Book Description

"Blog" is short for "Web log"—an online site with time-dated postings, maintained by one or more posters, that features links and commentary. But that is like saying a car is a means of transportation featuring four wheels. Millions are changing their habits when it comes to information acquisition, and the blogosphere has appeared so suddenly as to surprise even the most sophisticated of analysts. In Blog, best-selling author Hugh Hewitt helps you catch up with and get ahead of this phenomenon.

Up until now no influential blogger has written a definitive book about this phenomenon. Since Hugh Hewitt's blog site—HughHewitt—was launched in early 2002, more than 10 million people have visited this site. Why does this visitor traffic matter? People’s attentions are up for grabs. If you depend upon the steady trust of others, suddenly you have an audience waiting to hear from you. The race is underway, though, to gain mindspace and to be part of the blogosphere readers’ habits and to position yourself as well as your business or organization at the forefront of this information movement.

Book Description

Every group can benefit from team-building exercises. But sometimes it's not practical to embark on a full-scale training initiative. Now,supervisors, managers, and team leaders have 50 team-building activities to choose from, all of which can be implemented with no special facilities, bigexpense, or previous training experience. Readers will find engaging exercises for:

* Building new teams and helping teams with new members * Dealing with change and its effects: anger, fear, frustration, and more * Recognizing individual efforts and team accomplishments * Finding creative ways to work together and solve problems * Increasing and improving communication * Leveraging diversity and individual differences to meet team goals * Keeping competition healthy and productive within the team

Instructions and tips for follow-up and variations are included for each activity, and an additional chapter provides valuable advice for working throughunexpected difficulties in team-building. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Affordable book, easy to do activities
For the money, this is one of the best activity books you will find. All of the activities are easy to set up and easy to complete -- but they do all serve a purpose. When the author says that these are 15 minute activities, he means it. I am an independent leadership consultant and I have started using this book over and over again when I present workshops. You'll love it!

Clear and concise with good ideas
Great resource...from the intro chapters that explain clearly and concisely how to run an activity as well as what could go wrong and how to avoid it (or deal with it), to the the 50 activities themselves. Everything is so clear and concise...the whole book is written in bullets. And none of the activities are so out there that you'd be afraid to try them. I've used several with my staff and we've all (even me!) had a great time and grown stronger together.

Great Reference for Today's Managers
This book brings together several mutually-supportive elements: managers with heavy, fast-moving schedules; team members who want to feel a greater sense of belonging; and an era that demands higher levels of collaboration....teamwork.

The book is organized into two parts. The first section is instructional; the second section consists of bullet-pointed presentations of fifty short easy-to-run exercises. The opening section has two chapters that are worth the price of the book all by themselves: How to Run a Successful Team-Building Activity and What Could Go Wrong with a Team-Building Activity. What a sense of security this section gives managers: these activities are simple to use...and your experience is practically fail-safe.

Each of the activities is presented using the same format. The bullet-point sections are This is, The Purpose is, Use This When, Materials You'll Need, Here's How, For Example, Ask these Questions, Tips for Success, and Try these Variations. It doesn't get much more comfortable than this! Understanding today's work environment, Miller promises no role-lays, demonstrations, outdoor activities, handouts, or touchy-feely stuff. The activities are organized by areas of need: Communication, Connecting, Cooperation, Coping, Creativity, and Teamwork. A strong index complements the well-organized table of contents, making the volume highly user-friendly.

Recommended for managers and supervisors, as well as training and development professionals. Consultants will also find this tool to be useful as they work to bring people together to achieve results. Everything is explained so that the exercises can be led by laymen or by professionals. A wide variety of tools is offered, enabling the reader/user to choose the experience that will be best for the participants and the circumstances.

Makes it so easy
This book is terrific and so, so easy to use! How many times are you asked to add some sort of quick teambuiling exercise to a meeting and you have to scour your brain to come up with new ones that won't get groans from the team? This is the perfect solution for on-the-spot energy boosting activities. The author really understands "busy managers!"

This is just what I've been looking for!!!
In today's world of do more in less time it's important to find suggestions that are both helpful and insightful. Brian Miller has nailed it! I am committed to providing my associates with a monthly teambuilding session but have often come up short because I am unable to find interesting, relevent and, dare I say, FUN, exercises. This book will make quite a difference in my upcoming meetings. I highly recommend it for all levels of associates. Thanks, Mr. Miller! ... Read more

Book Description

Women with Attention Deficit Disorder addresses the millions of withdrawn little girls and chronically overwhelmed women with ADD who go undiagnosed because they don't fit the stereotypical notion of people with ADD. They are not fast-talking, hyperactive, non-attentive, and they are not male. Though the book focuses on ADD, much of what is said also applies to women with ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Introduction by Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo, authors of You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Crazy or Stupid? Foreword by John J. Ratey, MD, co-author of Driven to Distraction. ... Read more

Reviews (40)

ESSENTIAL reading for ADD in women
Women face an incredible wall of disbelief from professionals when it comes to the diagnosis of ADD. This book acknowledges the additional gender-based expectations women face, exacerbating our difficulties, when it is a struggle just to meet the basic demands of daily life. Clearly explains what ADD is and is not, helps sort through the tangle step by step. Undiagnosed ADD can have us running ourselves ragged with no explanation, no hope of an answer, and "no excuse" for our problems. This book sheds light in so many areas that will never apply to the lives of men in this society. For women coming to terms with ADD, this is a MUST READ. Brings to light our disjointed lives, striving hard to hide the depth of our incompetence, hiding the mess at home and at work, the frantic behind-the-scenes scramble to keep up with the demands of everyday life. Gives hope and courage in the face of professional ignorance and reluctance to believe women, especially WITHOUT hyperactivity. It felt like my life was spread out before me in the pages of this book. Clearly delineated a struggle I thought was mine alone. When your friends and your therapist are saying "Oh, EVERYONE thinks they are ADD", tune in to this book. Let it be your guide in the search for an answer.

