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| Me... |
 Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:36 am |
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Guest
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Book review from WSJ, Aug 5, 2009
title of book:"The Management Myth"
author: Matthew Stewart
Title of the book review: "Bogus Theories, Bad for Business"
Author of the book review: Philip Delves Broughton
Quote:
"[Matthew Stewart's] ...advice to to anyone considering an MBA was 'don't
go to business school, study philosophy.' The secrets of business, he
said, were to be found in history, literature and the classic ruminations
on life and existence, not in the half-baked ramblings of business
academics, consultants and 'gurus'."
farther down:
"The business world, according to Mr. Stewart, has become so obsessed with
its own perverse value system and view of human nature that is is
undermining the 'commons' of society."
The rest of the book review has additional comments of a similar quality.
Or, maybe we need a contemporary author to write a new, relevant version
of either George Orwell's "1984" or Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"?
Oh...shit...we're already living in a dystopia!!!
Its called "globalized" earth!!! |
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| phil scott... |
| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:36 am |
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On Nov 1, 6:36 am, Me <arthu... at (no spam) mv.com> wrote:
Quote: Book review from WSJ, Aug 5, 2009
title of book:"The Management Myth"
author: Matthew Stewart
Title of the book review: "Bogus Theories, Bad for Business"
Author of the book review: Philip Delves Broughton
Quote:
"[Matthew Stewart's] ...advice to to anyone considering an MBA was 'don't
go to business school, study philosophy.' The secrets of business, he
said, were to be found in history, literature and the classic ruminations
on life and existence, not in the half-baked ramblings of business
academics, consultants and 'gurus'."
farther down:
"The business world, according to Mr. Stewart, has become so obsessed with
its own perverse value system and view of human nature that is is
undermining the 'commons' of society."
The rest of the book review has additional comments of a similar quality.
Or, maybe we need a contemporary author to write a new, relevant version
of either George Orwell's "1984" or Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"?
Oh...shit...we're already living in a dystopia!!!
Its called "globalized" earth!!!
nice quote, thanks... it is true, today we have bogus management
theory based on
a complete lack of understanding or the rest of life. One of my
clients, is not educated
but his construction business prospers as others around here went trom
700 staff to zero.
I wont spill his secrets here, but they are sophisticated comon
sense..he beats the pants
off of his competition.
Phil scott |
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| phil scott... |
| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:36 am |
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On Nov 1, 7:23 am, Old Pif <old... at (no spam) gmail.com> wrote:
Quote: On Nov 1, 9:36 am, Me <arthu... at (no spam) mv.com> wrote:
Book review from WSJ, Aug 5, 2009
title of book:"The Management Myth"
author: Matthew Stewart
Title of the book review: "Bogus Theories, Bad for Business"
Author of the book review: Philip Delves Broughton
Quote:
"[Matthew Stewart's] ...advice to to anyone considering an MBA was 'don't
go to business school, study philosophy.' The secrets of business, he
said, were to be found in history, literature and the classic ruminations
on life and existence, not in the half-baked ramblings of business
academics, consultants and 'gurus'."
farther down:
"The business world, according to Mr. Stewart, has become so obsessed with
its own perverse value system and view of human nature that is is
undermining the 'commons' of society."
The rest of the book review has additional comments of a similar quality.
Or, maybe we need a contemporary author to write a new, relevant version
of either George Orwell's "1984" or Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"?
Oh...shit...we're already living in a dystopia!!!
Its called "globalized" earth!!!
Good. Common sense is still alive.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
as this collapse goes ballistic, there will be a trend to the return
of
comon sense, it will be that or starvation...
however the feed stock
will be weak ss hell, having not been taught logic, algebra or history
in high school. |
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| Old Pif... |
| Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:36 am |
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Guest
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On Nov 1, 9:36 am, Me <arthu... at (no spam) mv.com> wrote:
Quote: Book review from WSJ, Aug 5, 2009
title of book:"The Management Myth"
author: Matthew Stewart
Title of the book review: "Bogus Theories, Bad for Business"
Author of the book review: Philip Delves Broughton
Quote:
"[Matthew Stewart's] ...advice to to anyone considering an MBA was 'don't
go to business school, study philosophy.' The secrets of business, he
said, were to be found in history, literature and the classic ruminations
on life and existence, not in the half-baked ramblings of business
academics, consultants and 'gurus'."
farther down:
"The business world, according to Mr. Stewart, has become so obsessed with
its own perverse value system and view of human nature that is is
undermining the 'commons' of society."
