I finished When Genius Failed yesterday but I wanted to think about a few topics before I posted a quick review/summary.
Well, for the summary party, I'm going to rely on my old standby - a Wikipedia entry on Long Term Capital Management. This, at least, is worth checking out because many people don't even know about the LTCM debacle.
As for review, well, readers of this blog likely won't want to read this book for two reasons - they'll have little interest in LTCM and they'll have even less interest in complicated financial strategies. Did I think it was worth my time? Yes, but because I also have an interest in most things financial. It's great for even a casual investor to take the time to read about stories such as LTCM's because it's a wonderful opportunity to capitalize on other people's experiences. Of course, this can be said about most books that cover an event, so based solely on that point I can't (and don't) recommend the book to all the faithful CK Tutors Blog readers.
I'm in the middle of another book, though, that reads like a thriller - the old classic Barbarians at the Gate. This book would appeal to even the most casual readers and makes a sometimes dull topic (LBOs/boardroom drama) seem interesting. I'll have a longer book review on Barbarians but in the meantime take a look at it!
Oh and I'll have a follow up post on CK's July Book of the Month: Mavericks at Work sometime next week. Have a good weekend everyone!
Showing posts with label Mavericks at Work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mavericks at Work. Show all posts
Friday, July 6, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Book of the Month (July): Mavericks at Work
July's book of the month is titled Mavericks at Work. Here's a general snippet from their website, edited for length:
Organizations and entrepreneurs that were once dismissed as upstarts, as wildcards—as mavericks—are making waves and growing fast. There’s a reason: In an age of hyper-competition and nonstop innovation, the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for something truly original.
Mavericks at Work offers exciting new answers to the timeless challenges facing organizations of every size and leaders in every field: how you make strategy, how you unleash ideas, how you connect with customers, how your best people achieve great results. But this is more than just a how-to book. It is also a what-if book.
Business needs a breath of fresh air... Individually, these maverick companies are attracting millions of customers, creating thousands of jobs, generating tens of billions of dollars of wealth. As a group, they demonstrate that you can build successful organizations around high ideals and fierce competitive ambitions, that the most powerful way to create economic value is to embrace a set of values that go beyond just amassing power, and that business, at its best, is too exciting, too important, and too much fun to be left to the dead hand of business as usual.
In short, the book applies not just to business, but to life as well - that's why I've chosen it as July's book of the month. For example, at one point in the book the authors ask: Have you set out – clearly, crisply, in language that reflects the spirit of your organization – the most compelling reasons for great people to work on your team, in your division, at your company?" That also applies to life and school - you should set out the reasons why you're doing what you're doing, or taking a certain class, and so forth.
In about a week or two I'll provide further notes and ideas for those that want guidance or don't want to go out and buy the entire book, but for those that will read... happy readings!
Organizations and entrepreneurs that were once dismissed as upstarts, as wildcards—as mavericks—are making waves and growing fast. There’s a reason: In an age of hyper-competition and nonstop innovation, the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for something truly original.
Mavericks at Work offers exciting new answers to the timeless challenges facing organizations of every size and leaders in every field: how you make strategy, how you unleash ideas, how you connect with customers, how your best people achieve great results. But this is more than just a how-to book. It is also a what-if book.
Business needs a breath of fresh air... Individually, these maverick companies are attracting millions of customers, creating thousands of jobs, generating tens of billions of dollars of wealth. As a group, they demonstrate that you can build successful organizations around high ideals and fierce competitive ambitions, that the most powerful way to create economic value is to embrace a set of values that go beyond just amassing power, and that business, at its best, is too exciting, too important, and too much fun to be left to the dead hand of business as usual.
In short, the book applies not just to business, but to life as well - that's why I've chosen it as July's book of the month. For example, at one point in the book the authors ask: Have you set out – clearly, crisply, in language that reflects the spirit of your organization – the most compelling reasons for great people to work on your team, in your division, at your company?" That also applies to life and school - you should set out the reasons why you're doing what you're doing, or taking a certain class, and so forth.
In about a week or two I'll provide further notes and ideas for those that want guidance or don't want to go out and buy the entire book, but for those that will read... happy readings!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Motivating (with money?)
