Stories
Stories
Edited by Margie Kelley
The Boxer of Quirinal
By John Barr (MBA 1972)
Red Hen Press
All animals struggle to survive. In John Barr’s poems, the success of the heron hunting, the albatross breeding, the inchworm spinning give proof of life. But for us that struggle includes the eternal presence of war. Does the fall of Rome, the Battle of Shiloh, the Normandy Landings––and today’s wars—give proof of life or only of the struggle?
The Panic of 1907: Heralding a New Era of Finance, Capitalism, and Democracy
By Robert F. Bruner (MBA 1963) and Sean D. Carr
Wiley
In this newly revised second edition, The Panic of 1907: Heralding a New Era of Finance, Capitalism, and Democracy, delivers a groundbreaking examination of one of the most consequential crises in financial history. Deftly weaving historical evidence, insightful analysis, and compelling narrative, The Panic of 1907 explains how and why a financial panic unfolds, with lessons that can be applied to our understanding of present-day financial and monetary systems. The book details the reasons why, despite today’s stronger monetary regime and risk-mitigation tools, our modern institutions are not immune to future crises; explanations about the development of the United States’ Federal Reserve System, which was created in 1913 in direct response to the Panic of 1907; and an engaging and entertaining account of a fascinating period in financial and economic history, with remarkable leaders and a gallery of rogues. An indispensable tale that belongs on the bookshelves of anyone with an interest in American or financial history, The Panic of 1907 is an expert retelling of one of the most important, but least well-known crises of the last 200 years.
Xiconomics: What China’s Dual Circulation Strategy Means for Global Business
By Andrew Cainey (MBA 1989) Christiane Prange
Agenda Publishing
Matters of ideology and security have become deeply entwined in China ’s economic and business environment. The context is more politicized, more uncertain. At the heart of Xiconomics is the Dual Circulation Strategy, which marks clear dividing lines between China’s domestic economy and the rest of the world. It shows how China seeks to manage the links between the two just when western countries are also focusing on decoupling. In order to prosper, business leaders and policymakers need to understand these new international dynamics. In this concise and incisive analysis, Andrew Cainey and Christiane Prange explain what is happening in China and how this affects its relations with other countries. They identify what foreign companies need to do, how strategies need to change, and what this all means for managing the China business as part of a global portfolio, under a range of geopolitical scenarios.
The Imperfectionists: Strategic Mindsets for Uncertain Times
By Robert McLean and Charles Conn (MBA 1990)
Wiley
The world is changing faster and faster, with increasing uncertainty and threat of disruption in every business and nonprofit segment. Conventional approaches to strategy development and problem solving no longer work―there is no stable industry or market equilibrium structure that we will return to “when change abates.” Most company planning processes are fantasy; market conditions are changing too quickly for arm-chair strategizing to be useful. As a consequence, many management teams are stuck in a wait-and-see posture in response to extreme uncertainty in the post-COVID environment, while others are making panicky bets, including “leap before you look” acquisitions. Based on a decade of research and 30 new case studies, The Imperfectionists posits a dynamic approach to developing organizational direction under uncertainty based on harnessing six reinforcing strategic mindsets, which McLean and Conn call curiosity, dragonfly eye, occurrent behavior, collective wisdom, imperfectionism, and show and tell. Imperfectionists are curious, they look at problems from several perspectives, and gather new data and approaches, including from outside their current industry. They deliberately step into risk, proceeding through trial and error, utilizing nimble low consequence and reversible moves to deepen their understanding of the unfolding game being played, and to build capabilities. They accept ambiguity and some apparent failures in exchange for improved learning and market position. Imperfectionists succeed with dynamic, real-time strategic problem solving, confidently moving forward while others wait for certainty, or make impetuous and foolish bets. These strategic mindsets for solving tough problems in uncertain times help you fight decision biases and give you the data to develop informed strategies to win.
Your Seat at the Table: How to Create and Run Your Own Peer Advisory Council
By Tina Corner-Stolz (PMD 74, 1999)
ForbesBooks
Tina Corner-Stolz has been driven by one mission for almost two decades: creating such an exquisite Member Experience (MX) for her peer advisory councils (PaCs) that, year after year, members wouldn't think twice about renewing. And she succeeded. A veteran of the peer group industry, who has trained and mentored hundreds, Corner-Stolz cracked the code for MX as well as for how to skillfully moderate PaCs. She’s been teaching her formula for success through her Peer Advisory Council Academy since 2019, and now she shares her secrets in Your Seat at the Table: How to Create and Run a Peer Advisory Council. This how-to book combines her deep knowledge and experience, along with cautionary and triumphant tales in an easy-to-read style that demystifies the jargon. You will find everything you need to know, do, and decide, step by step, before you sign your first member, all the way through to selling your profitable business or winding it down. If you’re someone who doesn’t want to reinvent the wheel, this book is for you.
