Book Description

Completely Revised and Updated

"This book on valuation represents fresh new thinking. The writing is clear and direct, combining the best academic principles with actual experience to arrive at value-increasing solutions."
–J. Fred Weston, Cordner Professor of Money and Financial Markets, Graduate School of Management, UCLA

THE #1 GUIDE TO CORPORATE VALUATION IS NOW BETTER THAN EVER!

"A ‘how-to’ guide for corporate executives who want to get at the unrealized shareholder values trapped in public companies."
–New York Times

Hailed by financial professionals, professors, and students worldwide as the single best guide of its kind, Valuation provides crucial insights into how to measure, manage, and maximize a company’s value. This long-awaited Third Edition has been comprehensively updated and expanded to reflect business conditions in today’s volatile global economy and to provide highly effective ways for managers at every level to create value for their companies.

In addition to all new case studies, Valuation now includes in-depth coverage on valuing dot.coms, cyclical companies, and companies in emerging markets, along with detailed instructions on how to drive value creation and apply real options to corporate valuation. Here is expert guidance that management and investment professionals and students alike have come to trust, including:

• Valuation’s acclaimed chapter devoted to insights into the strategic advantages of value-based management
• Strategies for multibusiness valuation, and valuation for corporate restructuring, mergers, and acquisitions
• International comparisons of the cost of capital, differences in accounting procedures, and how valuationworks in different countries
• Detailed, actual case studies showing how valuation techniques and principles are applied

This timeless, respected book on valuation allows you to face the crossroads where corporate strategy and finance meet with more confidence and winning strategies than ever before.

Please visit us at www.WileyValuation.com

WileyValuation.com is a premier Web site devoted to all things valuation. At this unique online community for financial professionals, you will enjoy the following features:

• New information on valuation topics and links to key valuation sites
• Valuation message boards and chats
• Downloadable valuation spreadsheets

... Read more

Reviews (38)

Superficial and lacking in depth
The first part of the book covers very basic material that may be found anywhere on the Internet or in a beginner's finance text book. This portion will be valuable only to introductory students of the subject.

The second two parts, which deal with actual valuation techniques, are very verbose, but lacking in organization and depth. This half assumes that you are already familiar with concepts such as WACC, Free Cash Flows, and other accounting and valuation terms. Although several valuation techniques are indeed discussed, by no means is the list comprehensive. Furthermore, no systematic approach to deriving or explaining the formulas is available, and often, terms not introduced earlier are used.

On the positive side, however, the book makes easy reading and focuses on a more practical, rather than academic or theoretical, discussion of valuation.

This book may not provide much value to a serious student of valuation. Furthermore, I do not believe it will make an ideal reference for the experienced professional either. At best, it will make a good second reference for a graduate level course in valuation.

Good but bad Excel support
I liked this book. In Russia it is one of the most popular books on valuatuion. But when I can get the perfect excel support for Investment Valuation by Aswath Damodaran or good web support for Valuation Methods and Shareholder Value Creation by Pablo Fernandez, I ask the authors, why don't they put supporting material in disk? I think that the price of their sowtware ($94.50) is too high compairing with the book ($56 with discount), because there is no supporting materials - only 1 spreadsheet (from my point of view does not conform to McKinsey, as the leader of consulting business). I hope, for the 4-th edition we will have a good excel support.

Adequate, but not Original
I hoped that McKinsey would have something new to say on this subject. There are two corporate finance texts and various finance books that cover the ground better or at least as well, so it is hard to see why this book was written.

In light of recent corporate shenanigans with off-balance sheet products, it is unforgiveable that this book doesn't address how lack of value can be disguised using off-balance sheet products. Total return swaps, an off-balance sheet financing tool, isn't discussed, and credit derivatives, another off-balance sheet tool aren't even discussed. For coverage of these topics and offshore vehicles, read "Credit Derivatives" by Tavakoli.

User-unfriendliness at its best
Hmm I wonder if those giving this book five stars actually work for McKinsey. As a practioner, I don't know anyone in the industry who has actually read this book. It looks impressive on the bookshelf, but the content is anything but impressive. A lot of topics are covered, but each one only superficially and the writing is extremely dry and boring. I actually found reading this volume *painful*, and I'm supposed to like this stuff since I do it for a living! My advice for any potential buyer is read a few chapters first before you shell out for it.

Logic jumps
This book is useful if you're already quite familiar with common valuation methods and can fill in the jumps & gaps. However, if any of the areas you're looking at is new to you or if you would like a more logical, well-reasoned approach or simply a discussion of all the various valuation methods in use, buy Damodaran's text instead.

This book was the prescribed & provided reference in the Corporate Finance department I worked in but most of my colleagues and I purchased our own copies of Damodaran's text "Investment Valuation, Wiley, Aswath Damodaran", which is superior in breadth as well as logical description of valuation processes. ... Read more

Book Description

Since publication in 1996 there have been tremendous advances in business and management which have necessitated the development of a new, improved second edition. IEBM 2nd Edition addresses these advances by updating all existing material as well as adding a great deal more. This revision means that the printed encyclopedia now fills 8 volumes with fifty percent more entries and four million words. Additional countries are profiled in the new edition and there are even more biographical profiles of influential management thinkers, making IEBM 2nd Edition bigger and better than ever. Full-length entries, equivalent to any secondary critical work or journal paper, serve as excellent introductions to the debates and literature of a given topic or concept. Each entry is fully cross-referenced and a further reading section is carefully annotated to indicate the level and importance of the work cited which proves especially useful for the student to take their research further. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A book to complete any businesss library.
Without this book all business libraries are incomplete.With articles rangeing from the biographies of such legends as Bill Gates to fully referenced and peer reviewed articles on world regions and their economic statuses and of course a thorough grounding in the business basics.This not only superseeds the first edition but comprehensively betters it. ... Read more

