Business Books

Corporate America is a refreshing book desperately needed in the business profession, where morals and faith often take a back-seat to success and greed. Corporate America is a must read, especially for anyone in the business world. Whether you are new in your Christian faith, been a Christian for many years or know nothing about Christianity, all can benefit from reading this enriching book. In this quick read the author breaks down each chapter into a different aspect of how the Christian faith can be lived out in a business sense. The author, although a young businessman uses many good illustrations showing the parallels and contrasts between the corporate world and the Christian faith. The author, through his genuine humble approach, does not claim to be some great scholar, but it becomes evident that his intentions in writing the book are pure: that people may grow in their faith.

This book is definitely a good read. Not only does the author discuss different aspects of the business world, but he also ties them in to Christian values and principles. This book is an excellent source for anyone who wants to attain good, moral values. The author ties in many different stories of the business world that he personally encountered to different passages of scripture and Christian teachings. Although the author is a firm believer in the Bible, he successfully teaches the principles that are taught in the Bible. The author displays a sense of humility as well by claiming that he sometimes doesn't "practice what he preaches." However, that shows that he does not claim to be a perfect individual, rather an ordinary guy who values what is good. Overall, this book is a must-read and is a good reminder of what strong, moral values are.

This book is definitely a good read. Not only does the author discuss different aspects of the business world, but he also ties them in to Christian values and principles. This book is an excellent source for anyone who wants to attain good, moral values. The author ties in many different stories of the business world that he personally encountered to different passages of scripture and Christian teachings. Although the author is a firm believer in the Bible, he successfully teaches the principles that are taught in the Bible. The author displays a sense of humility as well by claiming that he sometimes doesn't "practice what he preaches." However, that shows that he does not claim to be a perfect individual, rather an ordinary guy who values what is good. Overall, this book is a must-read and is a good reminder of what strong, moral values are.

This book is definitely a good read. Not only does the author discuss different aspects of the business world, but he also ties them in to Christian values and principles. This book is an excellent source for anyone who wants to attain good, moral values. The author ties in many different stories of the business world that he personally encountered to different passages of scripture and Christian teachings. Although the author is a firm believer in the Bible, he successfully teaches the principles that are taught in the Bible. The author displays a sense of humility as well by claiming that he sometimes doesn't "practice what he preaches." However, that shows that he does not claim to be a perfect individual, rather an ordinary guy who values what is good. Overall, this book is a must-read and is a good reminder of what strong, moral values are.

This book is definitely a good read. Not only does the author discuss different aspects of the business world, but he also ties them in to Christian values and principles. This book is an excellent source for anyone who wants to attain good, moral values. The author ties in many different stories of the business world that he personally encountered to different passages of scripture and Christian teachings. Although the author is a firm believer in the Bible, he successfully teaches the principles that are taught in the Bible. The author displays a sense of humility as well by claiming that he sometimes doesn't "practice what he preaches." However, that shows that he does not claim to be a perfect individual, rather an ordinary guy who values what is good. Overall, this book is a must-read and is a good reminder of what strong, moral values are.

I love this book. I finally feel like there are actually liked minded people out there! Great insight.

I picked this up to see if I could draw a bead on some aspects of my bipolar disorder. When I bought it, I already had learned steps to control my illness and it had mostly vanished. I had been devastatingly sick for 8 years and increasingly well for about 2 when I found this book. I was not satisfied that I'd looked under every rock for info to heal myself fully. This book turned out to be a HUGE missing piece!

First, let me say, it's NOT a book about bipolar or mental illness but it applies to many of us in these categories by default. Not all of us but some. I was one. I am someone who believes my handling or mishandling of life and my mind is what partially led to my profound illness taking root. I thought this before I found Garrett's book. But he comfirmed it for me on a whole new level I'd never considered.

He also confirmed other bits of science and psychology I'd found elsewhere and adopted as my own. This sort of third party unrelated cross backing of ideas excited me! He confirmed much of what I intuited or had heard or read elsewhere about why some of us melt down mentally.

