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Title: Hoover's Vision: Original Thinking for Business Success by Gary Hoover ISBN: 1587990598 Publisher: Texere Pub. Date: October, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.71
Rating: 5
Summary: Perfect Alignment
Comment: Every so often a book comes along that affirms everything you think about the world and the way you look at it. For me, "Hoover's Vision" is that book. Gary has this incredibly wide perspective on the world: he takes in everything; it all seems unrelated; he synthesizes the components into a whole; draws out the important lessons, ideas and trends; and then translates those ideas into a winning business model.
"Hoover Vision" lays out that process in detail. It seems like alchemy. His point: it's not. You need to discover what's out there, develop your unique perspective on the world, embody that perspective into your business idea, and then sell that vision to the world.
It's a beautiful thing.
Rating: 4
Summary: Original Thinking: The Foundation for Business Success
Comment: Success is often achieved because of a leader's ability to see things in ways that others do not.
Daily living is full of inputs and messages, says Gary Hoover, a former Wall Street securities analyst and bounder of BOOKSTOP and Hoover's, Inc. The successful leader strives and thrives on formulating unique and creative interpretations of them. The way the most innovative, successful people do this, he says, is to:
Possess an open and absorbent mind.
Understand complexity.
Understand the difference between the expected and the serendipitous.
Recognize details that others do not.
For enterprises to be successful, Hoover says, their leaders have to appreciate how historic trends are impacting and will impact their organizations. For instance, the author notes that the baby boom, the largest single population bulge in United States history, impacts business in different ways as those in the generation age.
Hoover suggests transforming your business vision into your enterprise's reason for being. To be easily communicated to your employees, the vision must be clear, consistent and have a central service focus. To sustain that vision and reap the harvest of success, the author notes, you will have and demonstrate passion, persistence, energy, self-confidence, an inclination towards action, individuality and leadership.
Rating: 5
Summary: Slow Reading
Comment: Have you ever begun a book at your normal reading speed, then felt forced to slow down because you might miss something? That's Hoover's Vision, from start to finish. This is the unusual book that you'll read carefully from cover to cover, then want to read again and use as a reference book. This is a book to treasure.
Why do I characterize Hoover's Vision this way? Let's begin with the author. Gary Hoover is an entrepreneur, a highly successful visionary entrepreneur. He's the sort of person that you listen to especially carefully if you meet him at a cocktail party. He started reading FORTUNE magazine when he was 12 and moved into a career with Citibank (securities analyst), May Department Stores (Manager of Strategic Planning), and then his first entrepreneurial venture. He created BOOKSTOP, an innovative large-space retail operation that he sold to Barnes & Noble for $40 million after just seven years. His work was the foundation of the now familiar book superstores. Then he went on to found Hoover's, Inc, the company behind Hoover's OnLine, a premier source for information about corporations.
Now, the book. Start with the introduction: The Art of Enterprise: Thinking Differently. Hoover explains that he has been on a mission to discover the reasons for success of enterprises of all kinds, what separates winners from losers. This book presents the findings of his 38 years of research. He suggests that the book is meant for people who own their own business or dream of creating one, for executives or leaders of departments or divisions of large organizations, for people charged with thinking strategically or who serve on boards of for-profit or not-for-profit enterprises, for those looking for enterprises to invest time or money in, and for those passionately devoted to goals achieve through the combined efforts of a group of people. A nugget I gleaned from this section was "Great businesses succeed because of their leaders' ability to see things that others do not see. To ask questions that others do not ask. And then to chart their own course, combining insights and strategies into the blueprint for a uniquely focused enterprise."
Hoover postulates that the secrets of success are 1. observing and understanding other people and how their needs, desires, interest, values and tastes change over time; 2. serving other people by making their lives better; and 3. developing a business style that expresses your own dreams and passions even as it serves the needs of others. He stresses the importance of learning new ways of thinking. Readers are now set-up to honor curiosity . . . right where Hoover wants us to be.
The first section of the book, Exploration, is organized into three sections: Curiosity: The Foundation of Creativity, History: The Study of Change Through Time, and Geography: The Study of the World Around Us. While I'm tempted to share some of the wealth of Hoover's nuggets of wisdom, I will restrain myself so you can enjoy this book unspoiled. Chapter after chapter will stimulate your thinking. Each chapter closes with "TryThis," a recommended exercise to extend and enrich the work done in each chapter. In his "Gateways" section at the end of chapters, Hoover recommends topic-related supplemental readings. As I read this book, I found my head bobbing up and down, then my pace slowing to look deeper and ponder a thought Hoover expressed. In chapter after chapter, Hoover covers things to watch and learn from. Each chapter is thought-provoking, which is the author's purpose.
Part 2, entitled Essence: The Power of Vision, explores vision from a number of directions. Here Hoover emphasizes clear and consistent visions, unique visions, the value of the customer and more. He demonstrates how vision makes a powerful difference in how the organization is driven and how successful it may become. When you can see your vision, you can go anywhere. Without a clear vision, you may go nowhere.
Part 3 focuses on Execution: Enterprises at Work. Hoover looks at various industries and enterprises, evaluating merger mania. customer focus, and the critical need of having the Right Stuff. Some appendices and a good table of contents round out the value of this provocative book.
Expect to move a bit slower than your normal reading pace. You'll gain a lot as you mull over ideas, consider alternatives, and feel your mind extending beyond your normal thought range.
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Title: Think Like a Genius: Use Your Creativity in Ways That Will Enrich Your Life by Todd Siler ISBN: 0553379283 Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Pub (Trd Pap) Pub. Date: February, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Entrepreneurial Mindset by Rita Gunther McGrath, Ian Macmillan ISBN: 0875848346 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: August, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Information Anxiety 2 by Richard Saul Wurman, David Sume, Loring Leifer ISBN: 0789724103 Publisher: Que Pub. Date: 14 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $29.99 |
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Title: Venture Catalyst : The Five Strategies for Explosive Corporate Growth by Donald L. Laurie ISBN: 0738204072 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: 18 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Working Knowledge by Thomas H. Davenport, Laurence Prusak ISBN: 1578513014 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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