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Customize It
Hardcover
483 pages
ISBN 9780393062434 Published Sept. 2008
W. W. Norton & Company
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Posted Aug. 19, 2010 10:11 a.m. by sally-haldorson
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
Last weekend, my co-worker, Roy, and I attended a small theater group's performance of the 1986 Cold War musical Chess. The musical was a huge hit in London, but when it was brought to Broadway, the format of the production was changed and it closed within 2 months. Being friends with theater folks in college introduced both Roy and me to the music and we are two of only a handful of people (my husband being another) we know who remember the show even exists: though perhaps you might know its most recognizable song, One Night in Bangkok. Perhaps that will change with a new production being launched in London at the end of this month. With music written by two former ABBA members and Tim Rice, famous collaborator of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elton John, the musical (rock opera?) is both sumptuous and bombastic, political and romantic, as it tells the story of two chess champions (modeled after US's Bobby Fischer and the then-USSR's Boris Spassky) battling over the World Chess Championship...and a woman.
***
There are plenty of business books that liken such things as strategy and negotiation to a chess game, but I find the most interesting books to be those that use game theory to reveal the inner workings of business. In 2008, I shortlisted The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life by Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff for the "personal development" category of our Business Books of the Year awards.
At that time, I wrote:
A good decision should precede every action. But no decision is made in a vacuum. So just how do you become better at judging scenarios, predicting outcomes, managing negotiations? Dixit and Nalebuff yank game theory out of its traditional confines of math and science and present an accessible guide to using game theory to refine your strategic thinking.
Now, game theory isn't for everyone, and, like chess, I'm not even sure I'm very good at it or that I totally understand it. (Hence why I was an English major.) And in a 2005 article in Fast Company titled, You Got Game Theory!, Martin Kihn debunks the belief that any business can actually or has actually applied game theory when developing strategy.
But if you are intrigued by the idea that success is just a result of a series of correct decisions, and that game theory can help you make those decisions by giving you a framework from which to work, then you may enjoy a rather new book that Stanford University Press released in March 2010: Your Career Game: How Game Theory Can Help You Achieve Your Professional Goals by Nathan Bennett & Stephen A. Miles.
Nathan Bennett and Stephen A. Miles suggest that fewer people recognize how the pursuit of an open job can be framed as one "move" in a multifaceted game called "a career." The authors contend that individuals who quickly recognize the career game for what it is--a fascinating, complex, nuanced, real-life, multiplayer maze, played in real time--can develop into better players and, consequently, will have a better chance of successfully competing for the sort of positions that will help them to realize their goals.
In our current economic time, making the right job decision is even more critical to professional success because there are so few opportunities for advancement or even lateral moves. Your Career Game provides examples of successful executives of well-known companies and "discusses how their career moves demonstrate elements of a game theory approach to career management." This type of retroactive application of game theory will help readers draft a game plan for their career. For example, in the chapter titled, "Moves in the Career Game," the authors "offer a typology to distinguish different kinds of moves" in order to (wanton paraphrasing here) present what impact a move might likely have, what a move might reveal about your strategy, and how other 'players' might interpret and react to your move. While you may be able to easily predict that following a visionary leader such as Jack Welch when he leaves the helm almost guarantees failure to reach a similarly high bar, you may be less likely to know that "moving down to move up" in order to "retool or round out [a] skill set" can more likely lead to success than making a bold move forward hoping to learn on the job.
In the musical, Chess, The Russian, The American, and the woman all make decisions that compromise their professional success and break their hearts. More or less, they do not win the game. But, for readers of Your Career Game, you can use game theory to become a master of your own success.
***
For a trip back to the 80's, here's the video for One Night in Bangkok with Murray Head who played "The American" in the UK version of the soundtrack.
An Independent Bookseller Picks Five
Posted Dec. 19, 2008 3:00 a.m. by dylan
In Uncategorized - 800 CEO Read Blog
R.J. Julia Booksellers Founder Roxanne J. Coady has noticed an increase of customers coming into the store looking for business books, most asking for books that explain the economic crisis and put it in context. She has picked four books from the year and one oldie but goody to do just that. They are:
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder, Bantam The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist’s Guide to Success in Business and Life by Avinash K. Dixit & Barry J. Nalebuff, W.W. Norton Panic!: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity edited By Michael Lewis, Portfolio The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson, Penguin Press The Great Crash: 1929 by John Kenneth Galbraith, Mariner Books
If you'd like to see what she has to say for the books, head over to the original post. If you're anywhere near Madison, Connecticut, head over to her store and buy one of these fine books. If you live near us here in Milwaukee, you can get them at the finest independent bookstore in town, our sister-company Harry W. Schwartz.
The 2008 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards - Personal Development
Posted Dec. 8, 2008 3:18 a.m. by 800-ceo-read
In Book Awards - 800 CEO Read Blog
The books on our 2008 shortlist for the Personal Development Category are:
Ask for It: How Women Can Use the Power of Negotiation to Get What They Really Want
by Linda Babcock & Sara Laschever (Bantam, February 2008)In this sequel to Women Don't Ask, which shared surprising evidence that women are often unknowingly complicit in their lack of career opportunities because they do not ask for raises, bonuses and other advantages that men do, Babcock and Laschever offer a practical guide for improving your asking skills. Populated with personal stories and how-to advice, Ask for It will be useful to help you (any person of any gender) get what you want.
Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life
by Stewart D. Friedman, (Harvard Business Press, June 2008)In Total Leadership, Stewart Friedman, founding director of the Wharton Leadership Program, presents a concrete methodology for building a more integrated life. His program is really a practice, requiring both action and reflection, that urges you to explore a triumvirate of qualities--Be Real (Act with Authenticity), Be Whole (Act with Integrity), Be Innovative (Act with Creativity)--to help you become a leader in every aspect (work, home, community and self) of your life.
The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business & Life
by Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff (W. W. Norton, Sepember 2008)A good decision should precede every action. But no decision is made in a vacuum. So just how do you become better at judging scenarios, predicting outcomes, managing negotiations? Dixit and Nalebuff yank game theory out of its traditional confines of math and science and present an accessible guide to using game theory to refine your strategic thinking.
Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else
by Geoffrey Colvin (Portfolio, October)Mozart. Tiger Woods. Jeff Immelt and Steve Ballmer. Prodigies? Geniuses? Uniquely talented? Geoff Colvin, who first explored this topic for Fortune magazine, says "no" in this well-researched study that explores the common myths about outstanding performers. This book is reassuring in its assertion that we all have the capacity to improve our performance through better preparation--particularly deliberate practice--and also offers insight into those people whose accomplishments astound us.
