Chapter 1: A New Understanding of Community (Pages 22-33)

Personal take-aways:

In management, one often encounters the problem of having to “manage” different generations at once. The easiest way would be to discover or create a “one style fits all” approach. However, as “rules” to regulate community life are determined by the member’s self-image and way of life, a management style that tries to put all eggs into one basket will be inefficient, as, although part of a community, in terms of the work environment, people are still individuals first. Thus, truly understanding “who” an employee really is should replace the search for a management recipe that fits all equally well. This becomes especially important when talking about the trend of having to manage more and more diverse teams; diverse employees might need equally diverse management styles and regulations.

On another note, like a democracy demands something in return of its citizens, managers ought to try to establish a similar relationship in the professional world. Although this balance is probably one of the toughest ones to create, getting employees to think in “give & take” is one of the most important mindsets to implement. However, this can only be established if companies see their employees as their own customers and act accordingly, while employees are able to be actively involved and change the professional community they are part of.

Another buzzword in management is “delegation.” The problem with delegation is that if it happens without transparency, employees might quickly start to think of it as a way for management to pass more tasks on to lower management, especially when a higher workload is involved from the beginning. There is a difference between delegating “tasks” and “responsiblity,” a difference that often goes unexplained and misudnerstood…by management and employees.

Notes:

• Moral and Cultural Values as Pillars of our Culture
  • the principles for regulating a community are determined by the members’ self-image and way of life
    • they are flexible and open to interpretation
      • based on experiences over long periods of time
  • important to enable people to excercise community leadership
    • individuals must see participation in a community as a personal/professional goal and understand its advantages
      • necessary to change people’s perception
  • assumption that strict discipline removes the need for people to identify with the state is a complete failure
    • failure to understand the potential contribution of each
  • rules of democracy demand something in return from citizens
    • citizens must learn to see the shaping of the community as another means of pursuing their own personal interests
  • Theory of the author in the book: people need and seek moral values
  • large organizations find reforms difficult
    • Personal Idea: try to develop a system that breaks bigger companies into sovereign small ones (like in politics) with different rules and processes but under the same roof
      • diversity might call for that
• Competition between Social Orders
  • New economic goals and methods:
    • sensible to restore better conditions for entrepreneurial management by delegating responsiblity to lower levels, especially in larger companies
      • news attitudes and skills are required of today’s employees:
        • willingness to learn, flexibility, and identification with the task
      • senior management alone cannot provide innovative ability any longer
        • as many employees as possible should be encouraged to assume responsibly, work independently with a certain amount of freedom, develop new ideas to ensure a company’s performance/competitiveness
      • in the past, large size meant high performance
        • demands for innovation and flexibility have turned this into a disadvantage
  • The management method of delegating responsiblity
    • employees who are directly responsible for their tasks perceive that part of their job is to think about improvements
      • sticking to rules is not the ultimate goals – > the optimal organization of the work process is
        • workers are lower levels must be encouraged to quickly make changes to the work process non-bureauticratically
          • courage to allow employees the freedom to experiment must be seen as most efficient way of achieving progress
• Components of motivation
  • a fair income
    • pay people as much so don’t worry about money and are able to focus on their tasks at hand
  • following procedure offers sensible solution:
    • parties agree on wage adjustments, with the help of an arbitration court if necessary
      • in an unemotional way
    • a company or sector wage scale guarantees fairness in assessing jobs
    • company rewards employees by paying them an agreed-upon share of the profits achieved

Book 2: Humanity Wins – A Strategy for Progress and Leadership in Times of Change (Pages 1-7)

Personal take-aways:

The first couple of pages of the book already foreshadow several ideas that could be applied to the political as well as the business environment, as there is an obvious connection between the two due to the humanity focus of the book based on its title. It appears that community building in its general essence will play a major role in many of the arguments to come – a principle that once more heavily draws on the importance of the human capital.

One of the first passages of the book mentions the role and nature of entrepreneurship. An argument can be made that “social well-being”  needs to become part of any business model of entrepreneurs. It is not anymore about “what is the problem, how can I solve it and why would somebody invest?”;  it is in addition about the question related to the impact that a new business and idea will have on society. In other words, like “innovation” needs to be part of any job description, the “impact question” should be a key ingredient for entrepreneurs.

