Customer Reviews

Business Under Fire: How Israeli Companies Are Succeeding in the Face of Terror -- and What We Can Learn from Them

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What is "usual" about doing busines in Israel during he intifada? Carrison goes to the war zone and interviews the leaders of companies still strong in the face of terror. After the initial shock of being an object of hate and holding your child through the funerals of classmates, a certain resolve sets in. Who is in charge here? Us or the terrorists? The determination is that life in all of it's phases and nuances must proceed and as fully as possible. The picture which emerges from Carrison's interesting and often compelling narrative, is one of companies reassessing and redesigning their priorities and goals, of personalizing service and depending on old fashioned customer satisfaction as a cheif element in marketing, of streamling and sculpting out of reduced opportunities, a cleaner, meaner, more durable and enduring product or service. Carrison's decisions-makers prove to be both human and humane, connected intimately to their fellow employees and their customers, as well as to the broader Israeli and world communities. Written in the same energetic and powerful prose found in Carrison's other books, Business Under Fire clearly spells out the operative principles which successful businesses have utilized to survive and serve with dignity and grace through these last years of terror in Israel. Carrison synthesizes those principles in chapter ending checklists. Business Under Fire is thorough, orderly and entirely readable.

Author Dan Carrison deserves credit for writing an insightful book about an ongoing modern tragedy. The Palestinian terrorist attacks, which resumed in Israel in 2000, present a critical lesson for all twenty-first century businesses. Working through terrorist attacks aimed at killing civilians and disrupting normal life actually has forced Israeli executives to learn new ways of operating their businesses. Carrison interviewed leaders in various industries (airlines, hotels, high tech, advertising) who have worked to keep their businesses open, their employees safe and their customers satisfied. He actually found that many companies were revitalized. While the topic of living with danger is daunting, many Israelis have adopted better business tactics as a result of economic and physical terrorism. Oddly enough, this extreme situation leads to an uplifting business story. As a result, we recommend this very interesting book to CEOs, business owners and corporate strategists, especially in the hospitality and service industries. It will put your troubles in perspective and will help you prepare to cope with any type of crisis.

Carrison's book is a must read for businesspeople who will increasingly be faced with serious disruption whether in the US or overseas. The book is filled with interviews of a cross section of Israeli entrepreneurs who have been operating under the most trying of circumstances -- the intifada of four years duration. Not only is it a security issue, but an economic one as the whole economy has been devastated: unemployment is up; GDP is negative; foreign companies are not investing; and tourism -- Israel's main industry--is down significantly. These set of challenges are virtually unprecedented in a deveoped country like Israel. How the individual Israeli businessperson has been coping is a lesson to be learned. While there is no denying that business is down -- it is not out. Through a combination of creativity, infinite patience and sheer bravado, Israelis have been finding new ways to survive and even thrive. From high tech to hotels, managements have devised new techniques and methodologies that are an excellent real life textbook of managing through turmoil.
For businesspeople who may have to face disruption from terrorism or other forms of dislocation and disruption, this is a great primer. And , the experiences ring true because they are not distilled by the author's style of verbatim interviews.. A must read for any student of human nature under stress, but particularly for those who want to comprehend the new world we find ourselves in and how we must devise new strategies for coping.

Regardless of the type of attack an business might experience, this book deals with how to recover and make the best of a bad situation. This is not a politically motivated book, rather an insightful look at the best managers in the world today. What businesses can learn from Israeli management skills is that emergencies can occur naturally or unaturally. When they do occur, business might know how to survive the storm and rebuild.

In a new and fascinating book, Business Under Fire: How Israeli Companies Are Succeeding in the Face of Terror - and What We Can Learn from Them, author Dan Carrison focuses on a different sort of crisis resulting in lost jobs, not outsourcing, but terrorism. Since the start of the Palestinian intifada in October 2000, combined with the meltdown of the NASDAQ, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in Israel. With a population of only 6.2 million, these lost jobs have had a catastrophic effect on the Israeli economy.

As a management consultant, Carrison wondered how any company, let a lone an entire economy could survive in an environment ravaged by terrorism and a recession. The Israeli economy faced a double-edged sword with the meltdown of the hi-tech industry (in which Israel is heavily leveraged) and the intifada, which started in October 2001.

Carrison questioned from a business perspective how businesses in Israel were able to stay viable in such a chaotic and destructive environment. His conclusions, after spending time in Israel and interviewing many business leaders there, is that even with all of the terrorism, the Israeli economy is surprisingly robust.

Without getting in the politics of the middle-east conflict, nor taking sides, the book shows both technology and business managers how they can deal with the most adverse of situations.

In the book, Carrison interviews a cross section of CEO's and managers from industries hurt the hardest; namely tourism, hotel, hi-tech and biotech. What is unique from all of the stories is that every manager has stated that not only has the intifada not destroyed their company, it has made it a leaner and more efficient organizations and one that will be ready to go into overdrive when the normal economic times resume.

The five chapters have the same format, interviews with CEO's and senior directors, and a checklist for managing a business under fire. Each interviewee offers their own observations and strategies on how to deal with the current situation and work towards future growth. These strategies run from redefining the market, sharing the risk, to contingency plans and more.

