http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/index.html http://media.miamiherald.com/images/logos/rss_sitelogo.gif http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/index.html 140 25 News, sports and entertainment from MiamiHerald.com en-us Copyright 2009 MiamiHerald.com Richard Pachter 60 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:31:32 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys miamifeedback@miamiherald.com http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1125324.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1125324.html Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:01 EDT ''In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing.'' Matthew E. May. Broadway Books. 224 pages. The term elegance is popularly misunderstood. It's not about luxury, avarice or Fred Astaire. It's simplicity itself and often self contained, or damned near, and has nothing to do with wealth or fashion, yet it can affect both. http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1099855.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1099855.html Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT The title is misleading. The author is trying to make it sound like he has found a silver lining in the cloud over business processes, while not providing truly new methods. John Moorehead, Davie http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1107156.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1107156.html Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT Here's your chance to read the latest business books and review them in The Miami Herald. How it works Business books columnist Richard Pachter selects a new book for the club every month. On a first-come, first-served basis, a limited number of members can get a free copy by e-mailing rap@richardpachter.com with the member's name, address and phone number. Readers who do not get a free book in the mail are invited to buy their own copies and send their reviews to the same e-mail address. http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1107160.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1107160.html Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT Rethink: A Business Manifesto for Cutting Costs and Boosting Innovation. Ric Merrifield. FT Press. 240 pages. Maybe I'm taking a cheap shot here, though I don't mean to. But a book entitled Rethink invites every wise-guy and a well-intentioned reviewer to apply the implied invitation to this endeavor as well. http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1096552.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1096552.html Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take it Back. Douglas Rushkoff. Random House. 304 pages. In a review of one of his earlier books a few years back, I referred to author Rushkoff as a Renaissance Man, though after reading this new one, he'd clearly be more at home in the latter part of the Middle Ages between the 11th and 13th centuries. According to him, that era was a more productive and people-friendly period, with many of the advancements attributed to the latter one actually... http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1085751.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1085751.html Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT Facebook, Twitter and other social networking tools have evolved from being merely the latest annoying fads to nearly essential tools for social and professional networking -- and the blurry and fading border between the two. http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1074231.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1074231.html Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:01 EDT Unless you're an economics wonk, finance books can be excrutiatingly boring. And when they're not preternaturally soporific, they often have something else going for them, like a gimmick, a little humor, an overriding story or, in the very worst case, a fable or parable featuring a nest full of anthropomorphic vermin. http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1063327.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1063327.html Mon, 25 May 2009 03:01 EDT As much as I am obsessed with biz books, I often find business wisdom in tomes that seem to have nothing to do with commerce. A few years ago, for example, I reviewed a book about the underground culture of pick-up artists, since many of their principles and practices were applicable to sales, marketing, promotion -- even human resources. http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1041010.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1041010.html Mon, 11 May 2009 03:01 EDT Taming The Search-And-Switch Customer: Earning Customer Loyalty in a Compulsion-to-Compare World. Jill Griffin. Jossey Bass. 288 pages. http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1041030.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1041030.html Mon, 11 May 2009 03:01 EDT Here's your chance to read the latest business books and review them in The Miami Herald. How it works Business books columnist Richard Pachter selects a new book for the club every month. On a first-come, first-served basis, a limited number of members can get a free copy by e-mailing rap@richardpachter.com with the member's name, address and phone number. Readers who do not get a free book in the mail are invited to buy their own copies and send their reviews to the same e-mail address. http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1035703.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1035703.html Mon, 11 May 2009 03:01 EDT This book offers a practical view into the world and nature of consumerism. Very Insightful and provocative. It was ''painful'' reading this book. ''Taming'' the customer may just be an insensitive word for customers who may have lost their jobs, their homes, or their health insurances or may be in the verge of losing them. Maintaining customer loyalty in today's economic uncertainty is surely in the agenda of every business meeting, however, this book failed to address its urgency. http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1030145.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1030145.html Mon, 04 May 2009 03:01 EDT The Whuffie Factor. Tara Hunt. Crown Business. 312 pages. According to Wikipedia, ``Whuffie is the ephemeral, reputation-based currency of Cory Doctorow's science fiction novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. This book describes a post-scarcity economy: All the necessities (and most of the luxuries) of life are free for the taking. A person's current whuffie is instantly viewable to anyone, as everybody has a brain-implant giving them an interface with the Net.'' http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1018402.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1018402.html Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:01 EDT Hindsight isn't really 20-20. It's selective and often squints through rose-colored glasses. Three writers reflect on what they've learned to offer new rules and words of wisdom. http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1006936.html http://www.miamiherald.com/business/columnists/richard-pachter/story/1006936.html Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:01 EDT In Japanese culture, conventional wisdom dictates that you shouldn't stand out, invoking the metaphor of the nail that gets beaten down because it's higher than the rest. That may no longer be true, but in the United States, success is often determined by individual achievements. Even in team settings, we invariably gravitate toward individual performers and stars.