Amazon.com

"Tempered radicals" may not sound like the type to start revolutions or topple corrupt governments, but in the corporate world, it is often these quiet change advocates that get the ball rolling and policies changing. In her thoughtful study of employees whose differences place them outside the mainstream organizational culture, Debra Meyerson uses this term for those who want to succeed in their organizations without compromising their ideological beliefs and personal lives.

People who hope to "fit in without selling out" operate on a fault line, says Meyerson. While contributing to their companies' success, they support agendas that are often at odds with the dominant culture. This can involve their social identities, such as race, gender, or sexual orientation, or their philosophical values and beliefs, such as a concern for social justice, environmental sustainability, or family-friendly working conditions. They are not radicals in the sense that they want to enact a marked departure from the traditional, but tempered radicals in that they both challenge and uphold the status quo, working "within systems, not against them." Seeking to map the space between conformity and extreme radicalism, Meyerson conducted in-depth interviews with almost 200 people in three very different organizations (though both interviewees and companies were given pseudonyms, the companies are easily identifiable). The result is an insightful look at the way these people effect change, including the varieties of ways to stay true to oneself (through psychological, self-expressive, and behind-the-scenes resistance), how to leverage small wins, and how to organize collective action. There's also a lengthy chapter on the difficulties these tempered radicals face, from the psychological stress of constantly straddling a duality to the incremental lures of co-optation. Having taught in MBA programs at both the University of Michigan and Stanford University, Meyerson is an accomplished business professor; this book shows her to be a methodical researcher, sensitive interpreter of results, and well-organized and fluid writer, as well. Tempered Radicals is sure to be a beacon of inspiration for those wanting to make a difference from within and an inspiration to those who might have assumed that changing one's environment means changing one's job. --S. Ketchum ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Yes, you can actually change the system
This is an important book for you to read if your gender, ethnicity, or lifestyle makes you an outsider in your workplace. Debra Meyerson gives examples of how employees have successfully taken small steps to change their companies so they are accepted and their voices are heard.

Good on politics, slight on deeper issues
First, let me start by saying that I liked this book and have been recommending it to others. As a "tempered radical" I wish that I had read this book early in my career. I had the wrong impression that hard work and results were enough as long as there were no bodies along the way. Young, naïve, and idealistic. Consequently, I am recommending this book to people starting their careers so that they get the reality of work as well as to others who just do not get that their approach is a major irritant to the powers that be.

I also liked this book because the author used her premise to package her ideas so that her tempered radicalism around race, gender, and other legally protected groups could be better heard by others. I came from academia too (and even received my PhD from Michigan where she had an early appointment in her career) but left that environment because of the oppression of free thinking and any kind of difference. This background added to my wish that this book had been around 10 years ago. I might have better succeeded in that environment if I had had this framework from which to work.

Although I like this book, I did not give the book 4 or 5 stars because the best of her book and the most important aspect of her premise was saved until last - the downside of the "tempered" approach. I do believe that revolutionary results can be achieved by evolutionary steps - small steps can achieve great things as they add up without the major heartburn or resistance that a revolution can cause. However, maybe evolution is not the best means to the ends and that cannot be decided until one decides whom they are and what they are about and decide whether tempered or full scale radicalism is what they want to do. This is a choice and is worthy of exposing at the beginning of the book. So although I may have succeeded in academia if I had had her premise from which to work, I would not have been happy because I would not have been true to me and the essence of who I was or am.

Evolution vs. revolution. To choose one must first know what one is willing to give up.

Inspiration and hope
Many of us work in places where we have a vision for how things could be better -- how we could work differently, treat people more respectfully, act on our values. If only, we think -- we could do something different--then we would really feel good about ourselves and proud about the places we work. This book inspires you to lead that change, to act on your vision. In these times when the impulse is to hunker down and just do our jobs, Meyerson gives us role models of people who have been everyday heroes, leading change that made their organizations better for everybody.

A Book About Real Leadership
Meyerson's wonderful book has many virtues, it is well-written, it is well-researched, and it has diverse and lively examples. Best of all, it shows that leadership is not something that is reserved for the most senior managers in an organization, but rather something that can be done by anyone. Another great virtue is that it shows how to make a difference in a company without selling out or faking it. It should be required reading for everyone before they enter the workforce. Companies would make more money, treat their people better, and be filled with more joy and less fear if leaders at all levels followed her wise advice, and adopted the spirited, but constructive, attituide that exudes from this fine book.

