Organizations Books

Well written book that is easy to understand. Practical information that can be easily applied.

This book was incredibly helpful. Even thought most of the information references were from Canada I still found it really helpful. It was part of one of my grad classes on board governance. It helped to lay out simple action steps one could take.

Mel's research and experience has led him to conclude that "the essentials of good governance are generally not well understood and that what is understood is not well communicated to the millions of volunteers who serve as directors on boards". Mel performed extensive research on 20 non-profit and public sector organizations, diversified in causes from a small rural service club with no operating budget to health boards with million dollar budgets. The median budget size was approx. $3 million. He studied the finances and governance practices of these organizations over a 20 year period. Among other things, he utilized a Governance Self-Assessment Checklist as a research tool.

Things I like about the book:

* Numerous real-life examples which brought the concepts to life
* Good description of the organizational functions: work, management and governance; and fact that all board members required to do governance and some may also need to "change hats" and do work and or management of their organization
* Description of some early warning signals in areas of human resources (eg. CEO turnover); performance (unplanned deficits, rapid depletion of reserve funds); ineffective board meetings; board culture; "rubber-stamping" of CEO recommendations without effective debate
* Solid research on governance models leading to a typology of 9 board types based on primary board focus
* List of 7 primary areas of responsibility that cut across all models:
o establishing/safeguarding mission and planning for the future
o financial stewardship
o human resources stewardship
o performance monitoring and accountability to key stakeholders
o community representation, education and advocacy
o risk management
o managing critical events or transitional phases
* Excellent assessment tools, one I personally utilized with great success
. Strong sections highlighting the board development, management and decision-making processes

Just a few areas which could be enhanced for the 2nd edition: some legal interpretations and information on directors' liabilities (although I know this book is not meant as a primary resource for these topics); and more about the board's role in fundraising and sustainability.

Overall, I think this is truly a great Canadian comprehensive resource on voluntary sector governance, written to be understood by most board members with excellent governance tips and tools. I carry it with me whenever I am delivering governance training workshops! Thanks, Mel!

For many years I have been making recommendations to municipal and regional authorities related to funding not-for-profit organizations. This new guidebook will be invaluable to organizations that realize the importance of being able to demonstrate good governance practices. The book is structured to provide easy access to the essential elements of effective governance. I especially appreciate the inclusion of well-researched case studies, practical quick tips, and relevant samples of policies and checklists. The last chapter provides numerous tools that board members and managers can readily use to improve governance.

This is a "must have" reference, not only for board members and senior executives, but also for consultants and for foundations and government bodies funding not-for-profits - and particularly for students taking governance courses in colleges and universities.

As a governance and board development consultant I will be using Mr. Gill's very readable book to assist my clients in strengthening their organizations. This guidebook covers the seven primary areas of board responsibility and is replete with highly applicable "Case Illustrations" and "Quick Tips". Its final section provides numerous "tools" - such as samples of, and templates for, key policies, financial monitoring, and performance evaluation.

A supplementary CD-ROM is available and I highly recommend acquiring this too. Users should also consider accessing Mr. Gill's online "Governance Self-Assessment Checklist (GSAC) service, available through the author's website.

I don't know of any other resource that "covers all the bases" of good governance - certainly none could be better in providing truly useful and practical guidance for boards in trouble or for boards that are striving to improve their performance.

This book is priceless when it comes to accessible, detailed, and critical how-to information on how to write grants. I highly recommend Grassroots Grants as a vital resource for any progressive activist who needs to raise cash for the movement.

As a staff member of a community foundation, I am called upon to give numerous presentations on how to get grants. I never fail to suggest buying Andy's book. It will pay for itself--and it's a good read besides. Virginia Martinez

Andy Robinson is one the best grassroots grant writers in the country. His book and a class I took from him helped us triple our budget from grants. The new edition is even better with excellent examples of winning grants from across the country.

I have long been a fan of Andy Robinson's writing and this is his best book to date. Useful for both new and experienced grant seekers. This book will now be number one on my list of recommendations for participants in my grant seeking workshops and I will make sure that each of the new fundraisers that I coach have a copy.

I'm the author of another book about "grant writing" for nonprofits, but still I heartily recommend this book. In fact, Grassroots Grants is the only other book about grant seeking I recommend. Here's why.

Grassroots Grants demonstrates on nearly every page how grant seeking can be compatible with the idealistic nature of small nonprofits. Though it is unquestionably and unapologetically written for what might be called the "progressive" movement in the US, its principles apply to activist organizations of any stripe. In the sometimes cynical world of fundraising, it's refreshing to see values so consistently applied. The author leaves no doubt: fundraising isn't just a game played with money and ego, it's about changing the world. The author's strong sense of purpose resonates warmly with the reader's.

