Alumni Association

Chain of Blame: How Wall Street caused the mortgage
and credit crisis
by Paul Muolo
John Wiley & Sons, 2008

In the summer of 2007, the subprime empire that Wall Street had built all came crashing down. On average, 50 lenders a month were going bust. Chain of Blame will chronicle the disaster, focusing on the players - the executives on Wall Street but also the lenders and brokers.

Bailout: An Insider's Account of Bank Failures and Rescues
by Irvine H. Sprague
Basic Books, 1986

An engaging story of how the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation handled four bank failures.

Notes from Toyota-land:
An American Engineer in Japan
by Darius Mehri; foreword by Robert Perrucci
September 2005

Notes from Toyota-land is an informative look into the workplace in contemporary Japan. The book does not delve into specific manufacturing techniques but spends time looking at the corporate culture in the Japanese plant. Mehri discusses the Japanese management practices "voluntary overtime" and "groupthink". He did a lot of drinking with his co-workers and the conversations revealed a funny, interesting and sometimes depressing look into the Japanese social structure. If you plan to work for a Japanese company you should definitely read this book.

Dance of the Molecules:
How Nanotechnology is Changing Our Lives
by Ted Sargent
Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006

Ted Sargent is one of the world's leading researchers in the new scientific field of nanotechnology. In The Dance of Molecules, he explains to the lay person the complex world of nanotechnology-the science and engineering of building materials and devices from the molecule up. He also give us insight into what can be accomplished with this new technology.

Corporate Canaries: Avoid Business Disasters
with a Coal Miner's Secrets
by Gary Sutton
Nelson Business, 2005

This book comes with a money back guarantee and offers practical business advice for the CEO based on lessons learned from his grandfather's stories of work in the coal mines. Each chapter starts with a "Grandpa story" and finishes with modern business advice to keep the canary on the perch. Sutton is a veteran 'turnaround expert' who has seen the mistakes and problems that have ruined many businesses. This 140 page book is a fun read with five key points: You Can't Outgrow Losses, Debt's a Killer, Fools Fly Blind, Any Decision Beats No Decision and finally Markets Grow and Markets Die. Check out this book and read the advice from a man who has turned around many companies and made billions in the process.

The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century
by Steven Watts

Watts delves into the life a Michigan farm boy who emerged as one of America's richest men and a celebrity and hero to millions of ordinary citizens. His support of high wages and material abundance for everyday workers made him a figure of admiration to such diverse people as Vladimir Lenin and Adolf Hitler, John D. Rockefeller and Woodrow Wilson. Watts brings to life a complicated Henry Ford, inventor, businessman, bigot, moralist, visionary, despot and much more.

Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All into Patients
By Ray Moynihan, Alan Cassels
Nation's Books, 2005

This accessible study about the collusion between medical science and the drug industry emphasizes how drug companies market their products by either redefining problems as diseases (like female sexual dysfunction) or redefining a condition to encompass a greater percentage of the population. Moynihan, a health journalist for the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet, and Cassels, a Canadian science writer, note, for instance, that eight of the nine specialists who wrote the 2004 federal guideline on high cholesterol, which substantially increased the number of people in that category, have multiple financial ties to drug manufacturers.

Physicians now routinely prescribe cholesterol-lowering pills (statins) that may have perilous side effects, when many people could lower their risk of heart attack with less costly and dangerous steps, such as exercise and improved diet. Through aggressive merchandising, funding of medical conferences and expensive perks, drug companies win doctors over to diagnosing these "diseases" and prescribing drugs for them. (Source: Publisher's Weekly)

The Dark Genius Of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life
of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons
By Edward J., Jr. Renehan
Basic Books 2005

In the late 19th century, strong and well-moneyed families such as the Morgans and the Vanderbilts controlled the fortunes of Wall Street and the emerging industries. Renehan, author of splendid biographies of the Kennedys, Theodore Roosevelt and the naturalist John Burroughs, turns in a masterful glance at the social history of the Gilded Age as well as a brilliant biography of Gould, who outfoxed many of these other wealthy industrialists to win fame and fortune.

Although his early work as a surveyor and a tanner did not bring Gould much wealth, he learned to engage in shrewd business practices that would eventually allow him to gain some dominance in the tanning industry. Wall Street and the newly emerging rail industries soon attracted his financial eye, and he turned his full attention to them. While he initially dabbled at the edges of the stock market, he picked up enough financial savvy to engineer a scheme to corner the gold market in 1869 and cause the infamous Black Friday frenzy. Renehan deftly chronicles Gould's canny financial successes in the acquisitions of the Erie, the Union and Pacific, and the Atlantic and Pacific railroads as well as the emerging telegraph industry. Maligned by his competitors and the media as an unscrupulous businessman, Gould never achieved the fame and status of Cornelius Vanderbilt or J.P. Morgan. Yet, as Renehan points out so gracefully, Gould was simply an ambitious financier in an ambitious time before the existence of regulations that his own financial deals helped create. Renehan's sumptuous prose and his dazzling research and style provide a window into Gould's ambitions and offer a first-rate social history of the financial workings of his time. (Source: Publisher's Weekly

