Monday, March 22, 2010

"My head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me" Psalms 27:6


I recently grabbed a copy of this book and began to read. It is written with the understanding that the nation of Israel's beginnings have been truly miraculous. When most hear this, they think of all the wars and how they have survived and prevailed in spite of being surrounded by enemies. But I never realized that Israel is considered an economic miracle as well.

Israel has more companies on Nasdaq than all of Europe combined and all of India, China, Korea and Japan combined. Some of the most innovative advances in the tech business have been centered in Israel. Israel has more than double the global venture capital per capita than the U.S. Warren Buffet decided to invest in one nation outside of the U.S., Israel. This book takes a look at how and why Israel has done so well and what we can learn from them.

The book takes a look at some of the factors that has driven Israel's success. One of the major factors is how the military gives the entire nation a leg up in their economy. It highlights the differences between their military and ours and how Israel knows have to take advantage of the entrepreneurial and leadership lessons that are unique to the Israeli military.

The authors also feel as if the government of Israel and the government in the U.S. seem to be moving in opposite directions. Israel started out with a very socialistic bent and their economy suffered as a result of this. In the last couple of decades, the government of Israel is becoming more business friendly in more industries and is taking a hands off approach to more businesses in the private sector. The authors outline how when these industries are given a chance to thrive, they actually do.

More on the above thought. Prime minister Netanyahu, in describing the private sector, called it a thin man carrying the fat man of government on it's back. In this, he was describing how government spending can only be done when the private sector provides the money and that he believed the government was spending too much of the private sectors money, creating a burden that was too heavy for the thin man of the private sector to carry. As Israel continues to make steps to reverse this, the country corresponds by thriving more economically raising the standard of living for all that are there.

Interesting book and worth a read for anyone that thinks on business, economical or political things, or anyone that has an interest in Israel.

Next on my shelf to read are the following:



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really looking forward to your review on Church Unique!

Jaime said...

Who said that? Now why would I review it? Well, I will read it and we'll see what happens.