Book Description

Praise for Just Enough

"One of the things society needs most right now is a reasoned sense of what is enough. This book will advance the dialogue of this important topic for individuals and their communities."
–Hon. Barbara H. Franklin, President and CEO, Barbara Franklin Enterprises
former U.S. Secretary of Commerce

"Rarely do we find a book for leaders that addresses all aspects of leadership success. Just Enough does just this in a powerful and inspiring way. From values and self-fulfillment, high performance and results, to legacy, the last great gift of a leader, Just Enough delivers a profound new resource for leaders everywhere."
–Frances Hesselbein
Chairman, Leader to Leader Institute

"Just Enough will make you think about how you define success in your life in entirely new and creative ways. If you are searching for the kind of meaningful success that endures, read this well-researched and well-written book."
–Ralph S. Larsen, former Chairman and CEO, Johnson & Johnson

"Just Enough provides insights and guideposts for dealing with the complex pressures for performance in today’s workplace environment. Readers of this impressive book will have a better understanding of what success should mean and how to go about achieving it. Best of all, Laura Nash and Howard Stevenson use their experience and research to provide concrete examples and helpful ‘quick points’ summaries."
–Thomas W. Dunfee
Joseph Kolodny Professor of Social Responsibility in Business
The Wharton School

"A brilliant assault on our conventional assumptions of success. Completely fresh and original, Just Enough is filled with wisdom and unfettered thinking. The book takes the reader to the core of life’s deeper meanings and offers real solutions to man’s obsession with success."
–Jim Loehr, CEO, LGE Performance Systems and coauthor of the bestselling The Power of Full Engagement

"I wish I could have read this book when I was thirty and then reread it periodically throughout my life. Its insights into how to define success and what is not enough, just enough, and too much are fascinating. I could have set clearer targets and periodically altered them as my life and the world changed."
–Frank Batten, retired CEO, Landmark Communications, Inc. and founder of The Weather Channel

"Bravo to Laura Nash and Howard Stevenson for tackling a complex subject and providing a framework for analysis that is both original and engaging. For anyone who wants to sort out ‘success’ from ‘significance’ in work and life, Just Enough is the book for you."
–Janet Morrison Clarke, President, Clarke Littlefield LLC and former Executive Vice President, Young & Rubicam, Inc. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

"Just Enough" is more than enough.....
"Just Enough" is more than enough: A turgid, pretentious, strident, and wholly unoriginal piece of work. Its framework neither breaks any new ground in the study of the sociology of business or organization behavior, nor is it a particularly useful addition to the realm of self-help pop-business literature. At best, this might have been a reasonable ten page article in the Harvard Business Review, but surely not enough material for 280 pages! Better to read "Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow : Discovering Your Right Livelihood," by MARSHA SINETAR, and call it a day.

Thank you to the authors
Just Enough helps you do two essential things. It helps you define where you want to be, and then helps you be in that place, be it at work, with your family, or in volunteer activities, fully. I strongly suggest this book to everyone struggling with why we are all so rushed, tired, and crazed but still feeling unfulfilled.
Denise Rossman
Concord, Massachusetts

Grateful Reader
This book is a most thoughtful and thorough look at that elusive feeling called fulfillment. It helped me find peace with decisions that I have made in the past, and will be a resource for the decisions I make in the future. I wish I had read it as a younger man as I was struggling with being pulled in so many directions. I gave a copy to my daughter and son-in-law who just had their first baby hoping it will guide them parent my first grandchild. The information is presented in an analytical style that I enjoyed very much. It is the most helpful guide I know for self-reflection and I strongly recommend it to almost everyone I care about.

Honorable Robert H. Bohn
Massachusetts Superior Court

The kaleidoscope of success
Laura Nash and Howard Stevenson published an article that is adapted from their book, in the February issue of the Harvard Business Review (go to http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu, and search for "Success that lasts"). If you are time-constrained, for $6 it is a very good way to get an idea of what the book covers. And you can download the article too.
This is a review of the article but of course the concepts are the same.

Success can be so elusive. The authors compare it to an Escher drawing of a staircase! They propose an interesting framework to help us capture our own definition of success. After all we are the ones living our lives. Why let anyone else decide for us?

In their view success comes from 4 irreducible components:
happiness (feelings of pleasure or contentment about your life); achievement (accomplishments that compare favorably against similar goals others have strived for); significance (the sense that you've made a positive impact on people you care about); and legacy (a way to establish your values or accomplishments so as to help others find future success).

But they note that unfortunately, "you cannot neatly categorize the realms of your life, assigning happiness to self, achievement to work, significance to family, legacy to community."

So, "no matter how noble, one goal can't satisfy all of a person's complex needs and desires." Actually, they say that since we have limited time and energy, we need to find a balance, something along the lines of less (in any one category) is more (overall).

To capture this, the authors have developed an interesting metaphor: The Kaleidoscope Strategy. It combines the four components with the realms of life: self, work, family, community. It brings structure to our exploration of what success means to us. The Kaleidoscope comes with a set of questions, to help us shed light on our findings.

Highly recommended.

Good framework / weak on existing social science
Authors have an excellent framework for considering these issues.

They seem to address the book to the "power and money mad" reader.

They ignore considerable research demonstrating that those who value intrinsic motivators live longer, are happier, and are more healthy.

This is THE book for the power and money hungry who need to see the world in more balanced terms. ... Read more

Book Description

From celebrity moms to everyday moms, why and how mothers stay at work and stay sane and happy

The kids are sick but the boss needs the presentation on her desk by ten. The parent-child kindergarten brunch can't be missed, yet the business meeting beckons. When the only thing she knows for sure is that her day will bring a new set of challenges and priorities to be juggled, how does a stay-at-work mom do it all?

Wendy Sachs, stay-at-work mother of two, has interviewed women from every walk of life- from celebrities like makeup maven Bobbi Brown, designer Vera Wang, CNN's Soledad O'Brien, the Today Show's Ann Curry to everyday moms from all over the country-and has uncovered some inspiring answers. For starters, some stay-at-work moms have given up striving for balance; for true happiness and sanity, integration is the real key. Others have discovered that compartmentalization wearing different hats at different times of day-is the only way to thrive. For all, the psychological, emotional, and financial payback of work is what keeps them feeling alive; even if they could afford not to work (and many can afford the choice), they wouldn't have it any other way. Demonstrating that a byproduct of having career ambition is a happier marriage and family, How She Really Does It will validate the millions of women now attempting to"have it all," or at least some of it all the time. Revealing the keys to staying-at-work, staying sane, staying satisfied, and staying at the heart of her family as well, How She Really Does It is a modern working woman's handbook. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

The Complete Single Mother - A fan!
Despite the fact that my parenting life never included a supportive spouse, I found Wendy Sachs' book an entertaining and insightful look at how real life moms cope with the trememdous challenges and rewards of combining career and motherhood.Despite my initial skepticism, I found the celebrity interviews very "real" and, actually, informative.Working mothers of every type will find How She Really Does It a revealing look at how other working moms handle their pressured lives with grace and spunk.

