Roger Martin has a special place on my bookshelf.  Martin is the Dean of Business at Roman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and a vocal advocate for design thinking.  He is an expert at linking theory and practice, and this new offering is no exception.  If you have wondered how capitalism has brought us to our current economic situation, Martin explains the differences between the expectations market and the real market.  Using the NFL as his primary example, Martin provides a thoughtful and entertaining expose of corporate greed and how we can change the game.  The focus for the NFL is on the fans, the customer, not the owners of the teams.  If you please the fans, the owners get their reward. If you annoy the fans, the owners go bankrupt.  Novel lesson that needs to be heeded by every organization.  Focusing on the maximization of shareholder profit clearly doesn’t work.

A welcome addition to my library!

Fixing the Game: Bubbles, Crashes, and What Capitalism Can Learn from the NFL