Daniel Im

Pastor + Author

Leadership

Book Review: The Starfish and the Spider – Brafman and Beckstrom

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The following is an analytical review of Ori Brafman’s and Rod Beckstrom’s The Starfish and the Spider.

Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom are both authors, entrepreneurs, and MBA graduates from Stanford. Brafman is not only interested in thinking and writing about leadership and organizational dynamics, but he also is a practitioner who has put many of his principles into practice. For Beckstrom, his areas of specialty are cybersecurity, global issues, and organizational strategy and leadership. Furthermore, he has diverse leadership experience that ranges from being a CEO to working for the US Homeland Security.

The Starfish and the Spider is a compelling book that uses the symbolism of a starfish and a spider to describe the importance of decentralization in life, culture, and economics.

The thesis is that every organization needs to move towards decentralization, in some manner or form, if they are to not only exist, but also thrive in the future – in other words, the rules have changed.

Spanning across the book, the authors outline eight principles of decentralization, which they use to explain their thesis: [Read more…] about Book Review: The Starfish and the Spider – Brafman and Beckstrom

Book Review: Built to Last – Collins and Porras

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The following is an analytical book review of Collins’ and Porras’ Built to Last.

Jim Collins is a prolific researcher, writer, and teacher of enduring great companies. He graduated from Stanford University with degrees in business administration and mathematical sciences. He also used to research and teach at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Jerry I. Porras is the Lane Professor of Organizational Behavior, Emeritus, at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Like Collins, he is also interested in the characteristics of visionary companies, especially focusing in on the organizational components. He received his BSEE from Texas Western College, his MBA from Cornell University, and his Ph.D from the University of California.

The authors have two primary objectives: to develop a conceptual framework based on the common dynamics and characteristics of highly visionary companies, and to effectively communicate these concepts so that they are useful to others (Location 459). In doing this, they discovered that all visionary companies have a core ideology, an unrelenting drive for progress, and an organizational structure to preserve the core and stimulate progress (Location 4974). The specific methods that companies use to implement those requirements may change and are the topics in part two of the book. [Read more…] about Book Review: Built to Last – Collins and Porras

The Importance of Emotional Intelligence

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The most innovative business educators will, we hope, recognize the importance of emotional intelligence in higher education for helping their graduates become leaders instead of mere managers.

Daniel Goleman, Richard E. Boyatzis, Annie McKee – Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence

Who are the new Untouchables?

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Those who have the ability to imagine new services and new opportunities and new ways to recruit work…are the new Untouchables. Those with the imagination to invent smarter ways to do old jobs, energy-saving ways to provide new services, new ways to attract old customers or new ways to combine existing technologies will thrive.

– Thomas Friedman – The World is Flat