Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Being Shot Down

by John P. Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead
(Harvard Business Review Press)

Professor Emeritus Kotter and his coauthor reveal how to win the support ideas need to deliver results. The key is to understand the generic attack strategies that naysayers use — among them, death by delay, confusion, fearmongering, and character assassination — and then engage them with tactics tailored to each strategy. By “inviting in the lions” to critique an idea and being prepared for them, managers can capture busy people’s attention, help them grasp a proposal’s value, and secure their commitment to implementing the solution.

Building World Class Universities in Asia

by Daniel Quinn Mills
(CreateSpace)

After discussing higher education’s potential contribution to Asia’s economic progress and the characteristics (and limitations) of a leading university, Professor Emeritus Mills lays out his recommendations for building a world-class university in Asia, including how to hire faculty, build a curriculum, attract and retain students, achieve top-quality research, ensure autonomy, and provide excellent teaching.

The Squam Lake Report: Fixing the Financial System

by David S. Scharfstein, as part of The Squam Lake Group
(Princeton University Press)

In the fall of 2008, fifteen of the world’s leading economists — representing a broad spectrum of economic opinion — gathered at New Hampshire’s Squam Lake. Their goal: creating a long-term plan for financial regulation reform. This book distills the insights from the ongoing collaboration that began at these meetings and sets forth a clear, nonpartisan plan of action to transform the regulation of financial markets, not just in the current climate but also for future generations.

Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution

by Robert Simons
(Harvard Business Review Press)

Professor Simons presents seven key questions managers must continually ask to excel at execution: Who is our main customer? How do our core values prioritize shareholders, employees, and customers? What critical performance variables are we tracking? What strategic boundaries have we set? How are we generating creative tension? How committed should our employees be to helping each other? And what strategic uncertainties keep us awake at night? Asking these questions will help managers examine the their strategy’s assumptions and analyze how the strategy is implemented.

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