Strategy

Comments from Neeka: Investing the Dream is an excellent book, it answered so many questions for me. I'm only in my early twenties, but you have inspired me to get my financial house in order. I've read so many books on investing, but this one truly gives you a clear understanding on how to get started . Thanks so much!

Date : 1/6/2000

Comments from Chrsty E. Cummings: I will be purchasing your book from Sisterspace bookstore. I'm getting the book for my mother who will be getting a small settlement from an accident and asked me how she should invest it. She is 72 yrs. old and I don't know if mutual funds would be the the best investment vehicle for her. After she reads the book I will have her get in touch with for advice on who she can talk to in NY. Thanks for taking the time to reach out.

Date : 1/21/2000

Thank you for writing the book Investing In The Dream.. My girlfriend insisted I read it and i am glad she did. Although I had some knowledge of investing your book made it so much clearer. I feel better able to prepare myself for retirement. THANK YOU!!!!! Denise M. Bagby

K-9 SOLDIERS Vietnam and After by Paul B. Morgan is a genuine story of a man and his best friend(s), in war and peace. This is a hard book to put down, until you have turned it's last page. The mutual love and devoted service of man's animal friend comes across in the tales of war in Vietnam and combatting crime on the city streets in peacetme. Along the way, we get the precious vision on how a young man matures through his military career, and in his post-service occupation as a dog handler. Paul Morgan is a natural story teller, and his personal accounts, with his K-9 soldiers, is an enjoyable and touching read. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Vietnam, veterans, and service dogs

I heard that, Paul has a new book coming out soon, entitled "Parrot's Beak". I'm looking forward to reading it.

Larry Healey 484 BWH, SAC USAF 1964-1966

Paul Morgan's book K-9 Soldiers: Vietnam and After is a story of Paul's military life from beginning to end and the intense training this soldier endured to become a U.S. Army Green Beret with two tours in Vietnam. There are stories about Suzie his faithful German Shepherd that saved him and his buddies more than once in the jungles and rice fields of Southeast Asia. After the military he started his own K-9 security business. The many stories that he tells about his K-9 companion's will bring tears to your eyes and make you smile.

Jim Hart 12th SPS K-9 PhuCat 1970-1971 USAF

Paul Morgan was my Company Commander and I was his Executive Officer in B Company, 716th MP Battalion. Paul was one of the best MP officers I had the pleasure of serving with. Quiet but serious, when he spoke we listened, and he always had something important to say. Today he writes the same way that he spoke then, always interesting and always sincere.
What he didn't write about in his book, is that when the Victoria Hotel was bombed, there was a deep crater left in front of the entrance to the hotel which filled with water. He was so involvement with the rescue mission, he did not notice the depth of the crater and attempted to walk through the water toward the building. In the meantime I had gotten my camera and was taking pictures of the damage. I heard the splash and looked to see Captain Morgan sink to the bottom and then come out of the hole holding his cap up high, the only dry thing on him. He ordered me not to take his picture. I wished I had disobeyed that order, it would look great in his next book.

Warfighting was written with the intent of informing Marine Officers about the Commandant's vision of what Marines should think about combat. This manual is about more than just conducting military operations; it sets forth the framework for success in all endeavors. Completely lacking in detail, this manual puts forth ideas that encourages the reader to fill in the details themselves. Whether you are fighting a war of mobility or planning an upgrade for your company's IT infrastructure, Warfighting suggests the mindset that you should have to create success. If you are looking for a step-by-step tutorial on success, please buy a book written by a consultant. Warfighting is meant for people who value adaptability, creativity, personal initiative, and the ability to improvise to overcome obstacles as they present themselves, not people who fear uncertainty.

When General Al Gray became Marine Corp Commandant in 1987, he did a lot of things that shook up the high command of the Marines. He did a lot of things a lot of people didnt like. One of the things he did was try to shift the Corp's focus away from cold war style centralized chain of command warfighting styles to a more decentralized, "maneuver warfare" style of combat. Many of his ideas were based upon Sun Tzu "The Art of War" and his experiences fighting the Asian communists in Vietnam, who thought and fought totally differently than the American military did.

"Warfighting" is a direct result of General Al Gray's tenure as commandant of the Marines in that "overhaul" period from the late eighties thru the early nineties. I found this book to be outstanding and would recommend it to anybody whether they are in the military or in the business or legal world. Its a way of thinking...a state of mind. Its truly well written.