The Blessed Generation: Fifty Years on the Cutting Edge of Rapid Change
By John Whitmore Jenkins (MBA 1963)
Xulon Press
Have you ever wondered how a nation feeding a starving population during the Great Depression could, 20 years later, be approaching the greatest growth period in history? This book could be the story of you, your parents, or grandparents who were on the cutting edge of technological changes that blessed our nation with an unparalleled period of prosperity. From this base, millions of people were rescued from the desolation of World War II into the prosperous world initiated from America. Author John Whitmore Jenkins has spent the last 59 years in business on the cutting edge of the most dramatic changes in our history. After earning an engineering degree, he served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force with the Strategic Air Command, America ’s first line of defense during the Cold War against Soviet ambitions. He joined IBM just as the company introduced computers into the world of business and spent the last 30 years in an industry entangled with China’s rise as a major challenger to America’s leadership in the free world.
Why Should Guys Have All the Fun? An Asian American Story of Love, Marriage, Motherhood, and Running a Billion Dollar Empire
By Loida Lewis (OPM 30, 2001) and Blair S. Walker
Wiley
This is the true story of resolute immigration lawyer and activist Loida Lewis, beginning with her adventure-packed Philippine upbringing. A torrid love affair with brilliant, irascible financier Reginald Lewis follows, as does regal living in Manhattan and Paris, and gut-wrenching loss, all before Lewis shockingly commandeers a multibillion-dollar, multinational conglomerate and leads it with aplomb. You ’ll learn how she dealt with her husband’s untimely death at the age of 50 and how she managed to raise two independent daughters even as she shepherded a multinational corporation to record earnings. A fascinating and engaging memoir from one of America’s leading female executives, Why Should Guys Have All the Fun? is an inspiring and uplifting true story of how an ordinary person can rise to achieve extraordinary things.
America: Underwater and Sinking
By James B Lockhart (MBA 1974)
Koehler Books
James B. Lockhart, a former submarine officer with the U.S. Navy who went on to play a large part in the government ’s response to the global financial crisis, tells an important story about managing government agencies that—in submarine parlance—are deep underwater. He then provides solutions on how to help them and the overall government surface. As President George H. W. Bush once said, “There is nothing more fulfilling than to serve your country and your fellow citizens, and to do it well.” Underwater is about trying to do it well.
India’s Pathways to Success: Winning in the Next Decade
By Ganesh Natarajan (AMP 169, 2005) and Ejaz Ghani
Rupa Publications India
Where does India stand today economically, socially and politically, 75 years after independence? Where should it aspire to go from here in the next 25 years, as it touches the milestone of 100 years of Independence in 2047? Should India become a manufacturing powerhouse to rival China? Or should it stay content with services and become the Information Superpower of the world? What about pursuing new opportunities in agriculture, healthcare and other segments to become the world’s best user of technology to create globally best-in-class industries? Can a new wave of research and innovation be unleashed to transform urban and rural habitats where high-quality education and skills are available to create sustainable livelihoods through employment and entrepreneurship? Will India be able to achieve the target of a $5 trillion GDP in the foreseeable future? And finally, what about our pathways to achieve social harmony and see ourselves emerge as proud Indians in a thriving democracy? Edited by Ganesh Natarajan and Ejaz Ghani, India’s Pathways to Success: Winning in the Next Decade is a compilation of essays by some of the best minds in India. It takes an optimist’s view and uses a lens of success to view the past, examine the present and identify torches that can shine into the darkness of the unknown and determine robust pathways for the future.
Time to Sell Those Sports Cards: How I Auctioned Cards, Bats, Autographs and More
By John Schwarz (MBA 1963)
Independently Published
As the sports memorabilia industry continues to make headlines with multi-million dollar auction results, you might wonder what those baseball cards, autographs, and game balls are really worth. And perhaps you hope to find a trove of sports cards in your uncle’s attic or have rushed to buy boxes of new cards, looking for that limited-edition card that could pay off big. Sports memorabilia and cards, which were once a kid’s pastime and a premium to help sell bubble gum, have suddenly become an alternative investment vehicle pursued by high-end investors and hedge funds. Will this phenomenon last? Time to Sell Those Sports Cards follows a personal trip to market as author John Schwarz turns a childhood hobby to an 80-year-old’s cash crop—but not without bumps, side steps and re-calculations. As he finds a sports auction house to consign his collection, he watches the auction market and reports on his findings as well as his strategies and successes. While dealing with the disappointments of parting with a lifetime obsession, Schwarz sold his treasures at fair market value rather than let his heirs unknowingly commit the collection’s disposal to their next garage sale or as a donation to Goodwill. If you’re in a similar situation, you’ll want to know this story. This book includes many color photos of valuable items.