Some of his material is sort of deep and mystical in feel and you have to have a certain amount of understanding within you about yourself to really climb onboard. Other facts he brings up are solid science but really farout stuff, nonetheless. But I love when a scientist vouches for my trippier thoughts or clarifies with hard data what I only feel to be true.

It's this simple. If you're dissatisfied with life but know you're made of a different thread than most around you, then buy this book. Like me, you possibly just need better guidance to crack through to a level you're right on the edge of but don't know it.

My family members read this book and confirmed that Garrett had absolutely pegged people like me. It's as if he personally interviewed me to write this book. There was almost no page that did not apply to me.

If you're the risk taking, adventurous sort; if you find what most feel is comfortable to be annoying as hell; if you have set higher standards for yourself but can't seem to find how to fulfill them, then buy this book!

That's what it felt like as I read Garrett's book...it felt like somebody had stolen my identity, my life story, and published it in a book. Talk about hitting the nail on the head!

If you've ever been told you're ADD/ADHD, you NEED this book. There's no other way around it. If you don't have this book, you're going to struggle and you're going to flounder, because society just doesn't understand us. They don't understand why we are the way we are and why we do the things we do.

Pick this book up today and read it. Most likely in one setting. That's what I did!

Stephen

We have been struggling to understand why our son does what he does and what we do that can either helps or hurts him. This book has helped me make the most progress towards understanding him. It is hard to begin with understanding teenagers due to their typical behavior patterns. Is this ADD, hyperfocus, risky teenage behavior or is it something else? I did not come up with what my heart told me was the right answer. We went to a behavior modification expert and his method suggested that if you set up efficient and real world punishments and rewards that the behavior would change. It did not and I abandonded the advice after a six month trial. I know now that this is probably the worst thing you can do to a Da Vinci. Then came the "get in touch with your feelings and express them" method. This works a lot better and it is actually part of the Da Vinci method. Still not the answer though as both brilliant story and song writing was interspersed with other ADD like symptoms; failing to turn in homework, lower grades and lack of focus on anything he didn't want to do. This led to trying to understand the reasons behind ADD.

How is ADD a "disability" if Einstein, Steve Jobs and many other great people had it? This is the premise of the Da Vinci Method. ADD and the other neurotic behaviors are symptoms of an out of balance and frustrated Da Vinci. ALL Da Vinci's struggle. If they are in tune with their life's purpose and living that out, then a Da Vinci can become one of the greats on the list. If they are not, then they are struggling with ADD, depression, drugs, alcohol and the rest of the possible suspects in an attempt to deal with the feeling that they are wasting time and therefore their life doing what they are doing. Truth is, they probably are.

I believe that this book is one of the great books of our time. It deserves to be read and discussed in many families who feel like they are dealing with a brilliant kid who they see may be getting off track. If what you have been doing isn't working (Nothing is changing) or you feel like drugs are not the answer, then read this book.

Helped me immensely in just recognising I was different and why I was different and most importantly ceasing to be ashamed that I could not believe and act like all the sheep. It is a bit "popular psycholgy" and loses the thread after the first 96 pages but I found it more helpful than just about anything else I have read.

I love starting the day with this, eveyone wants my old ones when I finish. I think Dilbert seems to relate to every office.

This daily comic helps to relieve the stress and tension in my office. Scott seems to have his finger firmly planted on the pulse of corporate America with Dilbert, Asok, the "pointy-haired guy", Dogbert the evil HR guy, Catbert and more. If you need a therapeutic laugh to make it through your sometimes insane days at work, this is the calendar for you.

You'd think Scott Adams would run out of material. Sadly, today's workplace seems to provide plenty of fodder. Good calendar.

i look forward to getting to the office a little early, tearing off yesterday's sheet, reading today's calendar sheet, and laughing out loud. i use the old sheets to write notes for colleagues (instead of stick-it notes), which usually are apropros to the office goings on that day. i love adams' creativity - the ironies and utter stupidity are something that we all can really relate to at work! for the amount of laughter that this calendar has given me and my colleagues, it was well worth the price and i'm destined to purchase it again next year!

