Book Description
Casey McDaniel had never been so nervous in his life.
In just ten minutes, The Meeting, as it would forever be known, would begin. Casey had every reason to believe that his performance over the next two hours would determine the fate of his career, his financial future, and the company he had built from scratch.
“How could my life have unraveled so quickly?” he wondered.
In his latest page-turning work of business fiction, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni provides readers with another powerful and thought-provoking book, this one centered around a cure for the most painful yet underestimated problem of modern business: bad meetings. And what he suggests is both simple and revolutionary.
Casey McDaniel, the founder and CEO of Yip Software, is in the midst of a problem he created, but one he doesn’t know how to solve. And he doesn’t know where or who to turn to for advice. His staff can’t help him; they’re as dumbfounded as he is by their tortuous meetings.
Then an unlikely advisor, Will Peterson, enters Casey’s world. When he proposes an unconventional, even radical, approach to solving the meeting problem, Casey is just desperate enough to listen.
As in his other books, Lencioni provides a framework for his groundbreaking model, and makes it applicable to the real world. Death by Meeting is nothing short of a blueprint for leaders who want to eliminate waste and frustration among their teams, and create environments of engagement and passion.
Download Description
Casey McDaniel had never been so nervous in his life.
In just ten minutes, The Meeting, as it would forever be known, would begin. Casey had every reason to believe that his performance over the next two hours would determine the fate of his career, his financial future, and the company he had built from scratch.
“How could my life have unraveled so quickly?” he wondered.
In his latest page-turning work of business fiction, best-selling author Patrick Lencioni provides readers with another powerful and thought-provoking book, this one centered around a cure for the most painful yet underestimated problem of modern business: bad meetings. And what he suggests is both simple and revolutionary.
Casey McDaniel, the founder and CEO of Yip Software, is in the midst of a problem he created, but one he doesn’t know how to solve. And he doesn’t know where or who to turn to for advice. His staff can’t help him; they’re as dumbfounded as he is by their tortuous meetings.
Then an unlikely advisor, Will Peterson, enters Casey’s world. When he proposes an unconventional, even radical, approach to solving the meeting problem, Casey is just desperate enough to listen.
As in his other books, Lencioni provides a framework for his groundbreaking model, and makes it applicable to the real world. Death by Meeting is nothing short of a blueprint for leaders who want to eliminate waste and frustration among their teams, and create environments of engagement and passion.
Customer Reviews:
Pointed and on topic.......2007-09-09
The book was pointed, on topic, and did what I think it intended to do, show that meetings don't have to be and truly shouldn't be boring. He gave some solid reasons why meetings end up that way and provided ways to avoid these pitfalls. I don't think he exhausted the reasons for boring meetings (i.e. trouble employees) but he hit some highlights. He didn't stray off course or try to cover too much. I tend to agree with one reviewer that by keeping it short and sweet the possibility of co-workers actually reading the book goes way up and thereby their buying into the multiple meeting strategy goes up as well.
Also, his suggestions can impact a company in ways beyond making meetings more fun. His suggestion to engender conflict/"working out issues" leads to everyone being less confusion about what is expected. I truly liked the book and would recommend it to my co-workers.
Meetings are a snap-shot of an organization's culture.......2007-08-23
The quickest way to identify a company's culture is to observe their key meetings. One of the most impactful ways to change a company's culture is to change the way they handle meetings. In this parable (cannot be a fable, as it lacks the necessary animal cast) by consultant Patrick Lencioni, these truisms provide the platform for Lencioni's theory of meeting management. This theory addresses what Lencioni sees as the two key problems with most business meetings; lack of drama, and lack of contextual structure. He looks to the meeting owner to provide `The Hook' (set-up the plot for the drama), and the meeting facilitator to `Mine for Conflict'. Then he recommends contextual structure can be established by segregating meetings according to the time-frame they address; the daily check-in, weekly tactical, monthly strategic, and quarterly off-site review.
Great title, easy read, but misleading if you think this book is about how to reduce the number of meetings within your organization. Lencioni, in fact, recommends more and not less meetings; but without explicitly stating it, he implies that every meeting must have a clear purpose (context), identified objectives for each topic, and that the meeting owner and the meeting facilitator roles must be clear. His story also illustrates the importance of pre-meeting planning and content preparation. Lencioni makes the point that meetings are not a necessary evil; they are an opportunity to focus and engage people if done well. The book is recommended as a reminder of the value that meeting management can bring to an organization.
How to reduce (if not eliminate) one of the major causes of organizational waste.......2007-07-17
This is one in a series of "leadership fables" in which Patrick Lencioni shares his thoughts about the contemporary business world. His characters are fictitious human beings rather than anthropomorphic animals, such as a tortoise that wins a race against a hare or pigs that lead a revolution to overthrow a tyrant and seize control of his farm.
In this instance, Lencioni focuses on probably the single greatest waste of organizational resources: meetings. Although they are "the closet thing to an operating room, a playing field, or a stage that we have...most of us hate them. We complain about, try to avoid, and long for the end of meetings, even when we're running the darn things! How pathetic is it that we have come to accept that the activity most central to the running of our organizations is inherently painful and unproductive?" Nonetheless, in most organizations, meetings comprise the single greatest cause of waste of resources and, yes, of opportunities as well.
