A debut book addresses specific fundamentals of achieving business relevancy.
“You must be relevant to make some money,” writes Copeland, who repeatedly makes the point by starting the Introduction, as well as every chapter, with this very same sentence. It’s a technique that is, well, relevant to the tenor of the book, which identifies fundamentals that business leaders must concentrate on to succeed. Dividing the book into such stimulating topics as mega trends, competitive advantage, ethical considerations, risk management, and interdependent leadership, the author describes each area thoroughly yet succinctly. The text is augmented by several pertinent case studies that illustrate the topics, though some of the subject companies, such as Apple, FedEx, Ikea, and Salesforce, have been frequently written about before. Every section is thought-provoking, but one of the more compelling areas (covered in two chapters) is innovation. Here, Copeland delves into the process, distinguishing between “incremental” and “radical” innovation. He discusses rapid execution innovation, clusters of innovation, and open innovation; he describes innovative organizations; he identifies both “innovator attributes” and “organizational attributes.” All of this is fascinating stuff. Another key subject area included in the well-crafted book is mobile technology, which Copeland calls “one of the most pervasive information technology trends in the past 20 years.” While some of this portion of the text borders on the too technical, the material, in particular the “mobile commerce landscape,” is generally of vital importance to any modern-day business. The detailed case analysis of how former cellular phone leader Nokia lost its prominence in the mobile market makes for intriguing, if sobering, reading. At times, Copeland’s writing style is a bit academic and dry, but this minor deficiency does not diminish the essential nature of the content. Conspicuously absent, however, are notes, reference sources, suggested reading, and an author’s biography.
Extremely well organized and written with a keen observational eye; makes a strong case for business leaders to increase their awareness of key strategic areas and hone skills that can make their companies significant and profitable.Pub Date: Nov. 24, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9982704-0-1
Page Count: 182
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
Did you like this book?
Noted jazz and pop record producer Thiele offers a chatty autobiography. Aided by record-business colleague Golden, Thiele traces his career from his start as a ``pubescent, novice jazz record producer'' in the 1940s through the '50s, when he headed Coral, Dot, and Roulette Records, and the '60s, when he worked for ABC and ran the famous Impulse! jazz label. At Coral, Thiele championed the work of ``hillbilly'' singer Buddy Holly, although the only sessions he produced with Holly were marred by saccharine strings. The producer specialized in more mainstream popsters like the irrepressibly perky Teresa Brewer (who later became his fourth wife) and the bubble-machine muzak-meister Lawrence Welk. At Dot, Thiele was instrumental in recording Jack Kerouac's famous beat- generation ramblings to jazz accompaniment (recordings that Dot's president found ``pornographic''), while also overseeing a steady stream of pop hits. He then moved to the Mafia-controlled Roulette label, where he observed the ``silk-suited, pinky-ringed'' entourage who frequented the label's offices. Incredibly, however, Thiele remembers the famously hard-nosed Morris Levy, who ran the label and was eventually convicted of extortion, as ``one of the kindest, most warm-hearted, and classiest music men I have ever known.'' At ABC/Impulse!, Thiele oversaw the classic recordings of John Coltrane, although he is the first to admit that Coltrane essentially produced his own sessions. Like many producers of the day, Thiele participated in the ownership of publishing rights to some of the songs he recorded; he makes no apology for this practice, which he calls ``entirely appropriate and without any ethical conflicts.'' A pleasant, if not exactly riveting, memoir that will be of most interest to those with a thirst for cocktail-hour stories of the record biz. (25 halftones, not seen)
Pub Date: May 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-19-508629-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
Did you like this book?
A light-speed tour of (mostly) Western poetry, from the 4,000-year-old Gilgamesh to the work of Australian poet Les Murray, who died in 2019.
In the latest entry in the publisher’s Little Histories series, Carey, an emeritus professor at Oxford whose books include What Good Are the Arts? and The Unexpected Professor: An Oxford Life in Books, offers a quick definition of poetry—“relates to language as music relates to noise. It is language made special”—before diving in to poetry’s vast history. In most chapters, the author deals with only a few writers, but as the narrative progresses, he finds himself forced to deal with far more than a handful. In his chapter on 20th-century political poets, for example, he talks about 14 writers in seven pages. Carey displays a determination to inform us about who the best poets were—and what their best poems were. The word “greatest” appears continually; Chaucer was “the greatest medieval English poet,” and Langston Hughes was “the greatest male poet” of the Harlem Renaissance. For readers who need a refresher—or suggestions for the nightstand—Carey provides the best-known names and the most celebrated poems, including Paradise Lost (about which the author has written extensively), “Kubla Khan,” “Ozymandias,” “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads, which “changed the course of English poetry.” Carey explains some poetic technique (Hopkins’ “sprung rhythm”) and pauses occasionally to provide autobiographical tidbits—e.g., John Masefield, who wrote the famous “Sea Fever,” “hated the sea.” We learn, as well, about the sexuality of some poets (Auden was bisexual), and, especially later on, Carey discusses the demons that drove some of them, Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath among them. Refreshingly, he includes many women in the volume—all the way back to Sappho—and has especially kind words for Marianne Moore and Elizabeth Bishop, who share a chapter.
Necessarily swift and adumbrative as well as inclusive, focused, and graceful.Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-300-23222-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Yale Univ.
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Categories: GENERAL NONFICTION
Did you like this book?
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2020 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
