Rating: 
Summary: Packed With Knowledge!
Review: Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich hasn't really unearthed any strikingly original discoveries in his look at the new economy, but the sheer power of his intellect allows him to follow well-documented trends to fresh conclusions. After restating the many economic benefits that technology has wrought in the past decade, Reich moves to the topic about which he's most passionate: the changing dynamics of the labor market and the implications of these changes on unskilled workers. Most interesting is his take on the diminished importance of the family and the undermining of social relationships, trends that he says have turned community into a kind of commodity that can be bought and sold. Although he prepared the book during the high-tech boom, he foreshadows the bursting bubble, using examples from familiar news stories in effective and novel ways to support his analysis. We [...] recommend this thoughtful book to anyone concerned about the future of workers, both skilled and unskilled.
Rating: 
Summary: Robert Reich Was Too Busy To Write This Book
Review: Having really enjoyed Robert Reich's regular commentaries on National Public Radio, I decided to try one of his books. The message of the book was good but the book wasn't punchy like his NPR stuff. You get the feeling he was just too busy to do a good job on this book.He criticizes "Bowling Alone," but Reich's reserach doesn't hold a candle to "Bowling Alone." Nor does his book provide any new insights. Reich relies on lists like "the marketer, the talent agent, the rainmaker, the trend spotter, the producer, the consultant, the hustler." He's got lists everywhere until you're monotonized by them. Personally, I don't think these read well and I don't find them helpful to understanding. It feels like the author's gushing at you with words to get the book done, rather than taking the time to understand his topic. His editor should have called him on this. It certainly does not appear Reich has fully understood the current literature on the impact of technology on modern society. He doesn't have the broader context for his topic in focus. Reich would have done us a favor to have taken another year to write this book. Perhaps then he would have produced something great. I've read great social science and this isn't it.
Rating:
Summary: What a blend of the sciences!
Review: I saw Mr. Reich at a reading at the Phoenix library and came away a fan. All that I want to do in life is be able to combine history, sociology, psycology, economics and the ability to tell a good story, and that is what this book is all about. See what you need to do to make it in your career as labor markets change. Listen to it on CD from your local library first(as I did) and you will have a great deal of anticipation when you read it that will make you want to highlight it for future reference.
Rating: 
Summary: Why am I working so many hours?
Review: If you have been working more and enjoying it less, or even if you've been enjoying it more, this book can explain why. Well documented and reasonably argued positions on why the "new economy" is going in the direction it is provides insights into the phenomena we are likely all to be experiencing at work, but have not been able to figure out ourselves. Robert Reich takes us through the history of how we got here as well as the common misconceptions of our times. He points out, for example, that contrary to popular belief today's innovators are not necessarily particularly adept at using new information technology. He points out that they are creative workers. He then breaks the creative workers into two groups defined as "Geeks," and "Shrinks." The Geeks provide the creative innovations from a technology point of view, but the Shrink provides the marketing intelligence as to what people really want for the product or service. Reich's thesis is that technology is speeding and broadening access to "terrific deals." That is driving everything including worker mobility since they are selling their own services. The look for the best deal as an employee much as the employer looks for the best deal in materials as well employees. One of the difficulties facing workers in this new age is that they will not be able to predict their "bottom line" income. Because payment is based on value added at almost all levels of the economy, your annual income will depend on a great many changing parameters. To put it in his terms, "the fabulous new deals of the fabulous new economy carry a steep price: more frenzied lives, less security, more economic and social stratification, the loss of time and energy for family, friendship, community and self." We must all be aware of this change and manage the high touch part of our high tech lives.
Rating:
Summary: Work of individuals
Review: Robert Reich has an amazing mind. He seems to [pull] up information and to organise it into different patterns and perspectives. Every page has something of value. His previous book called the Work of Nations redefined the pitfalls and advantages of globalisation. In this book, which is pitched at a lower level, you sense the same divided attitude toward success. As an unashamed winner in the great global game, Reich has seen the benefits it can bestow a person, while ripping apart a person's life and their community. I like the mixture of personal and global in his thinking. He comes at problems from many different angles. He shows how global forces penetrate everything and the impact on himself. Unfortunately, like many analytical thinkers, Reich has no real solutions, but he has redefined the problems of a work-driven society on an individual and a global level. It is a starting point to help society move on.