The Secret Sales Pitch
By August Bullock
Norwich Publishers, January 2004

Does subliminal advertising really exist? Bullock makes a convincing argument that subliminal advertising is alive and well and part of our every day life. He begins with the history of subliminal advertising and carries us through the 50's to the present in a logical and thought provoking book. Photographs, illustrations and explanations make the concepts easy to understand. Some of the images can be disturbing, shocking or just plain silly and some of his conclusions seem obvious while others are a bit of stretch. You will never look at ads in the same way again. Can you read the secret message on the white portion of the book cover?

Ponzi's Scheme
By Mitchell Zuckoff
Random House Adult Trade Publishing Group, March 2005

Ponzi Schemes , we've all heard of them may even know someone who was been taken by one. Now you can read about the man behind the original scheme, Charles Ponzi . This true story, about the charismatic Ponzi whose name has become a noun that means swindle, reads like a novel that takes you back to the 1920's when anything was possible, especially when it came to money. Ponzi's idea was to make money by using International Reply Coupons; a system of international postal currency that held a fixed value from one country to the next and could be redeemed at any post office of a country belonging to the "Universal Postal Union." When the pressure to pay back the high dividends mounted he started "robbing Peter to pay Paul" and his money making scheme fell apart.

Freakonomics
By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
HarperCollins Publishers, April 2005

Freakonomics pairs behavioral economics with human behavior and presents the material in a witty, easy to understand manner. The authors apply microeconomic reasoning to seemingly unrelated ideas and the result is a very interesting although sometimes controversial view of statistics, theories and events. This book will encourage the reader to think critically about statistics, theories and everyday life. The book delves into such diverse topics as:

• the relationship between abortion access and the decrease in crime
  in the United States after 1990,
• genetics is the reason your child is doing well in school not Baby Einstein
  or listening to Mozart in utero,
• street gangs operate in much the same way ad Fortune 500 companies.

The Enthusiastic Employee: How Companies Profit
by Giving Workers What They Want
By David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, Michael Irwin Meltzer
Pearson Education, January 2005

"What is special about this book is the combination of qualitative and quantitative insight (based on 33 years of research studies with leading companies). Some of what the authors say is just common sense-but that's the point of this book. It strips away the jargon and gets down to what's really happening with the people who do the work in this world.

I especially like the comments-right from the mouths of working men and women. They ring absolutely true. I was impressed with how the book's premises were presented. It reads like something an executive would actually (and enthusiastically) go through cover to cover and utilize to lead effectively .It is not painfully dense yet not superficial and redundant. Far from vogue, the authors' insights are timeless. Stanford grads may find the chapter on Compensation to be particularly insightful. Captivating, compelling, clear, and thorough - not to mention practical. This is an absolute must-read for anyone who wishes to understand human behavior in the workplace." Bruce Segall, MBA, Class of 1985

Ethics and the Business of Bioscience
By Margaret Eaton
Stanford Business Books, 2004

Businesses that produce bioscience products—gene tests and therapies, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and medical devices—are regularly confronted with ethical issues concerning these technologies. Conflicts exist between those who support advancements in bioscience and those who fear the consequences of unfettered scientific license. As the debate surrounding bioscience grows, it will be increasingly important for business managers to consider the larger consequences of their work. The author is a Senior Research Scholar at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics.

Other People's Money: The Corporate Mugging of America
By Nomi Prinz
New Press, 2004

According to John Dizard of the Financial Times, "Nomi Prinz's work brings together a social justice perspective and a rigorous financial methodology." During fifteen years in the upper flights of banks like Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, and Lehman Brothers, Prinz never lost her ability to see the broader picture. The result is an insider's account of the big banks' giddy ride through the boom economy. Prinz provides fascinating firsthand detail of day-to-day life in the financial leviathans, with all its rich absurdities and ceaseless power plays. Uncovering the old-boy networks and hot-money flows between Wall Street, Corporate America, and Capitol Hill, she also exposes the whitewash reforms brought in to control them.

Art of the Start: the time-tested, battle-hardened guide
for anyone starting anything
By Guy Kawasaki
Portfolio, 2004

What does it take to turn ideas into action? What are the elements of a perfect pitch? How do you win the war for talent? How do you establish a brand without bucks? These are some of the issues everyone faces when starting or revitalizing any undertaking, and in this book Guy Kawasaki, former marketing maven of Apple Computer, attempts to provides the answers. Although weak in some areas, he goes into great detail when it comes to raising capital and offers effective methods for interviewing prospective employees.

