Showing posts with label change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label change. Show all posts

How Companies Win: Profiting from Demand-Driven Business Models No Matter What Business You're In Review

How Companies Win: Profiting from Demand-Driven Business Models No Matter What Business You're In
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How Companies Win: Profiting from Demand-Driven Business Models No Matter What Business You're In ReviewHow Companies Win by Rick Kash and David Calhoun is recommended reading for executives facing the need to grow revenues in a sluggish economy. Kash and Calhoun provide a comprehensive discussion of what is going on -- namely the shift from a world driven by your supply chain to one driven by a new demand chain. The demand driven world described by Kash and Calhoun explains why and how companies need to change their approach to win in the future.
Just about every company's strategy is based on the idea that demand is greater than supply and all that they have to do is be better than the competition and the money will flow. Kash and Calhoun make a strong argument that the economy has shifted with more supply than demand. This simple shift changes the whole basis for enterprise strategy, marketing strategies, products and services. The impact of this change and how leaders are using this reality to their benefit is the subject of the book.
While the book is targeted primarily at Marketing Professionals, I recommend this book for executives looking to understand how to move forward and capture the markets that matter. Line executives will gain an understanding of the importance of addressing different market segments. Technology professionals will appreciate the role that information plays in defining the demand driven enterprise. Others will find the author's arguments providing an interesting view on what is going on in a world where traditional notions of strategy and competitive advantage are under threat.Strengths
The book is clear and comprehensive. The authors describe the process for creating a demand driven strategy and plans work. The results they achieve and sample deliverables. This discussion provides a clear view on the concepts they present and how they might apply to your company.
The book contains detailed discussions and case studies of leading companies like Best Buy, Hershey's, P&G and others. The cases cover both the decisions facing executives as well as the results they achieved. While case studies are common in business books the time, detailed and coverage are a strength of the book.
The book tackles complex issues that other actors assume away. I have read very few books that talk about issues like pricing, operational precision, etc. These discussions are helpful in taking a broader look at issues related to creating and demand driven organization.
The book considers the entire enterprise and its response to a demand driven world. The need to create a demand chain, new forms of marketing, the need for precision and operational excellence are all great points that make this a book that goes well beyond describing new ways of marketing.
The book is focused on providing a business based explanation of the challenge facing companies and its impact on top and bottom line revenue. While the book does advocate a set of techniques for becoming a demand driven organization, it never loses sight of the need to drive business results.
Challenges
The authors come from a Marketing background and the techniques in the book are marketing centric. However, the issues raised living in a demand driven world go beyond revising your marketing strategy. The authors know this and look to address the points in latter chapters, but there is room for additional material and insight into the operational, execution and other issues involved in becoming a demand driven organization.
The authors are consultants who have applied their tools with leading companies across multiple industries. At times, the book drifts into branding which detracts from the message. It does not happen often, but when it does its noticeable.
The consumer products and food industry are among the first to experience the reality of excess supply and therefore they represent many of the case examples. While the authors acknowledge business to business commerce, it is not the focus of the book. that does not mean that the concepts do not apply in business to business. It just means that the reader will have to work a little bit to apply these concepts to this situation.
Overall, this book uses a different view of the relationship between demand and supply to create new forms of strategy, new ways of looking at customers and markets, and new ways to execute in a tough business environment.
In a world that has changed we all need new ideas and new tools. Kash and Calhoun provide executives with the ideas they need to answer the question, where we go from hereHow Companies Win: Profiting from Demand-Driven Business Models No Matter What Business You're In Overview

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Influencer: The Power to Change Anything Review

Influencer: The Power to Change Anything
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Influencer: The Power to Change Anything ReviewThe principles in this book have the potential to change the world - by changing behaviors of individuals, families, communities and nations.
The authors teach us how to create the change we'd like to see in the world using a deceptively simple framework (e.g. "Make the Undesirable Desirable" and "Design Rewards and Demand Accountability"). Many of the concepts are intuitive - the problem is that I had never intuited them before, much less put them all together in a framework I could act on. They support the framework with sound theory from behavioral psychology and demonstrate it with real-world examples of people who are solving big, important problems. Throughout it all they use a straight-forward conversational style and a great sense of humor.
But be warned: It's not a self-help, positive-mental-attitude, quick-fix, rah! rah! book, and it's not a fast, easy read - it's not supposed to be. The book deals with powerful concepts and it took me some time to think through the implications and how I could apply them. I re-read some chapters several times and spent time writing out how I could apply the principles (I usually do this in the margins - but with Influencer I ended up using a journal since there was so much to write about).
It's well worth the time and effort - I'm excited by the results I'm seeing personally as I apply the concepts in my roles as a father, husband, church leader and business leader.Influencer: The Power to Change Anything Overview

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Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard Review

