Corporate-finance

Rolf Smith, this book, and an 8-day Thinking Expedition (The School for Innovators) led by Rolf in the mountains surrounding Estes Park, Colorado (October 1998) has changed my life and put me on the path to personal and professional growth and accomplishment.

I am Director of Creativity and the Arts at Northwood University in Midland, MI. As one of my responsibilities, I am executive director of the University's Alden B. Dow Creativity Center. In July of 1998 the center invited Rolf Smith as keynote speaker for the 9th International Conference on Creativity in Colleges and Universities. His address, based on his book The Seven Levels of Change, was spellbinding. I personally was so inspired that I bought the book and read it cover to cover, then I signed up to participate in a Thinking Expedition through Rolf's School for Innovators.

What an experience! Rolf's book talks about expeditions, summits, different and change. On expedition, I actually lived the tenets of the book. 16 hours a day (sometimes more) our team focused on problems we were attempting to solve. This, combined with learning and using mountain climbing skills to conquer perceived fears, learning team building skills and working towards conquering summits together that could never be conquer alone reinforced and put into practice ideas introduced in the book.

Since completing the School for Innovators, I have completely revamped the curriculum for my Creative Behavior course. I threw out my syllabus and replaced the principle text with The Seven Levels of Change. I believe this book is that important. My intention is to take my students on a Thinking Expedition of their own using the Thinking Guide techniques I learned from Rolf. All Northwood students are business students - future entrepreneurs - and the skills Rolf discusses in the book, and puts into practice on expedition, are the very skills these students will need to survive and succeed in a world doubling its knowledge base every 7 years.

This book also delves into the realm of psychology through discussions of psychometric instruments that promote and examine intra and interpersonal communication skills and an understanding of HOW a person is creative. One of my "ME, Inc." goals following the School for Innovators was to become qualified to administer, score and interpret the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory (KAI), which I have accomplished. The outcomes of these psychometric indicators provide static scores, which by themselves mean nothing. The theory behind these instruments, however, allows individuals to understand not only how THEY are creative (KAI) and why they tend to think and perceive the way they do (MBTI), but - and perhaps more importantly - how OTHERS are creative and why they tend to think and perceive the way they do. With an understanding of the theory behind the instruments, the outcomes take on a dynamic quality that means everything when it comes to improving the communication process between individuals and teams.

These are important factors to understand and use when building or working on a team, or when presenting an idea to an internal or external client. In fact, both of the psychometric instruments discussed by Rolf in The Seven Levels of Change are as necessary tools used everyday in the corporate world to help teams discover and implement Level 7 (DifFferent) Change. The type of change that establishes individuals and corporations as major players and leaders - as change agents - in a world increasingly faced with challenge and change.

I recommend this book highly and without reservation. If your goal is different results for your company or yourself, then this book if a fount of information, theories, concepts and ideas to get you there.

I'm not big on theory--just give me the facts in a simple, easy to understand format. The 7 Levels of Change delivers big time. The tools work. The Mindshift Model and the other "theory" topics make sense to a layman like me. I am a Senior Manager in a major corporation and we are using the book and Rolf's Thinking Expeditions to help us crawl out of our conservative patterns to become more competitive in this constantly changing marketplace and the world of 21st Century business. Rolf's book is an excellent tool to help our managers begin to Think and to learn to Think Diffferently!

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning how to live with the changes in thier lives. The only constant in our lives today is Change, and Rolf's book is a simple workbook not only on managing that change, but indeed in preparing you to become a catalyst FOR change.

The ideas are presented in a clear,easy to follow way. To help drive home what you have read, Rolf provides exercises througouht the book. If you are serious about understanding yourself, and making changes in your life to reach your goals, read the book and do the exercises, then adapt them into your life.

The advertising campaign for ABSOLUT Swedish vodka has captured the attention of millions. The promotional program for the product has been highly creative, captivating, and unquestionably successful. Now ranked as the #1 imported vodka in the United States, ABSOLUT is celebrating its 20 year anniversary.

The story behind the bottle, the product, and the marketing campaign is interesting, as might be expected. Most behind-the-scenes looks produce surprises, intrigue, and stories that cause readers to shake their heads in wonderment. ABSOLUT is no exception.

Carl Hamilton is described as one of Sweden's most provocative and original literary voices. He's also host of the critically acclaimed television show, Dilemma, a political commentator, and a columnist for Scandinavia's largest popular newspaper. With this build-up of the author, the reader would expect an intriguing book that would be a joy to read. Even the cover of the book is designed to reflect the advertising image of black and white simplicity.