Second, the book has an abundance of examples -- proposal narratives, budgets, etc. -- that very effectively demonstrate some basic principles of good writing and good grant seeking. For beginners these examples do a lot to demystify the job of grant seeking; they help the beginner get off to a quick start. For experienced fundraisers, they provide new ideas about style and presentation. I admire the numerous examples in this book enough to wish there were more in mine!

In contrast, I do think that one kind of advice is treated a bit lightly in this book: the task of managing the creation, submission, etc. of many proposals simultaneously. That topic has implications for the bottom line and for organizational values, and is a big topic in my book. But I have to admit, it is not terribly relevant for someone who is trying to write their first grant or two or three.

True to its title, Grassroots Grants keeps its focus on grassroots topics, and very much succeeds on that basis. It is authentic and helpful.

My AP American History teacher in Miami took the rest of the time after the AP exam to teach us this book. The analysis by Haga on bureaucracy and the evil of breakloops is great. The humor is worthwhile and i look at the world in a completely different light. This year was this teacher's last teaching year. She is now retired and will no longer take time to teach this amazing book. Another reviewer above has also written about her, she is amazing. From all of your students at Dr. Michael Krop High School in Miami WE LOVE YOU MRS. GIBBS!!!

I read this book while a graduate student of Dr. James Haga's at Monterey CA in 1979. While tongue-in-cheek, the book is an amazingly accurate analysis of bureaucracy. As a 26 year alumnus of the US Navy and 6 year employee at the Pentagon, I consider myself an expert on bureaucracy, and I have never found a flaw in Dr. Haga's thesis. Jim Haga is a remarkable professor in management. Reading his book is the next best thing to experiencing him in the classroom. You'll love it. And that's just a fact.

My A.P. history teacher in highschool down in Miami took a month off of the curriculim to teach out of this book. It changed my life and how I interact with soical groups and indiviudals. Since I left highschool in 98 I was never able to obtain a copy of this book. Until now. I owe my success at college to this book. IF YOU ARE READING THIS THAN YOU MUST PURCHASE THIS BOOK! DO NOT HESITATE.THIS BOOK WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

I was given a galley proof of this work when I left college. I owe much of my success as a product engineer to these principles. It taught me a babancing consideration before I am compulsively driven to offer an operational fix to a minor problem. This ought to be part of any social science curriculum.

Haga's Law spells out what we have all observed in organizations, especially Government and Political Parties. It explains how and WHY human nature drives ordinary oganizations like the PTA into becoming oppressive thought police agencies.

Consider this book essential reading before you are tempted to start an organization you can't kill. You never know when that harmless stamp collecting club you started might grow to the point of lobbying the state government to license and regulate the hobby!

I used the techniques from one chapter to quickly recover from a fall on concrete, where I hit my head, and a personal sorrow. I handled the physical aspects separately from the fall and on the memory of both was able to resolve the pain and sorrow so now I can think about it easily--as easily as normal memories. Thank you, L. Ron Hubbard. It works. Get it. Try it. Use it.

This book is very helpful but not necessarily a walk in the park to use. It's all about weeding through various things that make life difficult and how you can work your way to a better state of mind. You have to be willing to work for it and if you follow the steps in the book, you get amazing results. If you don't do what it says in the book or only do it half-heartedly, you really don't get much out of it. I give 5 stars because it really does deliver. In using the book, sometimes you have to examine things about yourself that aren't so easy to face. Once you push through those things using the book, it's pretty beneficial.

This book is for those who are in the need of change in their lives. It isn't about money; it isn't about winning friends and influencing people. It is a self-help book for those people who want to change the conditions of their life by viewing their goals and problems and past situations that relate. It gets a person better acquainted with himself.

It was written many years ago, but the techniques work IF one reads the book throughally and applies each step. The author is deceased, and the book is not published by the author but by the
LRH Library which is run by the Religious Technology Center which is a [type of religion]corporation.

There are many references in the book where you can go for further services--however, you might search out alternatives on the Internet, because there are individuals in what is called the "FreeZone" who can deliver services, too. If reading this book makes you want "more" then shop around.

In this Handbook for Preclears the dynamic principle of existence, which is "survive" is introduced. It is an important datum, because it is what all things have in common...it is the common demonator of existence. Of course, there are degrees of survival from bare to successful, but the datum gives one a way to look at things.

That isn't the only datum that is useful in this book. It isn't a good book for someone who just skims the reading material and doesn't throughally apply the exercises. That is why I rate it a 4 star instead of 5--...

This book was packed full of practical, useful information about life. It gives a way to look at life in a new and diffrent manner. It is a no nonsense book and hits right to the real stuff of life. I really enjoyed it alot.

A book filled with techniques you can use yourself to improve your abilities. It also contains the theory and philosophy behind the techniques. How can you get in better control of your own life? What mechanism in the mind causes people to act with fixed responses or to insist on the rightness of obviously wrong actions? It's all answered here

We purchased copies of this book for all of our board members after a consultant recommended it and I reviewed it. This is a very quick read (less than an hour), but the book is filled with great passages about the way a good board should function. Thought-provoking questions end each chapter. If you have a non-profit with a board, or you are on such as board, BUY THIS BOOK!

Gayle Gifford must have been an inquisitive child, because she asks a lot of questions. Really good questions -- the kind that ought to have obvious answers, but then you think about them and realize the answers are more complex, and more important, than you first imagined. Her new book, How Are We Doing?, includes 34 questions that all nonprofit boards should be asking themselves. Questions like, "Do we appreciate our directors for what they do?" and "Are we prepared to respond to a changing world?"

Each of these topics could fill an entire book -- and several have -- but none is this concise: you can read the entire book in an hour. If you serve on a nonprofit board and you're unclear about your role or your impact, read this one -- it might be the most productive hour you spend on board governance issues.

I loved this book. It's more than a book about evaluating performance... it's a great how-to for creating a board of any organization's dreams. Broken down into short chapters, it's well written and easy to read. The ideas contained in this small book are BIG and important - definitely on the cutting-edge as related to where the field is going.

This is a lot of wisdom in a small space, an easy to read-and-understand approach to determining if a non-profit board is doing what it should be doing. Each brief chapter focuses on one idea, and leaves no doubt in a reader's mind about how to determine what would work best for their organization. I am already using that one sentence, "It's negligent to keep investing money in programs without proof they make a difference," as part of my discussions with clients. This is a book I can, and will, recommend to clients and colleagues, secure in the knowledge that they will thank me for the recommendation.

This book will be an invaluable resource for busy Board members who want to focus their efforts on both the practicalities of their job as well as the greater vision which inspired them to volunteer in the first place. The key to this book is in the sub-title - A 1-Hour Guide to Evaluating your Performance as a Nonprofit Board. It is a rare find - simple, straightforward and designed for busy people. Each chapter is just a few pages long and ends with questions for the reader and/or Board collectively to answer. These questions are then summarized at the end in an Evaluation Survey. Sections include Making Our Community Better, Becoming Good Stewards and Building a Great Board. In an easy format to carry with you, it will surely become a staple for many Board meetings.

Probably the BEST book on network marketing presentations ever written. And, a very easy read. Mike Stokes <> Baton Rouge, LA

This book contains many nice metaphors which you can apply to other areas beyond MLM organizations. Let me use the "Ships" metaphor in a conventional business company.

Consider you already have managers in your staff and are going to open a new venture - the network of supermarkets. There should be at least one talented manager for each supermarket. Some manager will be working properly, their supermarkets will be profitable but they won't yield any further development. Such people are calling "Silver Ships". Now consider people who are even in moderate ranks will act as self-motivating and self-organizing managers, able to infuse their ideas into the public mind, do things with small increments but finish them for sure. Such people are your "Golden Ships", with whom you should share leadership functions. Of course, there may also exist "Empty Ships" into whom you may invest lots of time, energy, other resources, but this would not pay off. You should definitely get rid of the empty ships, because they do not let silver and golden ships stand on their places.

"Silver Ships" are good workers but do not expand your business. If your team will only contain of them, you will be profitable for a while, but your organization will lack flexibleness and won't be able to adapt to the quickly-changing condition of the modern world, and you will collapse sooner or later. "Golden Ships" are full of initiative, they don't need much external propelling force, and preoccupied with organizational flourishing, growth and change.

Did you read in the management literature that it's the manager's business to motivate the employees, to keep their morale high, to make them love their job, and so on? If all of your colleagues are "Empty Ships", your efforts to motivate them won't bring any result and you will quickly loose your own passion. This is not the case with "Silver Ships", who consume your motivation fruitfully, but the level of energy you will spend on them will be less then what they will give to you, and your own motivation won't rise very high. Now imagine what will happen if you give your energy to the "Golden Ships", who already are capable of giving their energy to their mates. You won't need to spend enormous energy to motivate them, and they have already created enough motivation around them, or even turned some "Silver Ships" to "Golden Ships".