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard
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Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard Review
Chip and Dan Heath have once again summoned a lively writing style to present a series of compelling insights that make this book even more interesting as well as more valuable than its predecessor, Made to Stick. As they explain in the first chapter, "In this book, we argue that successful changes share a common pattern. They require the leader of change to do three things at once: To change someone's behavior, you've got to change that person's situation...[to cope with the fact that change] is hard because people wear themselves out. And that's the second surprise about change: What looks like laziness is often exhaustion...If you want people to change, you must provide crystal clear direction [because what] looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity." Throughout, the Heaths work within a narrative, best viewed as a "three-part framework," as they provide countless real-world (as opposed to hypothetical or theoretical] examples and - to their great credit - also provide a context or frame-of-reference for each.
Moreover, the Heaths invoke a few extended metaphors. The most important of these are the Rider (i.e. our rational side), the Elephant, (i.e. our emotional and instinctive side) and the Path (i.e. the surrounding environment in which change initiatives will be conducted). The challenge is to direct the Rider, motivate the Elephant, and shape the Path to make change more likely, "no matter what's happening with the Rider and Elephant...If you can do all three at once, dramatic change can happen even if you don't have lots of power or resources behind you."
Donald Berwick offers an excellent case in point. In 2004, in his position as a doctor and the CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), he had developed some ideas as to "how to save lives - massive numbers of lives" and his ideas were so well-supported by research that they were indisputable and yet "little was happening" until he spoke at a professional meeting and proposed six very specific interventions to save lives. Within two months, more than 1,000 hospitals had signed up. Eighteen months later, to the day (June 14, 2006) he had previously announced that he'd promised to return, he announced the results: "Hospitals enrolled in the 100,000 Lives Campaign have collectively prevented an estimated 122,300 avoidable deaths and, as importantly, have begun to institutionalize new standards of care that will continue to save lives and improve health outcomes into the future." He had directed his audience's Riders (i.e. hospital administrators), he had motivated his audience's Elephants by making them feel the compelling need for change, and he had shaped the Path by making it easier for the hospitals to embrace the change. The Heaths offer more than a dozen other prime examples (e.g. Jerry Sternin in Vietnam, the Five-Minute Room Rescue, "Fataki" in Tanzania) that also demonstrate how the same three-part framework resulted in the achievement of major changes elsewhere despite great difficulty.
Near the end of the book, the Heaths summarize the key points they have so thoroughly made while explaining to their reader how to make a switch. "For things to change, somebody somewhere has to start acting differently. Maybe it's you, maybe it's your team. Picture the person (or people). Each has an emotional Elephant side and a rational Rider side. You've got to reach both. And you've also got to clear the way for them to succeed." By now, the Heaths have explained how others have directed the Rider, motivated the Elephant, and shaped the Path. They conclude their book with a Q&A section during which they advise how to resolve twelve problems that people most often encounter as they fight for change. They suggest, and I agree, that this advice "won't make sense to anybody who hasn't read the book." The same can probably be said about much of what I have shared in this review.
Although, in my opinion, this is one of the most important business books published during the last several years, no commentary such as mine can do full justice to it. It simply must be read and read carefully, preferably then re-read carefully. Otherwise, it makes no sense to visit www.switchthebook.com/resources to obtain additional information and assistance.
I offer my congratulations to Chip and Dan Heath on a brilliant achievement. Bravo!Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard Overview

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Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age Review

Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age
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Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age ReviewWow! This book is relevant, not only for existing activist organizations (all of which should run out and buy a copy immediately), but also for any "Joe Citizen" like me who has pet issues on various local levels and who wants to effect change expeditiously.
Sprinkled with wry humor, this informative and well-written book was a pleasure to read. It is even more than a problem-solving roadmap embracing a new paradigm for the way activists can organize, communicate and define and reach goals; it is also an actual toolkit chock full of ideas on how to use what Ms. Fine terms "social media" (email, the web, wireless handhelds, etc.) to effect change. Even more concrete, Momentum includes websites that even a non-techie and would-be activist like me can use to start anything from an email petition campaign to a website where my kids' teachers can solicit funds for special projects.
While reading this book I had no less than 5 "aha" moments where I thought: "I could use that" in order to bring about change in various areas of my civic life. In fact, in a couple of cases, the information in the book spurred me to think about change in areas I had not thought of before.
I give Momentum my highest recommendation and kudos to Allison H. Fine for writing this timely book...Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age Overview

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Social Work With African American Males: Health, Mental Health, and Social Policy Review

Social Work With African American Males: Health, Mental Health, and Social Policy
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Social Work With African American Males: Health, Mental Health, and Social Policy ReviewThis is a must read for any practitioner, policy maker, or scholar working with, advocating for, or studying African American males. In this book Dr. Johnson has pulled together a collection of origional research that provides not only an in-depth analysis of the plight of African American males but also offers thought provoking analysis of the potential policy implications.Social Work With African American Males: Health, Mental Health, and Social Policy Overview

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Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World Review

Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World
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Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World ReviewA business book that starts with a quote from the Matrix. I was sold from the first page. But I held back from my review, wanting to wade in more deeply before snapping to judgement.
And with each page I am just more invested in finding out what comes next.
The quote that starts off the book is relevant because it is a parallel to one of the central theories of the book: that humankind has created a machine that is ruling how she/he behaves. That machine, is the organization, the company, which, when broken down is a collection of humans.
It posits a strategic mission, should you, of course, choose to accept it.
And you can, armed with Humanize, no matter what level of organization you're at, it is for both the minion and the maker of any organization or corporation. Because it seeks to empower YOU, dear reader, to transform your organization to a more people-centric ecosystem.
In the chapters that follow the introduction, we see the status quo, the problem with that state, and the concrete work needed to change it, step by step. Both practical and theoretical, through this book we are informed that the status is not... quo. But through some free help that is provided in conjunction with it, we are shown the way through.
Work? Of course, yes. But the promised end result sounds so much more like the world we ought to be living in.
Yes, this is, in part, a book about social media, a strategic one. But it's not one with rapid decay, one of the ones that is obsolete by the time the hardcover edition arrives at your house.
No. This is one of those books that will be relevant for years to come. Centuries in internet time.
I believe that even companies that are doing great, and people who love where they work, who are empowered to use social media to solve problems internally as well as externally, will want to pick up a copy.
Here's the test. Get the sample chapter on Kindle for PC. Read it, right now. If evolution to a more social world is any part of your vision, I challenge you to read that and not want to have it in your hands tonight.
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Cracks in the Pavement: Social Change and Resilience in Poor Neighborhoods Review

Cracks in the Pavement: Social Change and Resilience in Poor Neighborhoods
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Cracks in the Pavement: Social Change and Resilience in Poor Neighborhoods ReviewThis is the most comprehensive study of how poor people think about their environment; how they construct their neighborhoods, and the factors that change and resist change in social relations work. It is well researched and reports how the data obtained over 9 years of living in these neighborhoods relates to what we have previously learned and how/why it is different.Cracks in the Pavement: Social Change and Resilience in Poor Neighborhoods Overview

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The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change Review

The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change
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The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change ReviewThis excellent book focuses on how social media have the power "to make a difference." In a way, that's what all the books about social media are about. However, the special focus of The Dragonfly Effect is to emphasize the behavioral components that drive the actual impact of social media campaigns, and "make them stick," to reuse the expression coined by Chip Heath, who wrote the foreword of the book. The dragonfly metaphor gives the authors the four wings of the model that governs the efficiency of a social campaign: Focus + GET (i.e. Grab Attention, Engage, Take Action): "A dragonfly travels with speed and directionality only when all for wings are moving in harmony," the authors note. Each wing constitutes a chapter, and each chapter details the specific design principles for building up the emotional contagion process.
The book starts with the powerful story of two teams who ended up joining forces, Team Sameer and Team Vinay. Contrary to most social media stories, we are not in a fairyland here: Sameer Bhatia and Vinay Chakravarthy both lost their battle against leukemia in 2008. But both teams achieved phenomenal success by making an impact, not only by raising awareness about donating bone marrow, but also by getting tangible results - i.e. changing mindsets and doubling the number of South Asians registered with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).
The initial condition of success in social medial is to have a focus; in other words, "to hatch a goal that will make an impact." This focus is driven by five design principles: Humanistic, Actionable, Testable, Clarity, and Happiness. Yet, focus, however clear it may be, is not enough. How are you going to stand out in an "overcrowded, overmessaged, and noisy world?" This is when the art of "grabbing attention" comes in, with its own design principles: send out a message which is personal, unexpected, and visual, triggers a visceral reaction, and subsequently enables people to connect with your goal -- engage. People will join your cause if you tell them a story in which they can believe, if you are authentic, address them when they can listen, and if, in turn, you respond to their engagement. Once this is done, you have all the basic prerequisites for people to feel empowered and take action. This is the sort of groundwork that gets 100,000 people to join your Save Darfur Facebook group. "Your goal is to inspire and enable your group to take action." In short, "movements that begin online must be backed by real-life action; otherwise, there is no point."
The book reads well (and is well-written), and again, has the merit emphasizing the social psychology side of leveraging social media both for the initiator and the followers of a social media movement. Multiple examples relevantly illustrate the point of the authors. We may take some exception, to a certain extent, with the use of the Obama campaign as a model. While it is true that the Obama social media campaign itself exemplifies the four wings of The Dragonfly Effect and showed efficiency in making people vote, it is also obvious that Obama failed to create an enduring movement capable of morphing into a lasting political groundswell supporting him as President. An additional chapter could have dealt with the art of stringing campaigns together with a more precise analysis of the complexity of the dialectical interactions between the online and the real worlds. While it is customary to emphasize the social media aspect of the Obama campaign, the actual efficiency of the campaign was founded upon a complementary relationship between the analog and digital worlds. The physical side of the Obama tribe fizzled out, which, in turn, made his team overlook the necessity of coining an efficient social media message moving forward. No Social Web can affect change without a "ground crew" on Terra Firma and, as Dan Ariely mentions in this afterword, an understanding of the predictable irrationality "of what motivates the people behind the social network."The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change Overview

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