 If
you have to be naked, you had better be buff. We are entering
an extraordinary age of transparency, where businesses must
for the first time make themselves clearly visible to shareholders,
customers, employees, partners, and society. Financial data,
employee grievances, internal memos, environmental disasters,
product weaknesses, international protests, scandals and policies,
good news and bad; all can be seen by anyone who knows where
to look. Welcome to the world of the naked corporation. Transparency
is revolutionizing every aspect of our economy and its industries
and forcing firms to rethink their fundamental values.
Don
Tapscott, bestselling author and one of the most sought after
strategists and speakers in the business world, is famous
for seeing into the future and pointing out both its forest
and its trees. David Ticoll, visionary researcher, columnist,
and consultant, has identified countless breakthrough trends
at the intersection of technology and business strategy. These
two longtime collaborators now offer a brilliant guide to
the new age of openness. In The Naked Corporation, they explain
how the new transparency has caused a power shift toward customers,
employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders; how and where
information has exploded; and how corporations across many
industries have seized on transparency not as a challenge
but as an opportunity.
Drawing on such examples as Chiquita's total turnaround on
matters of ethics, to Shell Oil's reinvention of itself as
an environmentally focused business, to Johnson & Johnson's
longstanding and carefully nurtured reputation as a company
worthy of trust - as well as little-known examples from pharmaceuticals,
insurance, high technology, and financial services - Tapscott
and Ticoll offer invaluable advice on how to lead the new
age, rather than simply react to it.
The
Naked Corporation is a book for managers, employees, investors,
customers, and anyone who cares about the future of the corporation
and society. A new age is upon us, and you can either work
with it and thrive, or fight it and die.
| "The
Naked Corporation argues, beautifully and persuasively,
that there is no contradiction between good business and
the values of honesty and openness. This book belongs
in the briefcase of every right-thinking manager in the
country." |
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Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point
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"Don
Tapscott and David Ticoll hit the bulls-eye with The
Naked Corporation. The demand for openness and candor
has never been greater. The Naked Corporation is a leadership
toolkit for turning the relentless demand for transparency
from threat to advantage."
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A.G. Lafley, Chairman, President and Chief Executive,
Procter & Gamble
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"Tapscott
and Ticoll show, with abundant recent cogent examples,
how concealment of truth is at the core of many corporate
problems. Their solution is straight forward, clearly
written and compelling. You should read this book -
more, you should buy it, as you will want to refer to
it frequently."
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Robert A.G. Monks, author of The New Global Investors,
co-author of Power and Accountability and
Watching the Watchers
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"They've
done it again. Tapscott and Ticoll's capacity to combine
a fresh and authentic perspective with real world data
has once again opened the aperture on our emerging networked
economy. A brilliant work."
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Dr. Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google, Inc.
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"We
need a corporate philosophy for the 21st century. Tapscott
and Ticoll's book The Naked Corporation provides this
-- not only the rationale for a transparent corporation
but also the principles of leadership in an open world."
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Klaus Schwab, Founder and President, World Economic
Forum
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"Transparency
impacts everything from strategy to culture, as well
as a corporation's relationship with its various stakeholders.
The Naked Corporation is a breakthrough - a timely and
excellent perspective on successfully operating in today's
open environment."
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Gordon Nixon, President and CEO, RBC Financial Group
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"The
hard facts, delivering in a sure, clear and engaging style...
expected to send captains of industry over new learning curves."
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Singapore Straight Times
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"Tapscott
and Ticoll's views are hopeful and sensible, and embodied
in a highly readable volume. A good choice..."
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The Financial Post
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"This book develops a theory, body of knowledge and a
set of leadership practices for handling this new transparency
... Impressive and eclectic research material."
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The
Globe and Mail
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"An
intriguing proposition." |
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Washington
Post
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"This
timely book has a very compelling case to make: in an era of
unprcedented access to data, corporations must view the information
they provide to investors, employees, and those with whom they
do business as a vital contribution to the way they distinguish
themselves from their competition." |
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The
Corporate Library
|
"The word naked can mean exposed - and not many businesses
enjoy that thought. But times are changing fast. The Naked
Corporation demonstrates convincingly that, from now on,
candor and transparency will be the essential foundations of
trust; and that trust will be the key ingredient of success.
