economics-times

Dan Carison has acurately captured what I witnessed first-hand in coordinating the "Weekend of Caring" efforts that Conoco employees undertook with regards to assisting those in time of need. I still have a hard time reading some segments of this story without showing emotion...the author captures details that are forever burned in my memory. I've told many others of Dan's gift in capturing the human elements of the story - the details are an exact duplication of what I felt - the hair on the back of my neck stands out each time I read various segments of the book I'm familiar with. There truly are lessons to be learned regarding tight to impossible deadlines whether that be personally or corporately.

My hat is off to the author for capturing a remarkable story!

All in all, a good read and a valuable set of lessons that can be taken away, reflected upon and then applied as appropriate.

Investors of all skill levels will benefit from the convincing case Larry Swedroe makes for properly diversifying your portfolio with low turnover, low cost passive investment options through either the use of index funds, ETF's, or other passive investment options. He also makes the most convincing case yet for the value premium, why it has been sustained and consistent, and why it is most likely to continue in the future.

While his two other excellent books, "The Only Guide to a Winning Investment Strategy You'll Ever Need," and "What Wall Street Doesn't Want You to Know" are not required reading for his latest book, they are both highly recommended.

Mr. Swedroe is the most accessible financial advisor on the Internet today, regularly posting on the Vanguard Diehards forum on Morningstar and Indexfunds.com. He is always gracious with his time and is quick to answer any questions posted for him. He is one of the very few advisors, including Richard Ferri and Bill Bernstein who really seem to care about the financial well being of investors.

Save your money spent toward financial publications and newsletters, and "invest it" in this incredible new book from Larry Swedroe.

We live in a customer economy. Customers control the way of doing business. It is necessary for the company to put customer¡¦s need at the core. This book provides many practical tactics to turn what customer needs into actions.

Structurally, this book can be divided into three aspects: customer, employees and physical environment. And in each aspect, author will introduce some interesting tactics. For customer aspect, Carl suggests that company should ask customer their preference instead of just assuming what customer like. For employees aspect, Carl realizes that ¡§if you want your employees to be polite to your customer, you have to be polite to your employees¡¨. For physical environment aspect, Carl thinks that ¡§every impression is important¡¨, therefore all physical environment even a restroom should be treated well.

Comment:

Advantages:

Although minor, still need to care

For a student, this book really gives us many practical way of doing business as well as the proper manner when dealing with customers.
One of the insight that this book bring to me is ¡§although minor, still need to care¡¨. Customer will not very appreciate if company does all thing right, since customer think it is company¡¦s responsibility to do so. Also, customer will dissatisfy if company does not do well in a minor aspect such as toilet because customer will afraid how a company treat customer good if they cannot treat toilet well. Overall speaking, this book can give reader understand this concept.

Linkage between customer, employees and physical environment

After reading the whole book, I understand more about the relationship of customer, employees and physical environment. Employees and physical environment are two vital elements which are influence customers directly. Therefore, if company want to retain and satisfy customers, it is critical for them to put effort the aspects of employees and physical environment.

Disadvantage:

Some ideas may not be applied in other industries

Since the author run the business of car dealers, the content inevitable focus on car dealer. This may reduce the attractiveness of this book since some of the tactics cannot apply to other industry.

We live in a customer economy. Customers control the way of doing business. It is necessary for the company to put customer¡¦s need at the core. This book provides many practical tactics to turn what customer needs into actions.

Structurally, this book can be divided into three aspects: customer, employees and physical environment. And in each aspect, author will introduce some interesting tactics. For customer aspect, Carl suggests that company should ask customer their preference instead of just assuming what customer like. For employees aspect, Carl realizes that ¡§if you want your employees to be polite to your customer, you have to be polite to your employees¡¨. For physical environment aspect, Carl thinks that ¡§every impression is important¡¨, therefore all physical environment even a restroom should be treated well.

