Clicks and Mortar (Hardcover)

by David S. Pottruck (Author), Terry Pearce (Author) "We all live inside a culture..." (more)
Key Phrases: sustaining culture, brand attributes, noble failure, New York, San Francisco, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
David S. Pottruck, president and co-CEO of Charles Schwab, and Terry Pearce, founder of Leadership Communication, are among those who believe the Net will forever change the way business is conducted--if it hasn't done so already. In Clicks and Mortar, they draw on personal experience to suggest corporate officials prepare for this new reality by refocusing their practices, principles, and passions on the real needs of a 21st-century company. The book's first section, "Culture at the Core," identifies corporate culture as today's primary driver of growth and explores ways to create, improve, and sustain it ("through language, image, and ritual") for the wired era. The book's second section, "Leadership Practices," examines the way our technology-dominated environment impacts organizational behavior and the qualities leaders must possess (personal integrity and open communication) to inspire the "breakthrough thinking" needed to thrive. The third section, "Management Practices," investigates basic tools like measurement, marketing, and customer relations and describes how they can be updated for this brave new cyberworld. An additional chapter brings together eight business and academic players, including Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and Novell's Eric Schmidt, to speculate on the future of commerce. If you're not afraid to use "organizational transformation" and "personal change" in the same sentence, you'll find value here. --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly
The more things change, the more you must concentrate on the basics of running your business, according to Pottruck, president and co-CEO of the Charles Schwab investment firm, and consultant Pierce, author of Leading Out Loud. In their view, the basics include creating a corporate vision that drives the firm and the company culture forward, having a leader who models that vision and keeps the company on course and implementing management practices designed to realize the vision. It is hard to disagree with these tenets, and there is nothing wrong with reviewing the basics, but the authors don't probe very deeply into the ways that the Internet--the "clicks" in their title--affects their basic principles. They might have achieved it by exploring the insights in the final chapter--which features a "dialogue on the future" with such figures as Steve Ballmer, president of Microsoft; Lew Platt of Hewlett-Packard (who also wrote the foreword); and venture capitalist Ann Winblad in a roundtable discussion--or through a more detailed look at Charles Schwab's integration of the Internet into its existing "retail outlets." Instead, we get a rehash of what most leaders already know, aridly wrought in workmanlike prose. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787952737
• ISBN-13: 978-0787952730
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,597,901 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Business management roadmap with a plethora of examples, April 9, 2000

By	Sandra Hopkins, Internet Marketing, Cisco Systems (San Jose) - See all my reviews

In Clicks and Mortar, Terry Pearce and Dave Pottruck cut through the dot.com hype to present a clearly drawn vision of what "Passion-Driven Growth in an Internet-Driven World" looks like. At the core of that vision is the need for strong company values which guide management decisions and are effectively communicated in word and action. The authors do not diminish the importance of strong financial performance and increased shareholder value. Rather they argue that successful companies inspire the loyalty of their customers and their employees by listening to them and letting them know their opinions and commitment are vital to success. Well written and tightly woven, Clicks and Mortar is a must-read for executives and a detailed blueprint for knowledge workers who have a choice about where to work, where to invest, and where to do business. I plan to place my bets on companies like Schwab where management is not afraid to make bold decisions which transform their companies based on feedback from their customers, their employees, and changing market forces.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Essential Integration, November 13, 2000

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

According to Lew Platt (former chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard) in the Foreword, this book "looks at the three most significant aspects of this business transformation [ie how a well-established company moves into the new millennium] in what I consider to be their order of importance. First is the building and sustaining of a culture based on strong values....In the second section of the book, Dave and Terry explain what this means in terms of day-to-day personal conduct and day-to-day business decision making. The change required from pre-Internet times is profound....Then, in the third section, the authors look at some fundamental business practices and give us some guidance in adapting traditional business concepts to the Internet world. They chose the practices of measurement, marketing, and management of technology as the disciplines that would be most important in the next decades." Platt's comments are dead-on.