The square peg fits the round hole
This was a great read. This book really helped me make sense of some of my struggles at work. Events that used to fill me with anger and frustration don't anymore. I can now look at my work situation in a new light, and react to events in a completely new way. Knowing I'm not the only one who feels like I don't "fit in" has been a real help. In fact, it's been interesting seeing how I and other tempered radicals DO make a difference in our company.

I strongly recommend this book! ... Read more

Book Description

A keen insider's guide to investment rip-offs, scams and conartists.

This book takes an investigative look at the reasons why Ponzi schemes and pyramid frauds are thriving everywhere.It closely examines why over 100,000 Americans are suckered into the schemes every year.Tips are offered to detect schemes and respond when they occur.The purpose of the book is to educated consumers and make them aware of how scams work. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Not All MLM's Are a Pyramid Scheme !
Alot of people think that network market is a semi-legal pyramid scheme, but not all network marketing companies are a pyramid. If many of you do your research, you'll see that companies such as life plus, melaleuca, market america, etc. are true network marketing companies they'll really compensate you if you refer people to their company & products. Before anyone pre-judges a network marketing company, do your research on each company, plan, products, etc. The true pyramid schemes are the one's that you get in the mail that ask you to send between a $1 - $5 to each name & address, and in return, you'll make millions within a few months...that's a true pyramid scheme, I know because I've lost money to these pyramids through the mail. I now know how to tell the difference between a pyramid & a real opportunity. These pyramid schemes give real & great network marketing companies a bad reputation. So again, do your research on a company before enrolling or sending out money. There are truly real gold mines out there, so please do your research by reading articles on them, and check the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) . Thank you.

Ponzi Schemes everywhere...
This book explains ponzi scheme after ponzi scheme, in an interesting, informative way. The people who run these schemes (called "perps") use seemingly endless variations but it all comes down to the same thing: robbing peter to pay paul. The perp offers a guaranteed return on investment, usually an outrageous amount, usually in a short period of time. The explanation for why the perp can give this huge return is basically a varation on the same theme: he has an investment vehicle that will return him even bigger profits then what he's giving you but he needs your money to expand his operation.

Just a few problems with this. First of all, the activity that the perp claims to me making these huge profits from are usually just a cover to take people's money. If the perp actually does use the money for some kind of trade or investments, he typically looses in much of his trading or, even if he is good at it, he has too much money flowing in from the "investors" to keep up. The money just comes too fast even if he has good intentions so...

Here comes robbing peter to pay paul, in other words, paying early investors with later investors money. Its always doomed to fail because it is based on continual growth that cannot possibly be maintained. Ponzi scemes can still last for years however, depending on many factors. This book beautifully explains these things in example after example.

This book also talks about multi-level marketing and pyramid schemes in depth. Also, what should you do if you have been taken by a ponzi scheme? This book offers a number of chapters of advice.

One of the most important points this book makes is that the biggest ponzi scheme of them all is run by our own government. This is the politically untouchable program of Social Security!

Interesting journey into the depths of stupidity
If you've ever wondered how pyramid schemes get started and how they unravel, this book makes an interesting read. You will be both amazed and appalled at the mass stupidity involved in getting these schemes off the ground. However, you might feel a little foolish yourself when the author points out that our very own Social Security System is a textbook Ponzi scheme. ... Read more