Comment:

Advantages:

Although minor, still need to care

For a student, this book really gives us many practical way of doing business as well as the proper manner when dealing with customers.
One of the insight that this book bring to me is ¡§although minor, still need to care¡¨. Customer will not very appreciate if company does all thing right, since customer think it is company¡¦s responsibility to do so. Also, customer will dissatisfy if company does not do well in a minor aspect such as toilet because customer will afraid how a company treat customer good if they cannot treat toilet well. Overall speaking, this book can give reader understand this concept.

Linkage between customer, employees and physical environment

After reading the whole book, I understand more about the relationship of customer, employees and physical environment. Employees and physical environment are two vital elements which are influence customers directly. Therefore, if company want to retain and satisfy customers, it is critical for them to put effort the aspects of employees and physical environment.

Disadvantage:

Some ideas may not be applied in other industries

Since the author run the business of car dealers, the content inevitable focus on car dealer. This may reduce the attractiveness of this book since some of the tactics cannot apply to other industry.

PS. Even if you are not in the "car business", this book will change the way you think about interacting with people. Simply put, it makes you want to give 110% in everything you do.

This tale of AOL's disasterous purchase of Time-Warner also offers the sickly pleasure of watching billionaires act as though we should feel sorry for them, better yet, admire them, because they are actually altruists and gurus. Seriously. That's how they want to see themselves.

It's a strangely detached reading experience, since 98% of us aren't likely to be involved in such a big deal in our lives. Let alone see it blow up in our face. Yet the book is a compelling and compulsive read. See the CEOs run straight into a wall! Hear the ticking clock as the hopeless deal runs out of air...and then violently deflates.

Time Warner comes off a lot better than AOL, which makes me glad I switched services, but may also be because Munk
is "old media." But it isn't as though Jerry Levin comes off that much better than Steve Case--both their stories are apt to leave the reader scratching his or her head asking "How can people be such short-sighted daydreamers yet still make such serious bank?" You know you're reading a weird story when Ted Turner is coming out as one of the most levelheaded figures involved.

So this deal is going to go down in history as a billion-dollar boondoggle. But man, it makes interesting reading--and it lets me use the word "boondoggle."

But this story isn't just about AOL Time Warner but about corporate America in general, about how merger mania and golden parachuted moguls can play fast and loose with our money, our livelihood, our country, and our future. It's about the collateral damage, the megalomania, the broken hearts and the evaporated portfolios. It's about the mentality of corporate CEOs like Levin who as he turned sixty wanted to be remembered for something other than the bottom line, "for integrity...high moral principles; and wisdom." (p. 133) Ah, yes, a lifetime of chasing money and power and now True Religion. One is reminded of Bill Gates with the very demanding problem of how to distribute all that money wisely before he dies.

Munk knows these people. How she got them to be so carelessly candid at times amazes me, especially her work with Levin. She understands their psychology and to some significant extent, their business. She had to, to write this book and make it work. She packs the text with spiffy and sometimes all too revealing quotes. She has the heart of a baggy-eyed scholar and the soul of a muckraker. The almost surrealistic give and take between Case and Levin as they cooked The Deal reads like something out of a Hollywood movie. Whose ego, whose sense of personal power, and imagined historical accomplishment and brilliance needed massaging the most by whom? And who would steal more from the other? And the ease with which Salomon Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley each got $60-million for their part in the deal reads like tales of manna falling from heaven.

There are some black and white photos in the middle of the book. The test is exquisitely edited and proofed, and the book handsomely designed. Munk ends this "morality play," as she calls it, with a curtain call of the cast of characters in an epilogue and brings us up to date on what has happened to them and what they're doing now.

Incidentally, my subject-line quote about a "mess of porridge" is from Robert Murdoch, no doubt licking his chops. (p. 280)

Bottom line: you will be kept up at night reading this page turner. Better yet take it on that trip to Singapore. It's a jet-lag killer.

Part One "Resident Genius" covers a period from Time Inc. to Time Warner, 1923-1998. Munk provides essential background information which includes a penetrating analysis of Henry Luce.

Part Two Enter the Internet Cowboys: AOL, 1985-1999. Of special interest to me was Munk's analysis of the working relationship of an odd couple indeed, Steve Case and Robert Pittman.

