andreweverett360 Book Review, Crime & Law Enforcement

Policing Needham

policing-needham


Policing Needham: A Story of Suburban Cops
by Lisa Brems

Much has been written about big-city police departments like NYPD and LAPD. Much has also been written about the Marshals and Sheriffs of the wild west. In contrast, Policing Needham takes a look at the history of law enforcement in the suburban town of Needham, Massachusetts. Local history is a microcosm of national history. So while the names and places in this book may be of particular interest to those with ties to the town, the stories are relevant to anyone with an interest in history and law enforcement.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Marketing

Winning the Profit Game – Smarter Pricing, Smarter Branding

winning-the-profit-game


Winning the Profit Game – Smarter Pricing, Smarter Branding
by Robert G. Docters, Michael R. Reopel, Jeanne-Mey Sun and Stephen M. Tanny

Winning the Profit Game reveals the key to success: pricing which is integrated with brand management, cost management, and product development. Whatever the goal, such as market penetration, customer retention, or increasing margins, “the strategy should be reflected in the price.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

The Checklist Manifesto

the-checklist-manifesto


The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
by Atul Gawande

Routine errors are frequently caused by little things that slip through the cracks due to poor communication and distractions.  A simple checklist can eliminate these oversights.  This book explores how checklists can improve quality and efficiency—and even save lives—in a wide range of industries. Given the crisis with health care affordability in the United States, I am impressed with the dramatic cost savings in the medical examples.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Marketing

The Tao of Twitter

the-tao-of-twitter


The Tao of Twitter: Changing Your Life and Business 140 Characters at a Time
by Mark W. Schaefer

Twitter is a “non-intuitive communication platform” but Mark Schaefer has figured it out and experienced tangible results. “My four largest customers, five most important collaborators, and my teaching position at Rutgers University all came to me via Twitter connections.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, General

The Higher Education Bubble

the-higher-education-bubble


The Higher Education Bubble
by Glenn Harlan Reynolds

In the first decade of the new millennium we saw the dot-com bubble and housing bubble end badly. In this concise 48-page booklet, University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds explains why higher education will be the next bubble to burst. “Bubbles burst when there are no longer enough excessively optimistic and ignorant folks to fuel them.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Marketing

Pyramids Are Tombs

pyramids-are-tombs


Pyramids Are Tombs
by Joe Phelps

Pyramids Are Tombs covers two major topics: organizational structure and integrated marketing communications.

Many companies claim to be focused on the customer, but Joe Phelps walks the walk. His marketing agency is structured around “self-directed, client-centered teams” which he describes as “the optimum model for today’s knowledge workers.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

The New Economics

the-new-economics


The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education
by W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993)

Deming is a legendary name in quality management, especially in Japan through his consulting work with Japanese industry from 1950 onward. He died in 1993 at age 93 before the second edition of this book went to press.

“This book is for people who are living under the tyranny of the prevailing style of management,” writes Deming in the preface. He has strong convictions, many of which are counter to conventional management thinking.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Psychology & Neuroscience

The Time Paradox

the-time-paradox


The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life
by Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd

This book is about time perspective.  The authors say that time-balanced people are “more successful in work and career and happier in relationships with family and friends… [and] live more fully in the here and now. Such a person is able to tie the past and the future to the present in meaningful continuity.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

Good to Great

good-to-great


Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t
by Jim Collins

Jim Collins previously co-authored Built to Last, which studied common attributes of enduringly great companies. Good to Great studies companies which made a transition to greatness: 15 years of lagging stock performance followed by 15 years of cumulative stock returns 3 times the overall market.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Psychology & Neuroscience

Learned Optimism

learned-optimism


Learned Optimism
by Martin E. P. Seligman

“Explanatory style” is the way we think about life’s events.  We can have either an optimistic or a pessimistic explanatory style.  Seligman’s research found that changing pessimism into optimism relieves depression.

A pessimistic explanatory style frames negative events in terms that are personal, permanent, and pervasive—I’m a failure, This always happens to me, This screws up my whole life.  Seligman offers the ABCDE technique to reframe explanatory style. The letters stand for adversity, belief, consequences, dispute (your negative beliefs), and energize.

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