Market-Based Management®

Books!

I love books. Also, I love to find out what books influenced people. So, I can't help but share this article, which lists some books that influenced Hayek. I tried to find a few other lists from people I admire, but didn't find anything that seemed right for the post. So, I'm hoping we can get our own little book list going in the comments. 

What are some books that have influenced you? What are some books that you wish you'd read sooner? What are some books you go back to over and over again and keep finding something new? 

A glimpse at government-managed healthcare...

From today's NY times...

"Eventually, we may well have to decide against paying for expensive treatments with only modest benefits."

More on Maslow

After spending some more time thinking about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, I started looking for other people's thoughts on how to apply this model in the organization. Surprisingly, I found some interesting Youtube clips on the subject. Here are two of them: 

What do you think of these clips? Do you agree with the first clip's translation of the Hierarchy into the firm? Is the application described in the second clip meaningful or useful?  

Thoughts On Maslow

Recently, the Associates read and discussed Abraham Maslow's "Theory of Human Motivation," which is the essay that introduces Maslow's famous Hierarchy of Needs model (below is a quick introduction if you need a refresher). 

A few Associates started asking some good questions about the Hierarchy of Needs. I was most fascinated that three separate Associates asked me this question: How does the Hierarchy of Needs relate to the Human Action Model? 

Do you think the two mental models are compatible? How do the models relate to each other? Please leave your thoughts in the comments. 

• Here is a student video that gives a recap of the Hierarchy of Needs: 

More Friday Links

Here is a longer video of Bruce Cadwell discussing The Road to Serfdom (via Taking Hayek Seriously blog). 

Here's a great video that won the Fraser Institute's video contest (via Peter Gordon's Blog).

I enjoyed reading these "Words of Wisdom on Markets." 

I enjoyed watching this clip about hiring folks for a venture capital firm. In particular, I liked his point about having a diversity of people who are self-confident but humble. 

This article discusses how a technically correct chart can be misleading. It reminds me that technically correct isn't the same thing as being useful.

Here's a mash-up of 50 Reasons Not to Change. It seems totally ridiculous to see these 50 things all together, but it's easy to fall prey to these instead of deeply investigating and considering change. 

 After all this link jumping for my post on Pluto earlier this week, I found a this funny "science poster" and this hilarious tee shirt.  

Coolest Website of the Month

Here is one of the most interesting and useful websites I have come across in a long time.  Be careful, you may end up spending hours there. 

Quoting from Wolfram|Alpha's site:

"Today's Wolfram|Alpha is the first step in an ambitious, long-term project to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone"

Mathematica has grown into an awesome product.  This application of it is inspiring.

Enjoy.