Part Three The Big Deal: AOL and Time Warner, 1999-2000. Step-by-step, Munk traces the process which eventually resulted in "the biggest train wreck in the history of corporate America." I was fascinated to learn about the nature and extent of Ted Turner's involvement amidst corporate intrigues which would have made the Medici envious.

Part Four "Surviving Is Winning": AOL Time Warner 2003-2003. The material which Munk presents offers still another illustration of the fact that success has many parents but failure is an orphan. "Glued together on January 11, 2001, the company known as AOL Time Warner lasted two years, nine months, and five days before it fell apart....In late 2003, [renamed] Time Warner's stock hovered around $16, down 70% from January, 2001, when the AOL Time Warner deal closed."

After reading these four Parts, I proceeded to the Epilogue in which Munk provides an update on several of the "train wreckers." Meyer Berlow "has found a new vocation: he's a wood turner who spends eight hours a day at a lathe, making wooden bowls and other vessels in his workshop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn." Jeff Bewes and Don Logan are now the two most powerful executives at Time Warner, after Dick Parsons. What about Case? In January 2003, he resigned as chairman of the company. "In late 2003, [he] opened an office on Washington, D.C.'s K Street. From there he oversees his investments, which thus far have largely been restricted to Hawaii, his native state."

For me, Levin is the most interesting. Since the train wreck, he "has distanced himself from his past yet again....[and] rarely communicates with former colleagues or associates. 'I'm not in the Hollywood community, I'm not in the media community. That's not where I'm looking for my sustenance.'" Then where is he? According to Munk, Levin has a new life. "He also has a new vocation: the healing arts. Together with his fiancee, Laurie Perlman, a psychologist, Levin is helping to create a holistic mental health institute in Los Angeles, California."

Fools Rush In: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Unmaking of AOL Time Warner is first-rate in all respects. Hopefully those who read this brief commentary will be encouraged to read other recently published books which also examine "the culture of corporate America and Wall Street in the late 1900s." My own recommendations include the aforementioned Smartest Guys in the Room as well as Kara Swisher's There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere, Alec Klein's Stealing Time : Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner, Jo Johnson and Martine Orange's The Man Who Tried to Buy the World: Jean-Marie Messier and Vivendi Universal, and Rebecca Smith and John R. Emshwiller's 24 Days: How Two Wall Street Journal Reporters Uncovered the Lies that Destroyed Faith in Corporate America.

It's hard to say enough about this book. Highly, highly recommended.

For car buyers willing to do their homework, there is no reason to get ripped off. Sutton shows you how to arm yourself with some common-sense tactics that almost anyone can use.

An amusing sidebar for me was, after reading Sutton's book, was having several salespeople AND managers ask me if I was a former car lot manager. I just smiled inscrutibly and answered that I had 'contacts' in the business.

I was so wrong.

This is a pleasant book with a conversational tone, along the lines of Dale Carnegie. I wish my other books were so simple, and were plainly written and plainly taught. Shakespeare mentions "Simple truth miscalled simplicity," (Sonnet 66) and that "Brevity is the soul of wit." (Hamlet, Act 2, sc. ii), and Mr. Smith demonstrates his ability, again and again, to plainly teach the ten natural laws.

In fact, the tone of this book is almost grandfatherly.

The book is divided into two halves, the first half dealing with your time, the second half dealing with your life.

The first laws are (Don't get mad-you could Xerox these from a library copy!):

1.You control your life by controlling your time.
2.Your governing values are the foundation of personal fulfillment.
3.When your daily activities reflect your governing values, you experience inner peace.
4.To reach any significant goal, you must leave your comfort zone.
5.Daily planning leverages time through increased focus.

The laws regarding controlling your life are:

6.Your behavior is a reflection of what you truly believe.
7.You satisfy needs when your beliefs are line with reality.
8.Negative behaviors are overcome by changing incorrect beliefs.
9.Your self-esteem must ultimately come from within.
10. Give more, and you'll have more.

I think that the central principles are first, controlling your life and not being controlled, and second there is an objective reality, despite all the braying and bleating of the relativists. The issue, then is one of organizing and prioritizing, and not just being a forty-year old teenager living from stimulation to stimulation.