The rest of the book review has additional comments of a similar quality.
Or, maybe we need a contemporary author to write a new, relevant version
of either George Orwell's "1984" or Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"?
Oh...shit...we're already living in a dystopia!!!
Its called "globalized" earth!!!
Good. Common sense is still alive. |
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| rick++... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:16 am |
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Business books are like diet books - not much new under the sun.
But many people feel they have to read new books. |
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| morris croy... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:24 am |
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On Nov 2, 11:16 am, "rick++" <rick... at (no spam) hotmail.com> wrote:
Quote: Business books are like diet books - not much new under the sun.
But many people feel they have to read new books.
Or even worse, they resemble cheesy "self help" books that fill up
huge sections in big box bookstores. |
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| Old Pif... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 2:50 pm |
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Guest
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On Nov 2, 7:28 pm, Demon Buddha <Nob... at (no spam) no.where> wrote:
Quote: Life is so much better when most everyone prospers.
If the population growth continue as it is now, our Eco-system
collapses. We are already approaching the limits. In India the
government officials advice people to eat rats
http://current.com/items/89204205_indias-poor-urged-to-eat-rats.htm .
But they still have them. In Africa at some places they have already
eaten everything and anything.
We have passed the era of unlimited expansion, Endless Horizons and
limitless opportunities. It is all behind us. Our future if our Lord
endows us with the common sense is in balance and self-limitation. |
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| Demon Buddha... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:16 pm |
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Me wrote:
Quote:
Book review from WSJ, Aug 5, 2009
title of book:"The Management Myth"
author: Matthew Stewart
Title of the book review: "Bogus Theories, Bad for Business"
Author of the book review: Philip Delves Broughton
Quote:
"[Matthew Stewart's] ...advice to to anyone considering an MBA was
'don't go to business school, study philosophy.' The secrets of
business, he said, were to be found in history, literature and the
classic ruminations on life and existence, not in the half-baked
ramblings of business academics, consultants and 'gurus'."
I disagree. The advice of studying philosophy is well taken, but the
study of business is a worthwhile pursuit as well. I fully agree that
the notions of the academics have perhaps more than their share of
problems, but studying this system is, IMO, very valuable from several
standpoints. You just have to take some of what you are taught with a
questioning attitude. Free enterprise in the form of free markets may
not be perfect but it is the best we have right now. Studies such as
those for the MBA allow the astute student to compare what is taught
with what is practiced and that simple activity can prove most enlightening.
Quote:
farther down:
"The business world, according to Mr. Stewart, has become so obsessed
with its own perverse value system and view of human nature that is is
undermining the 'commons' of society."
This I firmly agree with. Not everything "common" is communistic,
socialistic, authoritarian, fascistic, or totalitarian. They key to a
proper... erm... "management" of the so-called "commons" is proper
understanding and a minimalist approach that doesn't go so far minimal
that it finds itself floating in the midst of the Simplistic Sea.
Contrariwise, over-controlling results in equal or greater perdition,
IMO. So many people appear to have forgotten that thing called the
middle path.
Quote:
The rest of the book review has additional comments of a similar quality.
Or, maybe we need a contemporary author to write a new, relevant version
of either George Orwell's "1984" or Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"?
Shit, I could knock that out in one night's writing.
Quote: Oh...shit...we're already living in a dystopia!!!
Its called "globalized" earth!!!
Sounds purty, but damn is that girl homely. |
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| Demon Buddha... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:28 pm |
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phil scott wrot
Quote: as this collapse goes ballistic, there will be a trend to the return
of comon sense, it will be that or starvation...
If this thing gets serious, and up until now it has been just
significantly inconvenient for most, the likelihood is that many will
die. By "serious" I mean non-trivial food shortages. When I was
teaching in Harlem and the South Bronx I used to ask my students where
things like meat came from. They would answer with the sincere offer of
"the store" or some equivalent. That was 84-86. The ignorance has
gotten significantly worse since those days. For many, common sense is
simply out of their reach in the time frames we could be considering.