The book does tell a good story-about the bottle, the name, the development of the product, and the marketing campaign. Unfortunately, I was not as impressed by the book itself as I wanted to be. I was disappointed. While I recognize that the book will sell because of the popularity of the product it chronicles, the writing left me wanting.

Describing this book as a biography suggests a certain amount of genealogical research to illuminate the subject of the work. As family trees are researched, people uncover branches that really don't fit into the mainstream of the family's development. These side stories are typically left out of books that document family histories, or they're archived outside the main text. Not so with this biography: all that information is served to the reader in a number of seemingly unrelated stories that don't seem to fit in the flow. An endorsement on the back cover of ABSOLUT suggests that "the author superbly swings from one scene to another." My description of this experience would be less glowing; I found the side trips distracting, confusing, and sometimes irrelevant. It felt like Hamilton was weaving in every bit of research he had, force-fitting as necessary to fill the book.

I was troubled by the use of profanity in ABSOLUT. One would not expect to find four letter words seasoning a business biography. Perhaps this is the style of Texere, a new publishing company, but the language didn't set well with me. There are ten incidents in the first 50 pages of the book where the author uses words that might get our kids a dose of soap in the mouth or at least a good talking-to. If you don't mind reading the "f" word in a business book, it won't bother you. It annoyed me, particularly as I observed that the point could have been made just fine without the profanity.

ABSOLUT does tell an interesting tale, particularly if you're interested in the reality behind the legend of a popular product. The book is hybrid of a business history, a biography, and expose, if you don't let the bumpy writing get in your way.

In Absolut: Biography of a Bottle, Mr. Hamilton has written a thorough, fascinating account of how one of the most popular brands in the United States was established in the last 22 years. This book is a must read for anyone who has enjoyed the famous Absolut advertising campaign featuring the bottle shape, and those who want to understand more about the process of successful brand building.

I was an executive at Heublein, makers of market-leading Smirnoff Vodka, from 1974-1977, and found this story fascinating for how overwhelming odds against success were overcome. In this review, I will add some perspective that the author omitted.

Liquor is one of the most difficult areas in which to create a new consumer brand. The hurdles are many. You cannot advertise on television or radio. Most people are not very experimental in the liquor they will try. You cannot go door-to-door dropping off samples like soap powder. Distribution is very expensive and hard to acquire. Establishing profitability with a new brand can take many years, and there are many failures. As a result, the market leader in most categories in 1950 is still the market leading brand today. For imported spirits, the country viewed as the most "legitimate" historical source always dominated the imported category. For vodka, what country do you think of? Certainly, Sweden was probably not first in your mind in 1978.

Absolut was brilliantly developed, but Absolut was also lucky. As the Cold War continued and the Afghanistan War began, Americans had reason to question their ties to Stolychnaya, which had been the leading vodka import. President Reagan's characterization of the U.S.S.R. as an "evil empire" certainly aided that perceptual shift. Absolut had been established by that time on a brand platform of being different, a classy version of the Marlboro cowboy. The style of the product, the package, and the advertising all "whispered" to you about being subtly different while all the other vodkas shouted in vibrant colors with gaudy labels in similar bottles.

Interestingly, Heublein used a very similar approach to that employed by Absolut with packaging and positioning to build its mustard, Grey Poupon, into the market leader at the same time that the company was ignoring Absolut. The story of Grey Poupon is developed in part in The 2,000 Percent Solution.

What is even more remarkable is that Absolut was developed to be an export brand without a base in Sweden by the national Liquor Monopoly there, which had a strong heritage of keeping drinking under control. At many key points in the brand's development, the Swedes took large financial risks with little prospect of success. Who says that government agencies cannot be entrepreneurial? You will enjoy reading about Lars Lindmark who spear-headed this initiative as head of the Monopoly.

But the heart and beauty of this story is how the brand platform, positioning, and the rest were established. The results were astonishingly good, but the process was inevitably messy. Most consumers have not thought very much about how brands come to be like our friends. This book lays out many of the best practices involved. Get many of the top creative people involved, let them compete for inspiration, test out the results, and keep refining around the core ideas that resonate the most strongly with some people. I was extremely impressed by the role that Gunnar Broman played in the early development of the brand as head of the Swedish agency, Carlsson and Broman. Most brands are mostly developed by internal staff. Quite simply, an advertising agency usually doesn't have the skill to pull off all parts of the task. N.W. Ayer also helped a lot. But what will impress you is how many people contributed in important ways. Much of the advertising we now admire was developed at TBWA, which was the successor agency after a conflict occurred for N.W. Ayer. The task of finding an importer was long and involved. Dichter deserves a lot of credit for establishing the right research methods to find people who were deeply interested in the brand, despite many people being turned off by it. With a brand, you shouldn't try to please everyone.