Book Description

Invaluable." --SUCCESS. "In simple, straightforward language, Fournies offers practical solutions to the problems of employee performance ... [This book] should be on the desk of anyone who manages others."--ENTREPENEUR. THE TOP 10 REASONS EMPLOYEES DON'T DO WHAT THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO DO:
10.They don't know why they should do it;
9. They don't know how to do it
8. They don't know what they are supposed to do
7. They think your way will not work
6. They think their way is better
5. They think something else is more important
5. They think they are doing it
4. They are punished for doing it
3. They are rewarded for not doing it
2. It's beyond their personal limits
1. No one could do it
This book tells you how to avoid or handle each situationÑand the 6 other reasons that comprise the total list of reasons employees don't do their jobs. Universally praised and a perennial best seller, this book made The New York Times business bestseller list in early 1998--10 years after it came out! Why? Competition to attract and keep good employees is fiercer than ever. Today's employers need the no-nonsense people-management skills this book teaches. Based on real experiences of 25,000 managers surveyed by a Columbia Graduate School of Business professor, this results-oriented guide--newly updated for todayÕs changing workplace--provides proven, straightforward methods that work on real jobs, in real businesses, in the real world.This updated edition also gives you new input from 5000 additional managers, plus more help with temp workers, service industries, flex time, computers, telecommuting, stress, and safety! ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Kinda weak
There's probably some stuff in here that would be useful for a manager who is completely clueless, but I didn't find much that would be useful insight for someone further along than that. I gave it a few chapters, because a friend I respect recommended it, but then gave up. I guess the book is okay for what it is, but it isn't likely to make any lasting improvement in your relationship with your employees. It generally comes from a perspective that has been somewhat popular in recent years, to the detriment of business, one that says:
- Process is more important than substance.
- Management can be detached from leadership.
- Management is more about skill than about character.

Employees follow and build loyalty to leaders who lead, not administrators who manage. When you've proved yourself as a leader, when you've proved (by consistent actions over time) to your employees that you really have their best interests at heart, and when you've shown that you'll work with those who want to improve, but will deal decisively with those who poison the work environment, then amazingly enough, employees tend to start doing what they ARE supposed to do.

I'd recommend skipping this one and picking up a copy of Leadership as a Lifestyle, by Hawkins, instead.

Somewhat simplistic, but still decent.
I work as a Customer Care supervisor at a Call Center. I purchased this book, along with quite a few other management books, in an effort to immediately and consistently improve my management and leadership skills.

I didn't find this particular book to be very helpful in that endeavor. Many of the chapter subjects are common sense.

The positive side of this book, for me, is that I have worked under, and dealt with, many very poor managers with counter-productive leadership habits. During such unpleasant circumstances, I've often wondered if the individual in question really didn't get how their behavior and habits were adversely affecting morale and productivity.

I'm not currently in such a situation, but if I were, I'd carefully study these simple solutions to the common management problems, and try to gently make suggestions toward their implementation by the manager with whom I'm struggling.

What seems like common sense to someone actively pursuing self-improvement, might not be so common to the hopelessly mediocre manager. It might not make so much sense to them either. So use small words and explain gradually! :)

Excellent guide for new as well as seasoned supervisors.
Have used this text in five different management workshops. Sales and product support supervisors like the practical guidelines to assist them remove obstacles standing in the way of better employee performance. Sales managers especially like the concepts because the suggestions offered are very realistic and cause the managers to re-think how they communicate with, supervise and direct employees on day-to-day basis.

Good analysis of 16 reasons for unmet expectations
Really helpful book! Fournies gives 16 reasons why employees (and maybe peers or others) fail to meet expectations. The book doesn't just give a list, though. It gives succinct insight into how to tell which is the reason in a particular case. Then, once we have the cause identified, it gives good advice on how to correct the root cause. I found it very helpful in handling failed expectations of others -- sort of Sun Tsu's *The Art of War* without the executions. I recommend this book as a tool for managers at all levels to turn frustration into solutions.

A no-nonsense guide to managing humanely.
A truly great (and succinct) book that explains the *real* reasons employees don't do what they are supposed to do. Shows how managers ought to take responsibility for employee performance. Might be painful for x-managers. ... Read more

Book Description

A remarkable teenager who went from public assistance to a million dollar net worth shares his story and offers 9 key principles to success.

Farrah Gray is no ordinary teenager. He wears a suit and tie; he has an office on Wall Street and another one in Los Angeles . . . and he sold his first business at the age of 14 for more than a million dollars. He invested that money in a partnership with Inner City Broadcasting, one of the most prominent African-American owned businesses in the country, and now is heading the relaunch of their signature magazine, InnerCity. According to People magazine, Farrah is the only African-American teenager to rise from public assistance to a business mogul without being in entertainment or having a family connection.

Reallionaire tells Farrah's extraordinary and touching story. When he was just six, Farrah's mother became seriously ill, prompting his decision to provide for this family, and he spent the first $50 he ever made taking them for a real sit-down dinner. At the age of eight, he founded his first business club. By fourteen, with a million dollars in his pocket, Farrah was well on his way to business success.

Each stage of Farrah's progress is marked by one of the principles of success he learned along the way, creating not just an extraordinary story but also a step-by-step primer for others to create success in their own lives with honor; charity and compassion.
In the tradition of great motivators and leaders, this is both an instructional book and a story to inspire others to live life to the fullest. And readers don't have to be interested in business to enjoy it. In fact, Farrah is a role model for everyone.

Reviews (1)

Reallionaire Is A MUST Read!!!!!
I was truly impressed with Mr. Gray's writing style.It blends the personal develoment tenets of Kiyosaki, John C. Maxwell, Napoleon Hill and Jim Rohn beautifully in a way that can be easily understood and duplicated by young and old readers.It is a very inspiring and thought provoking guide to living your life with passion, purpose and faith in God and your God-given abilities. I recommend this book to everyone who is serious about personal development. ... Read more

Book Description

A business classic, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling is for anyone whose job it is to sell. Whether you are selling houses or mutual funds, advertisements or ideas -- or anything else -- this book is for you.

When Frank Bettger was twenty-nine he was a failed insurance salesman. By the time he was forty he owned a country estate and could have retired. What are the selling secrets that turned Bettger's life around from defeat to unparalleled success and fame as one of the highest paid salesmen in America?

The answer is inside How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling. Bettger reveals his personal experiences and explains the foolproof principles that he developed and perfected. He shares instructive anecdotes and step-by-step guidelines on how to develop the style, spirit, and presence of a winning salesperson. No matter what you sell, you will be more efficient and profitable -- and more valuable to your company -- when you apply Bettger's keen insights on:

• The power of enthusiasm

• How to conquer fear

• The key word for turning a skeptical client into an enthusiastic buyer

• The quickest way to win confidence

• Seven golden rules for closing a sale ... Read more

Reviews (38)

timeless
When a book receives hearty endorsements from Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale, it is hard to question its merit. What amazes me about this book is how gracefully it has aged. Even though this book was published in 1947, it is based on timeless principles that are just as effective today as the day they were written.