Rating:
Summary: Relevant, readable, and compelling
Review: Robert Reich provides a convincing answer to one of the central paradoxes of modern American life - everyone talks of seeking balance and their willingness to tradeoff less income for more time for family and leisure, and then finds themselves working longer and harder. After reading "The Future of Success" you realize we are not so irrational. Contrary to other Amazon reviewers, I came away from this book lamenting that I will need to abandon recent efforts to focus less on work (at least until Reich is back in power with a Democrat administration). The first third of The Future of Success struck me as familiar territory, and I almost abandoned the book. That new technology is changing how work is organized and rewarded has been exhaustingly covered elsewhere. I am glad I stuck with it -- this section does lay the groundwork for the new and powerful arguments that Reich makes later. I found Reich's Personal Choice chapter the most entertaining-- his skewering of time management self-help books is particularly effective. His ridicule of the simplicity movement is amusing, but less compelling - I don't think it is necessary to go so far as trapping small animals for one to make useful choices that simplify one's life. I believe the time is not yet right for Reich's social policy suggestions to receive wide reception. Popular opinion today is still intoxicated by recent new economy success stories, and worships self-reliance. Hopefully enough people will take the time to read the whole book, and I think we will see these ideas gain influence as political and economic conditions evolve over the coming years.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth your time
Review: Robert Reich was one of the few giants in the Clinton era/administration and this book is on par with the man and the fact he knows what a priority is as well as a great vision or what a great visionary is. The book is shy 300 pages in length and divided into Three sections. Part One is:The New Work and covers sections on: The age of the terrific deal; The spirit of Innovation; Of Geeks and Shrinks; The Obsolescence of Loyalty; The end of employment as we knew it Part Two is:The New Life and covers The lure of hard work; The sale of the self; the incredible shrinking family; paying for attention and the community of the commodity. Part Three: Choices is short and sweet and covers Personal choice and Public choice. The inroduction begins: "A few years ago I had a job that consumed me. I wasn't addicted to it--"addiction" suggests an irrational attachment, slightly masochistic, compulstive. My problem was that I loved my job and couldn't get enough of it..." He then goes on to share in a very poignant manner how most parts of his life suffered for it. That he lost touch with friends and even to a large extent with his family. Then he got a wake up call.... Maybe it is because I myself have seen how the new economy and how high tech in our local silicon valley has altered work hours and lack of family as a priority I was drawn to this book. Because I have sons. Who know all to well the sleep on the cot or floor at work mode and how men and women in their 20's soon found themselves turning 30 and pausing in semi-shock to ask themselves where the hell did my 20's go? And because I am a big "one or none" child type, I was especially drawn to his piece on The incredible shrinking family and how the modern family not only lives in a bigger house but is away from the home for more hours and days than in any other generation. That the home may have more "stuff" but it has less family. And how sociologist have even coined a term or acronym which is DINS or double income no sex to describe the state of the new family. But it is the last two sections on Personal choice and Public choice that I think everyone should read. Because he gets down to the niddy griddy and speaks about cause and effect and about right vs responsibilty and how our choices effect society at large. Yes even when its about high tech and the new economy. I only wish that the blurbs on the back cover had not been from just media people/writers but that some high tech names had shared their thoughts on his work as well. Especially since it is the ones in the business that know what the doing and not just the observation and talk is all about.
Rating:
Summary: Prisoners of Our Choices
Review: The question is simple. Most Americans are better off today than were their predecessors a generation ago. Technology is faster. Deals are better. Services are more convenient. Opportunities are more available. So why are our personal lives harder? The question may be simple, but the answers are not, unless you have the perspective and analytical skill to step back and take a look at the true root causes. Or, lacking the time and talent, you could outsource the explication by reading the work of an author, sociologist, economist, or policy specialist - maybe even all four at once. While you're at it, you should look for a writer who knows how to be interesting and intelligent at the same time. And since you're a discerning buyer, why not turn to a former Secretary of Labor? Sure, it's a tall order, but in an age of choices, why settle? Articulate, rational, and entertaining, Robert Reich's The Future of Success stands out, both for the brevity of its title and the deftness of its analysis. Reich both toils and spins as he examines a range of interweaving trends. * Easier switching by buyers means more frenzy and rivalry among sellers. In other words, the more competition benefits us as consumers, the more stress it puts upon us as producers. * Faster change means less predictability - predictability of products, workload, and employment. * More pay and rewards for those with insight and creativity means more disparity of earnings for those doing routine jobs. * Increasing opportunities for work and pay among women means increasing pressure for women to work, both to be fulfilled and to afford the newly possible lifestyles. The end result? Richer people, poorer lives. So elegantly does Reich marshal both fact and argument that his analysis seems inescapable. And there's the rub. Logic this inexorable and Vulcanic too rarely allows for alternative, non-economic variables. Reich does pause occasionally for a passing nod to cultural factors, but the nods are brief and almost grudging. He recognizes for example that women do often find inherent satisfaction in working, yet he prefers to emphasize the sacrifice, guilt, and financial trade-offs they experience. Financial security is unpredictable, therefore more women work, therefore more women are wrenched by the stretches of family and Mammon. QED. Nonetheless, The Future of Success remains an illuminating and even seductive piece of work. As a business book it's astounding, as economic history riveting. Even if you find an argument narrow, you'll still be tempted to accept it as unquestionable truth. And in an age of harder and more complicated lives, the truth will set you free.