Book Description

Insurance companies, as well as banks and thrift institutions, have traditionally reported assets and liabilities on the basis of their amortized cost, or book value. But following the turmoil in securities markets due to highly volatile interest rate fluctuations in the 1980s and the early 1990s, and problems caused by inadequate liquidity, in the mid-1990s the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued a new ruling calling for financial intermediaries to report the fair, or market, value of most assets. Called FAS 115, this new standard is the first step in the eventual change to valuing all the assets and liabilities belonging to financial intermediaries under the fair value accounting method. Thus, these changes will pose tremendous future implications for three key business measures of a financial intermediary: +Solvency: if the fair values of assets and liabilities are out-of-step, then healthy companies may report negative net worth and insolvent companies may appear to be in sound financial condition. +Reported Earnings: if the fair values of assets and liabilities are out of step, then reported earnings will not accurately represent the financial operations of the company. +Risk Management: FASB recently postponed the implementation of its new rules on accounting for the use of derivatives instruments. However, if the final set of rules for figuring the fair value of derivatives is not carefully crafted, it may be possible that companies prudently hedging their risks are subject to penalties in their financial reports, while companies taking greater risks appear to have less volatile financial performance. Compared to banks and other financial intermediaries, life insurance companies have the longest term and most complex liabilities, and hence the new FASB requirement poses the most severe challenges to the life insurance industry. The lessons learned from the debate among life insurance academics and professionals about how respond to the fair value reporting rule will be instructive to their counterparts in other sectors of the insurance industry, as well as those involved with other financial institutions. Of particular note are the two papers which comprise Part III. The first provides examples of the fair valuing of annuity contracts, while the second offers examples of the fair valuing of term insurance products.As the papers collected in The Fair Value of Insurance Business extend and update some of the issues treated in a previous Salomon Center conference volume, The Fair Value of Insurance Liabilities, this new volume may be viewed as a companion to the earlier book. ... Read more

Book Description

Practical Risk Management: An Executive Guide to Avoiding Surprises and Losses is a concise, yet thorough, look at the world of financial risk management. The book is written by two senior banking professionals who have managed business and state- of-the-art financial risk in large and complex financial organisations, and who have also been in the middle of some of the most creative developments and turbulent times that the financial markets have ever seen. The book leverages these real experiences to offer useful and practical approaches to managing financial risk. It explores the challenges of risk management and how these can be overcome by focusing on governance and accountability within the framework of a clearly defined appetite for potential losses.

Readers will gain a good understanding of the different financial risks, the various measurement tools currently available, and will learn to construct a practical risk process that is consistent with corporate strategy. Great emphasis is placed on the shortcomings of such a process and the need to learn from historical failures. Through this work, Banks and Dunn hope to stimulate ideas and provide a basis for further dialogue on effective financial risk management.

The risk management lessons and experience which the two authors share in the book is relevant for a broad range of participants from Board members, CEOs, CFOs, senior management, regulators, auditors, financial analysts, academics and shareholders of large, medium size and small financial institutions, investment funds, smaller companies and non-financial organisations. As financial risks have no boundaries, Practical Risk Management will also appeal to executives around the world.

The book, written in a clear, fast-paced and easily-digestible style, is an invaluable resource for all those who want to learn from, and avoid the repetitions of, the frequent financial disasters that abound without getting caught up in jargon, impractical theory, mathematics and formulae.
... Read more

Book Description

Not all health plans are created equal! To figure out what the best policy is for you and your family, turn to this guide and learn the finer points of the insurance maze. Know your needs and your choices, and you can start saving money now. ... Read more

Book Description

The health care system in this country is broke; and more than ever, the evidence supports the contention that managed health care providers care more about healthy profits than healthy people.FIGHT BACK AND WIN is a practical how-to for all those Americans who worry that their heath care coverage won't be there when they need it.Chapters include: *How to Get Your HMO to Pay Up * Bothersome HMO Traps to Watch Out For * Practical Tips to Follow so that You Don't End Up in an HMO Dispute * Legal Tips to Follow if Your Claim Is Denied * How Ordinary People Fought HMOs. . .and Won * Answers to the 9 Most Commonly Asked Coverage Questions * The Awful ERISA Scandal * Sample Letter to Your Member of Congress * Insurance Traps that Can Effectively Cancel Your Coverage * What Your Insurance Company Won't Tell You *What to Do if an Insurance Company Tries to Rescind Your Policy and more. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

to general to help
This book is too general to help the average person with a health insurance problem. It is not a comprehensive legal guide to the issues. You will need more information.

I love this book!
I love this book. It is so informative, well written, and easy to read. It is also on the cutting edge, especially in light of all the publicity that HMOs are getting these days. You simply have to read this book!

If you or a loved one has an HMO, you must read this book!
This book is brilliant. It is chock-full of useful information about HMOs. It is presented in a style that is entertaining and easy to read. If you or a loved one receives health care through an HMO, you simply have to read this book. It could save your life! ... Read more

Book Description

This is a hands-on resource for business and project risk management, designed to help the reader with risk concepts and tools. The book "demystifies" risk, a subject that has been treated many times in the literature, but from an overly quantitative view. There is a process of narrowing down risk from general uncertainty in a business or project situation and moving through definitive steps, risk planning and management, risk identification, risk assessment, risk management, risk-based scheduling, contract risk, and financial analysis. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Help for us all
"HUMAN RESOURCES PROFESSIONALS AND IN-HOUSE COUNSEL SHOULD UTTER A COLLECTIVE SIGH OF RELIEF. Drs. James Turner and Michael Gelles have parlayed their vast years of experience with-and extensive study of-workplace violence into A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE aptly named Threat Assessment. For those on the front line in the workplace who know that the statistical odds are high that they will be forced to deal with a threat or incident of violence, this unique book METHODICALLY LAYS OUT THE ISSUES, THE ANALYSES AND THE POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS. The case studies-based on thousands of actual cases on which Drs. Turner and Gelles consulted-are INSTRUCTIVE AND INVALUABLE. No longer does a human resources professional have to freeze, not knowing whether s/he is facing a grave threat or simply a bluffing bully. Like conducting regular disaster or fire drills, reading this book PROVIDES THE PREPARATION ONE NEEDS to calmly but rapidly access the threat, implement the Crisis Management Plan and, hopefully, avoid catastrophe." ... Read more

Book Description

This text presents the major principles of life and health insurance law in a manner that will allow students without legal training to readily understand them. The purpose of this text is to educate students to recognize legal problems so that they can seek advice from legal counsel.The LOMA edition will be the only version of Crawford that we offer. If universities are interested in using this version, we will need to work with the Custom Publishing Department to have the cover of the text altered. The textual information can be utilized as it is.New material concerns court oversight of lawyers, market conduct, the new NAIC Life Insurance Illustrations Model Regulation, genetic information, the constitutionality of punitive damages, state statutes limiting punitive damages, the Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, minimum premium plans, self-funded plans, stop-loss contracts, managed care organizations, utilization review, case management, health care fraud, the NAIC Model Variable Contract Law, qualified assignments of liability, Internet advertising, race discrimination, and age discrimination.Discussions of laws that have been repealed, reversed, or overruled, have, of course, been deleted from this edition. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Easy Reading
This book is the third level (not including ACS) in obtaining your FLMI designation. Of the LOMA books I have studied, this has been the easiest reading. The case studies in the book were easy to understand. This book is well written and very interesting. If studied/read all the way through, you will receive a vast knowledge of insurance and how federal/state laws play a part in the insurance world. ... Read more

Book Description

Why Are You Throwing You Money Away?

Wouldn’t you rather keep more money for yourself or your business, increase your profit sooner and keep control of your work environment? This manual is your complete reference for prepaid legal services and legal insurance plans. Whether you are looking for an employee benefit to increase your employee productivity and retention, or grow, protect and bullet proof your small or home-based business from any legal situation, you will refer to this manual again and again.

As an Employer-
You will discover solutions to employee problems.The LSK study found employees with legal problems usually:
§ Are absent five times more than the average employee.
§ Use their medical insurance four times more than the average employee.
§ Use their sick leave twice as often as the average employee.
§ Experience a substantial reduction in their productivity.

As a Small or Home-Based Business Owner-
You will discover how to avoid being part of the following statistics from the US Chamber of Commerce and US Small Business Administration:
§ In the next 12 months, the average owner will need legal advice or assistance four to six times.
§ Hundreds of thousands of businesses fail each year because they could not get the professional help that they need with legal issues, marketing, financing, sales, taxes, and problem employees. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Prepaid Legal--Myth or Reality?
Pre-Paid Legal is a fraud. It offers the moon, but its under-compensated and over-worked attorneys (in Arizona they had to get the TEAMSTERS to organize them due to lack of a law library, killing quotas, and no internet access) provide sub-standard or mediocre help, but the SALESforce (of which this author is a member, of course) hypes the service as if it were the Holy Grail. The company has a TERRIBLE rate of retention, which proves that it does NOT satisfy the needs it claims to help on anything like a consistant basis, its leaders are under subpoena for insider trading and other malfeasance, and it has had a very chequered past with lawsuits, SEC investigations, Justice Department probes, and fines and suits by various state AG's with more in the works. A fine ideal, but the reality is crooked as hell, and this book is just another part of the hype.