Great Book
As a new mom who sleeps very little these days, constantly worrying about the future, I found this book to be an immensely satisfying read.I loved the stories and found hope, comfort and joy as I learned how these other women were doing it. Wendy did a fantastice job interweaving the tales of so many women seekeing to find a perfect balance and forgiving themselves if they did not.

The Perfect Mother's Day Gift
This book was given to me for Mother's Day and it is absolutely great reading.Just when I thought I was all alone searching for a formula to balance family, friends, career and self, yet finding it to be an endless struggle, I read Wendy Sachs' amazing book.Not only are the stories helpful, but they are fascinating, so much so that I couldn't put the book down. This immensely readable book is humorous, helpful and a true delight. I believe the message is universal to all women at all stages of their lives.Thank you Wendy!

A MUST READ!
Wendy Sachs has written the book that every working mom needs to read! Funny, witty, incredibly readable! The interviews are intriguing and her wisdom is captivating...and so right on! I am either laughing or crying.It's so nice to know that someone else understands the tightrope we working mom's walk.This book should stay in your tote or briefcase or diaper bag at all times, even once you read it through, it's a great 'pick-me-up' on a tough day.I'm looking forward to the next book!

Homerun for Wendy Sachs
Wendy Sachs nails it, without stooping to a level that incites Mommy Wars.With great interviews and funny, often poignant, personal anecdotes, Wendy outlines why being a Stay at Work mom is so important to so many women. Sure, life for a working mom can be crazy. But as any mom will tell you, working professionally or not, life with kids, especially little ones, can just be crazy. I loved reading it, and did so in two long stretches because I didn't want to put it down. ... Read more

Book Description

Ken Blanchard, coauthor of the business classic The One Minute Manager, has teamed up with Jesse Stoner, a leader in the field of vision and strategy, to show how anyone can create a compelling vision for their organization and for their own life. They show where vision comes from, how it unleashes great power and energy, and how it provides ongoing focus and direction.

They explain how to create the three key elements of a compelling vision: significant purpose, clear values, and a picture of the future. They demonstrate how to engage people in shaping meaningful visions and putting those visions to work in their organizations and their lives. And they describe how to ensure that the vision stays alive through understanding three principles: how it is created, how it is communicated, and how it is lived.

The elements of vision are presented in a beautifully written and engaging story about two people who are struggling to create visions-both for the company where they work and for their own lives. Blanchard and Stoner offer numerous examples of effective visions and explore precisely why these visions work.

The lessons are remarkably easy to understand and apply. According to visionary leadership expert Warren Bennis, Blanchard and Stoner have given "meaning and life to vision. Even Dilbert will get it!" Readers will learn how to crystallize a vision that resonates with their own hopes and dreams and allows them to go full steam ahead! ... Read more

Reviews (21)

Going Full Steam Ahead!
Everyone should read this book, whether you're in business or not. The principles could be used in your personal life as well as your professional life. The co-authors, Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner show how to create a vision for your work and for your own life. They clearly explain the three components of a vision so that you understand how to apply them to your own situation. The story is beautifully written and the book is hard to put down. I guarantee you'll be thinking about this book for a long time after you finish it. And you might want to read it a second time! When I finished it, I gave it to my wife. She loved it too!

Subject comes alive, thanks to the authors
A book about vision ordinarily wouldn't be the first thing I'd pick
up to read . . . yet I'm glad I made an exception for FULL STEAM
AHEAD!, an engaging story by Ken
Blanchard and Jesse Stoner about two people struggling to
find direction for the company where they work and for their
own lives.

Blanchard's THE ONE MINUTE MANAGER, written along
with Spencer Johnson, has always been one of my favorite
business books . . . this one follows that format; i.e, present
a tale with believable characters and have them ponder
something important . . . when they do so, then let the reader
discover a number of important principles that will help him or
her grow as an employee or employer . . . and human being.

By reading FULL STEAM AHEAD!, you'll learn the three
elements of a compelling vision: significant purpose, clear values
and a picture of the future . . . perhaps more importantly, you'll
also discover how to ensure that the vision comes alive through

understanding the principles of how it is created, how it
is communicated and how it is lived.

My only regret is that I did not learn the above earlier in my life!

Several of the book's passages stood out for me, including these:
* "If I had been clear about my vision of if Doug and I had shared a
vision, we could have talked about what we were doing that was
consistent with our vision and where we were off track. Maybe we
could have fixed things early on before they became irreparable."

* I continued. "I grew up in Michigan, so I'm very aware of the
automotive industry. I was impressed with their rallying call
'Quality is job one.' To most people this sounds like they're saying,
'Quality is the most important job.' And they are. But it's also a
message that conveys deeper meaning. Most people don't know
this, but job one is the term for the prototype of each model-the
first car off the assembly line. This car has to be perfect because
it is the standard against which all of the other cars are built. When
workers at Ford Motors first heard 'Quality is job one,' what they
really heard was that every car they produced had to be perfect, held
to the standard of the first job-the first car off the assembly line.
They had a clear picture of what quality looks like. The rallying call
also told them that they are going to seriously compete with the
Japanese market in the area of quality. There was a lot of meaning
attached to their rallying call, and it connected them to a shared vision.
That was the year that the Ford Taurus overtook the Honda Accord as
the best-selling car in that class."

* We agreed that a rallying call is a great way to encapsulate the messages
of a shared vision. We thought of examples where the rallying call of a
company was a true expression of their vision, such as Ritz-Carlton's
"We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen" and
Disney's "to keep the same smiles on people's faces when they leave
the park that they had when they entered six, eight, or twelve hours
earlier," and Steve Job's vision to make computers accessible and
affordable for everyone by creating a world with "a computer on every
desk."

Highest Praise for Full Steam Ahead!
When do you need vision? During times of growth, change or opportunity--and during times of uncertainty. According to Blanchard and Stoner, vision means know who you are, where you're going, and what will guide your journey. They show you how to create a vision for your work and your life that will unleash your power and potential and allow you to go Full Steam Ahead! They offer many examples of effective visions and show how to create one that will guide you. The authors share suprisingly simple, practical and powerful lessons and demonstrate how to use the power of vision to get focused, get energized and get great results; how to create a vision that touches the hearts and spirits of everyone involved; and how to create a vision for your own life that provides meaning and direction. Most importantly, they show that vision is not only necessary, but also how each of us can create one.

Vision is Power!
Blanchard and Stoner has presented a really readable book on such a broad topic as vision building. Blanchard's parable format has served him well throughout all his business and leadership books from One Minute Manager to Raving Fans and Whale Done! and it still continues to amaze with its simplicity and ability to convey powerful messages that connects with the readers.

