Time to start thinking : America in the age of descent

 by Edward Luce.   Luce, Washington bureau chief of the Financial Times, joins a lengthening parade of pundits among them, Fareed Zakaria, Thomas L. Friedman, Tom Brokaw, and Bill Clinton describing, in painfully graphic detail, America's decline. Luce focuses on the seismic shift of money and talent from America's technology sector to those of China, India, and beyond, a shift that has reverberated throughout the U.S. economy, particularly for the middle class. He attributes the change to, among other things, Republican demagoguery against federal funding of research, red tape in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a polarized and paralyzed electorate, and the influence of big money on national politics. Unlike his fellow pundits, Luce doesn't offer much in the way of solutions in this fine analysis, except maybe in this quote from one American entrepreneur, To overcome a problem, you must first recognize it exists. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

The advantage : why organizational health trumps everything else in business

 by Patrick Lencioni. It is best not to dismiss Lencioni's latest book (previous books include The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, 2002) as just another human-resources practicum. His focus is the CEO, in an honest and transparent manner, demonstrating how to rid a company of politics, confusion, low morale, and high turnover. In fact, before laying out the details of what he calls the four disciplines, Lencioni specifically addresses possible barriers to adoption of these disciplines, namely sophistication, adrenaline, and the need for quantification. The rest of the book zeroes in on the disciplines themselves: building a cohesive leadership team, creating clarity, overcommunicating clarity, and reinforcing clarity. Each section features disguised examples (good and bad) and recommended processes and systems. Summaries and extra proofs of concepts follow each discipline, a signal that he indeed practices his third discipline overcommunicating clarity. In a business world increasingly focused on numbers and metrics, this is one equation that resists calculation. But, says Lencioni, it's a nonformula that mirrors what the best of human institutions can offer their employees, customers, suppliers, investors, and other groups. --Booklist (Check Catalog)

Time to start thinking : America in the age of descent

Exile on Wall Street : one analyst's fight to save the big banks from themselves

 by Mike Mayo.  Mayo, a respected US bank stock analyst, has written an engrossing personal account of his Wall Street experiences. He amply highlights the perils of an analyst who is frequently out of step with his peers, often advising selling particular bank stocks while others are recommending "hold" or even "buy." Consequently, Mayo is often locked out of information channels deemed so critical to understanding current corporate policies. But Mayo seems to relish his position as a gadfly and, especially in the financial crisis of 2007-09, appears to have been mostly on target. (His "buy" prediction on Lehman Brothers is a glaring exception, but is openly admitted without excuses.) In many ways, this book is reminiscent of Dan Reingold's Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst (2007). Reingold's domain was the communications industry, but the thrust of the stories is the same: the analyst maintaining integrity in the light of pressures to sell out. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. Enjoyable and informative. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers; all levels of undergraduate students; professionals. --Choice (Check Catalog)

The end of growth : adapting to our new economic reality

 by Richard Heinberg. Heinberg (senior fellow-in-residence, Post Carbon Inst.; Blackout: Coal, Climate, and the Last Energy Crisis) contends that new economic growth, the ostensible solution to the current global recession, is impossible to achieve. He argues that high levels of public and private debt make new borrowing (necessary to fund growth) difficult and that any deleveraging of the current debt would also inhibit growth. Discounting possible ameliorating effects of efficiency and innovation, Heinberg warns that the increasing scarcity and cost of energy, water, food, and minerals as well as the environment's fragile condition will be a further constraint on future growth. While he admits that isolated growth has continued to occur, he believes that even fast-growing economies like China's will ultimately slow. He cautions that an end to growth portends heightened geopolitical and demographic competition but offers hope that the world can build a new economy based on sustainability and self--restraint. VERDICT Clearly written and argued with excellent graphs and taking account of recent events, Heinberg's contrarian view on growth is highly recommended to all readers interested in economics, sustainability, and future trends. --Library Journal (Check Catalog)