Book Description
In April of 2000, Gary Erickson turned down a $120 million offer to buy his thriving company. Today, instead of taking it easy for the rest of his life and enjoying a luxurious retirement, he's working harder than ever. Why would any sane person pass up the financial opportunity of a lifetime?
Raising the Bar tells the amazing story of Clif Bar's Gary Erickson and shows that some things are more important than money. Gary Erickson and coauthor Lois Lorentzen tell the unusual and inspiring story about following your passion, the freedom to create, sustaining a business over the long haul, and living responsibly in your community and on the earth. Raising the Bar chronicles Clif Bar's ascent from a homemade energy bar to a $100 million phenomenon with an estimated 35 million consumers, and a company hailed by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. four years in a row. The book is filled with compelling personal stories from Erickson's life-trekking in the Himalayan mountains, riding his bicycle over roadless European mountain passes, climbing in the Sierra Nevada range--as inspiration for his philosophy of business. Throughout the book, Erickson--a competitive cyclist, jazz musician, world traveler, mountain climber, wilderness guide, and entrepreneur--convinces us that sustaining one's employees, community, and environment is good business.
If you are a manager, executive, business owner, or board member, Raising the Bar is your personal guide to corporate integrity. If you are a sports enthusiast, environmentalist, adventure lover, intrigued by a unique corporate culture, or just interested in a good story, Raising the Bar is for you.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting Story.......2007-08-12
My favorite health/nutrition bars are CLIF and LUNA. My mom was the one who actually gave me one first, and I couldn't believe how wonderful they tasted. It was the product packaging that led me to the CLIF website and, eventually, this book. The book is about the founder of CLIF, Gary Erickson, and how he went from a mountain biker with no money to a mountain biker with heaps of money. The story is, at times, inspirational and it is especially interesting to read about the actual company policies and commitment to being organic and environmentally aware. These statements seem to run throughout the book and make you really believe in the goodness of the CLIF company. It almost seems too good to be true - the values that the company holds, their interest in being organic and leaving minimal impact on the earth, and supporting important causes, etc. There is a lot of focus in the book on the almost-sale of the company and the dissention that ensued between Gary and his partner. I'm sure she (the partner) would have a completely different tale to tell, but it seems that it got pretty ugly towards the end. A lot of the story is also missing; we don't get much of the background of how he came to actually make the CLIF bar - just simple references to mom's kitchen. If you're at all interested in autobiographical stories and have an interest in learning more about this company, then the book is a good, solid read. It lends insight into the dynamics of CLIF and makes you even more interested in the products - which are really terrific.
Great book about a great company.......2007-05-21
I would recommend this book to anyone who thinks that all of corporate america has no soul. It has a good story and engages the reader throughout.
*real* life experience of a *passionate* entrepreneur.......2007-02-03
The books makes you feel like Gary is talking directly with you. His passion is infectious.
It was rather disturbing.. though in a positive way.
Great Company, Great Story, Inspiring Read.......2006-01-17
This is a fascinating book about the creation of Clif Bar and the business philosophy of its co-founder Gary Erickson. It's a good story, but at times it seems too good to be true. While reading it, I wasn't fully convinced that there wasn't some authorial bias, so I did some Google-based research on the Internet. This confirmed many of the assertions in the book, so I believe Erikson to be the genuine article -- someone committed to building a great company and sticking to his idealistic principles for sustaining his employees, customers, and suppliers as well as sustaining his community and the planet.
It seems that the best way to build a principled company is to keep it privately owned with no intention of ever going public. In fact, Erickson has talked to people like Mo Siegel of Celestial Seasonings, Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's and Gary Hirshberg of Stoneyfield Farms and comes to the conclusion that nothing less than 100% ownership is acceptable. As he puts it, "I didn't want to become a slave to Wall Street--I'm an entrepreneur who cherishes freedom."
Earlier in Clif Bar's history, Erickson touted his 50/50 partnership with Lisa Thomas, but as he points out in the book, 50% ownership can lead to a stalemate when important decisions have to be made. He hardly mentions his former partner after the first chapter, which describes the point in 2000 when he walked out on a deal to sell the company for $120million. It appears that this was the significant emotional event that drove his effort to build Clif Bar into a great company and to leave it behind as his legacy. As his wife Kit puts it, Clif Bar is the way Erikson expresses himself in the world. This statement seems fully borne out by the rest of the book.
He starts the history of Clif Bar with a personal story of going on a 100 mile bike ride that turned unexpectedly into a 175 mile ride. This was what he calls the first epiphany bike ride and was sustained by only 6 power bars and a banana. As the story goes, it was when he found that he couldn't force down the 6th bar that he decided to make his own. This was the epiphany. It's celebrated every year by a company-sponsored bike event that follows the same route.
Such epiphanies occur frequently, but we're not many of us built like Erickson, so we don't tend to turn our ideas into such a formidable reality as he has done.
One disappointment is that -- after the initial drama of not quite selling the company -- the book mostly skirts the misgivings and failures on the way to building Clif Bar into what it is now. It would have been interesting to learn more about the decisions -- and particularly the failures -- that occurred on the way to building a radical corporate culture at Clif Bar that's in sharp contrast to the competitive, winner-takes-all, bottom-line culture of most of corporate America.
However, there are many good reasons to read this book. It's full of great stories and metaphors. His management ideas are workable, and he's created one of the best mission statements I've seen. This is given in the form of five "aspirations:" Sustaining Our Brands; Sustaining Our Business; Sustaining Our People; Sustaining Our Community; Sustaining Our Planet. He elaborates these in a very creative way. Each aspiration is illustrated and supported by an image of a Clif Bar wrapper, with the "Nutrition Facts" and "Ingredients" replaced by a list of accomplishments achieved during one year of business. These show that the mission of Clif Bar is not an empty one.