Briefly, here's the fictitious situation. Lencioni introduces Casey McDaniel, generally viewed as "an extraordinary man - but just an ordinary CEO" of Yip Software, a designer and manufacturer of sports-related video games company he founded. What is perhaps most significant about Casey is the fact that conducts lethargic, unfocused, and passionless staff meetings that his colleagues understandably dread, as does he. For reasons best revealed within the narrative, he sells his company to Playsoft, the second-largest manufacturer of video games. Enter J.T. Harrison who serves as a liaison between Yip and Software. Almost immediately, Casey's inadequacies as a CEO and, especially, the consequences of the executive staff meetings he conducts become obvious to Harrison who becomes increasingly concerned about Yip's underperformance. Casey's career and the fate of his company are in jeopardy when Casey hires Will Petersen to be his temporary administrative assistant while his permanent administrative assistant is on maternity leave.
What then happens - and does not happen -- throughout the ensuing weeks enables Lencioni to dramatize the importance of scheduling, preparing for, conducting, and then following through on meetings that are never boring nor ineffective. Hence the great emphasis Lencioni places on having different kinds of meetings (e.g. daily check-in, weekly tactical, monthly or as-needed ad hoc strategic, and quarterly off-site), each of which has a different context, purpose, structure, and timeframe. Obviously, some meetings will generate more conflict, excitement, drama, etc. than will others. Over the years, many (if not most) of the staff meetings I have participated in (including those I conducted) wasted time on discussion of what to discuss rather than on making decisions about what to do.
At least 8-10 years ago, Lencioni apparently made a conscious decision to address especially important business issues by creating a human context for each rather than merely offering answers to questions or prescribing solutions to problems. To me, this is one of the greatest benefits of a business narrative, in this instance of a leadership fable: Creating a series of real-world situations (albeit portrayed fictitiously) that readers can identify with emotionally as well as rationally. He is a brilliant business thinker but he also possesses the skills of a master raconteur as he introduces a cast of characters, develops conflicts between and among them, and then allows "rising action" to build to a climax that is also best revealed within the narrative. Unexpected plot developments engage the reader even more.
Of special interest to me is Will's role in this business fable. He serves as an especially effective means by which Lencioni articulates his insights and suggestions. Eventually, in ways and to an extent also best revealed within the narrative, Will has a profound impact on Casey's leadership style as well as on Yip Software's fate. Although Casey and his colleagues as well as J.T. Harrison are fictitious characters, each is credible as a human being rather merely functioning as a literary device. Their values, concerns, personalities, anxieties, and behavior will be very familiar to anyone who has been involved in non-productive group discussions.
As is Lencioni's custom in each of the other volumes in the series of "leadership fables," he also includes (after the Fable) a "Model" section, consisting of supplementary material (Pages 221-254) whose value-added benefits will help his reader to make effective application of the lessons learned from the experiences shared by Casey and his colleagues at Yip Software. Lencioni leaves no doubt that there are direct correlations between enjoyable as well as productive meetings and effective leadership and management to establish and then sustain a "healthy"organization.
Those who share my high regard for this volume are urged to check out Patrick Lencioni's other "leadership fables" as well as Michael Ray's The Highest Goal, David Maister's Practice What You Preach, Bill George's Authentic Leadership and his more recently published True North, James O'Toole's Creating the Good Life, and Michael Maccoby's Narcissistic Leaders.
Good for learning the basics of a meeting.......2007-07-17
This gives a great layout of the many meetings that take place in work places. For those who have managed or lead people and organizations for more than a few years it will be a review.I recommend it for any new manager or leader. The movie analogies work well too.
Great book.......2007-07-02
I enjoyed this quick read. I found it paralleled some issues I was facing in my meetings. I can't wait to give these models a try.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
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Similar Items:
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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
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ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Book Description
Written for the funeral service industry by a funeral service professional, this unique book teaches effective methods of interacting with people.
Book Description
We can no longer trust that our journalists are reporting the news without underlying corporate or governmental agendas. The US government deregulates radio and right-wing Clear Channel gobbles up available frequencies. Journalists are embedded and the war in Iraq is a noble one. Whether the information is fabricated, one-sided, or illegally obtained, recent scandals like those involving Judy Miller and Robert Woodward only serve to underline the point that journalistic integrity is not what it used to be.
Enter Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn, who have not only kept the tradition of muckraking alive, but have reinvented and reinvigorated it for our times. Their newest effort,
End Times, presents a detailed scrutiny of the "quality" print press and leading corporate media in the last decade, detailing a disastrous sequence of misrepresentation, suppression, ignorance, and willful embrace of the government's agenda. These essays trace the impending disintegration of what is now "old media"-the traditional and now potentially tainted sources of our daily news-and looks toward the emergence of an entirely new landscape of mass communications: one that includes a more populist approach to information dissemination.
Customer Reviews:
Essential reading for anyone interested in free speech and media democracy!.......2007-06-17
Recently, I obtained a copy of this excellent CounterPunch anthology by becoming a member of the Friends of AK Press, something you too should consider if you're interested in cutting-edge radical thought. Exposing the corporate media as a propaganda organ of the reactionary right, "End Games" is a passionate call to democratize the news. Whether they're discussing the war on Iraq, Rupert Murdoch, the pro-Israel lobby, Bill O'Reilly, or the attack on micro-radio, Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair will entertain and enlighten you. Smart, urgent, and at times wickedly funny, this is a book you need to read. And then after you read it, go on and make a movement documentary, start a punk band, publish a zine, organize a teach-in, post a story on Indymedia.org, or participate in a poetry slam. In short, become the media!
