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Posted Dec. 10, 2010 10:23 a.m. by 800-ceo-read
I know you might be thinking, “Another book on the financial crisis… really?” But this is the one that many have been waiting for, and after reading it for myself, I can safely say that Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera have delivered the most comprehensive documentation to-date of the many pieces that built the puzzle of our financial system over the decades. And from CEOs to politicians, government officials to mortgage lenders, borrowers, ratings agencies and traders, all the devils are truly in there.
The authors are a dream-team of reportage. A contributing editor to Vanity Fair, Bethany McLean may be most well known for coauthoring The Smartest Guys in the Room, which is the definitive work on the Enron scandal and an easy choice for us when picking The 100 Best Business Books of All Time. And Joe Nocera, a columnist for The New York Times, ranks with Michael Lewis as one of the best pure writers on business working today. His 2008 book, Good Guys and Bad Guys, is one of the best collections of business journalism—and study of American business personalities—ever put together.
Their new effort, All the Devils is Here, is a complex tale, almost dizzying in scope, but is handled with such skill and so chock-full of magnificent and memorable stories that you’ll know the full story inside-out by the time you put the book down. The tale of John Breit in the book’s prologue will give you an idea of what I’m talking about.
Breit had once been the head of market risk management at Merrill Lynch, with easy access to the company’s directors. But, over the past decade, Breit and all other significant risk management was basically relegated to a broom closet—which is why it was a surprise when Merrill CEO Stan O’Neal asked to see him in September of 2007 to get his calculations of Merrill’s exposure to risk. McLean and Nocera recount the end of that meeting beautifully:
Listening to him, Breit realized that O’Neal seemed to have no idea that Merrill’s risk management function had been sidelined.
The meeting finally came to an end; Breit shook O’Neal’s hand and wished him luck. “I hope we talk again,” he said.
“I don’t know,” replied O’Neal. “I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be around.”
O’Neal went back to his desk to contemplate the disaster he now knew was unavoidable—not just for Merrill Lynch but for all of Wall Street. John Briet walked back to his office with a strange realization that he—a midlevel employee utterly out of the loop—had just informed one of the most powerful men on Wall Street that the party was over.
I would never use the words “if you’re going to read one book on the financial crisis,” because there are just too many must-reads in the category. And because its attention is so all encompassing, this book requires a good deal more patience than others. But McLean and Nocera have done something important, special and singular in All the Devils are Here, and I really hope you all read it.
Posted Dec. 10, 2010 10:16 a.m. by 800-ceo-read
As we move from an industrial era mindset that new technologies have made obsolete, our ability to be plugged in and instantly connected has introduced us to unpredicted challenges and dangers. Recent books like The Shallows by Nicholas Carr, Clay Shirky’s Cognitive Surplus, and Kevin Kelly’s What Technology Wants all look at the way technology affects the way we think or have actually recreated how we think.
The title of this book, Overconnected, could lead you to believe that this is a book about email, iPhones and the other distractions that seem to direct our modern lives. Instead, author William Davidow is more concerned about how strong connections, instead of idyllically solving problems, have worked in the other direction:
Strong connections, it turns out, have only magnified the problems, turning local problems into national ones and national crises into international ones. Now, as all other forms of interconnections have improved, and as those interconnections have grown more robust thanks to the Internet, society is increasingly subject to interdependencies—not always for the better.
Being connected has certainly made us more efficient. But there’s now the risk of reacting so quickly that we don’t give the thought we might have given to our actions and reactions even twenty years ago. Looking at the 2008 financial crisis, Davidow writes:
It is impossible to really understand what went on in the worldwide economic crisis of 2008 without examining the role that the Internet played in supercharging it. Without the Internet, the credit mess would have undoubtedly caused a recession of some magnitude. While we can never measure the Internet’s full effects, we know that it made the current crisis larger, more widespread, and more virulent. It not only carried the information, it helped spread what is known as a “thought contagion.” That is, the rate at which greed and fearmongering took place—via instant access to news and online rumors—was accelerated to unprecedented levels.
This is a book that takes a serious and scholarly look at world-wide technological change. He gives us the history of the Internet and then uses the economic crisis in Iceland as a case study. This is a book that will be talked about for years to come, written by a person who is not lamenting our loss of time but warning us of the larger new threats being overconnected brings into our lives.
Posted Dec. 10, 2010 10:09 a.m. by 800-ceo-read
Obviously, I read a lot of business books. I read business books on how to love your customers, how to hire and fire, how to think big, how to narrow your focus, how to be more creative and yet more disciplined. Such in-depth attention to select issues is incredibly useful to business practitioners who know to just which problem they should apply their attention. But for new or growing business owners, a more holistic treatment to the business of doing business is needed, and that is what Mark Thompson and Brian Tracy’s new book, Now, Build a Great Business, provides.
The front flap on Now, Build a Great Business pronounces: “You’ll find no theory here—just practical steps you can take immediately, with simple explanations of exactly how to measure how well you’re doing at each step along the way.” For some, this approach may seem rote, but the authors, absolute business gurus, make the material fresh and memorable.