The aspirations condense Clif Bar's mission and values down to just seven words, thus satisfying one criterion for a good mission statement. Erikson clearly lived and promulgated these values for some years before formalizing them and writing them down on paper. He also works continuously to meet the company's aspirations. It seems obvious to measure and assess a company based on the achievement of its mission, but that's not what most companies do. Employees may get a poster to pin up in their cubes, but usually there's little evidence that the leaders of the company are acting in accordance with the corporate values and the annual report generally pays only lip service to values other than the shareholder value and the financial results.
At the end of the book, Erikson sums up his achievements at Clif Bar by saying that Clif Bar's business model is like a jazz score, and that the people of Clif Bar are like jazz musicians. "The core is jazz: the freedom to improvise in the creation of beautiful things, products, and people." This is a nice idea and an appropriate metaphor for the whole book, a tale about the raising of Clif Bar improvised around the stories of his life.
The book is an entertaining -- and at some points dazzling -- composition, but it is also important as a model. Erikson does something valuable by giving us one more book that shows how to build a successful, socially responsible company. This adds to a growing number of such books including Joy at Work (Dennis Bakke), The Living Company (Arie De Geus), and Saving the Corporate Soul (David Batstone).
Raising the bar is a great read, but most of all it's important for its ideas and the example it provides. Erikson is an inspiring model for others. He doesn't believe that taking care of people is just a way to make them work harder. As Erikson puts it, "We believe that if we provide meaningful work as well as something beyond work, people will do their jobs well and lead healthier, more balanced lives."
Fortunately, Erikson's is not an isolated example, and more and more people are practicing the belief that stewardship and sustainability is more important than maximizing shareholder profit. If you're working to start a sustainable, socially responsible, learning organization, this is essential reading. If not, at least read the book and spread the word about Clif Bar -- it's a great product and behind it lies a great story.
Graham Lawes
Fascinating True Stories.......2005-02-27
Interesting and fun read. Many important life and business lessons tied together. As a cyclist, skiier, and small business founder and owner, I can relate to many of the adventures and lessons of life and business woven neatly together in this book.
Book Description
·Unprecedented access behind Half-Life and Half-Life 2
·A forward by Valve founder Gabe Newell
·Hundreds of art, design, preproduction, and other art pieces crammed into the book
·Over a dozen key members of Valve's staff interviewed
·Officially approved by Valve
·Behind City 17 and other locations
·The development of the Source engine
·A rogue's gallery of beasts, characters, and monstrosities
·Key weapons development revelations
·A tour of many of the game's locations, from inception to completion
·Filled with art, screens, and anecdotes from the Valve team
Customer Reviews:
Lots of cool Pictures inside.......2007-01-20
This book doesn't really talk much about anything on Source or the people creating the game. It focuses mainly on the process of how different elements in the game came out. With lots of concept and rendered art, it's good to have it around for inspiration or just plain viewing. The book also gives some information on Half-Life 1 and Mods, though these sections still give lots of cool pictures and very little text in comparison.
Half-life - More please.......2006-03-02
This book reveals what goes on behind-the-scenes at Valve and how the PC / Console game - Half-Life and Half-Life 2 has developed over time.
I am huge Half-Life fan and this book shows how much work and thought goes into producing a genre-defining / award-winning game. One of the highlights for me in the book was how they created the faces of the characters in the game. A wonderful book with a lot of interesting facts. It is also a large book which shows off the artwork to great effect. I am really pleased I bought it and would recommend it to any fan of the game.
Great book, but with limited appeal........2005-12-05
As the review below states this book isn't a behind-the-scenes book or a chronicle of the development of the game nor is it a book discussing the technological merits of Half Life 2 or the Source Engine. Although, it does contain elements of all of the afformentioned parts, it is in the end an art book, but a great one at that with great color, a sturdy build, and a clean uncluttered design.
As a fan of the game myself, I enjoyed seeing all the places and ideas that never made it into the game and the evolution and design of those that did. One area, I feel the book ought to and should have delved into more, was the development and evolution of the plot itself which except in reference to other points was never brought up significantly.
Fans of the Half Life franchise and people interested in the creative development of games will find this book of interest. Others may want to pass on it.
Great pictures, not much else.......2005-07-22
I guess I was looking for more of the details behind the making of Half-life 2, not just tons of concept art. The artwork is very nicely presented in rich glossy color, but the behind the scenes content isn't there. If you want a better book for looking behind the scenes of a computer game, get the Doom 3 Making Of book instead.
Great Book, Specially if you liked the game........2005-04-06
When i got the book i wasnt expecting such a huge book. Anyway the book was great and it has alot of pictures and concept arts and cut monsters and scenes ! All in high quality gloss paper. This although doesnt give a very detailed descriptions about the engine and contains almost no pictures of the valve team who i wanted to see very much. I recommend this if you played HL2 and loved it and wants more insight of the game (not the engine but art)
Book Description
Breakthrough Parenting for Children with Special Needs challenges families and professionals to help children with special needs to reach their full potential by using a proven motivational, how-to approach. This groundbreaking and inspiring book provides detailed information on how to let go of the “perfect-baby” dream, face and resolve grief, avoid the no-false-hope syndrome, access early intervention services, and avoid the use of limiting and outdated labels. Also included are specific guidelines for working with professionals, understanding the law and inclusion, planning for the future, and insightful interviews with Dana Reeve of the Christopher Reeve Foundation, Tim Shriver of Special Olympics, and Diane Bubel of the Bubel/Aiken Foundation.