Book Description
Rothenberg chronicles the brief, turbulent marriage between a recession-plagued auto company and an aggressively hip ad agency (whose creative director despised cars), capturing both the ad world's tantalizing gossip and the broader significance of its creations. "Simply the best book about advertising I have ever read."--Neil Postman (Technopoly).
Customer Reviews:
Great Lessons for Anyone In...or Going Into...Advertising.......2007-07-08
The entire advertising world -- scratch that -- the entire world has changed immensely since this book was written. Many of the assumptions of this book, such as the overall business importance of network TV to an ad campaign, are simply no longer true. Technology changed it. Corporate buyouts have changed it. Energy and wars have changed it. Yes, the Internet changed it. And so on.
But guess what? ANY book about an ad campaign yesterday is old news the moment it's printed as far as that particular campaign is concerned. What's important is the processes that created, sold, and produced the campaign -- and the forces that can keep it going or kill it dead. If you don't learn those, after all, you won't learn advertising as a career.
This book delivers on several important things that ad agency people should still learn from, including:
* Insider, quote-by-quote looks at highly-regarded New York agencies making pitches...and mistakes.
* A Kirisawa-like view of people from two or more companies being in the same meeting, yet walking away believing it had two different outcomes.
* The importance of ego -- and managing it well -- whether you're on the agency side or the client side.
* The importance of always knowing who REALLY holds the decision-making power in what you're trying to achieve.
* Inside looks at the thinking of key corporate marketing personnel in the throes of an ad agency search.
* Reassurance that even multi-national corporations sometimes don't realize that it's better to emphasize your true strengths than to try to invent strengths no one believes exist.
It's also a great inside look at the car business as it's done in the US. At least how it used to be done. That, too, has changed a lot, but as long as their are human beings making a ton of money at power plays, it will change slowly.
Lastly, when you get to the chapter about the Japanese auto industry - skim. It's moderately interesting overall, but not very meaningful to the outcome, and Rothenberg doesn't tell it particularly well. It's the biggest snore in the book. Aside from that, this book is a great read and, again, if you are young in the ad industry -- take notes.
Essential but flawed.......2006-01-22
"Suckers" is one of the best books ever written about advertising. The only element that stops this book from greatness is the author's pseudo-intellectual thumb sucking and his need to find social meaning in every crack and crevice of the culture.
While there is nothing wrong with trying to do either, Rothenberg's analysis is so banal (and now dated) he sabatogues his own narrative drive.
When Rothenberg sticks to the story of a failed advertising campaign, the book takes flight. He has a wonderful eye for detail and backstage manuerverings. You truly feel like you are "in the room."
If you are interested in advertising or pathological corporate culture, buy this book.
Lots of tangents, still relevant.......2005-08-15
Let's get this out in the open now: this is a book about an ad campaign that's now over 10 years old. It wasn't a successful ad campaign that "changed the world" or is remembered all that fondly, so if you're looking for beach reading, this probably isn't it. Also, I found the style somewhat overwraught - the author had a tendency to lose the core narrative in order to provide lengthy asides, mini-history lessons, musings on the tao of advertising, and comprehensive lists when summaries would do (yes, yes, we know, you were THERE. That doesn't mean we need a word for word transcription!).
That said, this is still a brilliant book. By example, it shows what advertising can and cannot do. The real crux of the story is something most books of this ilk gloss over: the internal politics at the agency and struggle between pleasing themselves (and retaining their sanity) and pleasing a client that essentially could not be pleased; the conflict between a manufacturer and its foreign parent; the conflict between a manufacturer and its dealers. All this may be old, but it is still relevant, and quite compelling. It also is underscored throughout by the unresolved conflict between product-based selling (if you have the right product, will it sell itself?) and image-based selling (can advertising drive sales, or just reinforce them?) -- which is as timely as always.
The hardcover version I read desperately needs an updated Epilogue discussing the success of the Paul Hogan Outback campaign in relation to the failure of the SVX. Was it just a better product at a better point in the economic cycle? Did S.O.A. finally create products targeting broader U.S. consumer tastes? Or did the spokesman model work better than W&K's anti-advertising spin?
-avi
Turf Wars a plenty.......2005-02-02
One the best books I have ever read with regards to the managing of advertising campaigns within a company. Few other books have provided such an insight into the realities of the pitch process, getting agencies on board, the client/agency relationship and the palava of producing an ad campaign.
But where this book truly strikes home is in the laying bare of the internal politics - Agency vs Marketing vs Sales vs Dealers vs Operations (production). Local company vs Off shore Parent. And even more enlightening/entertaining is the strife within each divisional silo.
It is set within the Automobile world but the actions and truths to be found are equally applicable to many businesses but especially to the Client/Agency interface. I squirmed when I recognised situations that I have faced as an FMCG marketeer and when things hit home that way you know you are reading a book with true insight.