People who not only have never known hunger but also never learned how
to do anything real (being some top dog video game jockey doesn't count,
nor does skill in rapping) and are not in the habit of doing for
themselves are going to be in for a very hard time if and when the
bottom really comes out of this thing.
Quote:
however the feed stock
will be weak ss hell, having not been taught logic, algebra or history
in high school.
How about how to raise food? Carpentry? Blacksmithing? Marksmanship?
Basic living skills should be taught to everyone because all this
technological wizardry by which we hang our lives can be gone in short
time. When that happens, those who don't know squat better have
something to offer those who can take care of themselves. Better yet
that they themselves learn those same basics. But no, that's all passé.
Hopefully we will never find out whether I am on target or full of it.
Life is so much better when most everyone prospers. |
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| Demon Buddha... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:52 pm |
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phil scott wrote:
Quote: nice quote, thanks... it is true, today we have bogus management
theory based on
a complete lack of understanding or the rest of life.
Could you give a few examples of such bogus theories? I am curious
what they may be and why you think that way about them. When I did my
MBA the management theories I learned strongly reinforced my
experience-based knowledge from 25 years of being in business.
One thing that I would warn people against is taking what they get from
the media too much to heart. Most business managers I have known and
worked with, which by now numbers over 1000 (nature of my business) are
very ethical, honest, smart, and capable people. The media sell misery
and drama. That is what gets the ad dollars. Typical news, IMO,
represents a highly concentrated and therefore highly distorted picture
of realities such as the general demeanor of businessmen. How often do
they do stories on those who run their companies efficiently while
providing value to customers and good environments for employees? Not
that often, and one must also consider the common cognitive "habit", as
it were, of people to rapidly forget good news while retaining the bad.
All of this serves to build mental castles of ugly gray stone wherein
the actors are all Eville(tm) and nasty. As this applies to business,
it is generally very misleading.
To be sure, there are bad actors out there. It also appears to me that
it requires just a few to wreak great harm on the rest, much as just a
few small, well placed charges can take down an office building in
seconds whereas erecting it may have taken years. Entropy is a most
interesting phenomenon.
Quote: One of my clients, is not educated
but his construction business prospers as others around here went from
700 staff to zero.
But this does not impeach a formal business education. Just prior to
graduation, the CEO of some huge company came to us and set us straight
about what our training represented. He was quick to point out that the
only thing it really signifies is that we had been initiated into a
brotherhood of sorts and that we possessed certain knowledge that most
others do not - and that was it. It didn't make us smarter than anyone
else - it didn't entitle us to anything special. It only alerts hiring
managers of things we should know. It is a foot in a door. The rest is
up to us - we must prove ourselves through action just as anyone else
must. I think that was a pretty good way of presenting reality to the
class.
I, too, have known people who not only had some natural knack for
business, they acted upon it and through that combination of innate
ability, experience, action, and attitude, they too prospered where
others may have failed.
Quote:
I wont spill his secrets here, but they are sophisticated comon
sense..he beats the pants off of his competition.
I have managed projects where I was directly responsible for hundreds
of millions of someone else's money. That is a lot of responsibility.
My management style has always worked well for me and those around me,
and there is a simple "secret" to it that most people simply don't get:
treat people well and they will march into the gates of hell for you
without you even having to ask. I have always measured my success in
terms of the success of those around me. If my team succeeds, it means
I did my job well. If they fail, chances are that it is my fault.
There is much about management and leadership that Johnny Q. has no clue
about. It isn't esoteric or complex, yet most just are incapable of
practicing it - or unwilling. We could write books on this, and many
have. One way of looking at it is the good old Golden Rule. Always ask
yourself how would you like to be treated by a manager in this situation
or that. Unless you are somehow organically damaged, chances are the
answer will never be "like shit" or "like a commodity". |
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| Demon Buddha... |
| Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:53 pm |
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rick++ wrote:
Quote: Business books are like diet books - not much new under the sun.
But many people feel they have to read new books.