On another note, future businesses like current political systems appear to lack the ability to distinguish between plans that lead to one-time reforms which will need to be actively monitored and updated in the future once the system changes, and plans that lead to the creation of a “learning society/ecosystem of innovation” that is based on flexibility and thus constant re-innovation spearheaded by the capabilities of the human capital. In other words, there appears to be a difference between being innovative for the sake of innovation and competition based on certain characteristics dictated by particular environments without having to change corporate culture, and being innovative up to the point when the word “innovation” loses its meaning as it has become part of the day-to-day fabric of  a company in the quest for constant advancement/improvements.

Interestingly, already in the first few pages the importance of creating the right conditions for “commitment” is discussed as well, describing it as one of the main tasks to be accomplished by top management in relation to the rest of the company.

Notes:

• Forward
  • entrepreneurs must seek more than just profits in shaping their corporate strategy
    • must consider the effect of their work on society, culture, and the environment
  • company’s success is significantly influenced by how it activates its human capital
  • globalization = challenge to established policies/political institutions, which are still largely anchored within the framework of the nation-state
    • need of  a creative revitalization of politics
  • author will share wealth of entrepreneurial experience to point out practical paths towards a civil society committed to individual responsiblity that will benefit the community
• Preface
  • vital communication regarding common interests and differences of opinion becomes increasingly rare and difficult to sustain
  • democracy and the market economy  must be reconceived and improved as part of globalization
    • modern cultures must set new goals, renew leadership structures and test systems of governance
• Introduction
  • like individuals, civilizations are shaped by experience and ability
  • because war and anarchy were usually a constant threat, those in power were compelled to maintain and protect the inherited system of order
    • maintaining traditions and cultures for the preservation of society as a whole was priority
    • two major weaknesses of this system: dependence on scarcely legitimate powers and inflexibility in authoritarian structures
    • change came along with (ability to examine outdated power structures critically):
      • humanity’s self-perception, influenced by the French Revolution
      • democracy as a form of government
      • scientific progress
      • technical advances
      • global communication and cooperation
  • Basics of Social Reform
    • culture and tradition influence us all more than we would like to think
      • adopting a new system of order requires parting with old habits and vested privileges
    • extensive change demands commitment, courage, and patience + participation of individuals and their willingness to learn and change
    • can avoid costly mistakes by exchanging our experiences internationally
    • for innovation to take place people must carry out reforms in a decentralized way as tasks at hand will become/are too multifaceted and completely to be controlled centrally
      • not one time reform but creation of ecosystem that supports a learning society
      • creating the CONDITIONS for such committment is an important task of the state
    • previous systems mainly based on premises of social and financial inequalities
    • management techniques require: identification with the objectives and regulations of the organization
      • adherence to rules is not any longer main priority
      • creativity, efficiency, and initiative are the new requirement
        • attitude, character and performance must emerge as decisive elements of executive recruiting
        • only people who identify with their jobs, who assume personal responsiblity for them, can succeed in future environments

The Art of Money Getting: E-Book Pages 58-73

Notes/Excerpts:

• Use the best tools
  • if you get a good one, it is better to keep him, than keep changing
  • he is worth to you this years more than the last
  • if, as he gets more valuable, he demands an exorbitant increase of salary; on the supposition that you can’t do without him, let him go
  • those men who have brains and experience are the most valuable and not to be readily parted with; it is better for them, as well as yourself, to keep them, at reasonable advances in their salaries from time to time
• Don’t get above your business
  • there is no greater mistake than when a young man believes he will succeed with borrowed money. Why? Because every man’s experience coincides with that of Mr. Astor, who said: it was more difficult for him to accumulate his first thousand dollars, than all the succeeding millions that made up his colossal fortune.
  • money is good for nothing unless you know the value of it by experience
  • nothing is worth nothing, unless it costs efforts
  • there is no royal road to learning
    • the road to learning is a royal one; the road that enables the student to expand his intellect and add every day to his stock of knowledge, until, in the present process of intellectual growth, he is able to solve the most profound problems, to count the stars, to analyze every atom of the globe, and to measure the firmament this is a regal highway, and it is the only road worth traveling.
    • FOR THE PROPER STUDY OF MANKIND IS MAN
    • let your motto then always be “excelsior” foy by living up to it there is no such word as fail