Download Description
Breakthrough Parenting for Children with Special Needs challenges families and professionals to help children with special needs to reach their full potential by using a proven motivational, how-to approach. This groundbreaking and inspiring book provides detailed information on how to let go of the perfect-baby dream, face and resolve grief, avoid the no-false-hope syndrome, access early intervention services, and avoid the use of limiting and outdated labels. Also included are specific guidelines for working with professionals, understanding the law and inclusion, planning for the future, and insightful interviews with Dana Reeve of the Christopher Reeve Foundation, Tim Shriver of Special Olympics, and Diane Bubel of the Bubel/Aiken Foundation.
Customer Reviews:
A PRIZE FOR SPECIAL NEEDS PARENTS.......2006-08-30
This book is exactly what we all need. Straightforward easy to understand information about taking loving care of your special needs child. Resource full. A great tool for us all.
Judy, you're amazing!.......2006-06-30
I am so happy I have this book, it brought tears to my eyes as I have been reading it. I have a daughter who is now almost 7 years of age, who has special needs. I have been through so much with Doctor's and testing, and sometimes forget about what else is going on in life. I think anyone who's going through a challenge with their child being a little different from the rest, should own a copy of this book. It's sense that should be common, for both parents and doctor's.
Being the mother of 4, with 3 who are absolutely normal, I feel even more blessed with having 1 child who is different, and this book really confirms I'm not alone in thinking that way. Thank you Judy, for taking the time to write this book. I hope every parent going through these sorts of challenges, is able to read this book!
Breakthrough Parenting for Children with Special Needs.......2006-06-13
Judy Winter truly captures the essence of living in a family with a special needs child! Her heartfelt stories personal and those of others are truly inspirational for those families with newly diagnosed children to the already seasoned families that have been in the game for years! I will be passing this book on to all of my friends and acquaintences who are living this life now! Thank You, Judy, from all of us who didn't quite have the words to express how it really is!
Anita Herold
Great for Parents and Professionals.......2006-04-18
I read this book from cover to cover in one night! It is so refreshing for me to read a book for special needs parenting that focuses on positive parenting, but also addresses the real life daily needs. Seeing our children as a unique, talented, treasure! I found every chapter to have useful, realistic information for parents and professionals. I am the parent of two sons with special needs and two daughters without, and Ms. Winter includes wonderful encouragement on raising the siblings of special needs. The end of each chapter includes resource info to save time in searching yourself! I am a nurse as a profession and will also recommend this book to patients. Highly Recommend!!
Wholeheartedly Recommended for Parents of Children w/ Special Needs.......2006-04-05
As someone who educates and trains parents, foster parents, and school professionals, I can wholeheartedly recommend this book. The combination of genuine stories, practical tips, and useful resources helps parents of children with special needs know what to DO to take care of their precious child (as well as themselves!).
Book Description
Raising the Bar defines Ruth Bader Ginsburg's contribution to American constitutional law through her efforts as professor, lawyer, and women's rights advocate. Focusing on the years 1971 to 1980, it explores the decade during which Ginsburg founded and was general counsel to the ACLU Women's Rights Project. Several scholars have undertaken similar analyses in the past, but the missing ingredient has long been Ginsburg's own perspective, now available through her donation of private papers. Raising the Bar pinpoints Ginsburg's role in the progression of her complicated, multi-layered strategy to combat gender discrimination from theory to implementation.
Product Description
Find out how your organization's strategic planning stacks up against the best in this new benchmarking study from AHA's Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development. Raising the Bar presents findings of a SHSMD survey of 440 healthcare organizations to determine current practices in healthcare strategic planning, then profiles twelve healthcare organizations that exemplify advanced planning approaches. The study goes on to discuss best practices in organizations outside of healthcare, where strategic planning practices are more highly evolved. Author Alan Zuckerman concludes by comparing healthcare strategic planning with strategic planning in best-practice organizations outside of healthcare, and challenges healthcare organizations to raise the bar by seizing opportunities to improve their planning.
Book Description
With dozens of years of experience as a master mixologist, and more than 250 wide-ranging seasonal cocktail recipes, Nick Mautone has gone well beyond the usual bartender's guide to offer dozens of unique and foolproof ideas for easy and successful entertaining at home.
In addition to covering all the basics of cocktail making, Nick shares his tried-and-true secrets for choosing the right drink for the right occasion, serving cocktails for a crowd, and pairing specific cocktails with specific foods. With Nick by your side, be your own pary planner and confident bartender: planning ahead, creating your own signature cocktail, perfecting techniques for muddling , mixing, and floating, making the right cut—twists, zests, swirls, and wedges, plus homemade alternatives for garnishes, syrups, cordials, and brandies.
From the Buck to the Bitter Pill, this book provides a wealth of information, along with extras such as Tricks of the Trade (tips on and shortcuts for preparing and storing drinks), Bonus from the Bar (easy recipes that can be made with components of the drinks), and Straight Up (the last word on demystifying hard-to-find ingredients). Plus an entire chapter filled with tempting easy-to-make snacks and hors d'ouevres that will complete your entertaining needs.
From nogs to grogs, martinis to manhattans, frappés to flips, and everything in between, Raising the Bar offers the right drink for the right occasion, morning, noon, and night...and the morning after. This is the better drink book that raises the bar with more than 100 colorful photographs and scores of helpful hints that will turn good home bartenders into great ones.
Customer Reviews:
Very Tasty.......2007-06-04
I am drinking the Frozen Raspberry Daiquiri from the book as I type this (hic!), and it is delicious. I found this book at the library and am sick of checking it out, so now I am buying it. Every book in my kitchen has earned its place there (I have a very small kitchen), and this book will be no exception. The Summer Buck and the Watermelon Cooler are next...
