Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Humes (Eco Barons: The Dreamers, Schemers, and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet, 2009, etc.) chronicles how one man's vision transformed Wal-Mart into an industry leader for sustainability.
While pursuing an advanced degree in international affairs, Jib Ellison also worked as a river guide. In 1978, at the height of the Cold War, he organized a trip in Siberia to bring together Soviet and American college students—the first of a series of international student expeditions. He then parlayed his bridge-building and outdoor skills into a career working with a consultancy that specialized in changing corporate culture. A few years later, he and three colleagues started a new firm that broadened its mission to helping businesses solve crises. In 2003, he heard a lecture on how to live a sustainable life, and he had an epiphany. The same principles—eliminating and recycling waste, operating cleanly and efficiently, etc.—could be applied by corporate management to maximize profits while protecting the environment at the same time. Going green made good business sense. When his partners were unwilling to push “green makeovers” in an unfriendly business environment, the author writes, Ellison decided to strike out on his own. He landed a meeting with Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott. If going green would help his bottom line and improve the corporate image, then Scott was willing to give it a try. Ellison made a number of suggestions that translated into millions of dollars in savings while reducing the company's carbon footprint. Scott was sold on the idea, and over time he embraced a vision of how Wal-Mart could play a significant role in using its economic clout with competitors and suppliers to set industry-wide standards for protecting the environment and improving the quality of the products. Most recently, Wal-Mart is supporting the development of a sustainability index for products for display on the barcodes. The company’s commitment is yet to be tested in the long-term, but for now, Humes provides a fascinating story of the evolution of corporate responsibility for the environment.
Pub Date: May 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-169049-5
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper Business
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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