I've had this on my desk the last 3 or so years. This time around I ordered the desk diary by mistake.
I tried to persuade myself that I could use that one, and do without the daily, but I caved in, and ordered this again. Makes the working day get off to a routinely funny start, always a chuckle. A great gift too.

I can't fault it.

I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Jenkins at a conference in Portland,Oregon last August, and his book and his talk made an immediate and lasting impact on how I viewed organizational needs. I have used one quote over and over as I have worked with my retired teachers organization. "Individuals and organizations that continuously change are the ones who experience lasting success." I am 73 years old and I know that we must view change as a positive and explore new possibilities if we and our organizations are to prosper. "We have always done it that way" is not an option. I have shared my book with others and now find it has disappeared, but I will find another copy someplace - it is a "keeper."

This book should be required reading for all teenagers, and any adult going through personal or work-related upheaval would also benefit tremendously. It contains lucidly crafted, accessible principles that do much more than state the obvious home truths expounded in most such books. I am now circulating my copy among the "survivors": my newly formed team, created after a painful and protracted process of "right-sizing" and re-organization. I believe it will help us as a group to create afresh and avoid the predispositions, mindsets and mistakes of our predecessors. To the author : THANK YOU!

A simple but excellent way to remind that change is evident, and dealing with change can and will cause one to reflect on the inner self and admit strengths can also be weaknesses. It was great to be reminded that teamwork is so very necessary in all success whether professional or personal.

This book focuses on two issues that are crucial to relationships, working and personal, in today's society. The principles of worth and trust are key in any relationship, and as I read the book and reflected over previous experiences, I realized that, more often than not, the problems began because I was missing these two aspects. The Eagle & the Monk presents these and other principles in a simple, yet not childish manner. I found the questions at the back of the book especially helpful in focusing on the areas in which I personally need improvement. I think that everyone can find at least one of these principles in which they are deficient. The book helps readers recognize and address these problems.

E&M provides an innovative approach to an important topic. Easy to read and thoughtful in guiding content discussion, this book will be a particularly welcome change for students interested in leadership.

You will be surprised by this book. Economics will be so much easier to understand. If my economics teachers required everyone to read this book instead of the textbooks we were given it would have been a better class and more students would have really learned economics.

He explains through example that nothing in life is free.

Henry Hazlitt is best known for this brilliant work, one of the most concise and persuasive defenses of the free market ever written. One reason why socialism and statism appeal to the common man is that government actions are immediate and dramatic: they give the impression that something is being done about a specific problem or crisis. To show that government intervention in the economy isn't wise, one must "look not merely at the immediate but at the longer effect of any act or policy; one must trace the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups."

Hazlitt proceeds to apply the above lesson to numerous government actions. By drawing the reader's attention to the unseen effects, the failure of socialism is exposed. Take for example government "jobs programs." If the government employs 500 people, one might think that government has "created" 500 jobs. However, government had to tax its citizens to fund these jobs. Had the money been left in the hands of taxpayers, their spending would have resulted in an equivalent number of employed individuals. Government didn't "create" jobs - it merely destroyed jobs in the private sector. On issue after issue, Hazlitt demonstrates that government intervention in the economy fails to achieve its stated goals (although its real goal - an increase in government power - is always achieved). In addition, many basic economic falicies are refuted, such as "machines destroy jobs," and workers need "to earn enough money to buy back the products."

If you are new to the study of economics, don't stop here. Be sure to read Rothbard's "Man, Economy and State"; Von Mises' "Human Action"; and Reisman's "Capitalism." They are the twentieth century's "big three" works in economics.