This bartender gives it five stars.......2006-01-13
I am a bartender at a high volume, outdoor bar in Key West Fl. Our bar is set up for maximum speed...and unfortunately many times that means that the final product is not something that I am entirely happy with...but it works fine for what we are doing.
The recipes in this book are the kinds of drinks I would prepare on a day off, for friends from my own private bar at home.
Drinks you can be proud to serve. Drinks that have been tweaked by a "master mixoligist"...and Nick Mautone is definitely a master of his craft.
I collect cocktail books, and rarely will I purchase a new release and be pleased with it. This book however is quickly becoming one of my favorites, and I find myself referencing it more and more frequently.
My only complaint is that the Mr. Mautone varies the servings for each recipe...which is really no big deal as they can easily be increased or decreased depending on your desired need. I am just used to reading a recipe and it yielding 1 drink.
Filled with gorgeous color photos, the book is great as a coffee table book as well.
Features 250 recipes and full-color photographs.......2005-01-06
Raising The Bar: Better Drinks Better Entertaining is far more than just another a cocktail book. Though it features 250 recipes and full-color photographs, Raising The Bar goes a step further and offers the tested secrets of a professional restaurant manager to serving cocktails for a crowd, planning a head, perfecting techniques for mixing a drink, tips, tricks, techniques, and more. Tasty original recipes include Frozen Prickly Pear Margarita, Strawberry Kiwi Sangria, and Watermelon Lemonade. A must-have for anyone seeking not only to hone their drink-mixing skills, but also improve their presentation, and flair to professional food service levels.
HERE'S TO YOU !.......2004-12-09
What's cooking in Nick Mautone's kitchen? Cocktails, that's what. Known to many New Yorkers as the master of mixology, Mautone is a believer in quality ingredients for both food and drinks. The majority of his years have been spent in the restaurant business, so he well knows the importance of perfectly pairing cocktails with food. Happy Hour takes on new meaning if this fellow's in charge.
"Raising The Bar," 288 pages of helpful suggestion, recipes and tempting toddies, is a guide for both beginners and the more experienced. Included are more than 250 recipes covering both classic and original signature drinks (Banana Buttered Rum surely does warm on a cold winter's eve).
Among the chapter headings are holiday cocktails, many intended to cut down on preparation time so a host can enjoy his or her own party. For instance, Mautone's holiday eggnog can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours before serving.
Welcome a new year with a twist on traditional champagne by making Ginger Champagne Punch for friends, neighbors, and drop-ins. Mautone makes it even more festive and sweet by rimming champagne glasses with powdered ginger and granulated sugar. Check out the heading "Trick of the Trade" for a plethora of party pleasers.
Designated drivers, alcohol abstainers, and moms to be aren't ignored as an entire chapter is devoted to non-alcoholic cocktails, which are every bit as pretty and palate pleasing as their alcohol laced kin.
Pairing his enthusiasm for both food and drink Mautone also offers recipes for do-it-yourself garnishes and finger snacks - great for buffet tables and pre-dinner munchies.
After all the time he's spent behind some of New York's most prestigious bars - Gotham Bar and Grill, the Hudson River Club - Mautone is a veritable fountain of recipes, suggestions, and good ideas. For those who want to make better drinks this is the book - bar none.
- Gail Cooke
The Bar is Raised.......2004-12-03
In "Raising the Bar", Nick Mautone brings a new fresh perspective to entertaining. Being an avid reader of his column in Cargo magazine, I was intrigued to learn that he had written a book on cocktails and entertaining. Mr. Mautone's approach to basic concepts about drink making deconstructed my original thinking and recompiled it into a completely limitless wealth of possibilities. A great example is after reading the recipe for the "Basil Martini", I will never look at a Bloody Mary the same way again.
Though many other writers have published different ideas in food magazines, they always seem to be awkward and complicated. In contrast Mr. Mautone's easy and savory recipes and ideas leave me scratching my head and wondering "Why didn't I ever think of that?". Having had the opportunity to play with the drink recipes and pairing them with the food ideas "Raising the Bar" has surpassed any and all expectations I would have in an entertaining book.
Product Description
Executive Summary
"Adaptability" has become a buzzword throughout the U.S. Army due to experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is the Army's introduction to 4th generation warfare. The Army recognizes that in order to move toward becoming a "learning organization" where leaders practice adaptability, it will have to change its culture, particularly its leader development paradigm. The challenge is great, but signs are beginning to appear that it might be possible as new ideas are implemented.
Today's leader development paradigm evolved from one that worked to support the nation's long-standing mobilization doctrine. Mobilization doctrine relies on a small core of full time professional soldiers, backed by large militias or National Guard forces in peacetime, to be prepared to expand rapidly in the event of a national emergency - such as war. Successful mobilization requires time and massive resources. Time is needed to get troops prepared, while resources compensate for lack of experience, professionalism and cohesion needed to fight and win a war.
To support the mobilization doctrine, the Army developed leadership training methods that paralleled management training practices in the corporate structures of the Industrial Age. The challenge for the Army was to get millions of citizens with little or no military experience and turn them into soldiers and officers in a short time. Industry provided the answers, and in the aftermath of the glow of victory in several wars, these approaches became institutionalized.
Some modifications were applied to leader development, but they happened along the fringes of existing laws, regulations, policies and beliefs. Army alterations to today's leader development paradigm may not be enough. The Army has "thought" and "acted" from an antiquated, mobilization-based leader development paradigm that still exists more than 16 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. This Industrial Age model
Customer Reviews:
Exploring Raising the Bar through the lens of Complexity.......2007-05-02
Major Don Vandergriff's `Raising the Bar' is a small book with a very big heart; which attracts, like a moth to light, the reader and sets the scene for an intellectual manoeuvre which is creative and thought provoking. It deserves careful reading as it contains many nuggets which if not examined closely might well be cast aside and ignored.
