The names of some of these readers have been omitted in
order to protect their job security.
If we approach this book in Havener’s own terms, we ask, “what
is its usefulness, what is its purpose, what is it he wants to reader to
think and do?” In answer, he offers first an analysis of existing
states of society and personal life that he sees as too often
constrictive, narrow, and frustrating. Secondly, he suggests ways that
organizations and people can step beyond these enclosing boundaries into
openness and freedom. Ironically, by implication, our much vaunted
political freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom of association - the
foundation of our liberties, we say - are useless if we create systems
that limit creativity and individual initiative, that inhibit
organizations from achieving their full potential. .
The main message of the book is captured in two kinds of
information. On the one hand, he draws on his personal experience of
thirty-eight years in business, as a marketing expert who tried to help
companies find new and better ways to market their products. On the
other, he provides a theoretical schema that gives us a tool for
understanding just how failures happen and how one might go about
correcting the situation.
The convincing quality of Havener’s argument comes out of the
very concrete examples that flow from his years in business. His stories
are readable, consistent examples of how companies limit or even destroy
their viability by getting themselves bound by rigid, inalterable rules
for conducting business. I was struck especially by his story about
Gaines dog food.
Review continues here.
Bill Gordon Shambala Institute
“The Light of Lights looks always on the motive, not the
deed. The Shadow of Shadows on the deed alone.”
William Butler Yeats
If you care about the future of American business, read this book!
It is unlike anything else you will read. Cliff Havener opens the reader’s
eyes to all sorts of business issues that must be addressed if American
business is to survive. Cliff opens the world of business to the
critical light of philosophy. (I define philosophy as one’s system of
beliefs for placing into context and giving meaning to the world within
us and around us.)
Ever wonder why so many people are so unhappy in their jobs?
Answers lie in this book. Ever wonder why so many corporations are so
busy buying other ones seemingly for the sake of “might makes right”
upsizing? Reasons are in this book. Ever wonder why so many products on
the market are so very awful, or why service is so terrible in service
industries? Look inside these pages. Think that the primary purpose of
business is to “make money”? Look inside.
Cliff drives right to the hearts of these matters by describing
and comparing “open” and “closed” systems. Not businesses, mind
you, but systems. Cliff illustrates why some systems are more concerned
with form than function, with internal policy and the drive for the
dollar than in remembering it is customers and communities that count.
So many companies forget altogether that they control only the product,
not the dollar they seek.
Beyond “open” and “closed” system, however, Cliff hints at
the moral bankruptcy of businesses that do not understand their place in
the universe. Their center is their bank account, refusing to understand
that there exist myriads of others in the same community set to whom
they should be accountable. How corporate leaders willfully get along
within these communities represents their philosophy.
Only a philosophy of existence and appropriate application of
potential can create and sustain the essence of a company. For it is
here that potential action, the ability to act, is directed and applied
for some purpose or purposes to the communities in which the corporation
exists as an entity. This philosophy is the heart of the corporation.
Closed systems have no philosophy (other than the hollowness of
the “wealth accumulation” desire.) Open systems have a philosophy.
For an existentialist like this author, Cliff’s arguments point
to philosophical bankruptcy on a major scale. So many CEOs ignore the
larger world, working only for the dollar, and ignore the communities
(employees, suppliers, customers, city, county, state, country, other
countries, planet, universe…) that place all human activity into
context.
Read Havener’s Meaning: The Secret of Being Alive. You will see
nothing else like it.
Jon C. Dixon
Adjunct Faculty, University of St. Thomas
St. Paul, MN
Aerospace engineer
Whenever I feel like I'm crazy, your book reminds me that,
indeed, I am not. Thank you. I am recommending it to all my friends and
colleagues.
As a former philosophy major and someone who has been in business
for almost 30 years, I found Meaning - The Secret of Being Alive to be
the most refreshing book I have read in years. The book affirmed to me
that I am not crazy. Throughout my career I have been surrounded by
powerful people making decisions that I thought were totally out of
touch with reality. Of course, it crossed my mind that I -- and not they
-- were not seeing things correctly.
My own gut, and this book, told me that I saw the world
systematically. They, on the other hand, saw it superficially. For
example, one executive thought he could revive his national restaurant
chain by changing the color of the napkins. Another thought of selling
annuities to old people, which is fine except he tried to sell them in
trailer parks where the old people don't have much money.
I recommend this book to anyone who sees their world full of
remarkably dumb decisions and wonders if it is they who have it wrong.
This book will put their feelings into perspective.
Am reading your book...great, great stuff. I cannot wait to get it
done and also re-read it, but actually I am savoring each page, so I am
not wanting to hurry. I am putting off "homework" to read your
book...see what a bad influence you have become? You know, there must be
a motivating force that can be clearly articulated that could change the
focus of corporate shareholders away from pure (short term) profit to
ones that increase the standard of living for Americans, betterment of
local through national communities (I include the workplace as a
community), and enhancement of people's working and private lives. This
transition in motivating force must happen if we are to save America
from being an also ran democracy with a deplorable standard of living
compared to others. I'll let you know when I finish the gem of a book.
I found your book most thought-provoking. It did seem to explain
much of the behavior I see in the workplace. I really like the examples
in the beginning to create understanding of what you were talking about
and to stimulate interest, followed by later sections which tied that to
theory well. I was a bit disturbed by the comments on religion --
disturbed as in provoked to think, not to be upset with you. By the end,
I was a mite depressed, as I wasn't sure I had an enhanced recipe for
dealing successfully with normative people and organizations, and my
limited experience suggests there are lots of those around.
I was also a tad elated, as I understood a bit more of who I am,
why I see what I see, and I could see expression from yet another person
who is also "integrative."
I think the answer is to support organizations authentically and
completely (stealing Peter Block's words) in getting to the essence
(purpose) of their endeavors, to probe on the systems implications (them
and their environment), to be prepared to walk if nothing works, and to
learn from the situation.
Our library has ordered a copy, and I'll continue to pass the
word. There was much more from your book, but I don't have time now, and
you probably know it, anyway.
Your book came to me at just the right time, and what a breath of
fresh air it was. Finally, the world made sense and I knew why things
are the way they are. I also knew I wasn't crazy for thinking things
might be different. Just as important, not alone in my thinking. Thank
you for writing it. It will be a fine reference book for this journey
from a "normative" to an "integrative" life,
especially in business.
