Book Description About the Author Rishad Tobaccowala is the Chief Growth Officer at Publicis Groupe, an advertising and communications firm whose 80,000 employees worldwide are dedicated to delivering marketing and business transformation. He is responsible for supporting the leaders of Publicis Groupe’s largest global clients, to help these organizations grow in a revolutionary time for all businesses. For his pioneering innovation, BusinessWeek named Tobaccowala one of the top business leaders, and he also was dubbed one of five marketing innovators by TIME magazine. He regularly presents keynotes at industry conferences and speaks at well-known global organizations, such as Kellogg’s, IBM, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. Read more Customers Review: This book is truly a 5 star. I knew humans naturally dislike change but as Rishad puts it, “People are soft” in the sense that they will not support change unless they see how they and their skills fit in with that change. It’s important to speak out about what is happening right in front of our eyes in order to facilitate stronger business habits. HIs book is a must read for anyone aspiring to elevate their business to new heights.At first glance, I thought I was free of technology affecting my conscience especially in the workplace. Tobaccowala made me look at aspects from a different perspective and angle to the point I have had some really positive new interactions. Rishad is encouraging my team and I to take on new practices in the workspace. He calls our world “data-rich” and its that insight people don’t often don’t realize. We wait until we have more “data” until we make a decision or take the next step. Making the necessary moves to avoid this is key in this day in age. As a business, we want to develop a habit having minimal counter-productivities. A MUST READ for any business owner or Senior Executive.
Anyone who works in today’s corporate world must read this book. If you are part of the current business world, you can feel the pressure of data-driven decision making. With all the technological improvements in computing, communication, AI, machine learning, and robotics, our businesses are becoming more data centric. This is an obvious move as it makes the businesses more efficient and profitable. However, many people can also see the negative impact of too much data centricity, but so far I haven’t seen anyone voice it with such clarity and with a balanced perspective. It is especially powerful because it is coming from someone who has always been at the cutting edge of this technology driven transformation, and often predicted and it and pioneered such transitions.Rishad Tobaccowala is certainly not a luddite. He is not against the use of data in decision making, but his prescription is to make a healthy balance between data and emotion, human and machine, or in his language, spreadsheet and story. His argument for it is not based on some lofty idealistic perspective but pure business sense. He has collected anecdotes and arguments to show why this balance is essential for today’s businesses to survive and grow. Rishad is a good story teller, and he told this as a rather compelling story. Each chapter in this book is self-standing, and as pointed out by the author, can be read in any order.If you are starting your career now this book will provide a great perspective to view your workplace and make smart career decisions. On the other hand if you are a leader this book is even more essential. As I was reading the book I could see so many ways I can improve my working style, and in so many ways the businesses I worked for could benefit from it.
Really great read with lots of examples that are easy to understand and implement. Each chapter deals with a topic that is engaging and leaves you with something to take and test in your own organization. Rishad relates examples to his own experience as part of a multi-billion dollar enterprise.I am already using some of the examples around how folks can hide behind data, or blame data in a company for the results..
We are now entering the 3rd Connected Age and the pace of change driven by technology and data is going to be mind-blowing. For many of us, it already is. Rishad Tobaccowala gives us a glimpse of the world that’s about to unfold and provides us with sage advice for leveraging the human touches of leadership that technology can’t wield.Buttressed by anecdotes and personal stories and experiences, Rishad lays out a leadership guidebook for the 21st century like no other. I read this book in a single morning, but I know that I’ll be re-reading it and referring to it for many years to come. Thank you Rishad. You’ve done us all a great service.
This book states a bunch of opinions with hardly any illustration. While I tend to agree with the premise on an intuitive basis, I don’t need to read your book if I already think I agree with you unless you are going to provide support for the ideas you express. This author completely fails to provide support, and his writing became very painfully boring very quickly. I couldn’t stay awake for more than 2 pages.The only reason he gets 2 stars for the book is because he is correct about companies being too obsessed with data and not enough with people.
A solid and a practical data to storytelling journey that is a must read for all leaders!!
Amazing book, highly recomended
Loved it, thus the 5-star rating. The author has written a book that is very timely, and original. We live in an age where computers are doing so many things that humans used to do. Our schools are failing, and thus our kids for the most part are truly uneducated. The rungs in corporate ladders are missing. And rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is disappearing. Workers are tending to get mentally lazy since they can rely on computers for much of what in the past they had to do without computer aid.Instead of calling this book “Restoring the Soul of Business,” it could easily have been titled: Don’t Let Computers Become Leaders. Are computers running our companies, and are managers just signing off on the decisions that computers make using data collected for them? Keep in mind that computers don’t really have artificial intelligence. They are mere number crunchers. Sometimes they are seriously skilled number crunchers. But in the end, they are just numbers crunchers. Data in, data out. Poor data, and you get poor recommendations. And how do you know when the data is poor? Answer: a “soul” figures it out. Read the book. 5 stars!PS. I don’t give 5-star ratings very often. And I’ve reviewed a lot of books. |
16 reviews