800-CEO-READ Blog: Jack Covert Selects

Jack Covert Selects - Management Lesson From Mayo Clinic

Management Lessons From Mayo Clinic: Inside One of the World's Most Admired Service Organizations by Leonard L Berry and Kent D. Seltman, McGraw-Hill, 276 pages, $27.95, Hardcover, June 2008, ISBN 9780071590730

Over a century ago, a family of doctors in a small Minnesotan town formed an organization that has gone on to touch countless lives. These days, over 42,000 employees, students and volunteers go to work every day at Mayo Clinic's three U.S. campuses--one each in Minnesota, Florida and Arizona. But, talking to the clinic's patients, you'd never think the care they received came from such a large entity. Mayo Clinic has grown exponentially over the years, but has retained its human touch throughout. How has Mayo Clinic done it? Leonard Barry and Kent Seltman answer that question with this book.

In profiling this one very special organization, Barry and Seltman touch on almost every aspect of business--from the loftier issues of Vision, Values, and Purpose, to the everyday issues of customer service, management structure, hiring and branding. The authors tackle each issue methodically and know exactly when to step back and let those within the Clinic and their patients tell their own stories, keeping the book fresh and inspiring.

One such story is from Dr. Breanndan Moore. He was called in to work on a kidney transplant in the middle of the night, and noticed a technologist still in the lab. Being her supervisor and fearing the worst, he called her into his office the next day, asking why she had been in the lab at 2 a.m. It turned out that earlier that day she accidentally used the wrong solution on an antibody test and couldn't read it. She had come back just to do the test again. That was commendable, but Moore wondered why she didn't wait and redo the test the next day. She replied "Dr. Moore, I can't have the patients at Mayo Clinic waiting an extra day in the hospital just because I fouled up a lab test."

That technologist was behind the scenes, unknown to patients, and she wasn't expecting to be rewarded for her extra work--she didn't even expect anyone to know about it. It is employees like her that make Mayo Clinic what it is, and it is Mayo Clinic's culture that creates employees like her. Not every business has the high calling that Mayo Clinic has. Not every employee goes to work everyday clearly knowing that the work they do will benefit a life other than their own. But, the lessons and methods provided in this book can help any management team instill a culture and purpose to effectively manage an organization around.

The Mayo brothers established and built "one of the world's most admired service organizations" with solid values and a practicality in operations that is truly clinical. What else would you expect from a Midwestern family? The Mayo Clinic continues that work today, and you can expect those same qualities in this book.

Jack Covert Selects - Good Is Not Enough

Good Is Not Enough: And Other Unwritten Rules for Minority Professionals by Keith R. Wyche with Sonia Alleyne, Portfolio, 242 pages, $24.95, Hardcover, July 2008, ISBN 9781591842101

It's no secret that the leaders of America's largest corporations do not reflect the makeup of our country's population. Looking at the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, there are: four African Americans, four Latinos, five Asians and 13 women.

Why is this still true in corporate America and how can we change it? This is what Keith Wyche tries to resolve in Good Is Not Enough, written with Sonia Alleyne. First, he suggests that not only is there a managerial issue to be dealt with on the corporate level, but that employees themselves must do things differently to make it in today's business world.

If a company's culture is counterproductive, it can be hard regardless of what you do to stay, get promoted and bring about change. So, get out. Find some place better. Once finding a new organization, the authors discuss how to "fit in" and make the corporate culture work for you, explaining that this can be accomplished by changing perception (how one is seen), visibility (making oneself accessible), and knowing when to move over/get out, find a mentor, and be more prepared. Each focal point has its own chapter and contains several examples and explanations.

Chapter 6, in particular, deals with the skills that one must have to excel in the corporate world, and applies to everyone making their way up in business. If you cannot communicate, don't have some leadership skills, and can't be a team player, you won't get far in any organization. Wyche counsels employees not to look for Gold Stars at work. In the workforce, just doing great things isn’t enough. You often won't get noticed by just doing outstanding work. You need to meet with your superiors, show others what you've done and let them know that you're there if they need you.

Good Is Not Enough demonstrates how minorities in the workplace can, and have, overcome obstacles to thrive in previously uncharted territories of corporate America. But the lessons laid out here are useful to anyone in the workforce who is underappreciated or thinks they may not be reaching their full potential within their company. With any job, some aspects are easy to change: how you approach a job or present yourself. Others are impossible. This book is a guide to the pieces that one can change to help overcome the challenges that one can't change.

Jack Covert Selects - Predictably Irrational

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely, Harper, 280 pages, $25.95, Hardcover, February 2008, ISBN 9780061353239

We've all been there--the skin-to-strip adhesive is beginning to give, and it's clearly time to give the Band-Aid the ol' yank. That truism from mom--"fast and easy"--rings true, but does it really? According to Dan Ariely, maybe not...

As amusing as such human trivialities prove to be for light lunchtime reading, the increasingly grave results stemming from our seemingly simple everyday decisions (hybrid vs. hydrogen, fluorescent vs. incandescent, Starbucks vs. Dunkin' Donuts) beg a closer examination of Ariely's theory that we're not only all irrational, but Predictably Irrational. Pointing out inherent human foibles is no gesture of contrariness or devil's advocacy on the part of the author. Rather, as Ariely states, "these irrational behaviors of ours are neither random nor senseless. They are systematic, and since we repeat them again and again, predictable. So wouldn't it make sense to modify standard economics, to move it away from naive psychology?"

Hoping to expound on the growing field of behavioral economics, Ariely guides the reader through the backwaters of our own minds. Chapters chart the dangers of making decisions based on comparison (citing Crocodile Dundee nonetheless), the fallacy of supply and demand (Starbucks tricked us!), and the ridiculously high price of ownership (would you pay $2400 for a basketball ticket?). All the while Ariely keeps his tongue planted firmly in cheek. And, as for the Band Aide, it turns out that mom may have just been protecting herself from discomfort when she offered the quick-rip solution: Patients actually feel less pain if treatments are carried out with lower intensity and longer duration.

Ariely is currently the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT, holding a joint appointment between the school's Media Laboratory and the Sloan School of Management. What does such a lofty title mean, you might ask. Basically, that he understands human behavior as well as anyone on the planet, including the cognitive workings behind every one of our weird inclinations at work, in the store, in restaurants, and even at the bar. But throughout this book, the Professor's Friday afternoon tone never wavers--he's conversational, informal, and increasingly engaging despite the usually tedious nature of such a barrage of examples. Rarely is a book of empirical evidence at once so eye opening and fun.