The bottle stories are priceless. I won't spoil them by telling you about them in detail. But you will find that the developers of Absolut vodka had to overcome a lot of stalled thinking on the part of those they were working with. You will love the many photographs of the bottles and advertising while they were under development, including the famous Andy Warhol ad.

There is another personal reason why I enjoyed this book. Our older daughter (now in her third year in medical school) is very anti-drinking. Despite this, the walls of her room during high school were papered with Absolut ads. For one birthday, I gave her an empty Absolut bottle, which is still in her room at home. This deep impression of an advertising campaign on an anti-alcohol teenager had always impressed me. Reading this book helped me to better understand her attraction to the campaign, and to understand her better.

After you finish this exciting story about developing this fun brand, ask yourself how you can apply the lessons here to making an important task something that everyone wants to do. Who can help you with that? What is the purest form of the concept?

Have Absolut pleasure from this book!

published in '96, it has, as far as i can tell, just about every absolut ad made until the books publication. divided into categories by special artist, or ad period, the images are well sized and are accompanied by a short caption talking about the inspiration behind the concept of the ad.
an excellent coffee table book for anyone who loves the vodka or anyone who loves creative design and advertising. or, if you're like me, both.

"Is ABB a model for other organizations?...Indeed, Percy Barnevik does have particular views on this question. In an interview in India, he said: 'More and more companies will see the need to develop this multidomestic combination for global coordination. The big American companies used to have a domestic and an international division. You cannot have an international division. In my company, the word does not exist because if you are foreign, you are foreign everywhere. The whole meaning of being domestic or foreign has lost its meaning. When I am sitting here in India, I am not an Indian citizen, but I represent an Indian company just like I represent a Spanish company when I am in Spain'...Is ABB a model for nations?...Warren Bennis says: 'The ability to align, create, and empower will characterize successful leaders well into tht twenty-first century. But there is another theme that surfaces provocatively in some of the interviews..., most notably in the remarks of Percy Barnevik of ABB. That is the emergence of federation as the structure uniquely suited to balancing the seemingly incompatible drives toward global cooperation and the putting down of deep local roots. This paradox is evident in world politics, where intense ethnic and national identities coexist with the widespread recognition that new economic and political alliances must be forged outside one's borders'...So, what are the lessons that other organizations and managers facing the challenges of globalization can learn from ABB's experience so far? We think that there are many lessons that are both explicit and implicit throughout this book. However, we asked Percy Barnevik for his views. He says: 'I do not believe that you can mechanically copy what another company has done. ABB itself has several variations on its organization and management depending on products and customers...However, there are some general principles to learn from and adapt to your own business: the need to be global-local, big-small, and decentralized-central control' "(from the Introduction).

In this context, Kevin Barham and Claudia Heimer summarize their objectives in writing this book: document the story of the merger, ABB's growth and global expansion; catch more than a glimpse of the real story behind the company's ongoing success; raise some key questions for the future of ABB; highlight some lessons from ABB's experience for managers in other organizations facing international and global challenges. And thus they organize their book into three main parts:

I. The Birth of A Modern Giant - In this part, by telling the story of the two main partners-ASEA of Sweden and BBC of Switzerland, and by outlining Percy Barnevik's concepts regarding the strategy, structure, control mechanisms and people development of the newly merged/emerged company, they describe early days of ABB.

II. Giant Steps to the Globally Connected Corporation - In this part, by defining ABB as a 'globally connected corporation' (global and local, big and small, and radically decentralized with central reporting and control), they show the stages of global expansion.

III. Reaping the Harvest - In this part, they look at the organization a decade after the merger to find out how the masterplan has worked out to date and at how ABB has started to reap the harvest resulting from all the hard work it has put into building its structure and implementing its strategy. And they also focus on CEO Goran Lindahl and his priorities for ABB in the future-innovation in human resources and information technology.