As has been observed, this book is geared for the big business executive, but I have found that I can adapt the principles to my less busy and less hectic life. That may be another underlying factor: wanting to want something. You must want the principles to work for them to be effective. "Stick-to-itiveness" I think is the word.

There has also been comment about the values and the similarities of this book to other books, specifically Covey's "Seven Habits." It shouldn't be surprising, since all the arrows of moral laws hit one target. We do not have a male and a female law of gravitation, and the electrons do not drive on the wrong side of the road in the UK. We are all talking about the same thing. C. S. Lewis in "The Abolition of Man," traces the similarity of moral laws across many cultures and time. True, manifestations and understanding of truth may differ; it is all fundamentally the same. You can do math by Roman numerals, but Arabic numerals are far easier.

Moreover, Franklin and Covey merged a few years ago, so the two books have really become one in the hands of the company.

As to the hidden agenda, what can I say? If you are smart enough to spot any hidden agenda, then you are also smart enough to know how to avoid any entanglements.

As always, the hardest part of any self-help book is the implementation of the ideas.

But there is something even greater to this book than just prioritizing goals and time managment, and that is happiness. This book offers tools and ultimately a way of thinking that ensures an individuals happiness. Hyrum Smith gives us the formula, and we just pop our own individual life charactersistics and goals into the equation.

The best self-help book out there!!!!!

For example, Frankel's Prime Directive says, "Branding is not about getting your targets to choose you over the competition. Branding is about getting your prospects to see you as the only solution to their problem."

Then there is Frankel's First Law of Big Time Branding: "Brands are not about you.Brands are about them."
Frankel goes on to enumerate a total of ten laws of "Big Time Branding," a law about media hype, two laws concerning web branding, an "Inverse Theory of Branding," a "Ubiquitous Brand Test" and a "DYI corollary" (Doing it yourself works...)

If you really get the meaning of Frankel's First Law of Big Time Branding (Brands are not about you. Brands are about them.) you may be able to forgo reading the rest of the book. However, if you do, you will miss out on some pretty funny and thought provoking material about how big brands have blown it and how some have actually gotten it right.

Besides using examples of well-known brands that have, according to Frankel, done it right or have blown it, Frankel shares some case studies of small to international-sized businesses that have used branding to help them achieve financial success. The book features lists of action items at the end of each chapter. These lists challenge the reader to apply the principles of "Big Time Branding" to their own business making it a book that you'll want to keep close at hand for quick reference as you make decisions that effect your brand.

This book should be read by all, from the graphic arts gal to the CEO. It is clear that the development of a brand, beyond just a funny logo, requires that everyone understand the ideas that are laid before us in this text.

To quote from the book, "Branding is not about getting your prospects to choose you over your competition; it's about getting your prospects to see you as the only solution to their problem (SM)". One can see why Frankel & Anderson is becoming the dominant player in Internet brand development.

1. :Asset Revolution: "Workforce assets include their time, attention, ideas, skills, knowledge, passion, energy, social networks, and more. How will you create better ROIs on these assets?"

2. Build My Work My Way: "The future of work is personalized and tailored. Information flows, tools, and compensation structures will be personalized so that people can have more control over their own destiny."

3. Deliver Peer-to-Peer Value: "Nobody needs companies to help them collaborate, share, understand, or create. people can self-organize and connect amazingly well, thank you. You're the middleman. What value do you add when peers connect?"

4. Develop Extreme Leaders: "The future of leadership is extreme accountability for life's precious assets. From this point forward, R-E-S-P-E-C-T includes better use of the assets the workforce brings with them."