Best Advertising Book.......2005-01-12
Simply the best, most sophisticated book ever written on advertising. At least that's the opinion of one guy who's read them all.
Book Description
Nobel laureate Robert Fogel's compelling new study examines health, nutrition and technology from 1700 to 2100. Although throughout most of human history, chronic malnutrition has been the norm, a synergy between improvements in productive technology and human physiology has enabled humans to more than double their average longevity and to increase their body size by over fifty percent over the past three centuries. Larger, healthier humans have contributed to the acceleration of economic growth and technological change, resulting in reduced economic inequality, declining hours of work and a corresponding increase in leisure time. Increased longevity has also brought increased demand for health care. Fogel argues that health care should be viewed as the growth industry of the twenty-first century and systems of financing it should be reformed. His book will be essential reading for all interested in economics, demography, history and health care policy. A professor at the University of Chicago, Robert William Fogel has taught at the University of Rochester, Cambridge University, and Harvard University. He has received numerous awards and prizes for his work, including the Arthur C. Cole Prize (1968), the Schumpeter Prize (1971), the Bancroft Prize (1975), the Gustavus Myers Prize (1990), and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science (1993). Previous books include Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery (W.W. Norton & Company, 1994) and The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism (The University of Chicago Press, 2000).
Customer Reviews:
A glass more than half-full?.......2006-04-16
Given that our vision is so heavily freighted with the moment, ideas of human progress are in short supply lately. Although not an easy ride, economic historian and Nobel laureate Robert William Fogel's survey of the long run, at least in respect to human morbidity, leisure and longevity, provides escape velocity from pressing concerns about war, pandemic, income inequality and the health of the ecosphere. It might be as another noted economist, Alfred Lord Keynes, said in a different context: In the long-run we are all dead. But, the long-run seems to be getting longer.
The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100 is an extension of Fogel's briefer 1993 Nobel Prize Lecture. It provides a synergistic view of the impact of increasing human environmental control on the demographic, economic and physiological conditions of successive generations over the past 300 years. According to Fogel, the interaction of these forces has over this period, and most dramatically over the last century, brought about a new stage of evolution - non-genetic "techno-physio evolution." He indicates this is evidenced by an unprecedented positive change during this period in caloric intake of about 250%, human body size of over 50%, and an increase in longevity of over 100%. Pointing to the future, Fogel's extrapolation of data over the last 140 years in optimal life circumstances, suggests that centenarians will be common by the last quarter of the 21st century. During the past three centuries there has also been an accompanying substantial decrease in the hours it takes each day to earn one's daily bread and increase in the percentage of discretionary income.
Although this is a "little" book, just 111 pages in the main body, it is densely packed with deep-mine data and illuminating higher-order concepts derived from a lifetime of concentration on economic development, particularly when Fogel was affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research as director of its Development of the American Economy Program and subsequently at the University of Chicago as the Charles R. Walgreen Professor of American Institutions and director of the university's Center for Population Economics. Metabolic indices, the thermodynamics of human physiological activity, Waaler curves, in-utero effects on morbidity, protein energy, malnutrition, physiological capital, and Gini ratios are grist for Fogel's mill.
Fogel's treatment of the confluence of technological change, diet, morbidity, work demands, leisure and mortality extends beyond developments in Western society to include the rapid pace of technophysio evolutionary changes in third world countries whose per capita income increases piggybacked on Western innovations, consequently dwarfing the much slower pace of Western improvements a century earlier. In the process of his examination he emphasizes the need to recognize the optimal conditions for human adaptation rather than settle for standards such as daily caloric requirements derived from earlier phases of technophysio evolution. Policy issues in the areas of health care, personal savings and retirement are also discussed in the light of the demographic changes that are occurring.
Some data reported by Fogel and those from other sources are anomalous. For instance, in view of the technophysio evolution particularly of the last 100 years, it seems strange that Dutch males, who were on average about 5'5" in 1860 are now the tallest in the world at about 5'11" while over the same period US men, who were about 5'7" then, are only 5'8" now after the declines of the last few decades. One explanation derives from the widening gap between the rich and the poor in the US (Gini = 45) compared to the greater income equality in the Netherlands (Gini = 30.9). (The Gini coefficient ranges from 1-100 with lower scores representing less income inequality). Also, there are data from millennia ago indicating a decline in average heights in the Eastern Mediterranean in the transition period from the hunter-gatherer economic regime to the first agricultural revolution (11,000 BC - 5000 BC). In John Kolmos (Ed.) Stature, Living Standards and Economic Development (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1994) there are a number of contributions that focus on such issues.
Professor Fogel touches very briefly on in utero, childhood and adolescence effects of economic status on morbidity and mortality, but his comment that "The exact mechanisms by which malnutrition and trauma in utero or in early childhood are transformed into organ dysfunctions are still unclear." (p. 32) is unwarranted. These relationships are detailed extensively in various chapters of the volume by Bruce S. McEwen and H. Maurice Goodman (Eds.) Handbook of Physiology: Coping with the Environment: Vol. IV (Oxford Univ. Press, 2001) for neuroendocrine abnormalities; in D.J.P. Barker's Mothers, Babies and Health in later Life (Churchill Livingstone, 1998) and Fetal Origins of Cardiovascular and Lung Disease (Marcel Dekker, 2001) for specific organ effects; in Peter Gluckman and Mark Hansen's The Fetal Matrix (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005) for more general morbidity effects; and A.R. Cellura's The Genomic Environment and Niche-Experience (Cedar Springs Press, 2005) for the confluence of genetic influences, economic regimes, ecological niches, caloric intake, stature, morbidity and mortality.