The language that Frank Bettger uses has travelled the years quite nicely; many books from this era contain long-lost expressions and dated language that make them less relatable -- not so here. Only the dollar figures used in the real life examples give the age of the book away. Bettger's friendly, conversational style makes this an easy read.

This book works because it is principle-based and backed up with real life illustrations covering both the "what to do" and "what not to do" ends of the spectrum. Truly a classic, the applications in this book go beyond sales to have a positive effect on all aspects of your life.

Larry Hehn, Author of Get the Prize: Nine Keys for a Life of Victory

A must read for all sales people
If you are in sales or want to be, you must read Frank Bettger's
"How I raised myself from Failure to Success in Selling" literally from someone who failed terribly initially.

Bettger's story is one of inspiration and determination. Some of his keen insights include: The power of enthusiasm, how to conquer fear, the one key word that will turn a skeptical prospect into a happy and satisfied client, the quickest way to win confidence, how to deliver a winning sales talk and 7 golden rules for closing a sale.

Interesting is that one of Bettger's biggest supporters for writing this book was Dale Carnegie.

This is another one of those golden classics that some of us have hidden away only to appreciate it's value after rereading it many years later.

Great book. I highly recommend it.

Success from Success
Book review

Frank Bettger describes profoundly experiences to succeed in selling.

Bettger's book, How I raised myself from failure to success in selling, is deserving of a

five-star rating, because he explains and shows the real facts in salesmanship, the

impediments and the success in the same time. Bettger relates his own experiences as a

salesman; his intentions are that every new salesperson should take his book as an advice and

should follow all the rules he gives. The author relates about enthusiasm in job,

confidentiality, how to remember and to not forget costumers, and how to be organized.

Furthermore, Bettger increases a hope for those who believe that salesmanship is their

vocation and gives them more interest to continue this career.

Frank Bettger was a baseball player at his 20's; one day he had a big accident at one of

his arm and from that moment he ended his career as a baseball player. After that he decided

to do something different, so he started to sell life insurance. This job did not make him happy

until one day he heard a poem which made him to continue this career. One of the things was

that he started to put more enthusiasm in his work and to see things differently. He's routine

at work was to call people and to convince them to buy life insurance. Unfortunately this was

not enough; to make people to believe him he started to talk with more enthusiasm, to put

more questions, and to be organized. These changes raised his income, but more than

that he started to sell life insurance more than he did before. He believes that working with

enthusiasm is one of the biggest steps in a sale career. "Force yourself to act enthusiastic, and

you'll become enthusiastic!" (15)

After a while when his experience grew Bettger discovered and learned, in the

same time, that to be confident is what most of the people like. Asking questions made him to

believe that the interviews are more productive and consistent. The author found that asking

a question "is the only way to get people to think!" (62) Some of the questions that he used, in

one of the biggest contracts of his life, where what ambitions, hopes and objectives from that

interview the costumer is expecting. All these questions made his business to be

prospering and to grow as he wanted. The author knew that people like to make business, but

they also like that some questions to remain without answers. In his book Bettger gives six

things that salesmen should learned to approach the question method. The most important is

"Enables you to help the other fellow recognize what he wants. Then you can help him decide

how to get it." (62)

Equally important from Bettger's experience is to remember names and faces in many

cases. The best way to memorize these is to remember three words: impression, repetition,

and association. He is convinced that if a salesperson memorize these things will be much

easy to remember names and faces avoiding the salesman to talk too much. Impression is to

get a clear interest in someone's name and if is hard to be memorized do not be afraid to ask

the person again. Repetition is when having a conversation with somebody that person's name

is repeated at short intervals to make sure the brain is going to catch it. Association is when a

face is associated with a picture or with the person's business. Sincerity and honesty make

a businessman to be believed and to increase his reputation. "If you want to be welcome

everywhere, give every living soul you meet a smile, from down deep inside." (128)

Again Bettger shows that costumers are the main point to make a sale; sometimes just

using the business card can make the business to prosper. If a salesman is remember and is

calling a costumer after a wile is a good way to make that man to do not forget the new

business that he made. Many costumers like to share their happiness and success in business

with other friends or neighbors; they will not forget, and they will tell to the other people

about their new friend and about what he did for them. "New costumers are the best source of

new business...new costumers." (164)

Similarly important is to be self-organized; making appointments and keeping them in

a note book makes a salesman to be more organized and to have everything in the right place.

The time is very important in this business, not only for the salesman but especially for the

costumers. Many businesspeople are too busy to accept a strange visitor without to have an

appointment and without to know what it his business about. Bettger's suggestion is to make

appointments with a week before, to make sure a confirmation will be received in the

meantime. The author said that the following rule is good to memorize "First, sell the

appointment, second, sell your product." (144)

Otherwise Bettger became a good salesman after he had reading The

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. This book was his inspiration to act with enthusiasm,

to be confident, to remember names and faces, to be self-organized, and to not forget his

costumers. All those people who not have success in their work should read Bettger's book;

he relates everything they need, not only how to succeed but more than that how to not be

afraid to fail when a sail does not work. To be a salesman is not easy it just needs enthusiasm

and power to succeed in this business. Bettger said "take one thing at a time, and give a

week's strict attention to that one thing; leaving all the others to their ordinary chance." (191)

A timeless classic!
Frank's book is a timeless classic. I heard a lot of good things about this book in a mastermind group meeting in NYC with Mike Litman.

The book lived up to it recommendations.

There are many ideas in this book that anyone in any field can relate to. Even if you are not a salesman, there are many ideas in this book that are about "how to achieve success."

If you are interested in achieving success I highly recommend you reading this book and applying the principles within. Wishing you best of luck and much success,
Your devoted life coach,

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works: How to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated

The Best Book Ever Written on Sales
Rather than simply giving you information, Bettger tells you his story and how he learned what he learned. He tells you what he did and how it worked. This book comes from an era before slick and hype. Bettger is straightforward, honest, and sincerely trying to help the reader, and if you're a salesman, I think this book should be part of your core library. Bettger doesn't worry about superficial techniques for closing the sale. As any really successful salesman knows, you have to be honest and sincere to be great at selling, and that's where this book comes from. You'll get deep principles rather than manipulative tricks. The principles in Bettger's book work, not just in selling, but in life. I regularly read pages daily to inspire and refresh. Bettger's book should be in every salesman's library.

