Elephants

Hey Mike,

Glad you started the book. I should have mentioned that I skipped part II of the book as you said it is dry. The good stuff is in parts I, III, and IV. Good comment Mike on the cash flow thing, I also find it important the more accounting work I've been doing.

I'd like to stick to talking about part I for right now to give everyone a chance to read. But I want to point out Gestner's first email to the entire company on page 78-79. Notice the language he is using. The very first all company memo that Gerstner sent out is a great example of bringing emotions into the workplace. In the memo Gerstner says, “I am acutely aware that I arrived at a painful time…I know it is painful for everyone…I will do everything I can to get this painful period behind us …, so that we can begin looking to our future and to building our business.” This a great example of using empathy in the workplace because Gerstner makes the experience collective by using words such as “us,” “everyone,” and “our.”

My theories of leadership if boiled down to one concept is that in order to be an effective leader you must bring emotions into the workplace and display empathy. Kind of counter cultural in terms of the idea of leaving emotions out, but great leaders throughout history have motivated through emotions. I can get into all types of Freudian discussions on why this true from reading from my class but I'd like to hear what you guys think of this thesis. In addition, what would it look like for a Christian to bring emotions/empathy into the workplace? Would it look any different than a non-Christian leader?

Kicking off discussion of Gerstner's book

As a result of my recently enacted "Personal Reading Quota", I am about halfway through Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? I am starting to lose steam as Gerstner speaks more about strategic decisions made, as it has become more technical in nature.

For the most part, I understand what he is talking about, but it can get dry at times.

The most interesting/useful bit of philosophy from Gerstner, at least in terms of application for investment decisions, was this:

"'Free cash flow' as the single most important measure of corporate soundness and performance." (p. 5)

Many of the stock screens experts have endorsed during this financial crisis have been companies that have significant cash reserves on hand. Nothing extraordinary, but a good reminder nonetheless.

That's all I've got for now.

My Texas Wedding

Reading Rainbow Has Been HaCkEd! PwNed!

Who say's Mark can't dance?

I just bought the book myself, although I am disappointed we didn't pick the Bible. Looking forward to reading it. Justin, no pressure, but much is expected from you as far as commentary. In addition to your fine thoughts, we want you to present us the most enlightening ideas your class/professor has to offer. It's like getting a free education from Booth!
Excited about the book.

Great post Justin

Really interesting to go through this book in light of post-Palin. Her persona certainly adds more real-world context into the authors' main thesis.

There was an internal battle going on when I was reading this and even when I heard about the Palin selection. As much as I hate the snootiness of the liberal left, I cringe whenever I hear the Republican party's future is the "white trash" vote. This culture/class war is bound to unfold even more in the near future. Intersting because, we are, after all, pretty educated guys who mostly only share the same values as the Sam's Club voters, but career/style of life/even location of where we live, we could be mistaken for liberals...I think that's why Mitt was so appealing. Razor sharp, Harvard degrees, founded a private equity firm, could hold his own with anyone intellectually, including Barack, and yet, kept to his core as a family man and consevative American. too bad he was a mormon.

Ironically, I've always believed that America's greatest strength has been because of people who "feed this country, work our factories, fight our wars." Another interesting thing to think about is, how will this group of people (descendants of the Greatest Generation) adapt to a rapidly exploding Hispanic society that happens to share most of their values? In terms of politics, GOP needs to capitalize on this huge potential base.

My worry and focus always shifts to America's continual decline in science/technology. The Indians and Chinese who are filling our science/mathematics doctoral programs won't be coming forever. Europe's model is interesting indeed. I am still bewildered why we cap our H-1 visas to keep out talented future Americans!

Grand New Party Discussion

I think we should break the discussion up into two parts. The first dealing with the first section of the book covering the history and the second having to do with their policy recommendations. So here are some thoughts/comments to get the discussion under way:

Part 1
--I was stuck by how much emphasis the authors contribute to the breakdown of the traditional family as causing so much of the societies problems? Will this country ever reverse course on the divorce rate, single parents etc.?

--I also was struck by the lost opportunities the Republican controlled Senate and House had when they wouldn't work with Clinton to push through SS reform that included private accounts (p. 122). I guess this shouldn't surprise me too much because these are the same people that pork barreled their way out of the majority.

--I like the quote on page 123 "fast economic growth, after all, is a means to an end--namely, higher living standards for most people....."

Part 2

--Some of the stats on the difference between stable families and the social cost of unstable ones are staggering see middle para on p. 137.

--Divorce rate for Ivy Leaguer's is 10%, I don't think only education explains this but also the stigma of divorce in certain social circles compared to other social circles where there is not the attached stigma.

--First generation immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than white population while future generation's crime rates are higher.

--Obviously, I loved their policy solutions to put family first and give huge tax breaks to married couples with children. I believe it is their thesis that this breakdown of families is a main factor in social ills so it makes sense that you have to create the right economic incentives for "ideal families."

--Invest in our infrastructure! I like the statistc that Dallas has twice as much pavement per person as LA and half the congestion. So many cities are poorly planned not to mention managed (cough... Detroit).

--Health Care is an huge issue (above my pay grade as Obama would say) obviously needs to be addressed but needs to be a major overhaul not piecemealed. Again it comes back to the free rider principal and making people have some skin in the game so you have consumption optimized, not giving universal health care to everyone, that is the opposite of optimization.

--Interesting idea about the number of police that need to be hired on page 203.

--I like the idea of instead of paying farmer subsidies for food we don't need to pay them subsidies to create energy or carbon removal agriculture, throw some windmills up on that land instead of growing corn that just gets tossed out.

--I agree that while education is important we need to be more like Europe in terms of offering more trade school options for people who decide college isn't for them. It's better for the economy for someone to have a specific skill than have a liberal arts education that they can't use. But what's the long term ramifications of this, I think we all agree on the value of a liberal arts education, so where's the balance?

Enough of my ramblings.

J

Saturday morning post

I was going to see if we could get some questions or discussions going this wknd, but it looks like people are still getting into the book. So let's try to set something up for next weekend.
Is anyone getting into the Olympics? I caught some of the opening ceremony and was amazed.

Recommendation

Stumbling on Happiness seems to be the next Blink. I think I enjoy these books because they make me feel quantitatively more intellectual, even though these authors are just taking these abstract concepts and communicating it in an engaging and downright simple way for me to understand.

http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/gilbert/

Grand New Party

I have barely cracked the book, but it's right next to my toilet and I had chili for lunch and dinner so...