A Book that Reassures and Guides
I picked this book up while cruising the bookstore for books on ADD, which both my son and I have. When I started reading, I had to put it down and go get a pencil. I underlined everything that was me--the book ended up looking like a flat zebra. In spite of myself I tend to feel ashamed, as though I have bad character, so to have a book addressed specifically to how ADD would look in a woman was wonderful. It isn't just that many women experience it differently than men, but also that the kinds of situations we find ourselves in are different. (Housecleaning!!!!!Nurturing!!!) Only down side, only not really, was that I had my then fiance, a psychologist, read it. He gave it back and said grumpily "this says you have no intention of changing." He's history now and I'm married to a lovely man who is more disorganized than I am.

an ADDult
I was soooooooooo relieved after i read this book,as I am not the hyper type(although I talk a lot-but I am not jumping around -fidgeting or worse daydreaming when I have to sit still)
A lot of is highlighted in yellow and I lended it to the ADD psy(he heard about but did not have the opportunity to read,well this could have save both of us a lot of time,anyway...)
It was like a thriller I spend 3 nights and days reading and reading.I highly recommend it along with "ADD in women" by nadeau,this one is more recent and quote a lot from it.

Required Reading for Women Who Think They Might Have ADD!
This book stilled so many fears and anxieties I've had for years because I had no idea what was wrong with me but knew it had to be something terrible! Now, after reading this very informative book, I feel enlightened about a woman's unique symptomology as compared to boys and men.....no wonder I never dreamed that I might have ADD!

This is Me!
I just got this book yesterday and I'm up to Chapter 6! I was just recently diagnosed with ADD and it seems every page of this book is describing some aspect of my life! I can't wait to read the next page, the next chapter, the next section. I'm hoping to also be able to help my teenage son who also has ADD. Thank you Sari for helping me know that I am definately not alone! ... Read more

Book Description

Organizational Behavior provides the essential knowledge base and skill set so that future managers can harness the power of employees and teams to successfully navigate the changing world of work.Organizational behavior is the study of individual behavior and group dynamics in organizational settings.It focuses on timeless topics like motivation, leadership, teamwork, and communication.The text presents the opportunity to know concepts, ideas, and theories, and to practice skills, abilities, and behaviors to enhance the management of human behavior at work.To make the book more relevant to the learner, we have enhanced and further integrated the subtitle Foundations, Realities, Challenges into the theme in the 5th edition. The reader will see the tie to the subtitle with new feature titles: Foundations (new title: Science), Realities (new title: The Real World), and Challenges (new title: You) that have a more contemporary and personal feel.This theme will be integrated throughout the text and supplements making a true integrated learning package.In this new edition, six new focus companies have been selected.The authors use the focus companies so that learners can see how one company responds to different organizational situations.The focus companies are a variety of company types, for example, Whole Foods, Pixar, and Canine Companions.The authors also make sure to integrate four organizational behavior key themes into each chapter.These supporting themes are globalization, diversity, technology, and ethics.Sub-themes are designed to arm future managers with the tools they need to meet organizational challenges. ... Read more

Book Description

Unrelenting e-mail. Conflicting commitments. Endless interruptions. In Take Back Your Life!, productivity expert Sally McGhee shows you how to take control and reclaim something you thought you’d lost forever—your work-life balance. Now you can benefit from Sally ’s popular and highly regarded corporate education programs, learning simple but powerful techniques for rebalancing your personal and professional commitments using the productivity features in Microsoft® Outlook®.Learn the proven methods that will empower you to:

Clear away distractions and loose ends and focus on what’s really important to you and your business.

Take charge of your productivity using techniques and processes designed by McGhee Productivity Solutions and implemented in numerous Fortune 500 companies.

Customize and exploit the productivity features in Microsoft Outlook to help you create balance at home and on the job.When you change your approach, you can change your results. So learn what thousands of Sally’s clients worldwide have discovered about taking control of their everyday productivity—and start transforming your own life today!Note: Take Back Your Life covers Microsoft Office Outlook 2003, Outlook Version 2002, and Outlook 2000. ... Read more

Book Description

For more than two decades, Dr. John Hoover has written books on leadership, creativity, and organizational performance, extolling the virtues of flattened organizations, collaborative leadership, and shared responsibility. His clients welcomed him, praised him...yet (he felt) completely ignored his advice! This book contains the confession of a recovering "I-Boss" (Idiot Boss). After decades of writing and consulting, Dr. John finally realized that the vast majority of people he kept trying to "energize," "motivate," and "enlighten" were, well, idiots. Also he was an idiot for trying to change them. Instead, he has decided to enlighten you, who actually have to continue working for difficult and demanding bosses. You cannot change them. You cannot challenge them. Yet, you can survive them, even thrive under them, if you learn how to deal with them using this book. It offers hope for the spirit and strategy for the mind to help you deal with your work place situation. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

A Good Read!
John Hoover, an organizational leadership consultant, discusses how to deal with an "Idiot Boss" - or I-Boss - who does stupid things. Hoover distinguishes idiots from other tricky bosses, including those who think they are God, or who are paranoid, sadistic or Machiavellian. He leaves the reader with a couple of issues. First, you'll think no good, caring bosses still exist. Second, he doesn't tell you clearly where to set boundaries or when enough is finally enough. He often advocates appeasing bad bosses, although his other counsel on how to deal with them has some effective pointers. To his credit, Hoover is very candid about how he has learned from experience, including his mistakes. He offers personal examples from his experiences at Disney and elsewhere, and tries to write in a light-hearted or whimsical vein. We found the book strongest when it is strategic and weakest when it tries to be funny, given that with bad bosses you only laugh to keep from crying.

Reviews are Piling Up
USA TODAY/March 2004:
"Anyone who has to work should read How to Work for an Idiot."

Wall Street Journal/March 2004
"Dr. Hoover recommends admitting that you are 'powerless' over the jerks in your life. Otherwise, 'harboring all that resentment is like drinking a cup of poison and waiting for the jerk to die'."

New York Times/January 2004:
"There is no question that 'How to Work for an Idiot: How to Survive and Thrive Without Killing Your Boss' is a subversive book. People will pick it up expecting a tasty blend of commiseration and advice. They will put it down thinking, to paraphrase the famous line from the cartoon character Pogo, "We have met the idiot, and he is us."

Weekend TODAY SHOW/Campbell Brown/January 2004
"'How to Work for an Idiot' contains a lot of humor, with plenty of good information as well."

FOX NEWS/Neil Cavuto/January 2004:
"Dr. John's 'How to Work for an Idiot' is very funny stuff, with some stinging jabs in there."

The Miami Herald/January 2004:
"As amusing as his vignettes may be, the proffered advice is pretty sound and includes solid steps for coping and surviving a daily dose of determined and authoritative stupidity without committing any capital crimes. Hoover closes with a bibliography that includes three of the author's own books, so maybe he's not as much of an idiot as he claims to be."

