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“Radically Human: How New Technology Is Transforming Business and Shaping Our Future” by Jim Wilson and Paul Daugherty – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Essentials

Radically Human Doitinvest.com book review“Radically Human” analyses the contemporary trends of switching away from the cold machine-like processes to a more human technology. The cutting edge technologies are mirroring better and better the human processes – from mundane decisions to the way we feel and touch the interactions with the businesses coming towards us. Human behaviors and intelligence are shaping the structure of the new technologies, from industrial or commercial machines to pieces of software interacting with consumers.
Accelerated by the pandemic, the new technologies are now mirroring more and more the human processes. To quote the press release:
“Artificial intelligence is becoming less artificial and more intelligent. Instead of data-hungry approaches to AI, innovators are pursuing data-efficient approaches that enable machines to learn as humans do. Instead of replacing workers with machines, they are unleashing human expertise to create human-centered AI.”
Read More »“Radically Human: How New Technology Is Transforming Business and Shaping Our Future” by Jim Wilson and Paul Daugherty – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Essentials

“The Synergy Solution – How Companies Win the Mergers & Acquisitions Game” by Mark L. Sirower & Jeffery M. Weirens – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Essentials

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“The Synergy Solution”  addresses a thorny business problem: why—and how—business leaders need to rethink and reshape M&A deals to improve their success rate. It has become common knowledge along the years that most of the mergers & acquisitions transactions fail. A study from PricewaterhouseCoopers even put a price tag on the failure rate – around 80%. It is a dismal result, given especially the amount of efforts and money poured by organizations in the process.

The M&A process stands at the apex of the corporate restructuring. There are so many uncertainties and so many synergy promises, that one cannot find another more risky process in the companies’ operating handbooks. If well-implemented, M&A’s can propel the involved organizations to a whole new market level. They can lower the costs per product, expand customer satisfaction and bring new products to new markets.

Read More »“The Synergy Solution – How Companies Win the Mergers & Acquisitions Game” by Mark L. Sirower & Jeffery M. Weirens – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Essentials

“Experimentation Works” by Stefan H. Thomke – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Essentials

Expero,eWe all know experiments work – after all, this is how we got the IPhone, the planes and the vaccines. Yet, Stefan H. Thomke brings experimenting to a whole new level. His heavily-researched book (“Experimentation Works”) looks in-depth at how the businesses can create, develop and adjust their business models without committing too many resources in advance.

“Experimentation Works” is a book about a book – it looks at how a for-profit organization can re-arrange its activities so that they extract maximum value from pre-launching them. Thomke attempts to apply the classical scientific method in research to new business problems. The approach in itself is centuries old – and has been heavily popularized by Karl Popper in his 20th century scientific methods famous book. Yet, so far the method has failed to make substantial inroads in the mainstream business – and this is where Thomke tries to make a serious point about it.

The main issue with experimentation in business remains the risk aversion. Thomke warns that many organizations are reluctant to fund “uncertain-results” experiments – and this creates long-term serious development issues. If a business fails to experiment, it actually fails on a large extent to innovate. And if a business fails to innovate, it will slowly fall behind its competition – which becomes a kind of a downwards spiral.Read More »“Experimentation Works” by Stefan H. Thomke – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Essentials

“The Politics Industry” by Katherine Gehl & Michael Porter – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Essentials

The Politics Industry

A HBR Press books essentials by doitinvest.com

That politics are important – no one doubts it anymore. That it is an industry, with vision + mission + strategy – only two brilliant academics as Gehl and Porter could so boldly state. Published during the pandemic of 2020, “The Politics Industry” attempts to break the by-partisan lock in the American politics and foster innovation.

Wait a minute you could say? Why do we need innovation in a system that it is broken? We need to first fix the political system, right? Or?

Katherine Gehl and Michael Porter argue otherwise. Firstly, the US political system works as is designed to. The problem here is the design – its duopoly appearance leads actually to unhealthy internal competition and dismal marginal returns. The players are jostling for one camp or another, ignoring alternatives (including methods) which might actually radically improve the returns for the ordinary citizens. The results are visible since decades – no voice outside the duopoly system can make itself hear, whilst when the political ideas are shaped in a Republican or Democrat form, they loose substance. Read More »“The Politics Industry” by Katherine Gehl & Michael Porter – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Essentials

„Kings of Crypto“ by Jeff John Roberts – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Essentials

Kings of Crypto Book Essentials

a doitinvest.com book review

The title is deceiving, the content – much better. “Kings of Crypto”  narrates Coinbases’ story. In a new Harvard Business Review Press books style, one (insider) journalist embarks on a journey of telling the full story of how one of the largest crypto Trading companies started and grew.

As you can imagine, “Kings of Crypto” leans more towards Coinbases’  development then to the classical business insights. As such, journalistical narrating is more engaging. Imagine a business book structured on thematic chapters, which have at the end two pages of real stories with real people. “Oh God” you could say, “not another dry and thick MBA book full of how-to-do business lessons. Will leave it for the next year, when I will have more time.”

Luckily for us readers, “Kings of Crypto” leans towards the historical narrative.Read More »„Kings of Crypto“ by Jeff John Roberts – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Essentials

“COLLISION COURSE – Carlos Ghosn and the Culture Wars That Upended an Auto Empire” By Hans Greimel and William Sposato, a HBR Book Essentials

Corporate development happens rarely without conflicts. Nissan’s ascension under Carlos Ghosn goes even beyond that: Ghosn led the Renault-Nissan alliance from a rapid rise to a dramatic fall. “Collision Course” is therefore a tale of money, business and greed – and about the spectacular fall from grace of one of the most different businessmen that ever was out there.

As a veteran automotive reporter, Hans Greimel had a decades-long chance to see how Renault and Nissan evolved during time. He worked in and with Japan for a 15 years, making him almost not only an knowledgeable car connoisseur, but also close to the local rumor mills.  William Sposato wrote almost two decades about the Japanese economy (for Japan Inc.).

“Collision Course” goes beyond the thriller narrative of the rise and fall of Carlos Ghosn. The authors take a much broader view – including the main actors and stakeholders within the story. For example, some important players are the Japanese government representatives, who can barely stand seeing their national car brands being integrated away in a foreign conglomerate.Read More »“COLLISION COURSE – Carlos Ghosn and the Culture Wars That Upended an Auto Empire” By Hans Greimel and William Sposato, a HBR Book Essentials