There are many examples from the natural world to support the need for adaptability, yet mankind has only some 8000 or so yrs of social and cultural experience to develop its own forms of adaptation to the changing environment. Modern mans' biological information processing system, the brain, is tuned to short term necessities and ad hoc action, primarily of a linear cause effect environment which in Maj Vandergrieff's terms means that it is not necessarily optimised to operate in today's complex environment. It is refreshing, therefore, that the current preponderance of methodism and process of implementation is recognised and the urgent need for a more appropriate theory and philosophy (doctrine) to create new ideas as to how we might adapt to new challenges is so well recognised.
The late Peter Drucker pointed out that if you can't measure it you can't manage it, reflecting the Taylorist approach to the efficiency of production; selecting this single management point restricts thinking that it is the system's effectiveness that really matters. Henry Ford created, at the time, the world's most efficient car production system for the Model T; however, by the time he was raising the flag of efficiency the value for money environment had changed, the intangible of hedonics had emerged within a new consumer society, with new beliefs attracting buyers. What these notable historic figures were doing was following sustainable technology, management, life cycle sigmoid curves, they were continually adapting to the slight changes, they were continually improving production efficiencies, but what they were missing was the that the marginal utility of their solutions was approaching zero and then turning negative. They failed to identify that new radical and disruptive solutions were becoming available which completely either neutralised or destroyed their current organisation and its competencies.
Such thoughts and observations as these are derived from the ideas Major Vandergriff sows which resonate to create a plethora of thoughts and like a multi-spectral lens brightly illuminate the problem with multiple details.
Raising the Bar is based on the operational, which includes the tactical, delivery and its current methodism which reflects rigidity of doctrine and does not have the theory, or philosophy, necessary either today or tomorrow. The book is particularly clear that the question it is exploring is a system orientated problem; it mentions the word system 159 times to emphasise the point. Yet the current approach described for the Army to understanding these diverse, divergent, problems is analysis. This results in the present condition that at the higher levels we find context without content and at the lower level, the soldier, we find content without context; means without meaning. We find data and information which links with knowledge, synthesis which links with understanding. And, this as Major Vandergriff points out is a problem of andragogical learning; perhaps the pragmatic approach of John Dewey, remains today just as relevant; an approach based on understanding not just the analysis of teaching.
What readers of Raising the Bar might consider when exploring this change in terms of the move from 2nd to 4th generation WF, is a another comparison with industry, because as Major Vandergriff points out the Army is not a business; but that does not mean that it shouldn't be more business like. At the turn of the 20th Century it is estimated that about 95% of the people employed in the USA, and probably the same relative percentage in the UK and Europe, could perform the operational tasks as well as their bosses. The task undertaken being complicated; but not particularly complex. One of the features of such a system being what became known as the `Peter Principle' that all managers raised to the level of their own incompetence, ie just beyond their level of competence. Today, however, it is estimated that over 95% of the people employed can do their jobs, in the operational system, better than their bosses can. It seems logical, therefore, that they cannot be manage in the same way. When managing subordinates who know how to do what their doing better than the boss, you don't manage what they do, you manage the way they interact. That requires a different type of organization and a different type of management. Conventional management and conventional organisation cannot do it.
In the Commercial and social world we might consider that if people cannot adapt themselves to the methods, then the methods must adapt to the people, however, it is doubtful if such a compromise would be successful in the military. But it does raise an interesting paradox; if the nature of change is such that little is left for the senior command to teach the soldiers, or the soldier to accept from senior command what happens to the structure of military life - does it collapse? Moving from hierarchical command to lower lowerarchies!
As Theodore Roosevelt observed of the Navy - "change is a nontrivial activity." Like trying to retrain a large plant with thick branches, the branches are too strong to be redirected without breaking, and the roots are so entangled through history that they cannot be reorganised without complete removal and replanting. Experience shows that even leaving a small amount of root results in the eventual re-emergence of the original to dominate the forest. These systems are autopoetic, they display autopoiesis, the process whereby an organization reproduces itself; literally, self-production, and although the form may have changed the function remains - but the purpose of any system is what it does and not what it might say on the tin!
Early symptoms that a system, structure, is under pressure are given by its psychology, by a reduction in cohesion, cooperation, mutual respect, and self-respect, which in turn will be reflected in the courage to face adversity and the ability to face hardship.
Maj Vandergriff pulls these factors together in terms of the components of warfare: the physical, moral and conceptual, drawing on Lt Col Hughes experiences to illustrate the essential moral component; capturing the reality that it is nearly always more difficult to recapture directness and simplicity than to continue to advance in the direction of increasing sophistication and complexity. Yet the reality in truth is that Col Hughes approach was not simple, it just appeared so, it took a level of experience, of learning, an understanding of humanity to achieve what he achieved, Col Hughes applied his knowledge, which is a skill, to the information that was available to him; he correctly interpreted the supersignals.
These are the secrets of the learning organisation, to survive organisations need to learn at least as quickly as the environment is changing; to win competitive advantage they need to anticipate and adopt. Any poor quality engineer, consultant, manager, scientist can invariably increase complexity, the real flair though is to be able to make things appear simple even when they are not.
