Selasa, 15 Mei 2012

Book Review of Outliers - The Story of Success

BooksRoundup.Blogspot.Com - Success, a word we all love to embrace, chant and yearn. We search for it at workplace, in our personal lives and everywhere we could possibly imagine. We also know success is a culmination of relentless determination, passion and hard work, but still we fail to understand it. However, most of the times we seek out for success without much effort, as though it was a pill which can be popped whenever one wished to be successful.

Book Review of Outliers - The Story of Success - Wouldn’t it make you wonder, if someone told you that success is very much achievable provided you work hard on a daily basis, and identify the opportunities life presents us? Malcolm Gladwell throws light on similar note in his recent book “Outliers”, wherein he shares his hypothesis on the number of hours one has to spend before mastering any activity.

The book brings forth real life stories of ordinary people, who with unceasing commitment became extra-ordinary. According to his book which is based on a research which states that the sooner you complete 10,000 hours, the sooner you become a master at that activity, precisely meaning successful. If you do the math then it rounds up to an average of three hours a day for approximately 10 years, sounds incredible doesn’t it, but the author has stories to prove it. Gladwell emphasizes on the fact that obsessive practice makes any person good at what they wish to pursue.

He takes “The Beatles”, Bill Gates as his real life examples, to prove the stupendous amount of time they spent before becoming world class. Especially in the case of Bill Gates, the author says he had a computer when the world didn’t even know what it actually was. Had he not put his nose in it and became damn good at it, none would have known about Microsoft ever at all. The theory of Power Distance Index (PDI) is an intriguing chapter which describes the willingness to communicate within a paradigm of hierarchy. This proved the miscommunication in airplanes where crew members are at different levels of hierarchy. Thus leading to several airplane crashes.

The discussion about how people tend to give up on Math when they can’t arrive at solution instantly is a story that would make you smile, especially if you ever gave up on math in your life. Cultured cultivation is yet another interesting chapter wherein Malcolm shares his ideologies on culture. He describes cultured cultivation as the difference in the way middle class and lower middle class raise their children.

Malcolm’s narration is very subjective, but he supports every word with reliable data and reasons, never making one feel rhetorical. The author enlightens his readers by throwing light on factors that lead to success and failure, he points out that if success is a combination of many factors, so is failure. He also point out that not everyone has the same opportunities and in some cases this can be changed by society. Finally, Outliers is a landmark book, which will definitely influence and make a difference in its reader’s lives. If you are looking for some inspiring read then I would definitely recommend this book.

Kamis, 10 Mei 2012

Book Review of The 80 Minute MBA

Booksroundup.blogspot.Com Albert Einstein once quoted “Education is the only thing that interferes my Learning”. Likewise, Richard and John try their best to offer us the key to unlock our latched minds.  THE 80 MINUTE MBA is your short-cut to business brilliance.
Book Review of The 80 Minute MBA
A traditional MBA is for either the time-rich, very wealthy or lucky few with a generous corporate sponsor. So what happens if you want to get a hit of high-quality business inspiration without spending two years back at school? THE 80 MINUTE MBA is the gateway to fresh thinking, in less time than it takes a standard meeting to get past coffee and biscuits. The MBA-in-a-box book is old hat.

Managers need the encouragement to think differently, not in the same straight lines. The Book is an injection of inspiration; creative thinking and dynamic approaches which will help you see the world of business differently. I would like to compare this book to a rotating top, as it gives us a 360` view. This book offers us the crucial topics including leadership, Sustainability and ethics; Community-building, Corporate Culture and finance delivered in a top class manner that will make you sit up and think. Imagine learning without Throat-Clearing, winding anecdotes, lengthy case studies.

Noel coward reckoned that work was more fun than fun and that definitely comes across in this book. John and Richard quoted in the book quick is better and their advice to the readers is to wrap up the book in 80 minutes which I presume would not be a winning move. The book contains lot more than what is presented in the epilogue which definitely requires more than 80 minutes of reading and comprehending. The duo’s effort to transform a bunch of us into leaders with a new spirit of stewardship and helping in building businesses that are both environmentally and financially sustainable is highly inspiring.

There are few things that are tough to change; one is that no business is possible without a complete model or diagram. To my surprise this is the first time I have ever come across a business bible with as many diagrams as possible making it a pleasure to the readers’ eyes. We are prone to forget data or a long stream of information when swallowed all at one time but definitely not diagrams. Pictures can get stay up there for a longer period of time. also read : guru elektronik online

The book also brings to light the various facts that we may have never even imagined- like the concern to convert every business environmentally sustainable. We are so busy in adding few more zeros to our earnings that we are totally unaware of the cataclysmic changes caused by us. This book helps in building a race of highly committed individuals to manage these changes and make the world a better place to live for the forthcoming years.

Emphasizing on the importance of the three C’s- Culture, Cash and conversation we are led into a new business world. Yelling it out loud a strong culture would lead to successful cash flow and high conversation in the market. Clearing the air about the importance of people and the most familiar cliché’ “people are our greatest asset” the irony about Human resources doesn’t remain the same. A wide range of professional associations, think tanks and consulting firms are active in producing research reports and expert commentary on business and management issues but none succeed in keeping you engaged as this book does. Finally if you want to enjoy the fourth C (Charity) don’t hesitate to read this book cause if this book can help you acquire the 3 C’s and help you build a successful creative then why not we take the pleasure of earning the fourth C and lend our hands to the needy.