Jack Covert Selects - The Memo to the CEO Series

The Memo to the CEO Series, Various Authors, Harvard Business School Press, $18.00, Hardcover, 2008

We recently attended Book Expo America, the national bookseller's convention, and almost every one of our meetings involved some talk of the future. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was one of the headliners, promoting his company's electronic reading device, the Kindle. Audio books look like they will follow the lead of their musical brethren and become more available digitally, and, surprisingly, will be released from at least one publisher in the popular, unprotected mp3 format. But, I wonder if there isn't something in looking at the good old paper version of books and improving it for the 21st century reader.

The "Memo to the CEO" series from Harvard Business School Press seems to be a step in that direction. Over the last few months, five books have been released under this banner, with more planned for the fall. They typically run about 120 pages and easily fit in the palm of your hand. This translates into a quick read for busy businesspeople. The topics are timely and focused, ranging from how climate change affects business strategy to what companies can learn from the private equity sector. This series occupies a unique spot between the coverage you would find in a magazine article and the significantly longer treatment you would get in a traditional book.

My favorite of the series so far is 5 Future Strategies You Need Right Now by George Stalk, who you may know from his previous books Hardball and Competing Against Time. For this book, Stalk went into his "files" to see what trends were forming on the horizon. The five strategies he talks about "began as faint signals, but the files on them are now sufficiently thick that the sources of advantage are not only abundantly clear, but undeniable" (3).

Stalk's strategies match his very nuts-and-bolts style, and each gets its own section in the book. He implores companies to avoid the huge fixed investments needed in the past for economies of scale and explore new, more flexible production techniques. He believes companies must develop dynamic pricing structures to match the second-by-second needs of the customer, and he discusses the idea of infinite bandwidth and how best to utilize it when it arrives. I'll leave the other two strategies for you to discover in the book.

The current titles in the series are:

Jack Covert Selects - Buying In

Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are by Rob Walker, Random House, 291 pages, $25.00, Hardcover, June 2008, ISBN 9781400063918

Standing in the condiments aisle of the grocery store, shoppers are confronted by bottle after bottle of similar items. There is any number of considerations we mull over regarding what we ultimately place in our carts. Those of us on a diet make different choices than do those of us on a budget, for example. Do you buy the store brand mustard, the Grey Poupon or the one produced locally? In Buying In, Rob Walker shows us how, through this simple act of choosing, we reveal the irony of advertising. Most of us would say that we make our choices based on our needs, because we are capable of seeing through the hype promoted by the various companies' crack marketing teams. But, even if we choose the economical store brand, for instance, we are still making a symbolic statement about what is important to us.

Since the turn of the century, many trend watchers and marketing gurus have declared the age of the advertiser and its lockstep consumers dead. New technology does allow consumers more selectivity and the opportunity to block out advertising messages. But, based on his experience writing the "Consumed" column for The New York Times Magazine, Rob Walker thinks these pundits are quite wrong. Yes, there has been a change in marketing, but consumers are as susceptible to a company's message as ever because marketers have changed tactics as we have become less affected by their old ones.

To reveal the secret dialogue taking place between company and consumer, Walker says the first task is to crack the "Desire Code"--the reasoning behind our decisions as consumers. Then we must see through the haze created by "Murketing," Walker's "shorthand description of the practices of certain brand managers who aimed to blur the rules of the traditional sales pitch--to make marketing more murky" (78). And finally, we must become aware of just how susceptible we still are to the power of branding and the "Invisible Badges" that we wear as a result of our choices. In a society where desire has replaced need much of the time, Walker asserts that the ethics of our consumption is the new power player in this new age of marketing.

Walker's writing is relaxed, and the stories entertaining and relatable. But don't let the casual dress fool you. The information Walker covers will open your eyes to the unconscious consumerism that we all participate in. There is no "good versus evil" in Walker's book, just a message that "if there is one thing we really ought to be 'in control' of, it's our own behavior" (214).

Jack Covert Selects - The Necessary Revolution

The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations Are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World by Peter Senge, Bryan Smith, Nina Kruschwitz, Joe Lauer & Sara Schley, Doubleday, $29.95, 406 pages, Hardcover, June 2008, ISBN 9780385519014

In our annual magazine published earlier this year, we lamented the lack of business books that tackle issues of the environment. Well, this year that has changed, as there have been numerous books on the topic published, such as Stirring It Up by Gary Hirshberg, and Go Green, Live Rich by Richard Bach. The latest is The Necessary Revolution, and it is among the finest.

The authors lay out a fundamental irony at the beginning of this book. The environmental crisis we find ourselves in today is a direct result of the successes of the Industrial Revolution, successes that greatly improved our quality of life. And, yet, it is our quality of life that is now at stake, especially for the world's poor.

Applying "systems thinking"--a concept Senge introduced in his classic The Fifth Discipline--to the environmental challenges we face, the authors conclude that we are living in an "Industrial Age Bubble," one similar to any other economic bubble. They believe "we have gotten into our predicament today because of a way of thinking that focuses on parts and neglects the whole. We have become masterful at focusing on immediate goals--such as short-term profits--and neglecting the larger systems of which quarterly profits are but one small part" (25).

This is a business book through and through, laying out a serious problem in business, relating stories of success, and giving you plans of action and tools to achieve a goal. It just so happens that the goal here is not just improving your business, but our entire future as well, by creating a more sustainable world. You'll read inspiring stories like Coca-Cola's partnership with The World Wildlife Fund addressing water management issues, and the Global Sustainable Food Lab--an effort to create sustainable food chains that includes food giants Unilever, Heinz, General Mills, Starbucks and Costco, and non-profits like Oxfam, the Rainforest Alliance, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others.

For too long, many have seen business interests as antithetical to environmental causes. This book dispels that myth. "The revolution is not about giving up; it's about rediscovering what we value most. It is about making quality in living central in our communities, businesses, schools, and societies" (40).

Jack Covert Selects -The China Price

The China Price: The True Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage by Alexandra Harney, Penguin Press, 336 pages, $25.95, Hardcover, April 2008, ISBN 9781594201578

Many of the books written about business in China in the past few years have come at the situation from a "half full" perspective. As a thinking person, you know there is another side to all these products we are buying so cheaply. This is the book that addresses that "half empty" side.

