galfarhan's review against another edition
5.0
This is a must read. I am buying it in bulk and distributing it to all my friends and colleagues.
Here is my review on each of the 10 articles:
What Makes a Leader?
10/10
Very helpful and encourage you to do the EQ test for this.
What Makes an Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker
10/10
What Leaders Really Do?
5/10
The Work of Leadership?
3/10, talks more about adaptive leadership, not that bad but didn’t challenge me the same way the other articles did.
Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?
6/10
Crucibles of Leadership
5/10
Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve
9/10
Seven Transformations of Leadership
10/10
Really interesting.
Discovering Your Authentic Leadership
10/10
Vey very helpful
In Praise of the Incomplete Leader
10/10
Here is my review on each of the 10 articles:
What Makes a Leader?
10/10
Very helpful and encourage you to do the EQ test for this.
What Makes an Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker
10/10
What Leaders Really Do?
5/10
The Work of Leadership?
3/10, talks more about adaptive leadership, not that bad but didn’t challenge me the same way the other articles did.
Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?
6/10
Crucibles of Leadership
5/10
Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve
9/10
Seven Transformations of Leadership
10/10
Really interesting.
Discovering Your Authentic Leadership
10/10
Vey very helpful
In Praise of the Incomplete Leader
10/10
laylalk's review against another edition
3.0
Stimulating reads but found many of the articles dated and blurring the lines between sales support and true marketing. Worth the read but not entirely relevant for many progressive companies in 2016.
manuelte's review against another edition
3.0
Good HBR collection of articles, although by the fifth one you get the feeling of getting the same message across five times. I particularly found "Manage your Energy, Not your Time" engaging.
digital's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
It's a very good book, that gives chance to reflect on the aspects of leadership, job, management without loosing context that it takes place in the context of personal life.
balladofreadingqueer's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
I read this book to help with work. This book had some useful and interesting essays, particularly strategy, managing oneself and leading change. However a lot of the essays were older, 1990s and older so the examples felt less relevant, some useful advice but would have preferred something more updated for the modern workplace.
architr's review against another edition
3.0
The first few chapters were excellent since they contained decisive steps to be taken to contain the detrimental effects of an adversity.
Chapter 1 - Seize Advantage in a Downturn by David Rhodes and Daniel Stelter
• Rising anxiety pressure to do something often produces a variety of uncoordinated moves that target the wrong problem or overshoot the right one.
• What is your exposure? 1. Consider various scenarios, sketch out at least 3 – Modest Downturn, a More Severe Recession and Full-blown Depression. Consider which is likely to unfold based on your Business & Industry
• banking losses had outstripped those of recent financial disasters, including the United States savings and loan crisis (1986–1995), the Japanese banking crisis (1990–1999), and the Asian financial crisis (1998–1999).
• Next, determine the ways in which each of the scenarios might affect your business. How would consumers’ limited capacity to borrow reduce demand for your products? Will job insecurity and deflating asset prices make even the creditworthy increasingly reluctant to take on more debt? Will reduced demand affect your ability to secure short-term financing, or will weak stock markets make it difficult to raise equity? Even if you are able to tap the debt and equity markets, will higher borrowing costs and return requirements raise your cost of capital?
