Radu Haraga

Senior finance professional with more than 15 years of diversified P&L management, financial analysis, cost reduction and reporting system experience in the commercial finance and accounting. Besides multi-country team management, demonstrated capabilities to analyze and support sales growth, profit margins improvement, as well as sustainable cost reductions. Top notch business and professional qualifications - top 40 MBA (Hons.), FCCA, CIA, CIMA and others.

„HBR Emotional Intelligence Series – Influence + Persuasion“ – a HBR Press Book Review

Influence + Persuasion book cover

We all wish to expand our influence and convince other easier. However, few of us are really good at the game. „Influence + Persuasion“ synthesizes some of the best thinking on the topic. From Roberto Cialdini to Nancy Duarte, the authors selected by HBR Press go beyond their original thinking.   The articles from „Influence + Persuasion“  are actually upgraded and synthetic pieces of thinking published originally on hbr.org. 

Whilst the history gives us plenty of examples of influential persons, in most cases we were not direct witnesses of their skills. So basically we are more or less constant beginners in the field of influence. This creates a sort of a a vicious circle: whilst to get better at influencing one must practice it, in reality one has limited chances of doing so. Even the opportunities come relatively rarely – and as a consequence one must use them in a thrifty manner, keeping in mind the maximum effectiveness principle.

One of the mantras in the book is „connect, compare and contrast“. Persuasion is a direct contact sport and the one attempting it must appeal directly to the potential followers. Read More »„HBR Emotional Intelligence Series – Influence + Persuasion“ – a HBR Press Book Review

“Think for Yourself – Restoring Common Sense in the Age of Experts and Artificial Intelligence“ by Vikram Manshamarani – A HBR Press Book Review

Think for yourself, use properly the props of experts and artificial intelligence! But wait a minute, isn’t an expert AI supposed to help us take better decisions? As another famous HBR Press title states, “Prediction Machines” should augment our processes and help us get better products.
Well, not so quickly. In his new book, Vikram Mansharamani takes a closer look at how we abandon ourselves to the AI systems. And for good reasons – both the above mentioned titles issue a stark warning with regards to the current state of machine learning. We are in an age of great machine learning developments. And the name of this age is still infancy, therefore users beware – things have a long way to go before they get better.
Here both “Prediction Machines” and “Think for Yourself” converge on the antidote to th orchestrated jumping in. Users who led augment the AI with their own experience – after all, the human brain is likely the most advanced processing mainframe on Earth. It does not matter really how many lines of code or how many programmers worked on it – take a break, take a deep breath and think: “What is this AI product output trying to sell me?”.
As usually in our HBR books reviews on doitinvest.com, I would like to expand on a chapter I liked very much. For me, this was “Unintended blowback” – with some interesting medical cases and their impact on our lives. (This links well with the personal experiences of most friends and acquaintances). Medical science is well advanced on its way, but still has miles to go. For example rare diseases – there are too few doctors specialized in them and too few research was spent on it. As a consequence, most diagnostics for rare diseases are delivered on a qualifying manner – i.e. with a disclaimer at the end. The issues start app waring when doctors over or under interpret the diagnostics of such a rare disease. It is a bit like over or under-reacting to a serious circumstance. Read More »“Think for Yourself – Restoring Common Sense in the Age of Experts and Artificial Intelligence“ by Vikram Manshamarani – A HBR Press Book Review

„The Art of Being Indispensable at Work“ by Bruce Tulgan – A HBR Press Book Review

Art of being invaluable at work – doitinvest.com book summary

In today‘s fiercely competitive work environments, shining in the job is critical. To stay ahead in the game, we must go better – or out. The Covid-19 crisis has exacerbated the internal competition between employees for fewer career opportunities – in almost every organization. Thus, „The Art of Being Indispensable at Work“ could not come at a better time.
Bruce Tulgan is a leading global consultant – mostly in modern management and organizational issues. He comes with a wealth of practical experience – and this becomes quickly transparent in the book. His company‘s name says a lot: Rainmaker Thinking Inc. I also must admit that his online presence is quite extensive – as well as his credentials.
So, is „The Art of Being Indispensable at Work“ worth reading?
First of all, this book is definitely a different animal in the Harvard Business Review Press zoo. Most of the other HBR press books focus on strategic and well researched topics, bringing heavy academic weaponry to the field of debates. Bruce Tulgan comes from a different angle – which makes the book really easy to read: he starts low and aims high. „The Art of Being Indispensable at Work“ manages to convey really with simple (but powerful) concepts very practical messages. It basically means that the book is easy to read and implement – from the very first page. Or at least this is how I found it…Read More »„The Art of Being Indispensable at Work“ by Bruce Tulgan – A HBR Press Book Review

“HBRs 10 Must Reads – On Communication” – A Book Review by Doitinvest.com

HBR Press book review by doitinvest.com

HBR‘s 10 Must Reads – On Communication

It’s been researched that communication is more body language than speaking itself, yet – even posturing is a part of communication. And as usually, Harvard Business Review covered during the years a lot of ground on the best communication practices. Some of their best articles were perused through, updated and combined in one of their best-selling titles – “HBRs 10 Must Reads – On Communication”.
Language is one of the mankind’s most important advancements. If nothing else, any leader in any organisation communicates continuously – with the customers, the employees, the suppliers or the governments. Being on the right side of the things tends to be difficult – and a solid communication can help fix potential issues or even motivate various stakeholders to do business with you. As we can often see in practice, simple methods and understanding how you are perceived can make a world of differences.Read More »“HBRs 10 Must Reads – On Communication” – A Book Review by Doitinvest.com

“HBR’s 10 Must Reads – CEOs” – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Review

HBR Press Book ReviewAdmit it, you want to make it to the top job: CEO. This is arguably one of the most difficult tasks on Earth: competition is fierce, incumbents hang on hard, aspirers have a one in ten thousands chances to make it. Yet, the one element that distinguishes the normal aspirers to becoming CEOs to those who make it is green Yes, I talk about how to do the job: better, faster, less sweat. And the information is cheap to come by – there are a few books that will offer you the information you need. The difficulty consists in choosing the right book, reading it and applying it’s know how.

Harvard Business Reviews “CEO” title gives you just that. 

As with many other points, “CEO” was curated by HBR Press’s editors, who perused through hundreds of articles and extracted the most interesting and relevant ones. This collection of “best of CEO” articles makes no exception l. From titles such as “Your Strategy Needs a Strategy” to “Revisiting Your Core Business”, this articles collection will probably start to change the lenses through which you perceive the business world. As Harari mentions in “Homo Sapiens”, all modern methods economy is an abstract mind construct – yet, we are further ahead as a race more than we ever dreamed about. So why not take the race further and further? Read More »“HBR’s 10 Must Reads – CEOs” – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Review

“Blockchain: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review” – a HBR Book Review

a doitinvest.com book review

Blockchain – everybody heard about it, half of my acquaintances traded it. Most of them actually traded Bitcoin – and most likely without grasping 100% its features. Unfortunately, this is our new modern reality – we do not really have the time to study hundreds  of pages tomes before we do an informed trade.

This is where the new book series from Harvard Business Review comes ✋ly in. Launched in 2019, the “Insights” series aims to deliver the essential knowledge around topical subjects – all in a condensed manner. As this is my first review of the “Insights” series, I am trying to see if the “Insights” are delivering the above mentioned promise.
The editors of Harvard Business Review press state (somehow boldly) that these Insights series themes will transform both the worlds of business and society. One can argue about the scope here, but not about the statement. It is clear that the blockchain is here to stay – and to change irreversibly the way we do transactions.

The introduction starts with an interesting yet less acknowledged reality – whilst data sharing and digital communications have literally jumped decades, the data security and the storage integrity did not keep pace. This gap was not going unnoticed. And whilst the large actors were (and remain) somehow content to assume the guardian role, the society at large realized that there must be an alternative. The goal of this alternative would be to validate the data without giving over-proportionate control to any party. And so the modern, still puzzling idea of the blockchain was born.Read More »“Blockchain: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review” – a HBR Book Review

„Time Smart – How To Reclaim Your Life And Live A Happier Life“ by Ashley Whilllans – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Review

HBR Book Review - Time Smart

doitinvest.com HBR book reviews and summaries – Time Smart

Reclaim your life! Slow down and breathe! There is not enough time in a day! The new HBR book titled “Time Smart” attempts to help us claw back the most precious resource we humans possess. The book takes an interesting approach to managing your time and offers plenty of techniques to do just about that.
Coming from a scientific background, the book opens by paraphrasing what research says again and again: happier people value time above money – and spend it wisely. As an assistant professor at the Harvard Business School, Ashley uses her own behavioral research to turn our thinking about time around. “Time Smart” revolves around a very simple premise – we all can treat time as currency and start being more productive and mindful. After all, the book’s subtitle reads: “How To Reclaim Your Time And Live A Happier Life.Read More »„Time Smart – How To Reclaim Your Life And Live A Happier Life“ by Ashley Whilllans – A Harvard Business Review Press Book Review