Alexandra Harney reveals the damage our seemingly insatiable need for cheap goods causes. She explains that "as much as the responsibility seems to lie with Beijing, it also lies with the global consumer. Our appetite for the $30 DVD player and the $3 T-shirt helps keep jewelry factories filled with dust, illegal mines open and 16-year-olds working past midnight. We all pay the China price" (289). The China Price compiles an impressive list of some serious infractions in the international code of conduct. For example, the author joins a Wal-Mart representative as she audits a factory for compliance to the company's ethical standards with regard to child labor, factory safety and pay. Unethical factory owners, she is told, often carry a separate set of books with fake time sheets and fake pay stubs to satisfy the standards large American companies demand.

These practices are driven by the desire of the factory owner to make more money, but, as Harney explains, it is also driven by the "race to zero" where the customer is demanding a reduced cost for the product. Because of the size of the country and the number of factories, customers can shop and demand better prices. This demand puts huge pressure on the environment, labor costs and safety issues. Harney also digs into the troubles China has gone through during its evolutions from a state-controlled economy to a country trying to cope with one of the largest migrations in human history. These conditions are simply not conducive to a rational growth policy.

This book tells sobering stories with the quality you can expect from a Financial Times reporter. To fully understand our relationship with China and the internal state of that country, The China Price is a must-read.

Jack Covert Selects - It's Our Ship

It's Our Ship: The No-Nonsense Guide to Leadership by Michael Abrashoff, Business Plus, 208 pages, $25.99, May 2008, ISBN 9780446199667

One of our best-selling books of the new century has been Michael Abrashoff's first book, It's Your Ship. Abrashoff was then a recently retired captain in the US Navy, and the book told the story of his successful turnaround of the USS Benfold. That book continues to sell in ever-increasing numbers, and Abrashoff is now in much demand as a speaker.

In his new book, Abrashoff returns to his experience on the Benfold, this time focusing solely on leadership lessons. He asserts that there are key skills a good leader needs to learn. He offers 8 of them, and each skill is represented in a chapter within the book.

In the chapter on inspiring your people to be their best, Buoy Up Your People, Abrashoff tells a story about Bill Walsh, the late, revered coach of the San Francisco 49ers. During one game, an offensive lineman was called for a holding penalty that cost the football team a touchdown, and, naturally, the player was dreading the film session the following Monday. As the coach was going over the film with the team, however, he said, "We all know what Bruce did on the play, but I want you to see what he did on the next play." Because the player was angry with himself, he had flattened the defensive lineman. Walsh said, "This is what I want you to do after you make a mistake. You don't need to be thinking about your mistakes. Do something constructive about it." Walsh had just changed the way the players viewed failure with a few minutes of game film.

Abrashoff's writing is a joy to read. Very simple, basic sentences convey rather profound ideas. Sprinkled in with the stories of his ship, he includes stories from the civilian world of business and profiles a variety of people dealing with leadership issues. One of the strengths of It's Our Ship is that Abrashoff introduces us to businesses that are not your usual suspects. Following the Walsh story, for example, he includes a story on how the West Coast chain In-N-Out Burger manages to attract and motivate its great employees. I won't spoil that one for you though.

Jack Covert Selects - The Game-Changer

The Game-Changer: How You Can Drive Revenue and Profit Growth with Innovation by A.G. Lafley and Ram Charan, Crown Business, 336 pages, $27.50, Hardcover, April 2008, ISBN 9780307381736

Ram Charan has written some of the finest business books in the genre--most notably Execution, which he coauthored with former Honeywell Chairman Larry Bossidy. In this new offering, he teams up with another executive, Chairman and CEO of Proctor and Gamble A.G. Lafley.

When Lafley took over P&G, the company was in trouble, trying to respond to the quick changes of the global economy and not meeting stakeholders' expectations. In Lafley's words, the company was "trying to do too much, too fast, and nothing was being done well." This book documents P&G's turnaround. It is a practical, nuts-and-bolts guide to innovation, written in three parts.

In the first part, "Drawing the Big Picture," Charan and Lafley stress that the customer is always the boss of any company, and discuss how to shore up an organization's core strengths and choose the right goals and strategies for future growth accordingly. This part of the book inspires reflection, and you'll immediately start forming a view of what you want the future of your business to look like. The second part gives you the tools to design innovation structures into everything you do. In "Making Innovation Happen," the authors show you how to funnel outside ideas into your company effectively, and how to create innovation teams within your existing structure. This phase is when you design your organizational structure, consumer products and interaction.

Throughout the book, Charan and Lafley stress that "innovation is a social process." In the third part of the book they give you a view of what "The Culture of Innovation" looks like--and not only within your company, but also with your customers, suppliers, retailers, and even competitors. Lafley made a change to put P&G back on the right track--putting the customer in their rightful spot as boss--but he has also did some remarkable things in that pursuit, such as sharing propriety technology in a joint venture with Clorox, a key competitor for over 20 years, to develop a new line of GLAD products.

Every chapter in The Game-Changer ends with great takeaway questions to "Ask Yourself Monday Morning." But with the combined talents of Charan and Lafley at your disposal, you'll find that you'll be thinking about this book every day of the week.

Jack Covert Selects - The Pixar Touch

The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company by David A. Price, Knopf, 304 pages, $27.95 Hardcover, May 2008, ISBN 9780307265753

Disney's The Sword in the Stone may have inspired some youngsters with dreams of becoming a knight or magician, leading them to a life of role-playing and dice-throwing. But, one little boy, John Lassater, thought instead about becoming an animator right then and there. He's now one of the people at the helm of Pixar, and yes, he did get to animate some pictures.

David A. Price's The Pixar Touch walks readers through the genesis of Pixar. Its beginnings reach far back into the 1960s, before computer technology was even a glimmer on the horizon of film making, let alone in our everyday workforce and home life. The book weaves the tales of not just one or two great masterminds behind Pixar, but actually dives into the contributions of the many different people who helped establish what it is today. This is no small feat, as there are literally thousands of such individuals to acknowledge (George Lucas, Tim Burton, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs, just to name a few).

The author also takes on the huge task of talking about the technology, innovation and expertise that fueled Pixar into an Academy Award-winning company. He does so with great care, making the story accessible and easy to comprehend even though readers may not know anything about mainframes, pixels, frame buffers and other such computer hardware.