The world is complex, dumbing down is not the answer, individuals and organisations have to learn faster than their environment is changing to survive and profit. Einstein's maxim that "everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler" in this context means that we need to understand the bounds of the system we are operating in. This needs particular thought in terms of 4th Generation WF, as, at the tactical level, the system's boundaries are different to previous forms of warfare; energy and material is input in different forms which need to be understood. In terms of the entropy, the disorder & lack of information, we have to recalculate the formula as in many ways it has become much more of a cognitive problem; the higher up the management structure the larger the system bounds are made to encompass the disorder and lack of information. Hence, it is at the tactical level that success will, or won't, be achieved.
This means that we cannot ignore complexity, quite the opposite, what it means is that we need to understand that the face of warfare is not mass analysis, which creates information and, yes, even the skill called knowledge; it is about understanding that delivers wisdom, and that rare capability the wisdom to perceive is what `Raising the Bar' is all about.
If there is one area that might be questioned it is on the use of the term adaptability; this may be transatlantic semantics but it should be clarified.
Adapting, adaptability is passive; in systems terms it responds to the actions of other parts of the system; it is often used therefore in providing early understanding that the system is changing in some form; it is often termed the reactive part of the system. In military terms it reflects a defensive posture; responding or reacting, to the enemy, being malleable to the environment.
Adoption though is active, in system terms it reflects the levers within a system; the variables that have to be adopted, rather than adapted, to make any significant change to the systems performance. Active levers are, in reality, the only parts, variables, in the system that are going to have any effect; indeed this can be observed in terms of those other elements in the system that are described as buffers, those inert variables which tend to be loosely coupled and which are politically the nice to haves; as their very name suggests they are sluggish in action, not readily reactive and have no therapeutic effect.
As an example, to put this into warfare and command settings; during the early stages of WWII the RN had been forced, in the main, to respond to the enemy's manoeuvres, senior command was made up of seasoned officers who had succeeded in the peacetime system. Little risk was taken, or could be afforded, and scientific advice was provided by in-house experts. Strategy and tactics were responses to enemy action, stimulus and response; adaptation and a defensive posture.
By the spring of 1944, this had changed, command was now made up of officers who had not either been fired or killed, with scientific advice being provided by such luminaries as Prof. Blackett who had come from the far more competitive environment of commercial and scientific life. The new brand of officers were self-confident, hugely experienced and had learned from earlier mistakes. They were now able to anticipate, think ahead of the environment, to employ new tactics and take new risks; they adopted new tactical postures which had a self-reinforcing or positive feedback effect.
Another example that shines out is General Slim, Defeat into Victory, who unified his command through his own frame of reference, personal example, and focus on establishing and maintaining high morale through a focus on what he considered then as the three critical related components of warfare: the Spiritual, Intellectual, and Material (that famous triad again). Slim was a mediocre staff officer yet a brilliant line officer; this should tell us something as those who succeed in the peace time system, those convergent players who are good at efficiency but not effectiveness, means but not ends, result in being at the top of the hierarchy when war comes.
It is an unfortunate fact that war invariably follows peace. As Peter Drucker pointed out: "he whom the gods would destroy they first give forty years of success." We probably should not, therefore, expect visionary and inspiring leadership from the top to create a transformation.
The military, like successful civil and commercial organizations have done in the last few years, have moved from hierarchical bureaucracies to what Ackoff & Rovin call lowerarchical, task orientated communities. But this requires a systemic rather than systematic understanding and that requires as Maj Vandergriff so often points out (149 times) a cultural change.
Nothing leads to change more than success; as the US cartoonist Walt Kelly's 'Pogo' said: "we have met the enemy and he is us."
A Prerequisite for Winning Any More Wars.......2007-02-08
Don Vandergriff is arguably the best major to be not promoted
by the U.S. Army. Among other things, he was their ROTC Instructor of the
Year in 2003. While his passover may not bother most Americans, it should.
For when careerism becomes so rampant in a military organization that
exceptionally talented professionals are rifted for being
proactive, that organization may also have trouble winning wars. As a
retired Lieutenant Colonel myself, having communicated with Don
many times at Georgetown University, and still in touch with his "most
promising" cadet, I know of what I speak.
Among other things, Major Vandergriff is a realist. He knows that until
just recently the U.S. Army had no reason to change. Now that it has
once again proven its ineptitude at counterguerrilla and 4th
Generation Warfare (that which is fought in martial, political, economic,
and psychological areas simultaneously), perhaps Major Vandergriff's
insightful plan for the future will finally be acted upon.
He argues that the most effective way to change the Army is by changing
the way new leaders are trained and what they are trained for. Then, as
these leaders migrate through the system during their careers, the Army
will change along with them in an inevitable, organic process. "Changing
the culture of the Army and the military is generational and begins with
the Army's newest and potential leaders." (p. 24) In essence, he wants
to teach young lieutenants how to responsibly consider alternatives
instead of blindly following what they perceive to be established
procedure. In the process, he hopes to create an army that is more
adaptible at its bottom echelons to an ever-changing combat situation.
This is essential to beating a loosely controlled foe who likes to fight
at close range.
Major Vandergriff is too professional to talk about a problem without
also providing a fully tested solution. He calls his methodology the
"adaptive course model" (ACM) and states its purpose as " ... creating
leaders who understand and practice adaptability, while encouraging Army
senior leaders to nurture this trait in their subordinates." As he notes,
to accomplish this purpose, the ACM must encompass three elements: a
culture of learning, a program of instruction designed to nurture
adaptive students, and a corps of highly trained and competent
instructors.
There may never again be a large set-piece battle. WWIII will, in all
likelihood, be fought unconventionally and will look, in its initial
stages, like what is going on around the world today. If the Army's
current crop of senior leaders wants to be favorably remembered by
history, they best take to heart Don Vandergriff's proposals.
