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I was making a very long drive home today and was thinking about this very topic- what is the best business book? My favorite business book isn't about business so I suppose it doesn't qualify as the best business book of all time.

"About Face" by David Hackworth, one of America's greatest, most decorated warriors, is my favorite business book. He's the anti Jack Welch Six Sigma Ivy League MBA kind of leader if there ever was one.

Real leaders lead from the front- no matter what. During World War Two, the Defense Department began protecting officers deemed to be "star material" from the danger the typical soldier and officer faced on the frontline.

Everything came crashing down with the Vietnam War. Hackworth's book, and his outspoken criticism, led to the Pentagon changing its expectations for leaders of tomorrow.

The business world is at the same point the military was at the end of Vietnam. The coporate leadership is too spoiled, vain, and far removed from the front lines to compete successfully. Jack Welch style of leadership has more in common with Saddam than the generals and officers who defend America while the coporate leaders twitter pithy words of advice.

Posted by Michigan and Me at August 18, 2009 6:53 PM

"coporate (sic) leaders (sic) twitter" Michigan is challenged in many ways including some people's intelligence - yes indeed my friends.

"Why Be an Ethical Company?" The NHS is in the news - TimesOnline UK August 19 - again for their seeming always unethical tragic 20% of GDP way of life:

"Fat, unfit NHS staff top the sick league"

"More than 45,000 NHS workers call in sick each day — one and a half times the rate of absence seen in the private sector.

The first national audit of staff habits has found that high rates of obesity, smoking, absenteeism and poor mental health are having a direct impact on the quality of patient care.

Costing taxpayers $1.65B pounds in lost productivity.

- More than one in five staff smoke, the same proportion as in the adult population. About 40,000 NHS workers smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day.

— More than a third of the workforce are in moderate to very poor mental health, with many expressing concern about intimidation from patients and their relatives

— Hospitals with worse staff health are less productive and have higher rates of superbug infection, unnecessary use of agency workers and higher patient mortality rates. More than three-quarters of staff believe that the state of their health affects patient care.

— About 40 per cent undertake exercise less than the Government’s three recommended occasions a week."

Does this haven of "healthcare" vermin know no limits since even before the past junior manager guidance of our own beloved chain-smoking, flabette & mentally challenged "Trevor"? I fear not my beloved friends - this is but the tip of the iceberg with the NHS Titanic full speed ahead. :>)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6801240.ece

Posted by TrueLove at August 18, 2009 7:46 PM

True Love - good try my friend. Here is a reply from a US Citizen about the NHS. Patients say it so much better than newspapers you and me my friend :-) - 15 All.

"My wife, who is a U.S. citizen and lived in the U.K. with me for 8 years, tries to enlighten people all the time. People either don't believe her or shout her down.

We live in a town of 80,000. It's a 3 hour drive each way to anywhere larger. Over 50% of the employers here offer no health insurance at all. My last job here, before I gave up and started my own business, paid me $13 an hour with no benefits at all. I'm a computer network engineer with over 20 years experience. My last job in the UK paid £65,000 p.a.

With that job I was paying $750 a month for insurance for myself and my wife.

Now I have my own business but not for much longer. Having a conscience, I feel that I owe my (few) employees health insurance. With theirs and my own, I see $9,000 a month go out the door before earning a penny. Add payroll taxes and it's just not worth it. We're closing up, selling up and heading back to the UK.

Our health insurance, for the small fortune it costs us, tends to not cover very much at all. Here's one small example. One Friday evening, I started to get a terrible pain in my lower back. I knew exactly what it was - a kidney stone. Anyone who has had one will know it is incredibly painful and not something you can just put up with.

The only place in town on a Friday evening open for treatment is the E.R. at the local hospital . As soon as my wife gave them the insurance card, you could see the $ signs light up in their eyes. A load of unnecessary scans and tests later, we walk out with a diagnoses (kidney stone) and some extra strength pain pills.

The next week, two things turn up. A denial letter from the insurance company - they felt I should have waited until Monday to see my regular doctor, and a bill from the hospital for $4,200. I'm still paying the thing off 8 months later.

As others have said, no system is perfect, but the U.S. one is so broken, it isn't even funny. Unfortunately, they seem to have the ultimate in the "I'm OK Jack" attitude here. People who I would count as friends, quite honestly believe that if someone can't afford health care then they don''t deserve it. I find that attitude abhorrent and indefensible.

I'm a diabetic, have vision issues, occasional chest pains and a gall bladder problem. Even though I'm covered by insurance, I will not go and see anyone here about these issues. The chances are the insurance company will find a way to weasel out of paying.

A couple of years ago, my wife needed surgery. Despite pre-approval letters, we still ended up with thousands of dollars worth of bills. She was literally spending 6 to 7 hours a day on the 'phone between the insurance company, doctors offices, the hospital, etc. getting things straightened out.

I do work at medical facilities where out of 30 employees, 8 will be employed to deal with billing and insurance. What a waste of resources.

