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European Business
"innovative take on the complexities of authority, leadership and co-operation in the workplace."
Edge
"key concepts and learning points for leaders and managers in an increasingly complex and technological world"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
This book, written by two businessmen, discusses the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, starting with the lift-off in 1997 and ending with the initial landing on Saturn in 2005. The story behind the lift off and landing, encompassing more than 15 years of work, research and political negotiations, is a good read from a behind the scenes standpoint, In addition, it serves as a suggestive, innovative approach to one type of business model.
Frankly, I was surprised to learn that the mission was really not about the United States (as we are often conditioned to believe) but more about the union of many countries, politicians, scientists, and business people (who supplied the product components) that made the project work. What is remarkable about it is not that it had multi-million dollar budget to make it happen, but that it happened at all, given the odds of multiple cultures, diverse opinions from competitive space agencies, and governmental bureaucracy.
While some may not view this as a business model to apply to the coporate world, it has all the earmarks of traditional business in practice: invention, innovation, divergent viewpoints, a vision, a mission, a statement of values, competition, delays, budgetary setbacks, outside environmental influences, and finally, teamwork and collaboration. What interested me the most was the fact that many who participated said they would do it again, that pay and status did not end up being the means to an end. The journey was in the discovery, the union, and the collaboration. One stirring passage came from an engineer on the project, who watched the lift-off with the thousands of colleagues, and stated (paraphrased) that for that moment, "I felt like we were not scientists, nor engineers, nor government officials...but the people of planet earth".
The fact that the authors chose this project to show the relationship of 5,000+ contributors to a singular project goal that was successful allows the reader to feel that perhaps this could be applied to their own work and life. In our expanding global marketplace, we would all do well to consider every possibility to create more cross-cultural understanding. Because, in the end, business has become about relationships, collaboration, and reconciling divergent opinions to make something unbelievable happen.
And isn't that the hallmark of any good business?
Frankly, I was surprised to learn that the mission was really not about the United States (as we are often conditioned to believe) but more about the union of many countries, politicians, scientists, and business people (who supplied the product components) that made the project work. What is remarkable about it is not that it had multi-million dollar budget to make it happen, but that it happened at all, given the odds of multiple cultures, diverse opinions from competitive space agencies, and governmental bureaucracy.
While some may not view this as a business model to apply to the coporate world, it has all the earmarks of traditional business in practice: invention, innovation, divergent viewpoints, a vision, a mission, a statement of values, competition, delays, budgetary setbacks, outside environmental influences, and finally, teamwork and collaboration. What interested me the most was the fact that many who participated said they would do it again, that pay and status did not end up being the means to an end. The journey was in the discovery, the union, and the collaboration. One stirring passage came from an engineer on the project, who watched the lift-off with the thousands of colleagues, and stated (paraphrased) that for that moment, "I felt like we were not scientists, nor engineers, nor government officials...but the people of planet earth".
The fact that the authors chose this project to show the relationship of 5,000+ contributors to a singular project goal that was successful allows the reader to feel that perhaps this could be applied to their own work and life. In our expanding global marketplace, we would all do well to consider every possibility to create more cross-cultural understanding. Because, in the end, business has become about relationships, collaboration, and reconciling divergent opinions to make something unbelievable happen.
And isn't that the hallmark of any good business?
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Imagine you are given x billions of dollars to build a highly specialised, individual, one-off machine. Most of your life is spent doing nothing else but this, you move only in circles of other like minded accademics with the same goal used to working within institutions that preach the motto 'publish or die'. Obviously you have a strong emotional bond to that project and want to tell the world about it. But could you really expect people to buy the fact that this is a realistic model for businesses to follow? No. Because business lives in the real world where accademia is not an issue.
I enjoyed reading the parts of this book which explained how this project was organised and the facts about getting a mission to Saturn but the constant drivell and self congratulation in each chapter nearly drove me round the bend.
Well done on a successful mission but please leave it at that. If space exploration and facts are your thing then try something else. If business plans are your thing, unless your business involves being given billions of dollars by a government organisation and your staff are all academic geniuses then I doubt if this has any relevance for you.
I enjoyed reading the parts of this book which explained how this project was organised and the facts about getting a mission to Saturn but the constant drivell and self congratulation in each chapter nearly drove me round the bend.
Well done on a successful mission but please leave it at that. If space exploration and facts are your thing then try something else. If business plans are your thing, unless your business involves being given billions of dollars by a government organisation and your staff are all academic geniuses then I doubt if this has any relevance for you.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Lessons from The Titans of Saturn
6 Sep 2006
I just finished reading The Titans of Saturn by Bram Groen and Charles Hampden-Turner. It's a powerful read about the multinational team that built the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft that reached Titan, one of the moons of Saturn, after a 15-year voyage. On one hand, the book is a science book, and it details how after seven years of space travel, a spacecraft was able to land safely millions of miles away from its launch point at Cape Canaveral. But there's much more to The Titans of Saturn, and that's the story of how people from vastly different cultures and far-flung continents were able to work together to accomplish such incredible science.
The title of Chapter Four perfectly encapsulates the essence of how a rocket was launched in 1997, orbited Saturn, and landed a probe on Titan in 2005: Competing to cooperate: how thousands of incomparable indivduals fulfilled their common mission. Very good read.
The title of Chapter Four perfectly encapsulates the essence of how a rocket was launched in 1997, orbited Saturn, and landed a probe on Titan in 2005: Competing to cooperate: how thousands of incomparable indivduals fulfilled their common mission. Very good read.
Ground Breaking Testimonial for the Group Think of the Future
23 Nov 2009
I found this book enlightening, more in the areas of the management of complex tasks, with diverse groups of contributors. I highly recommend this book on those grounds, in fact I think the target audience is well outside of the subject matter and needs a more wide publication within the circles of economic thought. Maybe capitalism and socialism as two intractable and exclusive positions of economic thought is woefully outmoded and requiring a more open minded look at how the principles can be re-aggregated to serve the common good of society. A marvelous testament to human endeavor with a great deal to offer in the orchestration of similar efforts...
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