The basic codeword for this book is "decentralized." It preaches that every Marine is a leader, down to the lowliest enlisted man. If a Marine sees an opportunity to effectively engage an enemy, he should not do the old style, centralized chain of command mode of operation of requesting "permission" and passing it up thru the chain of command and waiting for a reply to come back down. Rather than waiting for orders to come down thru the chain of command, junior Marines should instead seek out weaknesses and gaps in the enemy on their own, whereever they can find them and exploit them using their own initiative. He should just make a decision on his feet, in the location he is in and as the Nike commercial says "just do it."

In other words, it preaches a warfighting philosophy of operating on your own, without micromanagement from above. Having to constantly ask permission thru a bureaucratic, centralized chain of command and making a lot of requests is simply not a part of the maneuver warfare fighting philosophy.

I would recommend reading Sun Tzu "The Art of War" before reading this book. You will get more out of it if you read Sun Tzu first.

Eric

Warfighting offers the capstone examination of the American way in battle- of how free men structure themselves to achieve victory against the enemy. And unlike many military treatments, this manual offers a host of ancillary applications for life: anyone who is part of a team would benefit from Warfighting's maxims. The brief, yet penetrating historical analysis of the Grant v. Lee campaigns of the American Civil War justifies this book. The logical dissection of purpose, strategy, tactics and leadership make Warfighting what I consider to be an essential text in any thinking person's library.

The ideas in this manual represent not only guidance for military success, but for thinking and acting in general.

Sales executives would all agree with me that it is too expensive to generate qualified leads and seriously engage in sales cycles in today's highly competitive selling environment... and deliver a poor performance in the sales end... ?! I found that How Winners Sell minimizes this risk. Not only is it totally reader-friendly, but it takes you through a step-by-step process to prepare you to sell to the targeted prospect, check out and qualify the business opportunity, explore and add value to your prospects' business processes, watch and strategize against competition, and become your customers' business partner for life! This book lays out the path to win large, competitive deals applying highly ethical and value adding techniques to the sales process prospects will embrace immediately. As a VP & General Manager of Latin America for a successful software company, I was lucky enough to receive an early copy. I have chosen to make this book a required reading for my sales and non-sales related personnel.

If you're struggling to win sales or even to get your foot-in-the-door, this book is well worth reading. David Stein clearly points out the major shifts occurring in today's marketplace and their impact on the sales environment. Essentially he states that what you learned about sales in the past isn't enough anymore - and it's time to retool your skills to get business in the new economy.

"How Winners Sell" is full of many useful strategies and tactics you can implement to:
- Differentiate yourself from the competition.
- Gain access to and have credibility at the executive level.
- Align your offering with your customer's critical business issues.
- Prepare high impact sales presentations or meeting.
- Generate significant add-on business.

As a sales consultant, I highly recommend "How Winners Sell" to my clients and anyone else who asks me about the best sales books to read. Stein's recommendations require a major time investment upfront - when you're not with the customer - but that is exactly what it takes to win sales today. If you're committed to being successful, buy this no-nonsense, easy-to-read book.

Jill Konrath
SellingtoBigCompanies.com

I am sending over 150 copies of How Winners Sell to my better business clients as gifts this week, to help them be more successful, which may well help me (as their lawyer) be more successful.
If they get as much from the book as I did (and I'm not even in "sales") we'll all be Winners.

I am delighted with Mastering the Rockefeller Habits-it exceeded my expectations. As one familiar with Verne Harnish's background and experience, I was expecting a no-nonsense, to-the-point, application-oriented book of immediate value to entrepreneurs. This is there in spades. What I found above and beyond this was a plan of action complete with tools applicable for any size organization or function within a company attempting significant change. The non-profit I research and write for is tasked with helping product-centered companies transition to services-led businesses. The opportunities and roadblocks that Harnish lays out for the small, fast-growth company are almost identical to the issues and obstacles found in the start-up businesses trying to incubate in large corporate parents. Therefore, the principles and tools found in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits align perfectly with the needs of those organizations trying to create new, fast growth services business inside their corporations, no matter their size. Foundation of both research and experience, easy to read, and immediate application. I am recommending this book to all our constituents.

For any entrepreneur who is planning on growing their company, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits is the one book to read. Use this as a manual, I have, and it has made all the difference in the world. It's practical, intelligent, and easy to read and follow.