The management literature which claims to teach how to motivate the staff won't help you if you are enclosed by the "Empty Ships". Such literature assumes that you always NEED something while your employees do NEVER want to do anything unless you stimulate of motivate them properly. Just get rid of these people and find someone who are motivated by the job and who are capable of motivating you. You may have tough times in your life and may not always have liveliness to motivate even yourself, when you NEED to motivate the staff according to this literature. This is wrong situation. You need to have such subordinates that will motivate you. Such subordinates have ideas and enthusiasm, while you have experience that you might want to share. Imagine how your motivation will will be raising when you are surrounded by the "Golden Ships". Just concentrate your efforts on attracting enough people of this kind around you, and they will be attracting good people around them.

Don Failla's lessons are time tested and easy to learn and pass on. Network Marketing is about duplication, and these napkin presentations are easy to duplicate. Learn them, teach them, and teach your downline to teach them.

I'd not heard of this book but received it through ... [a] BookClub. It's so easy to read, interesting, and full of greatinformation. If everyone in my organization, or any network marketing / MLM organization got their hands on this book, they would see the "Big Picture" very quickly and they would get started YESTERDAY in this business. You can get through this book in an evening or two and once you start it, you'll be eager to finish and get started!

This book was the very first thing that my incredibly successful sponsor gave to me. A man of few words, he said "Read this and you will understand!" I found the book intrigueing and bulging with possibility on my first read.

Working with a Network Marketing company in Europe, this book and its ideas is now the very basis of how we work. We have been very successful by keeping our strategy and teaching very simple and easy to understand.

I have read a lot of other MLM and Network Marketing books since, many of these adopt a name the best people or an upbeat rah rah approach, but I keep returning to Don Failla because it is so well named ; The Basics.
It could also be named All You will Ever Need to Know!

In my organisation Don's book is now the very first thing I give to my people. Every time I get some fancy idea, I just re-read it myself. The book has the habit of showing you just what you should be doing, no matter how successful you become.

I think its strength comes with dealing in the basics from their original telling which was so close to the wisdom that Don had aquired. The truths and methods do not really date and though it is told with obviously an American audience in mind, the ideas and there re-telling works worlwide.

This book has a permanent place on my desk and is the absolute foundation of re-learning and re-building my working life. I can not imagine it being improved, just re-printed.

as one of the students of D Skeel's basic corporation's class, this book is one of our reading assignments. Generally speaking, I hate reading assignment but I do like this book.

as a foreign LLM, I always find those JD peers "know" more than me about those names like "Jay Cookie", "Masha Steward","Enron case" or "Milken and takeover". Iracus actually helps me to catch up a little bit. It at least is a great book concerning the Amercian Corporate history. I perfer it to be a light reading before going to bed b/c it is short, easy to read for a foreigner and D S tends to amuze his readers rather than torture them.

As for the scandal part, I think the three prong conclusion is a great idea b/c it does fit the history lesson neatly.

I think it is a great book for both legal and non legal ppl who are interested in this book. Anyway, as DS says in his book, "nowadays, Corporation is us."

This book is a minor masterpiece of legal/business history. In slightly more than 200 pages, David Skeel tells the story of CEOs who took huge gambles with corporate assets in order to boost profits and share prices. Although the media and public idolize larger-than-life CEOs, Skeel shows how throwing the dice can often result in ruin for corporations and their employees and shareholders. His book ranges from 19th century railroad bankruptcies to the rise and fall of Enron, tying together economic history, financial theory, business law, and the politics of regulation. It's sophisticated but breezily written. I'd give it six stars if I could.

America loves risk-taking CEOs, but when such behavior crosses over to boardrooms it could have massive consequences because of the growing scale of businesses and society's greater dependence on equity markets. Icarus in the Boardroom: The Fundamental Flaws in Corporate America and Where They Came From, by David Skeel draws on Greek mythology to present a candid warning aimed at corporate directors and anyone concerned with our economic future.

Trapped in a labyrinth of his on construction, Dedalus made wings for himself and his son Icarus. He warned Icarus not to fly to close to the sun but Icarus got carried away, failed to heed the warning, and plunged to his death after the sun melted the wax that held his wings together. Similarly, the corporation is a powerful human innovation, but is dangerous if not used properly.

But this book isn't about businesses being "socially responsible," in the normal sense of health, peace, or global warming. Instead, Skeel is concerned with the impact that corporate failures can have on the economy as a whole. From that standpoint, Icarus in the Boardroom offers excellent advice on creating a sustainable business climate, getting to the source of problems instead of the symptoms.

