Corporate-finance

Will the race of man inevitably destroy itself looking for power, wealth and immortality?

More to the point, why should today's twenty-somethings commit their energy and talents to companies run by down-sizers and up-braiders?

The author of a 25-year old business bestseller attempts to answer these questions for a teen- and twenty-something generation in The B2 Chronicles: How Not to Butt Heads with the Next Generation, by Robert Townsend.

A quarter century after penning the best-selling Up The Organization: How to Stop the Corporation From Stifling People and Strangling Profits, former Avis Rent-a-Car CEO Robert Townsend directs his message to tomorrow's instead of today's CEOs.

The book starts with a cosmic computer crisis looming. Seventeen computer whiz kids have intercepted a secret nuclear destruction scenario formulated years ago by the world's superpowers. The protagonist Crunch (author Townsend's persona) agrees to help save the world.

Crunch opens a storefront in San Pedro, California, and advertises for teenagers to help "test pilot" new virtual reality games provided by game manufacturers. Woven in with this plot is Crunch's theory about energy and how it is allocated to tasks. A computer program called QuoVadoTron, which made him and his young whiz kid associate Dooley Stepnowski rich, measures a company's energy level on a daily or weekly basis, over twenty degrees of energy from "Fetchwork 0" to "Stretchwork 10." The fictional software can project how management decisions will affect employees' level of commitment and thus, what level of energy they will devote to meeting goals and objectives. If you get the feeling this book is hard to describe, you're right. But I know of at least one CEO who might get it in a flash: T.J. Rodgers of Silicon Valley's Cypress Semiconductor.

From QuoVadoTron, the story wanders to other games invented by young Dooley. Each game requires an assistant, and each assistant is obtained by having a contest and hiring the winner. Everything is a game, every action and decision is a spreadsheet entry that has potential consequences for the future. At the end of a successful game, all hands celebrate.

Ther'e a fish story, some health food advice, an emphasis on play, enjoyment of literature and music, and some light moralizing, all delivered in Townsend's Brautiganesque plain style.

The common thread is that work ought to generate high energy levels. If it doesn't something can be done about it. Namely, hire younger people whose energy isn't spent, assuming that smart kids of today will have a reason to work tomorrow.

Some ideas which come out in this crazy quilt of song lyrics, stories and management theory:

-Universal downsizing-- no organization or institution should have more than 250 members;

-Bureaucrats have their function-- everyone should learn to tap into government and get money out for their favorite causes;

-For disadvantaged youth, it's hard to top the education and early retirement benefits of a military career;

-Good grades in school and having fun are not mutually exclusive;

-There's a strong connection between education level and living well, assuming your past life has earned you a rich present one.

Is it too much to expect a generation weaned on Beavis and Butthead to read this book? Maybe. But Robert Townsend's head and heart are both in the right place. Most of what's worthwhile tomorrow will be accomplished by people born after 1970. They should read this book, then pass it along to their elders.

I just finished reading this book and recommend it enthusiastically to anybody interested in how B2Bs and extended enterprises must work in the future. The book is broken down into 3 parts: Part 1 explains how B2Bs interact and how trust plays a critical role, Part 2 discusses the concept of e-Trust and business processes by industry, and Part 3 discusses e-infrastructure, security, and controls on a more technical level. Overall, the author manages to provide clear and comprehensive coverage on an exremely challenging, constantly evolving subject.

Had hoped it would help with the modern business world but found it completely lacking in reality for the smaller business. If you are a large corporate who want to bring in consultants it may help but had nothing tangible to offer the realtime day to day issues.

A must for leaders and change agents. The book gives awesome insights of the evolution of culture, its power and how to align it towards business success. It allows you to understand culture and then seek to define the components. It clearly gives definition and meaning to the components driving a culture - purpose, values, direction, vision, mission, strategy, major objectives, tactics, objectives and operating principles.

The book also highlight a practical model and framework for aligning and facilitating change. The CAM or Corporate Alignment Model provides a detailed yet easy-to-understand framework for business leaders and change agents. Together with the 9R Model, aligning, it is an awesome tool for any organization to align or change its culture.

I have read many books about organizational culture, this is of the most awesome truth about it. I will be recommending Awesome Purpose to my CEO and anyone definitely. Thank you, Nigel MacLennan, for this awesome book.

This is a great book. Though I personally look at my Christian beliefs as workplace inspiration, I like hearing more holistic points of view. This book does a nice job of balancing eastern and western philosophy and religion in its view of work. It is a very positive book and realistic. This book is not pretentious like most spirituality in business books.

I enjoyed reading the book and hope these two authors write followup books on this same subject.

What a timely and inspiring book. It's a practical and profound guide on how to nurture and develop the spirit at work. I particularly benefitted from the exercises and tools for implementation.

It's not easy to distill the wisdom of great spiritual teachers and make engaging and relevant examples of how to apply that wisdom at work. I highly recommend this book - whether you work for a company or not.

I am Servant Leadership Specialist in a Catholic Hospital setting in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. This health care campus is part of a 12 Hospital system. My short comments are premised upon a retreat in Vancouver with the authors for five days, their highly useful work with our staff of 600 on site a year ago, and my experience as an Ethicist and teacher of theology.

A reviewer suugested that this book's premise is yet another medal given to those who sell themselves to the institution. But this is not true: the outcome of using these thoughts and the assumptions of Servant Leadership (Robert Greenleaf Center, Indianapolis, Indiana} helps the colleagues in a really growth enhanceing environment take ownership of the relationships and policies in their own setting. If the effort is made in good faith by all, the result is a workplace that is peaceful, friendly, cooperative, and above all productive. I strongly recommend the principles developed by Klein and Izzo. They flow from their deep exprience with several of America's best and largest corporations, from their own humanity and from the most thoughtful consideration they have given to creating truly humanizing and productive workplaces.

I offer a word of caution however: if you still believe that just another set of words and ideas can give you a new result, this approach would be no more than just another 'canned program'. When you decide to recreate your workplace on honest relationships, not power, and want to create a new work system that has both power and peace, then you are ready to begin the long-term effort of rebuilding the world of work in which you live. This is a guidebook for those who have the idea of a better way to work and live. This small book is not a panacea; it is a map for a long journey. We have invested 9 years in this effort in our health care setting, and both patients and staff know and happily acknowledge that with persistence, we are growing into what is envisioned here.

A practical note: We are now at the point of attracting people who think in this manner into our most responsible administrative and service areas and we have many very long term employees. People love to work where they known, respected and part of the decision making process. We have had great and competent help from Klein and Izzo in creating a caring corporation, and in incorporating our own Christian values and Catholic traditions.

This book provides practical advice for developing a business continuity plan in a very readable form. The use of case studies and planning scenarios is particularly helpful in applying the concepts to real life situations.

As an instructor in the emergency management field, I found this book to be concise and on-target with respect to preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters...both public and private. Mr. Laye's ability to convey the reason and methods of preparedness and response is apparently based on experience and in-depth research. Well outlined and a must for any manager concerned with business survival following virtually any disaster.

As a business continuity consultant and leader of business continuity seminars, I'm always asked to recommend books that would be helpful in the development and implementation of a disaster recovery/business continuity program. John Laye's "Avoiding Disaster" is one I will heartily recommend - whether the reader is new to this arena or a seasoned professional.

Written from a no-nonsense, real-world perspective, this is a book that everyone involved in business continuity should have readily available to use and to pass along to others in their organizations who need to truly understand what business continuity is all about.