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can parlay their knowledge into lifelong careers. Kathryn Ulrich, who runs career programs for alumni of UCLA Anderson and Stanford GSB, aims to fill that void with Getting to the Top. She inter- views executives from fields such as sales, marketing, and corporate com- munications, and deconstructs the paths that specific individuals took in their journeys to the top. But Ulrich's key advice for readers is to always have a goal in mind and to accept or reject offers based on how well they support the dream job. "A career is not just something to think about when you're doing a search; it also applies to the other 80 to 95 percent of your work life when you are employed," writes Ulrich, Such focus is even more important in today's linked-in world, where potential employers can find a candi- date's job history online even before they receive a résumé. The book could be a useful tool for mid-career executives—or students just starting out. (Silicon Valley Press, $19.95) Dozens of experts have explored the reasons behind the ongoing global economic turmoil, and Raghuram G. Rajan provides his own elegant and thoughtful analysis in Fault Lines. Rajan, a finance professor at the University of Chicago and former chief econo- mist at the International Monetary Fund, points to several root causes— such as domestic political stresses, particularly in the U.S.; trade imbalances between countries evolving at dif- ferent rates; and clashing financial systems among industrialized and developing nations. "The central problem of free-enterprise capital- A growing chorus of voices is insisting that the world's great problems will be solved only through innovative thinking and that such thinking can best be found at the research university. Right at the forefront of this group are Holden Thorp, chan- cellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Buck Goldstein, the school's entrepreneur in residence, and they lay out a persuasive case in Engines of Innovation. Not only will it take dozens of minds from multiple disciplines to figure out how to end poverty, hunger, and catastrophic climate change, they say, these experts will have to be organized by entre- preneurial thinkers. "Entrepreneurial thinking can help answer the threshold question in all of academic research: What new knowledge ought to be pursued?" they write. "Entrepreneurial thinking is par- ticularly helpful in seeing the big picture … weaving together all the threads, including the requirements of academic science, an under- standing of critical global problems, familiarity of various funding sources, and a level of comfort with the commercialization process." They know the chal- lenge is daunting, but their response is unflinching: "Are our great universities ready to assume the responsibility that has been placed on them? Our answer is that they have no choice." (The University of North Carolina Press, $25) ism in a modern democracy has always been how to balance the role of the government and that of the market," he writes. While they are incompatible, he says, they're inextricable, "because each of these systems softens the deficiencies of the other." Reform, while necessary, won't be easy, because the only safe system is one that takes no risks and discourages innovations. "In the long run, though, especially given the enormous challenges the world faces—climate change, an aging population, and poverty, to name just a few—settling for the status quo may be the great- est risk of all." (Princeton Uni- versity Press, $26.95) Much has been written about how technol- ogy and social media have changed the retail game. Customers can surf the Web to find the best prices on any product and post their praise and complaints on Facebook. These are The New Experts, says business strategist Robert H. Bloom, and they have no brand loyalty. Sellers must woo them by offering benefits that will win consumers' preference even when other options are avail- able. "Sellers do not have to build their brand to create preference; they have to build the benefit their brand stands for," writes Bloom. And they have to deliver that benefit consistently— in-store or online—or customers will look for it somewhere else. Bloom's book is easy to read, to the point, and focused on one key lesson: Today's buyers have all the power. Sellers must become buyer-centric or close up shop. (Greenleaf Book Group Press, $18.95) ■ z BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010 73