AUGUST 2017 - AudioFile
Two Booz Allen Hamilton executives expound upon their theory that business organizations will achieve success by blending human ingenuity and digital intelligence. This audiobook’s insights are academically fascinating but are not made all that accessible. Fleet Cooper’s narration is measured, precise, positive, pleasing, and clear. However, even Cooper’s stylish skill cannot add much to the authors’ pompous and professorial style. His pacing and tone are appropriate to the task, but the lofty language he is forced to delivery is difficult to embrace. While researching hundreds of corporations reveals there is power in human intuition, the ethics behind big data remain minimally explored. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
05/01/2017
In an age when data is king, Sullivan and Zutavern (senior v-p and v-p, respectively, of consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton) attempt to prove that human smarts are still valuable, but their far-reaching arguments add up to little more than banal truisms. The authors posit a new form of leadership that relies on machine intelligence, utilizing robust data science. They researched hundreds of organizations to find out how technology and leadership combined would influence the behavior and success of business, government, and nonprofit organizations. The “hidden digital world” relies on data, they write, and this data can help businesspeople understand how people work. The authors stress the power of intuition and the fact that machines, for all their usefulness, are incapable of creativity. Discussions of ethics and what should be considered private data are thought-provoking, but the book is bogged down by high-minded language that sounds lofty but is low on content. Grandiose claims (including the paradoxical title) are paraded out but add up to an unnecessary argument for combining rich data and strong leadership; it’s hard to imagine who would disagree with the precept. (June)
From the Publisher
"Shrewd corporate executives are realigning their organizations to harness the burgeoning power of cyberintelligence. ... Nonetheless, both corporate executives and government leaders still need inquisitive and creative humans ... A lucid overview of the management principles rapidly moving that world forward."—Booklist (starred review)
"Much has been written recently about the ability to reach better decisions by application of big data. However, Josh Sullivan and Angela Zutavern take us a step beyond by introducing The Mathematical Corporation. Leaders of mathematical corporations combine data analytics with the mathematical intelligence of machines and their own creativity to enhance the quality of current and future decisions. A must read for leaders striving to stay contemporary in a rapidly evolving world."—Larry Bossidy, retired chairman and CEO of Honeywell, co-author of Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done and Confronting Reality
"In this interesting and accessible book, Sullivan and Zutavern challenge us to reconsider assumptions about machines 'taking over,' relegating the human factor to a bygone era. Their hopeful alternative scenario for the future instead clearly shows the importance of leaders and employees who work creatively in symbiosis with machines to achieve greater productivity, better innovation and higher profits."—Amy Webb, founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute and author of The Signals are Talking
"Josh Sullivan and Angela Zutavern offer a riveting account of the explosive new combination of machine intelligence and executive imagination. Company managers are solving stubborn problems as never before in areas as diverse as health, mobility and security, and The Mathematical Corporation is a compelling call for the digital mastery of market complexity-now."—Michael Useem, professor of management, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and co-author of Fortune Makers: The Leaders Creating China's Great Global Companies
AUGUST 2017 - AudioFile
Two Booz Allen Hamilton executives expound upon their theory that business organizations will achieve success by blending human ingenuity and digital intelligence. This audiobook’s insights are academically fascinating but are not made all that accessible. Fleet Cooper’s narration is measured, precise, positive, pleasing, and clear. However, even Cooper’s stylish skill cannot add much to the authors’ pompous and professorial style. His pacing and tone are appropriate to the task, but the lofty language he is forced to delivery is difficult to embrace. While researching hundreds of corporations reveals there is power in human intuition, the ethics behind big data remain minimally explored. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