The authors organize their excellent material within three Parts:

Culture at the Core: Creating a Passionate Corporate Culture in the Internet Age

Leadership Practices: Inspiring Passion-Driven Growth

Management Practices: Bringing Passion to the Internet World

All of us have encountered people who, for lack of a better descriptive, come across as "evangelists." They are SO enthusiastic about where they work, about what they do, and -- especially -- about their opportunities to serve others, associates as well as customers. They are always eager to go what Napoleon Hill calls "the extra mile." You know the type. They come in early, stay late, volunteer for an inconvenient or unpleasant task, etc. In my view at least, these are the most valuable currency of "human capital." I mention all this in fervent support of Pottruck and Pearce's frequent emphasis throughout the book on the importance of "passion." Southwest Airlines, to cite but one example from my own experience, contrinues to sustain a "passionate corporate culture" inspired by passionate leaders and managers who drive continuous growth. It is no accident that Southwest Airlines and the other "most highly admired companies" are also the most profitable, year after year after year.

If you have a passion to help your own organization to prosper, you and your associates must expect to be in what Leonard Berry (author of Discovering the Soul of Service) describes as a "constant state of innovation to improve the value proposition....But the innovation is channeled and purposeful only when it revolves around strong values. It's really a wonderful circle. The right kind of corporate values lead to the right kind of customer value. Values inspire people, and inspired people do great things. When they do, they find ways to produce value for customers, and that improves either cost or revenue or both." Pottruck concludes the book with an affirmation that "the Internet and its cousins make it possible for each of us to become more powerful and more responsible, to contribute in ways we could not have without it. It makes individual and collective `passion-driven growth more likely." Then he adds: "What a dazzling prospect and inspiring vision for our time!"

Indeed it is...and available to all.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars People-Centered E-Commerce Leadership and Management, May 13, 2000

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "a Practical Optimi... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

You get five excellent books for the price of one with Clicks and Mortar. Let me explain.

This is the first book that I have read about innovating with e-commerce that truly straddles the divide between existing business principles and the new economy. Unlike many of the books on e-commerce which are written by consultants, pundits, Web site designers, and technologists, this book is written by business people who have successfully made the transition into using the Internet to enable all their stakeholders. That perspective alone makes this book a valuable contribution to the literature, because it allows everyone to understand the overall business perspective of how to think about this new technology.

Beyond that benefit, the book also serves as a fine best practice example of developing e-commerce businesses based on the successful experiences of Charles Schwab. The details of this example are much more complete than I have read elsewhere, and Charles Schwab is one of a handful of firms that have successfully changed their business models. In fact, the company has appeared on my CEO 100 list more times than any company other than Clear Channel Communications and Tellabs.

Third, this book is valuable for focusing on people (customers, employees, suppliers, partners, and regulators) as the basis for thinking about technology and new business opportunities. The book does so in a sound and thoughtful way that will be helpful to companies that are not challenged by new technologies, as well as those that are. If you are a humanist, or someone who believes that business starts with creating a customer, you will find that this book expands your perspective on great ways to do that. The authors understand that passion for a larger purpose is the glue (the mortar of the title) to bring people together to advance service for customers (using clicks, in this case, through computer technology).

Fourth, this book also has value in filling in gaps in the perspective of most business people, technologists, and new business developers. The beauty of the book is that it does so in a way that will encourage the dialogue and community across narrow perspectives to build something better.

Finally, the book transcends its narrow example base of Charles Schwab by referring to other books, studies, and companies to provide a full perspective on effective ways to drive innovation and improvement in a large or small organization.

The book is easy to read and interesting. Although financial services is not my favorite subject, I enjoyed what the authors had to say about Charles Schwab. The rest of the material was even more compelling and useful.

The book is also very well organized. Summaries of key points are interspaced with more fully developed arguments and examples. The authors alternate in presenting their ideas and experiences, so you also get the benefit and the interest inherent in two voices and speakers. That was very well done. It is a device that more co-authors should consider using.

Finally, the book did something that almost no case history books ever do. It took a moment to look ahead for the next 20 years. The final section is a roundtable discussion with 8 experts in the field. I would give the book 5 stars, just for the idea of including this section. The execution is also excellent.

This book is one of my nominees for top business book of 2000. Get it right now! Read it immediately!! Live it every day!!!