If you're trying to get your company to the next level then this is the book for you. I'm a CEO of a small 48 person business services company that does lead generation for the complex sale. Our company had grown 95% every year for five years and made the Inc 500 so I thought I had things figured out...until our growth hit the wall.

The biggest value I got from this book was reducing my 100 page strategic plan to just 2 simple pages. Verne calls it the "Planning Pyramid"

You can down load the Planning Pyramid yourself at www.gazelles.com. Also, there's an online course (still in beta) and it's free visit http://www.teamcarney.com/gazelles/

I followed each chapter step that he laid out... values, vision, BHAG, sandbox, annual and quarterly goals, critical numbers, milestones and objectives.

We've now set a clear vision and our entire team knows our critical numbers which has resulted better communication, honesty, accountability and ultimately teamwork. I'm pleased to say that we've broken through to the next level and I give credit to this book for helping me get my strategy in order.

Bottom line: The book is worth the investment.

What enables a company to soar in the midst of mergers, reorganisations and technology change? In their book, Learning to Fly, BP Consultants, Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell, share their secret for delivering more with less and positioning the company for future success. What's more important than the company's size, holdings or product lines? It is the use of Knowledge Management (KM) to adapt what others have already learned and dynamically capture and share the explicit and tacit knowledge of your work force as it evolves.

Learning to Fly is both a reference book and a blueprint. Part One: Overview sets the context for and defines knowledge management.

Part Two: Tools and Techniques describes six very useful tools for managing knowledge. I found their inclusion of real-life examples like BP's "Connect" project tremendously helpful in understanding what is involved in building buy-in for a searchable intranet knowledge directory through which all staff can search for people with relevant knowledge and experience.

In Part Three: Today and Tomorrow, the authors share practical advice about embedding knowledge management in the organisation. Appendices guide the reader to resources for inspiration, people and technology. Internet style pages enable easy navigation through and between chapters.

The book has received critical acclaim from a number of industry leaders. It will undoubtedly be received by those of us in the trenches with the same enthusiasm!

A uniquely entertaining book, Learning to Fly is written with the right blend of theory and practice. From the start, Collison & Parcell build an honest and caring relationship with the reader that takes you on a journey of understanding the why and the how of knowledge management (KM).

The Chris & Geoff hit on many key issues imperative to a successful knowledge management implementation -

·KM should be focused on business results for business objectives. Emphasizing the importance that organizations don't loose sight of why they are doing KM.

·The explanation of KM as an unconscious competence is an excellent model for organization to use for a self-assessment and then strive to achieve.

·Applying KM holistically through the model of learning before, during and after. Proving that building a learning organization is at the heart of KM.

Learning to Fly does it right! I particularly enjoyed the book's creative layout and the way the lessons learned and proven ways to institutionalize KM in any organization are related through thought provoking stories and reflective exercises.

Very down-to-earth, applicable guidelines for building a learning environment within an organization. Focuses on tools and techniques and difficult issues of embedding habits of sharing/learning.
I've read a lot of knowledge management books and this is the one our organization is using as a "starting point" for our efforts.

I have read the "What Color is you Parachute"- types of career management books and, as Ibarra says in Working Identity, while books such as these provide useful, introspective exercises for inventorying your skillsets and interests, they have never provided me with the magical answer I was looking for in terms of what I want to do with my life. If anything I actually became more frustrated, because I had invested all of this time doing the exercises and still only had a few faint ideas for careers that might interest me.

Working Identity provides a very refreshing perspective, and one that I agree with. That while introspection is good and necessary, it is doubtful that introspection alone will provide us with the answer of what we want to do. Rather, only through new experiences and relationships will we begin to "think out of the box", so to speak, and get a true sense for what we enjoy and for what motivates us.

I highly recommend this book to anybody who feels stuck in a professional rut and is not quite sure how to get out of it. Not only will you be able to empathize with some of the individuals in the case studies, but I believe the book will help you to begin thinking in a new way, in terms of how to initiate change in your life.

However, I do have a few criticisms of the book. At several times I had to ask myself who was Ibarra's intended audience, career changers or her fellow professors? Many times it just sounded unnecessarily "academic" in tone, particularly in the beginning of the book where she uses several pages to form "models" for her particular theories. Again, it is as if her audience at this point are her fellow professors and academians, rather than simply the frustrated individual who is trying to create a career change. It is not difficult to understand, but she just makes it sound much more complicated than it needs to be, when in reality the theory/model is just common sense: Make a list of things you're interested in, go explore them a bit, and then go with the flow based on how that experience makes you feel.