Robert William Fogel's The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100 is that rare species of research - longitudinal study. Unlike the cross-sectional snapshots whose importance often quickly fades, there is gold in these data mines that is so precious because it is so difficult to find and so hard to get to. It is must reading for those in human biology, medicine and the social sciences who are interested in the issues surrounding human adaptation. It will also appeal to life-long learners drawn to the interface between the biology, economics and history of the human condition.
Customer Reviews:
A slim volume with some excellent ideas!.......2005-04-21
Teachers take note: the time of giving straight lectures and expecting your students to "get it" is over! This slim volume from Sharon Bowman will give you the strategies that you need to avoid this situation.
I teach in senior secondary classes. One of the biggest concerns with these groups is the never ending need to "cover the material" - the external exam is looming, and we need to get through it! As a result, it is easy to fall into the trap of lecturing for 40-50 minutes, and just hoping that they will remember enough to get through.
Of course, they won't. And it is not fair to expect that they could! Try listening to someone speak for that length of time and see how much YOU can remember!
So how do we overcome the problem? Ms Bowman suggests that traditional lectures are still necessary in some instances, and she provides a list of reasons that may encourage us to use this format. The bulk of the book is used to show us how to make this time more meaningful for our students. The end result is that you can still cover the material (phew!), but now you are more likely to create a learning situation in which the material will be able to be recalled and understood by your learners.
The strategies listed are a bit mixed - perhaps some are suited to a younger audience than I teach. For example, I can't imagine working with the "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" strategy from page 33. However, there is enough here to make your purchase worthwhile - I have already used the "Shout Out!" strategy from page 49 with great success, and others have been quickly integrated into my teaching practice as well.
A book filled with easy to implement strategies. And it seems certain to me that every teacher will find at least a few that they will use.
Customer Reviews:
Try to never need this book - but when you need it, buy it!.......2007-05-17
The very first page of this book defines what the author means by a "Death March"; any project whose project parameters exceeds the norm by more than fifty percent. In essence, this book is meant to help you in those unpleasant circumstances when you've got half the amount of time, half the amount of staff, or half the amount of money that you would rationally need to finish a project.
Unsurprisingly, Yourdon advises anyone reading the book to avoid these projects as much as possible, even counseling that it is sometimes better to resign early rather than sacrifice your health and professional reputation trying to do the impossible. But if you feel compelled to embark on a Death March, this book is an invaluable guide to the pain that lays ahead.
One of the reasons the book is so valuable is that it articulates many of the things we would like to think are common sense. These are items that, when you read them for the first time, make you think "of course that's true". But if you ask yourself whether or not you would have instinctively and firmly followed the advice, the answer is often no. I found the chapters on politics and negotiation (2 & 3 respectively) to be particularly helpful in this way. OF COURSE I should negotiate the scope and the specific team members needed at the start of a death march project, but reading Yourdon's words I came to the realization that my first reaction is instinctively "we'll make it happen" rather than the sometimes appropriate "we've only got a chance if I can have..." It's important to get gut checks like this before you find yourself in the middle of a tense situation so that you can anticipate your own feelings and counter them when necessary.
Another very interesting concept is the Triage system described in chapter 5. This is based on the idea that, no matter what else happens in a death march, the team will not be able to deliver 100% of the features that are initially asked for. I actually see a very strong argument here for using some of the newer Agile project management methods, where the items that deliver the most value are implemented first and evaluated by the end users. Combining such a system with a triage effort on behalf of the project manager and management could, on occasion, allow a death march project to produce nearly 100% of the value required without completing 100% of the features.
There is much else in here that is useful, especially on the subjects of why people participate in these sorts of projects and what they expect to get out of them. If it's impossible for you to avoid a Death March, make sure you've read this book before you plunge in.
Average.......2007-03-30
It is mostly a synopsis of ideas from several better books (e.g. Peopleware). I'd suggest reading them instead. Of course, the bibliography from this book is very useful. It is a decent guide to what resources are available for dealing with Death March projects.
I've survived several death marches..........2006-08-14
Many organizations cannot survive Death Marches. Exceptions are the federal government and university hospitals. It's a pity that those most in need of this information are highly resistant to learning about the problem until it's too late. The innocent seldom go unpunished. The perpetrators are promoted. Example's of Putt's Law at work.
mv
Great Book.......2005-04-21
Reading this book you will realize that it all relates to your experiences. I personally appreciate books that I can relate to and that are not just theoretical.
This is a must read for all developers and their managers.
Learn from experience - we (software engineers & managers) do not always re-invent the wheel.
Software development is a defective industry.......2005-01-25
Death March does a great job of explaining what is wrong with the software development industry--and the problems are pervasive and horrible. I have been involved in plenty of disasters myself (everybody has), and I got a crick in my neck from wagging my head up and down as I read. Perhaps the most therapeutic part of the book is finding out that you are not the only one, and the grass is probably brown across the fence at the next company, too.