Detailing the histories of the company's huge hits (including Monster's Inc. and Finding Nemo) as well as some of its misses, Price shows how Pixar demonstrates the value in having faith not only in yourself, but also in those around you. The Pixar Touch never loses sight of the company's greatest renewable resource, the human spirit. Just envision that little boy looking up at the big screen, watching another little boy pull a huge sword out of a stone, thinking, "Hey, I could do that!"

Jack Covert Selects - Nudge

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard. H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, Yale University Press, 304 pages, $26.00, Hardcover, April 2008, ISBN 9780300122237

Every layout and piece of input we interact with influences the decisions we make each day. At the grocery store, product placement plays to our impressionable nature with candy stocked near the cash register. Our magazine subscriptions renew automatically because the magazine companies know busy subscribers rarely take the time to unsubscribe, even when magazines begin to pile up on our kitchen table. Our cars remind us with an annoying beep to buckle up. When it comes to what influences our decision-making, authors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein explain that, "A good rule of thumb is to assume that 'everything matters.'"

That's where Nudge comes into play. Thaler and Sunstein are believers in libertarian paternalism, a belief combining two seemingly disparate ideas. The libertarian aspect reflects the belief that, "in general, people should be free to do what they like--and to opt out of undesirable arrangements if they want to." The paternalistic side seeks to influence "choices in a way that will make choosers better off, as judged by themselves." That is, the choices stay the same; it is the presentation of the choices that may change.

Take retirement plans, for example. One application of libertarian paternalism would be a human resource manager electing for an automatic annual renewal of employees' 401K benefits. Employees would be free to leave the plan at any point. The automatic renewal would simply remedy our tendency to be forgetful and push things off until the last minute. This nudge, Thaler and Sunstein would argue, would be in the best interest of the employees. Most of us would agree we would be better off in the long run.

There are numerous applications for nudges that can, and do, exist. As the authors point out, one of the first misconceptions is that "it is possible to avoid influencing people's choices. In many situations, some organization or agent must make a choice that will affect the behavior of some other people." They go on to imbue readers with six factors that influence our choices, hoping that with this knowledge, companies, governments and choice architects will guide people responsibly with small nudges. With Nudge, Thaler and Sunstein show that liberty and guidance can be the right combination to help people make smarter decisions.

Jack Covert Selects - Inside Steve's Brain

Inside Steve's Brain by Leander Kahney, Portfolio, 304 pages, $23.95, Hardcover, April 2008, ISBN 9781591841982

For four decades, the word Apple has conjured up more than just keeping the doctor away. Adding the iPod, iTunes and iPhone to that mix only strengthens the long-lasting brand that shares the fruit's name. But what makes it tick? What's at the heart of this company? Leander Kahney answers those questions in this book by focusing on its sometimes controversial CEO, Steve Jobs.

Kahney delves into Jobs' world from the very beginnings of the computer business he created with his childhood friend, Steve Wozniak. They made what would eventually be known as the first Apple computer in a garage, and then recruited other friends to help build them. Kahney illustrates Jobs' role in the progress of this new technology as more creative and intuitive than scientific. Jobs never graduated college, never took computer technology courses, and certainly never knew how to build one. What he did know is how it should perform, what it should look like and who would use it. He's basically Apple's own test market and built-in guru.

Life has not always been like this for Apple or for Jobs. One may remember the late '80s to mid '90s, when the computer company took hit after hit with slumping sales, sub-standard technology and too many products to control. It was no longer the company Jobs had helped build. At that time, Jobs was helming a company called NeXt and making movies with a little company he helped start called Pixar (Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Toy Story). Needless to say, however, Jobs returned to Apple when they needed him the most.

Jobs got rid of the "bozos" at Apple. He realized that too many creative people can be a death-sentence and that Apple had its shortcomings. The company had to get humble, and quick. Before the iPod was released, Apple was just about ready to toss in the towel. But then Jobs stepped in as advisor at the request of then CEO, Gilbert Amelio. What followed was one of the most ambitious comebacks in modern business history. Jobs got rid of departments, products and workers they didn't need, achieving a streamlined business with more focus, drive, determination and ingenuity.

Apple Computer is the big story in this book, but Kahney also takes us a journey into Jobs' brain--from his childhood to adulthood, through his ups and downs--and begins to solve the riddle of Steve Jobs and his business savvy.

Jack Covert Selects - Creating a World Without Poverty

Creating a World Without Poverty: How Social Business Can Transform Our Lives by Mohammad Yunus, PublicAffairs, 261 pages, $26.00, Hardcover, January 2008, ISBN 9781586484934

Economist and banker Muhammad Yunus has often been described as a visionary. His work with microcredit lending earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006; the only other recipient that year was the micro lending company he founded, Grameen Bank.

Much of Creating a World Without Poverty focuses on the "Grameen Experiment," documenting the financial practicality of a social business. You may be asking, "What is a social business anyway?" Well, Yunus believes that "to make the structure of capitalism complete" a new kind of business needs to emerge "not to achieve limited personal gain but to pursue broad social goals." Tackling concerns usually associated with aide groups, social businesses differ from non-profits and NGOs in that they don't rely on charitable donations and grants to pursue their mission.

Yunus believes global markets can alleviate poverty, writing that "Globalization, as a general business principle, can bring more benefits to the poor than any alternative," but tempers that enthusiasm with statements like, "Unfettered markets in their current form are not meant to solve social problems and instead may actually exacerbate poverty, disease, pollution, corruption, crime, and inequality." This is what he believes social business can address. He sums up his feelings, writing "I am in favor of strengthening the freedom of the market. At the same time, I am very unhappy about the conceptual restrictions imposed on the players in the market."

Yunus continues to broaden the concept of business. One example is Grameen's entering a joint venture in Bangladesh with Group Danone (Dannon) to help address the serious malnutrition that exists there. Grameen Danone is a social business, producing fortified yogurt to shore up the diet of rural Bangladeshi--primarily children--and selling it at a price that keeps the venture self-sustaining, but no more than that. The business pays no financial dividends to its investors--it exists solely to address a need and if they turn a profit, it will be used to expand its capacity to affect human lives.

We all know the business model works, and that it drives innovation and progress. Yunus is working in that tradition, suggesting and that alongside our profit-driven businesses, it would serve us well to build businesses driven by social concerns--and he is proving it can work. If enough people get on board, we may some day realize Yunus's vision of putting poverty in a museum.