• Quantify the impact for your business on major variables – sales volume, prices and variable costs
• Financial Fundamentals – Liquidity is key; Cash Position, Customer credit, working capital & Financial structure, Share Price
• Monitor and maximize your cash position
o Calculate expected cash inflows and outflows
o Produce a rolling weekly or monthly cash report
o Centralize or pool cash across units
• Tightly manage customer credit
o Segment customers based on their credit risk
o Offer financing only to credit-worthy or strategic customers
o Assess trade-offs between credit risks and marginal sales
• Aggressively manage working capital
o Reduce inventories by monitoring production and sourcing
o Reduce receivables by actively managing customer credit
• Optimize your financial structure
o Reduce debt and other liabilities
o Secure access to lines of credit
o Secure access to equity capital by tapping nonmarket sources such as sovereign wealth funds
• Share Price
o A strong market valuation relative to rivals is important in raising capital and acting on acquisition opportunities. So you need to Inform investors and analysts of your recession preparedness
o Consider opting for dividend payments rather than share buybacks
• Current business – Reduce costs & increase efficiency, Manage topline, rethink product mix and strategies, rein in planned investments & Sell assets
• Reduce costs and increase efficiency
o Root out long-standing activities that add little business value
o Revive earlier efficiency initiatives too controversial to fully implement in better times
o Consolidate or centralize key functions
o Analyze current suppliers and procurement practices
o Reexamine the economics of offshoring
• Aggressively manage the top line
o Revitalize customer retention initiatives
o Realign sales force utilization and incentives to generate additional short-term revenue
• Reallocate marketing spending toward immediate revenue generation
• Consider more-generous financial terms for customers in return for higher prices
• Rethink your product mix and pricing strategies
o Offer lower-price versions of existing products
o Identify products for which customers are still willing to pay full price
o Consider creative strategies such as results-based or subscription pricing
o Unbundle services and adopt à la carte pricing
• Rein in planned investments and sell assets
o Establish stringent capital allocation guidelines
o Shed unproductive assets that were difficult to dispose of in good times
o Divest noncore businesses
• Assess rivals vulnerabilities (cost structure, financial position, sourcing strategies, product mix, customer focus)
• Some obvious means of streamlining: stripping out layers of the organizational hierarchy to reduce head count, consolidating or centralizing key functions, discontinuing long-standing but low-value-added activities. SG&A expenses—selling, general, and administrative costs, such as marketing—are also prime targets for costcutting. As such, they can highlight the risks of purely reactive action: Companies that injudiciously slash marketing spending often find that they later must spend far more than they saved in order to recover from their prolonged absence from the media landscape. Opportunities to reduce materials and supply chain costs also arise in a downturn
• Falling shipping costs could make offshoring more attractive, even for low-cost items; at the same time, a weakening domestic currency, trade barriers, and especially the cash tied up in the additional working capital required to source a product far from its market may offset any savings.
• Invest in future (technology), pursue opportunistic M&A
Chapter 2 – How to Survive a Recession and Thrive Afterward: A
Research Roundup by Walter Frick
• Recessions—defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth—can be caused by economic shocks (such as a spike in oil prices), financial panics (like the one that preceded the Great Recession), rapid changes in economic expectations (the so-called “animal spirits” described by John Maynard Keynes; this is what caused the dot-com bubble to burst), or some combination of the three.
• Deleverage before a downturn, focus on decision-making (decentralization), look beyond layoffs (furloughs, hour reduction, performance pay, “Short-time” compensation program where people receive unemployment compensation), invest in tech
Chapter 3 – How to Bounce Back from Adversity by Joshua D. Margolis and Paul G. Stoltz
• 4 lenses to make the shift from adversity to positivity- Control (focus on things you can control), Impact (instead of focusing on yourself, try to ascertain what positive impact you can create on others), Breadth & Duration
• 3 types of questions for the 4 lenses above – Specifying Questions (targeted), Visualising (shifts attention away from adverse event & to a positive outcome), Collaborating (joint problem-solving)
• Control – Specific (what can I control), Visualise (what can I do which my manager will appreciate), collaborate (who on my team can help me & how to engage them)
• Impact – Specific (how can I make an immediate positive impact), visualize (what positive effect can I create on others via effort), Collaborate (how to mobilise others who are hanging back)
• Breadth – how to minimize downside, what strengths & resources my team and I will develop, what can we do as a team to contain the damage and transform into an opportunity
Chapter 4 – Rohm and Haas’s Former CEO on Pulling off a Sweet Deal in
a Down Market by Raj Gupta
Story about sale of Rohm and Haas to dow chemicals
Chapter 5 – How to Be a Good Boss in a Bad Economy by Robert I. Sutton
• Announce key dates, convey business case for reorg, give employees opp to find job within/ outside the company, empathy
Chapter 6 - Layoffs That Don’t Break Your Company by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta
• Two forces – automation, global competition, are transforming nature of work
• Nokia (Bochum Plant layoff)
• Some countries require social or economic justification for layoff
• Layoffs have been increasing steadily since the 1970s. In 1979 fewer than 5% of Fortune 100 companies announced layoffs, according to McMaster University sociology professor Art Budros, but in 1994 almost 45% did. A McKinsey survey of 2,000 U.S. companies found that from 2008 to 2011 (during the recession and its aftermath), 65% resorted to layoffs. Today layoffs have become a default response to an uncertain future marked by rapid advances in technology, tumultuous markets, and intense competition
Chapter 7 – Getting Reorgs Right by Stephen Heidari-Robinson and Suzanne Heywood
common mistake in this step is to focus on what the organization looks like
(its reporting structure, for instance) and forget about how it works
(management and business processes and systems; and the numbers,
capabilities, mindsets, and behaviors of its people)
Chapter 8 – Reigniting Growth by Chris Zook and James Allen
(1) They view themselves as business insurgents, fighting in
behalf of underserved customers; (2) they have an obsession with the front
line, where the business meets the customer; and (3) they foster a mindset that
includes a deep sense of responsibility for how resources are used and for longterm
results. Because these qualities are most vibrant in companies led by bold,
ambitious founders, we call them “the founder’s mentality
The Home Depot’s internal television
station and quoted extensively from Marcus and Blank’s book, Built from
Scratch. In particular, he highlighted two of their charts. One listed their core
values, and the other gave pride of place, at the top of an inverted triangle, to
the company’s front line: its stores, where customers and employees interact.
