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owners squarely on the road to suc- cess. (Jossey-Bass, $19.95) Everyone knows that it's hard to do busi- ness with someone you don't trust or work closely with a colleague whom you view with suspicion. But no one has quite explained why as clearly as Stephen M.R. Covey does in The Speed of Trust. When trust is low, he says, the speed of business is low and the cost is high. When trust is high, speed is high and cost is low. "The ability to establish, grow, extend, and restore trust with all stakeholders ... is the leadership com- petency of the new global economy," he writes. Covey explains how trust builds outward from the self, to rela- tionships, to organizations, to the market, to society. Quoting exten- sively from admired business leaders and offering plenty of anecdotes, Covey gives examples of individuals and organizations that have culti- vated trust, as well as those that have lost it. He also gives practical advice for how to nurture this valuable commodity. While the book has an almost inspirational feel, Covey isn't content to leave that impression: "Trust is hard," he says. "It's quan- tifiable." The book makes his points very plainly. (Free Press, $26) Before 2002, 90 percent of the patents that Procter & Gamble had filed were for items that were never devel- oped and brought to market. All the money, time, and staff effort poured into developing those ideas were simply shelved. Similar patterns exist for pharmaceutical companies, tech companies—indeed, any company that invests R&D in new products. Henry Ches- brough, a profes- sor at Berkeley's Haas School, would like to change that. In Open Business Models, he offers the premise that "companies should make much greater use of external ideas and technologies in their own business, while letting their unused ideas be used by other companies." Procter & Gamble now licenses technologies from other companies around the world and also licenses its own technology to others, and a handful of other companies, huge and small, have followed suit. Chesbrough acknowledges and even outlines the risks a company can face by being too open with its intellec- tual property, but he argues force- fully that hoarding innovations can have a seriously detrimental effect on business and society and that sharing benefits everyone. (Harvard Business School Press, $35) Software platforms drive everything from cell phones to video games to eBay, yet the average consumer or busi- nessperson gives them little thought. David S. Evans, Andrei Hagiu, and Richard Schmalensee describe them as Invisible Engines that are capable of restructuring the way we do business and transforming entire industries. After presenting a his- tory of the computer revolution, the authors closely examine how software platforms bring together a diverse set of users from marketers to consumers, which enables commerce to take place. The way the platforms are designed, priced, and integrated into other systems and products ultimately determines whether new technology thrives or fails. Indeed, software platforms are key compo- nents in the "creative destruction" that technology is bringing to so many businesses today. Hagiu is an assistant professor at Harvard and Schmalensee dean and profes- sor at MIT, so it's no surprise that the concepts are detailed and the language is rather technical. None- theless, the book offers a thought- ful viewpoint on this overlooked component of the digital revolution. (MIT Press, $34.95) Quick Look While elite schools get most of the media intention, the state compre- hensive university (SCU), sometimes called the "master's institution," qui- etly goes on educating thousands of diverse students every year. Although SCUs have key strengths—such as a focus on teaching excellence and easy access for all students—they battle image problems, and their faculty struggle with low status in the aca- demic world. Bruce B. Henderson, a professor at Western Carolina Uni- versity, tackles these issues head-on in Teaching at the People's Univer- sity. He urges SCUs to emphasize their potential strengths—high-level student learning, regional engage- ment, and innovative teaching—and encourages faculties and institu- tions alike to redefine their notions of success. While even-handed and realistic, the book is also a paean to the hard-working, rarely recognized, state-funded school. (Anker Publish- ing, $32.95) ■ z BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007 63