economics-times

Whether we choose to embrace technology, it is here to stay. Those who harness and leverage its capabilities will discover exciting new ways to conduct commerce. From entrepreneurial startups to the mega corporations, "Virtual Teams" explores not only how these emerging technologies will affect our daily activities but how our workplaces and social interactions will metamorphose. I highly recommend this book; Lipnack and Stamps are visionaries in field of networking. -- L. Alan Schuetz, President, DVMS, Inc.

"Virtual Teams" was a real treat for both my academic and consulting sensibilities. I have never seen such a thorough work on this topic. It is both fundamental and visionary at the same time.

In discourse with a fellow business consultant we bantered about the topic of Lipnack and Stamps latest book (of which I had received an advance copy). He said: "Unfortunately, Lipnack and Stamps(L&S) have been 10 years ahead of the curve with their understanding of the importance of networking."

"But," I replied, "With the book 'Virtual Teams' they offer the world-wide-race-to-the-Internet a well needed moment of reflection-during which they offer PURPOSE to connecting and give virtual teaming DEFINITION and DIRECTION." And the banter continued but we both agreed and got tingles as our chat echoed the truth of their statement:

"Communication technologies and computer networks-in particular the Internet-are underwriting this moment of pregnant potential." (p 240)

"You know," I concluded, "It's a good thing they (L&S) were ahead of their time-otherwise we would not have the language to discuss our 'interdependence' symptoms, to test our 'distributed business' hypothesis', and to realize how much responsibilty it is to be 'pregnant' with potential! Really! The capabilities and expectations we have to manage in these Internet days... how exciting, how dangerous! After all, 'net potential, without 'net performance is just predisposed waste, don't you agree?"

"Yeah, yeah Paula,--yadda, yadda, yadda; 'net, 'net, 'net...enough philosophy-so, should I read the book or not?"

"Go for it." I replied. "This book is not just an electronic blip about the latest fad of virtual teams- it is a study on careful communication, on planning and developing valuable distributed business relationships...a book to be savored and re-read over time."

(BTW --Mine is already all dog-eared and worn!)

Be prepared to THINK DEEP; when you read this book, SIP it SLOWLY and --ENJOY!

I have seen Peter Meyer speak on his book tour, and he is as lively a speaker as he is a writer. Although I work in the public sector, I found his ideas interesting and his insights just as applicable to my profession. I strongly recommend checking out his book and taking any opportunity to see him speak in person.

Meyer explains that "This book is about how to reach and sustain warp speed." If that is your business objective, Meyer provides a wealth of information, advice, checklists, graphics, strategies and tactics, flow charts, etc. Part One ("Foundations") introduces his basic concepts. Part Two ("Resources and Applications") focuses on growth and domination of markets, creation and leadership of new markets, management of human capital, the role of technology, and then -- in the 12th and final chapter -- "Warp-Speed Growth: Managing a Business Built for Speed."

In the final chapter, Meyer provides Chart 12-1, "Platform chart for sustainable warp-speed growth" which is first-rate. It correlates all of his key concepts previously discussed in Chapters 1-12 while suggesting a framework within which any organization can more effectively organize its own key information. "Where Do You Start?" Meyer suggests that you invest time to define success criteria and limit options. Next, consider creating and then dominating an entirely new market. Meanwhile, balance your resources as you formulate a strategic plan for their allocation. As that plan is implemented, be constantly alert to better ways in which to invest your resources. Finally, enjoy yourself: "The rewards of sustainable growth should be personal as well as corporate."

Perhaps your organization is currently experiencing little (if any) growth. Perhaps "sluggish" correctly describes its usual response to new opportunities, customer problems, a competitor's initiatives, changes in the marketplace, etc. Perhaps your organization needs to eliminate clutter, confusion, stagnation, and complacency. If any of this is true, Peter Meyer's book can be helpful. However, I presume to offer a few caveats:

1. The more serious the problems you seek to solve, the more difficult it will be to solve them. Hence the importance of strategic priorities.

2. Also, the worst problems have probably been caused by your own people, many of whom may still be around. Guess who will be most resistant to change?

3. "Warp-Speed Growth" must be prudent growth.

4. It is far easier to attain "Warp-Speed" but than it is to sustain it. Unless you and your organization are both willing and able to make a long-term commitment, forget it.

5. Finally, as Meyer repeatedly emphasizes, an organization's most valuable resources are its time, people, and money. They must be managed and conserved BY EVERYONE INVOLVED with meticulous care.

Of course, it is possible for an organization to attain and then sustain "Warp Speed" but be headed in the wrong direction. In ancient Rome, a traveler was often asked "Quo vadis?" Where are you going? Unless and until an organization has selected the correct destination and then remains on course, the speed at which it travels is irrelevant.