Chapter 9 – Reinvent Your Business Model Before It’s Too Late by Paul Nunes and Tim Breene
Prominent examples
include Dell with its direct model of PC sales, Wal-Mart with its unique supply
chain capabilities, and Toyota with not just its production method but also its
engineering capabilities, which made possible Lexus’s luxury cars and the
Prius. But distinctiveness in capabilities—like the basis of competition—is
fleeting, so executives must invest in developing new ones in order to jump to
the next capabilities S curve.
Chapter 10 – How to Protect Your Job in a Recession by Janet Banks and Diane Coutu
Intellectually, you understand that downsizing isn’t personal; it’s just a law of commerce, but your heart sinks at the prospect of losing your position.
• Act like a survivor (demonstrate positivity and cheerfulness), display versatility, don multiple hats
•
Chapter 11 - Learning from the Future by J. Peter Scoblic
Uncertainty was so all-encompassing that
to fully capture the dimensions of the problem, researchers had devised
elaborate acronyms such as VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and
ambiguity) and TUNA (turbulent, uncertain, novel, and ambiguous).
The most recognizable tool of strategic foresight is scenario planning. It
involves several stages: identifying forces that will shape future market and
operating conditions; exploring how those drivers may interact; imagining a
variety of plausible futures; revising mental models of the present on the basis
of those futures; and then using those new models to devise strategies that
prepare organizations for whatever the future actually brings.
Chapter 12 – 5 Ways to Stimulate Cash Flow in a Downturn by Eddie Yoon and Christopher Lochhead
• Secure sales by warrantees, guarantees and return policies
• iMplement new revenue and pricing models (subscription based)
• accelerate innovation
• Cut sacred cow marketing costs
• Engage in new kinds of customer acquisition (either via M&A or via strategic sampling – eg. zoom provided K-12 education for free
Chapter 13 – The Case for M&A in a Downturn by Brian Salsberg
Chapter 14 – Include Your Employees in Cost-Cutting Decisions by Patrick Daoust and Paul Simon
leaders should redesign their operations based on data provided by
their most valuable sources of proprietary insights—their employees.
Democratizing the collection of data and recommendations allows leadership
teams to gain a much clearer picture of activities and initiatives underway
within their organizations.
Chapter 15 - Preparing Your Business for a Post-Pandemic World by Carsten Lund Pedersen and Thomas Ritter
Chapter 1 - Seize Advantage in a Downturn by David Rhodes and Daniel Stelter
• Rising anxiety pressure to do something often produces a variety of uncoordinated moves that target the wrong problem or overshoot the right one.
• What is your exposure? 1. Consider various scenarios, sketch out at least 3 – Modest Downturn, a More Severe Recession and Full-blown Depression. Consider which is likely to unfold based on your Business & Industry
• banking losses had outstripped those of recent financial disasters, including the United States savings and loan crisis (1986–1995), the Japanese banking crisis (1990–1999), and the Asian financial crisis (1998–1999).
• Next, determine the ways in which each of the scenarios might affect your business. How would consumers’ limited capacity to borrow reduce demand for your products? Will job insecurity and deflating asset prices make even the creditworthy increasingly reluctant to take on more debt? Will reduced demand affect your ability to secure short-term financing, or will weak stock markets make it difficult to raise equity? Even if you are able to tap the debt and equity markets, will higher borrowing costs and return requirements raise your cost of capital?