According to Jensen, there is a "New Coin of the Realm" for a new work contract. He identifies 20 Articles which range from "Our working capital gets stuff done" to "Work 2.0 value starts with me." In the Work 2.0 world, the most effective organizations will be meritocracies. Those involved will agree upon a combination of the 20 Articles (all, most or only some) which are most relevant to their individual as well as collective needs and interests. Those in the workforce will demand an ROI acceptable to them; the nature and extent of their personal success will determine the nature and extent of producing more sooner and at less cost; motivated by enlightened self-interest, their passion will drive innovation and productivity; their peer-to-peer connections (both within and beyond the organization) will deliver personal freedom, growth, and success; they will measure only what they value; in the world of Work 2.0, there will be greater trust and clarity as well as more effective communication between and among those involved; finally, each participant will assume responsibility for -- and be held accountable to -- much higher standards because, in the world of Work 2.0, the standards are determined by those in the workforce. The ROI of each will be diminished by another's failure to meet those standards.

Gary Hamel has written a book in which he urges his readers to "lead the revolution." At one point, he observes: "This is a book about innovation -- not in the usual sense of new products and new technologies, but in the sense of radical new business models. It begins by laying out the revolutionary imperative: we've reached the end of incrementalism, and only those companies that are capable of creating industry revolutions will prosper in the new economy. It then provides a detailed blueprint of what you [italics] can do to get the revolution started in your own company. Finally, it describes in detail an agenda for making innovation as ubiquitous a capability as quality or customer service. Indeed, my central argument is that radical innovation the [italics] competitive advantage for the new millennium." His is an excellent book which I hold in very high regard. Those who share my admiration of Jensen's two books, Simplicity and Work 2.0, are urged to check out Hamel's book. Both Hamel and Jensen challenge what Jim O'Toole correctly characterizes as "the despotism of custom" and "the ideology of comfort." Anyone in any organization (regardless of size or nature) who has attempted to be a change leader is already familiar with both.

Jensen does indeed focus on essentials in Work 2.0. "The new war for talent will be fought over who provides the best returns on investments....The future of work is customized, personalized, and tailored to each individual....bottom-up criteria will drive more and more of your collaboration budgets and strategies....The future of leadership includes greater accountability for performance through greater willingness to be challenged on, and address, work-level details." Have he, Hamel, O'Toole and others come up with all the right answers? Of course not. But they have raised all the right questions and then responded to them with precision, passion, and eloquence. How will you respond? I conclude by presuming to suggest that if your response is essentially irrelevant in your current organization, find another in which the robust spirit and muscular practice of Work 2.0 principles are essential.

2.0 looks at work, with in-your-face truthtelling. For example, nowhere will the CEO&Guru authors of "Execution" tell you that "the leaders of great workplaces must accept accountability for life's precious assets" (how our time gets spent/wasted every day), or that today's leaders "must be willing to be challenged on, and address, work-level details." Jensen backs up those ideas with examples, and new ways work and have a life too.

Among the ideas and tools I found most helpful:
* A chapter on how to redefine our relationship w/ our employers
* A tool, The SimplerWork Index, that provides completely
new measures for great places to work
* New examples of how to build operations to meet the needs of workers and customers
* An unheard-of-commitment to personal productivity: Corporate commitments to helping each individual, not just the business, get more done with less resources

I believe that this book is ten-best-important because, at the very moment when marketplace and corporate foundations are being shaken, 2.0 asks completely new questions of us, of our relationship with those companies, and of what it takes for us to be our best. It shapes a completely new conversation about work, life, and what we want from each.

With a brutally frank focus on personal productivity in a global context, it will cause you to assess "as is" (your job, company or country) so that long-term fulfillment can be attained. Don't worry though- this is not one of those mysterious pop-psychology texts.

Entertaining, dynamic chapters span:
1-the asset revolution begins- work 2.0 new contract, leaders and managers, workforce
2-if you're serious rules- embrace the asset revolution, build my work my way, deliver pee-to-peer value, develop extreme leaders
3-under construction- views of work ahead, privacy matters

Full of ideas, checklists, and examples of Work 2.0, this is one of the best books in the domain. Share it at work if you want to shake the place up.

[note- based upon complimentary review copy sent by author]

How much training does it take to become a librarian, teacher, lawyer, physician, or rocket scientist? How well would the world work for us if such training were skimped on?

When it comes to buying a first home (whether condo, co-op, or fixer-upper), most people act as though you can do brain surgery without the training. Not!

