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fighting every day to make your enterprise successful, and you will slowly but surely see a big return. (Portfolio, $24.95) Corporations can be compared to bad boyfriends. "Like self-centered bach- elors, they want to believe that a few superficial acts will substitute for what is required to form a true, last- ing relationship." That's one of the analogies Lior Arussy uses in Passionate&Profitable to describe all the ways companies don't provide good customer service.While almost every company will say that it wants to put customers at the heart of its services, virtually no company does so, says Arussy. Instead, a corpora- tion puts a great deal of effort into wooing buyers—and then fails to lis- ten to what they want, or institutes cost-saving measures that chip away at the very features customers liked about its products in the first place. For the business that truly wants to serve customers, Arussy has a num- ber of hard-hitting suggestions, such as redefining the organizational chart in a customer-centric way. Customers don't care about the CEO and CFO; they deal with the low-level clerks and order-takers, and so those are the ones who need to be valued in the corporate chain. It's a fascinating look at a subject that affects everyone in business. (Wiley, $27.95) Your employees just might be your greatest overlooked asset. But it's not enough to understand that your workers have know- ledge and skills that feed your competitive advantage. You must understand exactly how each employee helps the company achieve its objec- tives, which ones have more strategic value than others, and how to meas- ure the performance of each. So sayMark A. Huselid, Brian E. Becker, and RichardW. Beatty in The Workforce Scorecard, a sequel of sorts to their book TheHR Scorecard. The authors don't believe that a company can have a single overarching strategy that guides all workers, such as "We provide the quickest delivery service!" Companies need to differentiate strategies for each type of job being performed and then determine how well employee performance meets strategic objectives. Companies face three challenges in this task, in terms of perspective (convincing managers to undergo a shift in thinking), met- rics (devising ways to measure results), and execution (implementing a new system). The effort is worth it, they believe, because "having a work- force with the right skills, with the right people in the right jobs, focused on executing the firm's strate- gy" can contribute signifi- cantly to a company's sales growth. (Harvard Business School Press, $29.95) Not a fan of Alan Greenspan? Neither is Ravi Batra. The economics professor from SouthernMethodist University offers a scathing indictment of Greenspan's policies and personal actions in Greenspan's Fraud. Arguing that Greenspan has an even greater impact on American and global economies than the U.S. president, Batra says, "Whether it is Social Security, taxes, industrial deregulation, or financial markets, Greenspan sways it all." In an early chapter, Batra dissects the state of U.S. Social Security and shows how the chairman of the Federal Reserve contributed to its current woes through amendments he shepherded through in 1983. Other chapters consider Greenspan's changing politi- cal views and how they have helped shape the stock market, the trade deficit, and world economics. Batra is earnest, passionate, and furious—and he provides a lot of num- bers to back up his claims.Whether or not you agree with him, the book is an unset- tling read. (Palgrave MacMillan, $24.95) Any business that markets to consumers wants to forecast the next hot trend, and Robyn Waters explains exactly how to do that in The Trendmaster's Guide. The book offers 26 jaunty, alphabetized tips on how to spot the next big thing. For instance, J stands for "just for me" and explores the current craze for cus- tomization, which has been capitalized on so well by companies selling iPods andMini Coopers. Waters firmly believes that anyone can learn to pay attention to market clues and predict what will shape the next major fad. "Take it from a girl from ruralMinnesota: you don't need an Ivy League diplo- ma, anMBA, or an all-black ward- robe to become a Trendmaster," she writes. The book is short but fun. (Portfolio, $12.95) s z BizEd MAY/JUNE 2005 59