Jack Covert Selects - The Back of the Napkin

The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam, Portfolio, 288 pages, $24.95, Hardcover, March 2008, ISBN 9781591841999

When one thinks of the skills needed to thrive in today's business environment, the ability to draw isn't usually high on the list. But, as Dan Roam persuasively suggests, visual thinking through the use of drawing is one of the most powerful tools for solving problems and selling ideas we have available to us. And selling ideas and problem-solving, I think we can all agree, are essential to business success.

Human beings are born with an immense talent for processing images, and Roam insists--even if you don't believe you’re a visual person--that so long as "you [are] able to walk in [a] room without falling down," you can use this talent to address any issue. The great thing about this book, though, is that it doesn't exhaust itself preaching the benefits of visual thinking. Roam states his case simply and effectively, and then moves on to giving you "tools and rules" to think visually, laying out the steps to take (Look, See, Imagine, Show) and "the six ways of seeing."

The six ways of seeing are: who/what, how much, where, when, how, and why. These six ways of seeing are going to affect each part of the visual thinking process, from identifying the issue, to developing an idea, to expressing a solution. As Roam puts it, "For every one of the six ways of seeing, there is one corresponding way of showing. For each one of these six ways of showing, there is a single visual framework that serves as a starting point."

Roam discovered the power of all this after flying to England to cover for a colleague at the last minute. He was asked on the train, en route to a large conference of education experts in England, to run his PowerPoint by the British team leader. And there was the rub. He didn't have one. In fact, he wasn't quite sure yet what it was he'd be talking about. When he found out it was about the role of the Internet in American education, a topic he didn't know much about, he grabbed a pen and the nearest napkin and began sketching out how to build a useful website for that audience. So, instead of having a PowerPoint, Dan Roam redrew the napkin on a giant blackboard, explaining each step as he had on the train, and what could have been a boring 45 minute lecture turned into two hours of "inspired discussion."

This book is full of great stories like the one above, and will show that you don't need to be a great artist to master the art of problem-solving--but it sure helps to draw it out anyway.

Jack Covert Selects - Hug Your People

Hug Your People: The Proven Way to Hire, Inspire and Recognize Your Employees and Achieve Remarkable Results, by Jack Mitchell, Hyperion, 288 pages, $19.95, Hardcover, March 2008, ISBN 9781401322373

Some of you may recall Jack Mitchell's last book, Hug Your Customers. In it he discussed how to nurture and maintain customer relationships using his "hug" method. In his new offering, Mitchell's embrace of his customer base has been expanded to his employees. He noticed that if there is not praise or recognition for a job well done, there isn't the same incentive to try again--even when one maintains the monetary comfort from the job.

It is not complicated to comprehend that people are happy and content when they are rewarded in humane ways, but people often forget that they are dealing with, well, other people. Mitchell stresses that we shouldn't lose the humanity in business relations and that everyone needs a hug. A random hug in this day and age may result in sexual harassment, so hugs can and should take on different forms. He suggests many ways to do this, from using a nickname, to a quick email recognizing a good job or an unexpected little token/gift from a superior or co-worker.

The Mitchell Blueprint to hugging your employees has five principles: Nice, Trust, Pride, Include and Recognize. He goes into all these aspects in the book, giving examples of each principle. In the Nice chapter, for instance, he explains how important it is to just be nice to people, and how easy it can be. He shows how easy it can be to forget this as well. One simple way companies stay "Nice" is by getting "Nice" employees. Mitchell suggests different ways to notice these traits, many in an interview--the handshake, meeting eyes, the way they sit--and offers open ended questions to use in this situation such as "Share the nicest thing you've done to another person" or "Who is the nicest person you know."

Mitchell also talks about the importance of maintaining a fun working atmosphere. Sure, business has to get done, but like his son Bob tells his people during a meeting, "Let's all make twenty customer calls today, but let's have fun doing it." It is in this atmosphere that the Trust Principle comes into play. People that work for a "fun" place also have to take responsibility for their actions and how they affect others.

The Mitchell Blueprint, with its five principles, helps companies develop ways they can incorporate "hugs" in their company. Each principle makes up a part of the book, and each part contains a study guide. This may seem elementary to a lot of business people (and it should) but it is a great reminder that people like to be assured, patted on the back and given a hug once in awhile, and this book reminds us all of that.

Jack Covert Selects - The Go-Giver

The Go-Giver: A Little Story about a Powerful Business Idea, by Bob Burg and John David Mann, Portfolio, 112 pages, $19.95, Hardcover, December 2007, ISBN 9781591842002

Bob Burg and John David Mann have written an interesting parable around the life of "Joe," a highly ambitious guy who comes to a dead end when he can't create the two things he needs to succeed: clout and leverage. In his pursuit of obtaining these things, he meets "Pindar," a smart, kind, and extremely wealthy man who seems to have everything Joe wants. After meeting with Pindar, Joe realizes that he's on a much bigger quest than he anticipated, and learns through Pindar and his associates that the most optimal way to receive is to give. By learning and practicing Pindar's "Five Laws," Joe obtains not only clout and leverage, but a life fulfilled far beyond the old goals he used to have.

The process is much more complicated than he expected though. In fact, a constant shift in perspective, a breaking of usual habits, and an adoption of seemingly illogical business practices had to take place. In his meetings with Pindar and associates, Joe examines such things as why people crowd into restaurants with good food while tables sit empty at places with excellent food; he sees meeting rooms with executives using finger paints as part of their creative process; and he learns about creating a huge network of influence by placing other people's interests first.

Each lesson is themed with the idea that the more you put other people first, and the more you provide for them, the more you'll be able to receive. The book states, "Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment." In business, it is typical to focus on what we are going to get and how we are going to get it. The Go-Giver reminds us to focus on the important point of what we are going to give to people. As shown throughout the book, this focus turns business from a 50/50 proposition to a 100% success.