Dallas Morning News January/2004:
"[Dr. John Hoover] is creating a New Year's buzz with his just published 'How to Work for an Idiot'."

Bloomberg Television/December 2003:
"If you have the unhappy experience of working for someone you think is a real jerk, Dr. John Hoover says there is hope."

Bloomberg Radio Network/December 2003:
"Dr. John's book about working for idiots is so cleverly disguised; you might think you're reading Norman Vincent Peale."

CNNfn/December 2003:
"...an irreverent and realistic look at what people must deal with every day at work."

Philadelphia Daily Local/December 2003:
"Hoover, a self-acknowledged idiot boss himself in recovery, says American workers should stop whining about their clueless bosses and learn to make the most of it."

Minneapolis Star Tribune/December 2003:
"There's more than humor in this fresh look at the perennial problem of incompetent leadership at work."

Orlando Sentinel/December 2003:
"Idiot bosses are so common, writes John Hoover, that he shortens the term to I-Bosses in How to Work for an Idiot."

More than words
This is an excellent book. Having suffered for four years from an idiot, sadist, masochist, and all the other categories that Dr. Hoover describes, I found it of excellent encouragment to have read the book. With funny real (or unreal) stories, the author goes through different bosses' personalities and how to approach them. I've tried a few things for a few days and I've felt marvellous, when long before I would have felt miserable. Even if some of the things Dr. Hoover says are things we already know, it was great that someone reminded me what the true nature of boss-employee relationships are all about.

Funny but no meat
We've become used to catchy titles for books. And for obvious reasons, they sell more books. But catchy or humorous titles usually are just that...titles. In the case of this book, the humor doesn't end with the title. It is in fact an entire book of humor. Upon completion of it, I felt like I had just spent a night at the Improv, rather than learning about a serious business issue. Now don't get me wrong, it is an enjoyable book to read and at some parts I found myself laughing quite often. However, I was looking for some serious knowledge to go along with the chuckles. This book simply does not deliver that. Throughout the book, the author makes conscious (or possibly unconscious)choices to divert the topic towards humor rather than dive deeper into the serious aspects of what an employee is do when they work for a terrible boss. In short, he "chickens out" when real dialogue is necessary.
If you're looking for a book to make you laugh, or something light-hearted for a Sunday afternoon read, this is it. If however, you work for an "idiot-boss" and need some serious guidance and direction, skip this book altogether. It will be of no use to you.

BULLIES - FAMILY / WORKPLACE / SCHOOL / NEIGHBORHOOD
Excellent compliments to this book are: Emotional Blackmail: When People in Your Life Use Fear, Obligation and Guilt to Manipulate You by Susan Forward and Donna Frazier; Why Is It Always About You?: The Seven Deadly Sins of Narcissism by Sandy Hotchkiss and James Masterson; The Angry Heart: Overcoming Borderline and Addictive Disorders by Joseph Santoro and Ronald Cohen; The Narcissistic Family: Diagnosis and Treatment by Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman and Robert Pressman; Understanding the Borderline Mother: Helping Her Children Transcend the Intense, Unpredictable and Volatile Relationship by Christine Ann Lawson; Living with the Passive-Aggressive Man by Scott Wetzler; Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited by Sam Vaknin and Lidija Rangelovska (Editor); Children of the Self-Absorbed: A Grown-Up's Guide to Getting Over Narcissistic Parents by Nina Brown; Treating Attachment Disorders: From Theory to Therapy by Karl Heinz Brisch and Kenneth Kronenberg; Toxic Coworkers: How to Deal with Dysfunctional People on the Job by Alan Cavaiola and Neil Lavender; Bully in Sight: How to Predict, Resist, Challenge and Combat Workplace Bullies by Tim Field.

And if you want to pursue the subject even further, you may be interested in reading The Narcissistic / Borderline Couple: A Psychoanalytic Perspective On Marital Treatment; Parenting with Love and Logic: Teaching Children Responsibility by Jim Fay and Foster Cline. ... Read more

Book Description

o

A completely revised and expanded edition of the international bestseller (over 230,000 copies sold)
o This new edition includes an entirely new chapter—"Change: The Capacity of Life"—and the newest developments in the new sciences, updated examples, and even more accessible writing that will appeal to a much broader audience than the first edition
o Leadership and the New Science was named the Best Management Book of the Year by Industry Week magazine, one of the top ten books of the past decade by CIO Magazine, and one of the top ten business books of all time by Xerox Business ServicesIn a completely revised and updated edition of her bestselling classing, Margaret Wheatley shows how the "New Science"—the revolutionary discoveries in quantum physics, chaos theory, and biology that are overturning centuries-old models of science—provides powerful insights for transforming how we design, lead, and manage organizations. ... Read more

Reviews (26)

A Good Read!
Author Margaret J. Wheatley describes how new developments in the sciences show us how to design a new, more effective organizational structure. The new structure is more responsive to human needs and to our rapidly changing times. Based on this understanding, you need to make your organization more flexible and adaptable. Using leadership and vision as a guiding force in an organization involves participation, self-management and shared information and power.

This excellent, thoughtful, break-through book offers a new way of thinking about organizations and leadership. In clear, compelling language, it emphasizes the ways we are all part of an ever-changing natural order. Wheatley explains the need to get rid of our old out-dated mechanistic models and adapt our organizations to prosper in the future. Our accepted analytical world view, based on using logical analysis and relying numbers to chart progress, should be replaced, Wheatley says. She makes a compelling case and urges organizations to become more effective by becoming more human and natural. We [...] recommend this pivotal book to leaders at all levels.

A Spiritual Gift That will Awe and Excite You!
Margaret Wheatley has indeed revised and updated her orignal book. This edition offers more clarity to the "new science" and in some ways is an autobiography of her growth and connectedness to the positve "energy" that guides and informs our ever expanding creation. Her new chapter, "Change, the Capacity of Life," is exciting to read for the clarity and universal spirituality emanating from her observations. If you have read her original "Leadership and the New Science," and "A Simpler Way," you will marvel at how this new chapter and her updating of others unifies "The New Science" and adds depth and wisdom to her life's work.

I work in a Jesuit high school and part of my job is to connect my community to the new world that is building all around us. This book is a gift to organizations worldwide and will help those who lead their organizations, no matter the size, to do so from a "personal centeredness" of trust and integrity. Her insights offer hope as we struggle with the great issues of our time.

New Direction in Leading Organizations
I was a bit skeptical about the book after the first chapter. However, after opening my mind to what the author had to say, I realized that she had some good points, which are applicable to everyday organizations and leadership.