A Most Important Work on Reform.......2007-02-07
Organizations tend to lose their ability to adapt in changing environments as they grow larger. When it occurs in business, the business suffers loss of market share or reductions in productivity metrics. When it occurs in the military, young men and women pay with their lives and nations pay with their national security.
In this insightful book, Major Vandergriff quickly dissects and identifies the source of this malady in one growing organization, the U.S. Army. Though his focus in this book is how to cure the disease in Army, his insight is worth noting for the same cure in other branches of the military, and indeed in civilian business organizations where there is the courage among leaders to face the problem and accept the cure. Major Vandergriff's observations and suggested solutions reach far beyond the US Army. He first identifies the cynical industrial theory that all individuals are motivated soley by self-interest and greed as the philosophy that feeds the sickness. Any organization built on such a faulty cultural assumption has little hope for reform. Reforming such an organization from the top is impossible; cultural foundations must be replaced from the bottom up.
But Major Vandergriff does not leave us only with a diagnosis but offers the formula for a cure. In the second chapter, a quote from Secretary of the Army, Thomas White, sums up the theme of this book, "It's the personnel system, stupid." One can hear the late Col. John Boyd's dictum booming out, "People, ideas, machines...in that order." Indeed, Major Vandergriff acknowledges Col. Boyd's theories as foundational to changing the Army leadership development program from a focus on training to a focus on education. Teaching leaders how to think rather than what to think is a key component of the necessary change. Feeding the change through the academies and ROTC programs is the surest way to change the cultural foundations needed to nurture this new wave of leaders. There are examples of this new kind of leader already present and Major Vandergriff gives us some examples of these outstanding young leaders. Unfortunately, too often, these leaders must fight the cultural winds blowing the opposite direction, forcing them out of the military. Without the sweeping reform to create more of them, the winds will continue to frustrate change. Major Vandergfriff even goes so far as to offer a description of curriculum and structure of a reformed educational branch of the Army. His ideas and his plan make sense.
Without exaggeration, Major Vandergriff has given us one of the most important works on military reform. But those in and out of the military need to comprehend and confront the issues he brings to our attention. Good business leaders will attempt to apply this cure to their businesses; good military leaders will attempt to understand and apply these concepts to their command responsibilities; and good citizens will attempt to understand and convey these concepts to their representatives so that they will encourage this military reform. The importance of this effort cannot be overemphasized. Share this book with your superiors, military leaders, and most of all with your congressmen and senators. Our nation's future may very well depend on it.
In the 21st Century, It's The Quick or The Dead.......2007-01-20
Vandergriff begins this monograph with the observation that fundamental ways of thinking about conflict must change from defeating other armies in set-piece battles to successfully resolving "fourth generation" conflicts that are practically never decided by battles. He characterizes this change as a shift from "linear" to "complex" thinking.
Many others, of course, have made this same observation, and Vandergriff duly acknowledges the big names in the field. Where Vandergriff makes his original contribution is in proposing specific methods for creating leaders who can carry out the program of change that he envisions. He calls his methodology the "adaptive course model" (ACM) and states its purpose as " ... creating leaders who understand and practice adaptability, while encouraging Army senior leaders to nurture this trait in their subordinates." As he notes, to accomplish this purpose, the ACM must encompass three elements: a culture of learning, a program of instruction designed to nurture adaptive students, and a corps of highly trained and competent instructors.
Vandergriff does an admirable job of explaining each element in the 40+ page Chapter 3, Creating Adaptability. It is worth noting that he draws on the latest research on leadership, including the data supporting the concept of "recognition-primed decision making," and employs a variety of techniques to make the program as "experiential" as possible. The name of the game is "adaptive leadership," and under Vandergriff, you'll be doing a lot of it.
Will it work? I am pessimistic, not because I doubt the power of his methodology - similar approaches have worked in the past - but because of the role of the Army in fourth generation warfare. Frankly, I don't see one. It's quite likely that Vandergriff's recommendations can create a better Army, but how do we judge "better" in a world where the threats appear to be nuclear-armed states on the one hand and shadowy, transnational "terrorist" groups on the other? It's not clear that we would risk land combat against the former and it certainly isn't clear what role the Army can play against the latter. To the extent that this view is correct, the Army doesn't have much incentive to change its comfortable culture in order to become more relevant in the 21st century.
One group that can adopt Vandergriff's ideas is modern business. Many of the techniques he recommends to create and evaluate adaptive leaders in the Army will work with obvious modifications for business. They are sorely needed: As Deming preached, virtually all the problems of US industry over the last generation can be traced to failures of leadership. It's instructive to contrast senior military and civilian leaders on this point. The top generals of the Army really do see their people as their primary resource, and they aren't reluctant to spend money to develop them. To be competitive for promotion, for example, officers need to spend four or five of their first 20 years improving their civilian and military educations at the Army's expense. This is not a philosophy that permeates private industry: An executive vice-president at Wal-Mart, for example, complained to the board in October 2005 that workers with seven years experience at the company cost more than new hires but were no more productive, a statement that would flabbergast any military professional.
For those who do want to improve the performance of their companies by improving the capabilities of their people, Vandergriff's little book cuts through the fluff and delivers a tightly packed duffel bag of philosophy, ideas, and techniques, many of which were tested by Vandergriff himself during his years of training future officers (he was ROTC Instructor of the Year in 2003).