I loved the Napoleon quote: "It follows that any commander in chief that undertakes to carry out a plan which he considers defective is at fault; he must put forth his reason, insist on the plan being changed, and finally tender his resignation rather than be the instrument of his army's downfall." Great advice unless there are no alternatives and the Barbarians are storming the gates.
Yourdon does review the options for a team lead faced with no-win situations, and the book is useful for helping you think clearly and cast a wide net for solutions when you feel despondent and desperate. The oft-reiterated advice to quit is something I have done in the most egregious situations, and there is nothing like the feeling of relief when you walk out of a pressure-cooker for the last time. But realistically, you have to pay your bills.
What I can advise is to read this book to understand the sickness, and then do the best you can to change the industry. The problems are endemic, but plenty of other professions have reached a point where they can realiably estimate projects and complete them successfully (e.g. construction and building trades, manufacturing, even military planning).
Of course, you may want to move up in management, but then you might become part of the problem. This book could help you gain some vision for leading a successful IT organization. Arm yourself with knowledge and start a crusade as an enlightened IT leader!
Book Description
Cullen has created a humorous and poignant chronicle of her travels around the country to discover how Americans -- baby boomers, in particular -- are reinventing the rites of dying. What she discovered is that the people who reinvented youth, redefined careers, and reconceived middle age have created a new attitude toward the afterlife. They no longer want to take death lying down; instead, they're taking their demise into their own hands and planning the after-party.
Cullen begins her journey at a national undertakers' convention in Nashville, where she checks out the latest in death merchandise. Traveling with her newborn infant on her back, she hears stories of modern-day funerals: lobster-shaped caskets and other unconventional containers for corpses; the booming cremation industry that has spawned a slew of "end-trepreneurs," including a company that turns cremated remains into diamonds; and even mishaps like dove releases gone horribly wrong.
Cullen tours the country's first "green" cemetery in South Carolina, meets a mummification advocate at his pyramid in Utah, and visits the Frozen Dead Guy Days festival in Colorado. She crashes a Hmong funeral in Minneapolis and a tango funeral in Washington, D.C.
Eye-opening, funny, and unforgettable, Remember Me gives an account of the ways in which Americans are designing new occasions to mark death -- by celebrating life.
Customer Reviews:
Thoughts from a Funeral Futurist.......2007-07-23
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen's "Remember Me - A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death" is a light and entertaining journal of her travels with her newborn daughter exploring the many new options that the Me-Generation can choose to be remembered. She provides personal interjections along with the explanations of these new offerings from their creators - who she has dubbed end-trepeneurs. Cullen then adds intermittent spotlights on people who have chosen or who will choose in the future, to go out with an alternative death-style.
Even though she states that she is not following in the footsteps of Jessica Mitford's 1963 expose of the funeral industry titled "The American Way of Death" Cullen takes many jabs at funeral directors who she calls "the well-armed enforcer of funeral ritual." She, on rare occasion, pedestals funeral directors, but for the most part Cullen uses the wide brush of inflexible, protective, older white male to describe the death care providers. Cullen is right in that these funeral directors exist - those who resist the change in trends - but her book disproportionately accounts for the funeral directors who "get it" and are providing a multitude of options for those they serve. A book about proactive funeral directors would not have the same intrigue as one that can dig up some dirt on the not-so-known industry and take on a hint of fragrance a la Mitford - especially by adopting it into her subtitle.
For funeral directors and cemeterians: "Remember Me" is a great account of the attitudes of baby boomers towards death. There were alternatives that I wasn't even aware of and we as funeral directors must continually be on top of these changes and always be prepared for new requests from families. Although we may not like it when someone like Cullen takes us to task, we cannot hold on to the funeral service industry of past generations, we must embrace the future.
For the general public: Cullen showcases a myriad of options available for someone's final wishes. This however, is not a complete inventory of what is available. Our communities are continually evolving with the immigration of death rituals and the changes in trends. The biggest challenge for funeral directors today is to offer all of the new alternatives while at the same time not to be labeled as a peddler of add-ons and up-sells. If the need arises for the services of a funeral director and you encounter one fitting Cullen's profile, you do have the right to seek the services from another firm as those who are keeping up with the times are slowly squeezing out those who don't.
If "Remember Me" accomplishes one thing - to get people thinking and talking about how they want to be remembered - then it will have been a great service to both the funeral industry and the public. Unfortunately, far too many people do not talk about these end-of-life issues. When the day comes and they are sitting across from the funeral director, it would be very overwhelming (and a little too late) to start the education process of two dozen new alternatives - especially without prior consultation of the deceased. Without prior discussions, the family will usually default back to the previous generation's choices. It is my wish that Cullen's "Remember Me" be the catalyst of many dinner table discussions on this once taboo topic so that when I or my fellow funeral colleagues are sitting with a family upon a death, we can assist them in creating the most meaningful tribute - whatever their wishes may be - to honor a life lived.
Personalization of final farewells.......2007-05-27
I will forewarn you that I have a deep appreciation for the ceremonies of life cycles. Knowing that, I cannot thank Lisa enough for this beautifully written account of the many ways in which people have made the leave-taking of loved ones so very personal to the Immortal Memory. And in doing so, these people and families become known to us. I came away from this book with a real sense of loss regarding the rich variety of personalities remembered here.
