Quick summary of some recently released books related to
business:
NEW TO BIG is written by David Kidder and Christina
Wallace, both of whom have extensive entrepreneurial experience and currently
work together at Bionic, a company designed to ignite growth within larger
companies. Their text explores “How Companies Can Create Like Entrepreneurs,
Invest Like VCs, and Install a Permanent Operating System for Growth.” Kidder and Wallace assert that “the
refounding of iconic companies – including the development of the next
generation of growth leaders within those companies – is the most significant opportunity
and the greatest leadership challenge of our era.” They provide historical context, but, more
importantly, outline “crucial mind-set shifts” like moving from “planning in a
known share-based world, to … [focusing] on discovering a brand-new customer
problem or need.” Kidder and Wallace refer to this outside-in thinking as the
Total Addressable Problem (TAP) model and provide examples like mobile phones. They
spend another chapter on turning operators into creators by shifting thinking so
as to embrace productive failure, end the addiction to being right, or to “build
ladders to the moon,” amongst other suggestions. This “toolkit” format is very
engaging and will likely appeal to practitioners as well as merit review by our
business students. NEW TO BIG
received positive reviews from Clayton Christensen, Adam Grant and others. About
ten percent is allocated to appendix, notes and index.
HOW LEADERS DECIDE by Greg Bustin is subtitled “A Timeless Guide to Making Tough Choices.” To
motivate and inform business leaders, Bustin has provided 52 decision
situations, designed to be read one per week over the course of a year. He
accompanies each story with a thought-provoking question (e.g., If you were honored
for your life’s work, what achievement would you celebrate? What legacy would
you leave?). Unfortunately, Bustin chose to profile white males, almost
exclusively. And he also tended to select well-known individuals (e.g., Julius
Caesar, John Adams, and Winston Churchill) so this work has less impact and
inspirational decision-making advice than might otherwise be the case. Perhaps
for his next project, Bustin could explore additional biographical sketches and
create a newer version of
Frank
Olsen’s Inventors Who Left Their Brands on America? In
the meantime, readers could also consider turning to titles like The Third Door (featuring advice
from contemporary leaders and innovators) or They Made America (with a
more historical perspective although he includes women and immigrants) by
Harold Evans. In addition, Berger’s The Big Book of Beautiful Questions,
Case’s Be Fearless or Morten’s Great at Work offer valuable leadership advice.
BLOCKCHAIN: THE NEXT
EVERYTHING by Stephen
P. Williams is an attempt to explain what blockchain is and how it works. He defines blockchain as software and “strings
of code” or “a simple technology [that] serves as a permanent, unhackable
ledger for almost any kind of information you would like to record” such as the
bitcoin transactions for which it was originally developed. Subsequent sections
of this text discuss various innovative and potential new applications, with some
related to energy futures, climate change and environment, others to artistic endeavors.
Despite labelling the science and technology of blockchain as “challenging,” he
writes that “it won’t be long until using blockchain will be about as tough as
watching a movie on Netflix." To me, Williams struggles to truly describe blockchain;
at one point, he recommends turning to YouTube for better understanding. Obviously,
this technology is still evolving and Williams himself writes, “blockchain will
most likely be superseded in the future by something that works even better. …
distributed systems [with no central authority or control] … promise to
transform how we do business, communicate and govern.”
BIG BUSINESS: A Love Letter to an American Anti-Hero
by Tyler Cowen (Average is Over)
comprises a set of musings on aspects of the American corporation. Cowen, professor
of economics at George Mason University, first provides “a new pro-business
manifesto.” Other chapters explore whether CEOs are paid too much, how monopolistic
big business might be, and whether the big tech companies are evil. In
response, Cowen asserts that “on the whole our CEOs are providing good value
for the money they earn;” that although “K-12 education is arguably an example
of a big monopoly problem … the analysts who raise this issue [more generally] usually
are exaggerating the problem;” and “America’s tech sector is increasingly
underrated [due in part to less than objective media coverage].” Our students
have recently shown increased interest in researching the values of socialism
and would undoubtedly be interested in the questions that Cowen raises,
although they would might be less apt to agree with his generally pro-business argument.
Clearly Cowen raises issues and responds to critics while sharing a great deal
of emotion, caveats, and opinion in this accessible text; roughly twenty
percent of BIG BUSINESS provides
additional detail through references, notes and an index.
DEATH IN KEW
GARDENS by Jennifer Ashley is
the third installment in the “Below Stairs” mystery series which was new to me although
the first book, Death Below Stairs, received
a starred review from Publishers Weekly. The main character is named Kat Holloway who
is a roughly thirty-year-old cook in Victorian London. By coincidence, she
meets Mr. Li, a Chinese scholar who is later accused of murdering Kat’s
neighbor, Sir Jacob Harkness. Harkness is a frequent traveler to China and
interested in the botany work at Kew Gardens. Curious and steadfast by nature,
Kat is determined to clear Mr. Li’s name with the help of her employer (Lady
Cynthia), her fellow servants (especially assistant Tess), and her romantic interest,
Daniel McAdam. Although they will enjoy
Kat’s adventures, readers may have to ignore some overly convenient events. For
example, how does Daniel manage to immediately obtain a position working at Kew
Gardens for yet another botanist and the very one who has brought Mr. Li to the
authorities’ attention? The characters do have unique and appealing
personalities and Ashley does an engaging job of weaving suspense with
historical Victorian facts and meal preparation details. “‘Oh my,’ [as] Tess
said excitedly. ‘Better than a panto.’”
Rhys Bowen is one
of my favorite authors and I am enjoying her latest, LOVE AND DEATH AMONG THE CHEETAHS. This light, entertaining
mystery is 13th in the Royal Spyness series which features Lady Georgiana Rannoch,
now married to Darcy O’Mara and on honeymoon in 1935 Kenya. Dinner parties, a
polo match and a safari seem like fun, although there is work for the newlyweds:
as a distant relative of the Queen, Lady Georgie has been asked to keep an eye
on the Prince of Wales and Wallis Simpson, while Darcy is in the midst of a
case tracking a jewel thief. 