Cutting Edge Insight for Today's Managers.......2007-01-05
As important as "Raising the Bar" is for military officers, this book is a must-read for anyone in management who is looking for answers when none are readily apparent. Management seeks to define and determine; it can be administrative and governed by metrics. The same applies to the military. On the battlefield, however, all planning (and many metrics), as Dwight Eisehower postulated, can be tossed aside. What military commanders must learn, and as author Don Vandergriff describes, is how to deal with multiple variables, especially those that occur in an asymmetrical battlefield, such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Toward that end, Vandegriff, a retired Army major and much honored instructor, has written a book to provide insights for officers (and by extension, managers) who must deal in a fast-changing environment. One great insight that he develops in the book are the principles for the Adaptive Course Model and the accompanying Program of Instruction These two concepts form the foundation a program that actually teaches officers how to adapt in real time to real change real fast. Rooted in character and based on actual practice, the ACM program is highly applicable to the corporate world. Trainers and executive coaches can draw lessons from Vandergriff's insights into decision-making, tactics, and situational awareness. Vandergriff is also an accomplished writer. He draws from both civilian and military sources. The result is an easy, but instructive read as well as an invaluable resource. Read "Raising the Bar." Learn from it. And put it into practice.
Book Description
DJ Randall Draws Ever Closer to Her Olympic Dream
Against difficult odds, D.J. Randall has discovered God's plan in her life and started her quest for Olympic gold. A terrific role-model and inspiration if you ever wanted to tackle a dream, D.J. faces real-life issues that you'll recognize while remaining determined and faithful throughout. In Raising the Bar, she faced with an obstacle that seems to big for even her to overcome.
Summer has arrived and DJ is enjoying her vacation fully. Only it's not totally a vacation. Every day she's off to Briones Rising Academy to train with Herndon. That that he's her horse she struggling to learn his habits and tricks. After some early frustration she begins to miss her old horse Major and wonders if she and Herndon will ever have that same connection.
Two weeks at the U.S. Equestrian Team training camp, however, appears to answer her questions. The pair are making solid progress. When the return home, a mysterious fire threatens not only their growing bond but the safety of all the horses in the barn. DJ most overcome a deep, secret fear to be able to save her horse.
Customer Reviews:
A book that raises the bar on young adult novels.......2001-09-12
When DJ is forced to become used to a new mount, Herndon, after her beloved Major is injured and can no longer show with her, DJ isn't sure she's up to the challenge. She has the opportunity to spend time at a USET (United States Equestrian Team) training camp though, and she feels she has made a connection with the horse she'd come to think of as even being snobby! Her quirky sense of humor comes through beautifully as she deals with showing up late for classes due to her coming from the other side of the country. Previously she'd been at an art school, and I loved that part of the story. DJ's ability to reach out and capture a moment and sketch it on paper is wonderfully defined by the author. The personality of the art teacher really shines through. DJ helping a homeless woman and her two cats is refreshing; I am sick of young adult novels about high-school girls chasing after "cute" guys. For once we have a character that is believable, caring, and puts real effort into everything she does. But here DJ must face her fear of fire. It was a theme that recurred often earlier in the series, and I'd wondered how Lauraine Snelling was going to lay it to rest. The answer: in a far more dramatic and enthralling way than I'd ever imagined. The burning barn, the sounds of frightened horses, and the ever-present choking smoke never seemed so real in any other barn fire I'd read about. This is a totally engrossing book, I read it in one day, like all the others in this fine series. I think everyone who ever dreamed of horses or believes in God should read this book.
raising the challenge.......1999-11-22
In the ninth book of the High Hurdles series,Laurine Snellinghas giving DJ new discoveries and surprises!She shows DJ kindness inhelping a homeless woman,gives her the chance to spend the week with other kids at a USEcamp.Her greatest challenge of all,however,lies when her horse,Herndon,is caught in a barn fire and it is up to DJ to break through the barriers to save her horse!
A wonderful, exciting book!!!.......1999-11-02
DJ's summer is in full swing. Every day she heads to Riding Academy to train with Herndon. Now that Herndon belongs to her, DJ struggles through learning his habits and tricks. She misses the friendship she shared with Major and wonders if she and Herndon will ever connect in the same way. But after two weeks at the U.S. Equestrian Team's training camp, DJ finally feels they're making progress. They arrive home just in time for another show, but she's barely there when a midnight barn fire endangers Herndon and the other horses. Can DJ overcome her deep-seated fears in time to save her horse?
Book Description
Positive Outcomes is a multimedia guide which includes A book
Case Studies
A Web site A CD-ROM
Simulation Software It is a guide for practitioners by practitioners utilizing enterprise government management methods and technology tools to raise reinvention to new heights of achievement.
Books:
- Request for Proposal: A Guide to Effective RFP Development
- RFID Essentials (Theory in Practice (O'Reilly))
- Seeing the Whole: Mapping the Extended Value Stream (Lean Enterprise Institute)
- Sell Your Book on Amazon: The Book Marketing COACH Reveals Top-Secret "How-to" Tips Guaranteed to Increase Sales for Print-on-Demand and Self-Publishing Writers
- Sociology of Organizations: Classic, Contemporary and Critical Readings
- SPIN Selling
- Strategic Human Resources: Frameworks for General Managers
- Supervision in Social Work
- Supply Chain Management and Advanced Planning: Concepts, Models, Software and Case Studies
- Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning, and Operations, Second Edition
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- History: Fiction or Science
- As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s
- Tissue Culture Techniques: An Introduction
- The Yaws' Handbook of Physical Properties for Hydrocarbons And Chemicals
- Zen Golf: Mastering the Mental Game - Audiobook
- Blended Coaching: Skills and Strategies to Support Principal Development
- An American Place: Celebrating the Flavors of America
- Healthcare Architecture in an Era of Radical Transformation
- The Wings of the Crane, 50 Years of Lufthansa Design
- Who Let That Killer In The House
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big
Values-Driven Business: How to Change the World, Make Money, and Have Fun (Social Venture Network)
Ben Jerrys Double Dip: How to Run a Values Led Business and Make Money Too
Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances
