businessThink: Rules for Getting It Right--Now, and No Matter What!

Author: Dave Marcum, Steve Smith, Mahan Khalsa
List Price: $24.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0471219932
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (19 April, 2002)
Sales Rank: 39,582
Average Customer Rating: 3.96 out of 5

Customer Reviews

Rating: 5 out of 5
get your hands dirty
I usually don't write reviews. Truth be told, I never have, and hadn't planned on writing one for this book. I came on line to buy a couple more books for people on my team, and read the review from the reader from Vancouver and had to respond. This person has to be seriously out to lunch. As a young, very successful business person, I couldn't believe he actually commented on their age. First, how does he know how old they are? And secondly, since when did age have anything to do with success or knowledge or the ability to create value? Let's ask Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs (do I need to continue?) I'm an avid reader of business books, and noticed that authors Buckingham and Coffman (First Break All the Rules...also a great book) are also "young." Tom Peters was 39 when we wrote the classic "In Search of Excellence." Please don't buy the old school bias of this guy's review. Yes, these guys are young (at least younger than 50). Yes, they talk about their own personal failures. That's what makes the book refreshing and real. It's just the opposite of "fluff."

I read Business Think when it first came out, and loved that practical nature of it. I'm also an avid reader of Fast Company, and loved the simlar style and tone. Don't mistake comtemporary style for not being substantive. IT IS!

Rating: 5 out of 5
Read this book
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is written in a casual and easy to read tone. I found it quite easy to devour in one sitting. I've spent over 12 years as a "Big 5" consultant. I think if more consultants take the advice of the authors, we'd see more innovative solutions become reality. I like this book because it's actionable; it's not just about "thinking" (e.g., see rule four: Get Evidence OR rule five Calculate the Impact). There is practical advice. There are great anecdotes. I like business books that give me ideas on what to do day-to-day. businessThink does that. If you're a consultant, read this book and let's see some innovation out there!

Rating: 4 out of 5
A framework for decisions
There aren't many new ideas within this publication - hence 4 stars. I couldn't help but think of De Bono's six thinking hats as a framework for thinking that has many parallels with the BusinessThink publication.
However, that doesn't detract from what is a message that needs repeating and a message that needs to be absorbed by all of us to make the process of decision making (and thinking in general) more productive.
You're going to get value from this book where dysfunction is at its greatest. If you're already part of a productive team you're probably going to read this book and see recognition of what you're already doing rather than learn anything new.
Personally, this books remains a favourite. Whenever we make a few successful decisions (or believe we do) this is the first sort of book we disparage and neglect. But it's just when we start to believe our infallibility and skip steps within this framework that we start to make blunders.

The authors introduce some interesting statistics: successful decisions are fewer on the ground that what our beliefs might suggest.

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