Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/406930
69 BizEd November/ December 2014 allow customers to find the nearest store and pay for purchases with mobile phones; it's also created a website where custom- ers can post ideas for improving the company and other customers can vote the ideas up or down. The authors—Westerman and McAfee of MIT and Bonnet, a consultant— note that Digital Masters don't just adopt flashy new technology. They deploy tech to improve the customer experience, upgrade processes, and gain competitive advan- tage. In fact, according to the authors, Digital Masters "are 26 percent more profitable than their average industry competitors." And a company doesn't need to be Google or Apple to succeed in this arena. As the authors researched how technology is used "in the 90-plus percent of the economy that doesn't do technology for a living," they found that the main requirements for digital mastery are "time, tenacity, and leader- ship." They provide role models who invested all three. LOCATION I S (STI LL) EVE RYTH I NG AUTHOR: David R. Bell PUBLISHER: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, US$26 INTERNET SHOPPING has created a boundaryless market of buyers and sellers who can complete trans- actions from anywhere. Or has it? Bell, a Wharton professor, discovers surprising correla- tions in our physi- cal lives and our virtual preferences. For instance, online retailers are likely to see concentra- tions of customers in certain markets as opposed to an equal smattering of buyers from across the globe. That's because people tend to cluster in neighbor- hoods where the other residents have preferences and income lev- els similar to their own, and they share information about online sellers just as they'd share informa- tion about local ones. Their physi- cal locations influence their online buying patterns in other ways: For instance, they're less likely to buy items at a virtual store if those items are readily available nearby. Bell concludes, "The real world imposes gravitylike forces and other frictions on all of us as we search, shop, and sell." LEADERS WHO ARE Overworked and Overwhelmed will improve their health and their professional lives by adopting mindfulness techniques, according to leadership coach Scott Eblin. He's a former high-powered executive himself, so he understands the siren call of work, but he makes a strong case for managers to identify and eliminate the stressors in their lives. Yes, he advocates meditation, breathing, and yoga, but he also offers interviews with dozens of leaders whose performance and produc- tivity were boosted by such simple methods. It's a refreshing book that offers hope for positive change. (Wiley, US$28) LIFETIME EMPLOYMENT at a single company is a relic of the past; what works in today's fluid job market is The Alliance between employers and employees. Today's optimum model of employment is a "tour of duty," say Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn and Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh, both writers and entrepreneurs. "The manager can speak openly and honestly about the investment the company is willing to make in the employee and what it expects in return. The employee can speak openly and honestly about the type of growth he seeks…and what he will invest in the com- pany in return for the effort." This way, the authors argue, everybody gets and gives their best. (Harvard Business Review Press, US$25) RESILIENT LEADERSHIP demands gumption, guts, and determination, which all add up to MOXIE, according to leadership consultant John Baldoni. More specifically, MOXIE is built on mindfulness, opportunity, X-factors (individual strengths), innovation, and engagement. Baldoni illustrates his points with tales about leaders as diverse as South Africa's Nelson Mandela and Campbell Soup Company's Doug Conant. He also notes that opportunity can be viewed as the flip side of a setback: "Inher- ent in adversity is a willingness to look beyond the immediate problem to see possibilities over the horizon." (Bibliomotion, US$26.95) Don't Miss