In his blog entry titled The Bailout, GSB Professor Bob Sutton takes former Merrill Lynch bigwig John Thain to task for apparently paying out billions of dollars in bonuses the last quarter of 2008, shortly before his firm was acquired by Bank of America -- itself the beneficiary of billions of bailout bucks. Sutton wishes out loud that a process for retrieving these undeserved handouts may already be in motion. A photo he includes of the recently downed jet in the Hudson, with commentary, forcefully (and humorously) reminds us of what has been happening to our society. As one who recently mailed out a parody Xmas poem to my friends and relatives titled 'The Night Before Bailout', I just couldn't resist including this in my blog today. Bob, thanks for the memory !
Carol Bartz, former head of software firm Autodesk, was named chief executive of Yahoo! on Tuesday, ending a two-month search for a new leader at the Internet giant. She comes to Yahoo! with a winning personal record of beating breast cancer and turning Autodesk into a profitable company. Has she been hired to save the firm -- or clean it up for a quick sale? Many are banking on Bartz to win for a third time at Yahoo!
Two new titles Is There A Doctor In The House? and Code Red are now available in the Jackson Library "New Books" section.
 The first book written by economist Richard M. Scheffler "goes beyond the guessing game to demonstrate that today's health care system is the product of financial influences in the policy realm and in the offices of medical centers, HMOs, insurers, and physicians throughout America."
 In "Code Red" the author David Dranove, "proposes a set of feasible solutions that address access, efficiency and quality" towards improving the current U.S healthcare system.
 Many of us remember the charismatic Shaun White, the 19 year old Olympic champion in snowboarding. He is the hero of the feature story in Feb. issue of Fast Company magazine. The story traces Shaun’s post-Olympic activities which in a way break the usual pattern of commercial endorsements. Shaun collaborates only with the companies which appeal to him. His role is more than advertisement model – he is a creator of his product lines with such companies as Target, Burton, of course, and others. Just one example of Shaun’s vision is the youth clothing and gear lines which established the commercial giants in the 150 billion youth market. There is a lot more to learn about Shaun’s marketing enterprises and people who help to carry out his idea. Find the article in the print issue in the periodicals section of the library or read it online.
Can the earth be saved? When will the library be open? What inaugural event made you smile? And what part of Lincoln did Roosevelt carry with him? All this and more in the latest issue of JacksonLine.
    
No time to read what you should be reading? Feeling guilty about it? All of us seem to be commuting somewhere these days, and listening to audiobooks is a great way to spend time in the car -- without the dangerous distractions of the cell phone. Check out Jackson Library's collection.
Some notable titles:
The Return Of Depression Economics And The Crisis Of 2008 by economist Paul Krugman
War on the Middle Class: How The Government, Big Business, And Special Interest Groups Are Waging War On The American Dream And How To Fight Back by TV commentator Lou Dobbs
Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story Of A Financial Legend by Boston University Professor Mitchell Zuckoff
The Age Of Turbulence: Adventures In A New World by former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan
Black Swan: The Impact Of The Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Some are on display in Jackson Library, but to see a full list go to the Jackson Library Catalog and type 'audiobooks'.
You are in a boardroom -- or a jury -- with 11 other people and you hold a dissenting opinion. Will you hold or fold? Decades of research show that generally speaking, the dissenter will eventually go with the majority view ... even when the majority view is fundamentally flawed. Remember the film Twelve Angry Men, where one person fights the temptation? Now scientists are supporting those theories with brain images. A new study in the journal Neuron shows that when people hold an opinion differing from others in a group their brains produce an error signal. A zone of the brain popularly called the "oops area" becomes extra active, while the brain's "reward area" slows down -- making us think we are too different, requiring self-correction. If the Neuron article is a bit too technical, try this layman’s version from CNN/healthcare
"You are there!" So said the old radio broadcasts. But with Photosynth you are there, at the Obama inauguration, in the midst of the crowd. The technology on the CNN site allows you to look up and down, turn around. Photosynth takes pictures from individual volunteers and blends them into a continuous image or landscape. Learn more from a snazzy demo on Photosynth given at a TED (Technology Entertainment Design) conference.
The media have been trying to track what has been happening during the bailout not just with $700 billion TARP funds, also in terms of what support and money the Federal Reserve is pumping into the market behind the scenes. The New York Times is keeping a running tally of where the TARP money is going and it can be viewed at Tracking the $700 Billion Bailout. Bloomberg has been requesting more information (through FOIA requests) on moves by Federal Reserve happening behind the scenes to shore up banks. Many funds are being bought up by the Federal Reserve through an entity called Maiden Lane III (named for the Feds New York branch) to purchase troubled bank assets. Business Week does a good job of an overview in the article Bernanke’s Backdoor Bailouts.
The creators of Flash, Gary Grossman, Peter Santangeli, Matthew Smith, Jonathan Gay, and Robert Tatsumi, are now solving the problem on the global scale: energy crisis. The team came together again now as a company called Greenbox. Its mission is to make a world a better place by enhancing people's awareness about the energy. Greenbox, a two-year old company, has developed the simple “flashy” interface which lets users to monitor and analyze the utilities power usage at their homes in real time. In the immediate future, the company plans to integrate smart appliances with smart thermostats which can intelligently adjust the energy consumption. To learn more about Greenbox exciting plans, read the article in February issue of Entrepreneur magazine in Jackson library.
