A comprehensive, thought-provoking call for emphasizing the humanity in management.
Ewing’s management manual focuses on the service element of leadership.
“Leadership is the bedrock of organizational effectiveness,” writes Ewing in his nonfiction debut, but too often people in leadership positions settle for merely managing their followers, moving them around like cogs in a mechanical design. “Your followers are people,” Ewing’s book reminds its readers, “complete with messy emotions, backstories, families, friends, hobbies, and lives outside of the workplace.” Ewing advocates the kind of involved, detailed, hands-on practice of management that’s exemplified in the phrase “going to gemba” (gemba is a Japanese term for “the real place”); i.e., successful managers walk around, make contact with their employees where the work is actually getting done, and witness potential problems firsthand. The end goal, according to Ewing, is managers who display “deep personal humility with intense professional will.” In concise, well-illustrated chapters, Ewing breaks down the tactics and strategies of truly inspired group guidance. The key characteristic that crops up repeatedly is humility. A good leader will manage people, but a great one will serve them, inspiring great loyalty and output. Citing Disney’s often repeated slogan “gratitude improves attitude,” Ewing stresses that insightful leadership will be always be based on others, not oneself, reflecting the “necessary reciprocal relationship” between leaders and followers. Although some readers, particularly those who’ve had experience in corporate power structures, will raise an eyebrow at Ewing’s contention that humility is essential to really effective leadership (nearly all of the famous business leaders he name-checks are well-known to be ferocious despots to their subordinates), anyone encountering this book will be impressed not only by its thorough research—every page is buttressed with footnotes—but by its earnest presentation. There’s much food for thought here, particularly for middle managers aspiring to improve their work ethic.
A comprehensive, thought-provoking call for emphasizing the humanity in management.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5320-4001-6
Page Count: 202
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's...
A fresh, provocative analysis of the debate on education and employment.
Up-and-coming economist Moretti (Economics/Univ. of California, Berkeley) takes issue with the “[w]idespread misconception…that the problem of inequality in the United States is all about the gap between the top one percent and the remaining 99 percent.” The most important aspect of inequality today, he writes, is the widening gap between the 45 million workers with college degrees and the 80 million without—a difference he claims affects every area of peoples' lives. The college-educated part of the population underpins the growth of America's economy of innovation in life sciences, information technology, media and other areas of globally leading research work. Moretti studies the relationship among geographic concentration, innovation and workplace education levels to identify the direct and indirect benefits. He shows that this clustering favors the promotion of self-feeding processes of growth, directly affecting wage levels, both in the innovative industries as well as the sectors that service them. Indirect benefits also accrue from knowledge and other spillovers, which accompany clustering in innovation hubs. Moretti presents research-based evidence supporting his view that the public and private economic benefits of education and research are such that increased federal subsidies would more than pay for themselves. The author fears the development of geographic segregation and Balkanization along education lines if these issues of long-term economic benefits are left inadequately addressed.
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's more profound problems.Pub Date: May 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-547-75011-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
An informative and creatively multilayered Google guidebook from the businessman’s perspective.
Two distinguished technology executives share the methodology behind what made Google a global business leader.
Former Google CEO Schmidt (co-author: The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business, 2013) and former senior vice president of products Rosenberg share accumulated wisdom and business acumen from their early careers in technology, then later as management at the Internet search giant. Though little is particularly revelatory or unexpected, the companywide processes that have made Google a household name remain timely and relevant within today’s digitized culture. After several months at Google, the authors found it necessary to retool their management strategies by emphasizing employee culture, codifying company values, and rethinking the way staff is internally positioned in order to best compliment their efforts and potential. Their text places “Googlers” front and center as they adopted the business systems first implemented by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who stressed the importance of company-wide open communication. Schmidt and Rosenberg discuss the value of technological insights, Google’s effective “growth mindset” hiring practices, staff meeting maximization, email tips, and the company’s effective solutions to branding competition and product development complications. They also offer a condensed, two-page strategy checklist that serves as an apt blueprint for managers. At times, statements leak into self-congratulatory territory, as when Schmidt and Rosenberg insinuate that a majority of business plans are flawed and that the Google model is superior. Analogies focused on corporate retention and methods of maximizing Google’s historically impressive culture of “smart creatives” reflect the firm’s legacy of spinning intellect and creativity into Internet gold. The authors also demarcate legendary application missteps like “Wave” and “Buzz” while applauding the independent thinkers responsible for catapulting the company into the upper echelons of technological innovation.
An informative and creatively multilayered Google guidebook from the businessman’s perspective.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-1455582341
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Business Plus/Grand Central
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
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