Jack Covert Selects - Senior Leadership Teams

Senior Leadership Teams: What it Takes to Make Them Great by Ruth Wageman, Debra A. Nunes, James A Burruss, J. Richard Hackman, Harvard Business School Press, 256 pages, $29.95, Hardcover, February 2008, ISBN 9781422103364

One need only to look at the business headlines over the past decade telling tales of misguided CEOs to know that our concept of leadership needs to change. Today's business world is much too complicated to expect any one person to lead a large company. Leadership expert, Warren Bennis, clarifies: "we cling to the myth of the Lone Ranger, the romantic idea that great things are usually accomplished by a larger-than-life individual working alone. Despite evidence to the contrary...we still tend to think of achievement in terms of the Great Man, or the Great Woman, instead of the Great Group." Reading Senior Leadership Teams is a first step to changing this mythology. Teams ease the feelings of isolation associated with being at the top while providing a well-rounded sense of knowledge.

Building a smoothly operating senior team takes skill, time and planning, a process that is often overlooked. The four authors are on a mission to guide leaders in the creation of great senior leadership teams. Over 100 teams around the world were researched, some at well-known organizations like Unilever and AeroMexico, others at smaller organizations. Their findings: six conditions for successful senior leadership teams. Three of which are essential: compelling direction, right people, real team. Three of which enable the team to be more efficient: solid structure, team coaching, supportive context. One chapter is dedicated to each condition, peppered by real-life examples.

The CEO of AeroMexico, Arturo Barahona, faced the challenge of presenting and selling a compelling direction to his senior leadership team. The airline, previously owned by the
state, was in the process of moving to private ownership. However, each team member interpreted the direction of the company differently and was so focused on their department goals, that they couldn't see the larger picture. In this case, the authors point out, the "chief executives must articulate to their teams a purpose that is consequential, challenging, and clear."

The authors emphasize that "you cannot make your leadership team great. But you can put in place the conditions that increase the chances that it will become great." Senior Leadership Teams will help you identify and institute those conditions.

Jack Covert Selects - The Logic of Life

The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World by Tim Harford, Random House, 272 pages, $25.00, Hardcover, January 2008, ISBN 9781400066421

A number of economists have crossed over from academic publishing into popular literature recently. The most successful was Steven Levitt's Freakonomics--a book co-authored by New York Times columnist Steven J. Dubner. Other successes include Robert Frank's Economic Naturalist and Tim Harford's Undercover Economist. The latter two economists wrote their books without the aid of a partnering journalist, and the books are still completely accessible and easy-to-read.

Tim Harford has recently written a new book, The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World, in which he suggests that an old economic truism, that people and markets--and people in markets--behave rationally, applies more widely than we think it does, even when we specifically believe it doesn't. He provides examples we don't usually consider economically rational--speed dating, decaying inner cities and suburban sprawl, prostitution, substance abuse, gambling, segregation, teenage crime and sexuality, etc.--and explains that although decisions made in each instance may have negative, even destructive and fatal impact, they are not really irrational choices. Individual costs and benefits are weighed, and solid economic principles exist for each dangerous, destructive activity or circumstance.

As uncomfortable as it may make us to explore some of these topics, Harford lays them out in front of us, teasing them out of dark corners for examination. Speaking of faltering American cities, Harford writes:

It is not hard to see what kind of person is rationally attracted by a city with cheap houses but no good jobs...For those people, the likely alternative to a cheap house and no job is an expensive house in a more dynamic city, but still no certainty of a good job. Sixty thousand dollars wouldn't buy a broom closet in Manhattan, but highly skilled people value the opportunities provided by a dynamic city, even though the cost may be high. Hedge fund partners don't move to Detroit to save on rent.

This is a bold and provocative book, often insightful and sometimes unnerving. It is beneficial, however, to add the economist's lens to the microscope with which we look at our contemporary world. It is not to condone or excuse the shortcomings of our society, but to expose and possibly improve them.

Jack Covert Selects - Myself and Other More Important Matters

Myself and Other More Important Matters by Charles Handy, AMACOM, 213 pages, Hardcover, February 2008, ISBN 9780814401736

Charles Handy, one of today's greatest managerial thinkers, has written a memoir about his life, his loves and his ideologies. It is not a business book per se, yet it's packed from page to page with his theories about the way business and organizations are run. Reading the book feels like Handy is carrying on a personal conversation with a young protege to whom he reminisces about how he first started out, all the mistakes he made along the way, some philosophies that helped him, his own personal gurus, and even love and mortality. Myself and Other More Important Matters not only provides a portrait of this thoughtful author, it offers his unique understanding of the business of business from almost every angle.

In chapter six, Handy talks personally, and humorously, about what he thinks was wrong with the non-existent business culture in Britain:

There were once three occupations in Britain for which you required no qualification and for which no training existed: politician, parent and manager. Unfortunately, they were also three of the most important. Management, in particular, was something that, it felt, everyone could do in a pinch. Rather like making love, it was something that sensible people instinctively knew how to do, when and as the need arose.

He liked the American approach to business enough to try MIT's methods in his homeland. At times, he may seem to glorify his United States experience, but he also comments on how even the American dream has lost some of its luster. He suggests that the way things run in any culture needs to be updated and changed when necessary.

Chapter seven reflects on Handy's lingering interest with Greek and Roman philosophy. He teaches his students ways of dealing with business through the play Antigone and introduces of Plato's rhetoric and Socrates' need to ask questions into his business class. Handy explains that to proceed forward in any endeavor, one must look back and learn from the past.

Handy's memoir is for anyone interested in his personal views on management, but it also serves as a companion to his other books. If you haven't thought about reading a Handy book until now, we recommend this as the place to start. He refers to this as his memoir, but there will be, no doubt, other books to come. Or so we can hope.

Jack Covert Selects - Do the Right Thing

Do the Right Thing: How Dedicated Employees Create Loyal Customers and Large Profits by James F. Parker, Wharton School Publishing, 288 pages, $22.99, Hardcover, January 2008, ISBN 9780132343343

We've all heard the success stories of the small, short-haul, Texas airline that grew out of a loophole in federal legislation to become one of the most profitable airlines in history. James Parker, the former CEO and chairman who led Southwest Airlines during the tumultuous times of 2001 through 2004, is the author of Do the Right Thing. He shares the lessons he learned from the people he worked with during his 25 years of service to Southwest.

Parker tells us that "[t]he overriding lesson I learned doesn't involve a lot of management guru buzzwords and acronyms. It is the simplest of principles, which we learned from childhood: When in doubt, just do the right thing." For Southwest, that means being dedicated to people. Both principles are embodied and reinforced in everything the company does; employees and customers respond, in kind, by showing their loyalty. For example, on 9/11, the pilots and crewmembers took it upon themselves to make sure each passenger was safe; customers responded by offering to send money or forego their refunds.