So it's back to the U.K. for us. We're getting no younger and the constant worry over health is just not worth it. I firmly believe that health care is a right, not a privilege. I no longer want to live and pay taxes in a country that believes that isn't so."

http://potentialandexpectations.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/this-americans-experience-of-britains-healthcare-system/#comments

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 18, 2009 8:03 PM

Trevor - love the unique radical left-wing neoliberals that you pay with UK tax dollars to support anything positive about the NHS - it must be dismantled - that is the only sane way to fix the nightmare of patient abuse - but sanity is not your forte my friend :>).

Posted by TrueLove at August 18, 2009 8:21 PM

True Love - Despite my 'insanity' I don't NEED to pay US citizens to speak well of our NHS. They do it quite voluntarily with no payment from me my friend. If you visit this link you will see dozens of US citizens praising our NHS system when comparing it with their own US healthcare system. It's not ME saying it at all my friend - these are your fellow country men and women :-)

Here is another comment just in case you don't have to read the 266 comments.

http://potentialandexpectations.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/this-americans-experience-of-britains-healthcare-system/#comments

PamBG

"Thank you for this article. I too am American and have literally just moved to the US (this past Saturday!) after 20 years in the UK with my British husband.

In June, my husband had a torn retina fixed on the NHS within the space of about 6 hours from walking in to the emergency room. Today, I’m still trying to get my health insurance set up; our application seems to have fallen between the cracks of the insurance company’s ‘System’ and I can’t get the agent on the phone nor does she ring me back.

I’ve been astounded by the wild exaggerations I’ve heard about the NHS since arriving back in the States; people here don’t know what they are talking about.

By the way, Americans currently spend more of their GDP on healthcare than Brits and the quality of healthcare in Britian is ranked higher than in the US. The US system is not second to none; only for those with gold-standard insurance."

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 19, 2009 2:47 AM

PS - True Love - the best quote and my last word on this comes from your President - Washington, DC, March 5, 2009:

"In the last eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages, and an additional nine million Americans have joined the ranks of the uninsured. The cost of health care now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes."

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/obamaforamerica/gGxRHz

Clearly my friend I don't NEED to argue my case on your side of the pond - your own citizens and your President provide the best argument for our NHS here in the UK :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 19, 2009 3:00 AM

TG - a volley into the net of comments is no match for the research that shows NHS failures - almost as unethical as Tony Benn my friend - indeed the UK deserves better and Tories shall provide it. :>) 6-0, 6-0 TrueLove.

Posted by TrueLove at August 19, 2009 5:18 AM

True Love - You are sooooooooooo right.

Objective research by a credible healthcare research body is ALWAYS the correct way to prove these things.

Therefore I highlight for you yet again the world renowned (and US BASED!) Commonwealth Fund report of 2008.

"In the US-based Commonwealth Fund's 2008 healthcare rankings of six top developed nations (Australia, Germany, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States):

The United Kingdom ranks top overall - and ranks above the US in all but one measure - yet has the lowest healthcare spend per head of population.

The USA ranks sixth overall - ranking bottom on five of the nine measures along with having the lowest life-expectancy and highest infant mortality rates by far - despite spending more than twice what any other country spends on healthcare (and, at $6,102 vs. $2,546, almost three times the spend in the UK), per head of population."

Err... Err ... 6-0, 6-0 I believe in reply my friend - good game though :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 19, 2009 5:30 AM

Personally I find Tony Benn to be quite amusing - even though TG double faults relating to such.

Here is one very recent article claiming Tony is unethical regarding Winston Churchill - our beloved icon:

"Tony Benn is a silly old extremist - and totally wrong about Winston Churchill"

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100002292/tony-benn-is-a-silly-old-extremist-and-totally-wrong-about-winston-churchill/

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Posted by TrueLove at August 19, 2009 7:39 AM

True Love - I'm sure Tony loves you too :-)

Why do you believe extreme right wing reports more than you believe extreme left wing reports? Personally I believe neither but I know the man - do you?

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 19, 2009 8:14 AM

PS - Game and first set :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 19, 2009 8:15 AM

Shelley,

Thanks for the post. What a strange time we live in? When biz rags/blogs are actually writing about the virtues of being an ethical company. Interesting...

Posted by Scott Peters at August 19, 2009 10:36 AM

Wait, Howard Schultz visits 25 Starbucks outlets per week, AND it took a Depression to wake him up to the facts that his company (and stores) are poorly run, overstaffed with lay-abouts, and was losing money due to inefficiency?

canadian health care pharmacy viagra Wow! That is the kind of "leader" I want to emulate. Oblivious to the obvious.

BTW if he is visiting 5 per day, just when does he do anything BUT drink coffee with the kids?

Posted by Mark at August 21, 2009 3:49 AM

Mark

Given the distribution of Starbucks in most cities visiting 5 sites would only take you about an hour and around a mile of walking...... :-)

Posted by PaulH at August 28, 2009 1:51 AM