The journey taken by Ellie and Jim in using and applying their skills in vision building in their career and family life is both inspiring and instructional. Their definition of purpose, values and visualisation of the future are clear and simple to apply (not easy tasks but definitely simple).

The lessons here can be learnt and applied in a great variety of situations and more importantly, they can be taught after they are acquired. Anyone or any organisation seeking to move from where they are NOW to where they want to be in the future will benefit greatly from this short but powerful book.

Take care of you

Highest Praise for Full Steam Ahead!
I read this book in one day having been totally absorbed in the journey that Jim Carpenter and Ellie embarked on to discover a mission statement for the insurance agency. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and liked the style of writing that made me feel as though I was overhearing someone's conversation. The most poignant part of this book was a telephone message by Jim that said, " ...if you think your self-worth is a function of your performance plus the opinion of others, then you're caught in a trap that leaves your self-esteem up for grabs every single day. But if you're playing to a higher audience or higher set of values, that's a different thing. Now you can do what is right because you know it's the right thing to do, instead of being driven by other people's opinions of you. It's what allows you to act with integrity." Another key point which stuck me from Full Steam Ahead is that it's vital to be in the present, to start living your vision once it becomes conscious, acting on what you know. I found this book extremely helpful not only on a professional level but also on a personal level. ... Read more

Reviews (31)

The best practical business advice EVERY woman should read
I have worked 25 years in the workforce and now make a tremendous salary. I have 50+ books in my office on management, sales, business and marketing by the leading authors of our time. This is by far, the best book of its kind (targeted to women)on the market today. I wish I had read it 25 years ago! Many women, unfortunately, feel they have to play a "game" to get ahead in business. This book gives us insight to our inner selves and helps us realize we can be true to ourselves - and still WIN in the workplace. Fabulous book!!!!

Focus on Results rather than who's pleasing who
This book revolves around two premises: Good Girls please others, Gutsy Girls please themselves. Whatever happened to focusing on results and what needs to be done at work? An effective person, male or female, doesn't matter which, focuses on the tasks and strategies that advance the business' objectives instead of playing gamesmanship (or in this case, gameswomanship) with others. Ms. White makes it sound so droll to be a "good girl" and denigrates her to no end, when in reality she is portraying a doormat straw-woman so that she can contrast with her "gutsy girl" persona who doesn't give a hoot about anyone but how she can get ahead and elbow her way to the top. Modern business relies on teamwork and collaboration, and such a self-centered approach will not get the best long term results.

Fantastic!
This book has changed the way I think about my career and inspired me to become more "gutsy" by taking smart risks. These are things that nobody teaches you in business school. Gutsy girls go after what they want!

Where's the facts?
Kate White offers a lot of self-empowering advice here, but after just having read Good to Great, I see that her advice is ONLY based on experience, not on any hard evidence. Some of this advice may work for her, but according to the facts in Good to Great, the leaders who make companies successful don't have the charisma she's talking about. At any rate, she offers some great tips for someone who likes to keep the status quo. She simply uses the doormat vs. gutsy woman approach to prove her point. (And her experience still has merit - look where she is now.)

Smart girls can be both good and gutsy!
Hated it! The piece on Julia Roberts was opportunistic and simply proved this woman may well be short on ethics and long on selling hype. Those who chose to overlook what is awful about this book are the very people the author is seeking.
Not my cup of tea! Hope my review was gutsy enough! ... Read more

Book Description

Creativity is crucial to business success. But too often, even the most innovative organization quickly becomes a "giant hairball"--a tangled, impenetrable mass of rules, traditions, and systems, all based on what worked in the past--that exercises an inexorable pull into mediocrity. Gordon McKenzie worked at Hallmark Cards for thirty years, many of which he spent inspiring his colleagues to slip the bonds of Corporate Normalcy and rise to orbit--to a mode of dreaming, daring and doing above and beyond the rubber-stamp confines of the administrative mind-set. In his deeply funny book, exuberantly illustrated in full color, he shares the story of his own professional evolution, together with lessons on awakening and fostering creative genius.

Originally self-published and already a business "cult classic", this personally empowering and entertaining look at the intersection between human creativity and the bottom line is now widely available to bookstores. It will be a must-read for any manager looking for new ways to invigorate employees, and any professional who wants to achieve his or her best, most self-expressive, most creative and fulfilling work. ... Read more

Reviews (70)

An outstanding gem - for corporate fools (and everyone else)
Gordon MacKenzie's "Orbiting The Giant Hairball" is a wonderful book for anyone looking to bring more creativity into his or her life or job. First of all, aesthetically this is one of the most beautiful books I own. Gordon tapped his own creative genius and turned out something that in addition to being filled with quality content is a work of art. Secondly, Gordon lived the role of "corporate fool," at Hallmark where he was able to use his wonderful creative spirit to stimulate creativity. He walked the talk and in this book shares that experience.

As someone who speaks extensively on creativity and is the author of "Aha!-10 Ways To Free Your Creative Spirit and Find Your Great Ideas," I have read many books on the subject of creativity. Gordon's is unique and special. It is a joy to read, and guaranteed to provide any reader with a fresh perspective on their creative challenges. It is sad that Gordon passed away not to long ago. He was a gift to everyone he crossed paths with, and we are fortunate that he left this legacy so that he will continue to cross paths with many more in the future.

Click buy...you will not be disappointed.

Working Creatively and Effectively Inside the Corporation
This book deserves more than five stars.

Although I have read many excellent books about nurturing creativity and working creatively in companies, this is the first book I have read where the author has been someone who has done that repeatedly and in a variety of ways. That perspective is uniquely valuable both to those who want to have more creative jobs and those who would like to encourage creativity.

Although the analogies seem far-fetched at first (orbiting the giant hairball means taking a creative tangent and refocusing it to have relevance for the company's purpose), they serve to open your mind to thinking differently about creativity and organizations.

Although the author's key points are not summarized anywhere in the book, you will begin to get a sense of how the ideas connect together. That's useful, because otherwise why should he try to teach us so much? Except in the chapter that deals with them, any of the key observations would have been enough for a whole book on the subject. The overall theme is that our minds are subject to being too quickly anesthetized, rather than stimulated to ground-breaking insights. You'll love the story about hypnotizing hens where he introduces that concept.

One of my favorite stories in the book described when the author was asked to create an introductory course on creativity. The first session was wildly successful. The author then analyzed why it worked and created a more organized version of this course (called Grope). That sesssion didn't work as well. Then he went back to being unstructured (operating at the edge of chaos), and the course worked again. He learned from this the delicate connection between groping and rote. You need more of the former and less of the latter.

Another of my favorite stories related to the joy he experienced when he first started parachuting. But within six months, it was getting to be boring. He could only make it more exciting by taking the parachute off, but that would be suicide. On the other hand, if he never tried something new, he would be vegatating. So we want to stay somewhere between suicide and vegetation for the most effective results.

You will enjoy reading this book because it presents a fresh perspective that will stay with you. The successful point of entry is a story about children. When the author shows children about making sculpture from sheets of steel, he asks them if they are creative. All first graders raise their hands. By sixth grade, no one will say that they are creative. The pressure to be like everyone else makes the creative people want to hide. It just gets worse from there. Everyone who reads that story will remember experiences from childhood where their creativity was actively discouraged by teachers, parents, neighbors and classmates. Such a pity!

Each story is imaginatively illustrated to help you get a sense of a different reality. It also makes the material more accessible to people of all ages.

In addition to reading and changing your own behavior, this book should be shared with young people to reinforce the idea that it is desirable to be creative. This would be a good book to discuss with your coworkers, as well.

You Know You Got a Classic When
You know you've got a classic when people either love it or hate it. My wife tries to get this idea across to students who either love E.A. Poe or hate him as being 'too creepy'. The point is that the work creates strong emotions. What, if anything, you do with your reaction is up to you. MacKenzie's 'hairball' is one of these. Me?, I love it.

Amusing, but not helpful
I was really disappointed after reading this book - I should have paid more attention to the negative comments.

Any book that bills itself as a "guide to surviving with grace" should have actual advice for how to do it. "Hairball" adoringly recaps the author's career path with little practical advice on how to replicate any of his success. (Unless I want to work in dim lighting and pretend to be a mysterious.)

Like "Who Moved My Cheese?" this book dumbs down any good lessons it could make. And like WMMC, it had my teeth on edge by the end. The illustrated stories started out as whimsical and amusing, but became irritating after the 50th messy, run-on sentence-filled, stream-of-consciousness page.

If you want to learn why Gordon was the man at Hallmark, this is the book for you. If you want to learn how to survive with grace in your own corporate hairball, sorry - you're out of luck.

A unique spirit
This week I was pulled back to Gordon's book and his message, seven years after first meeting him and reading his book. Gordon spoke at our annual conference in 1997 and I can only say that we all fell in love with him.

If you're looking for a 10-steps to a better whatever, this is probably not a book you'll like. If you want to slow down a bit and get a glimpse into someone else's soul in a way that touches your own, this book is cool water on a warm day. Gordon approaches creativity as a way of being not a roadmap. His gentle stories illustrate his own lessons in a way we can all relate to and connect to our own lives.

Occasionally when I get too caught up in models and formulas and processes, I pull Gordon's book out and re-connect with the deeper flow of what this work of creativity is all about.

Gordon left us too soon but I am deeply grateful that he left this piece of himself with us. ... Read more

Book Description

The 80/20 Principle--that 80 percent of results flow from just 20 percent of our efforts--is one of the great secrets of highly effective people and organizations.

One of the decade's most original, provocative, and powerful books, The 80/20 Principle shows how you can achieve much more with much less effort, time, and resources, simply by concentrating on the all-important 20 percent.Astonishingly, although the 80/20 Principle has long influenced today's world, Richard Koch is the first person to show how to use it in a systematic and practical way.

The pattern of predictable imbalance underlying the 80/20 Principle was first discovered a hundred years ago by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto while studying income and wealth patterns.But the pattern of "predictable imbalance," as he termed it, crops up throughout life.In The 80/20 Principle, Koch opens our eyes to the way the principle works through a wide range of examples in business, commerce, and virtually every aspect of our lives.For example, 20 percent of products account for 80 percent of sales and profits; similarly, 20 percent of customers account for 80 percent of revenues.

By identifying and focusing on the 20 percent of our efforts that result in the huge bulk of our success, we can leverage our efforts to vastly increase our effectiveness.For we discover that little of what we do really counts.By concentrating on those things that do, we can transform our effectiveness in our jobs, our careers, our businesses, and our lives.By showing how to unlock the enormous potential of the magic 20 percent, The 80/20 Principle will revolutionize your life. ... Read more

Reviews (46)

Focusing personal and corporate energy where it counts.
Richard Koch masterfully amplifies and focuses Vilfredo Pareto's familiar Principle of Imbalance for 21st century readers. Whether you run a household or work within a giant corporation, you will find useful insights into how to apply your time for the greatest improvements in your life and your organization's bottom line. At The Stanton Group we continuously apply 80/20 logic to our manufacturing management consulting services, and the bottom-line results have been exciting. This approach helps us to build on already existing client strengths and apply them to business areas where they will yield the most benefit. This book is a real gem, a must-read for all managers who want to keep organizations lean without cutting muscle.

If you only read five books, this should be one: 80/20
The principle is simple, but counter-intuitive: Nature creates imbalances. This is true for money (20% of people have 80% of the wealth), crime (20% of criminals commit 80% of crimes), energy usage (15% of population uses 85% of energy), competition (20% of suppliers have 80% of market share)and even carpet (20% gets 80% wear and tear). . .

In a non-linear world:

1) Celebrate exceptional productivity . . .look for the short cut. . .be selective. . . only do what you do best. (pg 38)

2) Keep it simple. Size often creates complexity - which in turn creates inefficiency. Pour your effort into the 20% that makes a difference. Sometimes it is better to lose unprofitable customers to competitors (pg 93)

3) Hold on to your good customers and employees forever!

4) The key to 80/20 is not time-mangement. Don't try to do more. Just do more of the right things.

5) Do what you enjoy because enthusiasm and success is a complementary cycle.

6) Three great lists:
The top 10 low-value uses of time (pg 161)
The top 10 highest value uses of time (pg 161)
The ten golden rules for career success (pg 194)

Confusing
I heard of the "Pareto Principle" a long time ago -- the 80/20 rule which basically states that 80% of the results come from the efforts of 20% of the people.

Koch has some ideas at the beginning of the book which show the value of the idea, and when he speaks about working "smart" as opposed to working "hard," I agree totally. His advice about zeroing in on the important "20%" is valuable -- provided, of course, that you know what that 20% is.

However, when he tells us how we are to apply this to our personal lives, he has "left off preachin' and has started meddling." True, we are all social beings and we need each other in our interdependent culture. Family togetherness is wonderful, but having big family dinners each night and encouraging the warm, moist extended family suport is, in my opinion, overrated. I agree that the American family is often fragmented, but each family must work out its own way, finding the 20% that applies to that particular family, and not in one die-cut, predetermined way. "Nonconformity" is not my style, but I've made personal choices (such as waiting until late in life to marry) that don't always fit these predetermined ways to live, and my 20% may be different from the 20% of someone who has gone the "traditional family" route. (A "traditional family" can be as abusive and stifling as it can be supporting and loving.)

I agree with the reviewer who said to read this book to look for the 20% that applies to you, and then ignore the other 80%.

Eye opening, it will make you think
I read this book out of curiosity, having heard about the principle many times but never actually analysing it. After reading the book, I am now rethinking all my activities, professionals and personal, and finding oasis of value that I can easily harvest leveraging the Pareto ideas.

