12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
APPLIED OBJECTIVISM, February 13, 2002
This review is from: Ayn Rand and Business (Hardcover)
When I first scanned "Ayn Rand and Business," I was a little skeptical about where this book was going and where its authors were coming from. But after reading it, I say it is stupendous.
I'd subtitle it "Applied Objectivism," in the same sense that one would speak of applied electronics where principles are applied to create all kinds of devices and equipment run by electricity. "Ayn Rand and Business" applies the principles of Objectivism to the business of marketing, capitalization, management, customer service, etc.
The book presents a brief biography of Ayn Rand covering her years in Russia, her coming to America, her struggles, her triumphs, the Objectivist "movement," that started with NBI (Nathaniel Branden Institute), the 1968 "break" between Branden and Rand and the ensuing excommunications, schisms and rifts that led to the sad decline in the "movement" and the quantity of her writings.
But, more importantly, the focus of the book is on the application of Objectivist principles to business life. (And to personal life, which comes before but also runs parallel with business life.) The authors take the Objectivist values and virtues, explain them so very clearly and illustrate them with concrete examples how they apply in the business world. They use characters from Ayn Rand's novels as models, but they also use real-life business people who practice these virtues and values.
Their presentation of Objectivist principles is clear and concise. This is not a treatise, but outside of the business focus, the book could be considered an excellent introduction to Objectivism. They deal with all of the heavy philosophical subjects and issues in what we used to refer to as "layman's terms."
You don't have to be a philosopher to understand Ayn Rand. Her writing is crystal clear. Nonetheless, jumping into metaphysics and epistemology cold turkey may not be the best way to get an introduction to Objectivism or any other philosophy. When, as a kid, I started to read about relativity and physics, many books that put those ideas in "layman's terms" were invaluable. "Ayn Rand and Business" does this superbly.
Fans of Ayn Rand and long time readers will find nothing new, philosophically, in the book though they should be impressed by its clarity and thoroughness in explaining Objectivism. I would particularly recommend it to people who show an interest in ideas and who might be prime candidates to become Objectivists. And because it is focused on Objectivism in business, I would highly recommend it for such prime candidates in the business world.
It's not clear where the authors discovered Ayn Rand. The biographical information is silent on this subject. But it is obvious from the sources they cite and the bibliography that they know their subject. They quote from virtually every book, article and newsletter Ayn Rand ever wrote. They appear to have read every book by or about her and Objectivism.
The only flaws I see in the book are in editing. In several instances, needed words are missing or the wrong words are used. Additionally, there are a couple of instances where the wording of a sentence initially gives the opposite impression than that intended. And it is incorrectly stated that "The Objectivist" preceded "The Objectivist Newsletter." But the errors, except for the last one, are obvious to any reader and do nothing to detract from the content.
Overall, the book gets my highest rating. For a book written so clearly and favorably about Objectivism, by two people apparently unknown in the Ayn Rand "movement," to suddenly appear on the scene is remarkable. It's something to be celebrated and is an indication that, more than anything else I've seen, Objectivism is breaking through to and is reaching the common man who Ayn Rand correctly remarked is not so "common."
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Insightful!, April 15, 2002
This review is from: Ayn Rand and Business (Hardcover)
Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism celebrates the underlying principles of capitalism: reason, independence and just plain selfishness. Donna Greiner and Theodore Kinni lay out the fundamentals of Objectivism and attempt to describe how you can integrate its beliefs into your life and your business. The book is written in the spirit of Rand's own outlook: It is anchored in practicality, well organized and goal-oriented. Even so, some executives might lose patience with the philosophic nature of the work. We advise such readers to move on. However, we from getAbstract recommend this book to intellectually curious readers in search of a moral, ethical, or even philosophic foundation for their business life.
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Distorted Portrait on Cover + Abundance of Sarcasm, November 1, 2001
This review is from: Ayn Rand and Business (Hardcover)
This book is a fine example of how a "no-set" can be created in a reader by using:
An abundance of sarcasm from cover to cover, a pseudo-balanced account to attack without having to use any logical arguments, and scaring potential prospects away by utilizing discrepancies within the Objectivist movement that are non-essential for beginners.
Presenting itself to the unsuspecting prospect as the much needed introductory book to the application of Objectivism to business, the only thing it achieves, is making look the founder of Objectivism a somewhat weird and eccentric person. If it was the goal of the authors to convince productive businesspeople that applying Objectivist principles to their problems of work is impractical, they were without doubt successful in completing their job.
If you are a businessperson honestly interested in learning about Objectivism in the context of management, you should look into one of these books instead: Nathaniel Branden's Self-Esteem At Work, Edwin Locke's The Prime Movers, and Ayn Rand Institute's Why Businessman Need Philosophy. While all of these books are not perfect, they are by far better then the Greiner/Kinni text. I gave it nonetheless two stars, because it provides -- for those who are interested in such a sinister task -- an easy to understand pattern that can be modified for one's own propaganda purposes.
Ayn Rand's portrait on the cover seems to be deliberately distorted with a software program. A black cloud was added to the skyline on the upper right. It's November 2001.
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