This is a great introduction to economics that ranks up there with Hayek's "Road to Serfdom".

the joy - the joy! this book opened my eyes to the wonderful world of economic thinking, especially socalled political economy. this book, using insights of the austrian school of economics, totally debunks the great myths of the social democratic economic policies, showing them to be utterly destructive and almost always counterproductive, even from the eyes of those advocating the policies. in this line of thinking hazlitt echoes the great genius ludwig von mises who with rigorous logical arguments set out to prove that economic interventionism (or what we today refer to as the mixed economy) can not work.

hazlitts book is inspired by the proto-austrian thinker frederic bastiat (ca. 1800 - 1850) and his famous essay 'what is seen and what is not seen' - the essence being that any good economic policy should always take account of the long term effects on every group within society and not only the short term effects on some special interest group.

after finishing this really easy to read introduction to economic reasoning you should continue with the just as easy to understand 'economics for real people' by gene callahan as well as the essay collection 'planning for freedom' by mises.

Henry Hazlet's "Economics in One Lesson", makes a powerful and persuasive argument in favor of a free market economy. Written in a very lucid style "Economics in One Lesson" makes the usually dry subject of economics easily understandable and a pleasure to read. Hazlitt doesn't obfuscate the truth with cumbersome graphs and math. For non-economists like my self it makes a great introductory book to the subject. Even though the book was published in 1946, the topics covered by Hazlitt are still pertinent and examine issues that still confound us more than 50 years later. Chapters include inflation, tariffs, taxation, price fixing, labor unions, savings, and the importance of profits, rent control, and more.

As a retired Army officer and student of political philosophy, I found "Economics in One Lesson" a great book for anyone who wants to understand basic economic theory.

Without succumbing to ambiguous metaphors or descriptive processes, Dr. Kaner and his co-authors capture the nuts and bolts of relevant, useful facilitation skills. In clear, understandable language, he makes the concepts of this book available to newbies and the experienced alike. His diamond of group dynamics and linear diagram of the gradients of agreement are common sense approaches that allow groups to understand themselves. I have both used and recommended this book to hundreds of my peers as well as clients in many social sectors.

I am a project manager that works closely with various stakeholders for solutions to business solutions and IT solutions. Many times I found it extremely hard to have people focus on needs instead of their wants. By using the different methods alternatively, it is relatively easy for me to explore what people's interests are, instead of what they want.

In mentoring Project Managers, Agile Coaches, and Scrum Masters about the need to be facilitative, objective, and team-oriented, I have always recommended this book as a MUST READ. In fact, this book changed my work in the technical world of software development. Through Sam Kaner's very clear view of what good facilitators do to help teams move through the "Groan Zone", I found great depth in exercises and techniques for drawing out the true wisdom of software teams. The result is that I have relied upon these brainstorming, prioritizing, conflict management, and other divergence/convergence practices for creating great software organizations worldwide. It was a great resource for my own book Collaboration Explained: Facilitation Skills for Software Project Leaders (The Agile Software Development Series). And, as I continue to conduct training in agile team work or help organizations adopt a very participatory decision style for software development teams, I always recommend Kaner's book. Its approach and conviction around team power also plays wonderfully into the Lean concepts of "Empower the team" and "Amplify Learning". Facilitative leaders in software really can empower their teams and amplify their learning following Kaner's advice. Buy it!

This book is a key resource for me when designing a facilitation session. It is a much depended on resource that has guided me through some challengeing situations. The section on Building Sustainable Agreements is full of wonderful techniques to help groups meet their goals. I have to mention the "Gradients of Agreement", this is an amazing tool for gaining group consensus. The Dynamics of Group Decision making is foundational knowledge for any facilitator. When I talk to groups about this they can really relate to the "Groan Zone".

Regardless of your role, after reading The Facilitator's Guide your perspective on how to get the most out of group participation will be changed forever. Never again do you have to walk into a meeting unsure of what will be accomplished or whether the outcomes will be met. Using the tools provided (i.e. creating effective agendas, chartwriting, building sustainable agreements, and meeting closure), along with understanding how to apply the principles and values of participatory decision-making (i.e. full participation, mutual understanding, inclusive solutions, and shared responsibility) will completely energize both you and those you are working with. The material within this book is foundational to my own consulting practice, and clients rave about its usefulness, ease-of-understanding, and immediate application to their current situation. Regardless of what group dynamic you are dealing with, this book offers solid, effective, and transforming methods to re-vitalize the situation. After reading this book, words such as collaboration and partnering will take on new meaning in actionable ways. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to those within organizations wanting to more effectively involve and engage their employees.

