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Week of December 11 - 17, 2006

HOLIDAY BOOKS ISSUE

We’re back with our annual Holiday Books Issue. Below you can find stocking stuffers – and even a few doorstoppers – to give to loved ones (or yourself) with an interest in entrepreneurship and innovation. All recommended books have been published in 2006, and should be available at major booksellers.

For even more titles, check out our Summer Books issue

The Entrepreneurial Imperative: How America’s Economic Miracle Will Reshape the World – And Change Your Life

Carl J. Schramm (Harper Collins, 2006)
 
This book comes to us from Carl Schramm, president of the Kauffman Foundation. If you’re looking for one book that lays it all it out in one place on the important question of why entrepreneurship matters, start here. While lauding America’s nurturing environment for entrepreneurship, Schramm puts the challenge out to us all to be more entrepreneurial. Not only is it his passionate goal to see a greater expansion of start-ups domestically and globally, he feels the promotion of entrepreneurial capitalism is a key formula for bringing about peace, prosperity, and stability in the world. The Economist didn’t call Schramm the “evangelist of entrepreneurship”  for nothing.

The Success Effect: Uncommon Conversations with America’s Business Trailblazers

John Eckberg (Sterling & Ross, 2006)

John Eckberg sticks to his journalistic roots with this effort, providing fast-moving Q&A snapshots with more than 40 entrepreneurs and innovators. The Cincinnati Equirer business columnist shares insights from a wide range of individuals, including household names like Donald Trump, Deepak Chopra, Jerry Springer and Cincinnati Bengals coach, Marvin Lewis. The book also includes a conversation titled ‘Risk’ with Tami Longaberger, head of the Longaberger Company and chair of the National Women’s Business Council. Eckberg even offers a glimpse at the personalities behind the names, sharing their “books on the nightstand” and “CDs in the changer.”

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom (Portfolio Hardcover, 2006)

You can’t kill a starfish by chopping off a tentacle; it simply grows a new one. That’s the metaphor driving this argument for the power of decentralized organizations. The authors examine many cases of decentralized firms, like eBay, Craigslist, and Napster. They use these examples to argue that decentralized leadership based on peer networking can help foster more creative, flexible, and innovative organizations.

Economic Turbulence: Is a Volatile Economy Good for America?

Clair Brown, John Haltiwanger and Julia Lane (University of Chicago Press, 2006).

In some ways, economic turbulence is a clear by-product of an entrepreneurial economy. As entrepreneurs wreak creative destruction, other firms are closed and people are put out of work. This book takes a deeper look at the process: how volatile is the US economy and is this a good thing? The authors don’t sugarcoat the costs of volatility, but they conclude that our economy is stronger, more flexible, and more innovative because of such churn. The study is data-driven (based on new Census Bureau data sets), but don’t let that scare you away. It’s a good read with lots of compelling information.

Mellon: An American Life

David Cannadine (Knopf, 2006)

The old so-called “Robber Barons” are generating a lot of interest these days. In the past few years, we’ve seen new biographies of Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie (see more below), and now Andrew Mellon. While many have heard of Mellon, his exploits are probably less well-known than his fellow industrialists. Instead of building a steel or oil empire, Mellon made his money in more modern way—in the real estate and financial sectors. Mellon also engaged in the world of politics, and served as Treasury Secretary under three Administrations (Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover). We can also thank Mellon for the National Gallery of Art, which was built around his private art collection.

Dynasties: Fortunes and Misfortunes of the World’s Great Family Businesses

David Landes (Viking Adult, 2006)

When we think about entrepreneurship, we often fail to think about the importance of family-owned businesses. When we consider these family-owned firms, we often picture the classic small Mom-and-Pop operation. Yet, many family owned firms were and are world-class operations. After all, Ford, Toyota, and Morgan all started as family enterprises. Landes, a renowned economic historian, is a big fan of family enterprises. He argues that these firms perform better in the market, and in terms of supporting employees, than do firms run by professional managers and outsiders. The book covers the landscape of family business dynasties going back to the 17th century, and includes lots of great stories and vignettes.

Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies

Nikos Mourkogiannis (Palgrave MacMillan, 2006)

For Mourkogiannis, purpose is your “moral DNA,” i.e. what you believe at your core. He contends that great companies, just like great people, are built on a strong sense of purpose. The book profiles five entrepreneurs—Henry Ford, Sam Walton, Warren Buffett, Thomas Watson, and Siegmund Warburg---who used their purpose to innovate and build world-class companies. The bottom line is that successful entrepreneurs should not make a choice between their values and success.

Andrew Carnegie

David Nasaw (Penguin Press, 2006)

Andrew Carnegie’s legacy is two-fold. As an entrepreneur, he built US Steel and one of the world’s greatest fortunes. After this feat, he revolutionized the world of philanthropy and his impact is still felt today. This massive biography (weighing in at over 800 pages) tells the complete story of Carnegie and his impact on his times.

Outside Innovation: How Your Customers Will Co-Design Your Company’s Future

Patricia Seybold (Collins, 2006)

Seybold is a customer relations guru. Her new book follows on recent research (e.g. see Eric Von Hippel’s Democratizing Innovation) that describes and recommends an innovation process where ideas and inputs come from multiple points in the process. Seybold calls for intense customer engagement: encouraging passionate and knowledgeable customers to engage in produce and service design. As the book notes, you no longer win by hiring the smartest scientists or engineers. You win by engaging the smartest customers.

Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win

William C. Taylor and Polly G. LeBarre (William Morrow, 2006)

Taylor is a co-founder of Fast Company magazine and LeBarre is a long-time editor there. So it’s no stretch for them to write a book about mavericks in the business world. And, if you like Fast Company, you’ll like this book, too. The book profiles a number of fascinating businesses and entrepreneurs, such as Cirque de Soleil, Commerce Bank, Anthropologie, and Craigslist, and offers a set of lessons learned. They might be summarized in this way: be passionate, be original and be true to yourself.
 

Untapped: Creating Value in Underserved Markets

John Weiser, Michele Kahane, Steve Rochlin, and Jessica Landis (Berret-Koehler, 2006)

This book mines the same vein as Prahalad’s Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. It argues that too many corporations are failing to aggressively target low-income customers. Untapped focuses on this market in the US, with particular emphasis on inner-city locations and the growing Latino population. The book includes case studies as well as tips for how to enter and succeed in these emerging markets.

The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship, an initiative of the Public Forum Institute made possible by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City. Through NDE-news, we bring you short summaries and analyses of various trends driving the innovation economy. Subscribe now to receive your weekly copy. Archived issues are available online. Links to the day's entrepreneurship stories from across the nation and around the world are posted each weekday on the NDE main page - bookmark it and stay informed about the latest entrepreneurship news.

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All stories © 2006 The Public Forum Institute
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