I was thumbing through Mavericks at Work after having read it for the second time and this quote really stuck out:
“There’s another lesson that’s really obvious,” he continues. “You cannot motivate the best people with money. Money is just a way to keep score. The best people in any field are motivated by passion. That becomes more true the higher the skill level gets. People do their best work when they are passionately engaged in what they’re doing” (91).
It really got me thinking about motivating students. When I was younger, I was partially motivated by money. Let me explain. So my parents would reward my brother and I with $10 per A in a class. This usually meant $60 pay days at the end of the "quarter" (I put it in quotations because at my high school they were actually trimesters but called "quarters") or, at worst, $50 dollars. Now, if I knew I was going to get a B in just 1 class, I wasn't going to kill myself over $10 extra bucks - let's face it, for a 12-16 year old (the age I was in high school) $50 is still a large amount of money. So how much did money really motivate me? Or was it simply passion for learning (or getting good grades, or even the recognition that accompanies good grades) that motivated me?
Looking back, I'd say the positive feelings of getting good grades, and the accompanying recognition, are what really drove me. Sure, I love learning, but there's nothing quite like having people recognize you for your achievements. In fact, I read that in a national employee survey, employees value recognition and compliments over pay. Yeah, no one is going to work for free - but they'll probably stick around longer if they know they're valued and are going to be recognized for their achievements.
So now the question is this - how do you motivate a student who may not have a passion for learning and doesn't care for recognition? At that point does it come back to money?
These two questions got Orion and myself thinking a few weeks back - why aren't there hybrid scholarships that "pay for grades"? Say $20 for each A, $5 for each B, $0 for each C, -$10 for each D, and $-25 for each F. I put in negatives because if someone gets 3 A's, 1 B, and 2 F's, I'd want them to be "punished" for F's by taking away some of the money they "earned" for the A's and B's (in this specific case the student would make $15 instead of $65 if they weren't "punished").
OK, so besides the fact that people would complain about students only focusing on good grades, and not focusing on learning per se, what else is a negative of this method? It's something I've been looking into, because all too often I've seen very bright students who just don't care about school getting poor grades. Any other ideas about "hybrid" scholarships or other ways to motivate students?
“There’s another lesson that’s really obvious,” he continues. “You cannot motivate the best people with money. Money is just a way to keep score. The best people in any field are motivated by passion. That becomes more true the higher the skill level gets. People do their best work when they are passionately engaged in what they’re doing” (91).
It really got me thinking about motivating students. When I was younger, I was partially motivated by money. Let me explain. So my parents would reward my brother and I with $10 per A in a class. This usually meant $60 pay days at the end of the "quarter" (I put it in quotations because at my high school they were actually trimesters but called "quarters") or, at worst, $50 dollars. Now, if I knew I was going to get a B in just 1 class, I wasn't going to kill myself over $10 extra bucks - let's face it, for a 12-16 year old (the age I was in high school) $50 is still a large amount of money. So how much did money really motivate me? Or was it simply passion for learning (or getting good grades, or even the recognition that accompanies good grades) that motivated me?
Looking back, I'd say the positive feelings of getting good grades, and the accompanying recognition, are what really drove me. Sure, I love learning, but there's nothing quite like having people recognize you for your achievements. In fact, I read that in a national employee survey, employees value recognition and compliments over pay. Yeah, no one is going to work for free - but they'll probably stick around longer if they know they're valued and are going to be recognized for their achievements.
So now the question is this - how do you motivate a student who may not have a passion for learning and doesn't care for recognition? At that point does it come back to money?
These two questions got Orion and myself thinking a few weeks back - why aren't there hybrid scholarships that "pay for grades"? Say $20 for each A, $5 for each B, $0 for each C, -$10 for each D, and $-25 for each F. I put in negatives because if someone gets 3 A's, 1 B, and 2 F's, I'd want them to be "punished" for F's by taking away some of the money they "earned" for the A's and B's (in this specific case the student would make $15 instead of $65 if they weren't "punished").
OK, so besides the fact that people would complain about students only focusing on good grades, and not focusing on learning per se, what else is a negative of this method? It's something I've been looking into, because all too often I've seen very bright students who just don't care about school getting poor grades. Any other ideas about "hybrid" scholarships or other ways to motivate students?
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