Blog
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Blog / News & Opinion
The Book Gary Hamel Is Not Going To Write
By Porchlight
Gary Hamel, author of The 100 Best Select Competing For The Future, has a blog on the Wall Street Journal site called Management 2. 0. In his latest entry, Hamel writes about the small fraction of people who actually read books, producing back of the napkin calculations to support the infinitesimal percentages.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
Seth Godin Thinks Some People are Better Than Others
By Porchlight
The incomparable Seth Godin has a way of instantly finding clarity on issues that others wrestle with endlessly. This morning he pondered trends in the book industry: Here are two interesting lessons from the book industry: Kindle readers buy two or three times as many books as book readers. Why?
Categories: news-opinion, publishing-industry
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Blog / Jack Covert Selects
Jack Covert Selects - I Love You More Than My Dog
By Porchlight
I Love You More Than My Dog: Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad by Jeanne Bliss, Portfolio, 224 Pages, $22. 95, Hardcover, October 2009, ISBN 9781591842958 When Todd and I decided to write our book, I knew the title of the book would be critical. I was right, but the title I wanted for our book was totally wrong and I’m glad we didn’t use it.
Categories: jack-covert-selects
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Blog / News & Opinion
Baked In
By Porchlight
Alex Bogusky and John Winsor have written an interesting book called Baked In: Creating Products and Businesses That Market Themselves. After checking out the book, I asked co-author John Winsor a few questions about some of their ideas. Here's what followed: What's the best evidence that traditional advertising is no longer necessary for a new company?
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / Jack Covert Selects
Jack Covert Selects - The Match King
By Porchlight
The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, the Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals by Frank Partnoy, PublicAffairs, 272 Pages, $26. 95, Hardcover, April 2009, ISBN 9781586487430 When reading The Smartest Guys in the Room, the outstanding book by Bethany McLean that looks into the Enron debacle, you will learn about an accounting term called “mark to market. ” Not being an accountant, my simplified understanding of the concept is that when you purchase a product for $100 and you believe you can sell the product for $200 in five years, you put the sale price on your books at the expected selling price instead of the actual purchase price.
Categories: jack-covert-selects
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Blog / Jack Covert Selects
Jack Covert Selects - Power of 2
By Porchlight
Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life by Rodd Wagner and Gale Muller, PH. D. , Gallup Press, 204 Pages, $24.
Categories: jack-covert-selects
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Blog / News & Opinion
Must Reads from Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose
By Porchlight
Just ran across this video of Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, and Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, talking about their must read books. Each choose five books (Tim actually chose seven). Random w/ Tim and Kevin - Ep3 from Glenn McElhose on Vimeo.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / News & Opinion
A Second Look at How to Castrate a Bull
By Porchlight
We are in the middle of reveiewing books that have been submitted to us for consideration in our 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards. One side effect of this is that I have to take a second look at books that I initially passed on. One book that I passed on was How to Castrate a Bull by Dave Hitz with Pat Walsh, published in January by Jossey-Bass.
Categories: news-opinion
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Blog / ChangeThis
Moving Beyond "Short-termism"
By Bill George
Only by refocusing incentives, rewards, and taxes on sustainable performance will we have an impact on the cultural impetuses which harvested the flawed leadership that ushered in the economic collapse.
Categories: changethis
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Blog / ChangeThis
Borrowing Brilliance: And Other Oxymorons
By David Kord Murray
"... As I go out into the world and teach people about creative thought, I'm often asked by managers 'how to' apply this in an organization. They want me to talk about 'corporate creativity' and 'innovation management' and at first blush, to me, 'corporate creativity' seems like a [George] Carlinesque oxymoron. It seems like two words that contradict each other, like 'jumbo shrimp,' 'military intelligence' and 'borrowing brilliance.' Corporations are typically highly structured and highly political, and typically NOT very creative. But they don't have to be this way. In fact, once you understand the basic mechanics of creative thinking, the basic block and tackling skills of the thinker, you can turn your organization into a creative factory that churns out innovative concepts through intelligent collaboration and the development of a corporate culture that fosters 'corporate creativity.' Let me explain."
Categories: changethis