by Howard Schultz with Joanne Gordon ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 29, 2011
An engaging account by a wealthy executive who sounds sincere and seems approachable.
With the assistance of former Forbes journalist Gordon (Closing the Engagement Gap, 2008, etc.), the CEO of Starbucks explains how he collaborated with a cast of thousands to rejuvenate a declining business.
In 2000, Schultz (Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, 1999) surrendered the CEO position but remained as chairman, focusing on spreading the coffee products to other nations, especially China. He was comfortable with his immediate successor, chosen from inside Starbucks, but the next CEO arrived from outside. Though Schultz liked him and respected his work ethic, the quality of the product and the service began to drop and the company’s financial growth stagnated. Alarmed, Schultz decided to return for a second act as CEO. In his first book, the author described the early years of the company, with a heavy emphasis on ideals. Here, he looks back occasionally at those earlier years, but mostly provides a chronological account of what happened from 2007 to 2010. The detail is immense, and the cast of characters can feel overwhelming. Overall, though, the chronological account contains enough revelations and suspense to keep readers engaged. Schultz does not dodge outside criticisms of his performance, nor does he eschew self-criticism. For many of its employees and customers, Starbucks is a sacred place that fills needs of connectedness and companionship. Schultz reprints correspondence from both employees and customers that demonstrate the special place that local Starbucks stores hold in the hearts and minds of so many. The author pledges to donate the book’s proceeds to support neighborhoods where stores are located and to provide financial relief to employees facing emergencies.
An engaging account by a wealthy executive who sounds sincere and seems approachable.Pub Date: March 29, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60529-288-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Rodale
Review Posted Online: Dec. 29, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2011
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by Howard Schultz with Dori Jones Yang
by Daniel Kahneman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2011
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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by Rebecca Henderson ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2020
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.
A well-constructed critique of an economic system that, by the author’s account, is a driver of the world’s destruction.
Harvard Business School professor Henderson vigorously questions the bromide that “management’s only duty is to maximize shareholder value,” a notion advanced by Milton Friedman and accepted uncritically in business schools ever since. By that logic, writes the author, there is no reason why corporations should not fish out the oceans, raise drug prices, militate against public education (since it costs tax money), and otherwise behave ruinously and anti-socially. Many do, even though an alternative theory of business organization argues that corporations and society should enjoy a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit, which includes corporate investment in what economists call public goods. Given that the history of humankind is “the story of our increasing ability to cooperate at larger and larger scales,” one would hope that in the face of environmental degradation and other threats, we might adopt the symbiotic model rather than the winner-take-all one. Problems abound, of course, including that of the “free rider,” the corporation that takes the benefits from collaborative agreements but does none of the work. Henderson examines case studies such as a large food company that emphasized environmentally responsible production and in turn built “purpose-led, sustainable living brands” and otherwise led the way in increasing shareholder value by reducing risk while building demand. The author argues that the “short-termism” that dominates corporate thinking needs to be adjusted to a longer view even though the larger problem might be better characterized as “failure of information.” Henderson closes with a set of prescriptions for bringing a more equitable economics to the personal level, one that, among other things, asks us to step outside routine—eat less meat, drive less—and become active in forcing corporations (and politicians) to be better citizens.
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5417-3015-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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