Katherine A. Hart, EdD, Principal Consultant of KA Hart & Associates, BAodn Board Member, and ODN member

Michael Donaldson provides a clear, concise, and understandable pathway through the complex labyrinth known as "negotiating." He calls his method "wish, want, walk" and throughout the book he brings his points back to that simple three-word concept. Interspersed among the chapters are pithy statements that go beyond traditional business advice, and elevate this to a book about how to improve negotiations in all aspects of your life. Definitely worth reading - several times!

Well written. A quick and understandable read. Most valuable to me was the "walk point" information. Not simplistic, but very do-able. I would recommend it for the reader who wants to take the angst out of the exchange.

Donaldson makes it easy to negotiate in al kinds of situations from family to business. After his book there is no reason to hesitate your next negotiation. It will be so much fun to win without making the other side feel like they have lost that you'll keep looking for new ways to use this info.

Fearless Negotiating forevermore disproves Woody Allen's observation that "90% of life is just showing up." I particularly appreciated the chapter on closing the deal where Michael Donaldson discusses a negotiation where the two sides absolutely wouldn't budge on a final point. The Donaldson method for organizing priorities is a sound and sure way to prepare for any sort of negotiation and to avoid losing it in the last fifteen minutes.

Fearless Negotiating by Michael Donaldson is a fairly one-dimensional book on the topic of negotiating and may have very little practical benefits to those in the business world that buy and sell for a living. As a seasoned negotiator, I recognize the "Wish-Want-Walk" method as nothing more than a negotaitor's Opening Position, Goal, and Bottom Line -- what is commonly know as the negotiation bracket. While I agree that defining one's wish-want-walk is critical to the success of any negotiation, this single aspect is over dramatized at the expense of many other crticial strategies and tactics that are critical to achieving success when negotiating.

I bought this book for the CD. Most of the Elektra catalog is out of print and was never re-released on CD. The CD is great, though I would have liked more international folk music. There's only one foreign language song on the disc. The book itself turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. While I am only about one fifth of the way through it, I'm finding the story of Elektra Records fascinating. I didn't realize (or, more likely had forgotten - you know what they say about the 60s) how many big names in rock got their start there. A great read about the little record company that could.

Great book for those that enjoy the inner workings of a record label,its history and the people that made it happen.If you dig musicology this book is a must read.

I have read my share of music industry books and this is by far the best one. And what is inspiring is that you do can make good business in this industry and still keep your integrity, just follow Jac Holzmann's example describe in this book. Awesome read!

One of the best books on the music industry I have ever read. When you read a book about a band or artist, or about an era in music or whatever, what you mostly want is to feel like you were there at the time these people were recording and gigging and just being bands. Follow the Music gives you a first-class seat in Elektra's offices, at its artists' concerts, in rehearsal spaces, in restaurants where biz wheeling and dealing is done . . . You come away knowing Jac Holzman underpaid his staffers and artists, but that he genuinely cared about the quality of music his label put out, and about artists' integrity. I wish there had been as much on Arthur Lee and Love as there is on the Doors, but then the Doors were Elektra's biggest-selling act, so I guess it makes sense that they get the most ink in the book. I also didn't like the way the sections on the MC5 and the Stooges - two of the most important bands in the history of rock - are so short, while the one on Carly Simon is so long. But that's because I like the MC5, love the Stooges and wish Carly Simon would go away. But these are quibbles. I loved the book. How much did I love the book? I don't even like the Doors, save for 5 or 6 of their songs, yet I drank in every word about them, and went back and listened to their debut and L.A. Woman because the chapters on those two albums were so moving.

