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great narration, great story, clear message

Reviewed: 12-30-24

The message of growth (learning generally and revenue specifically) is well told. The key characters and their symbolic business roles are memorable and the main sibling pair likeable. It's a worthwhile Audible selection, but be sure to visit the website for the images and diagrams of the processes and templates.

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A clear, persuasive, & mature argument

Reviewed: 11-13-24

Bahnsen has given us an elegant apology for man's meaning in God found uniquely in work, and we would do well to spread it far and wide for the blessings it brings (and has alone been able to bring). The cultural moment is ripe for listening.

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A crucial argument for the years ahead

Reviewed: 08-01-24

The argument and evidence within are subtly deceptive. I imagine some listeners or readers getting through the first few chapters, believing they have understood and assimilated most of the argument, and figuring they know how to apply the ideas appropriately for what's next. But that's a mistake. In fact, the author makes a note of caution at the beginning of the book regarding the scenario. The situation requires greater nuance and deliberate, critical awareness to apply these ideas well. The second two thirds of the book provide the contoured suggestions, experienced pitfalls, and imagine scenarios for long-lasting, scalable implementation efforts. I intend to request this become an official reading or presentation+workshop for my company.

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great content, narration challenged

Reviewed: 05-23-24

Ethan is a great thinker and share-r, but his narration is almost bad enough to not purchase. I had a credit to use and I wanted to hear the material, but I would have rather heard ChatGPT narrate the entire text in his style and tone minus his enunciation challenges.

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3 people found this helpful

For business school educators who get it from educators who get it

Reviewed: 03-13-24

It's mind-blowing how good this podcast is for as narrow a market it's targeting. The host is incredibly articulate and deeply knowledgeable in ways that make all of the questions and responses valuable contributions - the whole show long. I'm an educator who's inclined to believe and agree with what the participants are sharing, but as a business podcast listener generally - and one who's more inclined to enjoy evidence, knowledge, and competence focused interviews - the host here, with their participants, provides meaningful details and analogies and examples even as they check each other. If you're remotely connected to the Academy Of Management, teaching in a business school, teaching or mentoring as a manager, or leading in an organization, then do yourself a favor and consider listening. It's worth asking yourself if you're teaching up to date and not disconfirmed theories, and, for those in organizations, whether you are leading decision-making according to evidence practices and hiring those of the next generation with the skills to know how.

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one of the clearest demonstrations of strategy in the wild

Reviewed: 02-24-24

While most listeners will not ever have the burden or the chance to manage the strategic choice cascade for such a scopeful multinational company as depicted within, everyone should be able to learn from the authors' clear articulation of what strategic choices undergird a template for rightly directed strategic action. There are other great texts in the field of strategy and strategic management, but this may be one of the most accessible to those who don't want to read the other texts and yet still want to not make major errors in understanding how strategy should be understood and initially crafted.

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Good but profanity doesn't win smart listeners

Reviewed: 11-14-23

First, the general content is great, but as another reader mentioned, it is not a new book as much as it is a packaging of the modular mini books which the authors have made available through their premium substack subscription. Thus, if you haven't read the mini books - look at the back cover on the Amazon page to see what's included - then this will be fairly high value content for you. However, if you have read the authors other works, then this will be marginally valuable to the degree you needed a refresher.

Second, the author's references to other books as examples often includes books from the category which use an expletive in the title. While this may not be frustrating to the eye, it is extremely frustrating to the ear for those who do not appreciate having to hear expletives when listening. While expletives may not seem offensive when watching a television show or movie or in a novel's dialogue, they can be extremely offensive in several other settings where you might be listening to a book on your own or with someone else. The authors would have been better served to have had the narrator instructed to bleep out the expletives - just like they are on the title of those books.

In sum, the content - minus the off-putting language moments which hinders my recommending to certain colleagues - is worth knowing and applying. The all in one nature of this book versus several mini books is great, but just know that it can be found elsewhere from the authors if you look.

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2 people found this helpful

Rich detail, robust scope, interesting narrative

Reviewed: 10-14-23

I've been recommending this book to colleagues for months. If it's not your field, then it's all the more reason to understand how AI and Machine Learning are fundamentally risky because of the sheer difficulty of the task and the likely disproportionately amplified impact their applications create. Values and value functions are in view. The conclusion to the book is VERY WELL done as a summarization of all the problems/challenges presented throughout the entire book's discussion. The overall structure involved chronological and intellectual histories, which helps the end of the book act as a strong climax in making the thesis more apparent than ever - while AI and ML increase in capability with breakthroughs in logic and math and physics - the human learning (legal, ethical, and moral) similarly emerges with further (often) unanticipated challenges. Perhaps one of the most important is that humans are fundamentally challenged in describing/defining what they actually want, a critical issue for crafting systems that produce "wanted" output. And, even systems that have started to do this are fundamentally flawed in their programmed capacity to "mind read" and infer. Ultimately, this is brilliant organized and written, and you will be rewarded for your reading. Society will be rewarded for keeping this kind of text top of mind and its questions at the forefront of conversations. Take your time, and read/listen the chapters like a podcast. Wow...

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You'll love it or hate it: It's positioned!

Reviewed: 10-11-23

My next statement will sound arrogant, so apologies in advance. You may not yet have deep, marketable expertise - or be working on the problem it will help you solve - if the message of this book doesn't resonate with you. I've seen reviews suggesting this book has a generic, unsatisfying message. In fact, those readers had an expectation which the author never promised to meet. Moreover, in contrast to some reviews suggesting the book is too long and overly verbose, it would seem that the author is, in fact not detailed enough for them. It's an accepted fact that it is easier to use more words than fewer when crafting a clear message, and yet winsome, concise communication demonstrates greater expertise. With this book, the author both shows and tells the expert positioning work of expertise. It's a kind of horizontal positioning, rather than vertical, which necessarily comes off less precise or clear to someone wanting a playbook and how to position THEIR vertical's version of such expertise.

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Excellence at purpose

Reviewed: 10-11-23

That's correctly written: This author excellently pursues his own and his book's thesis and intention. as another reviewer remarked, this is a different approach than The Psychology of Money to making high quality personal finance literacy accessible and ubiquitous.

It's worth your purchase or credit use, and the PDF of all the graphs is easily followed. The narrator clearly identifies when they are being addressed. I reviewed each of the graphs before starting the book and it helped significantly with not needing to look at the PDF and still understand the arguments while listening on the go.

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