Customer Reviews

Disclosing New Worlds: Entrepreneurship, Democratic Action, and the Cultivation of Solidarity

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Refusing to employ the all-too-common approach of using abstract conceptions of the human being such as "performer," "rational animal," "creature of God," and so forth from which to derive an idea of the good life, the authors show how the skills of entrepreneurs, virtuous citizens, and cultivators of solidarity enable life to be lived at its best. More than this, the authors claim that these skills need not be admired from afar but can be cultivated in each of our lives. Developing these skills does not merely help the economy, political activity, and our communities. They make our lives worth living. Without understanding and cultivating them, our lives drift toward a meaninglessness in which we act without caring. We can see this drift today in the lack of abiding commitments by workers to businesses, by citizens to politics, and by us all generally to the social institutions that bind us together. When people develop these skills in their everyday lives, they are engaged in "making history." This means that our common understanding of history as a sequence of large-scale events and important people fails to grasp what it is that truly makes history. History is made when we change the way in which we understand and deal with ourselves and things. This book is the first of its kind in many ways. It brings together some of our greatest cultural concerns and shows the common background to them all in an unprecedented way. That is, it shows that those who create the business opportunities most of us take for granted, who as citizens change our political landscape, and who overcome our divisiveness by creating solidarity between us all share some basic skills. This book is the first to bring together these different worlds in this way. The book is also deeply philosophical but written so that its philosophical moorings do not obstruct understanding. Rather its philosophical roots attract the reader, because the basic philosophical question under consideration is: what does it mean to be human and to live life at its best? No other book has endeavored to find the answer to this question by examining the common practices underlying the innovative activity of entrepreneurs, good citizens, and those who generate and cultivate solidarity. The authors provide studies ranging from Henry Ford to Mothers Against Drunk Driving to Martin Luther King Jr. to demonstrate their points. The cases they examine draw the reader into a world in which he or she learns that we need not live life at meaningless extremes, but that there is room in our lives for creative and fruitful activity that can change our world for the good. Steering clear of the "Cartesian" extreme of viewing all circumstances governed by rules that we can simply apply as well as the "neo-Nietzschean" extreme of viewing the world as nothing but meaningless change, the authors provide their readers with hope that they can artfully change their world. My praise for the book comes from the way in which it brings together careful and consistent philosophical analysis of the themes under consideration with examples and concerns familiar to anyone who reads the book. My advice to any reader trying to decide whether or not to read this book is: stop reading this review and start reading the book

This is one of the most extraordinary books I have read. It accomplishes a truly philosophical approach to the types of social action that are available in everyday life: in business, politics and culture. Its view of social action as disclosure may bring fundamental changes to the way we cope with our everyday problems.

Plato--who may be a model for every philosopher--developed his most important philosophical ideas in the Republic--a book about social action, focused on the most important kind of social action of his time. Disclosing New Worlds does a similar job for the 20th century world (of course, it does not have the ambition to be as comprehensive as Plato's work).

This is a book that attempts to develop the reader's level of awareness--to a historical awareness, which is essential to human life, as stressed by Ortega y Gasset. Indispensable reading for whoever has a necessity to think about business and society.

Disclosing New Worlds is a philosophical exploration of the fundamental principles that underlie entrepreneurial activity, democratic action and the cultivation of solidarity. Through a number of real-life examples, it shows how excellence in these three domains of social activity is brought about-not with a detached, rational deliberative stance, but with intense involvement in the practices of the culture and critical reflection on the anomalies of everyday life. "Disclosing New Worlds gets to the heart of corporate entrepreneurship. It combines rigorous philosophical thinking with rich descriptions of everyday corporate, democratic and social life. The result is a book that accurately portrays a set of important skills not yet taught in our schools."

Thank you!

This book suffers from only a few negatives: First, it was published ten years too early, way ahead of its time. This book is far more relevant to the issues of today than it was in 1999, although the matters it addresses are really timeless. Second, the writing is fairly cerebral and requires the philosophical mindset to penetrate. It's useful, maybe even necessary, to have some familiarity with the sources behind the ideas presented. Yet, anyone with patience and intent can derive great benefit from the ideas in this book. Careful reading of this work offers tangible, applicable approaches for those interested in "history-making" in a specific domain. The authors explore the terrain of producing meaningful changes in human identities and the worlds in which those identities are embedded. With so many how-to style books on the market, this one fills in a much needed missing piece: the underlying architecture of generative innovation. The authors are each worthy gentlemen in their own rights who have dedicated themselves to practicing what they proffer here, so this book is the real deal. Inspiring and powerful.