This is a must read for music fans! There is something for nearly everyone here: The story of the founding and growth of Elektra Records (how an energetic young man, Jac Holzman, with a few hundred dollars, good musical taste and a ton of ideas could actually start a thriving record company). The history of many early folk music performers such as Theodore Bikel, Judy Collins, Jean Richie and many others. The story of the creation of Nonesuch Records (a low-cost Classical division). The history of many Rock performers (including Jim Morrison of the Doors). There is even enough technical info about early recording, studio design and Dolby units to satisfy a tech geek (such as myself)! The image conjured up of a young Holzman setting out with a Magnacord P-6 recorder strapped to his Vespa scooter, to record folk music performances in NYC really conveys the "shoestring" attributes of Elektra Records in the early days. At the other end of the scale, the design of studio "B" was perhaps representative of the "excesses " of the rock era.

The copy of this book that I got from Amazon included a "bonus" CD that contains many tracks of early Ekektra performers that have not been re-released on CD. To me, this CD was worth the price & the book was essentially "free"!

It is sad that only a few recordings from the early Elektra "folk period" have been re-issued on CD. This situation is starting to improve, (see my other reviews for some early Elektra folk "gems" that I have found on CD).

I have purchased and gifted this book over 20 times; mostly to young adult leaders. The central theme is that each and every one of us has leadership potential. Our job as adult leaders who work with youth is to make sure young adults are given the opportunity to grow as positive, productive citizens. The Jesuit model Lowney presents in this book was the perfect model 450 years ago and is just as relevant, if not more so, today. The examples of Jesuits and their accomplishments are very compelling. A wonderful read for anyone who thinks one person can't make a difference. This will change their mind.

I first read this book about a year ago when participating in a class on understanding the Jesuit heritage of my place of work. I re-read it on the plane a couple of days ago returning from an overseas location where we recently established a program. The first time around I thought it was wonderful; re-reading it, I found it both wonderful and also profoundly relevant to our new enterprise.

Lowney takes as his thesis the idea that the same precepts that have animated the success of the Jesuit order can likewise inspire personal and business accomplishment. I have to say he has me convinced. He boils down concepts - like Cura Personalis, Magis, and Ad majorem dei gloriam - that will be familiar to those who attended Jesuit schools to what he describes as the four integrated "pillars" of leadership: Self-awareness, Ingenuity, Love and Heroism. He then uses the history of the Jesuit order to demonstrate how, through application of the four pillars, the Society of Jesus grew from a motley band of 10 likeminded University students of different nationalities, with no agenda beyond doing work "to help souls," to become arguably the most successful and influential Catholic religious order.

Lowney's work is not without controversy, especially his contention that the Jesuit's' leadership lessons can be replicated minus their overtly religious agenda. No doubt the order's founder, Inigo (Latinized to Ignatius) of Loyola - for whom doing it "for the glory of God" was all that mattered - would disapprove. However secular research would suggest that the 16th century Basque had some very profound insights that have application beyond turning back the tide of the Reformation and making converts worldwide. I have to say I find Ignatius to be an intensely attractive character, not least because he advocated active engagement in the world, not withdrawal from it. Here's a guy who for most his life just can't get it quite right - and who along the way experiences some incredible reverses - but who never stops trying to perfect his muddled thinking. He just keeps plugging away until it starts to become clear. And it turns out that it's his very lack of success that leads to his deepest insight: that an intensive regimen of active self-reflection will help him make better decisions.

What resonated with me during my most recent reading was how the Jesuit order faced the daunting task of preserving their purpose in remote lands among peoples with unfamiliar traditions - the same challenge facing my organization. Lowney provides many examples of how the Jesuits succeeded at that task. The training that the novice Jesuit undergoes involves frank self-examination, the letting go of attachments (the concept of "indifference" or the freedom to choose any course of action unencumbered by ingrained habits and prejudices), while learning, through active and repeated self-reflection, to validate one's own instincts to action. This creates a confident, prepared and self-reliant individual, eager to embrace life's challenges. In addition, the Jesuits teach a methodology for self-reflection - the Spiritual Exercises and the Examen - that can be used (the Examen everyday) to reinforce their initial training. Their selection process is tough - they take only the best and most purposeful. Those who are selected are encouraged to innovate and shown how love adds passion and purpose to the pursuit of heroic ambitions. The result, says Lowney, is an organization that can adapt easily to radically different circumstances while preserving it's core values (the same "preserve the core, stimulate progress" that Built to Last author Jim Collins sees as the hallmark of companies of enduring greatness).