Other Recommendations: "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie, "Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale, "Lateral Thinking" by Edward DeBono and "Breakthrough Advertising" by Eugene Schwartz. ... Read more

Book Description

Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles, co-authors of the New York Times business bestseller Raving Fans, are back with Gung Ho! Here is an invaluable management tool that outlines foolproof ways to increase productivity by fostering excellent morale in the workplace. It is a must-read for everyone who wants to stay on top in today's ultra-competitive business world.

Raving Fans taught managers how to turn customers into full-fledged fans. Now, Gung Ho! brings the same magic to employees. Through the inspirational story of business leaders Peggy Sinclair and Andy Longclaw, Blanchard and Bowles reveal the secret of Gung Ho--a revolutionary technique to boost enthusiasm and performance and usher in astonishing results for any organization. The three principles of Gung Ho are:

• The Spirit of the Squirrel
• The Way of the Beaver
• The Gift of the Goose

These three cornerstones of Gung Ho are surprisingly simple and yet amazingly powerful. Whether your organization consists of one or is listed in the Fortune 500, this book ensures Gung Ho employees committed to success.

Gung Ho! also includes a clear game plan with a step-by-step outline for instituting these groundbreaking ideas. Destined to become a classic, Gung Ho! is a rare and wonderful business book that is packed with invaluable information as well as a compelling, page-turning story.

Raving Fans brilliantly schooled managers on how to turn customers into raving fans. Gung Ho! now brings the same magic to employees. Here is the story of how two managers saved a failing company and turned in record profits with record productivity. The three core ideas of Gung Ho! are surprisingly simple: worthwhile work guided by goals and values; putting workers in control of their production; and cheering one another on. Their principles are so powerful that business leaders, reviewing the manuscript for Ken and Sheldon, have written to say, "Sorry. Ignored instructions. Have photocopied for everyone. I promise to buy books, but can't wait. We need now!" Like Raving Fans, Gung Ho! delivers. ... Read more

Reviews (80)

Great Book and Here's Another!
Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles have created another classic. In a highly effective parable, they provide a blueprint any leader can use to create organizational excitement in just about any type of organization. The most positive characteristics of this book, like all Blanchard books, are the underlying values and wholesome philosophies that drive the message home at each juncture along the way. Whether a person is leading a small work group, a department, a division, or an entire company, he or she will find many useful ideas in this easy-to-read book.

Another book, with a foreword by Ken Blanchard, that I have just finished is also destined to be a classic alongside GUNG HO! I highly recommend everyone - not just people in leadership positions - read WINNING WAYS: FOUR SECRETS FOR GETTING GREAT RESULTS BY WORKING WELL WITH PEOPLE, by Dick Lyles. Dr. Lyles is a protégé of Blanchard and Bowles and this book proves that he, also, has mastered the art of parable writing. This book contains tips that will help anyone be more powerful and charismatic in their dealings with other people.

It will make you believe in yourself and your staff
I joined a new company almost two years ago. Many management people over me were required to read "Gung Ho". I asked to read it and found it thought-provoking, but the three concepts exciting. I've lived those three concepts for the past year and just recently was put in charge of a group seven staff-members. As I recalled the book and the basic concepts, I took it down and read it afresh. As I had practiced, I began teaching the three basic concepts without telling my staff what they are doing. Now my next step is to let them in on the secret. I know "people" are watching me and that's okay. My team is succeeding. With these three concepts in my daily plan of action, I know I will pass the test of a new supervisor as well as have helped create a great winning team. The staff themselves are the winners. The book explains in extremely simple but motivating language how to work together, take control of your actions, and praise one another when we "do good". The book "Gung Ho" is a great birthday or Christmas gift.

You may be able to take something from it
Managers may not be able to enact all of the principles of Gung Ho, but they will be able to walk away with some valuable insight in the world of motivation and performance. If your not sure if you really want this book or not I would recommend that you go for it. There is truly nothing to lose and the reading is entertaining and informative. Every person will be able able to take something from this book and be able to apply it to their work environment.

economics class
The book gung Ho by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles is a great book for managment. It is excellent in the way it simply defines a way to significantly improve your management skills by focusing in the 3 principles. the principles could be used in personal life as well as your profesional life. It is so great that it helps create organization and to use practice using techniques on a daily basis. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in improving their work style. This book is also easy to read and understand.

Simple But Useful
Gung Ho! is a book related to management. Although the concepts in the book are simple, it is important to everyone, especially those are in the management field. The three underlying principles are The Spirit of the Squirrel, The Way of the Beaver and The Gift of the Goose. They are parables of the importance of making employees understand their roles, the conflict between directing the tasks to employees and empowerment by management, and the importance of appreciation to employees respectively.

In my view of point, I think Gung Ho! is a revolutionary technique to boost enthusiasm and performance and usher in astonishing results for any organization. The principles are the tips to increase productivity by fostering excellent morale in the workplace. For example, employees will be loyal to the company if they gain job satisfaction from their worthwhile work. Positive reinforcements such as appreciation (i.e. say ¡§well done¡¨ when those have good performance) and empowerment can motivate employees to improve and have a better performance.

To conclude, Gung Ho! is easy to read but useful for everyone. The writers convey the important management strategies to the readers by using simple story and parables. I think it is a good time for the company, the management team and the employees to refresh and understand their roles so that they can have a good relationship which can benefit as a whole. ... Read more

Book Description

Product Management is a lean, defining text that covers three major tasks facing today’s product mangers:analyzing the market, developing objectives and strategies for the product or service in question, and making decisions about price, advertising, promotion, channels of distribution and service.Product Management utilizes the familiar Marketing Plan as the unifying framework for its lessons, and takes a “hands-on” approach toward preparing graduates to assume the position of product manager. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Too basic to be helpful
This book is seriously too basic to be of any help to a practitioner.

Great book
Explains the steps in product management in extreme detail. Not good for IT products (software), but general. Applies more to non-IT for sure.

Good book.

Fantastic!
This is the ideal book for the product manager/product planner. I have been looking for such a book for years and here it is. What I liked about the book was its no non-sense direct approach to product management. The book covers all topics required to jump start the process. You will learn "what" to accomplish quickly. To learn about the process of product development and that sort of thing you should look into Cooper's "winning at new products" book.

this text covers it all in an very easy to read & grasp style. Topics include defining the competitive set, category attractiveness analysis,... pricing decisions (for a thorough treatment on pricing, I would highly recommend "the strategy and tactics of pricing"), channel management, promotions and financial analysis for product management. The newly added chapter marketing metrics is bang-on.

