Know in 10 minutes what it takes others hours, and keep up with the latest trends in your industry.
In this summary you will learn:
- Why large groups of people seem to be better than experts when it comes to forecasts, valuation and other tasks
- How scientists prove that crowds are wise
- Why it matters
Why you should read The Wisdom of Crowds
This well-written bestseller explores the apparent anomaly that crowds of nonexperts seem to be collectively smarter than individual experts or even small groups of experts. This basic insight is at the heart of contemporary financial investment theory, with its emphasis on the difficulty of outguessing the market. Beginning with British scientist Francis Galton’s remarkable discovery in 1906 that a crowd of nonexperts proved surprisingly competent at guessing the weight of an ox, financial columnist and author James Surowiecki skillfully recounts experiments, discoveries and anecdotes that demonstrate productive group thinking. The concept does not come as news to anyone reasonably well read in modern financial literature, but getAbstract recommends this comprehensive, fresh presentation.
About the Author
James Surowiecki is a staff writer at The New Yorker, which publishes his popular business column, “The Financial Page”.
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Know in 10 minutes what it takes others hours, and keep up with the latest trends in your industry.
In this summary you will learn:
- Why you want to avoid head-to-head competition
- Instead, how to open a fresh market with an innovative product
- What the six principles of “blue ocean strategy” require
- What their risks are
- How to implement them
Why you should read Blue Ocean Strategy
This breakthrough book provides an organized framework for identifying and implementing out-of-the-box “blue ocean strategies” in all industries. The blue ocean strategy explains how to sail your business into new markets with less competition and greater profitability. Disarmingly written by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, the book is energized with fresh research about the impact of innovative ideas on old industries. The compelling business examples alone are worth taking this cruise. Even the appendices make interesting reading and contain more detailed examples about products ranging from the Model T to movie theaters (the authors explain how innovators reinvented theaters and created their own blue ocean phenomena). While the book provides its share of rules and principles for intrepid strategists to follow, complete with its own jargon, managers easily can navigate right to the authors’ key strategic advice. getAbstract.com considers this book essential for any strategist or entrepreneur who wants to move out of intensively competitive shark-infested waters and into the relative tranquility of the open blue ocean. Getting there isn’t risk-free, but great adventure awaits the intrepid executive who makes the voyage.
About the Authors
W. Chan Kim is a professor of strategy and international management at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. Previously, he taught at the University of Michigan Business School. He has written for numerous business journals, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and is a founder of the Value Innovation Network. Renée Mauborgne is a Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD, where she is a professor of strategy and management. She is also a Fellow of the World Economic Forum and published numerous articles on strategy and managing multinational corporations.
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Know in 10 minutes what it takes others hours, and keep up with the latest trends in your industry.
In this summary you will learn:
- How 16 computer and Internet industry leaders became successful
- What the common thread that unites these leaders is
Why you should read How to Think like the World’s Greatest High-Tech Titans
Erika Brown profiles 16 computer and Internet industry leaders in this informative and entertaining book. A senior reporter for Forbes, Brown brings a journalist’s insight to each profile and seeks to extract the ideas and strategies that made each of these over-achievers successful. She packs plenty of information into chunks that seem a bit short for a book, but are at least longer than today’s standard magazine profiles. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of her profiles is the way many of them reveal the dynamics between two powerful leaders at companies like Microsoft and Intel. getAbstract com recommends this book as a brief introduction to the men and women whom history will record as the titans of turn-of-the-century technology.
About the Author
Erika Brown is a senior reporter for Forbes, covering local business trends and Internet-related stories in Silicon Valley. She has also worked on the Forbes 400.
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Know in 10 minutes what it takes others hours, and keep up with the latest trends in your industry.
In this summary you will learn:
- How disruptive innovations can make great companies fail
- Why this happens even if they keep doing everything that made them great in the first place
- Why it sometimes makes sense to do the wrong things
Why you should read The Innovator’s Dilemma
Professor Clayton M. Christensen’s excellent book is a classic of strategy literature. The innovator’s dilemma is that doing the right things can lead to failure. Sometimes it is wrong to listen to customers, invest in the highest return opportunities and do all of the things that made a successful company succeed. Clearly written, amply documented, provocative and challenging, this book is indispensable for anyone in business. If it has a shortcoming, it is that it focuses more on the dilemma than on resolving it and it does not offer specific remedial prescriptions. However, Christensen has authored or co-authored two other books that attempt to remedy that deficiency. getAbstract.com heartily recommends this book, which remains the leader of the three. It has the potential to change the way managers think about business - any business.
