Faculty Books
Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns
by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn (MBA ’06), and Curtis W. Johnson
(McGraw-Hill)
Taking a cue from Bill Gates’s 2005 critique of the American school system, the authors apply Professor Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation to a much-needed evolution in educational technologies, offering new opportunities and challenges for the business community. They show how tomorrow’s innovations in education will change the way the world learns and what businesses can do to meet those changing demands today.
A Sense of Urgency
by John P. Kotter
(Harvard Business Press)
Most organizational change initiatives fail spectacularly (at worst) or deliver lukewarm results (at best). In his 1996 book, Leading Change, Professor Emeritus Kotter revealed why change is so hard and provided an eight-step process for implementing successful transformations. In this book he examines the crucial first step in his framework: creating a sense of urgency by getting people to actually see and feel the need for change. Why focus on urgency? Without it, any change effort is doomed.
The Ownership Quotient: Putting the Service Profit Chain to Work for Unbeatable Competitive Advantage
by James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, and Joe Wheeler
(Harvard Business Press)
The authors extend their earlier idea of a service-profit chain improving performance to customer and employee “owners.” Customer-owners are so satisfied with their experience that they tell their stories to others, persuade them to try a product, and provide constructive criticism and new product ideas. Employee-owners are so enthusiastic about their organization that they infect customers with similar enthusiasm. This book shows how managers can identify customer-owners, delight them by exceeding their expectations, foster an ownership culture throughout the company, and measure and increase “ownership quotient” among customers and employees.
Creating and Growing Real Estate Wealth: The 4 Stages to a Lifetime of Success
by William J. Poorvu with Jeffrey L. Cruikshank (PMD 51, 1986)
(FT Press)
Drawing on personal experience and over 100 interviews with real-estate entrepreneurs, Professor Emeritus Poorvu illuminates all stages of a real-estate career. He reveals the pitfalls and rewards of real-estate investing, offering insights into the challenges and opportunities when starting out, scaling up, hedging one’s bets, and taking stock at the end. With dozens of personal stories, hands-on checklists, and questions to guide decision-making, this book shows how the real-estate industry really works.