Get the book and the insurance
I agree with Bob Afamasaga, for I too am a prepaid legal insurance crusader. I could never afford to call a lawyer until now. As a member, I get to ask my lawyer questions about my rights in certain or questionable situations--unlimited phone calls at no additional cost. Bob explains the stereotypical misunderstandings people have about "not needing a lawyer" and clearly illustrates that you can't afford not to have a lawyer when something happens. Besides, how would you know who to call and how do you know if you are in a legal situation if you haven't talked with a lawyer? It's not a matter of if you will need it, it's a matter of when. Thanks for making this subject clearer, Bob and keep on crusading. ... Read more

Book Description

Value-at-Risk has emerged as the standard tool for measuring and reporting financial market risk.Currently, more than eighty commercial vendors offer enterprise or trading risk management systems that provide VAR-like measures.Risk managers are therefore often left with the daunting task of having to choose from this plethora of risk measures.
While basic VAR textbooks describe average VAR situations, the vast majority of these situations are abnormal. Elements of Financial Risk Management focuses on implementation, especially recent techniques which facilitate "bridging the gap" between standard textbooks on risk and real-life risk management systems. This book will appeal to practitioners in the financial services and investment industries, as well as graduate students and advanced undergraduates who want exposure to these techniques.

*Pinpoints key features of risk asset returns and captures them in tractable statistical models in the
accompanying CD-ROM
*Presents step-by-step approaches as a means to solve problems
*Visible patterns in the data motivate the choices of tools, and when tools fall short, it presents the next tool ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Crisp and Practical. Attached Excel files are beautiful!!
I actually learnt elements of risk management and derivatives in a graduate program using this book.
Though I was a perfect amateur in this area, I could understand the essence without taking so much time. That was because this book is short and to the point. Additionally, it is a fair bit practical by adding Excel work files full of models and functions often used in Financial industry. I think the book is also well designed for independent study. All answer files of exercises are contained in an attached CD-ROM.
The best book without question.

Clear and concise
The book has its materials laid out clearly with stated goals and conclusions to keep readers well focused. It gives a very concise yet clear explainations to the recent advancements in risk managment. The mathematics in this book isn't difficult for the beginners, yet it can be challenging to those advanced readers who want to get technical; this book is for everyone!

Moreover, you can try it! - a real hand on practice by doing the excercises included in the CD-rom. This book really gave me a practical intuition to the those time-series methods that were taught in the graduate econometrics course. This book is a gold mine among the students and practitioners of financial risk management.

Excellent Purchase
This text provides a comprehensive introduction to the growing field of modern Risk Management. Strong points include a very readable section on statistical modeling for volatility and correlation accompanied by many practical excel exercises that enable the reader to apply the theory first hand.

The author complements the theory nicely with simple intuitive explanations. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the theory and practice of risk anagement.

Great Book
I think this book is a must read for anyone who is currently involved or plans to be involved in the world of Risk Management or even Finance in general. It's a really pleasant read as Christoffersen provides intuitive and clear explanations to back up all his models. Topics that would otherwise be difficult to wrap your head around all of a sudden make sense! ... Read more

Book Description

"Health Savings Accounts will provide Americans with more choices and better opportunities to meet their health-care needs.The guidelines released today are the next critical step in helping to improve health-care access for all Americans. The new accounts will allow all individuals and families to save tax-free dollars for medical and retiree benefits. With these new accounts, all Americans will finally have the opportunity to protect themselves from potentially devastating health-care costs while better controlling their own health-care choices.As costs continue to grow, it’s critical that we empower Americans with solutions to meet the demands of their families’ health-care needs."

– U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill FristIt's here! The First Guide to HSAs! A breakthrough in health care for employees and employers alike, HSAs stand for "Health Savings Accounts."As of January 1, 2004, HSAs are a new option from the U.S. government, similar to an IRA, offering individuals a new, tax-sheltered way to accumulate savings. Tax-free dollars in HSAs may be withdrawn instantly for qualified medical expenses, rolled over without penalty for spending in future years, or invested, to accumulate savings to pay for health needs after retirement. Business owners who offer HSAs to employees benefit from tax relief, and most importantly, can use this program to save up to two-thirds of their business expenses on health insurance costs. ... Read more

Book Description

Who determines whether persons are disabled and eligible to receive the billions of dollars that are awarded in benefits under federal disability programs today in the United States? What kinds of standards are applied in making awards to millions of applicants? And how are disability determinations made and claims adjudicated? Bloch provides a careful study of disability determinations in five major federal programs. He calls for reform and a greater use of medical personnel in these determinations. ... Read more