At times during my visit to our new overseas location I found myself wondering if our task was just too daunting, the culture just too alien, to hope to transplant our unique brand. After reading how the Jesuits managed it, I feel more confident than ever that my organization can do likewise and should do likewise - not shrinking from full-out engagement - through the innovative application of our fundamental values to this new environment. Thanks Chris, and Inigo, for the reinvigorating lesson!

An excellent book on leadership development. It contains a lot of information and skills that are essential for leaders at all levels. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve self-development and self-awareness. Parents can utilize this book on their children's personal development.

Author Chris Lowney turned in his Jesuit name badge on a Friday. On Monday, he clocked in at J.P. Morgan. Named a managing director of this huge investment banking firm while still in his 30s, he held senior positions with them in New York, Tokyo, Singapore and London.

Bemused and amused by the proliferation of leadership lesson books (Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, to name just one), Lowney responded. "I was intrigued by what sixteenth-century priests might teach us twenty-first century sophisticates about leadership and about coping with complex, changing environments." He adds, "What often passes for leadership today is a shallow substitution of technique for substance."

I know. I know. I recommend a "must-read" book often. But, this one really is a five-star must-read. "Obedience issues in an uninterrupted life of heroic deeds and heroic virtues," writes Lowney. When's the last time you rubbed shoulders with a truly heroic leader?

The Company of Jesus (the Jesuits) was founded in 1540 by "ten men with no capital and no business plan." Yet within a generation, they built the world's most influential company of its kind. In 10 years, with no experience, they launched 30 colleges. "Instead of talking about leadership, they lived it." Founder Ignatius Loyola trained every recruit to lead. Jesuits believe that self-leadership emanates from four unique values: 1) self-awareness, 2) ingenuity, 3) love, and 4) heroism.

If you salivate at the chance to lead people through complexity, build global teams, control out-of-control growth, mediate turf battles, cultivate wealthy donors, and enforce rigorous hiring standards--you'll feast on this gourmet book. Chris Lowney's real world experience keeps it honest. His delicious and dry wit embarrassed me multiple times last week while reading on airplane trips. The laugh-out-loud moments were frequent!

The subtitle of this book is "Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company that Changed the World." Indeed, we can learn a lot from the practices of the Jesuits. Even though they were and continue to be theological competitors with those of an evangelical faith, the Jesuits provide a leadership model that is in contrast to many Protestant organizations.

The Jesuits rose to worldwide influence within a generation from their "no great leader" organizational practice. Whereas evangelicalism is often built around singular personalities and monolithic structures formed to achieve one man's vision, the Jesuits attempted to build all of their recruits into great leaders who, in turn, swarmed the world. That is the singular refreshing lesson that evangelicals can gain from the study of this book.

However, what is disturbing about the book is the inability of its author, or the Jesuits whom he cites, to grasp the biblical message of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. With a works-based salvation the Jesuits were - and still are - about moralizing the world with biblical principles rather than affording individuals the New Testament teaching of the free gift of new life in Christ - and the power to live the Christian life - by receiving Christ as Lord and Savior through faith alone.

This is a fantastic book, though it's more of a global history lesson than a lesson in entrepreneurship. Monique Maddy covers the history of Liberia in depth and in less depth the history of several other African countries. She talks about economic development and the failures of the UN, IFC and World Bank. She is clearly an advocate for economic development via private investment. Her perspective is shaped by growing up in an exemplary company town. It was part of a mining project in Liberia sponsored by a joint venture named LAMCO. The project had a social development component that both supported the mining company by developing employees, and supported the citizens by developing them. The book is significantly a biography of Maddy herself and how she came to start her venture. That core of the book is surrounded by chapters that describe her efforts to start a pan-African telecommunications company- Adesemi - and its ultimate demise.