***Good introductory book for the first line product manager / product planner. Very highly recommended. ***

This book shares some text with the other books these authors have jointly written ("analysis for marketing planning" - another excellent book), but has been changed significantly enough to make reading those shared chapters worthwile if you happen to have both texts.

A blend of product and pricing...
Lehmann proved that product and pricing are the two sides of a coin called Management. Its a must read book for any level of person in Production, Accounting, Warehousing, Marketing and Management. Its an excellent blend of knowledge. ... Read more

Book Description

This career planning guide is written specifically for high-functioning adolescents and young adults on the autism spectrum, their families, teachers, and counselors. The two authors weave together a unique blend of information and advice based on personal experiences. Temple Grandin draws from her own experience with autism spectrum disorders and her professional career, and Kate Duffy uses her expertise on employment issues and the mother of two teenagers with autistic-like behaviors. The result is an extremely useful and practical book that introduces step-by-step processes for the job search with a major section on the impact ASD has in the workplace, including managing sensory problems, how to nurture and turn talents and special interests into paid work, jobs that are particularly suited to individuals on the spectrum, and much more. First-hand accounts of job experiences and advice from individuals representing a broad range of careers particularly suited for high-functioning individuals on the autism spectrum round off this exciting new resource. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Ways to use special interests for people with ASD/AS!
I have read all three of Temple Grandin's books. Each offers a different look at what it is like to experience Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). In "Developing Talents" Grandin provides the readers with insight into how parents and educators can assist people with High Functioning Autism/Asperger Syndrome (HFA/AS)achieve success.

Presented in an easy to read format,this book focuses on using one's strengths, natural talents, and special interests to gain
employment and lead successful lives. This book offers helpful strategies to promote such things as addressing sensory needs in the workplace as well as creating a portfolio to showcase one's talents.

In today's society, having marketable job skills is a must. This book gives a proactive look at some of the challenges faced by people with HFA/AS. It is important for parents and educators to introduce the concepts of the book early in the educational careers of these students as the skills are life skills in addition to career skills.

Fills a much needed void!
As a parent of an adolescent with Asperger Syndrome, I found this book easy to read and understand, with practical how-to instructions and guidelines for preparing my son to enter the work force. I really liked the emphasis on developing social and communication skills that are found throughout the book. This is one I will recommend to friends and relatives as well as my son's educators. ... Read more

Book Description

This text--a combination of Harvard Cases and text-- examines the entrepreneurial process from the initial idea through business operations to harvest.It provides the knowledge and skills required for students pursuing careers as entrepreneurs as well as valuable ideas for those in a more structured business setting.Most importantly, it takes a close look at the process of identifying and pursuing opportunity, which has become increasingly important in restoring the competitive position of many U.S. industries in a global marketplace. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent practical cases from real life!
I require this text in my graduate New Venture course at Western Michigan University. The real life cases and fundamental concepts covered provide a great foundation for New Venture teaching. I also require my start-up consulting clients to read Chpt 1,2 & 3 along with the case study "R&R". Good way to find out if they have what it takes. I first used and enjoyed this book from the other side of the class during my MBA studies at the GSB - University of Chicago. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Fish! Tales is Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen, and Harry Paul's follow-up to Fish!--their enormously popular fable that draws lessons aimed at combating dysfunctional workplaces from the happy fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Market. In Fish! Tales the authors show how these lessons were put into practice at businesses both big (a major hospital and long-distance carrier) and small (a local car dealership and roofing company). Anyone who enjoyed Fish! (or, for that matter, Who Moved My Cheese?) or is looking for a motivational tool to help energize their own workplace, should find this short, upbeat primer worthwhile. --Harry C. Edwards ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Insightful!
Things are going swimmingly in Fish! land. In the latest volume, Fish! Tales, authors Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen, Harry Paul and Philip Strand build on the successful training program that evolved from their first Fish book. Tales shows how four companies - a long-distance call center; a hospital neural-renal unit, a car dealership and a roofing company - have applied Fish! theories effectively. They also provide short examples from other companies to show how well the Fish! function. The four main principles are familiar by now - keep the work fun, seek to serve others, stay focused on your customers and have an enthusiastic attitude - but the examples in the book bring them alive. Along the way, the authors heavily sell their Fish! courses and merchandise - that's just good salesmanship - but the real catch of the day is the final how-to section, showing ways to apply these principles in any organization. The lively writing style helps keep you hooked. We from getAbstract suggest that if you haven't yet caught any Fish!, start with this one. Its cheery, accessible methods should lure you in, hook, line and sinker.

Insightful!
Things are going swimmingly in Fish! land. In the latest volume, Fish! Tales, authors Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen, Harry Paul and Philip Strand build on the successful training program that evolved from their first Fish book. Tales shows how four companies - a long-distance call center; a hospital neural-renal unit, a car dealership and a roofing company - have applied Fish! theories effectively. They also provide short examples from other companies to show how well the Fish! function. The four main principles are familiar by now - keep the work fun, seek to serve others, stay focused on your customers and have an enthusiastic attitude - but the examples in the book bring them alive. Along the way, the authors heavily sell their Fish! courses and merchandise - that's just good salesmanship - but the real catch of the day is the final how-to section, showing ways to apply these principles in any organization. The lively writing style helps keep you hooked. We suggest that if you haven't yet caught any Fish!, start with this one. Its cheery, accessible methods should lure you in, hook, line and sinker.

"Real" It In
I enjoyed reading Fish, but Fish Tales is even better because it has real world success stories. While the original Fish! seemed like a business theory, Fish! Tales shows how several companies actually benefited from implementing these ideas instead of just reading about them. Fish! Tales enhances the credibility of the original book. Rat Race Relaxer: Your Potential & The Maze of Life by JoAnna Carey is another great book for companies to share with employees because it offers entertaining stories and goal oriented advice about improving your workplace and your life.

Disappointing
While the message is a good one, it nearly gets lost in this very poorly written book.

