Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle |
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| Title: | Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle |
| Author: | Dan Senor
Saul Singer |
| Publisher: | Twelve |
| Type: | Book / Hardcover |
| Publication Date: | 04 November, 2009 |
| ISBN / ISBN-13: | 044654146X / 9780446541466 |
| List Price: | $26.99 |
| You Save: | $9.18 |
| Amazon Price: | $17.81 |
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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
START-UP NATION addresses the trillion dollar question: How is it that Israel-- a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources-- produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK?
With the savvy of foreign policy insiders, Senor and Singer examine the lessons of the country's adversity-driven culture, which flattens hierarchy and elevates informality-- all backed up by government policies focused on innovation. In a world where economies as diverse as Ireland, Singapore and Dubai have tried to re-create the "Israel effect", there are entrepreneurial lessons well worth noting. As America reboots its own economy and can-do spirit, there's never been a better time to look at this remarkable and resilient nation for some impressive, surprising clues.
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Customer Reviews:
• A "must Read" - An Inpsiring Look At The Israeli Economy As A Model For Innovation
24 February, 2010
Almost exactly a year ago, my phone rang. "Hi, this is Dan Senor. I am writing a book about the impact of the military on the economy of Israel. I was told that as part of my research, I needed to talk with you. Is this a good time for a conversation?" And so began my involvement with the watershed book, "Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle."
Dan Senor was told to contact me - not because I know anything about the Israeli economy - but because I have strong opinions about how American military veterans are impacting - and will in the future impact - the U.S. economy. Senor and his collaborator, Saul Singer, have written a book that I now consider a "must read" for anyone who has an interest in innovation and entrepreneurship. By almost any reasonable metric, the Israeli economy has emerged as the most innovative in the world. This book explains the complex reasons behind this unlikely success story.
Using carefully reasoned argument and convincing case studies, Senor and Singer tell a compelling story about the unique qualities that allow Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) veterans to perform at a very high level in the business world. Some of the factors that they describe in detail involve the process by which promising Israeli high school students are selected and trained for elite military units, the unique sense of camaraderie that develops within those units and perpetuates through years of military reserve service, the willingness to challenge authority, and the sense of urgency that is part of every day life in Israel.
Early in the book, the authors compare these characteristics with the U.S. military:
"Former West Point professor Fred Kagan concedes that Americans can learn something from the Israelis. 'I don't think it's healthy for a commander to be constantly worrying if is subordinates will go over his head, like they do in the IDF,' he told us. 'On the other hand, the U.S. military could benefit from some kind of 360-degree evaluation during the promotion board process for officers. Right now in our system the incentives are all one-sided. To get promoted, and officer just has to please more senior officers. the junior guys get no input,'" (Page 53)
A culture that embraces an assiduous commitment to thoroughly debriefing every aspect of performance is a hallmark of Israeli business culture that has its roots in the shared IDF experience of many Israeli entrepreneurs:
"Israeli air force pilot Yuval Dotan is also a graduate of Harvard Business School. When if comes to 'Apollo vs. Columbia,' he believes that had NASA stuck to its exploratory roots, foam strikes would have been identified and seriously debated at the daily 'debrief.' In Israel's elite military units, each day is an experiment. And each day ends with a grueling session whereby everyone in the unit - of all ranks - sits down to deconstruct the day, no matter what else is happening on the battlefield or around the world. 'The debrief is as important as the drill or the live battle,' he told us. Each flight exercise, simulation, and real operation is treated like laboratory work 'to be examined and reexamined [is subjected to] rich - and heated - debate. That's how we are trained'" (Pages 93-94)
Leave it to me to see evidence of Renaissance Men at work and "intersectional thinking" in operation in the way in which Israeli entrepreneurs conduct themselves. Here is one such example:
"I was working on a creative project with an art graduate from Bezalel. He looked the part - long hair, an earring, in shorts and flip-flops. Suddenly a technological problem erupted. I was ready to call the techies to fix it. But the Bezalel student dropped his graphic work and began solving the problem like he was a trained engineer. I asked him where he learned to do this. It turns out he was also a fighter pilot in the air force. This art student? A fighter pilot? It's like all these worlds come colliding here -- or collaborating - depending on how you look at it." (Page 183)
The authors compare the performance of the Israeli educational system, which encouraging vigorous questioning to that of neighboring Arab countries, where rote memorization is the model
for teaching:
"This emphasis on standardization has shaped an education policy that defines success by measuring inputs rather than outcomes. For example, according to a study produced by the Persian Gulf offices of McKinsey & Company, Arab governments have been consumed with the number of teachers and investments in infrastructure - buildings and now computers - in hopes of improving their students' performance. But the results of the recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study ranked Saudi students forty-third out of forty-five." (Page 213)
Israeli focus on outcomes versus the Arab world's emphasis on inputs reminds me of a recent conversation with my friend, USN Vice Admiral (Ret.) Wally Massenburg. While he headed up Naval Aviation, he pushed a paradigm shift within the naval community to begin measuring outcomes rather than inputs, and the result were dramatic. At the end of his career, he had transformed a very tradition-bound part of the U.S. Navy into an entity no known as "Naval Aviation Enterprises."