Finally, end of this invaluable study, they list 15 giant steps to a global organization. I briefly summarize these steps as follows:

1. You don't need to have all the answers when trying to achieve change on such grand scale as the ABB merger.

2. Decentralization to profit centres around the world is the key to creating an entrepreneurial mindset.

3. Stay close to customers around the world during a merger to reassure them and not lose market share.

4. Don't delude yourself that you can forecast the future-you can only see breaks in trend lines, and you won't always see those.

5. Understand which parts of the business are more global and which are more local and act accordingly.

6. Multiculturalism is not an ethical issue, it is a practical business need.

7. Set challenging targets, but don't keep changing the formal organization.

8. Communicate, communicate, communicate to 'fire people up'-even at the risk of competitors listening.

9. Globalization requires transparency and connectivity accross time zones and geography.

10. Every manager, including the CEO, should aim to have two to three succession candidates ready at all times.

11. You don't necessarily need lots of global managers-not everybody has to be global-but you do require a pool of cross-culturaly capable people from which you can draw your global managers.

12. Results-oriented learning on the job gives management development credibility and makes line management take responsibility for developing people.

13. Don't assume that all your organizational values are fully applicable across the world.

14. Keep it practical. Concepts are only 5 per cent of the building of a global organization. Execution and the ability to engage people around the world are 95 per cent.

15. Long-term shareholder value is the ultimate measurement of performance in a global company.

Highly recommended.

Leaders struggle today with the volume and complexity of human relationships as well as the aspects of their jobs that don't directly involve people. Increasing demands challenge us with continual complications, too many choices, speed of change and action, and the sense of being caught in a whirlwind that defies the concept of life-work balance. We're expected to have all the answers, preferably before anyone else thinks about asking the questions.

Combine this gerbil-in-a-cage metaphor with the uncomfortable fact that most leaders haven't learned enough about leadership, and you have a dangerous combination. What is leadership? How is it different from being a manager? How can leaders keep their finger on the pulse of what's happening, inspire others to high achievement, guide their team members through difficult decisions, and still have time to actually finish a cup of coffee while it's still warm?

The solution is disarmingly simple: Ask questions. Listen to the answers. Ask some more questions. Give good answers to questions asked by others.

Easier said than done. There's an art to effective move-us-forward questions and answers. The secrets are in Chris Clarke-Epstein's book. She provides us with 78 valuable questions, but doesn't stop there. In addition to gaining a fine list of questions , we benefit from an explanation of the importance of the question, how to ask it well, and what might be accomplished through the questioning technique. The style is friendly, conversational, and supportive, seasoned with short stories or vignettes that illustrate the many helpful suggestions and observations offered by the author.

The book's chapters are organized to categorize the questions and the commentary surrounding them. The first category, presented after a few pages of positioning, addresses questions leaders need to ask themselves. Chapter 2 presents questions leaders need to ask customers. The third and fourth chapters explore questions to be asked of employees-lots of creative stuff here.

In Chapter 5, we ponder questions to be asked in special situations: new employees, coaching and mentoring, newly promoted leaders, and crisis. Questions leaders need to answer are followed by answers for special situations. What a handbook! You can read this book straight through as I did, or use it for reference (as I will). The last chapter talks about delivering tough answers, sometimes a difficult proposition for leaders. More questions are suggested in the appendix and a website has been established to continue the question-building process. An index facilitates reference. The Suggested Reading list is a bonus.

The book is peppered with quotes about questions and answers that reinforce the points and/or give the reader something more to think about. At the end of each chapter are questions and worksheets for the reader, encouraging some deeper thinking and reflection. Overall, a worthwhile book for leaders-and aspiring leaders-to read, absorb, and keep handy.

If someone had handed this book to me the day before my first leadership role, I would have been better at my job.

If I had read this book before the big crisis in my organization, I would have handled things differently, and been more effective.

If I had put to the test the questions that Chris Clarke-Epstein writes about, I would have been more satisfied with my work as a leader...and stayed with it.

This book is extremely readable, and yet challenging. It made me look at leadership not as a mantle to wear, but rather as a process of becoming. The act of questioning - in reality of questing - for what you, your organization, your employees, and your customers want, need, and desire is laid out with specific things to ask, and how to answer them.

78 Important Questions does not come with an answer section like a 10th Grade textbook. This is the kind of book where you have to find your own answers. Good thing the leader of the journey intersperses advice, stories, and encouragement in between queries.