Rating:
Summary: The Paradox of Success
Review: This book clearly deserves more than 5 stars. It is Professor Robert Reich's best book, and the first to go beyond Professor Peter Drucker's thinking about the future of "knowledge" work. It is well written, and designed to stir a debate and self-examination . . . rather than answer all of the questions in an opinionated way. Nicely done! In sharing an epiphany that he had, Professor Reich describes the trap of success that he ran into as Secretary of Labor for President Clinton. "My problem was that I loved my job and couldn't get enough of it." Sounds okay so far, doesn't it? Well, read on. " . . . [A]ll other parts of my life shriveled into a dried raisin." He quit after calling to tell his children that he would not be home before bedtime for the sixth night in a row, and he son begged him to wake the son during the night simply for the comfort of knowing his father was in the house. As a result of having had that experience and happily changing his life balance, "I am writing here about making a living and making a life . . . [and it's] geting harder to do both." The book is an excellent summation of the reasons why the most successful people typically work the longest hours and the most intensely. Trends suggest that this imbalance is likely to get worse. Basically, the current economy puts a huge premium on finding new, creative solutions whether as a technologist, designer of new business models, new product conceptualizer, or marketer. Most people cannot synthesize all of those roles into one person -- the perfect entrepreneur. Those who can are even more valuable. The digital society vastly increases the rewards for these innovations by making them available to more people faster. Much of this new work is "creative" rather than "knowledge" work. I think that distinction is a useful one that should be retained in examining the subject. Some of the consequences of this situation are that personal lives are disappearing under the waves of career. Loyalty to anything but the current assignment is modest. Family life is shriveling. Naturally, that may be what you want. Or is it? The book culminates in suggesting that each person more consciously consider the personal choices of how to allocate time. In addition, there is a choice that society must make about how hard to pursue economic opportunity versus creating a more balanced connection among people. The ultimate strivers tend to hang out and live with each other, and have less and less contact with those who are not the top performers. It is a new form of elitism that can undermine many of our social mores. He suggests that we think about this choice in both economic and moral terms. In both cases he finds, "It's a question of a balanced society." My own experience is that it's good to step back from concentration, even if your goal is only to achieve economically. That seems to give your subconscious time to come up with better solutions. I also suspect that many people end up overcommitted to work because they do not have the skill to insulate themselves from work. That isn't taught anywhere. You have to learn it on your own. Unfortunately, many people have to crash and burn first . . . sometimes taking their families with them. That's the hard way. I'm sure we can find easier ways. With people living longer, it's even less reasonable to expect that everyone will want to or be able to keep up these enormous paces for many years. The most intense field (like investment banking) have always been mostly handled by the young. But what do you do for an encore? However you decide what balance should mean for you, I do hope you will consider the question. You and those you love will be much better served by your conscious decisions as a result. May you enjoy a wonderful balance of health, happiness, peace, and prosperity!
Rating:
Summary: A must read for anyone wants to know where she stands
Review: This book covers the history in such a way that makes it clear where we stand today and why we had to be this way. The materials or the stories are not new on their own, but this book pieces them together in such a clear and coherent manner that you will suddenly see the obvious pattern that you had missed without the author's pointing out. The future won't look any brighter or more stable after you read this book. Actually, he will convince you to the contrary. But the book assures you that such stablity and predictability are rather new and short lived phenomena in human history (only 150 years out of millions of years), not some basic human right as some of us are foolish enough to believe and demand. This book convincingly shows you these facts (among many others) 1. You do not have any different values, prospects or expectations in life than your parents' (or any prior) generation. You are just dutifully reacting to the environment, just as your parents did. You just happened to have a different environment. 2. For those who lament the injustice and disparity of the economic conditions in this world, consider this fact first. Corporate greed is not at fault. YOU are the cause of it all. I highly recommend it to anyone who thinks.
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