The book could have been kept to under 100 pages without all the extra examples. Then again, I see how many examples can engage someone, especially if he is not familar with organizations. Nevertheless, if she would have stuck to her point that our current paradigm in understanding organizations is from the seventeenth century and illusionary that would have sufficed.

The book does not offer any concrete examples for working with systems instead of parts, which is the main point the author drives home. The author does offer a theoretical framework. The framework is a lot better because it is meant to apply to many situations.

This book is worth reading if one is familiar with old models of organizations and leadership. Otherwise, reading it will be too abstract and meaningless.

Interesting conclusions, lack of good argument
In this book, the author describes current theories in science and applies them to human organizational management. She develops a number of concepts that I think are applicable to organizational management, such as flexibility, greater communication within an organization, the importance of information, and valuing the intelligence of individual workers.

However, the reasons for applying these principles developed from science to organizations are not well established in this book, in my opinion. The applications may be valid, but a strong case for them is not made here. For example, one claim made to justify one conclusion is that "organizations are open systems and are responsive to the same self-organizing dynamics as all other life." (p. 97). This is a bold claim, to link life sciences to management, that is not well substantiated in the book.

The author seems to revel in the ancient (and ongoing) philosophical tension between the parts and the whole, calling us to look at the whole of a system, though rejecting objective reality (an ultimate whole), and with a bit of Gnostic thinking as well: "Matter doesn't matter" (p. 153),

Also, this is not an informative work, rather its intention appears to be persuasive. The author does reference many works in the scientific literature, but it is not intended to be a review or strict proof (I hope) of her position. Some aspects of science that seem to me to contradict some of her conclusions are not discussed, such as the order imposed top-down in the theory of relativity (according to my limited understanding of it), and the fact that some changes must be wholly destructive and cannot have positive effects (e.g., certain genetic mutations).

Again, some good points are made, but their basis is not well established here. As an industrial engineer, I do not think we should throw away all the current practices, and hopefully that attitude is not simply self-serving. I cannot recommend this particular book, but hope there is a more substantial treatment of these concepts elsewhere.

What science??
First off, the author is not a scientist. Second, the author tries to link PHYSICAL science with human leadership. I only read 1/4 of the book, and I had to put it into trash because I felt like barfing everytime I lay my eyes on it. If you think a non-scientist has any right to write a book with "New Science" on its title, then you should buy this book. Otherwise, stay away from this LSD induced junk. ... Read more

Book Description

The unique flexibility of this text makes this an excellent supplement to any standard business law and legal environment text, or as the primary text for an advanced ethics or issues-oriented course. Introducing issues via specific legal cases, it provides balanced, in-depth coverage of controversial and timely topics in the areas of law and ethics within the business environment. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent Supplement
This book provides an excellent supplement to a regular college business law text by exposing real world dilemmas, and how they were handled by the courts. Can be used to generate discussion on ethical responsibilities, sexual harassment, and some aspects of agency law. ... Read more

Book Description

You're educated and ambitious. Sure, the hours are long and corporate politics are a bane, but you focus on getting the job done, confident that you will be rewarded in the long run. Yet, somehow, your hard work isn't paying off, and you watch from the sidelines as your colleagues get promoted. Those who make it to management positions in this intensely competitive corporate environment seem to understand an unwritten code for marketing and aligning themselves politically. Furthermore, your strong work ethic and raw intelligence were sufficient when you started at the firm, but now they're expecting you to be a rainmaker who can "bring in clients" and "exert influence" on others. The top of the career ladder seems beyond your reach. Perhaps you’ve hit the bamboo ceiling.

For the last decade, Asian Americans have been the fastest growing population in the United States. Asians comprise the largest college graduate population in America, and are often referred to as the "Model Minority" – but they continue to lag in the American workplace. If qualified Asians are entering the workforce with the right credentials, why aren't they making it to the corner offices and corporate boardrooms?

Career coach Jane Hyun explains that Asians have not been able to break the "bamboo ceiling" because many are unable to effectively manage the cultural influences shaping their individual characteristics and workplace behavior -- factors that are often at odds with the competencies needed to succeed at work. Traditional Asian cultural values can conflict with dominant corporate culture on many levels, resulting in a costly gap that individuals and companies need to bridge. The subtle, unconscious behavioral differences exhibited by Asian employees are often misinterpreted by their non-Asian counterparts, resulting in lost career opportunities and untapped talent.

Never before has this dichotomy been so thoroughly explored, and in this insightful book, Hyun uses case studies, interviews and anecdotes to identify the issues and provide strategies for Asian Americans to succeed in corporate America. Managers will learn how to support the Asian members of their teams to realize their full potential and to maintain their competitive edge in today’s multicultural workplace. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Loudest duck does NOT get shot...
Must read for Asians who work because they have to, not because they want to.As a typical Asian, first-born male, I've been brainwashed to support my family whether they want it or not...of course they're not going to say anything, but their actions speak louder than words.

This book explains that we do not have to change ourselves to succeed.It gives us insights as to how we can utilize our various skill sets to enhance our careers and personal experiences in corporate America.

If you're upbringing has been influenced by your culture and heritage and you're not aware of how it impacts your career, or even if you're aware of how it impacts your career, but you don't know what to do about it...pick up this book.

Squeaky wheel gets the oil ...
However, having grown up in a traditional Asian immigrant family, I was told over and over again by my parents that "empty can makes louder noise".I learned the virtue of being thoughtful (think twice before saying anything needless), which apprently has not helped me much in the ways of advancing my career as a manager.

This book is a MUST read for anyone working in a multi-cultural corporation, especially for those who comes from Asian heritage. It will help you better understand yourself, and provide you with the corrective lense (if you will) to get a better sense of how others really see you (or don't see you) when you keep your thoughts to yourself.

Very well written, and it is easy reading. ... Read more

Book Description

As the core of undergraduate and graduate courses or as a supplement to other books, Business Ethics remains the established resource for accessible and up-to-date coverage of applied ethics. The Fifth Edition integrates details of actual business decisions and real-world cases, with pedagogical aids to promote critical-thinking skills.

