the workforce, 36% of
first-line and mid-level managers, but only 20% of board members and 6% of CEOs.
He argues that men’s character flaws (e.g., overconfidence or self-absorption) “help
them emerge as leaders because they are disguised as attractive leadership
qualities” (e.g., charisma), resulting in reduced leadership opportunities for
both women and men “while keeping the standards of leadership depressingly low.”
Chamorro-Premuzic himself “calls for a different type of analysis” and his work
certainly offers a unique perspective which will be valuable for our Psychology
students and Junior Theme researchers investigating women’s roles in the
workforce. (Mar. 2019, Harvard Business Review)
Students and
parents will be celebrating New Trier’s graduation tomorrow (with, helpfully,
no rain in the forecast). An excellent guide to the next phase for many of them
is
HOW TO COLLEGE by Andrea Malkin Brenner and Lara Hope
Schwartz. This new and practical text is
subtitled “what to know before you go (and when you're there).” The authors provide numerous helpful tips in
this very accessible book. For example, there are sections titled The New
College You (about identity, living with roommates, and making friends);
College is School (filled with ideas for mastering academic challenges); Resident
Experts (dealing with staff, administrators, and self-advocating with
professors); and Life Beyond the Classroom (activities, career, internships,
and college town). I turned to the section called Take Care of You which
discusses wellness, healthcare and campus security. Yes, there’s some references
to insurance which may interest parents more. However, the authors primarily address students; for example, they offer some very useful self-assessment
exercises like the 168 Assignment which is complete with charts to track how
time is spent (grooming, eating, sleeping, going to class, exercising,
studying, etc.) over the course of a week. There’s also some budgeting charts
and information about loans and financial literacy in the Money Talk section
which would be a great complement to The New York Times’ recent Financial Checklist for High School Grads. And, the final section, Your To Do List, is
an organized (if somewhat daunting) summary of steps to achieve over the summer
before attending college. Look for HOW
TO COLLEGE on our shelves along with an updated and expanded edition of
The HER Campus Guide to College Life by Stephanie Kaplan Lewis. Congratulations
to our graduates!!