• Quantify the impact for your business on major variables – sales volume, prices and variable costs
• Financial Fundamentals – Liquidity is key; Cash Position, Customer credit, working capital & Financial structure, Share Price
• Monitor and maximize your cash position
o Calculate expected cash inflows and outflows
o Produce a rolling weekly or monthly cash report
o Centralize or pool cash across units
• Tightly manage customer credit
o Segment customers based on their credit risk
o Offer financing only to credit-worthy or strategic customers
o Assess trade-offs between credit risks and marginal sales
• Aggressively manage working capital
o Reduce inventories by monitoring production and sourcing
o Reduce receivables by actively managing customer credit
• Optimize your financial structure
o Reduce debt and other liabilities
o Secure access to lines of credit
o Secure access to equity capital by tapping nonmarket sources such as sovereign wealth funds
• Share Price
o A strong market valuation relative to rivals is important in raising capital and acting on acquisition opportunities. So you need to Inform investors and analysts of your recession preparedness
o Consider opting for dividend payments rather than share buybacks
• Current business – Reduce costs & increase efficiency, Manage topline, rethink product mix and strategies, rein in planned investments & Sell assets
• Reduce costs and increase efficiency
o Root out long-standing activities that add little business value
o Revive earlier efficiency initiatives too controversial to fully implement in better times
o Consolidate or centralize key functions
o Analyze current suppliers and procurement practices
o Reexamine the economics of offshoring
• Aggressively manage the top line
o Revitalize customer retention initiatives
o Realign sales force utilization and incentives to generate additional short-term revenue
• Reallocate marketing spending toward immediate revenue generation
• Consider more-generous financial terms for customers in return for higher prices
• Rethink your product mix and pricing strategies
o Offer lower-price versions of existing products
o Identify products for which customers are still willing to pay full price
o Consider creative strategies such as results-based or subscription pricing
o Unbundle services and adopt à la carte pricing
• Rein in planned investments and sell assets
o Establish stringent capital allocation guidelines
o Shed unproductive assets that were difficult to dispose of in good times
o Divest noncore businesses
• Assess rivals vulnerabilities (cost structure, financial position, sourcing strategies, product mix, customer focus)
• Some obvious means of streamlining: stripping out layers of the organizational hierarchy to reduce head count, consolidating or centralizing key functions, discontinuing long-standing but low-value-added activities. SG&A expenses—selling, general, and administrative costs, such as marketing—are also prime targets for costcutting. As such, they can highlight the risks of purely reactive action: Companies that injudiciously slash marketing spending often find that they later must spend far more than they saved in order to recover from their prolonged absence from the media landscape. Opportunities to reduce materials and supply chain costs also arise in a downturn
• Falling shipping costs could make offshoring more attractive, even for low-cost items; at the same time, a weakening domestic currency, trade barriers, and especially the cash tied up in the additional working capital required to source a product far from its market may offset any savings.
• Invest in future (technology), pursue opportunistic M&A
Chapter 2 – How to Survive a Recession and Thrive Afterward: A
Research Roundup by Walter Frick
• Recessions—defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth—can be caused by economic shocks (such as a spike in oil prices), financial panics (like the one that preceded the Great Recession), rapid changes in economic expectations (the so-called “animal spirits” described by John Maynard Keynes; this is what caused the dot-com bubble to burst), or some combination of the three.