One significant difference noted between Israel and America is how Israeli citizens psychologically deal with terrorism. In an interview with financial consultant Danny Halpern, he questions that if the World Trade Center in New York City were completely rebuilt and reopened tomorrow, how many people would rent office space in it? Halpern doubts the World Trade Center would have the same occupancy level as before 9/11. But he notes that in Israel, office are repopulated after they are bombed, and customers frequent bombed cafes and restaurants as soon as they are repaired.

Another telling difference that Halpern observed is that in Israel is more concerned with the quality of security, whereas in the US, more is invested into the mechanics of security. In the US, because of the huge numbers involved, the investment in security by default is in the mechanics, and the system. With that, minimum wage workers are hired to carry out what are supposedly important security functions.

One area hit the hardest has been the hotel industry. Hotels operate with a large amount of staff and require high occupancy rates to break even (roughly 75 percent). Carrison interviewed a number of hotel managers who saw their occupancy rate average about 25 percent. By any account, every hotel should have closed its doors and declared bankruptcy. But what happened is that the hotels discovered many inefficiencies. In fact, Raphy Weiner, General Manager of the five-star Daniel Hotel, noted that he learned how inefficient they were before the crisis and "we'll never go back to the old way. The intifada has been a school for us".

The lessons that American IT managers can take from Weiner are that even the most adverse situations can be a fulcrum for change. Those that are in danger of having their job outsourced, which is a significant number of us, can take those lessons to heart, and hope that their managers and CEO's are also.

The findings Carrison found were that every manager had been challenged in cataclysmic ways, but refused to be run out of business by terrorists. Their defiance to the terrorists enabled them to create ways to streamline operations, reduce staff and determine a method to ride out the economic storm. What is ironic, is that in interview after interview, every manager and CEO stated that the current times has made them better overall and will maximize their long-term survival.

A further cruel irony detailed in the book is that the ones that have heavily hurt from an economic perspective are the many Palestinian workers who before the intifada started, were able to have a good job. The severe cutbacks in many firms resulted in Palestinian workers losing their jobs as a direct result of terrorist activities by their compatriots.

While the cause of the Israeli programmer losing his job is not the same as that of the American programmer; the manner in which they both can rebuild can be the same. Nietzsche's observation that "what does not destroy me, makes me stronger" is the literal sediment in interview after interview in the book. There is a lot that American programmers and managers can learn, from those under fire in Israel.

When the United States was attacked on September 11, 2001, America was changed forever. Wherever they were, people who could scurried home to be with family. The question of the day was whether the attacks were over. A whole new sense of vulnerability spread across the land like a flu virus.

Corporate executives caught the bug-fear flu. Is it over? Will it happen again? How vulnerable are we-as a nation, but also as our company? As paranoia set in, business leaders slowed plans for research and development, the building of new facilities, and the growth and development of their employees. It became more difficult to plan for the future, not knowing how the market-and each company's marketplace-would respond.

Trying to run a business-any kind of business-under the threat of terrorism was a whole new experience for the domestic operations of global American companies. With the threat hanging over their heads, at least psychologically, corporate leaders struggled to cope. Ignorance was rampant; most executives had never operated under crisis or potential crisis...and this field of leadership is certainly not taught in our business schools. Confusion reigned and many organizations became less productive, more cautious, and less profitable.

Dan Carrison observed this shift in American leadership. As a consultant, speaker, and former journalist, he realized that he was equipped-through background and skill-to create a guide to help leaders understand their new environment and how to excel under these new circumstances. So, he went to Israel to get answers. The story is more complicated than that, but you'll read about the process of Carrison's collection of information and advice.

Carrison interviewed executives in a number of fields-face-to-face-in Israel. He learned first-hand how they function in a world that is much different than what we have known in the United States. Numerous interviews are reported, with commentary. A summary list of lessons learned adds value at the end of each chapter.

Prepare to learn about creativity in a new way. Resilience, defiance, and resolute leadership make things work-"Goliath in assets, David in attitude." Carrison points out several times that just about everyone in Israel knows a victim of terrorism. This volume takes the concept of contingency management to a whole new level.

Packed with information and interviews never before available. Great. This book offers an entirely new perspective on the tragedy of terrorism. Chapter 2 alone is worth its purchase price, revealing just how devastating violence is to an economy and how rewarding it can be to rise to the challenge. Kudos to Carrison for an excellent read and tutelage.

Here is what I got from the book:
1. Don't use 'Good Morning America' to make business decisions. 'Terrorism' is the longest running 'reality show', and makes the networks big bucks. Tragedy sells. Don't be fooled into thinking it has much to do with reality.
2. Army officers make good managers, especially when the probablity of 'made for TV' violence is somewhat higher than the average chance of a fatal highway accident.
3. There is always opportunity when the consensus says there isn't any.
4. If 'made for TV' violence makes it impossible to communicate with your customers using mass media ads, use the Internet.
5. Be honest about violence, the investors and customers you want are resiliant.
6. Use the crisis to cement solidarity among your team.
7. Be realistic about your opportunities, and avoid thoughtless attachment to outdated standards.
8. Practice crisis response regularly. Don't expect to make wise spontaneous decisions while under fire. Practice, practice, practice.
9. During a crisis, providing leadership pays dividends.

This is too important a topic to let Mr. Carrison's vacuous presentation style get a passing grade. I didn't really care how he dreamt up the book, set up his interviews, or what the taxi drivers said. I don't need to read interview transcripts. Please, Mr. Carrison, find an editor!