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Creative Thinkering by Michael Michalko - Book review

2012-01-29T00:05:00.014-06:00

Creative Thinkering

Putting Your Imagination to Work

By: Michael Michalko

Published: September 6, 2011
Format: Paperback, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 160868024X
ISBN-13: 978-1608680245
Publisher: New World Library

"Creative thinking requires the ability to generate a host of associations and connections between two or more dissimilar subjects, creating new categories and concepts. We have not been taught to process information this way", writes internationally acclaimed creativity expert Michael Michalko, in his brilliant and hands on book Creative Thinkering: Putting Your Imagination to Work. The author describes why people always seem to arrive at the same old answers to problems, and shares fun and mind opening practices and techniques to transform anyone into a genius level creative thinker.

Michael Michalko recognizes that people are educated to think logically and in conventional ways. For the author, that educational and societal approach works against the creative thinking process completely. The result is the same ideas are brought forward over and over again. Michael Michalko offers an alternative way of thinking, approaching problems, and looking at the world. The author points out that everyone was creative at a young age, but that innate creativity was removed through the application of firm logic and the standard structure of concepts. To restore that childhood creativity, Michael Michalko provides easy to understand and apply techniques that changes the way people see the world.

Michael Michalko (photo left) understands that conceptual blending of blending two very dissimilar subjects or ideas is one of the secrets employed by creative geniuses throughout history. The author cites the example of Leonardo Da Vinci, whose combining of seemingly random items and concepts, resulted in extraordinary new ideas and ways of thinking. Michael Michalko demonstrates that the principles of creativity, employed by Da Vinci, can be utilized by anyone to create fresh ideas and solutions to problems. Through combining opposites, adding what were previously considered crazy or absurd ideas, changing your perspective on the world, and then letting the idea incubate, breakthroughs will be the result.

Michael Michalko shares his three characteristics shared by geniuses, and offers them as principles for all would be creative thinkers to embrace. The three notable genius traits are:

* Importance of intention and how to use it to develop a creative mind-set
* Changing your thinking patterns by changing the way you speak
* How to become what you pretend to be

For me, the power of the book is how Michael Michalko demonstrates that anyone can become a creative genius and developer of new ideas. The author not only provides evidence that creativity is found in everyone, but also shares proven practices and techniques for drawing out that latent creative thinking ability. For people who mistakenly believe that they lack any sort of creativity, this book is a real eye opening experience. Not only can anyone develop the skills and habits of thought to become a genius level creator, hut the path toward that blissful state is both fun and exciting along the way.

The author brings his own proven experience and real world examples to the book, providing illustrative case studies of the principles in action. A tremendous addition to the book are the many graphics and thought experiments included in every chapter. These enhancements offer fun and challenging techniques to guide the reader toward embracing a creative world view and outlook on life. Michael Michalko also provides very extensive footnotes for each chapter to help readers further their own investigation and study of creative thinking and the creative process.

I highly recommend the creativity inspiring, treasure of a book Creative Thinkering: Putting Your Imagination to Work by Michael Michalko, to anyone in any walk of life, who is seeking to develop their inborn creative skills. This book will transform anyone into a creative thinking, and ideas generating genius level creator of ideas and solutions.

Tags: Creative Thinkering: Putting Your Imagination to Work, Michael Michalko, creative thinking strategies, business book reviews

Through The Language Glass by Guy Deutscher - Book review

2012-01-28T02:08:00.009-06:00

Through the Language Glass

Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages

By: Guy Deutscher

Published: August 30, 2011
Format: Trade Paperback, 320 pages
ISBN-10: 0312610491
ISBN-13: 978-0312610494
Publisher: Picador

"I will argue that cultural differences are reflected in language in profound ways, and that a growing body of reliable scientific research provides solid evidence that our mother tongue can affect how we think and how we perceive the world", writes former Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge and of the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Languages in the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, and honorary Research Fellow at the School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures in the University of Manchester, Guy Deutscher in his fascinating and thought provoking book Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages. The author describes how the very words and grammar of a language frames the way its native speakers think and view the world, and that languages are all fundamentally different in very crucial ways.

Guy Deutscher moves linguistics out of the field of genetics and places languages firmly in the camp of culture. In the eternal argument of nature and nurture, the author lands solidly on the side of nurture and cultural influences on language. He goes one step farther, and demonstrates that the very words and structure of a language nurture different ways of thinking and looking at the world from those of other language speakers. Instead of accepting the widely held opinion that languages are subsets, and even dialects of one another, Guy Deutscher considers the different languages to be discrete and the creators of a multitude of varying worldviews.

Guy Deutscher (photo left) recognizes that there are enormous differences in culture around the world, but these are usually thought to be superficial. The author presents the alternative concept that these cultural variations are the result of the structure of the language, its choices and variations of words, and its grammar.

Guy Deutscher points out that different languages have decidedly contrasting structures and views of both time and space. For the author, these and other differences in perception carry with them radically different worldviews that are embedded at a very young age. The author utilizes the latest scientific research in neurology, and the ideas of the great philosophers, to frame his case. For the author, even how various language speakers consider colors, is a reflection of both the mirror of a language, and the lens of the language.

For me, the power of the book is how Guy Deutscher presents a compelling argument that language shapes cultures and the worldviews of its speakers. The author acknowledges that his case must overcome some serious historical baggage relating to cultures and the people of the world. At the same time, he presents language as a cultural phenomenon, and not one of genetics. The author also employs leading edge scientific studies to support his position.

Guy Deutscher writes in a very accessible and lively style that draws the reader along through a historical and global tour spanning continents and thousands of years. The author also presents his ideas in a logical format and includes illustrative and supporting examples from history, science, and philosophy. This book will challenge the reader's own perceptions of the world, and lead to further discussion and investigation of this endlessly intriguing topic.

I highly recommend the groundbreaking and landmark book Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages by Guy Deutscher, to anyone seeking a serious and fresh approach to the study of linguistics, language, and cultural perception. Whether a person agrees or disagrees with the author, this book is an important and essential contribution to the fields of linguistics, language, history, human geography, and culture.

Tags: Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages, Guy Deutscher, language and culture, science book reviews

Field Tested by Emily King - Book review

2012-01-27T01:44:00.003-06:00

Field Tested

Recruiting, Managing, and Retaining Veterans

By: Emily King

Published; November 10, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 187 pages
ISBN-10: 0814417795
ISBN-13: 978-0814417799
Publisher: AMACOM

"Let's start with a very basic question: Why hire a veteran? Because it's good business", writes nationally recognized expert on the transition from military service to civilian employment, and founder of Military Transitions™, Emily King in her groundbreaking and very practical book Field Tested: Recruiting, Managing, and Retaining Veterans. The author describes hiring former military personnel as going far beyond altruism or patriotism, as veterans are tremendous employees who bring valuable characteristics and experience to the workplace. The author shares insights to recruiting, hiring, and retaining veterans in organizations, and for optimizing their value to the company.

Emily King recognizes the important attributes that veterans bring to the workplace. Their notable traits include talent, a focus on achieving goals and results, dedication, and loyalty. The author points out that these characteristics are those sought in all employees, and that former service personnel bring them in abundance. Despite the obvious benefits of recruiting and hiring veterans, many companies lack the understanding of ex-service men and woman, and fail to add their talents and skills to the organization. At the same time, the former service men and women are not always aware of the real value and unique skill sets that they bring to the organization. Emily King provides a guide to bridging this gap, benefiting both the veterans and the companies who hire them.

Emily King (photo left) understands the unique strengths that former service personnel bring to the workplace. The author also understands that there are crucial cultural differences between the military and civilian workplaces. Veterans need assistance in making a successful transition to civilian employment, and employers must realize that hiring ex-service men and woman also adds diversity and a sense of inclusion to the organization.

To aid in the successful transition, Emily King shares her Military Transitions Framework™ as a guide and practical tool for facilitating a smooth transfer of skills from the service to civilian employment. The author also shares the Veteran Retention Lifecycle™ as a structure retaining veterans within an organization and assisting in their successful career development. The author also provides a self assessment kit for employers to ensure that their company and its culture are ready to add veterans to their workforce.

For me, the power of the book is how Emily King combines a strong case for hiring former service men and women, with a practical framework and strategy for the successful transition of veterans into the organization. The author asks and answers two important questions in the book. The first question is what traits, skills and knowledge that veterans must bring to the workplace to achieve success in a civilian career. The second question is how can employers better recruit, hire, and retain former service people in their organization, while developing the individual's career path. Both of these questions are answered very well and in depth in the book.

Emily King underlines the tremendous value that veterans bring to the workplace and that hiring former military men and women are a valuable and profitable addition to the company. This book provides a powerful and results oriented base, for both job seeking veterans and employers, to ease and enhance the transition for individuals from military life to civilian careers. Emily King also points out the additional diversity of ideas, background, and experience that veterans bring to any organization. The author also shares real world examples of successful transitions to illustrate her concepts at work with veterans in actual work environments.

I highly recommend the very insightful and essential book Field Tested: Recruiting, Managing, and Retaining Veterans by Emily King, to any former military service personnel seeking to make a successful transition to civilian life; and to any employers, business owners, and hiring managers seeking highly skilled, motivated, and loyal employees. This book will encourage your company to look very seriously at hiring veterans into your organization for the crucial traits and skills they bring to the workplace. Hiring veterans is good business for everyone.

Tags: Field Tested: Recruiting, Managing, and Retaining Veterans, Emily King, hiring military veterans, business book reviews

Hot Leaders Cool Facilitators by Bart R. Wendell - Book review

2012-01-26T00:33:00.010-06:00

Hot Leaders Cool Facilitators

Learning to Lead One Meeting at a Time

By: Bart R. Wendell, Ph.D.

Published: September 22, 2010
Format: Paperback, 164 pages
ISBN-10: 0984194894
ISBN-13: 978-0984194896
Publisher: Networlding Publishing

"You are a leader...and you don't like meetings. You want to like them, but you don't, and your don't know why. This book will fix that", writes master facilitator, business consultant and psychologist Bart R. Wendell, in his very hands on and engaging book Hot Leaders Cool Facilitators: Learning to Lead One Meeting at a Time. The author describes in no uncertain terms why meetings fail to achieve their desired goals, and provides practical advice to guide leaders toward facilitating successful meeting outcomes.

Bart Wendell recognizes that meetings provide a public display of leadership abilities, both good and bad, that can make or destroy a leader's career. The author considers the meeting to be a true test of a leader's skills. As a result, Bart Wendell offers the insightful advice that conducting a successful meeting goes far toward the development of an outstanding leader. Because of the nature of meetings, and why they so often fail to produce positive results, alert leadership is a necessity. People drawn into meetings bring their silos, and not solutions, along with them. Meetings include diverse participants with a wide variety of abilities and agendas.

Bart R. Wendell (photo left) understands that leaders must be able to gauge how a meeting is progressing, and time when to look for a needed breakthrough, in order too achieve a positive outcome that benefits the organization. This skill requires practice and is as much an art as a science. The author points out that leaders very often demonstrate their lack of skills when they want and need to perform their best. What Bart Wendell calls Hot leaders overheat the meeting and cause impulsive and rash responses and decisions. The author describes Cool leaders as too calming resulting in a lack of action or decision making.

To counter these three observations, Bart Wendell proposes a framework built of five leadership principles. Those five principles are as follows:

* Meetings reflect leadership ability. Great leaders run great meetings
* A leader changes through the act of running a meeting, both good and bad
* Good leaders use Hot and Cold effectively to guide the meeting
* Great leaders understand themselves; their own strengths and weaknesses
* A great leader is not afraid of uncomfortable but right decisions

For me, the power of the book is how Bart Wendell combines a deep understanding of the subtle human characteristics of meetings, with a practical guide for developing leadership skills, through running effective meetings. The author considers meetings to be the crucible in which skilled leaders forge their best qualities. For the author, this testing of leadership is both an internal struggle with oneself and one's fears, as it is an external discovery of effective leadership techniques. Bart Wendell devotes an entire chapter to each of the critical aspects of leadership in meetings, underlining both the inner journey to self realization, as well as the skills visible to those attending the meeting.

The idea that meetings, with the need to lead and guide others to a worthwhile result, forms the basis of great leadership is a good one. Understanding the many implications of this important leadership concept alone makes this book a very worthwhile read. The author's experience as a business consultant, meeting leader and facilitator, as well as a psychologist bring a unique and valuable perspective to this book that is rarely found in leadership books.

I highly recommend the insightful and leadership building book Hot Leaders Cool Facilitators: Learning to Lead One Meeting at a Time by Bert R. Wendell, Ph.D., to anyone seeking to become a better leader and to conduct more effective meetings. The author demonstrates how intertwining the concept of great leadership with running great meetings is a powerful connection. This book will change the way that you view both leadership and meeting management.

Tags: Hot Leaders Cool Facilitators: Learning to Lead One Meeting at a Time, Bert R. Wendell, Ph.D., leadership and meeting strategies, business book reviews

Ray Schwemmer & Rick Havrilla: Dynamic Collaboration - Blog Business Success Radio

2012-01-25T00:54:00.004-06:00

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Software solutions consultants, co-founders of CollabraSpace, and co-authors of the insightful and groundbreaking book Dynamic Collaboration: How to Share Information, Solve Problems, and Increase Productivity without Compromising Security, Ray Schwemmer and Rick Havrilla describe how to tap into the power of social networking to better facilitate communication in the workplace. They provide ideas for implementing collaboration tools to create your own social network. Ray and Rick demonstrate how to use these enhanced communications systems to boost creativity, problem solving and greater transparency within organizations. The authors also share ideas for maintaining security while maximizing information sharing, communication, and idea creation. The authors show how integrating communication tools, with already existing systems increases internal communication, idea sharing, and improves productivity. Learn how to increase your bottom line profits through collaboration of ideas.

Ray Schwemmer and Rick Havrilla are my internet radio show guests on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, January 26, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Software solutions consultants, co-founders of CollabraSpace, and co-authors of the insightful and groundbreaking book Dynamic Collaboration: How to Share Information, Solve Problems, and Increase Productivity without Compromising Security, Ray Schwemmer and Rick Havrilla describe how to tap into the power of social networking to better facilitate communication in the workplace. You will learn:

* What collaboration means in a communications system

* Why collaboration is so crucial to organizational success

* How to create an effective collaborative communication network

* How to implement a collaborative system that breaks down barriers

Ray Schwemmer (photo left) has over 20 years of Internet technology experience in large system design and development, project management, sales, and marketing.

As President/CEO, Ray uses his extensive Internet technology and management experience to lead CollabraSpace through the rapid corporate growth of a leading software and services provider. He also assists in building the company’s distribution channels, strategic alliances, partnerships, and corporate development activities.

Prior to starting CollabraSpace, Ray spent ten years working for various IT companies designing and building large-scale distributed systems for both commercial and government clients. Ray holds both a B.S. in Computer Science and an M.B.A. from Drexel University.

Ray is the co-author of Dynamic Collaboration: How to Share Information, Solve Problems, and Increase Productivity without Compromising Security with Rick Havrilla, CTO and co-founder of CollabraSpace. Dynamic Collaboration shows how leaders can harness the power of Web 2.0 and use it to tap into the collective intelligence of their organization. The book will be available in October 2011. Visit http://dynamic-collaboration-book/ to learn more.

Ray and his wife reside in Maryland with their two children. He enjoys golfing and sailing in his free time.

Rick Havrilla (photo left) brings over 20 years of experience designing and implementing enterprise software solutions with over ten years of experience working with collaboration technologies to CollabraSpace. He has worked with numerous organizations on their system architectures to integrate collaborative solutions that fit seamlessly into their architectures and products.

As Chief Technology Officer at CollabraSpace, Rick integrates new technologies and determines the viability and potential of new collaboration prospects. He actively participates in the esthetic design, programming, and technical development of all software products. Rick plays an intricate role in the management of projects for our customers, which has resulted in numerous consulting opportunities for CollabraSpace.

In previous positions, he was responsible for seeking new business opportunities as well as designing and developing large scale distributed systems for both commercial and government clients. Rick holds his B.S. in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh and his M.S. in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University.

Rick is the co-author of Dynamic Collaboration: How to Share Information, Solve Problems, and Increase Productivity without Compromising Security with Ray Schwemmer, President, CEO and co-founder of CollabraSpace. Dynamic Collaboration shows how leaders can harness the power of Web 2.0 and use it to tap into the collective intelligence of their organization. The book became available in October 2011. Visit http://dynamic-collaboration-book/ to learn more.

Rick and his wife live in Maryland with their two children. Rick enjoys playing volleyball, soccer and golf.

My book review of Dynamic Collaboration: How to Share Information, Solve Problems, and Increase Productivity without Compromising Security by Ray Schwemmer and Rick Havrilla.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with software solutions consultants, co-founders of CollabraSpace, and co-authors of the insightful and groundbreaking book Dynamic Collaboration: How to Share Information, Solve Problems, and Increase Productivity without Compromising Security, Ray Schwemmer and Rick Havrilla, as they describe how to tap into the power of social networking to better facilitate communication in the workplace. They provide ideas for implementing collaboration tools to create your own social network. Ray and Rick demonstrate how to use these enhanced communications systems to boost creativity, problem solving and greater transparency within organizations. The authors also share ideas for maintaining security while maximizing information sharing, communication, and idea creation. The authors show how integrating communication tools, with already existing systems increases internal communication, idea sharing, and improves productivity. Learn how to increase your bottom line profits through collaboration of ideas on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Dynamic Collaboration: How to Share Information, Solve Problems, and Increase Productivity without Compromising Security, Ray Schwemmer, Rick Havrilla, organizational change strategies, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Dynamic Collaboration by Ray Schwemmer & Rick Havrilla - Book review

2012-01-24T00:01:00.010-06:00

Dynamic Collaboration

How to Share Information, Solve Problems, and Increase Productivity without Compromising Security

By: Ray Schwemmer, Rick Havrilla

Published: October 15, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 160 pages
ISBN-10: 0982056931
ISBN-13: 978-0982056936
Publisher: Third Bridge Press

"Forward-thinking leaders understand that collaboration is crucial for any organization that wants to be productive, adaptable, and creative", write co-founders of CollabraSpace, Ray Schwemmer and Rick Havrilla, in their insightful and groundbreaking book Dynamic Collaboration: How to Share Information, Solve Problems, and Increase Productivity without Compromising Security. The authors describe how collaboration is essential in the modern organization but is often very difficult to implement. The authors provide a guide to successful deployment of collaboration tools and a change in the culture that encourages and supports open communication and collaboration.

Ray Schwemmer (photo left) and Rick Havrilla understand the vital importance of collaboration as a strategic enhancement to any organization. The power of social networks to transform communications in today's world is a strength that can be leveraged to achieve competitive advantage. The ability to design and put into action new tools that support open communication, similar to the familiar mainstream social media tools, creates a system of horizontal and vertical communication and idea sharing. The authors demonstrate that collaboration integrates an organization, breaks down barriers, and leads to vastly improved problem solving; as well as savings in both time and money. Strategic collaboration results in more engaged and energized employees, who are more productive and more in balance with their lives, leading to improved company profitability.

Rick Havrilla (photo left) and Ray Schwemmer recognize that collaboration technologies have moved beyond the product stage, and are now an integral part of the social media landscape.An internal communications system, that works in the manner of Twitter or Facebook, facilitates efficient and effective idea and data transfer and exchange throughout the organization. The authors point out that this enhanced data and information sharing goes far toward removing barriers and silos within organizations. With these walls broken down, more effective problem solving and solution implementation are the result. At the same time, the removal of obstacles improves the culture, increases morale, and creates a more engaged workforce.

For Ray Schwemmer and Rick Havrilla, organizations that fail to collaborate are described as being stovepiped. Within each pipe, departments maintained their own databases, and information was rarely shared between the pipes. The authors demonstrate that stovepipes worked against collaboration and are a failed organizational model. A lack of collaboration results in failure to share solutions, recognize problem areas, and a reduction in profits. Collaboration removes the pipe effect, enhancing the communication and sharing within the organization. Collaboration creates a united company with a shared sense of purpose that translates into higher performance levels, increased efficiency, and higher profit levels.

For me, the power of the book is how Ray Schwemmer and Rick Havrilla combine their framework for improved collaboration and communication with the practical strategies for implementing a collaborative system. The authors describe the problems that arise from a lack of collaboration, and contrast that scenario with the vastly improved system that results from widespread collaboration. The authors take a holistic approach to collaboration as a social network that works for and benefits the entire organization. The system integrates all social and communications technologies and platforms into a unified whole. The result is an end to stovepipes, silos, and the barriers that prevent people from doing their jobs. With an end to the barriers, morale and engagement levels improve along with productivity and profitability.

I highly recommend the essential and game changing book
Dynamic Collaboration: How to Share Information, Solve Problems, and Increase Productivity without Compromising Security by Ray Schwemmer and Rick Havrilla, to any business leaders who are seeking an improved communication and collaboration system within their organization. This book will break down internal barriers, increase collaboration, solve problems more effectively, and move your company ahead of the competition.

Nancy Oakley: The Road To Success - Blog Business Success Radio

2012-01-23T01:41:00.001-06:00

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Entrepreneur and author of motivational and deeply personal book The Road To Success: A Small Business Owner's Guide to Life, Financial Freedom, and Achieving Your Dreams and The Quest For Serendipity, Nancy Oakley (Neuensie Suku) shares her heroic life story of overcoming a life of poverty in Thailand and her successful career in business in the United States. Nancy Oakley describes how to achieve success in business and in life, and presents her philosophy of life. Nancy offers her business secrets that worked for her, and is certain they will work for other entrepreneurs. Nancy points out that dreams, once reached, contain other challenges. She shares how she passed those obstacles to achieve her life of success, financial freedom, and personal happiness. Nancy's amazing life story will inspire you to achieve greatness in your own life.

Nancy Oakley is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, January 24, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Entrepreneur and author of motivational and deeply personal book The Road To Success: A Small Business Owner's Guide to Life, Financial Freedom, and Achieving Your Dreams and The Quest For Serendipity, Nancy Oakley (Neuensie Suku) shares her heroic life story of overcoming a life of poverty in Thailand and her successful career in business in the United States. You will learn:

* How to set goals and plan a course of action to achieve them

* How to succeed as an entrepreneur regardless of initial capital resources

* How to live a balanced business and personal life

* How to create a life plan that includes all aspects on your life

Nancy Oakley (photo left) is a native of Thailand, who moved to the United States during the Vietnam War. After working in civil service for over twenty years, she embarked on her dream of entrepreneurship.

Nancy initially delved into the world of real estate and at one point held over one mullion dollars in assets. In 2008, she began her career as a retail business owner along the famous San Antonio River Walk.

Nancy currently owns and operates a prestigious jewellery and gift shop, a bookstore, and is a successful author. She lives with her family in Spring Branch, Texas.

My book review of The Road To Success: A Small Business Owner's Guide to Life, Financial Freedom, and Achieving Your Dreams by Nancy Oakley (Neuensie Suku).

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with entrepreneur and author of motivational and deeply personal book The Road To Success: A Small Business Owner's Guide to Life, Financial Freedom, and Achieving Your Dreams and The Quest For Serendipity, Nancy Oakley (Neuensie Suku), as she shares her heroic life story of overcoming a life of poverty in Thailand and her successful career in business in the United States. Nancy Oakley describes how to achieve success in business and in life, and presents her philosophy of life. Nancy offers her business secrets that worked for her, and is certain they will work for other entrepreneurs. Nancy points out that dreams, once reached, contain other challenges. She shares how she passed those obstacles to achieve her life of success, financial freedom, and personal happiness. Nancy's amazing life story will inspire you to achieve greatness in your own life on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: The Road To Success: A Small Business Owner's Guide to Life, Financial Freedom, and Achieving Your Dreams, Nuensie Suku, Nancy Oakley, personal business philosophy, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

The Road To Success by Nuensie Suku (Nancy Oakley) - Book review

2012-01-22T00:10:00.003-06:00

The Road To Success

A Small Business Owner's Guide to Life, Financial Freedom, and Achieving Your Dreams

By: Nuensie Suku (Nancy Oakley)

Published: October 7, 2011
Format: Paperback, 236 pages
ISBN-10: 0983767610
ISBN-13: 978-0983767619
Publisher: Motivational Press, Inc.

" Many people associate having one's own business with undertaking a large amount of risk; the fear that if the business goes under, the business owner will lose everything", writes successful entrepreneur Nuensie Suku (Nancy Oakley) in her motivational and deeply personal book The Road To Success: A Small Business Owner's Guide to Life, Financial Freedom, and Achieving Your Dreams. The author describes her personal entrepreneurial journey and shares the practical and timeless advice that guided her business decisions and her life.

Nancy Oakley is no ordinary business owner. Beginning her life in her native Thailand, amidst extreme poverty, the author began her heroic quest to find a better life that led her to the United States during the tumultuous Vietnam War. In America, the author faced new challenges and began her entrepreneurial career. Nuensie Suku overcame adversity through a combination of hard work, sound decision making based on common sense, her strong sense of purpose, and a determination to make her dreams a reality. Along with her business advice and ideas, the author offers her philosophy of life, and her vision for creating a future of success and happiness.

With her straight forward thinking and personal commitment to her goals,
Nuensie Suku (photo left) became a prominent and highly respected business owner on the famous San Antonio River Walk. The author outlines her ideas on real estate investment, including some of the pitfalls that await the unwary investor. The author also describes her ideas on entering and succeeding in the highly competitive retail sector. All through the book, the author shares her philosophy of life, health, and happiness that inspired her way in life.

Partly business manual, partly guide to living a successful and balanced life, the book is packed with wisdom that can be learned and practiced by anyone. The author teaches empowerment and how to live a fulfilling life. That sense of awareness of life and balance sustained the author, and it will sustain and refresh other people as well.

For me, the power of the book is how Nuensie Suku (Nancy Oakley) combines her life story, her philosophy of life and living, and her secrets of business success into a seamless whole. The holistic approach taken to business and life by the author reminds the reader that life and business are intertwined and a balance between the two must be sought and found. For the author, business advice and wisdom of living are one and the same. For the author, a person cannot create and maintain a successful business without living the values that create serenity and personal fulfillment. The author teaches that operating a business is simply another aspect of living a good and complete life as a person.

I highly recommend the wisdom filled and inspirational book The Road To Success: A Small Business Owner's Guide to Life, Financial Freedom, and Achieving Your Dreams by Nuensie Suku (Nancy Oakley), to anyone seeking a refreshing and personal account of how a life of purpose leads to a successful business and personal satisfaction. This little gem of a book will provide the reader with a positive outlook on life, and the means to achieve personal and business success, without compromising values, principles, or life balance.

Tags: The Road To Success: A Small Business Owner's Guide to Life, Financial Freedom, and Achieving Your Dreams, Nuensie Suku, Nancy Oakley, personal business philosophy, business book reviews

Employment Rage: What You've Lost and How To Get It Back by Howard Adamsky - Book review

2012-01-21T01:19:00.002-06:00

Employment Rage

What You've Lost and How to Get it Back

By: Howard Adamsky

Published: January 18,2011
Paperback: 204 pages
ISBN-10: 1935254464
ISBN-13: 978-1935254461
Publisher: Norlights Press

"For a person who's unemployed, a typical day can be dismal. You awaken to a stark and jarring reality. You are unemployed and you must find a job. Soon. Money is tight, and hope is in short supply as well", writes recruiter, speaker, and employment consultant Howard Adamsky, in his no nonsense and results oriented book Employment Rage: What You've Lost and How to Get it Back. The author describes what is really happening in the real world of employment and provides proven strategies for employment seekers to land a job in today's difficult labor market.

Howard Adamsky understands what it's like to be unemployed. He has been there, and shares his personal journey through the anger, frustration, and disappointment of losing a job. The author offers advice to job seekers that worked for him, and for other job hunters as well. Not only has Howard Adamsky experienced the pain, guilt, and shame of being without a job, but he has been on the hiring side of the desk as well. The author's keen insights, into the needs and requirements of both the job seeker and the hiring manager, offer guidance to anyone seeking a job in any industry. Howard Adamsky knows very well that the well known employment tactics of the past no longer work. In their place, he offers job seeking strategies that work in the new reality.

Howard Adamsky (photo left) recognizes that people who have lost their jobs in the current dysfunctional economy are feeling stress and personal anguish. The author empathizes with those who are unemployed, and seeks to share his inside knowledge of how employers view candidates, to help applicants land jobs. Howard Adamsky covers all areas of the employment seeking journey to ensure that job seekers have the latest and most critical techniques at their fingertips.

Because Howard Adamsky considers both the individual and the job search, the book is divided into four sections. Those four parts are as follows:

* Exploring the pain of job loss in a recessionary economy
* Advice and counsel for job seekers of all types
* The author's own personal story
* Road map to the future of a fresh start and new job

For me, the power of the book is how Howard Adamsky goes beyond the standard advice manuals of job finding strategies and provides down in the trenches advice that works in a tough hiring environment. The author offers the actual facts of what hiring managers want in candidates, how their resumes should appear, and how to succeed in a job interview. The book is more than simply a job hunting guide. It's also a personal development book, where the author combines his own personal experiences, with reflection on the job seeker's own life. The author pulls no punches, and spares no feelings, when it comes to describing the state of the economy and its current dysfunction.

For Howard Adamsky, it's the economy that failed the individual, and not the other way around. This fresh approach to the human side of the employment equation helps people to overcome their personal feelings of guilt and shame, to become active in discovering a new job. The author also gives some very hands on advice as to how the employment market and hiring practices have changed over time. He doesn't hesitate to point out that what worked in the past is not only no longer effective, but is likely to result in even more frustration and anger during the job search.

I highly recommend the very hands on and real world based book Employment Rage: What You've Lost and How to Get it Back by Howard Adamsky, to anyone who is seeking to either find a job or planning a career change and is looking for some proven and effective advice. This book will help you to pick yourself up, refresh your vision, and land you that great job of your dreams.

Tags: Employment Rage: What You've Lost and How to Get it Back, Howard Adamsky, job hunting strategies, business book reviews

Software Change Management by Donald J. Reifer - Book review

2012-01-20T01:30:00.004-06:00

Software Change Management

Case Studies and Practical Advice

By: Donald J. Reifer

Published: December 29, 2011
Format: Paperback, 192 pages
ISBN-10: 0735664757
ISBN-13: 978-0735664753
Publisher: Microsoft Press

"This book was written to equip those making and managing changes in software organizations with the processes, techniques, and tools that they need to be successful", writes successful entrepreneur, software consultant, thought leader, and teacher Donald J. Reifer, in his very hands on and pragmatic advice filled book Software Change Management: Case Studies and Practical Advice. The author describes how to integrate effective and lasting software change within both private and public sector organizations through insightful case study examples of software change.

Donald J. Reider recognizes that problems do arise when planning and implementing software change. The author understands that the challenges facing change agents are not only ones involving technology. Change affects people both individually, and as part of the entire organization. Donald Reider provides strategies for creating sustainable change through a deeper understanding of the people, change process, and software products involved in the transformation. Through his own experience, and through a series of ten case studies involving different change scenarios, the author offers ideas and lessons for organizational change, that avoid the many mistakes and obstacles that can work to block or derail a change initiative.

Donald J. Reifer (photo left) presents an overview of the software change management process, from the planning process to the final implementation by the organization. The author describes many different situations, where problems ranging from inefficiency, to waste, to outright incompetence, stand as roadblocks to the needed change. Donald Reifer presents a series of case studies that show what works, and what doesn't get positive results, when facilitating software change.

Donald J. Reifer offers a systematic approach to software change management. His framework includes the following considerations:

* Organization, its infrastructure and portfolio
* Project infrastructure
* Process including developmental models and activities
* Product in the form of the deliverables
* People in the workforce ,teams, characteristics, and skills
* Change agents and their role at all phases of change

For me, the power of the book is how Donald J. Reifer provides a workable framework for facilitating software change management that includes all aspects of the organization. The book is written for the decision makers and change agents, to equip them with the tools for successful change initiatives. The strategies shared in the book are applicable to a wide cross section of organizations from entrepreneur based companies, to large companies, to non-profit organizations, and for government agencies. The author assumes a basic knowledge of software engineering and fundamentals of management. To reinforce and illustrate his concepts, the author provides ten real world case studies that illustrate the challenges and solutions to software management issues.

I highly recommend the very engaging and real world based book Software Change Management: Case Studies and Practical Advice by Donald J. Reifer, to any decision makers and change agents seeking a practical and real world based guide to holistic change management. This book will ease the transition from existing and legacy software systems to a complete change in the systems and processes across the entire organization.

Tags: Software Change Management: Case Studies and Practical Advice, Donald J. Reifer, organizational change strategies, business book reviews

Culture Connection by Marty Parker - Book review

2012-01-19T01:48:00.007-06:00

Culture Connection

How Developing a Winning Culture Will Give Your Organization a Competitive Advantage

By: Marty Parker

Published: October 11, 2011
Format: Hardcover: 224 pages
ISBN-10: 007178876X
ISBN-13: 978-0071788762
Publisher: McGraw-Hill

"Corporate culture is defined by behaviour. It's how people - meaning the collective of people - in an organization do things. Ideology, vision, mission, and values - these things set the tone. But culture is really about how people behave day-in and day-out. And leadership drives that behaviour", writes Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Waterstone Human Capital, Marty Parker, in his insightful and passionate book Culture Connection: How Developing a Winning Culture Will Give Your Organization a Competitive Advantage. The author describes the critical importance of organizational culture to a company's success, and provides the strategies and tactics that create an effective and performance boosting culture.

Marty Parker understands the impact that a company culture exerts on the entire organization, its leadership, its employees, and its customers. The author provides compelling evidence that a strong culture is a strategic competitive advantage that creates a noticeable gap ahead of the competition. Marty Parker demonstrates how an effective organizational culture, with its engaged and motivated workforce, develops a strong connection with overall company performance at all levels. The author points out that culture is system of behaviours, within the organization, that are practiced on a daily basis. Companies that align their culture and behaviour, with all of its internal and external systems, demonstrate a clear edge over their competition.

Marty Parker (photo left) recognizes that everything that an organization does on a daily basis, both internally and externally, is a reflection of its company culture. These organizational behaviours matter, whether they are practiced consciously or unconsciously by company leaders, managers, and employees in performing their daily tasks. Marty Parkers offers the strategies that will transform a culture that changes how systems, habits, and people behave on the job.

The author demonstrates how to identify problem areas within the culture, and how to make the positive changes that enhance overall company performance. Marty Parker also provides techniques for aligning the company's culture with its brands and their brand promise. The author also provides strategies for leaders within the organization to lead and support the overall process of cultural change.

For me, the power of the book is how Marty Parker combines the theoretical framework outlining the importance of organizational culture, with the strategies and tactics to develop a winning culture. The author offers a systematic approach to analyzing an existing culture, identifying its problem areas, getting leadership on board, introducing and developing cultural change effectively, and aligning the new culture with the company brands. Marty Parker utilizes a holistic methodology for facilitating change within the entire organization to ensure that the new behaviour becomes the daily standard of action. The author adds to his concepts with examples and case studies of successful organizational culture transformation in the real world.

I highly recommend the visionary and transformational book Culture Connection: How Developing a Winning Culture Will Give Your Organization a Competitive Advantage by Marty Parker, to any organizational leaders who are seeking a user friendly and engaging guide to company cultural change. This book will provide your organization with a fresh culture, with renewed employee behaviour, that will place your business in an unbeatable competitive position.

Tags: Culture Connection: How Developing a Winning Culture Will Give Your Organization a Competitive Advantage, Marty Parker, visionary organizational strategies, business book reviews

Philippa Gamse: 42 Rules For A Web Presence That Wins - Blog Business Success Radio

2012-01-18T00:46:00.007-06:00

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Web strategy expert and author of the very practical and idea filled book 42 Rules for a Web Presence That Wins: Essential Business Strategy for Website and Social Media Success, Philippa Gamse, CMC, describes how to improve your overall internet presence to add value and revenue to your company. Philippa shares ideas to prevent the all too frequent problem of leaving money on the table through we strategies and tactics that drive traffic to the site and convert those visitors into paying customers. Philippa offers valuable insights into better communicating with customers and for building powerful connections that last and result in returning clientele. Learn how to build and maintain a website that really works for you and your business through enhanced strategies and a more visible web presence.

Philippa Gamse is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, January 19, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Web strategy expert and author of the very practical and idea filled book 42 Rules for a Web Presence That Wins: Essential Business Strategy for Website and Social Media Success, Philippa Gamse, CMC, describes how to improve your overall internet presence to add value and revenue to your company. You will learn:

* The importance of an effective web presence for your company

* How to prepare a strategy and choose the right tactics to achieve your goals

* How to create effective content that speaks to the target audience

* How to measure the results and effectiveness of your company web presence

Philippa Gamse (photo left) is a web strategy pioneer. Philippa Gamse has been working with Internet applications since 1991. Originally from the UK, she formed her US-based consulting and speaking practice in 1995. Philippa drills deep into the visitor experience, and creates actionable and specific recommendations for your Web presence. Clients report significant improvement in quality Web traffic, visitor engagement, customer loyalty and qualified sales leads within 30 days of implementing her recommendations.

Philippa was the sole featured expert for the cover story on effective Web strategies for UPS Compass Magazine Fall 2009, distributed to more than one million businesses. She is a Certified Management Consultant – an ISO-accredited designation recognized in over 60 countries.

My book review of 42 Rules for a Web Presence That Wins: Essential Business Strategy for Website and Social Media Success by Philippa Gamse, CMC.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with web strategy expert and author of the very practical and idea filled book 42 Rules for a Web Presence That Wins: Essential Business Strategy for Website and Social Media Success, Philippa Gamse, CMC, as she describes how to improve your overall internet presence to add value and revenue to your company. Philippa shares ideas to prevent the all too frequent problem of leaving money on the table through we strategies and tactics that drive traffic to the site and convert those visitors into paying customers. Philippa offers valuable insights into better communicating with customers and for building powerful connections that last and result in returning clientele. Learn how to build and maintain a website that really works for you and your business through enhanced strategies and a more visible web presence on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: 42 Rules for a Web Presence That Wins: Essential Business Strategy for Website and Social Media Success, Philippa Gamse, CMC, internet business strategies, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

42 Rules for a Web Presence That Wins by Philippa Gamse - Book review

2012-01-17T01:38:00.002-06:00

42 Rules for a Web Presence That Wins

Essential Business Strategy for Website and Social Media Success

By: Philippa Gamse, CMC

Published: September 7, 2011
Format: Paperback, 136 pages
ISBN-10: 1607730669
ISBN-13: 978-1607730668
Publisher: Super Star Press

"Like it or not, your web presence plays an increasingly key role in your organization", writes long time web strategist Philippa Gamse, CMC, in her very practical and idea filled book 42 Rules for a Web Presence That Wins: Essential Business Strategy for Website and Social Media Success. The author describes the strategies and techniques to transform a company internet presence into a powerful tool for engaging all of the stakeholders and customers; and creating a website and social media plan that boost revenue.

Philippa Gamse recognizes that there is no single set of rules, benchmarks, and best practices that work for every business website. The author provides the strategies and tactics for creating a web presence that works for the individual company, its employees, and its audience. Philippa Gamse guides the business person through the process of deciding on the technology, establishing an internet presence in all areas, creating a site that works for the entire organization, and that speaks to the intended audience and customers. The author presents concepts, for both the company website and its social media activity, that are proven to work and to get results.

Philippa Gamse (photo left) understands the critical importance of having a web presence that works for all stakeholders of the company. The author also points out the value of having a company website that gets results. Philippa Gamse recommends an individual approach to building or recreating a website. For some companies, the only changes needed to optimize a website may be touch ups. On the other hand, some websites may require a drastic rebuild toward something entirely new. As a result, the author steers business people away from gurus and standardized approaches to design and function.

To guide the business in creating an effective web presence, Philippa Gamse provides forty-two rules, broken into five overall sections. Those five sections are as follows:

* Management-level issues
* Setting strategy and tactics
* Creating content that makes connections
* Measuring results
* Afterword and further thoughts

For me, the power of the book is how Philippa Gamse presents her forty-two rules for creating a powerful web presence in a clear and concise format. The author provides the framework for companies to be successful on the internet, while avoiding the most common mistakes and pitfalls that derail many businesses online. Philippa Gamse recognizes that there are individual needs and requirements for every company, but shares the concepts that are common to all businesses on the web. The author goes beyond the usual standards and best practices recommended by many internet thinkers, and suggests an individualized approach for each company, with an emphasis on a holistic framework that covers all aspects of the business and its stakeholders.

I highly recommend the very hands on and useful book 42 Rules for a Web Presence That Wins: Essential Business Strategy for Website and Social Media Success by Philippa Gamse, CMC,to any business people seeking advice for creating an effective web presence that works for all of its stakeholders and customers. The author even acknowledges that rules are made to be broken if that route helps achieve the company's overall internet goals.

Tags: , Philippa Gamse, CMC, internet business strategies, business book reviews

Screw Business As Usual By Richard Branson - Book review

2012-01-16T00:24:00.006-06:00

Screw Business As Usual

By: Richard Branson

Published: December 8, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
ISBN-10: 1591844347
ISBN-13: 978-1591844341
Publisher: Portfolio/Penguin

"This is exactly what I am hoping to promote with this book: to find out why we need to change the way we do business, and how that might best be done", writes successful international entrepreneur, adventurer, and founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson, in his visionary and thought provoking book Screw Business As Usual. The author describes how it is time to transform capitalism from a purely money making concept to one where business leaders play an ever increasing role in improving the world and the lives of people across the globe.

Richard Branson understands deeply that despite his successes, and those of his many well known companies, their employees, and their customers, so much more good can be done in the world beyond the current levels. Richard Branson points out readily that while business has provided an outstanding engine of growth in the world, his own companies and others have not stopped the global downward spiral into economic decay. Indeed, the author recognizes that traditional and narrowly focused business practices have accelerated that economic downward spiral. For Richard Branson, the exclusive concentration on profit has caused serious and damaging unintended consequences for people, countries as a whole, economies on all scales, and for the environment.

Richard Branson (photo left) advocates a fresh business approach of behaving differently, changing the focus, solving real problems, and turning work and business into a mission for good. While capitalism has brought many benefits to society, Richard Branson states that there have been many costs that haven't appeared on balance sheets as well. The damage to the environment and to lives were considered irrelevant when compared to the balance sheet only focus of the past.

Richard Branson offers evidence that narrow viewpoint is changing into a new form of capitalism that works toward to good of everyone in the world. The author suggests fresh thinking on how all aspects of business are conducted in all countries, how to solve major challenge sin new and creative ways, and how to create work that is part of a larger positive mission beyond only profit. For Richard Branson, the evidence that a new form of capitalism will supplant the previous form is that simply doing good is also good business. Benefiting others works for the company as well.

For me, the power of the book is how Richard Branson combines his vision for a new and positive form of capitalism with a blueprint for making that transformation a reality. Through examples from his own business experience and travels, and from the examples of others, Richard Branson provides examples of the success of his fresh new approach to a more humane and sustainable capitalism.

The author demonstrates clearly that caring about employees, customers, the environment, and the entire planet is not only the right thing to do,but that it's also good business. Richard Branson proves that ethical and sustainable business, are not only about doing good, but that they are even more profitable than the older, and now failing business paradigm.

I highly recommend the brilliant and landmark book Screw Business As Usual by Richard Branson, to any leaders and decision makers who are seeking an alternative to the failed model capitalism, and are seeking a renewal of ethical capitalism that works for everyone. This book will form the basis for creating a better future for the entire planet and all of its residents.

Tags: Screw Business As Usual, Richard Branson, visionary capitalism, business book reviews

Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won't Save Us or the Environment by Michael Huesemann & Joyce Huesemann - Book review

2012-01-15T01:20:00.005-06:00

Techno-Fix

Why Technology Won't Save Us Or the Environment

By: Michael Huesemann, Ph.D., Joyce Huesemann, Ph.D.

Published: October 4, 2011
Format: Paperback, 464 pages
ISBN-10: 0865717044
ISBN-13: 978-0865717046
Publisher: New Society Publishers

"Despite the serious shortcomings and consequences of past technologies, the public often uncritically accepts new technology, believing that additional and more advanced technology will eventually provide satisfactory solutions", write research scientist Michael Huesemann, Ph.D., and activist and academic Joyce Huesemann, Ph.D., in their deeply profound and thought provoking book Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won't Save Us Or the Environment. The authors present a compelling rebuttal to the widely held belief that technology will solve the challenges facing the environment, energy, social needs, and the economy, but instead may even make the existing problems worse.

Michael Huesemann, Ph.D. and Joyce Huesemann, Ph.D. recognize that while technology has solved many problems in the past, that same technological imperative has created new and even more dangerous and unpredictable unintended consequences. The authors consider those unintended consequences to be both unpredictable and unavoidable, and that continued faith in technology is based on a lack of knowledge and understanding of both the nature of the problem, and of the technology employed to address and resolve that same challenge.The authors point out that both public and private sector analyses are biased in support of untested and potentially dangerous new technology. For the authors, the unquestioning faith in technology has not only failed to resolve the salient issues or provide real happiness, but instead leads away from sustainability and toward collapse.

Michael Huesemann, Ph.D. and Joyce Huesemann, Ph.D. challenge directly what they consider the myth of technological inevitability. The authors demonstrate that technology is not value neutral and that the ethics of the technological imperative are deeply flawed in both conception and application. For the authors, the profit motive is the driving force behind the technological imperative and that science and technology as currently practiced are unable to meet the challenges facing the environment, society, and the economy.

The authors propose a complete paradigm shift toward reorienting science and technology in a different direction that is more socially responsible and environmentally sustainable. The authors address the following challenges and realities facing society and its worldview regarding science and technology that demand a new paradigm:

* Technology and its limitations
* The uncritical acceptance of technology
* The next scientific and technological revolution

For me, the power of the book is how Michael Huesemann, Ph.D. and Joyce Huesemann, Ph.D. apply their scientific and engineering credentials and expertise the critical challenge posed by the uncritical acceptance of the technological imperative. The authors address the myths of technological advancement and progress, as not only unable to solve the problems facing the modern world, but instead are hastening collapse. The authors take a holistic approach to the issues of technology, science, the environment, society, and the economy. Through this big picture analysis, the authors point out how technology has impact, as well as unpredictable unintended consequences elsewhere in the system.

Importantly, Michael Huesemann, Ph.D. and Joyce Huesemann, Ph.D. write that the potential problems unaddressed, made worse, or even created by the unchallenged acceptance of new technology can be stopped. The authors consider the march of technology is by no means inevitable, and does not automatically equate to progress. Instead, the authors propose that everyone within society take a closer look at science and technology, and reconsider their flawed and failing worldview. That fresh thinking will also reclaim control over science and technology, and consider sustainable benefit to all of society and the environment. For the authors, a continued uncritical acceptance of the scientific imperative will not solve any problems, but will lead inevitably to collapse.

I highly recommend the landmark and must read book Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won't Save Us Or the Environment by Michael Huesemann, Ph.D. and Joyce Huesemann, Ph.D., to anyone seeking a comprehensive analysis of and challenge to the widely held belief in the technological imperative and its ability to provide solutions to the problems facing the environment, society, and the economy. Whether you agree with the authors' premises or conclusions, it's crucial that a person read and understand the arguments presented by the authors. All of our futures depend on making the right decisions that are sustainable and benefit everyone.

Tags: Techno-Fix: Why Technology Won't Save Us Or the Environment, Michael Huesemann, Ph.D., Joyce Huesemann, Ph.D., environmental science, science book reviews.

Tom Hayes: Maverick Marketing - Author interview

2012-01-14T12:08:00.002-06:00

Former Silicon Valley marketing pioneer, Managing Partner at the New England Consulting Group, and author of the insightful and very practical book Maverick Marketing … Trailride into the Wild West of New Marketing, Tom Hayes, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his book.

Tom Hayes shared his thoughts on marketing, including dispelling a few myths that have grown up about marketing in the digital age, creating a powerful marketing strategy, and taking that important first step toward becoming a maverick marketer.

Thanks to Tom Hayes for his time, and for his very comprehensive and informative responses. They are greatly appreciated.

What was the background to writing this book Maverick Marketing … Trailride into the Wild West of New Marketing?

Tom Hayes: The idea of my book, Maverick Marketingg, arose out of the flood of misinformation and hyper attention to digital marketing. Everyone was predicting the demise of so-called traditional media. The analogue is the advent of cable TV many years ago and all of the gurus, again, predicting the total elimination of the TV networks. And we all know, now that despite the growth of cable, network television remains a strong contender. And by the way, Fox currently looks like a traditional network ... original programming, broad coverage, bidding for major sports contracts, etc.

A key objective of the book was to bring a touch of sanity, reality and balance to the discussion. Corporations were being stampeded into setting up digital operations before they understood the value proposition. That said, even the largest and most traditional marketers have to change and adapt in the new marketing environment ... the Wild West!

In years past, only the smaller scrappy organizations “dropped their long johns” clawing for recognition and awareness. Now, even the global galactic marketers are heavily engaged in marketing programs that would have, in the past. been considered “cute,” “not strategic,” “destructive,” or even ... “beneath the brand.”

You use a western metaphor as an outline for the book. Why did you choose that sagebrush framework and how does it relate to marketing?

Tom Hayes: I decided to utilize the “sagebrush” metaphor because the current times so reflects the “wild west” where the fundamental environment is changing rapidly. The old rules or tenets are being questioned and it is “mano y mano.” There are “attackers” and “defenders” of the old law. And the result is a strong dose of chaos ... and a time of great risk.

In the Wild West, all issues were very much “black or white” and people quickly divided into clearly distinguished camps of “friends” or “foes.”

Plus ... “High Noon” is one of my favorite movies.

The book focuses on marketing to consumers. Are the same concepts applicable to business to business marketing efforts as well?

Tom Hayes: Absolutely! May be even more important since B2B tends to follow B2C marketing.

However, for the purpose of clarity and the more public availability of information and case studies, Maverick Marketing focuses mainly on Consumer products and services. However, we have experienced the same basic phenomenon with our many business-to-business Clients.

Tom Hayes (photo left)

How has the market changed in ways that may make traditional marketing campaigns obsolete?

Tom Hayes: Not even a scintilla of truth that traditional marketing campaigns have become obsolete. The major difference between pre-Net and post-Net marketing lies not in the fundamentals ... but rather in the ability and efficiency of executions. A coupon is a coupon whether appearing in People magazine or downloaded from a mobile app.

While Consumer empowerment and the Media “Big Bang” had been transpiring for some time, the important factor or inflection point in forcing “maverick” marketing has been the rapid emergence of the new digital world. This has been the final enabling factor in two important ways. First, the Digital Age created an entirely new and comprehensive delivery system of information and commercial messaging. Second, the Net has made it economically and “speed-feasible” for Marketers to actually execute “maverick” activities which previously they could plan ... but not execute efficiently or quickly.

Over 30,000 hits to the website can only contribute to but not drive a mass product. In the euphoria of digital media, marketers can mistakenly ignore the 93 million Super Bowl TV viewers that drove the 30,000 website visitors.

You recommend using social media and mainstream media as a team. How can these two media be harnessed to be effective and present a unified message?

Tom Hayes: The issue is not if digital media and mainstream media can be integrated ... they MUST.

Only the pontiffs with a vested interest in pimping digital and social media want to create a differential.

Consumers are barraged with more and more messaging ... accepting some, rejecting others. It is the total bundle of messaging and points of contact that drive behavior. That does not mean the marketing messages via the different media channels must be identical but rather supporting. It is those people specifically exclusively in digital marketing that want to create the artificial barriers and differences. And while most major marketers are rapidly increasing their investment in digital marketing, the actual dollar investment pales in comparison to what most derogatively refer to as traditional marketing.

The best-in-class marketers will never address the issue as either – or, but how can all the “horses” pull in the same direction.

Are there some cutting edge marketing tactics that consider the newly empowered consumer and the building of two way communications and relationships?

Tom Hayes: A great example of cutting edge marketing tactics can be found in the marketing programs, well beyond simply advertising, of Super Bowl XLV. The major marketers approached the Super Bowl opportunity not as an advertising event, but rather as a fully integrated marketing thrust with entertainment and tickets for key retailer; customers, pre-event social media selling the brand messaging in advance, cut through in program advertising, and post-Bowl engagement via social media.

The most astute were those like the Doritos brand group which harnessed the consumers themselves to develop the commercials.

How can a marketer find the right metrics to measure the effectiveness of marketing in the new marketing landscape?

Tom Hayes: Metrics in the new “wild west” of marketing are both more simple and, at the same time, more complex. Issues have not changed but became more complex. The digital marketing programs may inform, pre-sell or close the purchase equation. So-called traditional mass marketing generates the momentum of awareness and building of brand equity.

Pure “click-based” metrics have gone out of favor. The one true and sustainable metrics is sales . . . sales ...

Can maverick marketing become an overall strategy for a company to use as a system, rather than simply as a tactic for occasional campaigns?

Tom Hayes: Yes, “maverick” marketing MUST be a major strategic function and not just a low level tactics.

When the same people use the same techniques to come up with the same ideas on doing business essentially the same way, the result is the curse of convergence. Innovation requires a fundamentally different approach.

The good news is that when the current players in a category have converged, this leaves “white space” for the “mavericks” to exploit.

Corporate tachypsychia, distorting the perception of time, is a major impact of the rate of change in today’s marketing and business environment. Some companies are over-estimating the speed of change … stampeding across The Great Plains. Procter & Gamble, arguably the best global marketer, is one that has over course-corrected … perhaps out of corporate guilt of having been so traditional regarding the Consumer in decades past.

Other companies at the other end of “maverick” spectrum continue to stick their head in the proverbial gopher hole and pretend the New World of Market does not exist. They may make a foray into new media but the traditionalist marketing attitude remains dominant and counter-productive.

How can maverick marketing fit into a company's need for innovation and become part of the process, rather than just an add on at the end?

Tom Hayes: Perhaps in no arena have the traditional marketers been forced to emulate the “mavericks” as on the “new frontier” of Innovation and New Products. It is a lonely and scary experience venturing off the beaten path into truly unexplored territory.

Yet, Innovation is the oxygen for any company as it multiplies, expands, and attempts to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. And the required “speed” of Innovation has warped into the “acceleration” of Innovation in today’s marketing arena. Every aspect of corporate growth and adaptation is transformed even more quickly ... including the tenure of C-level executives ... forcing a major change in managerial behavior.

Alas, the more traditional and established marketers have been forced to follow their “maverick” counterparts out onto the open range. These larger companies have obliterated many of the organizational silos and legal handcuffs which restricted their Innovation and New Product Development progress.

What is the first step a company should take to develop a maverick marketing approach?

Tom Hayes: The first step is in Human Resources and selecting the right people.

As a manager, we can teach our people marketing or manufacturing techniques but we cannot teach them to be intelligent. Similarly, it is easier to break a “maverick” than to create one … is true “mavericks” are a rare and valued asset. In order to maximize their value to the corporation, we should be asking how do we...

• tolerate
• stimulate
• reward
• incentivize
• protect
• leverage

...a “maverick” within a traditional organization? How do you assist in creating more new “mavericks?”

What is next for Tom Hayes?

Tom Hayes: Right now we are very busy with client assignments in Retail, CPG and Healthcare. But, I have begun to outline a new book on branding that is based on totally new approaches. And I have decided to ski all seven continents, again, for the third time!

******************

Tags: Maverick Marketing … Trailride into the Wild West of New Marketing, Tom Hayes, integrated marketing strategies, business author interviews

Wheel$pin by Mike Richardson - Book review

2012-01-14T01:01:00.005-06:00

Wheel$pin

The Agile Executive's Manifesto - Accelerate Your Growth, Leverage Your Value, Beat Your Competition

By: Mike Richardson

Published: September 14, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 344 pages
ISBN-10: 1614660212
ISBN-13: 978-1614660217
Publisher: No Limit Publishing

"In this new age of increasing uncertainty, turbulence, and volatility,with the speed of business and pace of change accelerating all the time, we aren't sure what is going to happen next. When there is less and less that we can count on with any certainty, we must be able to count more and more on our agility as an organization, team, manager, executive and CEO to cope, no matter what. Whatever happens next, we must have the agility to deal with it", writes organizational agility pioneer and management innovator, Mike Richardson, in his insightful and comprehensive book Wheel$pin: The Agile Executive's Manifesto - Accelerate Your Growth, Leverage Your Value, Beat Your Competition.

The author describes how uncertainty and turbulence are the new business normal, that leaders must be equipped to understand and handle the overall challenge, and develop the skills to to become a three dimensional leader who recognizes the overall problem in all directions and demonstrates the agility to overcome the obstacles.

Mike Richardson recognizes that CEOs, executives, and other business leaders must reassess their existing skills, and and problem analysis abilities, to cope with the complexity of today's rapidly changing and difficult business challenges. The author compares the position of the leader as being in the cockpit of an airplane, with a need to observe, understand, and react to the three dimensions of latitude, altitude, and longitude. Mike Richardson calls the intersection of these three dimensions being In The Driving Seat. The author provides evidence that the leader must navigate the intersection of the static plane of thinking with one of a dynamic plane of thinking.

Mike Richardson (photo left) demonstrates the need for developing skills that are a combination of detail complexity/static skills, and of dynamic complexity/ dynamic skills. The author points to the need to develop and improve the dynamic skills to navigate successfully on the longitudinal plane of thinking. For the author, the longitudinal plane represents the journey forward through ever increasing dynamic complexity. Mike Richardson guides the executive through the development of the higher level skills and thinking to travel along the longitudinal axis successfully. Through becoming a three dimensional CEO or executive, the ability to travel through these planes of thinking, requires the agility and skills to find and remain in The Driving Seat.

Mike Richardson shares three underlying premises that offer guidance to the executive or CEO. Those three premises are as follows:

* Without traction, there is no journey
* Cash is king and growing cash flow by reducing static wheel$pin
* Understanding that the rules of the road have changed

For me, the power of the book is how Mike Richardson combines the theoretical framework of his three dimensional and dynamic thinking premises, with the practical strategies and skills for achieving agility and confidence within The Driving Seat. The author shares his experience as an engineer, as a a director in the automotive industry, and from the aerospace industry to provide background and depth to his concepts. The insight arrived at through the aerospace connection, of the three dimensional nature of the business and the marketplace, guides the author toward his advice for leaders.

The understanding of both dynamic and static ways of thinking and acting follow logically in the wake of the three dimensional journey concept. The author demonstrates his premises well, and provides many graphics and diagrams to illustrate the ideas, and create understanding of the idea of agility and being within The Driving Seat. Overall, the book will guide the CEO or executive to a breakthrough in both thought and in action, to prevent being trapped in the static and ground losing wheel$spin mode.

I highly recommend the practical and breakthrough oriented book Wheel$pin: The Agile Executive's Manifesto - Accelerate Your Growth, Leverage Your Value, Beat Your Competition by Mike Richardson, to any CEOs, business owners, executives, or other business leaders seeking a fresh and holistic guide to overcoming inertia in both thought and action. This book will move you and your company to the next level, through a deeper understanding of the changing dynamics of business, and toward being agile in your thinking and decision making skills.

Tags: Wheel$pin: The Agile Executive's Manifesto - Accelerate Your Growth, Leverage Your Value, Beat Your Competition, Mike Richardson, advanced strategic thinking, business book reviews

Hiring For Attitude by Mark Murphy - Book review

2012-01-13T00:26:00.006-06:00

Hiring for Attitude

A Revolutionary Approach to Recruiting and Selecting People with Both Tremendous Skills and Superb Attitude

By: Mark Murphy

Published: November 11, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 007178585X
ISBN-13: 978-0071785853
Publisher: McGraw-Hill

"If your organization is going to excel, it needs the right people. But virtually every one of the standard approaches to selecting those right people is dead wrong", writes leadership strategist and Chairman and CEO of Leadership IQ, Mark Murphy, in his pioneering and real world research based book Hiring for Attitude: A Revolutionary Approach to Recruiting and Selecting People with Both Tremendous Skills and Superb Attitude. The author describes his fresh approach to employing the right people for an organization that goes beyond the standard skills based human resources hiring techniques.

Mark Murphy recognizes that almost half of new hires fail in their job during their first eighteen months in the position. That is only part of the story, as the author points out that almost all of the failed employees don't succeed because of attitudinal issues. That startling finding, based on the leading edge research conducted by Leadership IQ, underlines the weaknesses of traditional hiring practices and techniques. Mark Murphy demonstrates that hiring staff based on skills, rather than a positive attitude and strong interpersonal skills, leads to workplace tension, lower overall morale, and lower productivity. To counter these attitudinal based problems, the author provides the strategies, tools, and techniques for hiring employees with the right attitude for the company culture from the very beginning.

Mark Murphy (photo left) understands the critical importance of hiring employees with a positive attitude. The right attitude not only benefits the employee, but also maintains workplace morale, and improves overall performance that benefits the organization as a whole. Mark Murphy points out that the reason that companies end up hiring employees based on skills, rather than attitude, is that they ask all of the wrong questions on the interview. Having the right skill set may get the applicant hired, but having the wrong attitude will ultimately result in the employee failing in the position.

To overcome this skills instead of attitude hiring dilemma, Mark Murphy proposes an entirely new and dynamic approach to interviewing employment hopefuls, including a completely different set of interview questions. The author also provides a unique and effective new system for scoring the responses objectively, to ensure that the individuals with the best attitudes are discovered during interview process, and are ultimately hired.

For me, the power of the book is how Mark Murphy shares very compelling evidence for the importance of hiring based on attitude rather than skills. The author also provides real world case studies and research based data that also show the value of employing people with great attitudes, as well as the dangers of thinking only in terms of skill sets. Mark Murphy moves beyond the theoretical and research based concepts by offering practical advice for finding the right employees through improved interview questions, techniques, and applicant interview scoring tools. All of the recommendations, for utilizing the enhanced interviewing practices, are based on actual results in real world situations in all types of companies.

I highly recommend the insightful and game changing book Hiring for Attitude: A Revolutionary Approach to Recruiting and Selecting People with Both Tremendous Skills and Superb Attitude by Mark Murphy, to any business owners, managers, hiring decision makers, and human resources professionals who hire employees for any positions within their organizations. This book will change completely the focus of the interview process, and find the right employees, with the right attitude for your company culture.

Tags: Hiring for Attitude: A Revolutionary Approach to Recruiting and Selecting People with Both Tremendous Skills and Superb Attitude, Mark Murphy, advanced hiring strategies, business book reviews

Wayne Breitbarth: The Power Formula For LinkedIn Success - Blog Business Success Radio

2012-01-12T00:28:00.004-06:00

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Successful entrepreneur, consultant, and author of the very hands on and results oriented book The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search, Wayne Breitbarth, describes how to leverage the potential of LinkedIn to achieve your business and career goals. Wayne Breitbarth shares his techniques for building a compelling profile, giving and receiving recommendations, sharing expertise in groups, and building business and employment contacts. Wayne provides reasons for becoming an active LinkedIn user, through connections with others on this often overlooked social media platform. Learn how to transform your business, profession, or career through connecting with other business people on LinkedIn, and accomplish your goals in new and unexpected ways.

Wayne Breitbarth is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, January 12, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Successful entrepreneur, consultant, and author of the very hands on and results oriented book The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search, Wayne Breitbarth, describes how to leverage the potential of LinkedIn to achieve your business and career goals. You will learn:

* Why having a compelling Linkedin profile and presence is important

* How to give and receive recommendations and be part of LinkedIn groups

* How to become more visible in searches on LinkedIn

* How to work with contacts for mutual business and career success

Wayne Breitbarth (photo left) was once a skeptic and now an outspoken proponent of LinkedIn. Wayne Breitbarth is passionate about helping business professionals—from entry level to CEO—learn how to combine their previous experience and relationships with this innovative tool in order to more successfully brand and market themselves and their businesses.

Wayne’s diverse professional background uniquely positions him to assist not only individuals but corporate entities as well. With thirty years’ experience in the areas of operations, finance, management, consulting, and business ownership, he is able to “put it all together” for his corporate and individual clients.

In addition to his consulting work, Wayne is a dynamic speaker and published author. His practical yet entertaining presentations have inspired audiences both locally, at many of Milwaukee’s most prominent companies and organizations, and nationally, at conventions, industry association events, and corporate training sessions.

Wayne is a Certified Public Accountant and received a BBA from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and an MBA from Marquette University. He is an owner of M&M Office Interiors in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, and resides in suburban Milwaukee.

My book review of The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search by Wayne Breitbarth.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with successful entrepreneur, consultant, and author of the very hands on and results oriented book The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search, Wayne Breitbarth, as he describes how to leverage the potential of LinkedIn to achieve your business and career goals. Wayne Breitbarth shares his techniques for building a compelling profile, giving and receiving recommendations, sharing expertise in groups, and building business and employment contacts. Wayne provides reasons for becoming an active LinkedIn user, through connections with others on this often overlooked social media platform. Learn how to transform your business, profession, or career through connecting with other business people on LinkedIn, and accomplish your goals in new and unexpected ways on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search, Wayne Breitbarth, social media strategies, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

The Power Formula For LinkedIn Success by Wayne Breitbarth - Book review

2012-01-11T00:38:00.004-06:00

The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success

Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search

By: Wayne Breitbarth

Published: March 1, 2011
Format: Paperback, 176 pages
ISBN-10: 1608320936
ISBN-13: 978-1608320936
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group LLC

"Anyone with business experience and the willingness to learn can realize great benefits from LinkedIn", writes successful entrepreneur, consultant, and former skeptic turned proponent of LinkedIn, Wayne Breitbarth, in his very hands on and results oriented book The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search. The author describes why it's very important for business people, professionals, and employment seekers to be active on the LinkedIn, and also provides strategies and techniques for maximizing the benefits of using this important social media platform.

Wayne Breitbarth recognizes that many business people are reluctant to use the many, and often confusing array of social media tools available. As the author admits readily, he was once a skeptic as to the value and benefits that could result from having a profile and being active on LinkedIn. Wayne Breitbarth is now a strong advocate of the power of LinkedIn and its importance in reaching business goals and achieving employment and career success. The author offers a complete guide to the value and use of LinkedIn, beginning at the basic level of creating the profile, and moves on to the various features of LinkedIn including recommendations, groups, searches. Wayne Brietbarth teaches how to navigate and use the platform in ways that work toward the individual's goals and aspirations.

Wayne Breitbarth (photo left) points out, being a late arrival to LinkedIn is actually to the advantage of the business person. The experience and connections gained, over an entire business or professional career, work to that individual or company's support and benefit. Wayne Breitbarth understands that, fundamentally, LinkedIn is simply a tool to achieve other goals and objectives. With that recognition in place, the often expressed concerns that LinkedIn is just a time waster or little value, are alleviated. A tool can be used in many different ways, and can achieve some tremendous results. Linkedin, writes Wayne Breitbarth, is one such valuable and high impact tool.

Wayne Breitbarth shares the practical techniques to use LinkedIn to:

* Build a compelling profile
* Gain important recommendations and endorsements
* Utilize LinkedIn groups to demonstrate expertise
* Become more easily searched and discovered
* Find and establish valuable and important contacts
* Monetizing LinkedIn connections effectively the right way
* Finding a great career through LinkedIn contacts

For me, the power of the book is how Wayne Breitbarth combines the importance and benefits that accrue from being found on LinkedIn, with the hands on techniques for achieving both personal and business goals. The author sets out a step by step plan for creating a LinkedIn profile, utilizing groups effectively, and for gaining proficiency in using the more advanced features of the platform. For business people, the author shares a blueprint for transforming contacts into business connections that benefit everyone involved.

For job seekers, Wayne Brietbarth includes a valuable section on finding employment contacts and turning their information into a job and a career. The book is filled with graphics, photos, and screen captures to illustrate the author's points more effectively. Each chapter concludes with a summary of the crucial points and concepts, and how they can be put into practice immediately.

I highly recommend the very practical and comprehensive book The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search by Wayne Breitbarth, to any business people seeking usable and easy to understand advice for utilizing the power of LinkedIn effectively.

This book is also valuable for people seeking a career change or that all important first job after college. This book will change the way that you think about and approach LinkedIn, and will provide the positive results that will build your business or career.

Tags: The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search, Wayne Breitbarth, social media strategies, business book reviews

Jeanne Bliss: I Love You More Than My Dog - Blog Business Success Radio

2012-01-10T00:47:00.001-06:00

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Speaker, consultant, President of CustomerBliss, and author of the transformational and passionate book "I Love You More Than My Dog": Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad, Jeanne Bliss, describes how being respected as a business is fine, but to be really successful, a company needs loyal and passionate customers. Jeanne Bliss provides ideas about how, in the new social marketplace, customer loyalty is more important than ever before. Jeanne Bliss points out that companies who combine their humanity and their passion, with their business decisions will outperform those companies that don't. Creating ideas and making decisions that create a lasting bond is critical. Jeanne Bliss offers the advice that there are no shortcuts to achieving beloved status, and she shares her five proven decisions that drive success.

Jeanne Bliss is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, January 10, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Speaker, consultant, President of CustomerBliss, and author of the transformational and passionate book "I Love You More Than My Dog": Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad, Jeanne Bliss, describes how being respected as a business is fine, but to be really successful, a company needs loyal and passionate customers. You will learn:

* Why it's so important to be a beloved company to win customer loyalty

* Why being a respected company is not enough to retain loyal customers

* How the five crucial decisions build customer loyalty

* Why there are no shortcuts or quick fixes to being a beloved company

Jeanne Bliss (photo left) is not an evangelist or observer of companies; she is a customer experience expert.

As the Customer Leadership Executive for five large US market leaders, Jeanne fought valiantly to get the customer on the strategic agenda, redirecting priorities and creating transformational changes to the brands’ customer loyalty. She has driven achievement of 95 percent loyalty rates, changing customer experiences across 50,000-person organizations.

Jeanne developed her passion for customer loyalty at Lands’ End, Inc., where she reported to the company’s founder and executive committee as leader for the Lands’ End customer experience. She was Senior Vice President of Franchise Services for Coldwell Banker Corporation. Jeanne served Allstate Corporation as its chief officer for customer loyalty & retention. She was Microsoft Corporation’s General Manager of Worldwide Customer & Partner Loyalty. At Mazda Motor of America she initiated the brand’s retention effort.

After 25 years as the Customer Experience Executive in five major US Corporations, Jeanne founded CustomerBliss in order to create clarity and an actionable path for driving the customer loyalty commitment into business operations.

My book review of "I Love You More Than My Dog": Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad by Jeanne Bliss.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with speaker, consultant, President of CustomerBliss, and author of the transformational and passionate book "I Love You More Than My Dog": Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad, Jeanne Bliss, as she describes how being respected as a business is fine, but to be really successful, a company needs loyal and passionate customers. Jeanne Bliss provides ideas about how, in the new social marketplace, customer loyalty is more important than ever before. Jeanne Bliss points out that companies who combine their humanity and their passion, with their business decisions will outperform those companies that don't. Creating ideas and making decisions that create a lasting bond is critical. Jeanne Bliss offers the advice that there are no shortcuts to achieving beloved status, and she shares her five proven decisions that drive success on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: "I Love You More Than My Dog": Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad, Jeanne Bliss, transformational business strategies, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

"I Love You More Than My Dog" by Jeanne Bliss - Book review

2012-01-09T01:14:00.011-06:00

"I Love You More Than My Dog"

Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad

By: Jeanne Bliss

Published: October 25, 2011
Format: Paperback: 224 pages
ISBN-10: 159184441X
ISBN-13: 978-1591844419
Publisher: Portfolio Trade/Penguin

"Beloved companies decide differently than everybody else. Acutely aware of how their every action impacts how customers feel and respond to them, they take the time to make purposeful decisions about the contacts they have with customers", writes customer service pioneer and expert, and President of CustomerBliss, Jeanne Bliss, in her transformational and passionate book "I Love You More Than My Dog": Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad. The author describes how simply being respected as a company is not as critical as being loved as an organization, and shares the strategies for creating long term customer loyalty and customer evangelism.

Jeanne Bliss understands deeply the real value of customer loyalty to any company. She points out how making the decisions that commit the company to the goals of excellence in customer service and customer experience, create and enhance those objectives. Becoming a beloved company is not an easy task, and the author warns decision makers that that there are no shortcuts or quick fixes to achieving beloved status. The good news, writes Jeanne Bliss, is that organizations blending their humanity with business, in every one of their decisions, and always keeping the customers in mind, is possible for any company. For Jeanne Bliss, making the commitment to excellence through always making the customer focused decision, will create that long term bond with customers.

Jeanne Bliss (photo left) recognizes that it is very possible for a company can become a beloved organization. The essential requirement is that the company leadership make the commitment to base their conduct and behavior on five active and purposeful decisions. By changing the way people live their lives, and through understanding how their products, services and actions improve people's lives, a company can become a beloved company.

The five important decisions are as follows:

* Decide to believe the employees and customers
* Decide with clarity of purpose about the unique promise to customers
* Decide to be real and break down barriers to become authentic
* Decide to be there for when customers need the company
* Decide to say "sorry" and be accountable for mistakes

For me, the power of the book is how Jeanne Bliss demonstrates how companies can become beloved through a change in their decision making, and through a transformation that alters the entire outlook and culture of the organization. Very importantly, the author emphasizes that there are no shortcuts to becoming a beloved company. This is not a book for those looking for magic bullets, as each of the five decisions demands a complete reappraisal and evaluation of how the company approaches its business, how it treats and handles customers and their overall experience, and the company's need to become authentic and accountable. Those changes to company culture don't happen overnight, and they require focus and and clarity of action.

Jeanne Bliss shows businesses how to build a loved company through dedication to living and internalizing the five key decisions. The author provides additional background through the positive experience of beloved companies through insights and cases studies. Huge marketing and promotional budgets are not the solution, but instead becoming purposeful and focused on the employees and customers will transform the company.

I highly recommend the insightful and game changing book "I Love You More Than My Dog": Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad by Jeanne Bliss, to any company decision makers and business owners and leaders who are prepared to dedicate their organization to that of a beloved company. Should that competition beating, employee engaging, and customer loving company be your goal and vision, then this is the must read book for you and your organization.

Tags: "I Love You More Than My Dog": Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad, Jeanne Bliss, transformational business strategies, business book reviews

Fundamentals of Supply Chain Theory by Lawrence V. Snyder & Zuo-Jun Max Shen - Book review

2012-01-08T00:55:00.002-06:00

Fundamentals of Supply Chain Theory

By: Lawrence V. Snyder, Ph.D., Zuo-Jun Max Shen, Ph.D.

Published: August 23, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
ISBN-10: 0470521309
ISBN-13: 978-0470521304
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

"We wrote this book to help codify the foundations of this emerging supply chain theory and to demonstrate how recent developments build upon the classical models. Our focus is primarily on the seminal models and algorithms of supply chain theory - the building blocks that underlie much of the supply chain literature", write Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Lehigh University, Lawrence V. Snyder, Ph.D.; and Chancellor's Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at the University of California, Berkeley, Zuo-Jun Max Shen, Ph.D., in their comprehensive and authoritative book Fundamentals of Supply Chain Theory. The authors describe the strategic and tactical foundations of supply chain management, and provide the key mathematical models that combine the classical models and leading edge algorithms and modeling concepts.

Lawrence V. Snyder (photo left) and Zuo-Jun Max Shen understand that supply chain management provides a competitive advantage to firms that understand the strategy and tactics of the field. The authors provide mathematical models and algorithms that provide the building blocks for both study and application of supply chain theory. The authors take a wide, overall perspective of supply chain management that spotlights the connections between various supply chain models. To build on the classical supply chain theory, the authors offer a mathematical approach for the study of supply chains, including a wide range of disciplines and individual specializations. Because of this multi-disciplinary audience, the book includes a wide array of tools including operations research, mathematics, and computer science.

Zuo-Jun Max Shen (photo left) and Lawrence V. Snyder demonstrate the crucial models for optimizing all aspects of the supply chain from planning, design, operation, and system evaluation. The authors offer guidance in understanding both centralized and decentralized supply chains, including the models for optimizing both types.

The centralized supply chain models include:

* Forecasting and demand modeling
* Deterministic inventory models
* Stochastic inventory models
* Multi-Echelon inventory models
* Processes for dealing with uncertainty in inventory optimization and facility location
* Facility location models
* Process flexibility

The decentralized supply chain models include:

* The bullwhip effect
* Supply chain contracts
* Auctions

For me, the power of the book is how Lawrence V. Snyder and Zuo-Jun Max Shen recognize that a complete understanding of modern and classical supply chain theory requires a mathematical background. The authors point out that it's not necessary to be an expert in all areas of mathematics, programming, game theory, and simulations. They do expect a familiarity with basic optimization theory, know how to formulate a linear program, understand how branch and bound works, and that the reader can perform a simple line search method. An understanding of probability distributions and calculus is also necessary, but the authors provide the information, of what the reader or student needs to know, so as to facilitate a more rapid grasp of the principles and methodology.

With a solid level of mathematical maturity, concepts and models will be understandable and supportive for the student or practitioner. The book contains the essential formulas,and is presented in a step by step format that guides the student and other professionals toward a complete understanding of the subject material. The core of the book is the inventory-theoretical material. Extensive and easy to use appendices offer additional models, formulas, and basics of advanced mathematics. A useful set of homework problems follow each chapter, with additional problems available in the appendices.

I highly recommend the landmark and mathematics based book Fundamentals of Supply Chain Theory by Lawrence V. Snyder, Ph.D., and Zuo-Jun Max Shen,Ph.D., to anyone with an interest in a solid mathematical approach to supply chain management. These readers include students, graduate students, faculty, researchers, business leaders, managers, engineers, and practitioners of supply chain management. This book will provide a very strong mathematical basis for all decision making, through all phases of a supply chain, in any industry.

Tags: Fundamentals of Supply Chain Theory, Lawrence V. Snyder, Ph.D., Zuo-Jun Max Shen,Ph.D., mathematical models for supply chain strategies, business book reviews

Fundamentally Different by David J. Friedman - Book review

2012-01-07T00:39:00.009-06:00

Fundamentally Different

By: David J. Friedman

Published: June 17, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 300 pages
ISBN-10: 0741466805
ISBN-13: 978-0741466808
Publisher: Infinity Publishing

"After years of observation and personal experience, it's abundantly clear to me that an organization's culture, more than any other single factor, is responsible for influencing the behavior of its people; and it's the behavior of its people on a day-to-day basis that most influences whether or not the organization reaches its goals" writes speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, David J. Friedman in his groundbreaking and very practical book Fundamentally Different. The author describes the critical importance of organizational culture in determining the behavior of the company's employees and their success or failure in achieving the overall goals of the organization.

David J. Friedman recognizes the deeper need, within every company, of examining its overall commitment to its values as the foundation of its organizational culture. The author provides compelling evidence that there must be alignment between the professed values of a company, and the daily practices of its employees, both within and outside the organization. If the company claims one set of values, and the management and staff practice a contradictory form of behavior, the entire organization breaks down. Failed company goals, decreased productivity, a less engaged workforce, and lower profits are the result of this discrepancy between statement and reality.

David J. Friedman (photo left) understands that the values and principles, held by the management and staff of an organization, show up and are played out in daily activities of the employees. If the organizational culture holds strong ethical values, and acts with high principles, these core practices will form the basis of the everyday employee behavior. On the other hand, less scrupulous values and a lack of honorable principles, will be reflected in the daily employee decision making and actions as well. David Friedman points out that achieve sustainable company success, strong values must be institutionalized into the organizational culture, and become the touchstone of every decision and action taken by the managers and staff.

David Friedman outlines eight key steps, that organizations must take, to institutionalize values firmly into their culture: Those eight steps are:

* Defining the values
* Selecting the values
* Integrating the values into the culture
* Making them visible
* Using ritual
* Coaching* Leading by example
* Creating accountability

For me, the power of the book is how David J. Friedman describes his crucial insight that organizational culture is the fundamental driving force behind company success or failure. The author describes how the culture of the company determines the behavior of the employees. When there is a misalignment between what the company claims are its values, and their real values as practiced daily by the management and staff, the organization will not achieve its goals and objectives.

David Friedman shares his eight step program for institutionalizing the right values into the company culture, and aligning words with actions. To further facilitate this values and principles institutionalization process, the author provides thirty fundamentals to ensure that daily practices match the stated value principles. A culture that places values first will achieve greater employee engagement, better meet the needs of customers, enhance overall performance, and increase profitability.

I highly recommend the hands on and insightful book Fundamentally Different by David J. Friedman, to any business leaders who seek to transform their organizational culture to one that lives and breathes its stated values. With the organizational core principles entwined into the company culture and DNA, the success rate of the business in achieving all of its goals will be improved to the point of overwhelming the competition.

Tags: Fundamentally Different, David J. Friedman, transformational business strategies, business book reviews

Beyond the Lean Revolution by Deborah Nightingale & Jayakanth Srinivasan - Book review

2012-01-06T00:38:00.006-06:00

Beyond the Lean Revolution

Achieving Successful and Sustainable Enterprise Transformation

By: Deborah J. Nightingale, Jayakanth Srinivasan

Published: August 15, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 270 pages
ISBN-10: 0814417094
ISBN-13: 978-0814417096
Publisher: AMACOM

"Enterprise transformation is the taking of an enterprise from its current state to an envisioned future state, a process that requires a significant change in mindset, the adoption of a holistic view, and execution to achieve the intended transformational goals and objectives", write Professor of the Practice of Engineering Systems and Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, and director of MIT’s Center for Technology Policy and Industrial Development, Deborah J. Nightingale; and Research Scientist at MIT’s Lean Advancement Initiative, Jayakanth Srinivasan, in their comprehensive and visionary book Beyond the Lean Revolution: Achieving Successful and Sustainable Enterprise Transformation. The authors describe how real and sustainable organizational change must consider the entire organization and its overall goals, and that effective change cannot be implemented successfully in a piece meal or siloed manner.

Deborah Nightingale (photo left) and Jayakanth Srinivasan recognize the importance of lean business strategies for companies, but they consider their application by business leaders to not be in concordance with the big picture. The authors consider the minimizing of resource use and the removal of waste of all types to be good business decisions. The problem, according to the authors is lack of coordination and often conflicting goals and results of utilizing the lean business techniques. The authors propose the realignment of traditional lean business practices with a holistic and overall view of the company's goals and objectives. In place of a siloed and often ad hoc approach to putting lean strategies in place, the authors recommend considering looking beyond lean to achieve lasting change within the organization.

Jayak Srinivasan (photo left) and Deborah J. Nightingale understand that companies focus on removing the waste from their organizations and budgets. While the authors consider such activities as being beneficial, they simply don't go far enough toward facilitating real and sustainable change within the company. The authors emphasize that the overall company, like any other system, is intertwined and interconnected in many and complex ways. As a result, actions taken in one department can work against the goals of another department, and even against the objectives of the entire organization.

To facilitate an overall and holistic vision of change, and to prevent the cross purposes often arising from piece meal approaches, the authors propose their seven guiding principles. Those seven principles are:

* Adopt a holistic approach to enterprise transformation
* Secure leadership commitment to drive organizational behavior
* Identify relevant stakeholders and determine their value propositions
* Focus on enterprise effectiveness before efficiency
* Address internal and external interdependencies
* Ensure stability and flow within and across the company
* Emphasize organizational learning beyond formal training programs

For me, the power of the book is how Deborah Nightingale and Jayakanth Srinivasan combine both a theoretical framework for developing a holistic framework to organizational transformation, with a practical blueprint to guide business leaders in achieving effective and long term change. The authors provide real world research and practical case studies of holistic change in action, and where enterprise wide transformation was the result.

The authors guide decision makers through the entire transformational process, picking up the threads of change where standard lean solutions leave off and break down. As demonstrated in the book, lean concepts provide an excellent starting point for beginning the change process, but they simply don't go far enough in creating lasting change within a company and its culture.

I highly recommend the very practical and lasting results oriented book Beyond the Lean Revolution: Achieving Successful and Sustainable Enterprise Transformation by Deborah Nightingale and Jayakanth Srinivasan, to any business leaders and decision makers who are seeking an enterprise wide, and big picture approach to effective organizational change. If your company has already tried, or is considering the lean approach to change, this book will take you beyond that starting point, and into the realm of lasting transformation.

Tags: Beyond the Lean Revolution: Achieving Successful and Sustainable Enterprise Transformation, Deborah Nightingale, Jayakanth Srinivasan, transformational business strategies, business book reviews

Ed Frauenheim: Good Company: Business Success In The Worthiness Era - Blog Business Success Radio

2012-01-05T01:09:00.006-06:00

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Journalist and co-author of the groundbreaking and research based book Good Company: Business Success in the Worthiness Era, Ed Frauenheim, describes how companies that are viewed as worthy, in the new social marketplace, are more successful than their less worthy competitors. Ed describes how people are losing patience with bad companies, and prefer to do business with companies that do the right thing for employees, customers, and society. This is the dawn of what Ed Frauenheim calls the Worthiness Era. The author provides the unique and research based Company Index that demonstrates how companies that are deemed worthy have higher share values than bad companies.The world is changing, and Ed offers evidence that bad companies will lose out to their worthy competitors, and shows how ethical and sustainable business models are the way of the future and the choice of customers all around the world.

Ed Frauenheim is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, January 5, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Journalist and co-author of the groundbreaking and research based book Good Company: Business Success in the Worthiness Era, Ed Frauenheim, describes how companies that are viewed as worthy, in the new social marketplace, are more successful than their less worthy competitors. You will learn:

* Why bad companies are no longer successful and are out of favor with customers

* Why we are now in the Worthiness Era where good and worthy companies are rewarded

* How to read and understand the Company Index that ranks worthy companies

* How to become a worthy company and succeed in the Worthiness Era

Ed Frauenheim (photo left) is a journalist with 15 years of experience writing about topics including technology, work, business, and education. He currently is Senior Editor at Workforce Management magazine, where he helps lead the magazine’s coverage of people management and business strategy. Ed has written extensively about outsourcing, the rise of emerging economies, and employee engagement. His stories have earned awards from the Associated Press News Executive Council of California and Nevada, the American Society of Business Publication Editors, and American Business Media.

Ed previously has worked at CNET News.com and the Oakland Tribune chain of newspapers. He has written freelance stories for publications including Salon.com, Wired magazine, The Dallas Morning News, and Knowledge@Wharton, the online magazine of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Ed earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton University and a master’s degree in education from the University of California at Berkeley.

My book review of Good Company: Business Success in the Worthiness Era by Laurie Bassi, Ed Frauenheim, Dan McMurrer, and Larry Costello.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with journalist and co-author of the groundbreaking and research based book Good Company: Business Success in the Worthiness Era, Ed Frauenheim, as he describes how companies that are viewed as worthy, in the new social marketplace, are more successful than their less worthy competitors. Ed describes how people are losing patience with bad companies, and prefer to do business with companies that do the right thing for employees, customers, and society. This is the dawn of what Ed Frauenheim calls the Worthiness Era. The author provides the unique and research based Company Index that demonstrates how companies that are deemed worthy have higher share values than bad companies.The world is changing, and Ed offers evidence that bad companies will lose out to their worthy competitors, and shows how ethical and sustainable business models are the way of the future and the choice of customers all around the world on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Good Company: Business Success in the Worthiness Era, Laurie Bassi, Ed Frauenheim, Dan McMurrer, Larry Costello, ethical business practices, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Good Company: Business Success in the Worthiness Era by Laurie Bassi, Ed Frauenheim & Dan McMurrer, with Larry Costello - Book review

2012-01-05T00:12:00.027-06:00

Good Company

Business Success in the Worthiness Era

By: Laurie Bassi, Ed Frauenheim, Dan McMurrer, Larry Costello

Published: September 6, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 264 pages
ISBN-10: 160994061X
ISBN-13: 978-1609940614
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

"The "good" companies show the tremendous power of seeking win-win relationships with all their stakeholders - employees, customers, shareholders, and the communities where they do business. A business ethic of real reciprocity, in other words, reaps rich rewards", write co-authors Laurie Bassi, Ed Frauenheim, Dan McMurrer, and Larry Costello in their groundbreaking and research based book Good Company: Business Success in the Worthiness Era. The authors describe how the being a bad company, with bad treatment of employees, customers, and the wider community, is not a sustainable business model. Instead, the authors provide real world data as compelling evidence that being a good company is both more profitable and more sustainable over the long term.

Laurie Bassi (photo left), Ed Frauenheim, Dan McMurrer, and Larry Costello understand that the bad behavior business model has some remaining support, but that view is changing rapidly. Employees, customers, and society as a whole are demanding that companies demonstrate worth behavior or those businesses will lose their support. A combination of forces including economic, social, and political pressures are forcing companies to reexamine how they manage and operate their business. People are demanding that businesses become good companies, and customers are not fooled any longer by half hearted attempts at social responsibility or green=washing. The era of catering only to shareholder and top executive interests is disappearing, and being replaced by what the authors call the Worthiness Era.

Ed Frauenheim (photo left), Dan McMurrer, Larry Costello, and Laurie Bassi recognize that worthiness involves having a sustainable and ethical business model, and a vision and purpose that extends beyond simply making money. The concept that the sole purpose of a company is to maximize profits is passing into the dustbin of history. The idea of enriching shareholders at the expense of everyone else, including employees, customers, the environment, and the community has been replaced by the more sustainable goal of benefiting all stakeholders. Placing worthiness at the core of their company vision and business model is the new imperative. Worthiness moves beyond a sustainable business plan and a worthy purpose. It must also include being a worthy employer, a worthy seller, and a worthy steward of the environment and the community.

Dan McMurrer (photo left), Larry Costello, Laurie Bassi, and Ed Frauenheim provide real evidence that good companies not only fulfill their worthiness imperatives, but outperform their bad behaving competitors on the stock market as well. The authors created what they call the Good Company Index, which takes systematic examination of Fortune 100 companies' records as employers, sellers, and stewards of the environment, their communities, and the global society. The companies obtained and sustained higher share values than their less worthy competitors in their own industries. The Company Index presents real and tangible proof that worthy and ethical business is profitable business, benefiting a much wider group of stakeholders, as well.

To facilitate deeper understanding of the principles of the worthy company, the authors divide the book into four overall sections:

* The Worthiness Era and what it means
* Evidence and ranking of the company using empirical data
* Good employer, seller and steward, and what these concepts mean
* The future of the Worthiness Era and its vision for the future

Larry Costello (photo left), Laurie Bassi, Ed Frauenheim, and Dan McMurrer offer a very compelling case, complete with strong empirical evidence, that being a worthy company is good business. The power of the book, for me, is how the authors demonstrate how and why companies that observe good employment practices, treat their customers well, and hold a strong ethical commitment to the stewardship of the community and of the planet, are the leaders in their industries now and in the future.

The authors share their important Company Index that ranks each company in comparison to its industry peers, including the methodology used in creating the index itself. The authors add to their position through the addition of real world case studies of worthiness in action. Worthy business is good business, and any business leaders who fail to understand that new reality are destined to fall further and further behind their competition.

I highly recommend the pioneering and must read book Good Company: Business Success in the Worthiness Era by Laurie Bassi, Ed Frauenheim, Dan McMurrer, and Larry Costello, to any business leaders, activists, policy makers and anyone else who values the importance of ethical and worthy business practices. This book proves, with the utmost clarity, that the old slash and burn business paradigm is well past its time. It's replacement will be the vastly superior and more sustainable Worthiness Era.

Tags: Good Company: Business Success in the Worthiness Era, Laurie Bassi, Ed Frauenheim, Dan McMurrer, Larry Costello, ethical business practices, business book reviews

Applied Urban Ecology: A Global Framework Edited by Matthias Richter & Ulrike Weiland - Book review

2012-01-04T03:11:00.001-06:00

Applied Urban Ecology

A Global Framework

Edited by: Matthias Richter, Ulrike Weiland

Published: January 3, 2012
Format: Paperback, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 1444333402
ISBN-13: 978-1444333404
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

"Urban ecology plays an important role in understanding urban systems" write environmental scientists and ecologists Matthias Richter and Ulrike Weiland, in their diverse and systems oriented anthology Applied Urban Ecology: A Global Framework. The editors provide a well rounded series of articles, written by leading global authorities, that cover the wide range of topics and issues relating to urban ecology and urban ecosystems.

Matthias Richter and Ulrike Weiland offer a multi-disciplinary approach to the study and understanding of urban ecological systems. The widely diverse essays, that comprise the core of the book, recognize and consider the very heterogeneous nature of cities around the world. The global perspective, chosen by the editors, offers insights into the shared and different ecological challenges faced by old and new cities on different continents. Te essays cover the gap between theory and practice, demonstrating the many successful approaches to overcoming urban ecological challenges, faced by cities across the globe. The editors take a modern approach to urban ecology, and share the many variations on the contemporary study of urban ecology and urban natural systems.

Ulrike Weiland and Matthias Richter recognize that it's important for urban planners in all disciplines to have a solid grounding in the fundamentals of urban ecology. As a result, the editors provide articles that have both a wide range of subject matter and a full global perspective. The book is divided conveniently into four overall sections:

* Part I: Introduction to the concepts and societal context
* Part II: Urban ecology overview of related disciplines, tools, and techniques
* Part II: Selected fields of urban ecology
* Part IV: Synthesis of the cross-disciplinary approaches into an overall framework

For me, the power of the book is how Matthias Richter and Ulrike Weiland provide a comprehensive overview of the breadth and depth of issues and challenges relating to urban ecology. The editors provide important articles that address each of the critical issues in urban ecology, and offer viable and proven solutions from around the world. The goal of the book is achieved by creating an overall framework for guiding urban planners, business people, scientists, students, and other practitioners toward a solutions oriented approach to the subject. The book and its articles are approachable and understandable for the non-professional, yet are in depth enough to be of real value to students, graduate students, and professional scientists.

I highly recommend the very hands on and engaging book Applied Urban Ecology: A Global Framework edited by Matthias Richter and Ulrike Weiland, to any field researchers, scientists, practitioners, urban planners, policy makers in government, business leaders, educators, and students at all levels who are seeking a clear and understandable guide to urban ecology, its challenges, and its potential solutions. This book will transform the way decision makers approach urban ecological issues, and provide students with a firm foundation in applied urban ecology.

Tags: Applied Urban Ecology: A Global Framework, Matthias Richter, Ulrike Weiland, environmental science, science book reviews.

Jack Beauregard: Finding Your New Owner - Blog Business Success Radio

2012-01-03T00:22:00.008-06:00

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Successful entrepreneur, speaker, CEO Of the Successful Transition Planning institute, and author of the purpose driven and new life building book Finding Your New Owner: For Your Business, for Your Life, Jack Beauregard, describes how to plan and execute a successful transition from business CEO to CEO of your life. Jack Beauregard provides ideas for developing an entirely new approach to selling a company, keeping it successful after succession, and moving into the next phase of your life. Jack describes how the same skills that made a person a successful CEO can also be applied to developing a positive transition to life after business. The next step in life need not be one of boredom or even traditional retirement. Instead, as CEO of your life, the next step will be full of meaning and purpose, and be a life well worth embracing and enjoying to its fullest.

Jordan Goldman is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, January 3, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Successful entrepreneur, speaker, CEO Of the Successful Transition Planning institute, and author of the purpose driven and new life building book Finding Your New Owner: For Your Business, for Your Life, Jack Beauregard, describes how to plan and execute a successful transition from business CEO to CEO of your life. You will learn:

* Why so many business owners have difficulty letting go of the company

* How to prepare a plan for exiting the business and transitioning to the next step

* How to become the CEO of your life

* How to live a life of purpose after the business is sold

Jack Beauregard is nationally recognized expert in transition planning. Jack's strategic planning steps, proprietary principles and decision making techniques have been helping people experience lives filled with meaning and purpose for over 20 years.

In 1983, Jack founded Designer Orthopedics, the first cost-containment company in the US which he built into a multi-million dollar company. During a personal crisis, Jack decided to transition out of that company and subsequently founded InnerVisions Associates in 1988. InnerVisions originally focused on integrating the human and cultural issues in mergers-and-acquisitions. Associates of InnerVisions were involved in the integration of 140 mergers.

While helping executives of merged companies and owners who sold their businesses determine what they wanted to do after they left their companies, the "what next" question started to get traction. Jack expanded the application, redeveloped the programs, and Successful Transition Planning Institute took flight.

Jack has presented his unique approach on many radio and television programs, including National Public Radio and the Voice of America worldwide business program. He has also been a keynote speaker at conferences, seminars and workshops.

Jack's personal story of leaving the world of perfectionism to discover who he really is the key to knowing what one really wants to do in life - is told in his book The Power of Balance: Seven Principles for Transforming Mind, Spirit, and Self. He is currently working on a new book that will revolutionize retirement and become the "Bible" for baby boomers and future generations.

Jack is an alumnus of Harvard University and holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA.

My book review of Finding Your New Owner: For Your Business, for Your Life by Jack Beauregard.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with successful entrepreneur, speaker, CEO Of the Successful Transition Planning institute, and author of the purpose driven and new life building book Finding Your New Owner: For Your Business, for Your Life, Jack Beauregard, as he describes how to plan and execute a successful transition from business CEO to CEO of your life. Jack Beauregard provides ideas for developing an entirely new approach to selling a company, keeping it successful after succession, and moving into the next phase of your life. Jack describes how the same skills that made a person a successful CEO can also be applied to developing a positive transition to life after business. The next step in life need not be one of boredom or even traditional retirement. Instead, as CEO of your life, the next step will be full of meaning and purpose, and be a life well worth embracing and enjoying to its fullest on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Finding Your New Owner: For Your Business, for Your Life, Jack Beauregard, Baby Boomer transition strategies, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Switched-On Networking by Jerry V. Teplitz & Donna Fisher - Book review

2012-01-01T03:20:00.001-06:00

Switched-On Networking

Balance Your Brain For Networking Success

By: Jerry V. Teplitz, J.D., Ph.D.,
Donna Fisher, with Norma Eckrote

Published: November 20, 2011
Format: Paperback, 288 pages
ISBN-10: 0939372231
ISBN-13: 978-0939372232
Publisher: Happiness Unlimited Publications

"Successful networkers communicate with others easily. They enjoy the process of connecting with people and have mentally trained themselves to "think as a resource" in order to effectively accomplish goals.For effective networkers, setbacks are not failures; they are simply opportunities to continue to network to find the appropriate resources", write networking experts and speakers Jerry V. Teplitz and Donna Fisher, in their insightful and very hands on book Switched-On Networking: Balance Your Brain For Networking Success. The authors describe how to switch back on any areas of your networking that you may have stopped using, or may have neglected or avoiding using entirely.

Jerry Teplitz (photo left) and Donna Fisher understand the critical importance of networking with others for success in business, a career, a profession, or in one's personal life. The authors provide the essential tools for improving a person's networking skills, whether the individual is new to networking or is a very experienced networker. The authors point out that not everyone utilizes their natural internal abilities for connecting with other people. They describe those innate skills as being switched off for many people; including many very experienced networkers. To counter this problem, the authors share their techniques for switching those internal skills back on through a behavior changing series of tools, techniques, and exercises.

Donna Fisher (photo left) and Jerry Teplitz understand that networking is not as simple as meeting people and giving out your name and a business card. For the authors, networking is about making and developing deep and trusting relationships with other people. In that sense, the authors present networking as being a whole body and mind interaction and experience. The mind is very often switched off during interpersonal relationships, and prevents networking from achieving its full potential for interaction. As a result, the authors share their holistic approach to Switched-On Networking™ which includes their unique Brain Gym concept that exercises both the brain and the body.

The authors divide the book into sections for switching on the brain, having the body synchronized to the brain and the voice, and techniques for improving overall networking skills and results. The three overall parts of the book are:

* Brain optimization: Re-wiring and re-balancing your brain for networking success
* Networking strategies
* Reinforcement

For me, the power of the book is how Jerry Teplitz and Donna Fisher take a complete and comprehensive approach to networking success. Going far beyond simply providing their enhanced networking strategies and techniques, the authors also offer exercises and methods for re-wiring your brain to be more expressive and receptive during and after networking. The authors identify being switched off and failing to fulfill the full potential of your mind and body, as the reason so many networking efforts are less than successful. The book not only contains the exercises necessary to get the mind and body back into focus, but contains valuable photographs to illustrate the exercises in action. This book will definitely change and improve anyone's approach to networking, as well as boost their overall success rate at building long lasting connections.

I highly recommend the very practical and engaging book Switched-On Networking: Balance Your Brain For Networking Success by Jerry V. Teplitz and Donna Fisher, to anyone seeking a fresh and comprehensive approach to networking. Instead of concentrating only on networking techniques, this book will increase your overall awareness and skills as your brain and body become switched-on, and more attuned to others around you.

Tags: Switched-On Networking: Balance Your Brain For Networking Success, Jerry V. Teplitz, Donna Fisher, enhanced networking techniques, business book reviews

The Paradise Prophecy by Robert Browne - Fiction book review

2011-12-31T01:07:00.008-06:00

The Paradise Prophecy

By: Robert Browne

Published: July 21, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 416 pages
ISBN-10: 0525952233
ISBN-13: 978-0525952237
Publisher: Dutton

American intelligence agent Bernadette Callahan, investigating an unusual murder in Brazil, is joined in the hunt for the truth by theologian and religious historian Sebastian "Batty" LaLaurie. Together, they discover a supernatural battle for supremacy of Heaven and Earth, that has been ongoing for thousands of years, in the thrilling, page turning novel The Paradise Prophecy by award winning screenwriter and author Robert Browne.

Robert Browne transforms John Milton's classic allegory Paradise Lost into a literal account of supernatural forces at work for dominance of Heaven and Earth. Treating the great work as a blueprint for historical events of the past, present, and future, Robert Browne creates a tableaux where Archangels and Demons battle for supremacy of the modern world. The author presents Paradise Lost as a history of an actual ancient War in Heaven, that is still in conflict in our own time.

The anti-hero protagonists, Bernadette Callahan and Batty LaLaurie become a modern parallel to Adam and Eve, as they find themselves driven from Paradise, and into the harsh realities of the timeless battle between Good and Evil. Historian Batty LaLaurie has eaten the fruit of temptation that caused his fall from grace; and Agent Bernadette Callahan is immersed in the forbidden inner secrets of the Tree of Knowledge, leading to her epic fall from innocence.

Robert Browne (photo left) presents his otherworldly thrill ride as a modern vision of Paradise Lost. The chapters in Robert Browne's novel parallel those of the work of John Milton. As Robert Browne's epic story unfolds, it follows the course set by John Milton. Through this ingenious literary device, and the employment of Paradise Lost itself as a driver of the story, Robert Browne offers a stark and intense clash of Good and Evil that engulfs the characters.

With Paradise Lost as both historical record and prophetic vision, Robert Browne immerses the characters into their roles as a contemporary Adam and Eve. Robert Browne moves John Milton's War in Heaven to a very Earthly realm, where Archangels of Light battle the Demons of Darkness in a perpetual struggle through many thousands of years. The human characters, racing against a prophecy of doom for humanity, seek redemption and salvation for themselves, and for all of humanity.

I highly recommend the non-stop action thrill ride The Paradise Prophecy by Robert Browne, to anyone seeking a novel that works well on several levels. The story can be read as a supernatural thriller, a bold re-imagining of John Milton's epic Paradise Lost, as an allegory for the constant struggle between Good and Evil, as a modern day vision of Adam and Eve and their fall from grace, or of the challenges facing the world because of he dualistic nature of humanity. In any event, you won't want to put this novel down until the last page is read, absorbed, and contemplated.

Tags: The Paradise Prophecy, Robert Browne, John Milton, Paradise Lost, fiction book reviews

What Would Steve Jobs Do? by Peter Sander - Book review

2011-12-30T00:14:00.002-06:00

What Would Steve Jobs Do?

How the Steve Jobs Way Can Inspire Anyone to Think Differently and Win

By: Peter Sander

Published: November 8, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 0071792740
ISBN-13: 978-0071792745
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Ryerson

"Steve Jobs proved himself to be both a titan of American business and a titan of of our personal experience. Nobody else in history has come close to achieving that status. The world is immeasurably better for his existence", writes researcher, business consultant, and former marketing program manager in Silicon Valley, Peter Sander, in his insightful and thought provoking book What Would Steve Jobs Do? How the Steve Jobs Way Can Inspire Anyone to Think Differently and Win. The author describes how Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs was more than merely an innovator, but was a visionary leader who inspired others to greatness as well.

Peter Sander recognizes that the greatness of Steve Jobs, and what distinguishes the Apple founder from his contemporaries, is more than innovation. The author points out the legacy of Steve Jobs is felt in many areas of business, creativity, and of society itself. The author shares the genius of Steve Jobs as thinking very differently from anyone else; and of creating a company that differs radically from any other company. Peter Sander provides the innovative management concepts and leadership techniques employed by Steve Jobs for other business leaders to learn and emulate in their own organizations. The author writes that Steve Jobs knew instinctively the challenges facing business, in both the past few decades and into the future. Steve Jobs developed management, cultural changes, and leadership principles that overcame those obstacles in fresh and innovative ways.

Peter Sander (photo left) understands well the constant questions of how did Steve Jobs achieve so much and how did he do what he did during his all too short lifetime. The author puts together the pieces of the Steve Jobs management and leadership genius and the groundbreaking techniques he developed and practiced at Apple. Peter Sander focuses on the principles that made Steve Jobs into a transformational leader, and offers those insights for other business leaders to emulate and put into practice themselves.

Peter Sander provides what he calls the Steve Jobs Leadership Model. The model is composed of six parts that support and focus on excellence, creative thinking, and vision. The six components of the model are as follows:

* Customers: Know your customers needs and wants better than they do
* Vision: Move beyond the latest new product and think holistically about ideas
* Culture: Create an innovative culture with a positive can do anything attitude
* Products: Think of products in transformational and world changing terms
* Message: Send a message that becomes one with the product itself
* Personal brand: Create an image of consistency, trust, and delivering on promises

For me, the power of the book is how Peter Sander combines the theoretical framework of the pioneering thought and innovative leadership practices of Steve Jobs, with the practical techniques to incorporate them into any organization. The author goes beyond the usual biography of Steve Jobs or company history of Apple Computers. Instead, Peter Sander provides a valuable addition to the management and leadership literature through a presentation of the strategies and visions that Steve Jobs utilized so effectively in building more than simply a company.

Steve Jobs created innovative products as a side effect his dynamic company culture, visionary leadership, and a comprehensive insights into and understanding of the customer needs, wants, and desires. The greatness of Steve Jobs extends far beyond a computer company and its game changing products. The Steve Jobs effect had an impact on company culture, customer consideration, branding, marketing, leadership, creative thinking, and on the wider society itself. Any organizational leaders integrating the Steve Jobs principles into their own companies will find them transformational in unexpected and very positive ways.

I highly recommended the essential and game changing book What Would Steve Jobs Do? How the Steve Jobs Way Can Inspire Anyone to Think Differently and Win by Peter Sander to any business leader who seeks a game changing and competition surpassing approach to management and leadership. The vision, principles, and practices of Steve Jobs are in a class above the rest, and incorporating them into any company will turn that business into an industry leader in every aspect and sense of the word. You will learn to think differently from anyone else, as did Steve Jobs, and that's a good thing.

Tags: What Would Steve Jobs Do? How the Steve Jobs Way Can Inspire Anyone to Think Differently and Win, Peter Sander, transformational management and leadership, business book reviews

Ethan Willis & Randy Garn: Prosper: Create The Life You Really Want - Blog Business Success Radio

2011-12-29T00:17:00.006-06:00

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Co-founders of Prosper, Inc., and co-authors of the wisdom filled and very practical book Prosper: Create the Life You Really Want, Ethan Willis and Randy Garn describe how real and sustainable prosperity is possible for everyone. Ethan and Randy share their Six Prosperity Practices® that will guide you toward achieving both money and happiness in just the right balance for your life. The authors provide a positive approach to prosperity that focuses on what you have, what is good about your life, and your vision for your future.The authors emphasize that there are no quick fixes or shortcuts to prosperity, and that much of what you have heard about prosperity in the past is wrong. Instead, Ethan and Randy offer a proven step by step process for achieving your goals and aspirations as to what prosperity means to you, on your own terms.

Ethan Willis and Randy Garn are my internet radio show guests on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, December 29, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Co-founders of Prosper, Inc., and co-authors of the wisdom filled and very practical book Prosper: Create the Life You Really Want, Ethan Willis and Randy Garn describe how real and sustainable prosperity is possible for everyone. You will learn:

* Why everything you have heard about prosperity is wrong

* What prosperity really means and what it doesn't mean

* How to achieve real and sustainable prosperity that is balanced

* How to apply the Six Prosperity Practices® effectively

Ethan Willis (photo left) is one of the founding partners of Prosper, Inc.. He's served as the company's CEO since its inception in 1999. Under his leadership, Prosper has mentored over 50,000 students in over eighty countries.

Ethan coauthored the #1 Wall Street Journal and New York Times business bestselling book The One Minute Entrepreneur with his friend and mentor Ken Blanchard and with Don Hutson. He is passionate about entrepreneurship, has founded or co-founded six businesses in the past twelve years, and has employed over 5,000 people during that span.

Ethan has been recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young, and a Top 100 Entrepreneur by Vspring. Ethan's work in the field of entrepreneurship has been published in Business Week, USA Today, Fox News, and various other publications. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University and the Owner President Management Program at Harvard University, and is an alumni of the Harvard Business School.

Ethan and his wife Ashley have five wonderful and active children they thoroughly enjoy.

Randy Garn (photo left) is one of the founding partners of Prosper, Inc.. He currently oversees the New Business Development Department and works closely with some of the world's most renowned educators, speakers, and thought leaders.

Randy is a passionate networker and entrepreneur, and he loves growing companies and helping companies succeed. Randy's a serial entrepreneur in connection with Prosper Inc. Randy has founded several other companies, which are industry leaders in online marketing specializing in customer acquisition, marketing, and product development. One of these companies, AdCafe.com, has more than 2 million subscribers and is growing.

He was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young, was a Top 40 under 40 Entrepreneur, and has helped the company receive various awards in social and charitable involvement. Randy is an alumni of Brigham Young University, a graduate of the Owner President Management Program at Harvard University, and is an alumni of the Harvard Business School.

Randy lives in Utah with his wife Charlotte and their four beautiful daughters.

My book review of Prosper: Create the Life You Really Want by Ethan Willis and Randy Garn.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with co-founders of Prosper, Inc., and co-authors of the wisdom filled and very practical book Prosper: Create the Life You Really Want, Ethan Willis and Randy Garn, as they describe how real and sustainable prosperity is possible for everyone. Ethan and Randy share their Six Prosperity Practices® that will guide you toward achieving both money and happiness in just the right balance for your life. The authors provide a positive approach to prosperity that focuses on what you have, what is good about your life, and your vision for your future.The authors emphasize that there are no quick fixes or shortcuts to prosperity, and that much of what you have heard about prosperity in the past is wrong. Instead, Ethan and Randy offer a proven step by step process for achieving your goals and aspirations as to what prosperity means to you, on your own terms on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Prosper: Create the Life You Really Want, Ethan Willis, Randy Garn, achieving sustainable prosperity, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Prosper: Create the Life You Really Want by Ethan Willis & Randy Garn - Book review

2011-12-29T00:01:00.003-06:00

Prosper

Create the Life You Really Want

By: Ethan Willis, Randy Garn

Published: October 3, 2011
Format: Paperback, 168 pages
ISBN-10: 1609940709
ISBN-13: 978-1609940706
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

"Much of what we are taught about prosperity and how we achieve it is just plain wrong", write Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Prosper Inc., Ethan Willis; and Chief Relations Officer and Co-Founder of Prosper Inc., Randy Garn, in their wisdom filled and very practical book Prosper: Create the Life You Really Want. The authors describe the long term value and joy of creating a path to prosperity that is harmony with the individual's own most important and treasured goals, vision, and aspirations.

Ethan Willis (photo left) and Randy Garn understand that true prosperity is not only about money but also includes happiness in equal measure. The authors point out that while people have chased prosperity since the beginning of time, very few people have ever achieved true prosperity. Of those who did find prosperity, many found that state of being as very difficult to sustain, and the sense of prosperity was often lost for them. The author believe that real and sustainable prosperity is available and attainable by anyone. While they are careful to caution readers that some real effort is involved, the results are definitely worth the time and work put into the process. The authors share their proven techniques and practices, that work toward the ultimate goal of true prosperity, and maintain that balance of money and happiness over the long term as well.

Randy Garn (photo left) and Ethan Willis recognize and emphasize the critical importance of a person recognizing for themselves, what their vision of prosperity looks like, and focusing on that image. The outline must be clear to the individual, as a hazy and ill defined vision will not result in the desired level of prosperity. The more clarity to the vision, write the authors, the better for achieving it.

To guide people toward achieving a sustainable prosperity that is right for them, the authors share their six practices for reaching the balanced prosperity goals of money and happiness. The Six Prosperity Practices™ are as follows:

* Find your personal Polaris Point™
* Balance money and happiness
* Earn form the inside out
* Focus on what you already have
* Create and commit to a plan
* Take profound, continuous action

For me, the power of the book is how Ethan Willis and Randy Garn combine their theory and philosophy of prosperity, with their proven techniques and practices for achieving true and sustainable prosperity. The authors present a positive approach to prosperity, that is based on a person's deepest goals and aspirations. The vision of prosperity will vary widely from person to person, but the authors point out that process of reaching that vision is applicable to everyone. The authors enhance their Six Prosperity Practices™ with actual case studies, of the principles in action, to illustrate each point. Overall, the authors provide a system that anyone can adopt, practice, and achieve results provided that the person commits to the program.

I highly recommend the life transforming book Prosper: Create the Life You Really Want by Ethan Willis and Randy Garn, to anyone seeking a practical and realistic approach to achieving and sustaining prosperity in their own lives. This book offers the steps and the process. It's only up to the individual to clarify their goals and commit to work through the process to achieve them.

Tags: Prosper: Create the Life You Really Want, Ethan Willis, Randy Garn, achieving sustainable prosperity, business book reviews

The Yes Factor by Tonya Reiman - Book review

2011-12-28T00:14:00.001-06:00

The Yes Factor

Get What You Want. Say What You Mean.

By: Tonya Reiman

Published: June 28, 2011
Format: Paperback, 320 pages
ISBN-10: 0452297214
ISBN-13: 978-0452297210
Publisher: Plume

"Every day, many times a day, you are selling you - your ideas, beliefs, products, services, desires. No matter what you do for a living or what you hope to achieve in your personal or professional life, can change the impressions that you make on others by changing the way you communicate. Getting those yeses will ensure that you become your best you, your Alpha You", writes communications seminar and workshop leader, consultant, corporate trainer Tonya Reiman, in her very practical and insightful book The Yes Factor: Get What You Want. Say What You Mean.. The author describes how to coordinate one's speech, clothing, and body language to present a completely authentic and confident message that will result in achieving one's personal and professional goals.

Tonya Reiman demonstrates how sending mixed messages, where the speaker's movements and body language don't match their words, will result in mistrust, loss of credibility, and a failure to receive a yes answer. The author understands that effective communication is more than simply the spoken words, but also depends upon the entire impression created by the speaker. A mismatch of words and body language will be picked up by the listener, resulting in a loss of that important affirmative response. Tonya Reiman provides a complete overview of the concept of non-verbal communication, including how to improve your own body messages, and how to read the unspoken messages sent by others.

Tonya Reiman (photo left) recognizes that effective communication is a whole body experience. As a result, the author offers advice on dressing appropriately, speaking clearly and effectively, and ensuring that the body movements match the overall message. For the author, this total communication approach is not manipulative, but rather is one that builds rapport between people, and sets them at ease. Instead of antagonism, the approach leads to bonding. People are much more collaborative with people who they like and trust.

Sending the right complete message, and creating that crucial positive first impression, builds that comfort and trust factor with others. The author divides her complete message approach to persuasive communication as follows:

* Understand the Alpha You
* Recognizing the real power of words
* Knowing the non-verbal advantage
* Putting the entire communication together

For me, the power of the book is how Tonya Reiman combines the theory of persuasive communication with practical, hands on lessons for understanding how words are not the only factor in conveying a message. The author points out the critical concept that people are selling themselves at all times, including those moments when they least suspect it. As a result, Tonya Reiman provides a clear description of how and why people often send unintentional conflicting messages, resulting in a negative or indifferent response. To demonstrate the key aspects of non-verbal communications, the author provides numerous photographs that illustrate the concepts in action. As an added, and very valuable feature, Tonya Reiman also includes her twenty-one day plan for mastering the principles of persuasive communication.

I highly recommend the very straight talking and engaging book The Yes Factor: Get What You Want. Say What You Mean. by Tonya Reiman, to anyone seeking to improve their overall communications skills. This useful book will help to present the Alpha You in all circumstances, resulting in many more yeses, and a vastly improved business, professional, and personal life.

Tags: The Yes Factor: Get What You Want. Say What You Mean., Tonya Reiman, non-verbal communication, business book reviews

Jordan Goldman: Beating The High Cost Of College - Blog Business Success Radio

2011-12-27T00:12:00.000-06:00

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Unigo.com founder and CEO Jordan Goldman, describes the cost of education and how to reduce your debt load while maximizing the educational experience. Jordan Goldman shares ideas for reducing college expenses, lowering student loan debt, and for managing your money effectively while at university, Jordan addresses myths about university quality, demand for different degrees, and the potential job market. Jordan also provides tips for students choosing to study around the world, and addresses the challenges faced by African American, Hispanic Americans, and other students of color. Learn how to choose your university wisely, avoid student load debt, and graduate with a degree and character that will land you a great career.

Jordan Goldman is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, December 27, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Unigo founder and CEO Jordan Goldman, describes the cost of education and how to reduce your debt load while maximizing the educational experience. You will learn:

* How to choose the college or university that is right for you

* How to avoid the crippling student loan debt that hampers many graduates

* How to reduce the cost of college or university in creative ways

* How to overcome challenges facing African American and Hispanic students

Jordan Goldman (photo left) is the founder and CEO of Unigo.com. The Wall Street Journal called Unigo “a college resource built for the age of YouTube and Facebook”, The New York Times said its reviews were “vivid in a way no guidebook can match,” and AlwaysOn named it “One of the 100 Private Companies with the Biggest Impact on the Public Sector.”

Since launch, Unigo has helped more than 4 million families find, get in and pay for college.

Through a strategic partnership with The Wall Street Journal, Jordan created a new brand – WSJ On Campus – which produced original journalism about college admissions and college life. Through a strategic partnership with McGraw Hill, he helped create an original curriculum on college and career readiness taught in high schools throughout America.

Jordan has been an education expert on more than 50 episodes of ABC News, has headlined live events for both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and blogs for The Huffington Post. He is also the author of Students” Guide to Colleges 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, from Penguin Books.

Jordan has been featured in publications including Time, Newsweek, Forbes, Inc, Wired, Entrepreneur, USA Today and The Washington Post, and has been a guest on ABC News, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Fox Business Channel and Bloomberg News.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with Unigo.com founder and CEO Jordan Goldman, as he describes the cost of education and how to reduce your debt load while maximizing the educational experience. Jordan Goldman shares ideas for reducing college expenses, lowering student loan debt, and for managing your money effectively while at university, Jordan addresses myths about university quality, demand for different degrees, and the potential job market. Jordan also provides tips for students choosing to study around the world, and addresses the challenges faced by African American, Hispanic Americans, and other students of color. Learn how to choose your university wisely, avoid student load debt, and graduate with a degree and character that will land you a great career on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Unigo.com, Jordan Goldman, Beating The High Cost Of College, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

From Idea To Success by Gregg Fairbrothers - Book review

2011-12-26T00:22:00.002-06:00

From Idea to Success

The Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network Guide for Start-Ups

By: Gregg Fairbrothers, Tessa Winter

Published: July 19, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 416 pages
ISBN-10: 0071760792
ISBN-13: 978-0071760799
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Ltd.

"Here, so it would seem, lies the future of the American economy: in entrepreneurship, in creating companies, in creating value from nothing", writes entrepreneur, adjunct business professor at Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business, and Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network (DEN) founder, Gregg Fairbrothers, in his visionary and practical advice packed book From Idea to Success: The Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network Guide for Start-Ups. The author describes the importance of the entrepreneur to the economy, how to transform an ideas into a start-up business, and provides the tools and techniques for building a successful company from that founding idea.

Gregg Fairbrothers recognizes the critical importance of entrepreneurship to the health and growth of the economy. The author also understands that there are many aspiring entrepreneurs and countless ideas that fail to achieve success in a highly competitive marketplace. As a result, Gregg Fairbrothers proposes both a fresh approach to examining why an idea is important, why the would be entrepreneur wants to pursue that idea, and offers ideas and strategies for turning that idea into a viable company. For the author, the individual must begin to think and behave like an entrepreneur and business owner, and apply sound business practices to the new business venture.

Gregg Fairbrothers (photo left) shares the blueprint for start-up success, including providing caution as to the risk and hard work that are essential to reap the rewards of owning a company. The author covers the entire spectrum of issues and challenges facing would be entrepreneurs, as well as offering encouragement and strategies for achieving start-up success.

Gregg Fairbrothers divides is book into three major sections to develop the enterprise in the proper sequence of events, and to prevent the entrepreneur from succumbing to the temptation to skip any of the critical steps in the process. The three umbrella sections are:

* * The Framework: Asking the essential internal and external questions facing the entrepreneur, examining the idea, thinking about the market and risk factors, and considering the various legal issues

* Building Your Idea: Developing a business plan and a founding team, creating boards, adding employees, considering the competition, obtaining financing, and understanding the pertinent laws

* Managing The Company: Improving sales and negotiations, communications, decision making, accounting and money management, and growing the company including the eventual sale of the business

For me, the power of the book is how Gregg Fairbrothers combines the powerful concepts of entrepreneurship, creativity, vision, and hard work with the practical tools to transform that business idea into a successful start-up venture. The author provides the strategies and information necessary to ensure that the would be business owner considers all aspects of starting, developing, and managing a company. The author also expects the would be entrepreneur to examine and consider their own personal and business goals, as well as the real importance and impact of the base business idea.

One of the real values of this book is how Gregg Fairbrothers expresses his enthusiasm for the entire concept of entrepreneurship as essential for growing the economy and creating jobs. This book is clearly part of the author's vision, and that love of start-up business success is evident throughout the entire book.

I highly recommend the essential and very hands on book From Idea to Success: The Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network Guide for Start-Ups by Gregg Fairbrothers, to anyone seeking a comprehensive guide to creating, starting, and operating a viable start-up company. This book covers all areas of an entrepreneurial venture, ensuring that business person considers all aspects of the business, including the ones that many books gloss over or omit entirely.

Tags: From Idea to Success: The Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network Guide for Start-Ups, Gregg Fairbrothers, entrepreneurial start-up strategies, business book reviews

Research Ethics For Scientists: A Companion For Students by C. Neal Stewart, Jr. - Book review

2011-12-25T01:19:00.010-06:00

Research Ethics for Scientists

A Companion for Students

By: C. Neal Stewart, Jr., Ph.D.

Published: December 6, 2011
Format: Paperback, 224 pages
ISBN-10: 0470745649
ISBN-13: 978-0470745649
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

"Research misconduct is a major threat to science. As much as some scientists wish to point fingers at politicians and the public as the principle bad players responsible for the lack of appreciation and funding that science deserves, I think the real enemy is within our own ranks", writes professor of plant sciences and holds the Ivan Racheff Chair of Excellence in plant molecular genetics at the University of Tennessee, C. Neal Stewart, Jr., Ph.D., in his very practical and indispensable guide book Research Ethics for Scientists : A Companion for Students. The author describes the primary issues of scientific research ethics, and provides a series of best practices to ensure that research is conducted and reported in an open an honest manner by students and practicing scientists alike.

C. Neal Stewart, Jr., Ph.D. recognizes that ethical issues exist within the scientific community, and that these unfortunate events must be curtailed and prevented for the benefit of both science and the larger society. For the author, the clear approach to solving this growing problem, is through supporting best ethical practices by all scientists on the one hand; and exposing unethical practices and scientists on the other. To ensure that ethics are understood by all students in the sciences, as well as by the entire scientific community, C. Neal Stewart, Jr., Ph.D. utilizes a systematic approach based on a series of functional themes. The author takes a positive stance of offering strong support for ethical practices in science, and on the practice of ethical scientific research and reporting.

C. Neal Stewart, Jr., Ph.D. (photo left) understands that it's up to the individual scientist to act ethically at all times. Indeed, he points out that the responsibility for ending the problem of ethical breaches rests entirely with scientists themselves. The author demonstrates that such ethical violations as plagiarism, falsifying research lab results and data, conflicts of interest, and claiming the work of others as one's own result in ruined careers. To counter these problems, Neal Stewart offers a process, broken into themes based on functions, to ensure that science students receive a proper grounding in ethics from the very beginning of their educational experience.

For me, the power of the book is how Neal Stewart takes a positive and pro-active approach to teaching ethical scientific behavior to students. This process of instilling strong ethical values and best practices, from the very start of the academic career, offers a preemptive means of reducing and even removing ethical violations from the field of science. The author doesn't address the ethical questions and issued raised by science, but instead addresses the ethical issues and dilemmas that arise from being a scientist. The focus of the book is on the individual learning the appropriate ethical practices.

Neal Stewart enhances his functional theme based approach with questions in each chapter that force the students to evaluate their own ethical positions. The book also contains instructive case studies that highlight the ethical issues faced by scientists. There are even a series of chapter by chapter questions, placed at the end of the book, to review and study more deeply the ethical issues faced by scientists.

I highly recommend the very hands on and essential book Research Ethics for Scientists : A Companion for Students by C. Neal Stewart, Jr., Ph.D., to any students seeking a strong foundation in the ethics of being a scientist, to any faculty and mentors teaching ethics to students and other scientists, and to any practicing scientists searching for a useful handbook for developing a set of best practices for themselves, their labs, or their entire organizations.

Tags: Research Ethics for Scientists : A Companion for Students, C. Neal Stewart, Jr., Ph.D., ethical behavior for scientists, science book reviews.

What To Ask The Person In The Mirror by Robert Steven Kaplan - Book review

2011-12-24T01:29:00.005-06:00

What to Ask the Person in the Mirror

Critical Questions for Becoming a More Effective Leader and Reaching Your Potential

By: Robert Steven Kaplan

Published: August 3, 2011
Hardcover: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 1422170012
ISBN-13: 978-1422170014
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press

"In the course of these experiences, I have found that almost without exception, successful leaders go through significant periods of time in which they feel confused, discouraged, and unsure of themselves and their decisions. They feel as if they should be somewhere else, doing something else. They wonder why other executives seem to have an easier time doing their jobs", writes Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School and co-chairman of Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Robert Steven Kaplan, in his brilliant and insightful book What to Ask the Person in the Mirror: Critical Questions for Becoming a More Effective Leader and Reaching Your Potential. The author describes how leaders are not born to greatness, but that their leadership skills are learned techniques that can be added to any successful executives personal toolbox.

Robert Kaplan understands that while leaders develop their leadership skills and abilities over time, the techniques and knowledge take hard work and determination to master. The author points out that all leaders enter into periods, that are often very lengthy in terms of time, where they doubt their own skills and ability to make the right decisions and take the proper course of action. Robert Kaplan writes that it's not the role of the successful leader to avoid their times of self doubt and loss of confidence. Instead, the author shares the skills and exercises that will guide the leader to take a step back and ask what are described as a series of critical questions. These personal queries provide fresh insights into the real problems, develop solutions and a plan of action that the leader can utilize to propel the organization forward to meet and overcome any challenge.

Robert Steven Kaplan (photo left) understands that all leaders experience times of self doubt and uncertainty. This important observation leads the author to the insight that successful leaders discover how to work through these periods of personal crisis. Robert Kaplan describes the techniques that are learned, practiced, and put into action to establish effective leaders in any field of endeavor. The starting point for this long and often difficult journey toward confident leadership begins with asking oneself the critical questions.

Robert Kaplan provides seven areas of personal questioning that lead to successful and effective leadership. The seven principles are as follows:

* Vision and priorities
* Managing your time
* Giving and getting feedback
* Succession planning and delegation
* Evaluation and alignment
* The leader as role model
* Reaching your potential

For me, the power of the book is how Robert Steven Kaplan combines his theoretical framework for establishing successful leadership skills, with the practical techniques, tools, and exercises necessary to create dynamic personal change and growth. The author supports his recommendations with his decades of personal experience with leaders of all types. Unlike many leadership book authors, Robert Kaplan acknowledges that learning the essential skills of leadership is a long and often difficult process that can't be achieved overnight. Instead, the author presents a realistic overview of the entire personal leadership journey, and how many of the steps present a major challenge to potential leaders.

I highly recommend the practical and idea filled book What to Ask the Person in the Mirror: Critical Questions for Becoming a More Effective Leader and Reaching Your Potential by Robert Steven Kaplan, to anyone seeking a clear and realistic guide to developing personal leadership skills that really work to guide executives in overcoming challenges in any field. This book will transform anyone, who is willing to put in the time and effort, into an effective leader who gets things done to benefit the entire organization and its future.

Tags: What to Ask the Person in the Mirror: Critical Questions for Becoming a More Effective Leader and Reaching Your Potential, Robert Steven Kaplan, leadership building strategies, business book reviews

The Power of Presence by Kristi Hedges - Book review

2011-12-23T01:37:00.003-06:00

The Power of Presence

Unlock Your Potential to Influence and Engage Others

By: Kristi Hedges

Published: November 18, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 240 pages
ISBN-10: 0814417736
ISBN-13: 978-0814417737
Publisher: AMACOM

"Executive presence begins in your head. It resides in how you think about yourself, your abilities, your environment, and your potential", writes communications expert, entrepreneur, and certified leadership coach Kristi Hedges in her empowering and career building book The Power of Presence: Unlock Your Potential to Influence and Engage Others. The author describes the critical importance of executive presence for business and career success, and provides an effective blueprint for developing a strong and confident presence for anyone.

Kristi Hedges understands the importance of of leadership presence in today's highly competitive business, career, and employment markets. The author offers compelling evidence that improving one's personal presence, regardless of of their personality or position, greatly increases the opportunities for success. Kristi Hedges provides research based evidence that simply having the required skill level is no longer sufficient. Without a presence that creates respect and attracts others, a very highly qualified and skilled person will be overlooked and not provide their ideas and talents fully to their organization. The author points out that leadership and presence enhancing skills can be learned by anyone, while building on their own individual strengths.

Kristi Hedges (photo left) recognizes that a person's inner mind must be combined with the outer impression given to others to form their authentic presence. The author dispels concerns that executive presence is some sort of act or manipulation. Instead, Kristi Hedges demonstrates that the most effective and confident form of presence is in complete alignment with their own inner beliefs and principles.

To achieve that authentic presence, Kristi Hedges shares her I-Presence™ model for the development of leadership presence. The three principles of the I-Presence™ are as follows:

* Intentional: A person's beliefs must match their internal and external messages, body language, and self confidence.

* Individual: Leaders must have the ability to connect with others at all levels.

* Inspirational: Leaders must learn how to inspire and motivate others as visionaries.

For me, the power of the book is how Kristi Hedges combines the theoretical framework of her I-Presence™ model with the practical tools and techniques to develop one's latent executive presence skills. Unlike many books that recommend adopting the entire system, Kristi Hedges reminds her readers that even developing one area of executive presence will provide a powerful and positive impact on their careers. The book is filled with exercises, and useful chapter takeaways, that can be practiced and applied both immediately, and over the longer term. The author also backs up her concepts with real world research data that underline their effectiveness and value.

I highly recommend the very engaging and hands on book The Power of Presence: Unlock Your Potential to Influence and Engage Others by Kristi Hedges, to anyone seeking to improve their personal leadership and executive presence, to enrich and enhance their business, career, and personal lives. This book will increase your confidence, your ability to inspire others, and help you to rise much higher in your career or profession than you had ever dreamed was possible.

Tags: The Power of Presence: Unlock Your Potential to Influence and Engage Others, Kristi Hedges, leadership building strategies, business book reviews

The Decision To Trust by Robert F. Hurley - Book review

2011-12-22T00:32:00.009-06:00

The Decision to Trust

How Leaders Create High-Trust Organizations

By: Robert F. Hurley

Published: October 25, 2011
Hardcover: 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1118072642
ISBN-13: 978-1118072646
Publisher: Jossey-Bass

"Trust is central to human existence. like all social animals, human beings have an instinctive need to cooperate and rely on each other in order to satisfy their most basic emotional, psychological, and material needs. without trust, we are not only less happy as individuals but also less productive in groups", writes professor at Fordham University and president of Hurley Associates, Robert F. Hurley in his comprehensive and thought provoking book The Decision to Trust: How Leaders Create High-Trust Organizations. The author describes despite the overall decline in trust found in today's society, it's critical for companies to develop trust within their organizations and its teams, to achieve peak performance.

Robert Hurley recognizes that the current loss of trust in institutions and business is an important phenomenon in our lives. At the same time, however, the author understands completely that without a high level of trust, organizations cannot achieve a high level of productivity and performance. Robert Hurley points out that without a high trust factor in a company, attracting and retaining top talent is very difficult to attain. If co-workers don't trust their managers or one another, very little will be achieved in the organization either. Robert Hurley considers trust to be at the very foundation of an organization's success. As a result, the author shares his dynamic framework for building and maintaining trust in any company, and achieving top performance.

Robert F. Hurley (photo left) understands the dynamic nature of trust relationships within an organizational culture. This dynamism is based on experience. If the employee is faced with deceit, the individual will lose trust in the deceitful person. Once lost, that trust is very difficult to regain and reestablish. On the other hand, if an employee is rewarded in a trusting relationship with managers and co-workers, the level of trust will be deepened and strengthened. For employees at the team level, or at the level of the entire organization, a culture of trust will achieve superior results over a climate of fear and mistrust.

Rober Hurley proposes the Decision To Trust Model (DTM) to enrich the trust level within organizations. The factors are as follows:

* Security
* Similarity
* Alignment of interests
* Benevolent concern
* Capability
* Predictability and integrity
* Communication

For me, tho power of the book is how Robert Hurley combines the theoretical framework for improving trust levels with the practical tools and techniques to establish more organizational and team trust. The author demonstrates how to pinpoint the areas where trust has broken down, and provides the process for repairing the damage, as well as building new bonds of trust between people. Robert Hurley strengthens his proposed Decision To Trust Model (DTM) with a step by step system for its implementation.

The author also offers two decades of research data, real world case studies, and examples of improved trust resulting in more engaged and productive employees. Robert Hurley demonstrates clearly that trusting organizational cultures operate on a higher degree of performance and are more profitable for the company.

I highly recommend the essential and engaging book The Decision to Trust: How Leaders Create High-Trust Organizations by Robert F. Hurley, to any business leaders, managers, or anyone involved in employee relations who are seeking a proven and effective system for creating, nurturing, and deepening trust levels within organizations. This book, and the processes it contains, will transform a company culture from one of fear and mistrust, to one where engaged employees perform at peak levels, and where profitability is much higher than ever before.

Tags: The Decision to Trust: How Leaders Create High-Trust Organizations, Robert F. Hurley, trust building strategies, business book reviews

Masters of Business Administration admissions questions - Shari Sekel: Brock University Faculty of Business - Interview

2011-12-21T10:42:00.003-06:00

Shari Sekel, of the Brock University Faculty of Business was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about the Brock University Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs, the faculty admissions process, and about applying for attaining the MBA degree in general.

Shari Sekel described the popularity of the MBA degree, what potential students need to know about the admissions process, and how the school will help students achieve the educational goals that are right for the individual.

Thanks to Shari Sekel for her time, and for her very informative and comprehensive responses. They are greatly appreciated.

Why have Masters of Business Administration (MBA) become so popular in recent years?

Shari Sekel: I think that the MBA has always been a popular degree in certain markets. Where we have seen a lot of growth in the industry, however, is in the expanded reach to different types of students. As an example, we now see several programs (including Brock’s) which do not require work experience. When combined with co-op opportunities, the MBA becomes an attractive opportunity for students fresh from undergraduate studies – those who want to set themselves apart from their job-seeking colleagues by achieving the MBA at the commencement of their careers.

We found this was particularly true in 2008 and 2009 when new bachelors grads were faced with a tight job market – the MBA was a way to wait out the economic downturn while setting themselves up with a qualification that would help them accelerate their career progression in future years.

The other area where we have seen a lot of growth in MBA offerings in Canada is the international student marketplace. The global economy of the 21st century demands leaders who are trained in business theory and practices beyond the borders of individual countries. We see a lot more partnerships between business schools in different parts of the world, greater international exchange opportunities for MBA students and a great value placed on the rich cultural diversity that international students bring to classroom discussion and group projects in an MBA program.

With so many students applying for limited MBA spaces, what crucial challenges do students face in their application process?

Shari Sekel: Applying to graduate school, similar to applying for job opportunities, is all about differentiating yourself from the rest of the applicant pool. Students can stand out through strong GMATs and GPAs but there are also other ways that students can bolster their applications. As an example, leadership experience – both paid and volunteer – should be highlighted in any MBA application.

The personal statement (also known as the statement of interest) is important because it can help admissions personnel assess applicant/program fit. I always encourage applicants to talk about two main things in their statement. First, talk about what the student is hoping to get out of the MBA program – how will the program help the student achieve his or her career objectives? Second, talk about what the program can expect to get out of the applicant – highlight experience, previous activities, unique skill sets that will contribute to the program learning environment.

Many students consider the GMAT test to be their nemesis. Is the GMAT a student;'s enemy or does it offer some real benefits as well?

Shari Sekel: The GMAT is definitely not a student’s enemy. There are a lot of instances where it can be one of the most useful parts of an MBA application. Remember, the admissions process is all about trying to predict which applicants will find academic success in the MBA program. Admissions Committees look at lots of factors when trying to make this prediction. The GPA and GMAT are generally the two main objective measures of an MBA application.

Imagine a case where an applicant graduated from his or her undergraduate program fifteen or twenty years ago. In this instance, the GPA is clearly not going to be as reliable a predictor of current abilities as a GMAT score written within the last year or so. So students whose long-ago undergraduate performance was weak can find a lot of benefit in a GMAT score that more appropriately reflects their current potential.

For another example, consider a case where an applicant studied a non-business undergraduate degree (very common, by the way) but has a keen interest in a business career. We often see that students who are not passionate about their undergraduate subject matter have grades which reflect their lack of engagement. In these cases, the GMAT offers the applicants a chance to demonstrate their capabilities in subject areas more relevant to their proposed graduate business studies. On the admissions side, the GMAT is a tool that helps us compare applicants from diverse educational backgrounds. Such comparisons are not always relevant when done using GPA alone as we typically see lower grades in some disciplines than others.

Shari Sekel, Brock University Faculty of Business (photo left)

Many potential MBA students are intimidated by the process, and are afraid to ask questions of the faculty. How can this fear be overcome?

Shari Sekel: At Brock, as well as many other MBA programs, we strongly encourage students to contact us in advance of their applications. We want to make sure that questions get answered, that the application process itself runs smoothly and timely and that the applicant’s objectives are consistent with the program options that we can deliver. You’ll read below that making connections with your schools of choice before submitting your applications is actually a great approach!

Before contacting a school, students need to have a good understanding of their own objectives and need to have done some research through program websites. Most simple questions about program specializations, start dates, fees, and more can be easily located online. Once students have learned the basics from the program websites, they should be able to create a short list of schools that seem to cover their basic needs/wants. At that point, students should make a connection with each program to talk about fit.

But students should be prepared to answer as many questions as they ask. In fact, when I counsel MBA prospects, I always start the conversation by talking about their career objectives. Doing so helps make sure that I’m providing students with information relevant to their individual circumstances.

Choosing a graduate program is a big decision – students owe it to themselves to make a personal connection with their MBA program choices. At Brock, we’re genuinely interested in finding students who are the right fit for our program – and we’ll be honest if a prospect and his or her objectives is not a good fit for what we have to offer. In fact, we’re happy to point you to another program that might be a more appropriate choice for your needs. These are the kinds of things that aren’t on the website so making that connection is definitely worth it!

How does a student know that they are the right fit for the school and courses they are selecting for their MBA program?

Shari Sekel: There are no guarantees in life. All we can do is try to predict the future. On the MBA program side, we have admissions requirements and processes that help us predict which applicants will be successful in our program. These are the people to whom we will offer admission. At the same time, prospective MBA students undertake an admissions process of their own as they decide which programs are worth their application and most likely to help them achieve their objectives.

As discussed elsewhere in more detail, there are three main recommendations that I have for MBA prospects. First, they need to understand themselves, their strengths, their weaknesses and their objectives. Second, they need to do some basic research online. Third, students need to connect with their prospective schools. Talk to people, visit campus, get advice from the program staff who’ve seen previous students come through the program. Ask if these experts have had other students with a similar background come through the MBA? Was the program a good fit for them?

At the end of the day, students won’t know until they are likely long out of their MBA program whether it was the perfect fit for them. A lot of the theory and professional skills acquired in an MBA only show their value when applied in the post-MBA workplace. The steps described above, however, will certainly help an MBA prospect make the best possible prediction.

Students often think that the admissions process is out to eliminate them. Is this a misconception on the part of some applicants?

Shari Sekel: Absolutely! Most MBA programs are looking for the strengths in their applicants. Prospective MBA students come from a wide variety of backgrounds and each application is unique. As such, it really isn’t productive to apply a cookie-cutter admissions approach. There are certainly minimum academic standards that need to be met – we are talking about a graduate degree, after all – but MBA applicants almost always offer a lot of other important factors including work or volunteer experience, diverse academic and cultural backgrounds, extra-curricular leadership positions and more. All of these things are valuable to an application and can really impress those involved in the MBA admissions process.

Is the MBA option the right one for every student; and what should they consider before applying to a school?

Shari Sekel: The MBA is a broad business degree that helps individuals pursue their career objectives – but it is certainly not the only means by which people can further their education. Students who are interested in pursuing a research-based career or further academic study at the doctoral level, for example, are usually better served by a more research-intensive graduate program – like Brock’s Master of Science in Management – where there is a mandatory thesis requirement. In other cases, a post-graduate diploma at the college-level is a viable and useful option for further education.

Before applying to any school, I strongly advise students to make a connection to an advisor for some pre-admission counseling. MBA application fees are usually at least $100 – students who connect with schools early can really make sure that their applications are targeted. At Brock, we have one individual who serves as the point of contact for all prospective students in our traditional MBA program. She works extensively with students from their first inquiry through to (hopefully) admission to the program. I also encourage students to visit campuses – look for opportunities to connect with current students, alumni and faculty at recruiting events.

At Brock, we have launched a live webinar series that includes monthly informal chats with myself and our team, Q&A sessions with current students, faculty and alumni. We’ve been able to connect with prospects from around the world – and, most importantly, they’ve been able to see, hear and ask questions of the very same people who will help them along their MBA journey from first inquiry through the graduation ceremony and beyond. In short, don’t be afraid to connect with your target schools – that is what we’re here for!

What is the first step a student should take before beginning the MBA application process?

Shari Sekel: People who are thinking about an MBA or any graduate program need to make sure that they have a clear understanding of their objectives. Where do you they see themselves in five years? Ten years? Are they looking to shift careers or industries? Ultimately, students who clearly understand their own goals are the most likely to find the best fit with the MBA or other graduate program that they choose.

Prospective applicants also need to understand their own learning styles. Do they learn best in large, lecture-based environments or small, highly interactive classes? Different MBA programs offer different advantages – only a student who understands his or her own educational needs and expectations will be able to make the best choice about their future.

What is next for the Brock University Faculty of Business?

Shari Sekel: The University is in the advanced planning stages for a new $50-million facility to house the Faculty of Business. Space for graduate programs and research are among the top priorities in the planned facility. We are currently pursuing financial support from the province of Ontario.

Tags: Brock University Faculty of Business, Brock University Master of Business Administration (MBA, Shari Sekel, business education interviews

Kristin Zhivago: Roadmap To Revenue - Blog Business Success Radio

2011-12-20T04:12:00.009-06:00

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Revenue coach and author of the eye opening and results oriented book Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy, Kristin Zhivago, describes how customers have changed and that salespeople have not changed their approach, resulting in a mismatch between what customers expect and what they actually hear. Kristin Zhivago points out that not only do sales representatives not answer the most important questions from buyers, but neither do their company websites. Kristin demonstrates how to avoid the most common mistakes made by salespeople when working with today's empowered customers, She also provides a roadmap that will guide sales reps along the right path to providing what buyers really want and understanding their new buying process, regardless of the buyer's level of interest or scrutiny of the company, products, or services.

Kristin Zhivago is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, December 20, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Revenue coach and author of the eye opening and results oriented book Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy, Kristin Zhivago, describes how customers have changed and that salespeople have not changed their approach, resulting in a mismatch between what customers expect and what they actually hear. You will learn:

* What customers really care about when buying

* Why customers don't buy from you

* How to utilize an effective, repeatable system to increase sales

* How to incorporate the system into your entire company and its culture

Kristin Zhivago (photo left) is a "revenue coach" whose clients range from thriving young start-ups to those in the Fortune 500, including Dow Jones, IBM, and Johnson & Johnson, and the fastest-growing companies, including Bazaarvoice and Eloqua.

Zhivago has become one of the world’s leading experts on the customer’s buying process. She speaks and teaches frequently for companies and organizations. She is the author of the blog RevenueJournal.com

Kristin Zhivago has perfected a works-every-time research method to uncover the barriers to the sale — and to identify what is working and what is broken. She then uses her findings to guide managers in creating customer-centric companies, websites, products, and services. The methods she has perfected are revealed in her new book, Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy.

After selling and marketing software and other technology products for 12 years, Zhivago founded Zhivago Management Partners, Inc., in Silicon Valley, in 1979. The company moved to Jamestown, RI in 1996. Zhivago worked exclusively in the high-tech industry until the Web emerged as a platform for commerce in 1994. She then started also applying her revenue growth methods to companies in the travel, health, publishing, food, and consumer goods industries. She spent a number of years as a "rent-a-VP," performing marketing and sales department turnarounds for CEOs, and then settled on her current role as Revenue Coach. She is passionate about helping CEOs, entrepreneurs and managers increase their revenue, using logical and straightforward methods.

My book review of Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy by Kristin Zhivago.

My book review of Rivers of Revenue: What to Do When the Money Stops Flowing by Kristin Zhivago.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with revenue coach and author of the eye opening and results oriented book Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy, Kristin Zhivago, as she describes how customers have changed and that salespeople have not changed their approach, resulting in a mismatch between what customers expect and what they actually hear. Kristin Zhivago points out that not only do sales representatives not answer the most important questions from buyers, but neither do their company websites. Kristin demonstrates how to avoid the most common mistakes made by salespeople when working with today's empowered customers, She also provides a roadmap that will guide sales reps along the right path to providing what buyers really want and understanding their new buying process, regardless of the buyer's level of interest or scrutiny of the company, products, or services on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy, Kristin Zhivago, sales strategies, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Roadmap To Revenue by Kristin Zhivago - Book review

2011-12-20T00:05:00.007-06:00

Roadmap to Revenue

How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy

By: Kristin Zhivago

Published: April 15, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 296 pages
ISBN-10: 0974917923
ISBN-13: 978-0974917924h
Publisher: Bristol & Shipley Press

"The two activities - your selling and their buying - are worlds apart. The misalignment between what you are doing, and what your customer is doing, is costing you. You are losing sales you should be making. You're also wasting money", writes revenue coach Kristin Zhivago in her eye opening and results oriented book Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy. The author describes how customers have a buying process that they follow, and it's critical for marketers and sales representatives to understand what the buyer is trying to do during the sale.

Kristin Zhivago understands that marketing people and sales representatives are not always on the same page. Marketers believe that bringing in leads and prospects are their job; but, mistakenly, that closing the sale is not their role. The author makes it clear that today's empowered buyer requires attention from both the marketing staff and the sales people. The buyer, after all, is the person who determines whether or not to purchase a product or service. Kristin Zhivago points out that customers will tell you what they want, if they are asked properly, at the correct time, and in the right manner. The author makes it clear that the wrong time to ask is during the sales process, because buyers rarely tell salespeople what they are thinking while they are in negotiation mode.. Kristin Zhivago also offers advice on the shortcomings of focus groups and surveys, as well as the limitations of social media driven information.

Kristin Zhivago (photo left) recognizes the importance of creating and developing a system, that is logical and easily followed to increase the volume of sales. Through the use of the system recommended by the author, sales and marketing people will know what is preventing the customer from buying, and then by applying the appropriate remedy.

The major emphasis, in the system prescribed by Kristin Zhivago, is on reverse engineering successful sales to determine what went right about that process through a deeper understanding of the customer's viewpoint. With that knowledge in hand, the successful process becomes a repeatable event. The author makes clear that the system is an inclusive one, that can be applied to all sales situations. Once the system is integrated into the sales process:

* Buyers will help with the sale and provide referrals
* Internal political issues between employees and departments will end
* Marketing, sales, product development and product management will be aligned

For me, the power of the book is how Kristin Zhivago presents a comprehensive system that can be incorporated into any organization and will achieve positive sales results. The promise of the book is to build revenue through selling to customers in the way they prefer to buy. The author delivers on that promise by focusing the system on the customer, and away from the sales representative or marketer.

Kristin Zhivago guides the sales person through the entire process, including the complete review of current sales practices, reverse engineering successful sales, and providing a complete system to increase the overall number and value of sales for the sales staff. Another positive feature of the process, and one that is usually not considered in sales related books, is the inclusion of how and why the system will improve the internal culture of the organization itself.

I highly recommend the valuable and sales boosting book Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy by Kristin Zhivago, to any entrepreneurs, top managers, sales managers, marketers, sales representatives, and other business people seeking a proven and effective system for increasing their sales numbers. This book will change the way you think about customers, how they buy, and how to place your products and services in alignment with how the customer chooses to buy them.

Tags: Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy, Kristin Zhivago, sales strategies, business book reviews

Unfinished by Suzanne Gravelle - Book review

2011-12-19T00:02:00.014-06:00

Unfinished

By: Suzanne Gravelle

Published: October 7,2011
Format: Paperback, 291 pages
ISBN-10: 192700506X
ISBN-13: 978-1927005064
Publisher: TRUMEDIA

"I am living in self-imposed exile. I have intentionally removed myself from everyone and everything that is familiar. Whether it is because we need to rest and rejuvenate our minds and bodies or we need to explore and work through an issue that is troubling us without distraction, interruption or influence, taking time alone, in my opinion, is important", writes traveler and seeker of the self, Suzanne Gravelle, in her inspirational and deeply moving book Unfinished. The author describes her journey of self discovery that began with her resignation from her career as a real estate agent in Nova Scotia, and continued over a long tour of Canada, where she discovered the hidden places of the nation, and those buried deep within herself.

Suzanne Gravelle understands deeply that life is not always as it appears on the surface. Beneath her life of sameness, the author believed that her true essence was being lost forever. To free her inner spirit, Suzanne Gravelle took the extraordinary step of not only seeking her true inner self, but found the need to make that personal voyage of self discovery in what she calls her self imposed exile. She began her personal voyage and adventure by leaving her Nova Scotia life, and began driving across Canada, seeking her lost soul and Canada's lost places. She could find herself and her life's meaning in those expected locations. Her inner being dwelt in lost places as well, giving the journey symbolic meaning on two different levels.

Suzanne Gravelle (photo left) finds her journey manifesting itself in her chosen archetypes of the warrior and the gypsy. Like the gypsy, the author chooses a life of travel and living on the fringes of society, observing and learning of others and of herself. As the warrior has honor, integrity, and respect for the opponent, Suzanne feels respect for her journey and the dream that lives within her. As with a voyage into oneself, the necessity of disengaging from the allegedly real world, and entering into the realm of dream forms the vision of the dreamer. The author discovers her inner gypsy and warrior honor through her entering the dream realm through travel. Throughout the voyage, the author builds on those archetypes, and forms an outline of her true self.

For me, the power of the book is how Suzanne Gravelle shares both the interior and exterior aspects of her journey. Her inner voyage is a discovery of her true self, and the development of her preferred warrior and gypsy self. It was also a journey she had to take alone, in what she calls her self-imposed exile. Her exterior venture is the literal trip across Canada, but even within the context of that long expedition, she finds the less explored places in the country. As with the still undiscovered areas of her own soul, Suzanne identifies with the lost locations of Canada. Those spots parallel her own missing feelings, and form an enriching source of understanding for her and for the reader. With the voyage ending literally at the West Coast, Suzanne's journey of self exploration completes one crucial phase, preparing her for the next act in her life's play.

I highly recommend the profound and soul enriching book Unfinished by Suzanne Gravelle, to anyone seeking a guide and traveling companion, on the road to one's own inner voyage. Whether the reader is moved by Suzanne's inner travel, or by the literal transcontinental road trip, or by both at once, this book is a deeply personal adventure not to be missed.

**********************
For more information about Unfinished by Suzanne Gravelle, visit Unfinished on Amazon.com. You can follow her journey on her blog

About Unfinished

This is a true story of a woman who experienced such a profound awakening that she could no longer live the same way, the same life she was just one week before. She could no longer ignore the woman who was screaming to be set free from the ties that bind her to a life she no longer desired or recognized. The transformation to become the woman she really wanted to be has propelled her upon the most remarkable self-discovery journey of her life. She sold her home, gave up her career, kissed her children, grandchildren and friend’s good bye, got into her vehicle and just drove away…ALONE. Where was she going? 30,000km later she finds herself in the most unlikely place to try to piece her life together, trying to make sense of the constant feeling of being Unfinished.

About Suzanne Gravelle

Suzanne Gravelle is 49 Years old and has 3 children, 2 grandchildren who live in Nova Scotia. At the time this book goes to print she is single and homeless by choice, still travelling, seeking that place of comfort she will eventually call home. She spent most of her life living in Nova Scotia but her formidable years aged 10-25, were spent living on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She resigned as a Real Estate Agent in Nova Scotia, to embark upon this most incredible journey, driving, exploring Canada and writing this book. Read Suzanne's extended biography.

Suzanne’s Links

Find out where Suzanne is and listen to a current interview on 1290 CJBK London, Ontario on Suzanne's blog

Suzanne’s own BlogTalkRadio radio program Wednesday mornings 10am EST

Facebook: Suzanne Gravelle on Facebook

Twitter: @tourwithsuzanne

Tags: Unfinished, Suzanne Gravelle, personal self discovery, personal development book reviews

Subsurface Sensing edited by Ahmet S. Turk, A. Koskal Hocaoglu & Alexey A. Vertiy - Book review

2011-12-18T01:28:00.002-06:00

Subsurface Sensing

Edited by: Ahmet S. Turk, Ph.D., Koksal A. Hocaoglu, Ph.D., Alexey A. Vertiy, Ph.D.

Published: August 16, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 920 pages
ISBN-10: 0470133880
ISBN-13: 978-0470133880
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

"The major goal of this book is to provide a deep understanding of both the capabilities and limitations of the various sensor technologies used for detecting buried objects", write leading authorities in subsurface imaging and sensing, Ahmet S. Turk, Ph.D., Koksal A. Hocaoglu, Ph.D., and Alexey A. Vertiy, Ph.D., in their very comprehensive and authoritative book Subsurface Sensing. The authors describe the very wide and multidisciplinary field of subsurface sensing,and provide both the theoretical and practical applications and technologies that comprise the subject material.

Ahmet S. Turk, Ph.D., Koksal A. Hocaoglu, Ph.D., and Alexey A. Vertiy, Ph.D. understand both the strengths and limitations of subsurface sensing technology. As a result, the authors provide students, geophysicists, researchers, and engineers with a complete examination of the most important applications and technologies utilized in the field. The authors divide the book into three sections to provide the best overview of the subject: The three sections are as follows:

* The first part covers ground penetrating radar (GPR), electromagnetic induction (EMI), and microwave tomography
* The second part covers acoustic and seismic sensors, biochemical sensors, nuclear sensors, and optical sensors
* The third part includes the areas of application including geophysical, secuirty, landmine detection, and transport and civil engineering applications

Ahmet S. Turk, Ph.D., Koksal A. Hocaoglu, Ph.D., and Alexey A. Vertiy, Ph.D. recognize that their wide ranging overview of the subject will lack depth in each specific area. At the same time, that overall coverage offers practitioners with an examination of the theory, key applications, and important technologies in the field. The overview methodology of the book provides a firm foundation in the subject matter, leading to further in depth study for each application or technology as needed. Within the three principle sections of the book are individual chapters offering an examination of the wide and varied applications of subsurface sensing.

For me, the power of the book is the impressive array of multidisciplinary experts who provide their authoritative articles to the book. The expertise on offer covers a wide range of fields and subjects, but focuses on the principle areas of theory, sensor technology, and sensing applications. The sections of the various types of sensors, the mathematical and physics formulas, and the vast number of applications of the technology are especially useful. The authors are to be commended as well for including chapters that point to the potential weaknesses and limitations of subsurface sensing in all fields of study. Overall, this book is an excellent guide to the wide ranging and ever expanding field of subsurface sensing.

I highly recommend the essential and definitive book Subsurface Sensing edited by Subsurface Sensing, to any students, engineers, practitioners, business leaders, and policy makers seeking a complete overview of the theory, technology, and applications of the critical field of subsurface sensing. This book is a must for anyone with an interest or need for subsurface detection in any area of engineering, resources, business, or scientific research.

Tags: Subsurface Sensing, Ahmet S. Turk, Ph.D., Koksal A. Hocaoglu, Ph.D., Alexey A. Vertiy, Ph.D., subsurface detection technology and applications, science book reviews.

Gold Under Ice by Carol Buchanan - Fiction book review

2011-12-17T00:04:00.000-06:00

Gold Under Ice

By: Carol Buchanan

Published: July 20, 2010
Format: Paperback, 408 pages
ISBN-10: 0982782217
ISBN-13: 978-0982782217
Publisher: Missouri Breaks Press

During the American Civil War, Daniel Stark saves a drowning man from the icy water of Alder Creek, Montana Territory, and sets of a series of events that traverse America from the Old West to the gold trading pits of Wall Street, in the spellbinding and fast paced novel Gold Under Ice by award winning, Montana based novelist Carol Buchanan.

Carol Buchanan moves well beyond the usual historical fiction realm, and enters into a story of Wall Street gold trading and the value of President Abraham Lincoln's greenback currency. The story of Daniel Stark, and his quest to repay his family's indebtedness, is mirrored by the larger historical drama of the Wall Street battle of the greenback dollar against the gold Double Eagle coin. The fate of America, embroiled in the horrific carnage of the Civil War, hangs in the balance. The threads of Daniel Stark's life become intricately woven in the arcane financial drama played out by the gold traders in New York. In the days before electronic trades, the gold market was a rough and ready business, that could easily determine the outcome of the war, and the future of America, in just a few failed or successful trades.

Carol Buchanan (photo left) creates living breathing characters, with realistic dialogue, who are caught up in events that sweep them to their destiny. The desires and motivations of the characters, are timeless, and provide an immediacy to the sweeping tale. For business readers, the intricacies of the gold pits, and of the battle for supremacy between gold and paper currency, are fascinating in their modernity.

The price of gold, and the value of the dollar were as as much the daily headlines in 1864 as they are today. The trades made on Wall Street could make or break a currency and a nation then, and they can still do so in the modern world. The author creates a realistic portrayal of the financial markets of yesterday, that still has relevance in the our own time. The battle between gold and paper money, the lure of riches, and the often cold calculation of profit regardless of the outcome, remain as true as ever.

Carol Buchanan tackles a potentially tricky area with the discussion and description of the Civil War era gold and financial markets. The author deftly combines the microcosm of the Daniel Stark story with the larger narrative of the national economy. Even more important, Carol Buchanan transforms the actions on Wall Street from a potentially dry and arcane topic, into a riveting part of the novel. The novel is a fascinating account of fictional characters inhabiting a historically accurate world. The novel is a page turning epic, a lesson in the often ignored financial history of America, and a series of well drawn character studies.

I highly recommend the wonderful historical novel Gold Under Ice by Carol Buchanan, to anyone seeking aen enjoyable and idea filled historical novel. The characters are memorable, and stay with the reader, long after the last page is completed. This book is well worth a read, as the events of the story feel as if they are taken from today's financial headlines, all wrapped up in a gripping adventure tale of family honor.

Tags: Gold Under Ice, Carol Buchanan, Civil War era gold trading, fiction book reviews

Business At The Speed Of Now by John M. Bernard - Book review

2011-12-16T09:13:00.002-06:00

Business at the Speed of Now

Fire Up Your People, Thrill Your Customers, and Crush Your Competitors

By: John M. Bernard

Published: December 6, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1118054016
ISBN-13: 978-1118054017
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

"Customers increasingly demand a yes answer to each and every question they ask. They want what they want, and they want it now", writes founder and chairman of Mass Ingenuity, John M. Bernard in his insightful and practical book Business at the Speed of Now: Fire Up Your People, Thrill Your Customers, and Crush Your Competitors. The author describes how in an age of mass customization, it's essential for organizations to empower all of their employees to act quickly and decisively to take full advantage of opportunities as they arise in real time.

John Bernard recognizes that standard management practices are unsuited to cope with the marketplace sea change from the age of mass production to the age of mass individualization. Managers in many companies fail to understand that the demands on employees, by their more empowered customers, are stifled by outdated management practices. Because of this enormous shift in customer expectations, employees are being asked to deliver more than than they have the authority or tools to provide, causing a rift with customers. John Bernard offers an innovative and transformational alternative approach that empowers and engages employees at all levels, provides managers with better data for decision making, and removes obstacles for leadership and innovation.

John M. Bernard (photo left) understands that the marketplace has changed in radical ways, and that the management tools and techniques of even a few years ago, are insufficient for today's reality. The author proposes an end to micro-managing, which is not even possible in contemporary organizations. Instead, John Bernard proposes that managers engage employees to propose and develop fresh ideas for meeting the challenge of today's more demanding customers. The author emphasizes that managers must leverage the power of social media, cloud computing, and the millennial mindset, to achieve success.

Instead of counterproductive policies, including the banning of on the job social media usage and fears of cloud information storage, the author proposes the removal of fear in the workplace. John Bernard recommends that business leaders think in terms of NOW management and its revolutionary goals:

* Removing fear in the workplace
* Reducing variation in all areas of the business
* Overcoming the barriers that prevent change toward empowerment

For me, the power of the book is how John M. Bernard combines the theory of transforming a company to NOW Management, with the tools and strategies for achieving the NOW goals. The author understands completely that traditional management practices are standing in the way of employee engagement. The desire for control is also an outmoded concept that no longer works in a social media, cloud computing, and empowered employee organization. Control is simply no longer possible as today's customer will simply turn to another company for their products and services. To bolster his case, John Bernard shares data, case studies, and anecdotes of companies succeeding through the NOW formula, and their engaged employees becoming more productive, providing more value and profit for the company.

I highly recommend the inspirational and empowering book Business at the Speed of Now: Fire Up Your People, Thrill Your Customers, and Crush Your Competitors by John M. Bernard, to any business leaders and managers who are seeking a fresh and effective strategy to compete effectively in today's highly competitive marketplace. The transformation from an organization of fear to one of engagement will improve employee performance, boost the bottom line, and distance your company from the lagging competition.

Tags: Business at the Speed of Now: Fire Up Your People, Thrill Your Customers, and Crush Your Competitors, John M. Bernard, business development strategies, business book reviews

Mary Davis Holt: Break Your Own Rules - Blog Business Success Radio

2011-12-15T00:27:00.001-06:00

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

Keynote speaker, executive coach, managing partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership, and co-author of straight talking and empowering book Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking that Block Women's Paths to Power, Mary Davis Holt describes why there are so few women in C-level positions. Despite great strides made in diversity, women are underrepresented in the executive suite, Mary Davis Holt points out that women run companies are more profitable meaning that businesses are missing out on great leadership. Mary shares the six faulty assumptions, often mistakenly considered rules, followed by women that stand in their way. Mary provides advice and strategies for changing those assumptions to new ways of acting that will help more women achieve C-level positions. Mary Davis Holt is firm in her conviction that by changing the old rules to new ones will place women in 30 percent of leadership roles within a decade.

Mary Davis Holt is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Thursday, December 15, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

Keynote speaker, executive coach, managing partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership, and co-author of straight talking and empowering book Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking that Block Women's Paths to Power, Mary Davis Holt describes why there are so few women in C-level positions. You will learn:

* Why there are so few women in top leadership positions in the corporate world

* The myths and behaviors that hold women back from achieving career success

* How women can change their behavior to reach the top in any company

* What are tge new rules of business and behavior for women

Mary Davis Holt (photo left) s a partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership (FHHL) whose goal is to move women and organizations forward, faster. She is an executive coach and keynote speaker on business, women, and leadership. As an in-demand voice, Mary shares her hard-won insights and promotes FHHL's new rules for success to a wide range of audiences.

Prior to joining FHH, Mary held executive positions at Time Warner with oversight that ranged from finance to information technology, marketing, human resources, manufacturing, and distribution. She held a number of leadership roles in the publishing group including Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Time Life, Inc. Among her many career highlights, Mary led the management of worldwide manufacturing distribution for all of Time Inc.'s magazines (e.g., Time, Fortune, People, Sports Illustrated). She also served as president of Time Life Books and Time Life Kids.

My book review of Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking that Block Women's Paths to Power by Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, and Mary Davis Holt.

Listen live on Thursday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with keynote speaker, executive coach, managing partner at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership, and co-author of straight talking and empowering book Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking that Block Women's Paths to Power, Mary Davis Holt, as she describes why there are so few women in C-level positions. Despite great strides made in diversity, women are underrepresented in the executive suite, Mary Davis Holt points out that women run companies are more profitable meaning that businesses are missing out on great leadership. Mary shares the six faulty assumptions, often mistakenly considered rules, followed by women that stand in their way. Mary provides advice and strategies for changing those assumptions to new ways of acting that will help more women achieve C-level positions. Mary Davis Holt is firm in her conviction that by changing the old rules to new ones will place women in 30 percent of leadership roles within a decade on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking that Block Women's Paths to Power, Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, Mary Davis Holt, career strategies for women, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Break Your Own Rules by Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath & Mary Davis Holt - Book review

2011-12-14T01:10:00.006-06:00

Break Your Own Rules

How to Change the Patterns of Thinking that Block Women's Paths to Power

By: Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, Mary Davis Holt

Published: September 13, 2011
Format: Hardcover, 208 pages
ISBN-10: 111806254X
ISBN-13: 978-1118062548
Publisher: Jossey-Bass

"We have a dream. It is a big vision...it is a leap...and it is audacious: we want to see women make up at least 30 percent of the top leadership positions in corporate America within the next ten years", write managing partners at Flynn Heath Holt Leadership (FHHL), Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, and Mary Davis Holt, in their straight talking and revolutionary book Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking that Block Women's Paths to Power. The authors describe the myths and misconceptions that hold women back from achieving their fullest potential as leaders in the corporate world, and share strategies for changing these false rules, and replacing them with fresh ideas for success.

Jill Flynn (photo left), Kathryn Heath, and Mary Davis Holt recognize that women have moved forward in business over the past few decades, but despite these advances, women are very underrepresented in corporate boardrooms. The authors point out that fewer than one in six top leadership positions in the Fortune 500 are held by women. At the same time, the authors demonstrate that companies with female leadership at the C-level are more profitable and have a better business model for the future. The authors identified six faulty rules that hold women back from achieving their full potential as corporate leaders. These behaviors are rooted in societal norms and cultural mores, and the authors provide alternative rules to replace these deadly misconceptions, that work for the advancement of women, and achieve greater performance for their companies.

Kathryn Heath (photo left), Mary Davis Holt, and Jill Flynn understand that women have faced and continue to encounter societal pressure to follow an archaic set of supposed rules of behavior. Instead of following society's programming of letting others move ahead, and accepting a lesser role, the authors recommend that women step forward and seize opportunities for moving their careers ever upward. The authors content correctly, that these alleged rules were not and are not carved in stone. Indeed, they are not carved in anything except some antiquated societal mores.

For the authors, it's time for women to break free of these unhealthy myths, and achieve their roles as effective corporate leaders. The authors present their new rules as follows:

* Take center stage
* Proceed until apprehended
* Project personal power
* Be politically savvy
* Play to win
* It's both and...
* Stand together and close ranks

Mary Davis Holt (photo left), Jill Flynn, and Kathryn Heath provide an empowering manifesto for women in the corporate world, that for me, represents the power of the book. The authors not only dispel the myths that have derailed women's careers, but they provide a positive set of new behaviors for women to achieve success in the corporate world. The authors bolster their call to action with real world success stories of women who made it to the top of Fortune 500 companies by doing things their way. The lessons provided by these top female executives add inspirational background to the practical advice shared by the authors.

I highly recommend the empowering and myth destroying book Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking that Block Women's Paths to Power by
Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, and Mary Davis Holt, to any women seeking to advance their careers, and moving past the barriers presented by outdated behaviors and mores. This book will transform any woman's career path into one that leads to the very top leadership roles and to the C-level in any size or type of company.

Tags: Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking that Block Women's Paths to Power, Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath, Mary Davis Holt, career strategies for women, business book reviews

Jim Lehrer interviews Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

2011-12-13T16:48:00.007-06:00

PBS NEWSHOUR Executive Editor Jim Lehrer will interview United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton live onstage Wednesday, December 14, at The Newseum in Washington D.C. for Innovation and the Global Marketplace: A Discussion on American Innovation, Trade, and the next 10 million jobs.

Jim Lehrer and Secretary Hillary Clinton will discuss how America will create jobs going forward, and the future of the global economy.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (photo left)

The event will also include three panel discussions between leaders in the private and public sectors on the subjects of innovation and economic growth, moderated by NEWSHOUR correspondents Jeffrey Brown, Hari Sreenivasan, and Paul Solman.

Created through a partnership between the NEWSHOUR, The Aspen Institute and Intel, Innovation and the Global Marketplace will be streamed live on the NEWSHOUR’s website starting at 8:45 a.m. ET on December 14.

Viewers can join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #IEglobalmkt and by following @InnovationEcon and @Newshour.

Tags: PBS NewsHour, The Aspen Institute, Intel, Jim Lehrer, Jeffrey Brown, Hari Sreenivasan, Paul Solman, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, innovation in the global economy.

Sandy Carter: Get Bold! Use Social Media For Social Business - Blog Business Success Radio

2011-12-12T01:06:00.004-06:00

Listen to Wayne Hurlbert on Blog Talk Radio

IBM Vice President, Social Business Evangelism, and author of Get Bold: Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business, Sandy Carter, describes how to use social media tools and techniques to build a company that is more dynamic, collaborative, efficient, customer driven, and successful. Sandy Carter shares ideas for transforming any business into a top performing social business. Sandy Carter offers her six step AGENDA that covers all aspects of a business, inside and outside of the organization. Learn how to use social media to boost innovation, cost reduction, customer relationships, and talent management to create maximum business value through social media.

Sandy Carter is my internet radio show guest on Blog Business Success; hosted live on BlogTalkRadio.

The show airs live on Tuesday, December 13, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time; 5:00 pm Pacific Time.

IBM Vice President, Social Business Evangelism, and author of Get Bold: Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business, Sandy Carter, describes how to use social media tools and techniques to build a company that is more dynamic, collaborative, efficient, customer driven, and successful. You will learn:

* What it means to be a social business

* Why social businesses are more profitable than non-social companies

* How to implement the AGENDA strategy to transform your company

* How to measure success in a social business

Sandy Carter (photo left) is a recognized leader in Social business, a best selling author, and one of the most influential women in Web 2.0 technology. As IBM Vice President, Social Business Sales and Evangelism she is responsible for setting the direction for IBM’s Social Business initiative, a $200B market opportunity. Due to her extensive knowledge of social businesses, she is a sought after speaker.

She is an avid social business evangelist, blogger, and twitterer. She was recognized in 2009 as Brand Leader of the Year by World Brand Congress and as one of the top 10 women in social media by Altimeter Group. She is the author of two best-selling books: one of which won the Silver Marketing Sherpa award in 2009.

My book review of Get Bold: Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business by Sandy Carter.

Listen live on Tuesday at 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific time.

If you miss this very informative show, it will be available for free download as a podcast for iPod, iTunes, and MP3 players; or play it right on your computer. To download this, or any other of my guest interviews, go to the Blog Business Success host page and click on Archived Segments. Once there, click on the podcast icon at the end of the episode description, to download the show free of charge for your listening enjoyment. You can also subscribe to the show feed.

To call in questions for my guest, the number is: (347) 996-5832

Let's talk with IBM Vice President, Social Business Evangelism, and author of Get Bold: Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business, Sandy Carter, as she describes how to use social media tools and techniques to build a company that is more dynamic, collaborative, efficient, customer driven, and successful. Sandy Carter shares ideas for transforming any business into a top performing social business. Sandy Carter offers her six step AGENDA that covers all aspects of a business, inside and outside of the organization. Learn how to use social media to boost innovation, cost reduction, customer relationships, and talent management to create maximum business value through social media on Blog Business Success Radio.

Tags: Get Bold: Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business, Sandy Carter, social business development strategies, Blog Business Success, Blog Talk Radio.

Get Bold by Sandy Carter - Book review

2011-12-11T01:02:00.003-06:00

Get Bold

Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business

By: Sandy Carter

Published: September 21, 2011
Format: Paperback, 288 pages
ISBN-10: 0132618311
ISBN-13: 978-0132618311
Publisher: IBM Press

"It is imperative that you have a bold agenda to engage your clients, your partners, and your employees. The Social Business AGENDA is the connection to outperforming in the marketplace", writes IBM Vice President, Social Business Evangelism, Sandy Carter in her business results oriented and strategy based book Get Bold: Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business. The author describes the benefits of making the transition to a social business, and provides the blueprint for completing that transformation.

Sandy Carter presents a best practices adoption model for applying the principles and benefits of social media to any organization. The author recognizes the value of social media for creating and developing trust, authenticity, and transparency for the company's customers and for employees. For Sandy Carter, the social business integrates the concepts of social into every internal and external aspect of the organization. The benefits of the two way contact, enveloped in social media, achieve the company's goals more effectively for every department. The author points out that people have a deep desire to be social, and the concept of the social business leverages that very human trait for the benefit of the entire organization, including its more engaged employees, and its new form of social customers.

Sandy Carter (photo left) understands that social business has changed companies and their relationships with their employees and their customers in very fundamental ways. The role of the employee is altered in a social business and is more engaged with customers, and with each other, than ever before. The company's processes are more transparent and easily understood by all stakeholders, and the actions taken by social businesses regarding their customers are much faster and more responsive than in non-social businesses. At the same time, social businesses are more profitable as a result of their more fully engaged employees and relationship based customers.

To guide companies in the process of establishing an effective social business, Sandy Carter shares her AGENDA principle. The AGENDA concept is an acronym consisting of the following factors:

* Aligning organizational goals and culture
* Gaining loyal trust
* Engaging through experiences
* Networking the business processes
* Designing for reputation and risk management
* Analyzing the data

For me, the power of the book is how Sandy Carter combines the reasons for establishing a social business with the road map needed to achieve that goal. The author provides many real world examples of successful social businesses, and shares the techniques used to develop those effective social businesses. Filled with screen captures, helpful graphics, and well set apart case studies, the book offers practical detail that enriches the theoretical concepts, and further illustrates the overall AGENDA strategy. Overall, this book is an excellent guide book for companies seeking the business and cultural transformation opportunity presented by becoming a social business.

I highly recommend the very hands on and stakeholder engagement building book Get Bold: Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business by Sandy Carter, to any business leaders, executives, managers, or owners seeking to take the next step in their company's evolution and become a complete social business. This book provides the proven strategies that will turn any company from the ordinary to the extraordinary and very profitable realm of social business.

Tags: Get Bold: Using Social Media to Create a New Type of Social Business, Sandy Carter, social business development strategies, business book reviews

Renewable Energy Facts and Fantasies by Craig Shields - Book review

2011-12-10T00:39:00.012-06:00

Renewable Energy Facts and Fantasies

The Tough Realities as Revealed in Interviews with 25 Subject Matter Experts

By: Craig Shields

Published: July 30, 2010
Format: Paperback, 322 pages
ISBN-10: 0615388353
ISBN-13: 978-0615388359
Publisher: Clean Energy Press

"Don't expect a surprise ending; there is none. We actually do live in a world of tough realities. No one can snap his fingers and turn on a safe, readily available, and cost-effective stream of renewable energy", writes marketing consultant and editor of 2GreenEnergy,com, Craig Shields, in his realistic and thought provoking book Renewable Energy Facts and Fantasies: The Tough Realities as Revealed in Interviews with 25 Subject Matter Experts. The author shares his twenty-five interviews with a very wide spectrum of experts and thought leaders on every aspect of the potential and challenges of sustainable energy sources.

Craig Shields recognizes that there are no quick fixes or easy answers to the very difficult realities and choices facing everyone regarding renewable energy. The author provides conversations with specialists, in an impressive variety of fields, who approach the concept of sustainable energy from very different directions and starting points. Craig Shields places the interviews within the context of the three most important, and often very contradictory areas of technology, economics, and politics. As a result, the experts don't always agree with one another, or even agree with the book's author. The result is a lively and often controversial book filled with often difficult ideas, challenges, and possibilities for the future.

Craig Shields (photo left) understands that the development of clean and renewable energy souls is a complex, and multi-layered issue. For the author, the best method of approaching the many sides and nuances of sustainable energy is to consider the realities of the controversial ideas and forces involved in the search. Understanding the technology alone is not sufficient to address the energy challenge. The societal challenges of politics and the often often harsh world of economics must also receive consideration. Without taking all three overarching areas into account, neither the obstacles or the benefits of renewable energy will achieve the best results for the planet. Craig Shields points out that when all three considerations are not in harmony, the result will be solutions that fail in both the near and longer terms.

For me, the power of the book is how Craig Shields addresses the reality of renewable energy with the goal of finding real solutions, through a multi-disciplinary approach. The author believes that hearing as many different voices as possible, including ideas that disagree with his own, will create a more open discussion. Craig Shields provides a collection of interviews that offer real world considerations of sustainable energy, and avoids the pitfall of suggesting a quick and easy solution.

For the author and his contributors, there are no quick fixes or magic bullets. Instead, they provide a realistic and thoughtful discussion of the most daunting challenges facing renewable energy, and how they affect and are affected by the the ever present and critical areas of technology, economics, and politics. The result of Craig Sheilds' wide ranging and very balanced interviews is a deeper and richer understanding of a complex but crucial subject.

I highly recommend the important and often unsettling book Renewable Energy Facts and Fantasies: The Tough Realities as Revealed in Interviews with 25 Subject Matter Experts by Craig Shields, to anyone seeking a comprehensive and real world based anthology of discussions on sustainable energy sources, and their technological, economic, and political ramifications. This book will introduce the reader to new ideas, including concepts that may disconcert some readers. The book's open and honest expert interviews make this book a must read for anyone in business, politics, technology, or the general public with an interest in the critical issues surrounding renewable energy.

Tags: Renewable Energy Facts and Fantasies: The Tough Realities as Revealed in Interviews with 25 Subject Matter Experts, Craig Shields, sustainable energy sources, science book reviews.