Farren takes the reader through a model/process of evaluation and planning. Her premise is that there are basic human needs that are timeless. Once you select the need that drives you (your passion) - you will always be in control of your vocation (serving others). Farren's unique approach is to match these universal human needs to professions. Having arrived at a profession, gaining mastery in that profession will withstand unstable job markets. As markets change, jobs get created or become obsolete, you will always have your mastery. Mastery is key! and "jobs" are very different from mastery. From that grounding - shifts/transitions and new directions can be self-managed and navigated. She helps the reader by adding specific information for 3 types of readers: new workers, in-transition, and experienced workers. She rounds out the book by providing sound information about the future of work: f/t, pt/, contingent and freelance. Additionally, she adds a new perspective on considering your job in terms of its "role." There may be others, but she puts forth: project managers, resource providers, specialists and strategists. Who's Running Your Career?, if you use it, will put you in charge.

A guide to more than just work--this book gives you the key to a happier life. We all know that work envelops us more than just 9 to 5--it's more a 24/7 experience. This book will help you find a profession, not just a job, that allows the work and personal life you dream of.

WINNING THE INFORMATION GAME is 153 pages of insight into using information, feedback and communications to the betterment of you and your company. You find yourself agreeing with the author because he has the knack of telling a good story, and explaining the rationale behind his recommendations. In many cases he points out the pitfalls from doing it other ways - which should make a few re-think their modius operendi. I've read many of the books and references Tim Timmerman cites such as "Unleashing the Killer App..," "Real Work," "A Complaint is a Gift," and the Scott Adams' books, et. al. In my mind, they all belong in your library - after you've read them and put their knowledge into practice. Tim's book belongs right next to all the other great management and leadership books you already enjoy. His seven steps will help you take a giant leap by taking advantage of some very well thought out strategies and battle tested learning experiences. I strongly urge you read this book and put its lessons into practice.

Timmerman's WINNING THE INFORMATION GAME is a refreshing look at what is happening with the onslaught of information technology and, more importantly, what needs to be done to master this seemingly unbridled monster. The seven steps to market domination provide an excellent map for executives traveling the information highway in a way that adds knowledge value, not just information or data. Each addresses a critical issue in the capabilities of technology and our ability as managers to know and use it. The book's emphasis is not so much on knowledge management as it is on effective knowledge use.

Timmerman points out the essential requirement that today's executives and managers need to be very savvy about information technology as a business lever. The emphasis in the book on the need for a mind-set change for business leaders as it pertains to information and knowledge management as part of their managerial tool kit is well-placed.

This book offers a different and, in my view, a much needed new approach to the integration of knowledge as it pertains to the customer and to a company's people. Timmerman has successfully joined the hard stuff of information technology with the soft stuff of managing (or more critically, leading) people.

The chapter on avoiding the information highway pitfalls is a must read for business executives. Clear and straightforward, it is a non-technical guide well thought out.

WINNING THE INFORMATION GAME needs to be on the desk of any executive who wants to enhance his or her effectiveness in the next century. I see the book's message as: information technology needs to be in the hands of the managers, not the technologists.

It has been a few years since I read this book. I remember the cover notes saying that I would never look at the world in the same way again and I must say that it fundamentally changed my world view. It is a very intelligent book that is wide ranging in scope but uses time as a central theme. The author convinces us that nothing exists alone and that there are clocks and cycles everywhere. I recommend to any science reader.

A fascinating, and largely undiscovered masterpiece purportedly addressing the Nature of Time. If you've read Grammatical Man, don't let that turn you off. This one reads like a different author

When the authors read The Discipline of Market Leaders, they must have immediately realized the potential of bringing the ideas of being an innovator, effective producer, and relationship manager together. This book fulfills that synthesis in a zero-time concept, of immediately providing value for stakeholders. In a December 1999 poll in Fast Company Magazine, 38 percent of respondents indicated that some aspect of their company already operated in a zero execution time mode.

The book is built around five basic concepts for a targeted group of high profit margin customers:

(1) Instant Value Alignment with customers (FedEx's commitment to on-time delivery and instant access to tracking information)

(2) Instant Learning by employees and customers (Dell Computer's computer-based education at work cell assembly sites)

(3) Instant Adaptation of the organization (G.E.'s focus on building a direction for the company around vision and trust)

(4) Instant Execution of value for the customer (Progressive Insurance's accelerated claims processing methods)

(5) Instant Involvement of all stakeholders (Cisco Systems' involvement with its suppliers and outsourcers from development through implementation for customers)

A company can progress towards having all five elements in a three step process. First, you become a market leader by emphasizing either product/service innovation (employing instant learning and adaptation), operating excellence (using instant execution and involvement), or customer closeness (relationship building based on instant alignment and involvement). Second, you turn that into locking customers in by adding one more key element from the five part model. Third, you complete the transition into providing all five elements.

A t-strategy is described for making this transition. You find an opportunity that is unfilled (such as the desire to be alone in the middle of other people that is partly served by the Sony Walkman), develop a key core competency for that conceptual space, and expand into some zero-time operations. You first apply that vision, core comptence, and distinctiveness for one market, then expand it into different, but similar (and usually related) markets. These market extensions form the vertical part of the 't' shape. For example, Dell Computer wants to employ direct selling with a competency of build-to-order to dominate the market for PCs by operational effectiveness. It expands from desk-top PCs to portable ones, then to servers, and now into storage.

Now that you understand the model a bit, let me share a few quibbles. First, I disagree with the idea of focusing on a subset of customers who can provide the highest profit margin. I think a better concept is to identify the customers where they will give you the greatest combination of competitive insulation, profitability, and improvement in your economics of providing goods and services in order to be able to take on more customers profitably.

Second, several stakeholders are missing from the discussion here such as shareholders, bondholders, the communities in which you operate, and those who regulate what you do. More thinking needs to be done about how to apply the model there stakeholders.

Third, the authors argue that providing all three dimensions gives you a guaranteed customer for life. I disagree. You could still be upended by someone with a proprietary technology with the same zero-time elements that gives an edge in bringing more benefits to the customer. Another way of thinking about this is that technology can still be disruptive to this strategy (see The Innovator's Dilemma).

Fourth, the authors do not address how to make the cost-benefit trade-off decisions. Getting closer to zero time gets more and more expensive. How much is it worth? How fast should you transition to this level of performance? The book will tend to encourage a too-fast transition, in my judgment.

Fifth, when is a non-zero time response better? If someone asks me my opinion on an important subject, they may not want a response in 1 second. They may prefer that I pull together all of the resources of my organization for the next 3 days instead and provide a better answer. The book doesn't address that class of circumstances.

Sixth, how do you correct for errors? I frequently stay in hotel chains that pride themselves on writing down my preferences. Then they smile broadly as they anticipate my needs and provide those preferences. The only problem is, that those aren't really my preferences. For example, staying at a luxury hotel with a sore throat, I ordered mid-afternoon tea with lemon. I don't usually drink it that way, but that's the way it always comes when I am at that hotel. In another luxury hotel, someone asked me casually if I liked the room I was staying in. I was feeling friendly and happy, and said, 'Oh, yes!' Well, for the next six years, I had the same room -- even though I actually preferred a different room. I respect what these hotels are trying to do so much that I don't have the heart to tell them they are unintentionally giving me the wrong service.

Basically, like all models, it is a lot easier to understand than to do it well.

After you have completed this fine book, put yourself in your stakeholders' shoes. What would you really want from your company? How would you like to go about making that happen? How would you like to adjust your needs and the responses you receive? Then use those insights to talk directly with your stakeholders about how well you are doing. If you are like most of the companies I study, you aren't ever delivering the right value. You'll need to get that straightened out before you start working on getting great value provided in zero time.

Be effective!

The authors really take today's norm of 'operating companies' and challenges them to entirely re-think the fundamentals of their current operations for today and tomorrow. Zero Time is well thought out and raises the bar helping direct companies shift their paradigms in both thought and action to truly develop into tomorrow's champions - for the long term. It really is a must read for the new generation of e-business leaders and tomorrow's visionaries.

Lilly Walters has assembled a collection of terrific ways to create new income streams, get more bookings, generate publicity and more. The book is a series of short tips and ideas that got my brain popping. A quick perusal left my copy dotted with sticky notes marking pages containing ideas I can use now and in the future. I am currently working through the book, a section at a time, putting the tips into action.

Although absolute beginners may want more detail for some tips, wherever you are in your speaking career you will certainly find some gems to help you become a better, more successful (and profitable!) speaker. Beginners looking for more information should also read "Speak and Grow Rich" and other excellent books on building a speaking career.

Author David Cottrell, founder of CornerStone Institute, has done a tremendous favor for the 21st century business community by publishing this handy and quick read. In less time than it takes to watch a sitcom on TV, "175 Ways" inspires you to cut through the time-consuming portions of your day to have the time you need to do what you do well.

This little book is a "must" for every new graduate, every veteran business person and everyone in between. Not only can you learn to save time, but you can also learn how to get the most out of every minute, whether at home, commuting or at the office.

By virtue of its application to every lifestyle, this book may well replace the "One-Minute Manager" as required reading for every employee of every company in America.

And, for the price, each time management tip is worth its weight in gold!

I am a leadership trainer and give over 200 programs per year. My leadership library is extensive and varied. Most of the new leadership books are just "love song" books - they are saying the same thing in a different way. In this book, the messages are the same, but the writing methodology is fresh and different.