Reviews (2)

A handy handbook for ethical decision making
Excellent. A practical book written by academics. Many books on ethics are hard to read because of the intellectual gymnastics required. Those written by consultants and journalists are often of the cookbook type and artificial. This book is therefore not only usefulfor students but also for businessmen and consultants. This book focuses on decision making within a clearly defined framework with good definitions of the concepts used. It also includes a very good description of relevant laws in the USA. I did not realise that laws regulate so many ethical business issues. For example " The Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organisations" provide a very good framework to any company that wants to act ethically. Business ethics as defined in the book does not include obeying the law, which I think is correct. Each chapter starts with a practical but imagined case. Many of the cases deal with breaking the law or not. For example "analyse the ethical implication of a woman having to decide whether to go to bed with her boss as that is the condition be puts on her being promoted". Or " what are the ethical implications of dumping toxic substances in the river if you can get away with it by bribing the inspector". One of the principles of the book is that it does not prescribe any solutions. I think that this is pushed too far in many of these cases. I see no point in analysing the ethical implications of breaking the law. My recommendation is to eliminate all of these cases or rewrite them. However, the 15 actual legal cases are useful. They show how difficult it can be to determine what is an ethical and what is a legal issue. The subject of moral philosophies is covered in 16 pages. The authors correctly state that it is impossible to deal with this subject in any depth. The risk with this chapter is that the simplifications made are so extreme that the reader may think he has understood the essence of this topic. That is however very far from reality. These criticisms should however not discourage potential buyers of the book. Overall it is very good.

An excellent graduate level textbook
I have used this text twice in the past as a text for a graduate level course in business ethics at a university in Southern California. I will be using it again this fall and winter. I find that it has a good discussion of theory salted with good real life examples. The long cases are a little dated now, three years after publication, but still are very illustrative. (Some still have "action" occurring even now in the real world.) Within each chapter are an "Ethical Dilemma" (short case) and "A Real-Life Situation" (two-to-three page case) that help to stimulate discussion and to employ principles learned so far in the text. My students have indicated that they like this text. Obviously I do as well! ... Read more

Book Description

In Hardball for Women, Pat Heim shows women how to break patterns of behavior thathave put them at a disadvantage in the business world of men.Whether the arena is a law firm,a medical group, a corporation, or any other work environment, Hardball for Womendecodes the male business culture and gives readers strategies on how to use its rules to getahead—and stay ahead. Readers will learn to:

• Be assertive without being obnoxious
• Display confidence
• Engage in smart self-promotion
• Lead both men and women—and recognize the differences between them
• Use "power talk" language to your advantage ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Learn to play hardball--woman style
This review is a collaborative writing project completed by a ENGL/227 class at DeVry University in beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado.

This book teaches you how to be a team player as well as a leader. Playing hardball doesn't mean being ruthless or heartless. Highlights include using nonverbal cues to your advantage, using "power talk" to come across as confident, and making the most out of criticism. The only thing we would change is the book's cover design.It is very outdated. All in all we would recommend this book to all professionals, men and women. :)

Good guidance for Women
Working in a male-dominated company in a male-dominated field (sales) I had noticed some of the behaviors mentioned in this book. However, "Hardball" gave me insight into WHY I saw these behaviors and how to deal with them. The book is getting a little dated (the power suit/skirt is out, the power suit with slacks is the choice of women executives these days) but still very good information. You must keep in mind that not ALL men think this way - as with all generalizations you have to keep flexible and adapt to the situation. A must read for any woman who is mystified by the behaviors she sees around her and wants to move up in the corporate world.

Absolutely excellent
As a woman who's worked in a "man's field" for 20+ years, I really thought I knew how to play hardball. Boy was I wrong. This book by Pat Heim and Susan Golant really showed me where I was making sometimes fatal errors and how to fix them fast. The result has been more respect at work from my male peers and enough confidence to ask for -- and receive -- a substantial raise. This is a must-have book. I just wish that I had found it many years ago.

I Needed This Book Years Ago
Excellent!!One of my MBA instructors recommended this book to me.Pat Heim made me aware that I hedged, tagged, and smiled way too much.I no longer do those things.Great book!!I highly recommend it for everyone!!

One of the better self help books out there
I am not a big fan of self-help books, but bought this at a friends recommendation and found it very helpful despite my lack of enthusiasm typically for "pop psychology/sociology". I have often found myself confused as to why I was doing what I thought I was supposed to do in order to be successful: working hard, being what I thought was a good "team player" and serving my organization, and yet I kept finding myself being attacked, hurt, and even demoted.This book explains the "rules" and gives insight into how to play the game that exists in todays American workplace.I'll know that women have really made headway in the workplace when there are self help books out there teaching men how to "play the game" in a woman's cultural world too, but till then, women in the workplace need books like this. ... Read more

Book Description

When it was published in 1994, Roger Schwarz's The Skilled Facilitator earned widespread critical acclaim and became a landmark in the field. The book is a classic work for consultants, facilitators, managers, leaders, trainers, and coaches--anyone whose role is to guide groups toward realizing their creative and problem-solving potential. This thoroughly revised edition provides the essential materials for facilitators and includes simple but effective ground rules for group interaction. Filled with illustrative examples, the book contains proven techniques for starting meetings on the right foot and ending them positively and decisively. This important resource also offers practical methods for handling emotions when they arise in a group and offers a diagnostic approach for identifying and solving problems that can undermine the group process.

... Read more

Reviews (6)

More Than Practical Wisdom
The subtitle of this accessible guide to facilitation, "Practical Wisdom For Developing Effective Groups", accurately describes the book's scope and utility. In four parts and thirteen chapters, Schwarz provides an overview, with countless meaningful examples, of how facilitators can most effectively help groups develop their capacity for improvement. He distinguishes between two types of facilitation: (1) Basic facilitation, which aims to help a group "solve a substantive problem"; and (2) Developmental facilitation, which accomplishes basic facilitation while helping a group learn "to improve its process". He argues that three core values underlie effective group and facilitator behavior. The first is "valid information", which means that relevant information is shared by group members and that all groups members can validate and understand the information. The second is "free and informed choice", which means that group members define their own goals and methods of achieving those goals using valid information. The third is, "internal commitment to the choice", which means that group members take responsibility for their decisions by making informed choices based on valid information. Using a basic or developmental approach, facilitators most effectively intervene by making explicit and modeling these core values. These values are maintained by a group agreeing and sticking to essential ground rules, which Schwarz lists on p. 75 and treats extensively throughout the book.

In the heart of Schwarz's book are seven chapters on intervening effectively in groups. In those chapters, he advises the reader on, among other things, how to intervene, meeting management, group problem-solving, following ground rules, and dealing with emotions. He closes with wisdom on serving as a facilitator in your own organization and on the facilitative leader. His opening sections on how facilitation helps groups achieve their goals and establishing the foundation for facilitation lay the groundwork for his later chapters.

