DEC Is Dead, Long Live DEC: The Lasting Legacy of Digital Equipment Corporation
by Edgar H Schein
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Book Summary Information
Author: Edgar H ScheinContributor: Paul J Kampas
Contributor: Peter S Delisi
Contributor: Michael M Sonduck
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-08-09
ISBN: 1576753050
Number of pages: 317
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Book Reviews of DEC Is Dead, Long Live DEC: The Lasting Legacy of Digital Equipment Corporation
Book Review: A name dies, but the spirit thrives
Summary: 5 Stars
When I started reading this book (the first two chapters) I was a little hesitant at reading further as it was a very ambiguous prep for the story. However, after I started chapter 3 I was excited to discover how inline Ken Olsen's views are with my own and my own experiences.
I initially got this book in order to learn why a company fails and try and avoid the pitfalls that DEC encountered. As I read further into the book I found that the strengths of the culture were symbollic of humanity in general, and to discount the culture was to discount some of humanities most fundametal and essential attributes.
Corporations as entities are setup to run in perpetuity; however, the most difficult obstacle to longevity is vitality. Many companies today that have been around for more than 40 years really don't offer much in the way humanitarian benefits. In other words, you're not going to work at a GE and expect to revolutionize anything. The immediate problem is that as corporations get more and more hardened their vitality is lost and the very culture that inspired them to be innovative disappears in favor of purely existing. How do you combat this?
DEC's legacy is not the products that it produced, but the vitality that sprang-forth from people who sought something more and were empowered to reach their dreams. A company's true worth cannot be known until you see how many companies/ideas came out of it, not as spin-off's, but as inspired, elegant, and useful innovations/products that in-turn inspire others to reach their dreams.
Overall the book does a good job of relating the facts of the ultimate rise and fall of DEC from a monetary perspective, but it does an even better job or relating how inspiration, motivation, and empowerment can truly create "magic" in both the past and in the present. The spirit of DEC lives on, indeed the spirit of America lives on...
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