James has accomplished an intriguing and "page turner" leadership lessons book by including detailed historic examples of each of Maxwell's 21!

This Twenty Six Hour Day Is Not Fiction! A Book Review
by Mike Banks Valentine

Vince Panella might have been accused of writing a work of
fiction when titling his book "The 26 Hour Day, How to Gain
at Least 2 Hours a Day with Time Control". When he begins
his "Introduction to Time Control" chapter by stating on the
first page that he's . . . "come to the conclusion that --
time management does not work!" he immediately had me hooked.

I was charmed by the intensely human approach he takes from
the beginning. I've got to agree with him because my own
experience with time management is that it has a mechanistic,
almost robotic feel to it as presented by efficiency experts,
management consultants and minutia-charting time accountants.
Here is an approach that allows for "wasting time" and, even
more surprisingly, advocates getting sufficient sleep!

Although he suggests wasting incrementally less time than you
normally might he is clearly aware that as human beings, we
are driven less by deadlines than by emotional needs. At least
once in every chapter, reminding the reader that we are not
perfect and that it's OK that we're not precise as robots.

Panella blends the best of self improvement with his unique
approach to what he calls "Time Control", quoting personal
growth gurus Tony Robbins and Deepak Chopra beside references
to American Statistician, W. Edwards Deming, the man who was
". . . given credit for engineering Japan's modern industrial
success over the last 50 years." Deming guided Japanese
business through a formula of continual success improvement.

Constant incremental refining of success formulas is certainly
not limited to Deming. One of my strongest early inspirations
was reading "The Autobiography of Ben Franklin", in which the
continual improvement of Franklin's character throughout his
life is chronicled. Self improvement predated Franklin as well,
but Panella has combined the best of personal growth with time
control to offer what he has called "Success Centered Time
Management."

Although Panella does cover critical topics typical to time
management such as standard issue and admittedly important -

* Winning the War Against Procrastination
* The Power and Purpose of Goals
* Reducing Distractions

Those key points are presented in ways that kept my interest,
a surprising accomplishment in itself. But Panella has some
more compelling thoughts on some new approaches he has refined
over his nearly 20 years of presenting this material. Notable
are several concepts that resonate strongly with humanity.

* Gain 2 More Hours a Day Through the Power of Sleep

As one with sleep apnea disorder, I require more sleep than
most, but Panella boldly proclaims that, "Lack of adequate
sleep is the reason for 90 percent of the problems many of
us experience in gaining more control of our time."

He makes a strong case for a society that values sleep far
more than does ours. He goes so far as to cite a Gallup poll
that showed "Twenty-Five percent of adults believe they
cannot be successful AND get enough sleep!" He gives ample
reasons, from reduced productivity and performance right on
through loss of life caused by drowsiness and inattention.

* Bit by Bit, The Amazing Power of Five Minutes

This section emphasizes devoting a simple five minutes to
gradual progress toward seemingly huge goals on a daily
basis. Slow and steady wins the race might describe this
approach. He refers to this technique throughout the book
in varied ways to suggest that progress doesn't have to be
measured in tireless devoted hours of struggle, but can be
achieved much more easily "bit by bit."

* Moments, The Secret of Life

As a teenager, I wondered what my life might look like as
a two hour movie and imagined what little slices of time
might make it to the final cut (as I experienced one of my
first identity crises upon finishing high school). Panella
suggests that all of our lives are much like that and are
defined by individual moments of positive accomplishment
and that all lives are made up of a collection of small
moments we strongly identify with and remember powerfully.

The striking concept he delivers in the book is that we
not only have that inventory of past moments, but that we
should consider steadily depositing in a bank account of
moments from each day, and further, that we consider
investing to accumulate a wealth of moments. "Every day,
consciously look to create significant and simple moments"
to add to your "moments account".

* Maximizing Any Experience

"Before any event or experience . . . simply ask yourself
how prepared you are . . . for the event. You'll go through
details in your head and take a subjective measurement . . .
Then you'll ask yourself what you can do to make the event
a little better ahead of time. You'll repeat asking this
question . . . listing your answers . . . When complete,
you'll have a laundry list of actions to maximize the
event . . . You get to play armchair quarterback ahead of
time. You pull yourself back and look at the big picture
with a chance to make positive changes. Something we fail
to do more times than not."

"Maximizing almost seems too easy." Indeed it does, but
what a powerful tool if we only developed the habit.

The 26 Hour Day, I'm convinced, is a real possibility
in terms of maximising events, investing in our moments
with sincere gratitude and bit by bit, in multiple five
minute increments, we can gain additional value from our
alloted time.

Vince Panella has unwittingly given me the blueprint for
my New Years Resolutions for 2002. I'm committed to
investing significant time to his program of continual
success improvement over the coming year.