I don't think this is a book for the feint of heart. If you're the kind of leader who basks in the status quo, then stay away. If however, you're not afraid of some work, of some personal soul-searching, and if you embrace change as a way to stay alive in business, then you need these 78 Important Questions.

Not until I read Chris Clarke-Epstein's book did I realize how important it is for leaders to ask good questions. I great resource for how to build relationships and develop leadership skills. A quick read, a must read, for all leaders who want to be more effective.

I wouldn't disagree with any of the other reviews, but it's a matter of personal preference where I spend my money. I wouldn't spend it on this book. Once you focus on what you want to accomplish (ie., "shake-em-up"), you could come up with a lot of these challenges. "If your company were a car...If your company were a footbal team.." and so on. In a word, analogy. I've found in workshops I've conducted, whether they're on Creativity, Problem-Solving, Leadership, or other topics, I'll use this "provocative" technique maybe once or twice in a full day. Beyond that the novelty has worn off.

Much of the text that accompanies each question is also a little repetitious - the "war stories" all start to sound alike.

I was surprised at how useful this book is. When I first looked at it, I thought the questions looked obvious and simplistic, but they work very well to start off team meeting sessions. The authors provide lots of good ideas about how to use them, and little anecdotes to inspire you to believe that the questions can actually change the way you do business. I've used them for meeting kick-offs and to jump-start moribund discussions.

I conduct workshops and train trainers, and this book is full of great questions to facilitate participant dialogue.

My team and I are constantly on the lookout for fun and interesting ice breakers and energizers. This book is a good resource. After each question, a "war story" and a "user's manual" section appears, with useful how-to information.

I recommend "75 Cage-Rattling Questions."

The first edition of Marcia Yudkin's "6 Steps to Free Publicity" showed me that getting publicity was possible, and how to get started. My first press release got one of my seminars featured in the Houston Chronicle. Since then, I have appeared on television and radio numerous times, and in local and national publications including Black Enterprise, Bottom Line Personal and Woman's Day.

The new "6 Steps" includes all the great information that made the first edition a classic, with lots of updates. Many of the updates show how to incorporate Internet strategies into your publicity campaign, and there are new tidbits, examples and resources throughout the book.

Publishing articles has been a very effective strategy for me, and my current marketing plan calls for a more structured and ambitious effort in this area. The details in chapter 8 will be invaluable as I launch this part of my marketing program.

Marcia Yudkin knows her subject, and communicates it well. Marcia has been a mentor to me for years through her writing. I have long suggested her books to colleagues and clients, and strongly recommend this book. So, what are you waiting for? Click the button and add "6 Steps to Free Publicity" to your shopping cart. You won't regret it. See you in the news!

Marcia Yudkin is a name that shows up in a lot of places when it comes to marketing. When you want a million dollar marketing plan but have a thousand dollar budget her name is the first one on many lips. In "6 Steps to Free Publicity" she shares some insight into the various methods of getting free or low-cost publicity. Whether it's writing articles, becoming a recognized expert, driving traffic to your website, or getting testimonials it's all covered in this book. One of the more useful chapters is the one on creative ways to find new marketing angles, images, and exploits for your products or services. If you want to understand the principles of inexpensive publicity techniques you can't go wrong with this book. If you are responsible for the publicity program for your business you will find the book a great resource. After reading "6 Steps to Free Publicity" you will probably want to follow up with a visit to her website (www.yudkin.com/marketing.htm) for more information and tips. This is a recommended purchase for anyone trying to gain a high level of visibility with a shoestring budget.

I recently purchased "6 Steps to Free Publicity". I had not finished more than 60% of the book before I noticed my first opportunity for free media attention, an article in the largest newspaper in our state. The article hit a hot button in my industry, and I saw an opportunity to expand on the article and be a resource for the media. I wrote a response letter using Marcia's suggestions in "6 Steps to Free Publicity," I suggested a follow up article that I would like the paper to write, and received a detailed and enthusiastic reply from the journalist, which included an offer to use me in the article. I know that without "6 Steps," I would not have seized this opportunity. Nor, would I have known the proper format to offer my suggestions.

"6 Steps" is an easy read that offers practical tips that will help eliminate your fears of contacting the media. In addition, it offers a wide range of ideas, examples, and stories to apply to all situations of publicity and all personality types. If you have a desire to get the word out about your product, service, organization, or yourself you owe it to yourself to purchase this book.

The book is an interesting read: a testament to post world war II entrepreneurship. I hear its a great company to work for too. Head quartered in Willow Grove,PA