In the opening chapters, he includes two models worth mentioning. In his "group effectiveness model" (p.23), Schwarz shows how group processes (the primary concern of the facilitator) interact with group structure and organizational context to contribute to a group effectiveness. Group effectiveness is assessed through three criteria: (1) The group's services or products meet or exceed the expectations of the clients; (2) The processes and structures used to deliver services or create products enhance the group's capacity to work together; and (3) The group's experience is satisfying, not frustrating, for the group's members. In the second noteworthy model, Schwarz presents the "diagnosis-intervention cycle" (p. 68). In this cycle, there are three diagnostic steps and three intervention steps. In the diagnostic phase, the facilitator observes behavior, infers meaning and decides whether to intervene. In the intervention phase, s/he describes observations, test her/his inferences, and helps the group decide whether and how to alter behaviors. Understanding and using these models are critical for effective facilitation.

For the would-be facilitator or group leader, this book provides exactly what the subtitle promises.

Not An Entry Level Facilitation Book
I picked up this book because I needed to read up on how better to sell facilitation and exactly what facilitators should be doing. This book explains this and more. However, if you are looking for a simple overview of what a facilitator should, could and would do incertain situations, this is NOT your book. If you are a manager trying to be a better facilitator, do not buy this book unless you want in-depth information.

That said, if you are a facilitator looking to improve your skills, combine theory and practice or simply go back to the basics of what makes some facilitators great, this is your book.
Also, if you are a manager who really wants to become an effective facilitator/mentor, this is your book. But don't think that you can simply read the material and be more effective. The ideas and theory will take practice. Luckily, the book also gives many examples to make the ideas and theories practical and concrete.

As I said, I bought it to become better at selling professional facilitation. It gave me that and much more. I will keep it as an invaluable resource and make sure all of my facilitators utilize the practices described in detail.

Make it easy on yourself!
Roger's book is a unique hybrid of theory, practical exercises, examples, and personal stories. It works! The art and science of facilitation (to make easy or easier) is presented clearly, concisely, and completely. And, that is what I enjoyed about Roger's book so much. He gives it to you with "the bark on." He makes you aware of the good, the bad, and the ugly relative to the practice of facilitation.

I had used this book for several years in my work as a trainer, facilitator, and manager. Then, I had the pleasure to attend a workshop conducted by Roger. He lives what he teaches. While I was fortunate enough to have my company pay for the workshop, it is one of only three workshops I have ever attended that I feel like I would pay my own money to attend.

Keep this book nearby. It is THE best read on this subject out there.

Facilitation is coming of age
Roger Schwarz is one of the leading thinkers in the newly emerging field of facilitation. He brings insight and depth to group processes. He is concerned with the health functioning of groups in organisations. The Skilled Facilitator provides both the beginner and the expert insights into providing quality facilitation of group processes. As facilitation becomes more and more recognized as a profession, Schwarz will be acknowledge as one of the real pioneers in the field.

Rated Best By Facilitators
As a new entry to the facilitation field, I wanted to find out what the industry thought was the BEST resource for combining theory with the practices of facilitation. I submitted my request to GRP-FACL@listserv.albany.edu, which, as far as I know, is the largest online discussion forum for active, professional facilitators. Roger Schwartz's book, "The Skilled Facilitator" was by far the favorite choice of people in the profession. I am ordering my copy now! ... Read more

Book Description

As companies shift from hierarchical management into teamwork, managing is not nearly as important as coaching. Here is the first book on the coaching process written exclusively for sales managers--a brief, easy-to-digest primer on making the transition from a traditional boss to a sales coach. Created by an author/instructor who teaches sales management as the prestigious Wharton Executive Development Center, this guide shows sales managers how to: understand the nuances and payoffs of coaching: conduct coaching sessions and improve key skills such as listening and giving feedback; deal with problems such as discipline and reluctant behavior within the sales team; and coach and peers on oneself. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Sales Coaching is practical, applicable, and long overdue.
I often say to Sales Managers, "Show me a great Sales Manager with lousy salespeople and I will show you a lousy Sales Manager." Then I tell them to read 'Sales Coaching.'

Linda Richardson has constructed the ultimate step-by-step guide in getting managers to reevaluate their priorities and focus their attention on improving the sales staff through effective developmental coaching. The book is easy to read and full of practical tips and coaching models that will make any sales team more productive.

Most importantly, unlike many sales management books, this work translates into practical application without the brain damage. Sales Managers should be able to apply these principles immediately. Read this with a highlighter in your hand - and be prepared to transform your sales management approach. ... Read more

Book Description

Never Be Boring Again is unlike any other book on speaking skills. It teaches a breakthrough method that can help you make dynamic business presentations in front of any audience, anytime, anywhere.

A powerful story - well told - is your secret to connecting with clients, colleagues and customers. With Doug Stevenson's Story Theater Method, you can become a "magnetic" speaker with the power to attract and hold any audience's attention.

You'll learn how to: use strategically chosen stories to sell your idea or product; use a nine step formula for crafting compelling stories; get your point across to insure maximum "buy in;" brand your message with a "Phrase That Pays;" incorporate humor so people laugh while they learn; get out of your own way and "Stand in Your Power;" and make dull and dry technical information come alive.

Whether you are speaking to five or five thousand, these easy-to-understand-and-apply techniques will immediately enhance your professional credibility. Are you ready to be more motivating, memorable and magnetic? ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Outstanding!!! Breakthrough guidance for speakers.
Doug Stevenson's book is superb! As a keynote speaker and author of the Amazon bestseller "How Great Decisions Get Made," I've read many books and listened to dozens of tapes. This is the best. Doug guides you through the steps that will take your speaking to a higher level. If you want to experience putting his guidance into action, be sure to sign up for his Story Theater Workshop. I read the book, attended the workshop, and now I'm conveying my message much more powerfully.

Written by the creator of the "Story Theater Method"
Never Be Boring Again is a solid, 352-page guide to spicing up business presentations in such a manner so as to fully captivate attention, inspire and motivate action, and bring about tangible, practical results. Expertly written by the creator of the "Story Theater Method", speech writer, and presentation consultant Doug Stevenson, Never Be Boring Again focuses on stories as power for getting and keeping the audience's full attention, peppered with tips, tricks, and techniques to keep 'em coming back for more. If you are charged with speaking in public, then Doug Stevenson's Never Be Boring Again is enthusiastically recommended reading for you!

