Broken Windows Broken Business

BROKEN WINDOWS BROKEN BUSINESS

Broken Windows Broken Business: How the Smallest Remedies Reap the Biggest Rewards, by Michael Levine, 170 pages, non-fiction, paperback, $10.98, Business Plus: Hachette Book Group, 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017.

Michael Levine, a motivational speaker, publicist, and author, writes about the ways in which seemingly minuscule, unnoticed, or neglected aspects of a business might turn out to be devastating impediments to success. Although rather repetitive and preachy in its rhetoric, the book includes some insightful analyses and seminal concepts drawn out of real life examples that I found to be helpful, as someone who's just started learning about business.

The book starts out by introducing its key thematic point - the "broken windows" theory - in its original, criminal justice terms. It talks about the importance of perception, however trifling it may seem, and its relevance and application to business practices. Levine finds a strong example in the case of Rudolf Giuliani, the mayor of New York City during the 1990s, who had successfully cleaned up the streets of Manhattan, and saw a considerable reduction in crime rates. By focusing his attention to (and in doing so, eliminating) petty crimes that were "tolerated," such as graffiti, fare-jumping, and hookers in the streets, the general atmosphere of the city was greatly improved, and the "zero-tolerance" attitude of the law enforcement

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was clearly communicated. It is the author's contention that the smallest details can make the biggest difference in the perception of the public. For example, a broken window at a storefront indicates to the passersby that the owner of the shop is either unable to or doesn't care to repair it, and until it is fixed, it will continue to communicate to the public that the area is neglected by whoever in charge. Throughout the book, examples and case studies of small businesses and corporations are made to cement this argument.

The recurring argument of this book would be that as the owner of a business, one needs to be constantly and obsessively scrutinizing every facet of the business; if you don't do so, your business will fail. If your employee has been underperforming in a persistent and perpetual way, they need to be fired; otherwise, your business will fail. Customer service is the most important part of your business; if they are unhappy, your business will fail. These are some of the things that the book will try to drill into your brain, being mentioned numerously and persistently throughout its content. The repetitive nature of the book gets rather irritating after a while, with its obvious statements, authoritative voice, and hyperbole. However, with that aside, some of the case studies concerning familiar corporations such as McDonald's,