Parker tells the story of a speaking engagement in Boston. Hundreds of people packed a hotel ballroom eager to hear more about Southwest. At the end of Parker's speech, one person asked for a Southwest employee to explain why they loved Southwest. The employee "stood up and said without hesitation, 'I think I love working there because it's a company that loves you back.'"

Southwest's focus on people has made a world of difference; it shows in its income statement, in its customer service and in its employees' satisfaction. Do the Right Thing does not unveil revolutionary insights into the business world nor give you a detailed strategy to follow. What Parker does well is remind us of the important lessons that he learned along the way. It's easy to become so immersed in the present and forget the simple lessons of business: appreciate your employees, treat your customers well and have fun. Sometimes we all need a little encouragement and a reminder to do the right thing.

Jack Covert Selects - Stirring It Up

Stirring it Up: How to Make Money and Save the World by Gary Hirshberg, Hyperion, 240 pages, $24.95, Hardcover, January 2008, ISBN 9781401303440

When Gary Hirshberg started in business, he looked at the standard definition of efficiency in our economy and saw it as ultimately unsustainable. In Stirring It Up, he gives us a new standard to gauge efficiency that is both profitable and sustainable, inspired by his 25 years worth of experience applying this standard at Stonyfield Farm.

Hirshberg concludes that we have the power to quicken this process as consumers--that if we show the demand for environmentally sound products, more industries will shift to making more products sustainable. He also discusses the best environmental practices companies are implementing--from newer companies like his own and Patagonia that built these principles into their original mission, to behemoths like GE that have had to change with the times.

To come up with sustainable solutions for his own company, Hirshberg has enacted some practices at Stonyfield that most business people would think are ridiculous and unsound--pay substantially more for materials than competitors, never advertise products, encourage more government oversight of his industry, and release reports on how much it pollutes--but he goes on to explain why each practice has reaped huge benefits and helped the company's growth. Paying twice as much as competitors for the milk they use to make yogurt, for instance, helps strengthen the small organic farmers who produce it, ensuring Stonyfield will continue to have access to the quality ingredients their customers expect. Instead of needing big budgets for advertising, the quality of the product and their loyal customers have become the best advertising one can imagine. Conversely, Stonyfield's main competitor, Yoplait, spends much less on producing its product, but spends large sums advertising it. These differences have created a situation where Stonyfield loses in the gross margin battle, but actually wins in net profits.

Stirring It Up is filled with examples of how thinking about your business's impact on the earth is not only responsible, but profitable. We're used to viewing big industries as being part the problem. Hirshberg suggests that business, even the smallest, has to be the solution, and his book can be used as a guide for the best ways to bring about that change in mission and behavior.

Jack Covert Selects - Meatball Sundae

Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin, Portfolio, 256 pages, $23.95 Hardcover, January 2008, ISBN 9781591841746

In Meatball Sundae, marketing guru Seth Godin explains that not all products are created equal in terms of marketing approach. In the old days of marketing, consumers really had no choice but to listen to whatever marketers, sales clerks, or the media ads wanted them to hear. And for companies trying to promote a product, there were only a handful of media tactics to control. But things have changed, and the old target audience can fast-forward through commercials and block ads with TiVo, DVRs, and SPAM blockers. So, companies must turn to other media channels like YouTube, MySpace, Google, blogs and blog trackers. Consumers have adapted to hearing those messages from this new media and, Godin assures, there are plenty of consumers to target. But, he cautions against doing a new media patch job on any old product. Certainly we've all done it, tried to pass off something as different from what it is. Maybe it's growing a beard to cover a blemish or wearing black because it's slimming. But in the marketing world, that's like making a meatball sundae.

Godin refers to any kind of base company, product and/or service as meatballs. The new marketing tools and tactics--YouTube, Google, blogs--are the whipped cream with cherries on top that these companies think they should be using in this time of new marketing. Godin offers the Proctor and Gamble line of cosmetics, Reflect, as an example of how a meatball can get drowned in whipped cream. Six years of being in the red, P&G stopped production because their demographic did not want cosmetics from a small appliance company. Godin urges companies to be smart, and either find the ice-cream for their toppings, or just stick to meatballs without the sweets. Marketers can use Godin's 14 Marketing Trends, which include outsourcing, authentic product stories, the long tail, and the triumph of the big idea, among others.

Meatball Sundae is a wake-up call for companies to get rid of old ideas. I was captivated by the examples Godin uses to explain how the trends work, why the new marketing tactics don't work for many companies and how they can use this knowledge to grow and change along with the trends. This is a must-read for anyone who thinks that, by default, they have to use new media to sell their products.

Jack Covert Selects - Strategic Intuition

Strategic Intuition: The Creative Spark in Human Achievement by William Duggan, Columbia Business School Publishing, 192 pages, $27.95, Hardcover, October 2007, ISBN 9780231142687

In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell wrote about how professionals in different fields make important in-the-moment decisions using the instinct gained from past experiences and expertise. One would think that strategic decision-making, the focus of William Duggan's new book, is detached from intuition and based in rational planning, reflection and intellect. This is the classic idea of the split between right brain and left brain functions--the distinction between creativity and rationale. However, referencing modern brain science, Duggan explains how--with advances in MRI technology and brain imaging--that previous model of the brain and its functions has given way to the idea of "intelligent memory." He then takes a look at what this new model tells us about intuition.

Brain science tells us there are three kinds of intuition: ordinary, expert, and strategic. Ordinary intuition is just a feeling, a gut instinct. Expert intuition is snap judgments, when you instantly recognize something familiar, the way a tennis pro knows where the ball will go from the arc and speed of the opponent's racket....The third kind, strategic intuition, is not a vague feeling, like ordinary intuition. Strategic intuition is a clear thought. And it's not fast, like expert intuition. It's slow. That flash of insight you had last night might solve a problem that's been on your mind for a month.

The main point of Strategic Intuition is that large, long-term improvements are not the result of setting a goal and planning a strategy. Instead, accomplishments build on one another. Even the fact that the stricter split-brain model has given way to a new, more nuanced one as a result of the development of the MRI is an example. The same can be said of Newton improving Copernicus's model of the solar system or Microsoft's improvements of the personal computer.