• Deleverage before a downturn, focus on decision-making (decentralization), look beyond layoffs (furloughs, hour reduction, performance pay, “Short-time” compensation program where people receive unemployment compensation), invest in tech
Chapter 3 – How to Bounce Back from Adversity by Joshua D. Margolis and Paul G. Stoltz
• 4 lenses to make the shift from adversity to positivity- Control (focus on things you can control), Impact (instead of focusing on yourself, try to ascertain what positive impact you can create on others), Breadth & Duration
• 3 types of questions for the 4 lenses above – Specifying Questions (targeted), Visualising (shifts attention away from adverse event & to a positive outcome), Collaborating (joint problem-solving)
• Control – Specific (what can I control), Visualise (what can I do which my manager will appreciate), collaborate (who on my team can help me & how to engage them)
• Impact – Specific (how can I make an immediate positive impact), visualize (what positive effect can I create on others via effort), Collaborate (how to mobilise others who are hanging back)
• Breadth – how to minimize downside, what strengths & resources my team and I will develop, what can we do as a team to contain the damage and transform into an opportunity
Chapter 4 – Rohm and Haas’s Former CEO on Pulling off a Sweet Deal in
a Down Market by Raj Gupta
Story about sale of Rohm and Haas to dow chemicals
Chapter 5 – How to Be a Good Boss in a Bad Economy by Robert I. Sutton
• Announce key dates, convey business case for reorg, give employees opp to find job within/ outside the company, empathy
Chapter 6 - Layoffs That Don’t Break Your Company by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta
• Two forces – automation, global competition, are transforming nature of work
• Nokia (Bochum Plant layoff)
• Some countries require social or economic justification for layoff
• Layoffs have been increasing steadily since the 1970s. In 1979 fewer than 5% of Fortune 100 companies announced layoffs, according to McMaster University sociology professor Art Budros, but in 1994 almost 45% did. A McKinsey survey of 2,000 U.S. companies found that from 2008 to 2011 (during the recession and its aftermath), 65% resorted to layoffs. Today layoffs have become a default response to an uncertain future marked by rapid advances in technology, tumultuous markets, and intense competition
Chapter 7 – Getting Reorgs Right by Stephen Heidari-Robinson and Suzanne Heywood
common mistake in this step is to focus on what the organization looks like
(its reporting structure, for instance) and forget about how it works
(management and business processes and systems; and the numbers,
capabilities, mindsets, and behaviors of its people)
Chapter 8 – Reigniting Growth by Chris Zook and James Allen
(1) They view themselves as business insurgents, fighting in
behalf of underserved customers; (2) they have an obsession with the front
line, where the business meets the customer; and (3) they foster a mindset that
includes a deep sense of responsibility for how resources are used and for longterm
results. Because these qualities are most vibrant in companies led by bold,
ambitious founders, we call them “the founder’s mentality
The Home Depot’s internal television
station and quoted extensively from Marcus and Blank’s book, Built from
Scratch. In particular, he highlighted two of their charts. One listed their core
values, and the other gave pride of place, at the top of an inverted triangle, to
the company’s front line: its stores, where customers and employees interact.
Chapter 9 – Reinvent Your Business Model Before It’s Too Late by Paul Nunes and Tim Breene
Prominent examples
include Dell with its direct model of PC sales, Wal-Mart with its unique supply
chain capabilities, and Toyota with not just its production method but also its
engineering capabilities, which made possible Lexus’s luxury cars and the
Prius. But distinctiveness in capabilities—like the basis of competition—is
fleeting, so executives must invest in developing new ones in order to jump to
the next capabilities S curve.
Chapter 10 – How to Protect Your Job in a Recession by Janet Banks and Diane Coutu
Intellectually, you understand that downsizing isn’t personal; it’s just a law of commerce, but your heart sinks at the prospect of losing your position.
• Act like a survivor (demonstrate positivity and cheerfulness), display versatility, don multiple hats
•
Chapter 11 - Learning from the Future by J. Peter Scoblic
Uncertainty was so all-encompassing that
to fully capture the dimensions of the problem, researchers had devised
elaborate acronyms such as VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and
ambiguity) and TUNA (turbulent, uncertain, novel, and ambiguous).
The most recognizable tool of strategic foresight is scenario planning. It
involves several stages: identifying forces that will shape future market and
operating conditions; exploring how those drivers may interact; imagining a
variety of plausible futures; revising mental models of the present on the basis
of those futures; and then using those new models to devise strategies that
prepare organizations for whatever the future actually brings.
Chapter 12 – 5 Ways to Stimulate Cash Flow in a Downturn by Eddie Yoon and Christopher Lochhead
• Secure sales by warrantees, guarantees and return policies
• iMplement new revenue and pricing models (subscription based)
• accelerate innovation
• Cut sacred cow marketing costs
• Engage in new kinds of customer acquisition (either via M&A or via strategic sampling – eg. zoom provided K-12 education for free
Chapter 13 – The Case for M&A in a Downturn by Brian Salsberg
Chapter 14 – Include Your Employees in Cost-Cutting Decisions by Patrick Daoust and Paul Simon
leaders should redesign their operations based on data provided by
their most valuable sources of proprietary insights—their employees.
Democratizing the collection of data and recommendations allows leadership
teams to gain a much clearer picture of activities and initiatives underway
within their organizations.
Chapter 15 - Preparing Your Business for a Post-Pandemic World by Carsten Lund Pedersen and Thomas Ritter
ajit1618's review against another edition
It is an interesting book, which guides us how to mage ourselves with help of case studies and there is very critical role of emotional intelligence