Shelf Life
By Martin Sneider (MBA 1968)
Forefront Books
As the son of Max Feldman, the self-proclaimed “sodbuster from Omaha” and brilliant founder of the successful fashion shoe store chain Fratelli Massimo, Josh Feldman has always known his destiny, working alongside his father and one day succeeding him, a career path promised to him by Max. Starting with one store in the 1950s financed by his mother’s trust fund, his father has taken advantage of the heyday of shopping malls to grow the St. Louis–based business to hundreds of locations across the United States. At industry events, he’s not just some Midwestern family business boss but a rock star courted by suppliers, shopping center developers, and the media. Josh is eager to step into his father’s role and passionate about the family business. But as he comes of age, starts a family of his own, and works his way up in the business, Josh slowly begins to understand his father’s penchant for treachery. With Max’s ruthless ambition and his drive to be celebrated for his success, will Josh ever be allowed to succeed him? When the family is divided over the future of the business, Josh must face the fact that his father's pledge to him may have exceeded its shelf life.
Don’t Wait for Someone Else to Fix It: 8 Essentials to Enhance Your Leadership Impact at Work, Home and Anywhere Else That Needs You
By Doug Lennick and Chuck Wachendorfer (AMP 153, 1997)
Wiley
The world needs positive leadership more than ever. Luckily, there is a large untapped source of leaders who can change the world for the better: all of us! Since each of us constantly influences those around us, by definition, everyone is a leader, not just people with formal titles. This book will help everyone tap into the power of their influence to pursue a meaningful purpose, whether on the job, in the community, or at home. All it takes is leadership intelligence—a combination of these eight moral, social, and technical imperatives essential to our ability to positively influence others: Aim to be your ideal self; know your real self; ignite integrity and responsibility; embrace empathy and compassion; decide wisely; let go of what you know; achieve meaningful goals and, empower others. This book offers compelling stories of a varied cast of characters, including the head of a skiing expedition to the North Pole, an Olympic snowboarding coach, a mountaineer leading a high-altitude Himalayan climbing team, the executive director of an innovative low-income senior housing community, and the founder of a pioneering youth basketball program for girls. Examples of “fixing it” also come from the journeys of entrepreneurs and executives in the financial services, health care, education, travel and media industries. For the reader who wants down-to-earth guidance about how to be a successful leader, the book does more than just talk about the significance of leadership intelligence. It features a wealth of practical exercises and tools for developing each of the eight leadership intelligence essentials.
Deeply Responsible Business: A Global History of Values-Driven Leadership
By Geoffrey Jones, the Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, and Faculty Chair of the School’s Business History Initiative
Harvard University Press
For decades, CEOs have been told that their only responsibility is to the bottom line. But consensus is that companies―and their leaders―must engage with their social and environmental contexts. In this book, Geoffrey Jones distinguishes deep responsibility, which can deliver radical social and ecological responses, from corporate social responsibility, which is often little more than window dressing. The book offers an invaluable historical perspective, going back to the Quaker capitalism of George Cadbury and the worker solidarity of Edward Filene. Jones also profiles business leaders from around the world who combined profits with social purpose to confront inequality, inner-city blight, and ecological degradation, while navigating restrictive laws and authoritarian regimes. He found that these leaders were motivated by bedrock values and sometimes―but not always―driven by faith. They chose to operate in socially productive fields, interacted with humility with stakeholders, and felt a duty to support their communities. While far from perfect, each one showed that profit and purpose could be reconciled. Inspired by these passionate and pragmatic business leaders, Jones envisions a future in which companies and entrepreneurs can play a key role in healing our communities and protecting the natural world.
The Portfolio Life: How to Future-Proof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger than Your Business Card
By Christina Wallace, Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at HBS
Balance
Pouring yourself into a single full-time job is the riskiest move you can make. Your parents ’ advice to focus on one career path? It doesn’t work anymore, for reasons ranging from recessions to student loan debt, the gig economy, climate disasters, and a global pandemic (to name a few). We need a dramatically different relationship with work, one that allows us to define ourselves beyond our paid labor. The answer? A portfolio life. An anti-hustle, pro-rest approach to work-life balance, a portfolio life is built on three tenets: You are more than any one role or opportunity; diversification will help you navigate change and mitigate uncertainty; and, when—not if—your needs change, you can and should rebalance. In The Portfolio Life, Harvard professor, serial entrepreneur, and self-described “human Venn diagram,” Christina Wallace adapts tried-and-true practices from the business sector to help you eschew the cult of ambition and experience the freedom of building the flexible, fulfilling, and sustainable life you want. Drawing on research, case studies, and her own experience, she walks you step-by-step through the process of designing a strategy for the long haul. Because you deserve rest, relationships, and a rewarding career—not someday, but today. After all, you only live once.
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