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THE VELOCITY ADVANTAGE

Name: THE VELOCITY ADVANTAGE
Author: Jack Bergstrand
ISBN: 978-0-692-75386-6

by Jack Bergstrand ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 15, 2016

Well-reasoned road map for a less mechanized and more people-focused management model.

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In this business guide, a strategy consultant discusses why and how to manage today’s knowledge-based work to achieve faster and better results.

“Scientific management,” developed in the industrial era to oversee the output of factory workers, is an outdated approach for today’s knowledge-worker culture. In this guide, Bergstrand draws on research and case studies to showcase why the social sciences-based EDBA (Envision-Design-Build-Activate) approach is a better way to manage today’s knowledge-based workers, producing better and faster results and therefore a critical “velocity advantage” in business. EDBA helps individuals and teams collaboratively organize “the opposing forces of knowledge, work, subjectivity, and objectivity” by first becoming clear on the destination/time frame of a project (Envision), then establishing the priorities to implement the envisioned project (Design), and only after that building or executing the project by activating the right people assigned to the right work at the right time. “Through these four steps,” Bergstrand asserts, “human knowledge is converted into organizational outcomes.” He discusses how certain job roles tend to fall into certain quadrant areas and how EDBA creates a shared language, framework, and process that incorporates critical stakeholder insights, facilitates collaboration, and ensures integrated project management. Bergstrand also details the Strategic Profiling-Action Planning (SP-AP) process used to introduce EDBA into an organization, including issuing a Strategic Profiling (SP) survey to help people understand their individual/group preferences and abilities within the framework. Bergstrand (Reinvent Your Enterprise, 2009), a former Coca-Cola exec and currently a Drucker Institute board member and business strategy consultant, offers an authoritative and compelling case for implementing this business model. He goes deep into its concepts, providing dedicated chapters and charts on the many nuances by which people may fit in and play out the EDBA process, and also discusses how to make velocity a company’s “brand.” While such detail makes for a somewhat intimidating textbooklike experience, Bergstrand also thankfully provides helpful end-of-chapter summaries as well as enlivening “color” commentary, including a snapshot of how Star Trek’s main characters exemplify EDBA qualities.

Well-reasoned road map for a less mechanized and more people-focused management model.

Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-692-75386-6

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Brand Velocity

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2017

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.