The Monster Under The Bed [Paperback]

Stan Davis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1995

Companies in the business of providing knowledge -- for profit -- will dominate the 21st-century global marketplace.

Can your business compete?

In today's fast-paced world, knowledge is doubling nearly every seven years, while the life cycle of a business grows increasingly shorter. The best way -- and perhaps the only way -- to succeed is to become a "knowledge-based" business. In The Monster Under the Bed, Stan Davis and Jim Botkin show how:

* Every business can become a knowledge business

* Every employee can become a knowledge worker

* Every customer can become a lifelong learner

The Monster Under the Bed explains why it's necessary for businesses to educate employees and consumers. Consider the fact that the vast majority of 60 million PC owners, for example, learned to use their computers not at school but at work or at home. Davis and Botkin explain how any high-tech, low-tech, or no-tech company can discover new markets and create new sources of income by building future business on a knowledge-for-profit basis -- and how, once it does, its competitors must follow or fail.

Filled with examples of high-profile companies that are riding the crest of this powerful wave, The Monster Under the Bed is an insightful exploration of the many ways that the knowledge-for-profit revolution will profoundly affect our businesses, our educational processes, and our everyday lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Is America doomed to be the "best schooled and least educated modern society"? Davis (Future Perfect) and Botkin (No Limits to Learning) ask and answer the question, predicting that America's schools will undergo an eventual metamorphosis because business (and business-driven learning) are likely to assume "the major responsibility for the kind of education... necessary for any country to remain competitive in the new economy." The authors argue that "smart technologies," effective institutional training and the phenomenon of lifelong learning will persuade educators that America has an invaluable opportunity "to reinvigorate and even redefine" its education system. Davis and Botkin's ideas could and should spark public policy debates.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In a time when the term paradigm shift is used freely to justify minor changes to existing structures and systems, this book truly presents a new perspective on a matter of interest to almost everyone: education. The authors, both business consultants, contend that it will be the private, rather than the public, sector that will determine the educational methods of the future. They believe that a market-driven learning industry is rapidly developing in this country, revolutionizing the practice of education and changing it for the better. While many will not agree with their conclusions, readers will be challenged to examine their own beliefs about education, its purpose, and how it should be provided in our society. This book is interesting, thought-provoking, and controversial; it should be read by students, parents, educators, government officials, business leaders, and the public at large. Highly recommended.
Robert Logsdon, Indiana State Univ. Lib., Indianapolis
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (September 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684804387
• ISBN-13: 978-0684804385
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,197,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but Now Dated, November 22, 2011

By 

William Corsair "Will" (Leavenworth County, KS USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Monster Under The Bed (Paperback)

I'd love to see someone update the book, since it was published 18 years ago. I bought my copy in about 2001.

I really like this book. The gist is that it's really going to be up to business--whether they like it or not--to educate today's workers. If anything, I think the message is even more relevant today, given the huge cost of higher education and the increasingly iffy ROI that comes from that investment by graduates. Community Colleges are filling much of the gap, particularly the very large community college institutions like we have here in the Kansas City area. One, Johnson County Community College, is larger than many four-year, state-funded universities (enrollment is now more than 21,000).

CCs are doing, and have done, much of the kind of work that Davis and Botkin describe. With a large corporate presence on the JCCC campus (like Kansas City Southern Railroad, BNSF, and Union Pacific collaborating to offer railroad operations training and certificate programs), many businesses and business/education partnerships are training students to perform the kinds of jobs that the work world requires. These kinds of situations are going to accelerate in mainstream corporate and small-business enterprises as well. (Disclaimer: as a consultant and adult educator, I develop and teach corporate education in both classroom and web-based delivery methods).

While I'm a huge proponent of traditional liberal arts education, we're going to need increasing amounts of job-specific education. I absolutely cringe every time I hear someone blather on about how we need more "math-n-science" education because the real problems of the world aren't technical fixes that call for math and science; they're all about negotiation, communication, collaboration, cooperation...things where liberal arts education excels. Fortunately, increasing numbers of corporate and academic programs realize that not everything is a tech fix and they're teaching the kinds of interpersonal, emotional, and social intelligence skills required to get the whole job done.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, January 25, 2008

By 

Toire "Toire" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Monster Under The Bed (Paperback)

This is a great book with wonderful insights, wish I'd read during my undergrad years.