President's Letter by Dr. Dennis K. Barker
Book Review: "The Starfish and the Spider"

I enjoy reading and every so often I come across a book that seems to resonate with current times and practical situations. I recently picked up a copy of a book by Brafman and Beckstrom titled The Starfish and the Spider, The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations.    The authors have completed impressive research on the subject and the writing style is well paced and interesting. 

The book challenges the foundations on which most businesses have been built.  The book begins with well known examples of amorphous internet groups like “Topsy” that blossomed without a leader. The book discusses mainstream companies like Google, Amazon, E-Bay, and companies that started underground like Napster.  One of the most interesting things is how these companies continue to strongly influence our country.  One of the most fascinating examples is Wikipedia and how it has become the online version of Webster’s dictionary.   Further into the book, the authors look into the auto industry and analyzed GM and contrasted it against Toyota.  You may not be aware that Toyota came to California and in three short years turned one of GM’s worst producing factories into the most productive.   The book failed to mention the demise of GM and how, even after being showed how to run a company, they failed to listen.
I found myself trying to defend the top down method of management and had to remind myself of a saying that I repeat to my employees as I challenge them to think out of the box.  The saying goes “The last seven words of the church are, we never did it this way before.” 

The book concludes on an encouraging note of how the reader can bring both leader and leaderless concepts together to become even better in a world that is changing so fast that staying in your “sweet spot” can only be done by the old Biblical verse, “There is wisdom in the counsel of many.”

The book can be purchased on Amazon.com.

Dr. Dennis K. Barker, CFP
President

Anchor Capital Management Group, Inc., is a Securities and Exchange Commission Registered Investment Advisor. Opinions expressed are not to be construed as a solicitation to buy nor sell securities. *Anchor Capital utilizes a tiered fee schedule that offers lower management fees to accounts with higher balances. Any investment returns presented are calculated gross of fees utilizing actual accounts which represent a model strategy. Individual returns may vary substantially from those presented due to differences in the timing of contributions and withdrawals, account start dates, and actual fees paid. Past performance is not a guarantee or indication of future results. Presentation is for informational purposes only and no guarantee is made as to the accuracy of this information by Anchor Capital Management Group, Inc.