Integrating Fish and optimizing the workplace
The Fish philosophy isn't new but the unique context and delightful presentation makes it effective. I got a lot out of this book because I saw how the concept is integrated into organizations. We have found that the best companion for the Fish philosophy is to train employees in Optimal Thinking. Optimal Thinking is the simple, realistic mental resource to empower individuals to be their best and bring out the best in others. I recommend both of these books. ... Read more

Book Description

In this offbeat approach to leadership, college president Steven B. Sample-the man who turned the University of Southern California into one of the most respected and highly rated universities in the country-challenges many conventional teachings on the subject. Here, Sample outlines an iconoclastic style of leadership that flies in the face of current leadership thought, but a style that unquestionably works, nevertheless. Sample urges leaders and aspiring leaders to focus on some key counterintuitive truths. He offers his own down-to-earth, homespun, and often provocative advice on some complex and thoughtful issues. And he provides many practical, if controversial, tactics for successful leadership, suggesting, among other things, that leaders should sometimes compromise their principles, not read everything that comes across their desks, and always put off decisions. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

weLEAD Book Reivew from the Editor of leadingtoday.org
Steven Sample could be called a modern Renaissance man. He is an author, professor, inventor, electrical engineer, musician and the 10th president of the University of Southern California. His book entitled The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership is different and challenges many commonly accepted perceptions about leadership. A contrarian leader is simply one who thinks and acts differently than most. For example, the contrarian leader is one who thinks "gray" and "free". Thinking gray means to withhold judgments and decisions until you have heard all the relevant facts or until you are forced to do so. Sample spends a fair amount of discussion on the three major pitfalls of binary traditional thinking. He defines thinking "free" as the ability to first allow your mind to contemplate truly outrageous ideas, and only later on, apply the restraints of practicality, legality, cost, ethics and time upon your creative ideas. This philosophy of thinking gray also affects the decision-making elements of the contrarian leader. Sample makes two suggestions regarding decisions. First, that a leader never makes a decision that can be reasonably delegated to a lieutenant. Second, never make a decision today that can be reasonably delayed until tomorrow.

However, the contrarian leader must have other needs and qualities aside from thinking processes and decision-making. These are also discussed in The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership. The author discusses diverse subjects such as artful listening skills, open communication, and the proper role between consultants, experts and the leader. Sample suggests prodigious amount of selective reading, including "supertexts" for the contrarian leader. This includes an extensive discussion on Machiavelli. He provides guidance on how to determine which range of the daily news and printed media are really useful for the contrarian leader. The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership

addresses the difference between good leadership and effective leadership, including the need to make tough moral decisions at the right time. Other discussions include hiring the right people, diversity, connecting with followers and having a title of leadership verses doing leadership.

This is a thought provoking and alternative book on leadership from the perspective of someone who leads a massive educational institution on a daily basis. You may not agree with every concept or idea regarding a contrarian leader, but you will find this book to offer some fresh perspectives.

A great book for toady's business leaders
This is one of the best books on leadership in recent days. The book is best suited for managers who need to make decisions that may impact an organization. It has a clear and easy to read format. Mr. Sample drew anecdotes from his own experience, and that makes the book more convincing. Ideas such as putting off those things that you can decide tomorrow are different and stimulating. There are chapters that are less directly related to the day-to-day business environment, but in general the book is definitely worth reading.

Disappointing and a waste of time
"For example, I feel that polygyny is morally wrong, but I recognize that a sizable fraction of the world's current population...would disagree with me. While my own views are strongly held, I would be disinclined to try to impose my aversion to polygyny on peoples for whom it is a time-honored and respected practice." At that point, I stopped reading this book further. If the author can't 'impose' his views on others regarding multiple marriages, I wondered if he would have ever imposed his views on the those leading Enron, Tyco or Worldcom if they had sought his counsel? Even up to this point in the book, I felt that the author's views were not applicable to the business world where we often don't have the luxury of time and distance that the author does in formulating his opinions. I'm also disappointed in Warren Bennis' advocacy for this book as I'm a big fan of Bennis' books and have read most of them. Now, I will have to be more careful about books Mr. Bennis recommends. There are far better leadership books in the market than this one. My copy is going straight in the trash.

3-Stars On The Gray Scale!
I thought at first that the contents of this new managerial guide would be enlightening and novel. But I was disappointed. Once again we see a guide, which does not address the fundamental qualities of a great leader: expert knowledge in what is being managed and not an annoying, wishy-washy "gray thinking" would-be leader.

A leader with knowledge has no difficulty judging the merits of a new idea and should be capable of making firm and fast decisions based on his/her own expertise as well as that of the experts reporting to him/her. If the leader cannot arrive at a decision on the merits of new ideas, then the leader has no right to call him/herself a leader. Such an individual is deficient in understanding of the field being managed...in other words, an ignoramus, who bluffs his/her way through business life and ends up being an opinionated, flip-flopping weasel. He or she may be sly enough to pretend they can make decisions worthy of a leader, but don't think for a moment that the other employees, who are the real experts, don't see right through the bluff and have zero respect for such a "gray thinking" leader!

Furthermore, to suggest that people "...see themselves as leaders..." breeds an egotistic attitude and is not worthy of great leadership. A true leader is one, who recognizes that he/she is just an employee like everyone else and is respected by his/her knowledgeable colleagues for his/her expertise in the field being managed and led. A leader should be seen as such by others, not put themself on a pedestal above every other fellow employee in the same "boat/company"!

Believe me, I have worked for many years in industry and have seen such "gray thinking" managers hemming and hawing and sweating under the glare of opposing facts because they did not know enough and never will about the subject matter to arrive at any decision for the good of the company and its shareholders. It is not a wise move to think "gray", but one grounded in ignorance and bluff. And everyone saw through our "gray" managers as the "play-acting manager-leaders" that they were. They earned no respect from anyone!

If you would really like to learn from the experts...I suggest a study of the frank perspectives of the people, who will make the ultimate decision on whether you merit the "good manager/leader" title. And I highly recommend the true-to-life episodes in the satirical-humorous book, "MANAGEMENT BY VICE" by the scientist/author C.B.DON as the best teaching tool. As you read it do keep in mind, that while this witty-sharp satire ridicules and honestly exposes many "vices" and follies of mis-management, in life we all most often also learn far more from our own and others' mistakes than from any "grayscale" guide on how not to arrive at any conslusions!

After all, there is such as thing as "Right and Wrong", "Good and Evil". There is also "Great Leadership and present-day Corporate Corruption" --- which is frequently based on selfishness, feeble indecisions and "grayscale" excuses for a whole lot of rotten management practices!