Maddy writes a warm, but penitrating review of the life of her family, as well as the nation of Liberia.

She gives great insight into the exploitation of Africa by the west. She makes recommendations that companies and individuals should heed as they work in this great continent.

Her writing style is easy to read, and very to the point.

REVIEW BY IAN MOUNT
www.ghanaweb.com: Business News of Monday, 1 October 2001

The Last Place to Start a Company
Monique Maddy tried and failed to launch a telephone service in Africa. She's moving on. Africa isn't.

Three short years ago, Monique Maddy was boasting that her company was going to "change people's lives" and "revolutionize things." Adesemi, the wireless pay-phone company she founded in 1993, had raised $37 million dollars, built a network in Tanzania, and moved into Ghana, and was planning to expand its service to the Ivory Coast. Maddy was the new face of African business. A Wall Street Journal article in September 1998 even proclaimed, "If the disenfranchised of Africa ever join the global economy, it won't be diplomats, politicians, or church people leading the way. It will be entrepreneurs like Monique Maddy."

It hasn't turned out that way. Maddy walked away from her company in disgust in the fall of '99. Her story is a familiar one, full of the government corruption that has become an African clichi, but the 39-year-old Maddy doesn't blame her company's demise on the bribery requests or Kafkaesque red tape. For the Liberian native, who's writing a book about third-world entrepreneurship to be published by HarperCollins next year, the real reason for Adesemi's failure and Africa's continental mire can be traced to the international development agencies that are designed to help the region. "Africa is worse off today -- in many countries -- than it was at independence, even though billions and billions have been spent," says Maddy, who herself served for five years as a United Nations Development Program officer. "As long as you have these kinds of institutions, you won't have any change."

Take Maddy's experience getting a pay-phone license. In mid-1995, a year after the Tanzanian national phone company granted Adesemi the license (and Adesemi had spent $1.5 million on its network), the phone company president said that it was no good because Adesemi's pay phones were wireless. Only after an acquaintance at the Harvard Business School, her alma mater, put her in touch with World Bank president James Wolfensohn did the matter get settled. The World Bank pushed the government just so far, however. The phone company insisted on charging Adesemi inflated rates to use its infrastructure. "When we asked the World Bank to do something about the rates, they said they couldn't tell the government what to do -- but they could lend them millions of dollars," says Maddy, referring to a $75 million interest-free loan the World Bank made to the national phone company. "They had a conflict of interest," she says.

Still, Adesemi kept at it, eventually building its network up to 600 pay phones and a pager service with 5,000 customers. The sell was easy, Maddy says, because Adesemi's phones actually functioned (the street nickname for the system was "the phones that work," she says).

When an Adesemi backer, CDC Capital Partners, refused to invest more money for the company's expansion into what Maddy argued were more profitable markets -- it wanted to see profitability in Tanzania first, despite the stacked odds -- she finally gave up. Maddy, who now lives in Boston, hasn't been to Tanzania since; her investors are selling off the network.

Not surprisingly, Maddy says her book will call for a radical departure from a system based on an international aid bureaucracy. "You basically have bureaucrats trying to develop countries," she says. "How many bureaucrats started Microsoft?"
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Source: Ian Mount

As I read this book I couldn't help but notice how similar Monique's tale is to the story of Africa. She weaves us through a maze of emotions as we feel her joy, hope, determination only to be suddenly brought to earth with frustration, anger, desparation.

For anyone ever been to Africa rarely has a book come along that so perfectly captures the daily difficulties of survival in Africa. Though tongue-in-cheek Monique certainly understands clearly the difficulties facing that part of the world and I would hazard we'll be hearing more from her on this subject.

Oh by the way did I mention that she became a World Class marathon runner in her spare time?

As someone who grew up overseas much like Monique, i deeply admire how she chose to use her acquired skills and network to give back to a continent in dire need of what rare individuals like her have to offer.

The book is enjoyable to read and deeply inspiring to anyone interested in contributing to third world development.