Another criticism I have is that all of the individuals highlighted in her case study examples are very highly educated, and seemingly have done very well for themselves financially. In and of itself this is not a problem, in that the case studies are still interesting. The subjects she uses are most likely a product of the circles in which she runs, as Ibarra is, after all, a professor. However, I really would have liked to see more diversity in the subjects that she chose, as I think the book could really have spoken to a lot more people who are struggling with career change.

For example, she frequently cites that "taking a sabbatical" from work is one great way to break out of the box and start looking at some new interests. No doubt, a sabbatical sounds really great to must of us, but unfortunately the reality is that there are not many people who can afford to just stop working. There are plenty of very intelligent, educated professionals who are supporting families or have other committments, and it's just not realistic for them to take a sabbatical. Of course, it would be impossible for Ibarra to address every different situation, but I would have liked to see her stretch the case studies beyond the $100K+ professional with a Master's or PhD. Again, this is just another area where I think Ibarra makes the change process sound more complicated than it needs to be. My personal suggestion to someone who is not in a financial position to "take a sabbatical" would be simply to volunteer an hour or two a week in a charity, church, or other organization that is important to you, where you have the opportunity to use and explore some different skills than what you would normally do during your work day. I have personally found this to be very valuable, but for some reason I never saw volunteering suggested by Ibarra in her book.

These criticisms aside however, this book is revolutionary in that it challenges 95% of the career change advice that is out there right now and provides a new and very refreshing perspective on how an individual will typically journey towards change. It is not a "how to" book that provides a step by step process, but rather a book that will help you "think out of the box" and come up with ideas that you can apply in your own life. Again, I highly recommend this book to anyone who 1. has been frustrated with the traditional career change books (as I was), and/or 2. who just feels they are in a career rut and isn't quite sure how to break out.

Best of luck to you!

This is a book for people that don't know what they want to do when they grow up. Most career books take the position that you can divine what you want to do through introspection and self-analysis.(See, for example, What Color is Your Parachute?)
The primary message of this book is get out of your head, get out in the real world and start experimenting,even on a part time basis,with the things you think you might like to do. It's a decent read and full of interesting ideas for people who want to change their careers.

Working Identity is one of the few self-help books that I have read from cover to cover. I found Ms. Ibarra's thoughtful work extremely helpful in my personal, mid-career dilemma. It offers practical advice and approaches the topic from a different perspective. I would highly recommend it to anyone who eschews the more "touchy-feely" approach to personal change and also to anyone who yearns for more satisfaction in her/his career.

John Poole continues to do our nation and the military great service. Phantom Soldier is the third in an evolution of books--Last Hundred Yards, One More Bridge to Cross--that gets it right on future battlefield tactics. This book must be read and implemented.

What if there was no Northern Alliance to provide ground forces in the current war in Afganistan? If the U.S. does not commit ground forces to provide the necessary dimension, to force an enemy to look two ways, then the scenario in the future would be like the 99 war in Kosovo. Here, a Serbian Army withdrew unscathed from the area of operations, despite three months of constant bombing. Poole's book provides the blue print to reforming the U.S. ground forces that has to be a necessary part of the 21st Century "Transformation." We will pay with lives if we do not reform our military from a Second Generation warfare force to one that can deal with threats in the 3rd and 4th Generation (...) (...).

Phantom Soldier is the natural follow-up to John Poole's book "Another Bridge to Cross".
In Phantom Soldier he continuous his effort to explain the right way to fight - this time with more clarity and easy-to-read style. I find the way he mixes the old, and still true, theories of war fighting with real world examples to be most helpful.

Every person slightest interested in learning the ways of war is probably familiar with Sun-Tzu, but in this book the author also introduces us to some of the less know Asian theorists like Sun Bin. For the uninitiated "The Art of War" by Sun-Wu (or Sun-Zi) seams to be the reference work to read, but the truth is that "The Art of War" is only one in the ancient collection "Seven books of war". A less well-known work, the Liu Tao, or Six Strategies for War, was also highly regarded by rulers of ancient China. The six strategies (Civil, Military, Dragon, Tiger, Leopard, and Hound) each deal with a different subject and corresponding plan for success.

In Phantom Soldier the Battle Arrays of Sun Bin are explained so they are applicable to modern units right now.