I have not touched with any detail on the results of my conversation with Dan Senor. He was gracious enough to include several quotations from that interview in one of the book'ss chapter. Those quotation will be the subject of a separate upcoming Blog post.
I have been recommending this book to anyone who will listen. If you have any stake in leading innovation in any form, you will find challenge and inspiration in the pages of this book and in the practices it describe among Israeli start-up companies.
Enjoy.
Al
- Amazon Customer Review
• Something For Everyone And Every Nation To Reflect On
06 March, 2010
What makes Israel a country with just over 7 million population, limited resources and surrounded by challenges, achieve such feats in economic prosperity?
On the other hand, countries like India and China with over 1 billion population pale in comparison.
You'll be amazed how seemingly simple facts can be profound.
I am not much of a reader. But I found it hard to put down this book. While the subject of economics generally does not catch people's interest, the book makes it very interesting like a story, with facts and figures.
If you were mostly up-to-date with the news in the past, you will be able to recollect a lot of news/events that occurred in the past and associate them with the untold stories & incidents from behind the scene. Akin to watching the 'making of the movie' after watching the movie itself.
Today when the US is going through tough economic times, there is a lot that can be learned from this book. The very model of entrepreneurship that built the US has been perfected by this tiny nation. Perhaps US could take a cue or two from Israel's success story in resuscitating it's economy.
A very simple/lucid but profoundly inspiring and thought provoking book. One can read it over and over ... plenty to learn from it.
- Amazon Customer Review
• They Must Be Joking
14 March, 2010
I spent $26.99 plus tax to buy this book hoping that I was buying some serious research. What a misleading mishmash of truth-obfuscating, undeserved cheer-leading!
The economic miracle of Israel starts to look like no miracle at all when one considers the cash that has been infused by the French first and in the billions by the USA since 1948 into that little sliver of a country (as the authors call it to convince the naive that we are dealing with supermen here we all should defer to). In fact, cold cash to the tune of five billion (yes, billion with a "b") every year leaves the pockets of the tortured American citizen who struggles to stay afloat under enormous direct and indirect tax burdens without health care (while Israel has a free health care system); all that cash, the American citizen's manipulated representatives send to Israel to fuel Israel's playing with white collar fun new stuff.
In fact, estimates have Israel's cost to the USA as high as 20 billion (yes, billion with a "b") every year.
And that's free money folks. They may call it loans at first but shortly thereafter, quietly, when no one is looking those billions of loans get transformed into grants by the magic wand of Congress. Pump that kind of free cash into any western country with 7 million souls, even a very corrupt one (and that flow of money has been going to Israel since 1948 (Israel's founding) when the population there was a lot less than 7 million) and you will see innovative sparks flying out of that country-guaranteed.
As the authors remark, it's OK if the young Israeli entrepreneur fails; that's even good! It looks great on his resume. All he has to do is keep on trying. And why not? There is more cash for him coming out of the place that just paid for his last failed attempt to try his god-gifted innovative talent.
Throughout the book, the USA is talked about as an inexplicably waning power while the Israel "phenomenon" in the area of technological innovation is held up in awe for its astonishing brilliance and vitality. But the USA makes payments on its debts and Israel does not.
I suppose we could mention the various cases of Israeli spies in the USA (they were not trying to steal hamburger recipes for sure) but the above are enough to point out the book's gaping omissions. Books like the "start-up nation" do great damage because they hold up a lie for all of us to envy and emulate; a lie because the real reason for "the miracle" they extol and sing with so much unstinting praise and admiration is very prosaic and if that reason is mentioned the miracle gets "de-miracled" in one line of text.
What we have in Israel is a performance athlete that wins top medals giving stunning performances. It is indeed inspiring; all until someone reveals the heavy steroid use involved.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Leapfrog.
21 March, 2010
Through the recent availability of venture capital and the utilisation of the capabilities of IDF personnel, Israel has begun to establish a viable economy, based on innovation in new lines of technology. This accomplishment is further bolstered by the Israeli culture, which, in general, is distinct to the region and the rest of the world due to its lack of social hierarchy and willingness to tolerate challenge to authority.
That said, because of the focus on skills obtained in the IDF, and with venture capital directed towards a limited variety of options, the economy is in danger of being akin to a wagon with only one star to hitch to, and overburdened with the Haredi and Israeli Arabs who are often excluded from participating in the economy because of their own actions, or because they have skills and qualifications, but lack the professional and social networks that IDF personnel have developed and have access to. So it is essential for Israel to develop the means that will enable Israeli Arabs and Haredi to gain the skills they do not gain in the IDF, and for IDF personnel who have not had to test their abilities on the battlefield. Hard to believe, I know, but not all of the IDF are fighting all of the time :-)
The Science of Success by Charles G. Koch, and The Puritan Gift and William and Kenneth Hopper, may be useful sources of inspiration for Israel, and for those keen to emulate Israel's success.
- Amazon Customer Review
• Start Up Nation
12 March, 2010
I was particularly interested in how the Israelis give such high credit to military service and experience. Makes one wonder if we would be better off if we had universal military training.
- Amazon Customer Review
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