In that spirit, Lisa notes a variety of readings she did in preparation for this research, one of which I strongly recommend: The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade
Review of Remember me A new American way of Death.......2007-01-05
A unique look at the different way cultures celebrate or honor the death their loved ones. Great reading
The author's tours and gravesite 'crashing' provides intriguing food for thought........2006-12-12
Remember Me: A Lively Tour of the New American Way of Death tells of the author's travels around the country to portray how modern Americans are re-creating the rites of dying. Many books have been written on the death industry in the past; but none so revealing of future trends as this, which uncovers and defines new attitudes toward death and its ceremonies. Inherent in these changing ceremonial choices, of course, are changing perceptions of the nature of death itself. The author's tours and gravesite 'crashing' provides intriguing food for thought.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Remember Me: Burial Rituals.......2006-12-05
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen's Remember Me, takes us on a journey to the discovery of new and invasive ways that people are reinventing how they want to be buried all across the country. Throughout her journey she finds the disparity between the individualization of American's and the funeral industry. Cullen's research is very humorous and engaging for all readers, but at the same time it gives people a better sense of the reality of death. The impact of different burials within modern day society is changing and she explains this to her viewers from first hand experience. People who were involved in the Baby Boom are growing and the traditional practices that they followed are becoming uncommon as the norm today. At the end of Cullen's introduction she makes a very powerful statement in regards to the title of the book, it states, "remember me that is all their loved ones asked" (Cullen, xvii). Even though times are changing this is one commonality that is found within her research across the country. The brilliant presence that she brings to her words helps us see our environment and the individualization that each person amongst it brings into the content of this book.
Amazon.com
Total system leadership, according to business strategy consultant James F. Moore, has replaced mere product superiority and even complete industry dominance as today's corporate brass ring. In
The Death of Competition: Leadership & Strategy In the Age of Business Ecosystems, he uses "biological ecology" as a metaphor for the new type of cooperative/competitive relationships that he believes lead to that brass ring -- while guiding readers toward the unique interlocking networks that he says are necessary to attain it.
Book Description
Advance Praise for The Death of Competition "The Death of Competition certainly captures the essence of the change [that] we're experiencing in the new internet ecosystem. Very prescient." —James L. Barksdale, president and CEO, Netscape "Moore catches the fundamental shift in business thinking—and behavior—today: the economy is not a mechanism, businesses are not machines. They are coevolving, unpredictable organisms within a constantly shifting business eco-system that no one controls.… Managers of companies both great and small must figure out how to coevolve in this changing environment—to compete with what the competition is becoming, not with what it is now." —Esther Dyson, president, Dyson-EDventure Holdings, Inc. "Unique, trustworthy counsel for leaders facing the new economy of empowered customers, global markets, and revolutionary technologies." —Robert E. Allen, CEO, AT&T. "The ecosystems approach and the biological analyses are very useful and very rich. [Moore's] personal style gives me a sense of sharing and presence. This is not a textbook. It is an experience." —Bo Ekman, chairman and CEO, SIFO Management Group AB "The business world moving toward the twenty-first century needs a new language to construct its new reality.… [Moore's] bold use of a biological metaphor … will help many businesspeople to start acting from a much deeper understanding of their own New World." —Arie P. DeGeus. (retired) head of Strategic Planning & Scenario Development, Royal Dutch Shell "Moore has reframed the leading-edge concepts of strategy and created an original, dynamic approach to thinking about enterprise, value creation, and the future. His images are powerful in both classroom and boardroom, inspiring students and policy makers alike to see new patterns and possibilities." —John Rosenblum. Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration Darden Graduate School of Business University of Virginia
Customer Reviews:
A new way of thinking about business. - An important book.......2003-05-20
In The Death of Competition, James Moore asks us to reconsider the way we think about business at the most basic level. In this thought provoking analysis, Moore takes us from the Hawaiian Islands to the jungles of Costa Rica, and from war torn Mogadishu to the boardrooms of Wal-Mart and Intel. Clearly this is a book that goes far beyond the standard boundaries of a "business" book.
Moore tells us that we need to consider our business as being part of an "ecosystem". Whereas the value chain would encompass suppliers and distributors, the ecosystem is much broader. Members of the ecosystem may sell complimentary products, after sales services, or other products and services that are vital to the overall customer experience. Even when considering the members of the value chain, Moore tells us to think in terms of the ecosystem, and look for ways of making the connections deeper, stronger, and more to our advantage. Among other examples, Moore shows us how Wal-Mart, by forging relationships with suppliers that are much closer than the classic manufacturer-retailer relationship, has positioned itself at the center of an ecosystem that is stable and strong. In another section, he compares the way that Intel fostered an ecosystem around the Pentium line of microprocessors, and how the diversity and strength of this ecosystem kept other "ecosystems" such as Apple and Next, from encroaching. He also showed how Apple made it more difficult for other members of its ecosystem to co-evolve, making the entire Apple centered ecosystem weaker.
The central theme of the book is that business ecosystems, like biological ecosystems, evolve. Each of these evolutionary stages brings both opportunities and threats, and the businesses within ecosystems need to understand both the status of the ecosystem they are in, and their role in it, or they risk extinction.