Not only does Duggan tell these stories compellingly, he weaves in the work of three great minds who have influenced his thinking--Thomas Kuhn on science, Joseph Schumpter on economics, and Carl Von Clausewitz on military strategy. He also includes a chapter on three eastern texts to discuss the mentality one needs to maximize the potential of strategic intuition. Innovation is the result of an intuitive and flexible approach rather than setting a goal that is planned, fixed, and inflexible. As a whole, this book might just change how you look at human thought and strategy, and influence how you organize yourself and your team strategically.

Jack Covert Selects - The Opposable Mind

The Opposable Mind: How Successful Leaders Win Through Integrative Thinking by Roger Martin, Harvard Business School Press, 224 pages, $26.95, Hardcover, December 2007, ISBN 9781422118924

Most leadership books teach readers how to become a better strategist or a successful manager or how to get things done. "In recent years, the dominant question addressed for the would-be leader is 'What should I do?' rather than 'What should I think?'" The latter question is what Roger Martin answers in The Opposable Mind.

Martin interviewed a variety of business leaders--including the founder of Four Seasons Hotels Isadore Sharp, Procter and Gamble's CEO A. G. Lafley, co-founder of Red Hat Inc. Bob Young, and Meg Whitman, of eBay fame. He found that their one common skill was being able to employ integrative thinking. That is, they have the "ability to face constructively the tension of opposing ideas and, instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, generate a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new idea that contains elements of the opposing ideas but is superior to each."

Take Taddy Blecher, co-founder of CIDA City Campus who ventured to educate young black people in post-apartheid South Africa. With a university education priced at $5,000 a year, most South Africans couldn't afford the higher education necessary to pursue new opportunities. Nor could the government financially support enough young people's education to make a difference. Blecher sought a third model by building a university that is "completely self-sustaining and self-generating because it's generating its own economic activity." Beyond attending classes, students at CIDA are responsible for running the university, including maintenance and paperwork. This keeps costs down and enables students to apply their knowledge. Blecher's ability to use integrative thinking to create a new educational model has given thousands of South African youth access to an extraordinary higher education.

By becoming integrative thinkers, Martin explains, we can "hold two conflicting ideas in constructive tension. We can use that tension to think our way through to a new and superior idea." By utilizing this skill in everyday decisions, we can ultimately find more successful and creative solutions to the issues that face our businesses.

Jack Covert Selects - Human Sigma

Human Sigma by John H. Fleming, PhD and Jim Asplund, Gallup Press, 313 pages, $25.95, Hardcover, October 2007, ISBN 9781595620163

In Human Sigma, John H. Fleming and Jim Asplund paint a grim picture of business and the traps some companies fall into. Organizations create a world where computerized machines run everything and humans are expendable creatures that offer no contribution. The authors even call this sort of business practice "Terminator Management." Fleming and Asplund acknowledge that this is the extreme, but they caution that the business world is on its way to becoming a misguided, thoughtless, emotionless machine.

Fleming and Asplund assert that companies have neglected the human element of Six Sigma or, as the authors call it, Human Sigma. Most companies, like banks or huge retail conglomerates, regard individuals as volatile and/or unpredictable. As a result, they do not pay enough attention to basic employee-customer interactions to keep their companies focused and growing. The authors provide five rules of thumb for companies to stay on track and not lose the Human Sigma, a vital factor of every organization.

Rule 1: E Pluribus Unum: Every interaction between employee and customer should be seen and evaluated as a collective entity, not separate.

Rule 2: Feelings are Facts: Emotions drive the interactions for the employee/customer relations.

Rule 3: Think Globally, Measure and Act Locally: Manage at a local level.

Rule 4: There is One Number You Need to Know: A single performance metric the measures the employee and customer engagement

Rule 5: If You Pray for Potatoes, You Better Grab a Hoe: Good intentions do not constitute a plan of action. Be ready to carry it out.

The human quotient has never really left organizations, but companies focus instead on problems or situations that are more concrete. It's easier to solve a problem of disinterested or ill-informed employees handling a call-center by getting a fully automated phone system than creating a self-empowered team that feels passionate about both the company and customer they work for. Yet rote technological changes can lead to continued customer dissatisfaction, especially when customers are emotionally tied to a company.

This book clips along at a surprising speed, offering insights from many companies that have and have not implemented Human Sigma. The authors explain how companies can identify with their customers, how employees matter in all circumstances in business relationships and how this plan of action needs to not only be implemented, but maintained for success.

Jack Covert Selects - Zoom

Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future by Iain Carlson and Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Twelve, 336 pages, $27.99 Hardcover, October 2007, ISBN 9780446580045

"The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age could well end long before the world runs out of oil." That statement pretty much sums up the argument made in Zoom, and ironically, it was not made by an environmentalist, but by former Saudi oil minister Sheik Yamani. Having built our economy on the internal combustion engine, which burns carbon-heavy fuel and emits harmful greenhouse gases, we are now facing a dilemma in our country. But, we are a nation of drivers, and not only would we not want to give up our cars, it would be impossible to do so considering the miles we are conditioned to traverse. This new book by two correspondents for The Economist suggests that a change of course is a must.

Their premise is simple enough. "Oil is the Problem. Cars are the solution." That may sound odd at first (big oil in Texas and the "big three" auto makers of Detroit have been so linked for the past century that they now seem inseparable), but it seems painfully obvious when you've finished the book. Zoom looks at the current state of affairs in Detroit, Texas, and Washington, and prescribes steps needed to move us toward the car of the future. A car that is healthier for us, better for business, and cleaner for the environment. They believe two separate approaches are needed:

Both top-down public policies and bottom-up marketplace innovations must play a role in propelling the world to the post-petroleum age of carbon-free cars. On the policy front, it looks like Washington politicians may finally be shamed into serious action by the clamor in states and cities for action on global warming, a real budding grassroots revolution. As for those marketplace innovations, will the dinosaurs of the car and oil industries finally learn to dance? Or will it be an unruly and disruptive bunch of upstarts, entrepreneurs, and innovators that leads the effort...?

Toyota surpassed GM earlier this year as the world's top auto seller, in part by addressing this need for a new approach, and is now forcing American auto makers to look at a world beyond petroleum. If Detroit wants to remain relevant and viable, the big three must come out of their entrenched positions and address the concerns of consumers and challenges of innovation. The authors believe that what they call the "Great Awakening" of American consumers will lead to a demand for change, "promising a clean-energy revolution even bigger than the telecommunications and Internet revolutions," and that belief--and this book--are infectious.