About the Author
Clayton M. Christensen is the Robert and Jane Cizik Professor of Business Administration, with joint appointments in Technology, Operations Management and General Management, at Harvard Business School. He holds a doctorate in business administration.
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Know in 10 minutes what it takes others hours, and keep up with the latest trends in your industry.
In this summary you will learn:
- What software development failure is
- Why this problem is common, costly and hard to solve
- How your company can avoid software development meltdowns
Why you should read Software Development Failures
Here’s a two-ingredient recipe for disaster: take a big organization and mix in ambitious plans for a state-of-the-art software system. The disaster already happened at the IRS and Denver International Airport, both victims of software development missteps. Such failures are common, costly and all-too-avoidable, writes academic Kweku Ewusi-Mensah. While his prose can be dry, the examples he uses prove quite juicy. A little common sense could have saved the IRS billions and the Denver airport millions. Both fell victim to surprisingly basic pitfalls, such as unclear or unrealistic goals and over optimistic expectations that inexperienced people could get the job done. Ewusi-Mensah convincingly argues that organizations need to share such learning experiences, although he acknowledges that would mark a reversal from common practice. getAbstract.com recommends this book to managers and engineers involved in developing software. This cautionary tale could save your neck.
About the Author
Kweku Ewusi-Mensah is a professor of computer information systems at Loyola Marymount University.
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Know in 10 minutes what it takes others hours, and keep up with the latest trends in your industry.
In this summary you will learn:
- What the “Halo Effect” is
- Why it is so powerful
- Why managers believe nine delusions about building high-performance companies
- What characteristics make a company an actual top performer
Why you should read The Halo Effect
This serious book will change the way many people think about the pursuit of managerial excellence and, indirectly, about the criteria they use for managing (and coincidentally) investing. Phil Rosenzweig provocatively challenges prevailing concepts about the traits that drive corporate performance. He asks revealing questions about previous research assumptions that labeled companies “excellent.” It seems that earlier accolades about “the best” companies - including the claims in some blockbuster books - were based on faulty research techniques that led authors to mistakenly attribute achievements to companies that did not accomplish them or could not sustain them. Rosenzweig distills his compelling ideas clearly, and buttresses his case with specific examples and original research, adding to the book’s power. As a result, getAbstract would compare this very readable, focused book to fine brandy: palatable, enjoyable, memorable, a little heavy - and imbued with the potential to change your mind. Highly recommended.
About the Author
Phil Rosenzweig, Ph.D., is a professor at IMD, the International Institute for Management Development, in Lausanne, Switzerland. He holds a Ph.D. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and taught at the Harvard Business School.
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Know in 10 minutes what it takes others hours, and keep up with the latest trends in your industry.
In this summary you will learn:
- Seven approaches that effective people take to attain fulfillment
- How to build your character and shape your life more deliberately
Why you should read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
This book was a publishing phenomenon in the early 1990s, and it deserved to be. Stephen R. Covey managed to repackage an ethical and moral tradition thousands of years in development and make it meaningful to a late twentieth century, secular audience. Most of what you find in this book you will find in Aristotle, Cicero, Benedict, Tillotson and their heirs. Covey adds a few references to psychology, a twentieth century science, and many to Viktor Frankl, a sage of the Holocaust. Covey wraps the mix in a distinctively American can-do program of easy-looking steps calling, mostly, for self-discipline. The result is a quite worthwhile, useful manual for self-improvement. getAbstract.com believes most readers can learn something useful from this book, though some will find the style too familiar and easy-going, and the prescriptions easier to agree with than to act upon, much less adopt as habits.