First, Moore compares ecosystems in Hawaii and Costa Rica, showing how an isolated and protected ecosystem, such as Hawaii, can give rise to a rich and diverse ecosystem, but one that is fragile and easily overwhelmed by invading species. By comparison, the ecosystem of the Costa Rican jungle, on the bridge between North and South America, gives rise to species that have had to protect their niches from invaders on a regular basis, the result is a hardier, more robust ecosystem.
Having established the metaphor, Moore takes us through the four stages of ecosystem evolution: pioneering, growth, maturation, and renewal or death. First, he traces the history of the automotive industry ecosystems through all four stages, then he presents an in depth case study for each stage. The case studies are rich, diverse, and fascinating, ranging from the creation of a telephone system in Mogadishu to the prospects for health care in the U.S. Throughout the case studies Moore shows how decisions are made, and the effects of those decisions. In some of the most interesting analyses of the book, Moore examines the 7 "dimensions" of the ecosystem (customers, market, offers, processes, organizations, stakeholders, and values and policy) and shows how each of the dimensions evolve as the ecosystem evolves. He also shows us how to tell which stage of ecosystem evolution we are in, and what the critical success factors for each stage.
One of the most interesting, and surprising aspects of the book was Moore's emphasis on social responsibility, particularly for leading companies. An example of this emphasis is seen in the chapter on Wal-Mart. Moore notes that in many communities, Wal-Mart has completely displaced other retailers, and has done so in such an effective manner that there is no room for alternatives to enter the space. This strategy of "space packing" behind secure boundaries, has allowed Wal-Mart to grow into a huge organization and stable ecosystem. At the same time, Moore notes that this strategy leaves communities vulnerable to Wal-Mart, and hence opens Wal-Mart to a greater level of scrutiny than most other businesses. "In short, Wal-Mart is not just another business within its environment, and it should not expect to be treated as one. Perhaps the largest managerial challenge facing Wal-Mart today is how to invest in the relationship building, the public campaigning, and the substantive policy studies to assume its role as a leader of communities." Wow! Not just a business, but a leader of communities.
Moore carries this idea further in the final chapter, as he asks us first to think about our personal "ecosystems", and then to put the business ecosystem into a wider context. Moore states "As you invest in your own personal learning system and begin to experience problems more holistically,... a shift occurs in your perspective." First, he asks us to consider how "business is totally dependent on society", and how the "changing tides in a society" create the environment in which business operates. Next, he asks us to consider economic systems as subsystems of biological systems. After all, if all economic systems were eliminated, biological systems would still exist, but if the biological system were eliminated, the economic systems would not last very long. The upshot of this line of thought is that business needs to consider the impact it has as a business ecosystem interacts with and sometimes clashes with societal and biological ecosystems.
And it was here, in these final thoughts that Moore impressed me the most, and showed how this book is broader in scope, and more important than most other business books. No, this book won't tell you how to get new customers tomorrow, how to beat your competition or squeeze more productivity out of your employees. All this book will do is ask you to reconsider everything you thought about business and its place in society. That, I would say makes this book one of the most important books you could read.
Leadership is as important as strategy.......2000-03-18
This book illustrates that leadership, like good ideas are lasting. I am encouraged that the ideas about leadership that Jim Moore is presenting have the staying power to make it into the hands of our leaders. As a college professor, I was very impressed when Vice President Al Gore recently referred to this book as an example of business leadership and the American pioneering spirit. The comparisson to the pioneering aspect of the Internet and todays business transition is very appropriate. After listening to Al Gore and reading the book, I think that he actually read it. Normally politicians will only refer to something on the best seller list and employ superficial quotes from the most recent Sunday paper promos.
After reading this book, I found it to be thoughtfull, clear and more appropriate today than when it was originally published.
This book is worth the read for non-business and business leaders alike. I hope other leaders read this book as well.
This book is really about leadership and vision........2000-03-18
Today's buisness environment needs leadership. There are many well studied reports about the changing face of competition -- but few are able to integrate them with the leaders that Mr. Moore uses in his examples. The author has done a great job of presenting the "state-of-the-union" of the competition-cooperation landscape with his biology metaphore. He has done an outstanding job of illustrating the quality and nature of the leaders who led their companies through the various stages he describes. This book is worth reading and re-reading for leaders and leader wannabees.
The book the convergence business is actually reading.......1998-07-23
The ecosystem approach to analyzing industries described by Moore is powerful. My friends managing high tech companies have used Moore's concepts and approachs to great success, particularly in changing and converging environments. Companies must learn to co-evolve and cooperate. This book tells you how.
Slow going, but still very good conceptually.......1998-05-27
The downsides: - For those who are familiar with the concepts,this book might be redundant - It takes quite a bit of effort to go through
The upsides: - Moore's 4 stages illustrate the concept of the 'business ecosystem'very well - Stage 1 is a must read for any entrepreneur - The biological analogies are long, but great for anyone with an interest in science
The down-arrow: Any business leader should read this book then immediately look around their 'neighborhood'and begin to create their 'criticality' & 'embededness'
Books:
- Economics of Money, Banking, and Financial Markets, Update (7th Edition) (Addison-Wesley Series in Economics)
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors
The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A Leadership Fable
Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators
The Five Temptations of a CEO: A Leadership Fable