And being memorable is important. None of us have the time to reference back to books we’ve read in the past, so we need easy mnemonic devices to remember some of this key advice in times of need. Thompson and Tracy make complex and subjective concepts structured and linear.
To be a good leader, they suggest that you remind yourself of three key Ps: Purpose. Passion. Performance. When hiring, follow their Law of Three: Always interview at least three people for a position; Interview the candidate you like in three different places; Have the candidate interviewed by at least three different people.
Stocking their book with stories and brief anecdotes about other companies’ successes, failures, decisions and risk-taking, the authors enable you to assess your own company and mindset—all with the goal of devising a plan with measureable goals. In one of the most simple and useful sections of the book, the authors offer “a very simple sample set of thirty-three measures to inspire or provoke you to create your own dashboard for your business.”
After reading each chapter, you’ll be given a worksheet where you can reflect on your own personal experiences by way of the terminology and wisdom given. I particularly love the last question on the worksheet, “What one action are you going to take immediately?” Now, Build a Great Business is oriented toward action and will help you be too.
Posted Nov. 12, 2010 10:42 a.m. by dylan
The difficulty in trying to get an entire organization to buy into a change initiative is a reality we've faced in our company many times. Faced with tough competition and technological advances, the book selling industry has been rife with changes over the past decade, and it has been a challenge to react decisively and swiftly while also getting everyone in the organization on the same page. I always recommend John Kotter's classic Leading Change to all leaders facing similar situations.
But now Kotter (with Lorne Whitehead) has come out with a new book that is really for everyone in an organization. Well, everyone with an idea. Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down is about creating change on a smaller level by selling your ideas to the people who matter. We have all given birth to ideas that die because of the neglect of others who delay discussion, confuse, create fear, or just flat-out question your credibility. Change only happens when an idea gets some support and some horsepower behind it, and Buy-In will give you the tools to deflect criticism, engage listeners and inspire commitment.
Featuring a fictional character and town, the first half of the book starts as one would expect: our hero has an idea (getting new computers in the town library) and is about to present this idea to a committee (which includes such town characters as Pompus Meani, Avoidus Riski, Divertus Attenti) that is not overly accepting of our hero’s grand plan. Then, as with all good fables, a guru of sorts named Hank swoops in to save the day, offering advice and making strategic redirections as contrary opinions come up.
The second half of Buy-In focuses on the method that Hank used to successfully persuade such naysayers as Heidi Agenda. Kotter and Whitehead make sure to emphasize that the method is counter-intuitive, one that invites critics and cynicism, and combats them with preparation, not counterattacks. The authors list 24 attacks and responses, all "based on a strategy of being respectful and keeping your comments short, clear, and filled with common sense." To conclude the book, they include a short chapter that you can reference quickly any time you are pitching a new idea. And finally, they take some time to discuss Kotter's long-standing interest in change and how buy-in of ideas contributes to large-scale change.
Buy-In is a book that will effectively change how you present your ideas and, as a result, get the support you need to see them into fruition.
Posted Nov. 11, 2010 1:30 p.m. by dylan
Everyone faces business challenges, and everyone can think up different ways to approach work, but the way we do these things can be categorized into certain styles. For some, results are the focus. For others, how creative the process feels is important. Figuring out your style will reveal things about yourself that can help you become more focused and productive when challenges arise. However, understanding other peoples’ work styles is the critical part. As most of us know, working together can either be a blessing or a curse. Better understanding others’ motivations can make or break new product launches, marketing strategies, management issues, and a wide variety of common and unique business situations.
Steve Shapiro’s Personality Poker is a seriously fun way to wrap our heads around our own and others’ work styles. Understanding leads to improved communication, appropriate expectations, and better work. In Shapiro’s words:
Personality Poker can help you understand why some employees become frustrated when your organization’s culture conflicts with their innovation styles. With it, you can diagnose the reason your company is struggling to grow. And it can help you, as an individual, be happier and more successful by aligning your style to your role. When we understand our personality style, we can perform at higher levels and better enjoy what we are doing.
Shapiro’s book can also smooth some of the rough edges that inevitably occur in teams, perhaps helping employees appreciate those that might rub them the wrong way or get in their way. Personality Poker teaches us that it is sometimes the most difficult people who are actually the ones we need to work with the most—a useful counterintuitive lesson.
The surprise with Personality Poker is that Shapiro hasn’t just written a book and given it a clever title. Instead, the title is literal: Personality Poker is also a card game that comes packaged with the book, a fun tool to help individuals and small groups work better together. Often, meetings are held before a project to define responsibilities and goals. Just imagine replacing these rote meetings with a card game, an approach that will help your team accomplish more and have fun in the process.
Invest in Personality Poker and find out if you’re a heart, club, diamond or spade, and, as a result, you will become a better team member or leader when the work is dealt out.