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In this summary you will learn:
- Who Warren Buffett is
- What his personal and business history is
- What his investment philosophy is
- How he became the world’s richest man
Why you should read The Snowball:
Warren Buffett is “everyman” as multibillionaire. Despite his vast wealth, he has always eschewed ostentation. He pays himself about 0,000 annually, which in today’s U.S. economy places him in the upper-middle-class. He lives in the same simple Omaha, Nebraska, house that he bought in 1958 for ,500. He prefers an old gray suit to expensive London tailoring. In Buffett’s early days, when he was only a multimillionaire and not a multibillionaire, he walked around with holes in the soles of his shoes. To Buffett, wardrobe doesn’t matter; what matters is making money. He is better at this pursuit than anyone else in the world. In 2008, Forbes magazine ranked him as the globe’s richest man, with a net worth of .3 billion. Author Alice Schroeder does a masterful job of chronicling Buffett’s improbable, inspiring life. As a former superstar research analyst, Schroeder uses her expert knowledge of finance and commerce to detail Buffett’s investment philosophy and business activities. getAbstract praises Schroeder’s remarkable skills as a researcher and writer. Her book is packed with fascinating details and trenchant observations about the “Oracle of Omaha.” One of the best business biographies available, this book shows how the world’s greatest investor amassed the world’s greatest fortune, while staying true to his essential self.
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Know in 10 minutes what it takes others hours, and keep up with the latest trends in your industry.
In this summary you will learn:
- What the “Long Tail” is and what it means to your business
- How to recognize and use the difference between out-dated, hit-oriented business models and modern long-tail business realities
- How to tailor your pricing, product line and marketing pitch to reach niche consumers
- Why your business needs online buzz
Why you should read The Long Tail:
Does the modern world of online markets make you feel like Rip Van Winkle, who awoke from a 20-year nap to find a changed society? Author Chris Anderson has your wake-up call. With hard facts, charts and numbers, plus futuristic insights, Anderson decodes the mysteries of online marketing, Internet-based commerce and other New Age economic realities. His calculations, public feedback and extensive research offer more than just statistics for the sake of proving his point: Online retailing has a long reach into niche markets. This gives its products longevity that stores with finite shelf space can’t match, no matter how much steam they get from short-lived, blockbuster products. Anderson credibly explains the decline in box office sales and the rise of niche companies such as Netflix and iTunes. Despite a few redundancies (he believes in thorough explanations), keep on reading. You won’t mind; the text is a pleasure, written with wit, style and expertise. getAbstract recommends it to Luddites, old school business operators, anyone in entertainment or retail, and New Age Internet-based marketers (although you probably already know just how long this tail can be).
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Know in 10 minutes what it takes others hours, and keep up with the latest trends in your industry.
In this summary you will learn:
- How to use the “demand-first innovation and growth” model
- How to see opportunities for growth in an unbiased way by looking from the “outside in,” and seeing the customers’ viewpoint
- How to define demand around the behavioral episodes of people’s lives
- How to research behaviors using “the Episodic Reconstruction Method”
- How to connect and engage with consumers
Why you should read Hidden in Plain Sight
You need look no further than Starbucks or the iPod to understand Erich Joachimsthaler’s take on marketing, innovation and corporate growth. He says that identifying customer need is a surefire recipe for being in a blind spot, and not seeing your biggest opportunities for innovation and growth. Instead of focusing on making a tastier cupcake or a faster automobile, he recommends understanding the serial and behavioral episodes that make up people’s lives. Then build on that reasoning when you go to the marketplace. Joachimsthaler offers plenty of business stories as evidence to support his assertion that the leaders of thriving, cutting-edge companies try to understand and analyze the structure, pattern and emotional code of consumer behavior in context. Instead of studying needs and wants, market leaders first study behaviors. Progressive organizations understand the ecosystem of products or services, and how they intersect in the context of episodic behavior to help people take care of what matters to them: their daily projects, tasks and activities. Joachimsthaler assembles a compelling case for innovation and growth. He says the consumer paradigm has shifted from pushing for products to longing for peace of mind. getAbstract says that if you think he’s right, this book will leave you with plenty to ponder.
About the Author
Erich Joachimsthaler, author of more than 60 articles and several books, is the founder and CEO of a consulting company that focuses on strategy, marketing and innovation.
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