Power-Up Your Presentations
People love stories. That's why the 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' books are so popular. But even better than reading a great story is the experience of seeing and hearing a story performed by a skilled story teller.

Doug Stevenson knows how to make a story come to life, and in 'Never Be Boring Again,' he shows you how you can do it, too. He makes the process (almost!) painless, even if you are not a natural story teller.

This is not a book about how to give a speech. It is a detailed how-to about making powerful connections with your audience through vivid and engaging stories. And it's not just 'rah-rah.' Doug walks you through the nine steps of story structure to help you craft stories that will engage listeners and get your point across. He shows how to incorporate The Phrase That Pays-a message that your listeners will remember and take with them. Then, Doug helps you use your body, voice and emotions to deliver a presentation that will hold the attention of any audience.

If you have ever watched a gifted speaker hold an audience in the palm of his hand, and wanted to know how you could do that, too, this is the book you have been waiting for. Don't wait any longer. Put Doug Stevenson's powerful Story Theater Method to work for you.

Cathy Stucker
Author, Speaker and Consultant

Highly Recommended
Doug Stevenson's book "Never Be Boring Again" makes a pretty bold claim. One thing that I learned in my childhood is if you are going to make a bold claim you had better be able to back it up because someone will call you on it. Then again you can get away with making a claim like that when you can back it up and Doug Stevenson does exactly that. If you've done much public speaking at all you know that it is easy to tell if you have an audience eating out of your hand or if you are losing them. The problem is finding a way to consistently keep your audience interested.

This is the same problem that has been around forever in the theater industry. How do you get your audience involved in the story? Well, actually that is the answer. People get involved in stories. Lists of numbers are useless unless they can be converted to an illustration that points out their effect. Using his "Story Theater Method" as the base on which to build, Stevenson takes the reader on a trip into the world of preparing powerful, effective presentations that lead people to action. Stories involve the audience and once it is involved the audience will pay attention. When the audience pays attention they remember the phrases you use and your "phrase that pays" has the effect you desire.

I had the opportunity over the last few weeks to try a presentation to various groups. So, I tried to redo part of it using the techniques in the book. The bottom line was that a great deal more of the people remembered much more of the presentation in the group where the techniques were used. They also asked more and better questions because they had been listening throughout the presentation.

"Never Be Boring Again" deserves the highest recommendation that I can give and should be required reading for anyone who is not a hermit because we are always speaking to an audience, even if it is just one person.

Awesome book . . . Just what I needed to make my story work!
This book gots me going in the right direction from the very beginning. It not only describes what to do, it showed me how to do it to make my presentation better. The clear and concise descriptions, through the use of examples and stories, made it easy to relate to. The book provided the steps needed for me to develop and craft my story. Then I learned how to make it come alive. The book is an excellent teaching tool for those of us who love a "show me how" book. It's easier for me to make the connection with my audience now that I understand how to do it. The added value I received of developing a powerful presentation was well worth the investment of time to read it. ... Read more

Book Description

Operator books are based on the principles of adult learning tomeet the reading needs of a shopfloor audience.Written at theappropriate reading level, these books are heavily illustrated withphotos and drawings.The text is set up with one concept for every twoto four pages so that it can be easily read in chunks; headers andassists in the margin make the significance of each section stand out. Each chapter summarizes main concepts and tools at the beginning andlists application questions at the end.This particular book presentsthe main concepts and tools from Hirano's 5 Pillars of the VisualWorkplace. Hirano discusses how the 5S theory fosters efficiency,maintenance, and continuous improvement in all areas of the company,from the plant floor to the sales office.It explains why the 5S's areimportant and gives the who, what, where, and how of 5S implementation. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Operational Excellence Team Member (Allvac)
This book does an outstanding job of conveying the need to start with 5s as the building block of Lean Manufacturing. The material covered is easy to understand and easily conveyed to the employees who are impacted by these practices. I would recommend this book to anyone considering going lean.

Excellent for implementation and study groups
In our plant we used this book to implement 5'S. It is very simple, but thorough. The text is very well structured to highlight the main ideas. We formed a study group with the implementation team and would read and comment it as we worked the particular details of our programs. We quickly saw improvements and are still working on building upon what we learned.

Just about touches the "5 S's"....Not detailed enough
I wonder if workers on a shop floor would actually like to sit down and read this book. This touches the 5S's (Organization, Orderliness, Cleanliness, Organized cleanup, and Discipline), but does not give a detailed description of how one is to implement this tool. I recommend another book "5 Pillars of the Visual Workplace", to have a more detailed description of the 5S's.

Effective implementation of this tool requires very high participation from senior management to make important decisions. I think workers will not be in a position to implement this tool, and so this book is not very useful.

5S FOR OPERATORS: 5 PILLARS OF THE VISUAL WORKPLACE
THE BOOK IS VERY HELPFUL SPECIALY IN MANUFACTURING. PEOPLE CAN NOW EASILY UNDERSTOOD THE IMPORTANT OF CLEANLINESS, ORDERLINESS AND DISCIPLINE IN THE WORK AREA THUS CLEANLINESS IS NOT JANITORS RESPONSIBILITY BUT EVERYBODY.

Very Practical Working Tool
This book gets to the nitty-gritty with a well laid out process to follow and brief, yet meaningful, examples of what to do and why. Great for all levels of employees to read and it only takes about 1 hour to get through. ... Read more

Book Description

In their landmark book The Machine That Changed the World, James Womack and Daniel Jones, two of the top industrial analysts in the world, explained how companies can dramatically improve their performance through the "lean production" approach pioneered by Toyota. Lean Thinking extends these ideas to provide a rallying cry for today's corporate leaders.

After a decade of downsizing and reengineering, most companies in North America, Europe, and Japan are still stuck, searching for a formula for sustainable growth and success. The problem, as Womack and Jones explain in Lean Thinking, is that managers have lost sight of value for the customer and how to create it. By focusing on their existing organizations and outdated definitions of value, managers create waste, and the economies of the advanced countries continue to stagnate.

What's needed instead is lean thinking to help managers clearly specify value, to line up all the value-creating activities for a specific product along a value stream, and to make value flow smoothly at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection. The first part of the book describes each of these concepts and makes them come alive with striking examples.