I read this book the first time as a modern-day philosophical work, then I read it again from "how can I use it?" The first effect it had on me is dispelling the common understanding of Entrepreneurship with all its common connotations. The book is generous in powerful distinctions needed to produce a new and superior understanding of Entrepreneurship, political and social activity.
I observe business people around me looking for ideas to innovate, as if ideas existed out there somewhere to be grabbed and acted upon. Noticing and observing disharmonies in the world, in day-to-day life, work, and social activities is a source for creating new possibilities for ourselves and others around us.
There are those who act upon observed pervasive disharmonies, take responsibility and grant themselves authority to produce opportunities, new thinking and useful action, and there are those who frown at, criticize, and complain about situations that resist their common sense and normal solutions. It's a choice. It's what separates the producers and innovators of the World from the rest.
I utilize this book as a manual and a source for developing my business, generating new offers for my customers, and as a basis for creating discursive networks with colleagues and others who share the ambition of Entrepreneurship: The Ethics of bringing advantage to everyone.

I read and hear so much about innovation it looses meaning. What is innovation anyway? The authors say that innovation and (for lack of a better term) being the most happy are one and the same. The authors claim that life is best (we are most happy) when we are in the middle of a positive change in how we do things. Notice that it is "how" we do things, not "what" we do.

So, for example, I enjoy teaching others what I know. There is a person I regularly interact with that doesn't appreciate being "taught". By only suggesting practices that are needed at the time, I've been able to reach this person. I had to change how I worked with her. Not what I did. This was an innovation and felt great.

The authors provide the how to innovation that we are looking for. The ideas need time to cook. This is a book to read once through then think on the concepts for a year. Refer to the book to understand again what the authors are saying.

Disclosing New Worlds is foundational for devoted students of human change. It belongs on the shelf next to other great philosophers. But practically, what innovation are you working on?

La noción de disclosive spaces y estilo nos produce una mayor apertura a otros mundos. Nos permite desarrollar sensibilidad a la manera de ser de cada uno y de los otros. La observación sistemática de anomalías pone más a la mano la posibilidad de innovación, le quita la connotación "mágica" que acarrea para nosotros. El estilo como esencia del ser histórico, y como juega con los disclosive spaces es una noción muy potente para impulsar cambios. Vivir cada cosa como momento único, para lo cual hay que darse tiempo para andar más lento por la vida.

Libro que nos invita no sólo a descubrir, sino que también a inventar nuevos mundos, más emprendedores, solidarios y democráticos. Sin duda una gran ayuda para aquellos que quieren salir de la resignación y el resentimiento. No da formulas, pero si da una gran invitación

Hasta ahora, ser emprendedor me parecía ajeno a mis dominios. Sin embargo después de leer el primer capítulo y hojear el resto, me queda claro que las prácticas emprendedoras están a la mano y nuestra ceguera impide verlas. Es más, logré ver algunos aspectos de mi vida reflejados en la lectura y apareció frente a mi una conclusión: ¡Cuando joven me encontraba más cerca de ser un emprendedor!¿la razón?, muchos miedos se han apoderado de mí. Por consiguiente, debo no solo comprometerme con una práctica de atisbamiento sino que intentar transformarme en un atisbador y al menos a través de una articulación recuperativa explicitar algunas prácticas olvidadas y adaptar mi estilo. ¿Porqué digo una mirada lateral?, la razón básica radica en que aún leo desde un punto de vista cartesiano y este libro me invita a conversar, a observar y a observarme en mi distintos "disclosive space". Hasta aquí la humanidad se ha preocupado prioritariamente de extender sus sentidos. La cuchara es una extensión de la mano, los binoculares son una extensión de la vista, pero que solo permiten un mayor alcance. ¿Y el ser humano logra cultivarse con estas extensiones?. Es un libro con el cuál debo conversar una y otra vez y que me invita a una espiral de crecimiento personal.

Chaw Dios, ñuke Dios/ askintullenge tami fochüm ni dungu/ chumnge pelle tañi trekan nag mapu mew/ suamni ta suamnielu/ dungun/ Felelelley/ chau Dios, ñuke Dios/ felelley fochüm fentreli ngütram/ feymen akulleyiñ/ chayi, kimeltupal ngütram/ kisu, nietulleyiñ mew kelluketen/ dungum mew lle/ wenuntu kefenew/ ngütram mew