Any corporation failing to heed this book's important message
may find itself very exposed indeed." |
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Sir
Martin Sorrell, Group Chairman and CEO, WPP
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"A
rare thing these days - a business book with a profound and
important new idea. The Naked Corporation explains how
a new force is changing the corporation and competitiveness.
There are relevant, sometimes jarring insights in every chapter.
And what a great read." |
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Indra
Nooyi, President & CFO, PepsiCo, Inc.
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"Transparency
is key to any company wishing to gain consumers' and shareholders'
trust. Being transparent in how you operate your business is
liberating; it frees you up to focus on long-term business strategy.
The Naked Corporation gives the how-to. Now, it's up
to all of us to build transparency into our corporate culture."
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Glenn
M. Renwick, CEO, The Progressive Corporation
|
"Tapscott
and Ticoll are ahead of the wave. The era of transparency and
all its implications are about to crash down on corporations
everywhere. The Naked Corporation is the first survival
guide." |
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Paul
Taaffe, Chief Executive Officer, Hill and Knowlton
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"A
well-researched and timely book. The authors show how trust
- powered by broad corporate transparency - isn't just about
ethics, it is about success." |
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John
Chambers, President and CEO, Cisco Systems
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"Tomorrow's
markets will be x-ray environments. The Naked Corporation
brims with priceless advice for business leaders determined
to survive and thrive in this see-through world order." |
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John
Elkington, Chair, Sustainability
|
"Every organization needs new kinds of leadership to meet
the urgent challenge of sustainable development. Tapscott and
Ticoll powerfully demonstrate how transparency is essential
to making new leadership possible." |
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Ernst
Ligteringen, Chief Executive, Global Reporting Initiative
|
"Tapscott
and Ticoll make an important contribution to the definition
and practice of corporate citizenship - a critically important
topic for the 21st century corporation. Their identification
of transparency as the central tenet and organizing principle
of productive citizenship is a powerful insight." |
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Roger
Martin, Dean, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
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"At a time when trust in business is so low, Tapscott and
Ticoll demonstrate that honesty is not only the best policy,
but the best strategy." |
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Richard
E. Cavanagh, President and CEO, The Conference Board, Inc.
|
"The
Naked Corporation is a "must read" for corporate
directors and sets the agenda for corporate directors and for
corporate governance in the 21st century." |
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Beverly
Topping, President and CEO, Institute of Corporate Directors
|
"This
thoughtful, insightful, and eminently readable book promotes
corporate transparency with vigor and verve. But it's really
about the crying need for honesty and trust in a world betrayed
by greed run amok." |
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Wiliam
Dimma, veteran of fifty corporate and not-for-profits boards,
author of Excellence in the Boardroom: Best Practices in
Corporate Directorship
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| "Don
Tapscott and David Ticoll are again ahead of the wave in making
in this remarkably prescient book a compelling case for transparency
not only as an imperative for corporate ethics and accountability,
but the most promising pathway to sustainable success. It is
essential reading for current and aspiring leaders in the new
world of transparency." |
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Maurice
F. Strong, Chairman, Earth Council
and Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the United
Nations
|
"In
a climate of corporate fraud, The Naked Corporation makes
a compelling argument for transparency as good business. Transparency
is the strategy not only for survival, but for corporate advantage
and responsibility. A must read for anyone interested in the
future of the corporation in our society." |
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Janice
Gross Stein, Director, Munk Centre for International Studies
University of Toronto
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| "The
Naked Corporation is the quintessential book that shows
how organizations in the post-Enron, or "True Economy",
will operate. New technology improvements like web services,
Grid Computing, and Open Source will help usher in the organization
of the future where proper governance means information and
cultural transparency." |
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Michael
M. Carter, Founder and EVP, CXO Systems
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