 GSB Professor Bob Sutton waxes lyrical in his blog about colleague Professor Hayagreeva Rao's new book, Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations. I've been reading the book in preparation for a video interview I did with the author this afternoon, and can testify that it is a real page-turner. And historically informative. (Know what was probably the first microbrew in America? Page 54). The book speaks to the dynamic phenomenon of grassroots activists -- "market rebels" -- who can turn out to be the real movers and shakers in the evolution of an industry. To make his case, Rao cites intriguing examples from different areas -- the auto industry, French haute cuisine, brewing and more. (Stay tuned to the Jackson blog for the release of the video interview.)
In the December 2008 In Vivo journal are two articles that highlight the medical devices industry.
One article is titled "The Top Device Stories of 2008" which reports "the device industry did not seize up like the credit markets or auto industry: business is carrying on apace."
The other article titled "Medical Device/Diagnostics Quarterly Deal Statistics" looks at medical device and in vitro diagnostics/research dealmaking for the 3rd quarter of 2008.
The journal In Vivo is available in print in the Periodicals collection. Stanford users may access the e-version at Jackson Library's Information Desk.
With the acquisition of Wachovia, San Francisco based Wells Fargo Bank now has more branches than any other U.S. bank.
CEO John Stumpf was interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle recently as to what the future may hold for Wells Fargo. Read the story.
Library friend Michelle Gutman, Assistant Director of the GSB Corporate Governance Research Program, has brought a new case study to our attention. The Management of Berkshire Hathaway (2009) by Prof David Larcker and GSB Alum Brian Tayan notes that many of the company's operating principles are in stark contrast to those generally employed by most public corporations. BH Vice Chairman Charles T. Munger has described the Berkshire Hathaway system as "delegation just short of abdication." Company shareholders will have to decide for themselves whether these operating principles pose a risk to long-term performance or whether, contrary to expert opinion, they are a source of competitive advantage that can be sustained in the future.
We direct your attention to two of our hot topics pages that seem particularly hot these days: the Madoff Scandal and the Financial Crisis and Bailout. Learn the basics about both and keep abreast of the latest developments and news with these two pages.
The hottest trend is still 'green' according to the December 2008 issue of Entrepreneur. Although there is a great concern for economy, consumers are still willing to pay more for green products. Look for opportunities in water use, reclamation and irrigation. Clean energy seems to be a resource most apt to stem global warming; solar, thermal, wind and geothermal companies are becoming big players in the energy field. There are currently 8.5 million jobs in renewable energy, but it is projected to increase to 40 million by 2030. Other trends with plenty of opportunity are health, millennials, boomers, weddings, web and the economy. Check out the issue on the Jackson periodicals rack, or online.
What do Methodist ministers and NBA basketball coaches have in common? Many things, perhaps, but both are cited by GSB Professor Bob Sutton in his recent blog on the power of leadership. The Methodist Church is well known for its practice of regularly rotating pastors, and a 1984 study of ministers noted the repeated success of certain pastors, no matter where they were moved. Likewise, a more recent study by GSB Professor Jeff Pfeffer and Alison Davis Blake analyzed the power of winning coaches to turn around new teams. Sutton makes the argument that the tendency, on the part of some, to dismiss the dynamic power of leadership is mistaken. Likewise, the destructive power of poor or corrupt leaders can also manifest itself, as seen in recent scandals.
As previously mentioned in these pages, Jackson Library has received copies of the new book by GSB Professor Hayagreeva Rao, Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations. Fellow GSB faculty member and Silicon Valley pioneer Andrew Grove writes "Rao's shrewd analysis of the role of social movements in energizing the growth of 'disruptive technologies' provides an 'Aha!' moment." "Market Rebels is chock full of powerful insights -- and powerful tools -- for understanding and affecting markets", says John Lilly, CEO of Mozilla Corporation. And GSB Professor Robert Sutton opines "Market Rebels is the best book ever written about why new ideas do or don't spread throughout the marketplace. ... This accessible masterpiece will become a classic." The Library has two copies -- better move fast.
Over the last few days NPR has been presenting a series on Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom. Most of central Europe depends on Russia for most of its natural gas, which has put Russia in a very powerful political position since most houses are heated with natural gas. Listen to report entitled Gazprom And Russia's Foreign Policy.
In a recent New York Times blog, Economix, highlights of the American Economic Association's very first humor session were reported.
Hey with the economy so bad you might as well laugh instead of cry!
  
Happy New Year ! Time to start off our 2009 blog with selections from our Popular Books rack that you can curl up with on a cold January evening.
Edison on Innovation: 102 Lessons in Creativity for Business and Beyond (HD53.A985 2008) by Alan Axelrod is an attempt to cut through the century-old worship of the great inventor to portray him as "an ordinary man who created extraordinary work". Axelrod suggests that Edison's life proves creativity of the highest order can be summoned up at will by any of us.
The GSB's own Professor Hayagreeva Rao has produced Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations (HM881.R36 2009). Rao argues that "market rebels", activists who defy authority and convention, rather than the traditional 'great men' of business are responsible for the success (or failure) of radical innovations. Quoth GSB Professor Robert Sutton, "Market Rebels is the best book ever written about why new ideas do or don't spread throughout the market place".
David Spendlove gives us 100 Ideas for Teaching Design and Technology (TS171.4.S66 2008), with dozens of inspirational ideas on teaching, learning and assessing design and technology.
Finally, Fareed Zakaria's The Post-American World (CB161.Z34 2008) sounds a cautionary note as the author reminds us that global power is shifting, giving rise to a new relationships between the great nations. Zakaria suggests that superpower America needs to come to terms with this picture and begin a serious transformation of its global strategy to recognize "the rise of the rest".
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