Thinking inside the box

REVIEWS BY STEPHANIE SWILLEY

Author Joel Kurtzman has good connections. The former editor of Harvard Business Review has compiled a storehouse of great management thinking by rounding up contributors like junk bond king Michael Milken, Segway inventor Dean Kamen and Harvard's strategy star Michael Porter. The result is MBA in a Box: Practical Ideas from the Best Brains in Business. With short, thought-provoking chapters on innovation, human resources, strategy and leadership, the book covers every topic a business person needs.

MBA in a Box strives to balance fun and practicality. It succeeds most of the time, but some of the famous contributors will leave readers wanting. For instance, Porter's look at the power of location and Milken's take on capital structure feel like school lectures. However, Kamen starts the book off right with a compelling comparison of invention versus innovation. The finance and accounting section (one of Kurtzman's favorites) includes Les Livingstone's deft explanation of the pros and cons of the recent Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Robert Metcalf's powerful defense of stock options. Kurtzman is proud that he "thought inside the box" to create a toolkit for professionals, but his book will still shake up readers' thinking and stretch minds.


It's what's in the box that counts

Seth Godin, a best-selling author, entrepreneur and self-described "agent of change," ushers in the next big marketing idea with Free Prize Inside! The author of Purple Cow and Permission Marketing focuses on creating great products through innovation rather than spending a fortune advertising average products.

Godin is not championing revolutionary change (major R&D is expensive and unpredictable), but what he calls "soft" innovations that are cheap, clever and small. Hence the free prize idea—the product extras that create buzz. For example, music lovers couldn't stop telling others about the sleek design of the Apple iPod, and the hilarious Cranium board game generated interest because it was sold only in Starbucks stores. To emphasize the free-prize concept, the first edition of Godin's book will be sold in a cereal box (Purple Cow debuted in a milk carton).

Godin spends one-third of the book explaining how to sell an idea internally. Start by building your reputation in advance, he advises. Champion small projects, like organizing a take-out lunch. Then denigrate the status quo to create urgency. Finally, find a way to prove the idea will be successful, even if you have no idea whether it will be or not.

Godin's playfulness makes Free Prize Inside! fun and easy to read. He revels in coining new words like "sneezer" (to describe an influential person) and thoughtfully provides a four-page summary at the end so you can pretend you've read the whole thing. Plus, his end notes are a riot. This one is not to be missed.


Business briefs

Jerry Acuff, president of Delta Leadership Group, has built a three-step coaching process that makes making friends easy. The Relationship Edge in Business shows that building relationships with bosses, customers and co-workers is a skill anyone can master by having the right attitude and asking the right questions. Acuff's list of 20 questions (Where is your favorite place to vacation? What do you do when you are not working?) is a surefire way to get people to like you—let them talk about themselves.

The idea for Unstuck came from a Yale MBA course designed to help students develop leadership and communication skills to transition though times of stress and change. The result is a lively yet pragmatic tool for getting back on track if you or your team gets "stuck." This innovative little book by Keith Yamashita and Sandra Spataro is filled with cool graphics and memorable stories from the likes of IBM, Sony, Disney and Nike.


Stephanie Swilley will receive her MBA this month from Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management.

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