Customer Reviews

Harvard Business Review on Leading in Turbulent Times (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series)

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When I was offered a chance to review a book on leadership I knew my father would be interested. As a retired military commander now in the business world his perspective is two-fold. Here is a brief look on what he thought of the Harvard Business review pinpointing on leading in turbulent times.

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The importance of quality leadership is the main thread woven throughout the eight articles of "Leading in Turbulent Times". Although this collection of essays was published in 2003 and mostly refers to the economic challenges from the beginning of the decade, the principles of leadership remain the same today. Many readers may miss the main theme as they attempt to compare our current recession to that of the past and dismiss many of the contributing author's thoughts on business leadership.

It is clear when you read this book that an understanding of our economic past and the poor leadership decisions made will help to avoid making the same mistakes again. Whether you are a manager, executive, or an up and coming employee, this book from the Harvard Business Review series will offer an insight to handling the real challenges of leadership. Setting a course to reach the company's vision for the future, rightsizing and layoffs, anticipating and preparing for volatile markets, understanding resiliency in people and organizations, and understanding your core competencies and seizing opportunities is explained in easy to understand and focused language.

This is essential reading for all levels of management. Whether you are the lowest supervisor or the owner of a company, there is much to be gleaned from these critical works.

If you've come to this page and are reading the reviews, you should have already bought it.

Nice review of up and coming business trends. Journal style writing that gives you articles at a glance. The "turbulent times" series combines insight and practical suggestions. Great for the commute and on the desk at work.

This book was quite disappointing. Case studies are brief and do not seem to contain enough facts. Examples of "success" appear to leave out key points. Discussion of situations involving corporate ethics advises caution and subterfuge rather than honesty and forthrightness. It is also quite short- less than 200 pages of large font text.

If you ahve never read anything from the Harvard Business Review then you know that it is tome like in both its tone and delivery of information. I have had nothing but good experience with the information though. Each case study is presented in an informative and solid way, giving you real examples and many great potential solutions for your own business. I enjoyed reading it and my version is fully highlighted underlined and on the calendar to be re-read in a month or two. The goal of any learer is to be effective and motivating this book helps you do just that.

You can always count on the HBR's to offer some insightful information and provocative articles. This issue was business as usual. I actually think that some of the economic pundits on Fox should review this issue prior to going on TV and spouting off. Partisan politics aside, the issue really does a great job of distilling how to think and respond to the current economic downturn.

The issue would be useful to those studying Business, Economics, Political Science, Sociology, and History.

I was actually not looking forward to reading this book after all of the disappointing business books I've read lately. I thought it would be just another book with some "expert" giving an opinion on how to tell others what to do in an economic downturn. However, I was completely surprised at what a good book this is. I think it should be required reading for business leaders. I have an MBA and it reminded me of a lot of what I studied in school but what you don't see practiced that often in reality. What really impressed me and made this different is that the statements made in this book are most always backed up with quantitative and qualitative data as well. I like to see that. When so many experts make statements of "fact" about how to handle business circumstances, I always think "prove it!" Well, that is done in here and why I think this book sets itself apart as exemplary.

Since reading this book about a month ago I have paid attention to which companies are doing well, or at least better than expected, in this recession. A lot of them are the ones who have come out and said they did exactly what was suggested in this book. I believe after this recession, they can rewrite this book and will have a lot more supportive data to add to it. It was an easy read and not boring at all. Very thought provoking for ideas IF you are interested in ways to help a company make it through tough times.

A compact selection of essays that address what business should be doing not only during but in preparing for turbulent times. The authors, in particular Darrell Rigby in "Moving Upward in a Downturn", discuss the typical pit falls that businessmen engage in during hard economic times. As Rigby notes, immediately laying people off often creates long ter,m damage to the companies work force, depreciating future employee loyalty and in adirect sense contributing to a spiral of economic problems literaly globally. One obvious answer, preparing for a rainy day or season; alesson many investment companies failed to contributing much to our catstrophic economic downtown of present by having inadequate reserves to match their high risk, risky, investments. I also found Tom Copeland's essay on "Cutting Costs Without Drawing Blood" interesting and simple particular as he note that in capitol costs, alarge portion of the budget are small projects that simply get rubber stamped. He proposes a series of uestion sthat help focus on these cumulative small expenditures that he notes can add up to 80% of az firms budget. By not rubber stamping the small stuff, you cumulatively stay leaner without ruining your operation. Not a fluff book but real hard examples and methods.

These eight essays were not written in light of the 2007-08 economic crisis, but rather this HBR paperback was originally published in 2002 and motivated by the fears and economic impacts of the 9/11terrorist attacks, and the sequels of the [...] bubble.

All authors focus on different dimensions of businesses facing crisis, from the concrete consequences of filing Chapter 11 to the psychological but key influence of resilience. Some of the essays are more appropriate to the challenges faced by many firms as a result of the 2008 Financial Crisis, but the collection is worth the reading for business-oriented people.

For example, I particularly liked the papers "How Resilience Works" and "Moving Upward in a Downturn", both are very appropriate for facing the current crisis, and also a good reference for the good times. Another interesting work is "The Growth Crisis - and How to Escape it", though not a reading for those looking for orientation for the ongoing crisis.

Great content pertinent to the current business market economy. Easy to follow interesting topics that provide insightful examples of how to manage as an executive during a turbulent time in history. The book does not claim to solve all the problems, however, the educated approach, as is the case with all Harvard Business, helps examine what can be done to offer today's leaders direction without destroying the framework of the current business structure. The short article format offers readers flexibility regarding various topics. The higher educational organization of the content is factual rather than just canned concepts. I know that I will be able to shelf the book and pick it up at a later time as a useful resource now and into the future.