Even if you view this emotionally and financially important investment as one to be approached carefully, most first-time buyers will make important errors. Here are a few of my favorites:

(1) Not thinking about how hard it may be to resell the home.

(2) Vastly underestimating how much money will be needed to fix it up.

(3) Overpaying for the home because of not realizing how to negotiate.

(4) Waiting until finding one's soul mate before purchasing.

(5) Spending more than you can afford, and using boxes for furniture.

(6) Purchasing a home that doesn't fit your needs (where will you put 4 children and you in 2 bedrooms?).

(7) Taking on a horrible commute.

Interest rates are down in light of the terrible terrorist tragedy and weak economy. Unemployment is rising. Based on historical patterns, this is a good time to buy. Are you ready? Probably not, even if you think you are.

But I have good news for you. If you read and apply the lessons of this book, you will be more ready than many people who have already bought homes.

The subjects covered include deciding what you needs are, versus your likes; how to look; determining what you can afford; deciding what broker to use; how to work with the broker (especially what not to tell the broker, since most work for the seller); how to decide what to offer; how to negotiate; getting the best financing; checking out the house; handling the closing; and even dealing with problems after the closing. You also get help with which professionals (such as buying agents, lawyers, and home inspectors) to use, how to select them, what they will cost, and how to work with them.

I have bought or helped buy three houses, am an attorney, and am a licensed real estate agent. I found several areas where this excellent book extended my knowledge. I know it will save you thousands of dollars . . . and probably even more in avoided emotional trauma!

The book does this by posing questions, providing worksheets, steering you to Internet resources, and describing case histories.

No book from the buyer's perspective can however hope to dispel the incredible naiveté that we all have when we first purchase a home (all 2 million a year who are like lambs being led to the slaughter). For that purpose, I suggest that you also read another book, How to Sell Your Home Fast, which is an excellent description of what intelligent, prepared sellers will be doing to get you to buy their home and pay too much. Beneath all the friendly chit-chat with the sellers, realize that your are usually being carefully maneuvered to act against your own interest.

By the way, this book does not do enough to warn you about hidden house faults. Home inspectors are not the entire answer. They usually get their referrals from brokers, and will usually not tell you the worst of what can happen lest brokers stop recommending them. Spend some extra money and have people you know well and trust who are expert in electrical, heating, air conditioning, structural, roofing, plumbing, soil, and environmental hazards take a look also. They will find things that you can use to get the price lowered to cover the cost of repairs. My experience is that you will save about [amt.] for every [amt.] you spend in this way.

I also recommend that you find 10 people who are a lot like you who purchased a home similar to what interests you about five years ago. Ask them what they did right and what didn't work out so well.

After you explore all of these choices, you may want to consider what I did once . . . rent with an option to purchase. All of my rent went towards the down payment. I found I loved the house, saved money, and had few problems with repairs. I later sold it for a nice profit.

Also, spend time in the yard of your potential new home at all hours of the day and night. You may be surprised by some of the positive and negative features. In one home, I discovered that a dozen deer came by across a creek at 7:30 a.m. Seeing them every morning became my favorite part of every day.

After preparing by knowing what the right questions are, look for all of the potential problems and opportunities in making large decisions. Then sleep on your decision for three nights. You'll know what to do then!

* Stop to smell the flowers (yes, he actually says this)
* Brush your dog or cat while watching your favorite TV show
* Choose plants that are easy to grow
* Make enough for two meals when you cook and freeze the second meal
* Use paper plates and cups
* Hire a cleaning service
* Get more sleep

Probably the worst piece of advice this book offers, though, is "the future will take care of itself." No, it won't, especially if a deadline is looming and the rent check is due! If you work in a creative field and are looking for advice about enhancing your creativity and/or better managing your time and projects, skip this book. It is a complete waste of time and money.

Time Management for the Creative Person is jam-packed with creative ideas and ways to become more organized and more efficient. As with his other books, Silber doesn't lay it out in a "my way or the highway approach", but instead presents a huge array of different ideas, encouraging you to pick what might work best for you. You'll be surprised at how often the tips in this book will actually jump-start your own creative ways to organize your life!