Into the Unknown: leadership lessons from
Lewis & Clark's daring westward adventure
By Jack Uldrich
AMACOM, 2004

Commissioned by Thomas Jefferson to explore the rumored Northwest Passage, Lewis and Clark instead discovered a seemingly endless land whose very existence foretold a future America infinitely different from what had been imagined. Their story resonates with business leaders of our time because they had to: * Think strategically * Make tough and timely decisions * Surround themselves with good people * Manage resources * Motivate the team * Deal with different cultures * Assimilate information from many sources * Balance long-term goals against short-term realities * Learn from their mistakes * Try new approaches and most importantly, they had to persevere and change course in the face of adversity.

The Future of Success: Working
and Living in the New Economy
By Robert Reich
Vintage, 2002

Reich has written an insightful look at the changing cultures of work and life and the challenges that these pose for all of us. Consumers are clearly in control and we have more choices than every before, but Reich points out the ways in which these increased choices are undermining the rest of our lives. The former Secretary of Labor makes some provocative suggestions for creating a more balanced society and more satisfying lives.

Raising the Bar: Integrity and Passion in Life
and Business: The Story of Clif Bar Inc.
By Gary Erickson with Lois Lorentzen
Jossey-Bass, 2004

Raising the Bar chronicles Clif Bar's ascent from a homemade energy bar to a $100 million phenomenon with an estimated 35 million consumers, and a company hailed by Inc. magazine as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. four years in a row. Gary Erickson and coauthor Lois Lorentzen tell the unusual and inspiring story about following your passion, the freedom to create, sustaining a business over the long haul, and living responsibly in your community and on the earth. Throughout the book, Erickson--a competitive cyclist, jazz musician, world traveler, mountain climber, wilderness guide, and entrepreneur--convinces us that sustaining one's employees, community, and environment is good business.

New Mainstream: How the Multicultural Consumer
is Transforming American Business
By Guy Garcia
Rayo, 2004

The New Mainstream explains how Americans will eat, work, play, learn, and spend money in the twenty-first century -- and why any organization that ignores the lessons of the New Mainstream is doomed to fail.

In The New Mainstream, Guy Garcia offers us both a wake-up call and a road map to the new multicultural reality in America. The New Mainstream is a corporate survival guide for the uncharted markets of the twenty-first century as well as an intellectual toolkit for anyone hoping to get a handle on -- or get ahead of -- the demographic and marketing trends of today's increasingly diverse global society.

Wisdom of Alexander the Great: Enduring Leadership Lessons
from the Man Who Created an Empire
By Lance B. Kurke
AMACOM, 2004

Exceptional leaders are the ones who are able to analyze problems, optimize resources, inspire loyalty, and execute strategy. There is no more stunning example in history than Alexander the Great, whose leadership skills were so immense that they still resonate some 2,000 years later.

The Wisdom of Alexander the Great reveals four leadership processes distilled from the life and extraordinary accomplishments of Alexander, King of Macedonia. Readers will learn how he: 1) reframed problems in order to meet seemingly insurmountable challenges; 2) built alliances by using his strength to generate trust and respect, not just fear; 3) established identity and "branded" himself a unifier, thus keeping the home base secure while continuing to expand his empire: 4) recognized and assimilated the cultures and symbols of different peoples, becoming a powerful and trusted figure everywhere he went.

The Wisdom of Alexander the Great relates 34 riveting episodes from Alexander's expansion through India and the Persian Empire, including Asia Minor, Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Middle East, and more. Each example, tied to a modern-day counterpart, imparts valuable lessons from the timeless legend of one of the greatest leaders in history.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap
to Greatness and Others Don't
By Jim Collins
HarperBusiness, 2001

In what Collins terms a prequel to the bestseller Built to Last he wrote with Jerry Porras, this worthwhile effort explores the way good organizations can be turned into ones that produce great, sustained results.

To find the keys to greatness, Collins's 21-person research team (at his management research firm) read and coded 6,000 articles, generated more than 2,000 pages of interview transcripts and created 384 megabytes of computer data in a five-year project. That Collins is able to distill the findings into a cogent, well-argued and instructive guide is a testament to his writing skills.

After establishing a definition of a good-to-great transition that involves a 10-year fallow period followed by 15 years of increased profits, Collins's crew combed through every company that has made the Fortune 500 (approximately 1,400) and found 11 that met their criteria, including Walgreens, Kimberly Clark and Circuit City. At the heart of the findings about these companies' stellar successes is what Collins calls the Hedgehog Concept, a product or service that leads a company to outshine all worldwide competitors, that drives a company's economic engine and that a company is passionate about.

While the companies that achieved greatness were all in different industries, each engaged in versions of Collins's strategies. While some of the overall findings are counterintuitive (e.g., the most effective leaders are humble and strong-willed rather than outgoing), many of Collins's perspectives on running a business are amazingly simple and commonsense. This is not to suggest, however, that executives at all levels wouldn't benefit from reading this book; after all, only 11 companies managed to figure out how to change their B grade to an A on their own. --Publisher's Weekly