Excellent book

good concept, but beware of over-application of the concept
Has good concepts when it comes to business, time management but has ideas that brainwashes you to believe in concepts that limit your possibility for happiness and success. Has contradicting ideas in the book.

It is an okay book, just gotta pick out the bones from the fishmeat. ... Read more

Book Description

A renowned communication expert introduces a subtle and efffective way of selling your best asset--yourself--without turning off those you're trying to impress. It is well-documented that working hard isn't enough to keep your professional star rising: Self-promotion is recognized as one of the most important attributes for getting ahead. But learning to share your talents and successes without coming across as smug or rehearsed is a tricky skill. Now, Peggy Klaus, top communication and leadership coach, has developed a program that will teach anyone to brag--and get away with it. Filled with practical examples of ways in which people in various work-life stages can promote themselves, Klaus teaches readers to communicate strengths and accomplishments without appearing too opportunistic, eager, egotistical, or self-aggrandizing. Now anyone can communicate with style and substance--in any situation--and walk away shining like the star they are! ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Yes- Brag
This is an amusing, informative book advising people how to self-promote. I read the book, and then put into practice what was taught for some telephone promotion for raising funds for a non-profit organization that I work with. It was amazing how the technique Ms. Klaus advised encouraged the return of calls previously ignored. I was so pleased. As well, it is fun to read, making you chuckle throughout. She is a great educator.

MyShelf.com Book Reviewer
In today's corporate market, competition is fierce, as people try to out do each other to get ahead. There are many techniques, but not every one is effective. Finding the right marketing technique to sell your skills is crucial. Survival is only for the fittest.

Peggy Klaus is a world-renowned Fortune 500 communication coach. Being an expert in the art of communication has enabled her to create a book based on simple-to-understand, real-life concepts. Her techniques show how to capitalize on being yourself while making the most of your accomplishments.

With her "Track 12" concept, she allows readers the opportunity to interact with the book itself by answering questions that can be referred back to at the right time and appropriate moment to make yourself outshine the competition. For instance, you will learn how to effectively throw a reference to one of your achievements into everyday conversations without sounding phony or unnatural. Her advice is golden; it provides the polished style and refined substance needed to climb the corporate ladder.

Of all the books I have ever read on this subject, I found Ms. Klaus's to have the most grace and the most overall, long-term impact. For anyone who is struggling to gain the recognition for their hard work and long hours, this is the book you will need to add to your book collection. Very highly recommended.

Wow! I think this book was written just for me!
Brag! was recommended to me highly... three different times. The third recommendation was because the book was on the "must read" list of a class I was taking on marketing. I finally bought the paperback version of the book since I was unable to find it at the local library.

I ho-hummed as I opened the book thinking it would be yet another inspirational speaker writing a book bragging about her success and that everyone else should be inspired. Inspirational speakers have never been that inspirational to me - probably because their "inspiration" lasts as long as it takes for me to get back to my car (usually at the top level of the parking lot furthest away from the auditorium). Once I'm behind the wheel of my car I am thrust back into my own world wondering what just happened. Hadn't I felt great just a few moments before? Wasn't I ready to go get 'em? Wasn't I determined to get going and make a success of my business?

I read the first paragraph of the Introduction of Brag! and Peggy Klaus had me hooked. Wait a minute. I know she was talking about her own background in her narrative, but it sounded as if she was talking about me! She speaks of her father telling her as a child, " ...don't toot your own horn; if you do a good job people will notice you." My parents and Sunday School teachers said that all the time, too, and more. "Bragging is a big no-no." "The Bible says that modesty is a virtue." No wonder I never really liked inspirational speakers. They come off as giant braggarts. According to Peggy Klaus, they're not doing it right.

Countless phrases of virtue and avoidance of being obnoxious and self-aggrandizing hang in the back of my head waiting to pounce as soon as someone asks me what I do. I murmur, "I'm a graphic designer" only half-believing that I deserve the title despite my success. "Graphic designer?" they ask. "Does that mean you do, like, brochures and stuff like that?" "Yeah," I answer. And then the conversation falls flat.

This is where Peggy Klaus picks up the pace and tells you right out that if you don't speak up for yourself, no one else will. However, there is an art to this type of communication. Peggy spends the remaining 190 pages helping you take stock of what you have to brag about while you make yourself a "Brag Bag" full of "Brag Bites" and a few good "Bragalogues" to fit various situations. She also has some plain talk rebuttals to the "buts" we all have to talking about ourselves. My favorite:

" 'But... do I really need to brag 24/7?' Like the Scouts, be prepared... to toot at any time. That doesn't mean, however, that you do it all the time or that you do it at inappropriate times or places. You do it when it feels comfortable. And learning how to make it feel more comfortable is what this book is all about."

Peggy's examples are plentiful and, if you're like me, you'll see yourself in her examples more than once. She's not just any braggart, she's the best! Her natural way of writing (read: unpretentious), extremely practical advice, recommendations and her sense of humor combine to make this my favorite book of my business reading and the book that, right now, is making the most impact in my life and in my business.
-Anna Kris Bell
Catchphrase Graphics

Keep on Tootin¿
Probably most people were taught three principles early on in life: Obey the golden rule, don't pick up hitchhikers, and let other people praise you. Author Peggy Klaus can't help you with the first two, but she debunks the third principle.

Just what is bragging? Or put more properly, WHEN is bragging bragging and when is it taking advantage of opportunities? According to Klaus, there's a time and a place for proper bragging. Bragging (or "self-promotion") can be practiced in and out of the office. It can help you get better assignments, better pay, better recognition, better relationships, and more. But you have to do it properly...

Klaus show us first how NOT to brag, citing many examples of failed bragging and how to correct them. When practiced correctly, the principles of BRAG can help you communicate your talents without coming across as obnoxious. Recommended.

193 pages

Great for Job Hunters
As someone who is looking for a new job, I am always thinking about how to make my interviews go better. This book made me see how I have been presenting myself to possible employers with an almost apologetic attitude. Klaus explains how to make up bragologues about yourself so that you can let people know who you are and what you can do without sounding obnoxious. I was skeptical at first, but for the first time in months I have been called back for a second interview. I also told my friend about this book and she said that it helped her get a new client. It's fun to read and has lots of easy to use advice. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A wonderful book that brings spirituality to the workplace
This book is a wonderful story about a Buddhist priest who comes to the New York diamond business and works his way up from the bottom using Buddhist principles anonymously. The business is a great success selling millions and still being true to the most unlikely of business attitudes. It's a great story and it actually rings true. Along the way he talks about a lot of the problems westerners have with classice Buddhist writings.
This book made me rethink the way I deal with the people I work with and my goals in life.
I want all my friends to read this book.

Ancient Wisdom with Modern Enterprise
Geshe Michael Roach combines 15 years as an international business executive, with the wisdom accrued by living a life dedicated to spiritual evolution. In fact, his phenomenal success as a business man was directly caused by following the principles outlined in The Diamond Cutter.

This book is an incredible guideline for not only how to be an sucessful, ethical businessperson, but how the world actually works. The point is not the dogmatic notion of virtue, but the logic behind it. Why does generosity lead to wealth? Why does kindness lead to happiness? The key lies in two concepts clearly articulated by Geshe Roach in The Diamond Cutter: Hidden Potential and Mental Imprints.
Read this book if you want to know why you experience your world the way you do, and the speciic causes for creating the business, and the life, that you desire. Learn how to get to the end of your career, and look back and know that it was worth it. This book is highly recommended.

an invitation to explore buddhism more deeply
a nice introduction to some of the central tenets of buddhism, intermingled with anecdotes from the author's experiences in the diamond industry. ... Read more

Book Description

This timely book expands on Viktor Frankl's seminal Man's Search for Meaning, examining the book's concepts in depth and widening the market for them by introducing an entirely new way to look at work and the workplace. Alex Pattakos, a former colleague of Frankl's, brings the search for meaning at work within the grasp of every reader using simple, straightforward language. The author distills Frankl's ideas into seven core principles: Exercise the freedom to choose your attitude; Realize your will to meaning; Detect the meaning of life's moments; Don't work against yourself; Look at yourself from a distance; Shift your focus of attention; and Extend beyond yourself. By demonstrating how Dr. Frankl's key principles can be applied to all kinds of work situations, Prisoners of Our Thoughts opens up new opportunities for finding personal meaning and living an authentic work life. ... Read more

Download Description

Critical Thinking is about becoming a better thinker in every aspect of your life: in your career, and as a consumer, citizen, friend, parent, and lover. Discover the core skills of effective thinking; then analyze your own thought processes, identify wea ... Read more

Reviews (4)

The integrity of an idea whose time has come.
Paul and Elder have left us with a concept of thought, and thinking about thought, that redefines the processes, questions, issues and tools to think beyond ourselves, for ourselves, as well as in behalf of our responsibility to each other. I found "Tools" highly reader frendly, substantively challenging, and consistent. Elder's roots in Educational Psychology compliment Paul's classical perspective making this, in my opinion, their best work ever. Next to "How to Prepare Students for a Rapidly Changing World" or "Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life," this is the best most definitive work I've found on the subject. For newbies, there's nothing here that smacks of elitism, authority, or privilege. Tools is about intellectual humility, fairmindedness, and fundamental intellectual standards that introduce us to our own non-intellectual tendencies, prejudices, egocentrisims, and inadaquacies. You come to realize, the label, "intellectual," is actually a good term. By the time you've finished the fourth paragraph, it becomes impossible to think about anything without thinking to some extent about the way you are thinking. The integrity of concepts and best practices for thinking, understanding, teaching and learning becomes quite apparent with each new issue, each new book, editorial, news report, subject, question or debate you encounter. Above the bravado, shouting and world debate you see the shortcomings behind the thinking in leaders, teachers, writers, students, the media, and governments, and yourself. Fingerpointing needs to start with yourself, If you want to understand critical thinking, become and do what you imagine, I know of no better place to start. Tools is a great read! But, more to the point its a necessary lesson.

Tools & Concepts for Critical Thinking
This is a book for business people, for people in a profession, and for people in any arena who simply want to learn how to live their lives in a more rational and ultimately more fulfilling way. In the authors' recurrent phrase, it contains abundant tools for taking charge of one's life. As such, it not only contains good business sense, it contains good sense for living a better life as well.

It's a crisp, clear, useful book. The authors consistently address the heart of each essential aspect of critical thinking in multiple domains. They explain each aspect clearly, trace out its implications, offer effective advice on how to deal with it both as an individual and as a professional. They even supply activities and questions-in inserts labeled "Test the Idea"-for applying that aspect of critical thinking to the reader's own unique circumstances.

The book combines strategic thinking, self-knowledge, fairness toward others, and a down-to-earth, usable ideal of justice. It shows not only how to advance in each, but how those qualities fit together with and further one another. So there is a sense in which the book is essentially about human fulfillment (though that isn't explicitly addressed as a main topic)-fulfillment for myself through understanding, honest self-assessment, and taking control of my life; fulfillment for others in ideals of fairmindedness and justice; fulfillment for the planet as a whole in how the qualities combine.

One of the most invigorating features of Critical Thinking is the way the book covers a whole range of topics clearly and explicitly. The coverage is brief and to the point, but it allows for a wealth of further application for those readers who are willing to incorporate the authors' guidelines into their day-to-day life.

For example, Paul and Elder devote only two pages to a clear, succinct discussion of understanding implications (one of the key elements of reasoning). Then there is a quick "Test the Idea" box. It asks the reader to describe a problem he or she is facing, to formulate alternative decisions to address that problem, and finally to think out the logical implications of each alternative decision. Notice two features of this that seem to go in almost opposite directions: first, how simple the activity is, how do-able, and second how life-transforming it would be if I consistently thought through my potential decisions in terms of a range of alternatives and a conscious awareness of the implications of each. The book consistently offers the same clarity coupled with profundity for each topic covered.

The actual topics covered in the book are just the ones people need to address to take charge of their lives:

-How to think realistically in a world full of change and danger.
-How to evaluate my own thinking across a range of dimensions:
* my skills and abilities
* my self-understanding
* my overall stage as a thinker
-How to improve my thinking-again in a range of dimensions, including:
* the parts of thinking
* the standards of good thinking
* making intelligent decisions
* thinking within corporate life
* increasing the level of my strategic thinking.
-How to deal with egocentrism and sociocentrism.
-How to think reasonably about and within the ethical dimension of our lives.

The book goes deep into the way our unconscious or barely conscious processes rule so much of our conscious thinking. It provides practical strategies for unveiling and confronting our irrational tendencies. Surprisingly in an age of extended therapies, the strategies are often simple and direct-and eminently useful. For example a "Test the Idea" section on "Unearthing Dysfunctional Egocentric Thinking" directs you to "think of a time when your desire to selfishly get what you wanted failed because of your egocentric behavior." It then asks you to describe the situation, to describe your resulting thoughts, wants and behavior, and then to describe a more rational way to think and behave in that situation.

This approach is related to Cognitive Therapy, except that the approach Paul and Elder take is more thorough-going and founded in a deeper and more robust conception of what healthy, reasonable thinking is. It is also a simple "visualization" technique, of the kind that is so effective in altering people's behavior. Only, instead of merely visualizing a healthier way to behave in a situation, I am directed now to use my whole mind (not just my visual imagination).

Another bright feature of the book is that the ethical dimension is covered so well. This is usually neglected in business-oriented books and even in personal-health books. The authors discuss and give "Test the Idea" activities in key aspects of ethical thought and action. The conception they teach is a profound one: being ethical is far different from simply accepting rules imposed on us from outside; it is also different from merely adhering to "codes of ethics" adopted by many professions. The authors' approach also shows what is wrong with simply looking inward to "find my values": "looking inward" is also guided by egocentric tendencies. It is very easy to consult my conscience and find there a justification for the actions that suit my self-interest: why it's all right to take out my anger at others; why my wants are ultimately more important than yours; why I seem so justified in feeling myself a victim of your actions. Paul and Elder consistently dispel such facile reasoning; they supply activities and thought experiments to guide the reader along, and they also provide numerous insights all along the way.

In sum, this is just the kind of book readers have come to expect from Paul and Elder, both of whom have worked for so long and in so many aspects of Critical Thinking. It contains the clear, distilled essence of the critical thinking concepts and tools for taking charge of one's life, professional and personal. The tools and concepts are presented always with an overview to keep the parts in context, full of lucid examples, references to more extended sources, and an abundance of applications.

Empowered Thinking
Paul and Elder's "Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Personal and Professional Life" provides the key to developing ones mind as an active tool for quality thinking and ultimately better decision-making in professional and personal life. This book explicates the difference between quality thinking in professional practice and flawed thinking. The authors challenge a personal self-examination of the quality of the reader's thinking with activities that are insightful, cognitively interesting and structured so each component of thinking is enhanced. The approach is practical, and meaningful for the reader interested in developing as a critical thinker. Paul and Elder's expertise in dealing with the complexity of thinking needed to survive in society today is illuminating.

As a nurse leader working in a chaotic health care system subject to constant change and revision: critical thinking is the answer to implementing an improvement in health care delivery. The authors have unlocked the mystery of improving my thinking for quality decision-making in my nursing practice. The more I work with these ideas for improving the quality of my critical thinking and decision-making in nursing practice the more empowered I am as a person and professional nurse.

Penelope Heaslip RN

Great expectations disappointed
Richard Paul and Linda Elder are affiliated with the Center for Critical Thinking, which I discovered several years ago when it was operating under the auspices of Sonoma State University. I first encountered Dr. Paul's writing through several fine pieces on the CCT web site, and they established my expectations for this book.

I should mention my misgivings about the phrase 'critical thinking.' It has critical mass as a buzz-phrase, and is susceptible to all of the risks that go with that--chiefly the risk that an assortment of people advocating widely different intellectual practices all find it advantageous to paste that popular name on their disparate wares. Even worse, I have encountered people to whom 'critical thinking' turns on the sense of 'critical' that means captious or disputatious, and who think of it as something nice people don't do; another entire camp seems to maintain that 'critical thinking' is achieved by nothing more than disparagement of reason and an inclination to question and deconstruct everything in sight. Taken far enough, these divergent uses of any 'in' buzzword can threaten to strip it completely of meaning; one cannot be grateful enough that the Center for Critical Thinking is still around and pushing the real deal: rigorous intellectual standards, commitment to clarity and reason and fairmindedness, with all that commitment demands.

But this book makes a disappointing vehicle. Contributing not least to the disappointment are lapses of editing and proofreading that should never be seen in a finished book. Perhaps embarrassments of grammar, spelling, and punctuation do not count directly against the book's intellectual content--but they could lead many readers to underestimate what the book has to offer. That's too bad.

A more serious weakness is the want of exercises that genuinely test the reader's thinking. If learning to think critically is replacing comfortable modes of thought with modes that can be evaluated to standards, an important motivator may be to bump against those standards regularly. But many of the exercises are of the "write down something you think about X" variety notable for not having wrong answers. The questions are often good ones and the exercises are not all busy work, but neither are they as demanding as they could be, and some readers may find them condescending.

An extreme example is found in Chapter 7--The Standards for Thinking--with respect to the standard of 'logicalness,' which gets a treatment of barely one page. A space not much larger could present some rudiments of logic, but this treatment offers only a vague, intuitive appeal and an exercise to identify decisions "based on illogical thinking--thinking that didn't make sense to you." A reader's familiar, and possibly unexamined, judgments about what is "logical" will not necessarily be refined by this approach.

The whole of Chapter 14--The Power and Limits of Professional Knowledge--is likewise disappointing. It seems to promise a disciplined approach to the decision of how much deference is due the pronouncements of professionals on different occasions and topics but, beyond outlining general reasons for skepticism, it doesn't deliver. It offers little insight into how that skepticism should be sensibly qualified, and is a little incautious with some of its own claims: I was surprised to read (p. 260) in a 2002 book that "the medical field is highly resistant" to the role of viruses and bacteria in heart disease and cancer.

I am especially troubled by the Chapter 14 discussion of mathematics (and ought to reveal here that it was my undergraduate major). Here the authors seem to lose sight of their objective and, instead of addressing how mathematical 'expert opinion' should be received, treat instead the value of math education. They suggest that because (a) many are traumatized by doing poorly in math and (b) many who do well still do not cultivate the habit of applying mathematical insight in everyday life, perhaps curricula beyond basic arithmetic should not be mandatory. This despite the number of pressing issues that demand critical thought and require a mathematical understanding. In this one section the authors seem to verge on one of the debased senses of 'critical thinking.' I would go to the mat with them on this one, but there are more comments to make.

A near-disastrous feature of the book is the use made of charged, controversial issues. This is tricky business: of course the very point of critical thinking is to apply it to important issues, and without them the teaching would not be engaging or effective. The authors do well when they present a hot issue as the explicit focus of an exercise, asking the reader to think fairmindedly through all sides; "Thinking Broadly" on p. 105 is a good example. The "Reading Backwards" list is conscientiously selected and balanced. But controversial positions also appear in passing as examples of good or poor thinking, where the focus is elsewhere and a point of view is implicit. My point is not that I disagree with these positions: the authors' politics and mine might be largely compatible. But by failing to decide whether they are writing a book on critical thinking or a book of issue advocacy, the authors undermine their credibility and furnish a ready excuse for half the people who should read this book to dismiss it out of hand.

I would have loved to see Edward Tufte's books on clear and appropriate visual presentation included in the reading list. Regrettably, this book demonstrates many of the pitfalls Tufte identifies in "business graphics": elaborate, busy designs that exaggerate the depth of what is presented. This may be a house style of the publisher, Financial Times.

There is a genuine core of critical thinking instruction contained (sometimes concealed) in this book--perhaps enough to reward the effort of digging it out. Better books of this sort are urgently needed, and Paul and Elder should be able to write them. I hope they will. ... Read more

Book Description

We live in a vicious, highly competitive workplace environment, and things aren’t getting any better. Jobs are few and far between, and people aren’t any nicer now than they were when Ghengis Khan ran around in big furs killing people in unfriendly acquisitions. For thousands of years, people have been reading the writings of the deeply wise, but also extremely dead Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu, who was perhaps the first to look on the waging of war as a strategic art that could be taught to people who wished to be warlords and other kinds of senior managers.

In a nutshell, Sun Tzu taught that readiness is all, that knowledge of oneself and the enemy was the foundation of strength and that those who fight best are those who are prepared and wise enough not to fight at all. Unfortunately, in the current day, this approach is pretty much horse hockey, a fact that has not been recognized by the bloated, tree-hugging Sun Tzu industry, which churns out mushy-gushy pseudo-philosophy for business school types who want to make war and keep their hands clean.

Sun Tzu was a Sissy will transcend all those efforts and teach the reader how to make war, win and enjoy the plunder in the real world, where those who do not kick, gouge and grab are left behind at the table to pay the tab. Students of Bing will be taught how to plan and execute battles that hurt other people a lot, and advance their flags and those of their friends, if possible. All military strategies will be explored, from mustering, equipping, organizing, plotting, scheming, rampaging, squashing and reaping spoils.

Every other book on the Art of War bows low to Sun Tzu. We’re going to tell him to get lost and inform our readers how real war is currently conducted on the battlefield of life. ... Read more

Reviews (60)

Simple, irreverant & captivating. Very enlightening!
Wow! Very insightful. So simple it's brilliant. Easy to read and even easier to apply. My life's perspective has been refreshed. Although Frank McKinney is quite a visionary, he seems like just an ordinary guy who applied a few of his simple philosophies to achieve extraordinary success. Yea he's an author, but he sounds like more of a doer than a motivational guy to me. Forget his long hair! I read the book cover to cover without putting it down If you want to get out there and do something big in your life I strongly suggest you buy and use Make it BIG! as your guide and compass. I have and it is working!

A Must Read!
"MAKE IT BIG!" by Frank McKinney is an absolute must read. As one just starting out in the real estate field, I have learned many incredible business and life changing philosophies that Frank presents in his book. These philosophies - 49 to be exact - will in fact impact the business and life of anyone willing to follow through with them. If you don't believe me, read his book, but be warned it will change your way of thinking, your business, the way you relate to others, your family and your life.

Good cover Great book!
When my girlfriend gave me a copy of Frank Mckinney's book I was a little hesitant. While I am a single female and thought the cover appealing I almost did what you are not supposed to do, "judge a book by its cover".

I read the first section about having a vision for my passion, then skipped to section four about taking risks. It was the first book that I read where I could just go straight to the section that I wanted to immediately learn about.

By the end of the weekend I had finished the whole book, albeit in a round-about way.

I strongly recommend Make it Big for the reasons I stated above. I really loved how the book's 7 different sections flowed, where each chapter was relatively short and easy to put into action in my own life. Use it as your guide to living a very well balanced life.

Maybe 3 1/2 stars
How a kid from rich parents makes it even bigger! - should be the title. I read it thinking it would discuss his luxury spec home business more. It was really about spiritual and emotional development. It does offer some advice based on his beliefs and experiences that are decent. Some good coverage on stretching your risk taking comfort zone.

A great way to start 2004
I attended a charity event where Mr. McKinney was the guest speaker. After hearing his message I decided to buy a dozen books for our managers. I wanted them to learn more about sharing their blessings, which Mr. McKinney speaks about in detail. Make it big is not about making money, it represents how all successful people think, yet McKinney has a very unique way of sharing that message. I strongly suggest you read this book and start 2004 off on the right foot. ... Read more

Book Description

Professional firms are forever trying to get their people to act like professionals -- to do the right things. Though their various incentives may create employee compliance, these don't often encourage excellence. David Maister, the world's premier consultant to professional service firms, vigorously challenges professionals to examine this essential, yet under-addressed question: What is true professionalism? His answer is clear: It is believing passionately in what you do, never compromising your standards and values, and caring about your clients, your people and your own career. In clear and compelling terms, Maister shows that this approach is not only ethical but also conducive to commercial success. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

A TREASURY OF PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR PROFESSIONALS
A former professor at the Harvard Business School, Boston-based David H. Maister is the world's premier consultant to professional service firms. His core principles spring from good, sound logic: Believe passionately in what you do, never compromise your standards and values, and care about your clients.

Maister passionately believes we should do all these because they are the ethical things to do and because they are the primary road to commercial success.

True Professionalism is a candid treasury of practical wisdom in which Maister expounds some eternal truths about the individual professional, the firm, and the client.

Excellent Book - Speaks directly to consultants
Finally a book that speaks to the heart of what consulting is(or professional services in general), with no hype, no distractions or flavor-of-the-month thoughts. I had heard David Maister at a recent consulting conference and was quite struck by his focus on people and 'execution of strategies' as being the core of successful consulting firms.

This book is pithy without being trite and if you have been in consulting a while, you can directly relate to what the author is referring to. There are many suggestions in this book that are insightful, practical and feel right on the money to a practictioner.

While by no means a classic, it is certainly a must read.

Essentials Needed To Become a Successful Leader
David Maister does a great job of explaining the fundamentals essential to anyone that has a job or is looking for a job in consulting. Splitting the book into three sections made it flow well and easy to follow and comprehend. Furthermore, Maister really focuses on the things that you should look for within yourself as well as the firm and clients. He makes you think about what one should really focus on in your career and the benefits you can receive from your job. This book also guides an employee in explaining situations that will probably occur at some point in their working career. David Maister gives you the tools that you need to be successful; all the person has to do is apply it to their everyday life.

The principles that Maister discussed in his book showed me that there is a balance between the client, the firm, and yourself. This balance is important because it dictates how successful you will become. It is also important to value your client as well as engage with them so that you really know who the client is and what their needs and wants are. Even though you must achieve your goals, you should help others to do the same by establishing a relationship, which in turn will make the working environment healthy and successful.

There is so much information you take a way from this book that will help you in your career as well as your life. I advise everyone to buy this book, because it is very beneficial to the success of anyone's career. Through the use of catchy phrases and clear, practical explanations, I feel that anyone can read this book and take something from it to apply to their career.

Should be required reading in law firms
"True Professionalism" expresses Maister's core message: do work
you love with people you like and everything else will come
with ease. Few of the lawyers I coach have heard this message
before. If they'd read Maister they'd realize that business
development isn't about selling, with all of its worst connotations -- it's about helping people you respect and whose problems are meaningful to you.
Maister encourages the reader to consider the "radical" idea that work should be enjoyable and that if it is, then success will come from doing it well and with sincere caring. I agree with him and enjoy being reminded each time I re-read this wonderful book.

Insightful!
David H. Maister has written a valuable book about what it really means to be a professional. Presented with depth, insight and plenty of practical advice, the book is intelligently written and can be applied to anyone's career, no matter the level or industry. Maister also has plenty to say to companies about their professionalism and lack of it. We [...] recommend this book to professionals in all areas, and if you want to be a better one - or if you're not sure whether you are one or not - start reading.
... Read more

Reviews (3)

Another winner from Donald
I have to disagree with the reviewer that said this book could have been written by anyone. Yes it true anyone could have written a book, but how many could relate the actual impact of that knowledge than Do