As Lean Thinking clearly demonstrates, these simple ideas can breathe new life into any company in any industry, routinely doubling both productivity and sales while stabilizing employment. But most managers will need guidance on how to make the lean leap in their firm. Part II provides a step-by-step action plan, based on in-depth studies of fifty lean companies in a wide range of industries across the world -- including Pratt & Whitney, Porsche, and Toyota.

Even those readers who believe they have embraced lean thinking will discover in Part III that another dramatic leap is possible by creating a lean enterprise for each of their product families that tightly links all value-creating activities from concept to product launch, from order to delivery, and from raw materials into the arms of the consumer. This new concept takes the best features from the American, German, and Japanese industrial traditions and recombines them in a way that can be applied to every economic activity, from long-distance travel to construction to health care.

Lean Thinking does not provide a new management "program" for the one-minute manager. Instead, it offers a new way of thinking, being, and doing for the serious manager -- one that will change the world. ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Good Conceptual Overview of Eliminating Waste in Producing
Unlike most cost-reduction books, Lean Thinking has a strong conceptual underpinning for thinking about improving your operations. The authors move beyond the narrowest application of the lean manufacturing model (the original Toyota system) to explore key concepts like value (what do the customers want? as opposed to what do they choose from the limited options we give them?), flow (continuous production is faster and more efficient than batch processing), pull (letting immediate demand determine what is produced rather than sales projections), and perfection (thinking through the ideal way to do things, rather than just improving from where you are today somewhat). Providing this conceptual framework makes it easier to understand the benefits of operating a lean enterprise. People who did not understand the message in Direct from Dell would find Lean Thinking to be a useful framework.

One of the strengths of this book is that it is deliberately full of examples of companies which took traditional methods in existing plants and converted them into lean operations. I know of no other set of case histories half as useful on this subject.

The key limitation of this book is that most people new to lean manufacturing would not be able to implement solely using the book as a guide. The conceptual perspective, while being uniquely valuable, leaves the inexperienced person with few guideposts. Some of the key requirements are simply described as "get the knowledge" and so forth. As a follow-up, I suggest that the authors team with those who have done this work and write a hands-on guide. Much more benefit will follow.

If you are interested in understanding how a new business model of how to provide your products and/or services might work and what the benefits might be, Lean Thinking is a good place to start. Most executives and operations managers have never seriously considered going from batch to cell-based production. This will open your eyes to the potential.

Based on my many years of experience with improving business processes, you will actually need to go visit some of the companies cited to fully understand the issues and what must be done. I know that visits to Pratt & Whitney can be arranged and are very insightful. You might try to start with that one.

One area may turn you off. The cited examples moved forward pretty ruthlessly. That may not be your cup of tea. You may be reminded of some of the early reengineering. My own experience is that such changes can be done in a more positive and constructive way. Stay open to that possibility as you read the cases. They basically all use command and control to create more flexibility. You can also use other methods like those encouraged in The Soul at Work and The Living Company to create these kinds of results. Keep that in mind.

I recommend that everyone who uses batch and sequential operation methods read this book. It will open your eyes to great potential to grow faster and more profitably.

This is the business bible!
As a strategic planning consultant, I recommend 'Lean Thinking' to all of my clients. Some mistakenly view this book as a 'how to' for manufacturing companies. While it is, it is also much more. It is an attitude about business strategy. Waste, in any type of company, drains profits in one of two ways: as direct costs that they can see today, and as indirect costs when waste discourages repeat business. For any business manager worth his or her six figure income, this book is a must read.

Great, if you like stories about business.
I'm not sure who the audience is for Lean Thinking. Call me naïve, but I assumed it was written by Womack and Jones to help organizations analyze their business processes and eliminate muda (Japanese for "waste"), thereby improving overall performance. However, after reading almost 250 pages of anecdotal success stories, the chapter entitled "Action Plan," where one would assume resides the punch-line of the text, I was met by the profound advice to "Get the knowledge" by hiring one of the numerous experts in North America, Europe or Japan, and read some of the "vast literature" available on lean techniques. Reminds me of the Steve Martin joke where he tells you how to be a millionaire. "First, get a million dollars."

After reading Lean Thinking, I'm struck by the irony that while the authors recommend removing waste from the manner by which your products are delivered to the end customer, they don't take their own advice. The text could have been distilled from 384 pages down to five or six, since there's no real substantive instruction on how to implement lean principles. Then again, maybe I completely misinterpreted the intent of the authors as to their audience and it really was written for the business historian who enjoys reading about how Pratt & Whitney started in 1855. That must be it, because after I ponder the title, I realize that Lean Thinking is for just that, thinking. What I really wanted was a book entitled Lean Doing.

A Roadmap for Efficient Value Creation
Would you like to double productivity, cut development time by 60%, reduce inventory by 65%, reduce throughput time by 95%, reduce capital investment while doubling sales? Pre-existing assets, technologies, practices, organizations and concepts often cause enormous waste, i.e. activity which does not create value. This exciting book is about a way to do more and more with less and less - to create value instead of waste.

Lean Principles
1. Accurately understand VALUE (needs and preferences) from the customer's perspective.

2. Perform VALUE STREAM analysis. This will reveal three types of actions: 1) those that create value, 2) those that do not create value but are unavoidable in the present situation and 3) those that don't create value and are immediately avoidable.

3. After eliminating avoidable waste activities, make the remaining activities continuously FLOW. This requires the elimination of departmentalized "high speed" batch-and-queue "efficiency". It requires quick changeovers, "right-sizing" and close coupling of operations without buffers. The authors state that the results are always a dramatic reduction of effort and improvement in throughput.

4. Because of the radical reduction achieved in throughput time, you now are capable of Just In Time operations. You can now let the customer PULL the product.

5. Finally search for PERFECTION. Perfection is, of course, impossible. But the effort compels progress.

"Just Do It"
The lean approach is to "just do it" with dedicated cross functional product teams which often include suppliers and customers.

The beauty of this system is that it won't work at all unless everything works properly all the time. Thus 100% performance becomes an absolute requirement.

The authors present a number of very interesting case studies in which dramatic results were obtained. They conclude with advice as to how to get started - including a list of available resources. This book is especially well-suited to operations managers, but will also benefit any executive in a company that relies upon operational excellence as a part of their strategy.

(Robert Bradford is CEO of Center for Simplified Strategic Planning and co-author of Simplified Strategic Planning)

Russian edition of Lean thinking
This book was translated and published in Russia in January 2004. We find that it will be interesting and usefull for russian managers and companies. ... Read more