11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Should be required reading in every organization., February 1, 1999
This review is from: Hope is Not a Method (Paperback)
I cannot remember a book so well written, so full of business principles, and yet so easy to understand. I am a management consultant in the housing industry, and this book is required reading for every existing client, and I do not take on a new client until this book has been read by the management team. Sullivan and Harper, with pinpoint accuracy, identify the principles which make good companies great, and great companies, untouchable.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great read for serious business students, January 2, 2008
This review is from: Hope is Not a Method (Paperback)
I am an XGI who has spent his business career in a constant quest for change. I have been the change agent and now, in senior management, look back on our most recent exercise in Strategic Planning and have to admit we fall into several of the planning traps described by General Sullivan. I think this is so relevent for our company that I am going to buy at least 10 copies for my direct reports. We all spend so much time "tweaking the margins" instead of trying to develop truly breakthrough thinking. This is the best I have read in years.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The book the press should have read, August 2, 2004
This review is from: Hope is Not a Method (Paperback)
I know this is a business book, but it's more, it's a case study, and anyone who has been the defense industry or large government acquisitions - can relate. Budget, schedule, source selection, contract management, program & technology management... it seems at times--overwhelming. Managing projects of this scope are like juggling chainsaws, especially when wrapped so tightly with budget and schedule, or changing schedules as technology changes and emerges during the course of an acquisition. Then it's rework and modifications to contract, it's extreamly dynamic! Interconnectivity along the differing nodes (USN, USAF, USA, USMC, USCG, HQ, Pentagon...) was incredible. Defense contracting is HUGE, INNOVATIVE and it's NOT like running a sandwich shop or a gas station. Totally different realm. Just the technological advances from 1992 to 2000 were staggering, managing that aspect of the acquisition took strict attention to detail and a hand on the pulse of the industry. No sense fielding a system which needs a major technology upgrade 2 years after FRP.
Remember Winter 2003? I couldn't believe the press questions during tactical updates... if they had read THIS book they would have completely understood the capability, innovation and the battlefield overview the ARMY possessed. Instead we get the usual uninformed prattle about how bad the losses were going to get, or how will our Army ever survive the onslaught of the RNG. The U.S. owned the night, had total control over every aspect associated with the dissemination of the opposing forces.
Example: in 1992 it took 10 minutes to acquire and put ordnance on a target. In 2003 it took 2 minutes, 45 seconds of which was the time the ordnance was in the air enroute to impact. That's impressive, that's technology at work, that's why this book is a must read for every business major or military professional or... the press.
Otherwise, you're just uninformed.
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