Similar to going to movies. There are about 5 unique stories that have
ever been told. All movies are variations on those five, yet people
keep going. We like a good story.  |
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| Me... |
| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:58 am |
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On Mon, 2 Nov 2009, Demon Buddha wrote:
Quote: Me wrote:
Book review from WSJ, Aug 5, 2009
title of book:"The Management Myth"
author: Matthew Stewart
Title of the book review: "Bogus Theories, Bad for Business"
Author of the book review: Philip Delves Broughton
Quote:
"[Matthew Stewart's] ...advice to to anyone considering an MBA was 'don't
go to business school, study philosophy.' The secrets of business, he said,
were to be found in history, literature and the classic ruminations on life
and existence, not in the half-baked ramblings of business academics,
consultants and 'gurus'."
I disagree. The advice of studying philosophy is well taken, but the
study of business is a worthwhile pursuit as well. I fully agree that the
notions of the academics have perhaps more than their share of problems, but
studying this system is, IMO, very valuable from several standpoints. You
just have to take some of what you are taught with a questioning attitude.
Free enterprise in the form of free markets may not be perfect but it is the
best we have right now. Studies such as those for the MBA allow the astute
student to compare what is taught with what is practiced and that simple
activity can prove most enlightening.
farther down:
"The business world, according to Mr. Stewart, has become so obsessed with
its own perverse value system and view of human nature that is is
undermining the 'commons' of society."
This I firmly agree with. Not everything "common" is communistic,
socialistic, authoritarian, fascistic, or totalitarian. They key to a
proper... erm... "management" of the so-called "commons" is proper
understanding and a minimalist approach that doesn't go so far minimal that
it finds itself floating in the midst of the Simplistic Sea. Contrariwise,
over-controlling results in equal or greater perdition, IMO. So many people
appear to have forgotten that thing called the middle path.
The rest of the book review has additional comments of a similar quality.
Or, maybe we need a contemporary author to write a new, relevant version of
either George Orwell's "1984" or Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World"?
Shit, I could knock that out in one night's writing.
Oh...shit...we're already living in a dystopia!!!
Its called "globalized" earth!!!
Sounds purty, but damn is that girl homely.
And, non-renewable resources still being depleted at lightspeed, pollution
and contamination expanding at lightspeed, garbage dumps expanding in
greater proportion to expansion in population, political polarization
getting worse with every year (viz. terrorism, hacking, white collar
crime, etc.) |
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| Old Pif... |
| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:27 am |
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Guest
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On Nov 2, 7:52 pm, Demon Buddha <Nob... at (no spam) no.where> wrote:
Quote:
Could you give a few examples of such bogus theories?
The best way to evaluate the quality of a theory is to look at the
results. Which are dismal. MBA are massively employed mostly by the
corporations - for small businesses it is suicidal. And, supposedly,
those trained in the best schools would bring the companies to the new
level of prosperity. Instead, as you can observe, they are massively
going bankrupt.
If you take as a classical example GM, which once has been
indisputable leader when it had been created and run by engineers, you
see how much time does it take for MBA to ruin the prosperous
business. |
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| Me... |
| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:50 am |
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Guest
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On Mon, 2 Nov 2009, Demon Buddha wrote:
Quote: rick++ wrote:
Business books are like diet books - not much new under the sun.
But many people feel they have to read new books.
Similar to going to movies. There are about 5 unique stories that
have ever been told.
May we ask you to name (or describe) those five unique stories?
I will suggest that you have no idea what is in literature.
All movies are variations on those five, yet people
Quote: keep going. We like a good story.
I've been reading the Washington Post "Books" magazine (weekly), and the
book reviews in the scientific journal _Science_ for over 30 years.
I have the impression you really don't read very much. |
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| Old Pif... |
| Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 4:38 pm |
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Guest
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On Nov 3, 9:23 pm, Demon Buddha <Nob... at (no spam) no.where> wrote:
Quote:
Assuming this is so, which of us will be the first to volunteer to step
into the disintegration chambers? Or does anyone think that the
population will not continue to grow significantly for at least one more
generation even of most people stopped fucking yesterday?
They are welcome to fuck as much as they could but the sad fact is
that substantial part of the Globe population lives only because
charity organizations manage to bring them food year after year. And
one day they fail to do so simply because there will be not enough
food even for those who can buy it. The Earth is finite in all senses.
Nothing is unlimited. Imagine the huge ocean which looks like infinite
and even that seemingly infinite source of food people manage to
deplete to zero with overfishing and pollution. |
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