Very illustrative!
Outside-the-box thinking on leadership from one of the country's most renowned college presidents.
In this provocative new book, Steven Sample, one of the nation's most highly regarded university presidents, explodes many romanticized views of leadership and demonstrates how leaders can free themselves from the shackles of conventional wisdom. Never make a decision today that can reasonably be put off to tomorrow. Don't form opinions if you don't have to. Think gray. Shoot your own horse. Don't force others to do your dirty work. The best leaders don't keep up with the popular media and the trades. Machiavelli can help make you a more moral leader. Know what hill you are willing to die on-and keep its exact location to yourself. Know the all important difference between being leader and doing leader. You can't copy your way to the top. "This is an intoxicating read, a bushwacker's delight. With swift, sure strokes, Steve Sample cuts down a lot of bad ideas about leadership and opens up a new path for the next generation to follow. No wonder he has turned around not one but two major universities ... Read more

Book Description

In First, Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup Organization present the remarkable findings of their massive indepth study of great managers.

In today's tight labor markets, companies compete to find and keep the best employees, using pay, benefits, promotions, and training. But no matter how generous its pay, or how renowned its training, the company that lacks great front-line managers will suffer.

Buckingham and Coffman explain how the best managers select an employee for talent rather than for skills or experience; how they set expectations', how they motivate people by building on each person's unique strengths; and, finally, how great managers find the right fit for each person, not the nextrung on the ladder.

First, Break All The Rules provides vital performance and career lessons for managers at every level. This audiobook shows you how to apply them to your own situation. ... Read more

Reviews (172)

Must read for managers of all levels
If you think you can change people, think again. If you think one of a manager's job is to help people improve upon their weaknesses, think again. If you think climbing the corporate ladder is the best way to improve one's position in the corporate world, well, you got it, think again.

This book, written by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, and based on 25 years of research by the Gallup Organization, on over 1 million respondents, has debunked a number of management "myths". I put myths in inverted commas simply because they were "truths" -- until First, Break All The Rules (published by Simon & Schuster, London, New York, 1999, ISBN 0-68486138-0) came along.

The Gallup Organization discovered, after asking one million people hundreds of different questions on the subject of managing others, that people excel only when their talents are put to use. Talents are the recurring patterns of thought and behavior that can't be turned on and off at will. They can't be created or altered. According to the authors, people don't change much. Managers should not waste time changing their subordinates, or making them into what they are not. You cannot give new talent to a person.

The books suggests that every human being has talent, and all roles/functions/jobs in a company require talent. You cannot train or develop talent, but you can train, develop and enhance skills and proficiencies. Talent leads to interest; interest leads to motivation; motivation leads to a desire to learn; a desire to learn leads to skills and proficiencies

As for the corporate ladder, the authors suggest that you should throw it away. For example, good sales person might not perform well if she is promoted to sales manager position. She might not have the talent to manage others. Instead, let her continue in the sales position, but improve upon the salary and benefits.

Not New but Infinitely Useful
It's extremely rare that I recommend a book, about once every decade, but I highly recommend this book.

I just read the comments of those who negatively rated this book because it's concepts are not new. That's true of every management/HR/sales/training/leadership/customer service.. book I've read. How many times have you read a business book and thought "yep, that's right, that's exactly what I've experienced" and then became frustrated because of the gap between what could/should be vs the daily reality of your work experiences? How many times have you wished there was some way you could prove that focusing on the individual employee resulted in creating a provable, positive impact on organizational performance, productivity and profits?

The value of this book is that it is the Gallup organization and they've got the numbers to back up what has previously been rejected as "touchy feely" management methods.

The next time you're told "that won't work, nobody does it that way" or "there's no proof organizational performance is increased by focusing on individual strengths, understanding different people are motivated by different methods, selecting people to fit the job, or that managers have no impact on employee retention", simply reference this book and give them 80,000 reasons why they're wrong.

Supposedly, businesses decisions are based on solid numbers. We all know that businesses decisions are really based on perceptions. This book is gives you the numbers to change the many incorrect perceptions about the process of managing people.

Finding the right fit
This book has become priceless to my business. I highly recommend it to any manager who is having trouble motivating and keeping key employees in today's business environment. Happy employees are productive employees and this book gave me ideas that I had never considered when it came down to placing and hiring the right employees . I also recommend Rat Race Relaxer: Your Potential & The Maze of Life by JoAnna Carey as a corporate gift to keep employees motivated throughout the year.

Great Managers help make great employees great
This is by far one of the best management books that I have ever read. The Gallup Organization puts a whole new spin on what makes a great manager great - helping their employees to succeed as well as finding the right "fit" for their talents. This books put a strong emphasis on the different between skills and knowledge, which can be trained and learned, and talents, which cannot. Talents are unique to every individual and will drive all of us to be better at different things. It is the managers job to help us identify and build on these things.
Buckingham and Coffman do a fantastic job at incorporating wisdom and advice from the 80,000 managers that they interviewed which makes this book much easier to relate to. Whether a manager who is looking to enhance their management style, or an employee who is looking for ways to improve themselves and their organization, this is tremendous and very quick read.

A Great book on Common Sense Management
When did we lose our common sense? In college? Whenever this happened (and whatever the cause), this book helps to reclaim our common sense when applied to the world of managing employees of small, medium, and large-based companies.

This book is essential reading for economics majors, MBA students, and those working in management. It cuts through the jargon and helps people realize that management requires an understanding of human nature. It returns us to psychology. After all, the business world is bound by the rules of psychology. Violate the rules and you may harm your business.

The book delivers harsh facts. Not all employees are going to do well at every task. Managers: stop thinking that everyone can do anything. They can't. It's unreasonable to believe it. It's better to create incentives -- both monetary and prestigue -- on the idea that someone may want to continue working in a similar capacity. The book cites attorneys who start out at a law firm at junior associate, associate, senior associate, and then work on to junior partner, partner, and senior partner. Throughout the process, the attorney does not radically change what he or she is doing. Instead, their work merely becomes more interesting and their pay (and equity in the firm) rises over time. That is, rather than promote someone to a position that is radically different from what they are doing, offer perks and monetary advantages as time goes on to your employees.

The book says to promote strengths rather than overcome employee weaknesses. Some people are just never going to be able to do well at certain tasks. The book's realistic edge says we ought to understand this and move on. We can't strive for perfectin in every avenue. Make sure that your employees are doing what they do best at. Therefore, the goals of the firm -- and the employees' morale, will coincide, allowing harmony to exist in the firm. This book has many golden nuggets of wisdom, and it definitely is a keeper.