I don't agree with J R Dunn on his critic on John Poole's writing. J R Dunn referrers to him self as a military historian, if he really is this, he should know better than to confuse efforts that use history as example with absolute truths. I doubt that Mr. Dunn ever participated in a battle or even a fire-fight. If he had he would know that fighting is complex and very fluid, you cannot make science of art. What John Poole really does is to try and make use think the right way.

If a force with all its modern weapons, support, intelligence assets and the overall technological superiority would be able to adopt this way of thinking it would be unstoppable.

If you keep one eye on history and the other on the future - you will be blind on one eye.
If you keep two eyes on the future you will be blind on both.

This is an analysis of how the eastern way of war trumps the American/western way of war. It also shows why people in Iraq are shooting at US troops rather than hailing them as heros. I've mailed a copy to George Bush. It's too bad that the military culture that he represents is incapable of understanding the importance of this book. The result of this inability is graphically portrayed in John Shey's two classics ACHILLES IN VIET NAM and ODYSSEUS IN AMERICA.

This book is wonderful. Unlike many business books which take one very simple concept and drive it into the ground over 400 pages, Wharton on Dynamic Competitive Strategy has several (17) discrete topics which are interlinked through common themes. Need to understand applications of game theory to strategy formulation? Want to understand how to structure scenario analysis for a working session with a group of business unit directors? This book will help you understand some very academic concepts with very real, material impact when used properly.

This is also a great book for MBA students who want to understand a topic before taking to a whole class.

One final point, the caliber of the authors is incredible. Each author is writing about his/her specific areas of expertise, and the topics are extremely timely.

These are my opinions alone and not necessarily those of my employer.

A well-chosen set of essays is compiled, based on a 4-level framework: i)Analyze the competitive environment, ii)Anticipate competitor's actions & reactions, iii) Formulate Dynamic Strategies, iv) Choose among alternative strategies. The book provides a great way to update one's strategy knowledge.
But I find 'Mastering Strategy: The Complete MBA Companion in Strategy' by Financial Times Editors to be a better book with greater depth and broader spectrum.

Both editors are marketing professors at The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania), which is the world's leading business school (BusinessWeek and Financial Times). George Day is well-known for his market-driven strategy, while David Reibstein is one of the leading scholars in the field of competitive marketing strategy. The book is split in 4 parts, each consisting of 3-to-5 stand-alone chapters.

Part I - Understanding Advantages in a Changing Competitive Environment - discusses competitive arenas, competitor analysis, and competitive advantage. The first two chapters expand largely on Michael Porter's (Harvard Business School) frameworks, whereby the other two chapters introduce approaches to include policy and technology trends into the strategic planning process.

The aim of Part II - Anticipating Competitors' Actions - is to get inside the heads of competitors. Chapters 5 and 6 explain the possible use of the game theory within competitive strate!gy and strategic decision making. Chapter 7 builds on these chapters to integrate the economic frame (chapter 5), the behavioral frame (chapter 6), with an coevolution frame. The final chapters of this part introduce frameworks and approaches to understanding competitor response and competitive relationships.

Part III - Formulating Dynamic Competitive Strategies - builds on the first two parts and introduces approaches to designing strategies. It introduces reactive strategies, preemptive strategies, signaling opportunities and uses, competitive positioning, and antitrust constraints (which is increasingly important to companies).

In Part IV - Choosing Among Alternative Competitive Strategies - the three chapters introduce methods and frameworks for choosing the right strategy. Chapter 15, in which conjoint analysis is combined with scenario analysis, is perhaps the most complicated chapter of the book. Part IV also introduces the possibilities to use simulation !tests for analyzing and testing strategies.

Although this book is named "Wharton on Dynamic Competitive Strategy", there are various chapters from other academic institutions. Each chapter is an excellent piece of work and can be read on a stand-alone basis. For beginners in the strategic field I recommend chapters 1 and 2 highly. The book is written in business US-English.

I enjoyed Julie Bick's new book - it's entertaining, informative and fun to read. And there are some great lessons from Microsoft in there - both thing they did right and things they did wrong. Don't miss the Super Bowl story, the star map, or the shadow competition.

This book is more of a story book, you read you laugh at the scenarios and you get a few pleasant suprises along the way. Although the title is misleading to think the book is actually a business consultancy manual or something.

If you want to find out some interesting facts about the big MS and pick up a few tips along the way then go ahead and pick up this GREAT book!

Every Leader /Manager will learn reading this book to create bench strength of their teams and be able to elavate organizational capability of their organizations.