Michael ... Read more

Book Description

How businesses can thrive by learning which customers are creating the most profit-and which are losing them money.

One of the oldest myths in business is that every customer is a valuable customer. Even in the age of high-tech data collection, many businesses don't realize that some of their customers are deeply unprofitable, and that simply doing business with them is costing them money. In many places, it's typical that the top 20 percent of customers are generating almost all the profit while the bottom 20 percent are actually destroying value. Managers are missing tremendous opportunities if they are not aware which of their customers are truly profitable and which are not.

According to Larry Selden and Geoff Colvin, there is a way to fix this problem: manage your business not as a collection of products and services but as a customer portfolio. Selden and Colvin show readers how to analyze customer data to understand how you can get the most out of your most critical customer segments. The authors reveal how some companies (such as Best Buy and Fidelity Investments) have already moved in this direction, and what customer-centric strategies are likely to become widespread in the coming years.

For corporate leaders, middle managers, or small business owners, this book offers a breakthrough plan to delight their best customers and drive shareowner value. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Make your Angel Customers Happy
We should all be aware of unprofitable Customers. Anyone in business should be already aware of the 80/20 rule - that 80% of your profits come from 20% of your customers.

This book goes that one step further - by some excellent case studies it shows how 150% of your profits come from 20% of your customers - they are the Angels. The Demons are those 20% of your customers who actually lose you money equal to 150% of your profit.

Its not another book about CRM (Customer Relationship Management), but it is about being Customer-focussed rather than Product-focussed.

I have multiple relationships with Companies who could do with reading this book - including my own employer, with whom I have around 20 Contracts, and yet any one Business Unit only seems to know about 1 or 2 others at best. All those lost selling opportunities - for example they know the ages of my kids from my Travel Insurance Policies, but have never tried to sell me any College Savings Plans!

Read the book and make your Angels happier - and get rid of the Demon ones!

This is a great strategy book
This is a skillfully written, subtile and insightfull book.

I believe that the reviewer who said that "this book stated the obvious and that outside of a novice business student, anyone who finds this book interesting or useful may want to consider another profession than business" has missed the point of this book...completely.

The importance of this book is NOT in stating that "the customer is important .. some more than others". This we all know.

The importance of this book is in outlining a practical methods for ascerting which customers are money making one and which are not money making one **by going at the junction of customer marketing and customer finance**. It is by offering a practical way to relate the two perspectives (the qualitative and the quantitative one) that this book was useful to me.

The key thing I learned from this book is the introduction of detailed customer-finance reasonings to evaluate clients.

I also was greatly inspired by their concept of CUSTOMER DEAVERAGING. I too often see company that thinks in terms of their "average customers" and thereby miss any valuable & actionable insight on how to relate to their customers in a way which is both more profitable and more meaningfull (from both the customers and the client perspective).

Well for company who are like that, I think this is a GREAT book that uncovers what needs to be done in both a practical and theorically sound way.

I can testify that having applied a big part of the framework of this book to solve one strategy problem of one of my european client, we did uncover some really devishly customers (50% of their client acquisition was focusing on customers from which their will be never enough money generated to cover the initial customer acquisition expense) and some really angel ones (25% of their customer acqusition was focused on clients that represents overall 65% of their actual profit). We were also able to do some detailed financial modelling to discover that, in their specific case, they should refocus their attention on the angel customers and probably completely change their business model and value proposition for dealing with their demon ones.

If I had one critic it would be that the part relating customer oriented strategy and the stock valuation is treated without enough precision.

Having said that, I can also state the customer business I was speaking about is a recurrent one and that as a result the benefit of acquiring an angel customer goes well beyond the financial revenue derived from them in the first year. So, beyond the immediate profit improvement that are likely to results from their refocusing on the right customers this year, I anticipate this company to achieve a surge of their financial results in the following years (This hopefully will ultimately also find a reflection in their stock price...)

Behold customer centricity
We have all been frustrated in our interactions with companies that are unable to fulfill our needs. Selden's book paints in broad strokes the steps companies can take to transform themselves into truly customer centered organizations. I have found that while many companies claim to be "customer centric," it is actually impossible for them to be so because, as Seldon insightfully explains, they are not organized around customer segments, are unaware of the varying profitability of these segments, and treat customers equally.

This book should serve as a wake up call to senior executives who desire to take their companies to the next level of success. I found it compelling that the companies cited in the book that have undertaken this transformation have been greatly rewarded through increased profitability and above average stock movement.

After reading this book, I believe that executives may perceive such a reorganization to be daunting and require the use of outside consultants. However, Seldon poignantly points out that the immediacy of favorable results on a small scale will make company wide transformation quickly achievable, and produce substantially improved financial returns.

"Elementary Dr. Watson, elementary"...Garbage
What garbage! I guess if you like PLATITUDES like "mom & apple pie" you'll like this book, or if you're into the OBVIOUS that "customers are important.....some more than others" this book will be a revelation, or if you've never taken a "101 Marketing" course in college or highschool, you'll find the bromidic counsel within this simplistic book (reward good customer & turn bad customers into good customer) new or useful. However, I agree with the book reviewer above: finding practical application to such broad generalities is difficult, if not laughable.

Anyone, outside of a novice business student, that finds this book interesting or useful may want to consider another profession than business! Look for a used copy of this book on Amazon......I'm selling it cheap. How does garbage like this get published? ... Read more

Book Description

Based on Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner's classic book The Leadership Challenge, this Workbook will be your hands-on guide for improving your ability to put into action the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® model and become a leader who Models the Way, Inspires a Shared Vision, Challenges the Process, Enables Others to Act, and Encourages the Heart.
The Workbook's easy-to-use worksheets make efficient planning simple and practical and supports your success in three ways:

• Reflection: Think about your approach to leadership and become more conscious about how well you engage in each of the Practices.
• Application: Apply the Practices and commitments to all your projects.
• Implications: Record what you've learned about yourself, your team, your organization, and your project.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

Workbook makes it easier to work through
I read the original book a few years ago and found the information very inspirational. I was happy to see the updated printing had chapters on corporate downsizing and covered the loss of jobs due to increased technology in the workplace. Now this workbook helps leaders develop an action plan with enough insight to get the job done. I also recommend reading Rat Race Relaxer: Your Potential & The Maze of Life by JoAnna Carey a great week-by-week guide to motivating employees. ... Read more