He attributes several recessions and the Great Depressions to an "Icarus Effect," brought on by three factors:

Excessive and sometimes fraudulent risks
Competition (or, rather, tendencies toward monopoly)
Increasing size and complexity

The bulk of the book is devoted to a short history of the corporation followed by an excellent treatment of these three thematic factors and corporate failures though US history. He explains how government has responded to Icarus effects and how corporations have worked to first adapt, then often to circumvent or unravel government's attempt to save us from corporate excesses.

In general, "the lobbying might of corporate managers, and the power of their political contributions, is too great for even relatively minor reform to succeed," he notes. However, the wake of financial scandals provides an opportunity to "change the political calculus." We witnessed such changes after the 1929 crash when reforms like creating the Securities and Exchange Commission stopped short of federalizing corporate law.

More recently we enacted Sarbanes-Oxley to address the scandals of Enron, WorldCom and Tyco. Where did we stop short this time? Skeel advises that we partially addressed fraudulent risk but left the other Icarun factors largely untouched. Among Skeel's many recommendations:

Conflicts of interest. Having auditors selected by a committee made up of "independent" board members does little; they'll still be reluctant to choose an auditor who will rock the boat. Stock exchanges should assign and police auditors.
Securities analysts. "If exchanges were required to assign a securities analyst to every listed company - and pay the analysts from companies' listing fees - investors would know that there was at least one (unbiased) analyst covering every listed company."

SEC's proxy access proposal, which wasn't dead when Skeel wrote the book. Skeel favors it but warns that shareholder activism "often won't curb problematic behavior if the behavior in question is profitable to the corporation." As an example, he cites the fact that Tyco shareholders overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to move its domicile back to the US from Bermuda. Shareholders wanted to keep saving on taxes regardless of the negative impact on the larger society.

Special purpose entities (SPEs). Instead of treating them under "enterprise liability," as advocated by Adolph Berle in the post-New Deal era, Skeel takes a middle approach. Auditors and regulators should "focus on whether the spirit of the SPE status is being violated. SPEs that are not truly separate from the overall company should be denied separate treatment for accounting purposed."

"Ordinary Americans no longer see corporations as 'other,'" because more than half now own stock (directly or indirectly). As defined benefit plans dwindle and 401(k) participation increases, Americans have come to see their own stakes, however small, as tied to those of corporations. Skeel cites an important study by Dallas Federal Reserve Economists John Duca and Jason Saving that found "a direct correlation between stock ownership and the Republican vote in recent Congressional elections. As stock ownership goes up, so does the Republicans' share of the Congressional vote." It's no wonder President Bush keep pushing privatization of Social Security.

"The increasing identification between ordinary Americans and corporate America is perfectly understandable, but beneath it lurks a terrible irony: at the same time as our passion for real reform has declined, the risks have radically increased," writes Skeel. In the past, investing in stocks was an activity largely limited to the rich who could afford to speculate. Now stocks have become the investment of choice for "life" savings and retirement.

With so many of us now dependent on corporate performance, let's hope it doesn't take another Great Depression before American's wake up to the need for reforms of the type outlined by David Skeel.

This ambitious book takes on the "big picture" questions about the recent wave of corporate scandals: the increase in risk taking, the complexity of the modern corporation, and the limitations on shareholder governance. It offers intelligent advice for regulators, and warns average investors about the most extraordinary risks.

In my judgment, this book is a must read for anyone who followed the recent scandals. Unlike many of the books written about the markets during the past few years, "Icarus" offers a fresh perspective on what happened and why. To mix a metaphor, I hope it catches fire.

Specifically, the book recounts how technological and financial innovation made it so much easier for the 1990s corporate manager to take greater risks and manipulate how investors understood the corporation's business. The book's description of the split between perception and reality will be jarring to any investor.

Professor Skeel's writing is accessible and pithy. He lucidly explicates the "Gordian knot of conflicts" in the modern financial enterprise, and even devotes important pages to derivatives and structured finance.

But the strongest part of the book is its historical perspective. Today's reportage on the markets frequently ignores important eras, products, or schemes, and rarely understands how financial history repeats itself, or morphs in new and interesting ways. In contrast, this book ties together nearly every financial scandal during the past several centuries: the South Sea Bubble, Cooke, Gould, the Money Trusts, the S&L scandals, Milken, and so on. Of particular interest is Samuel Insull - readers who are not familiar with his schemes will find the material on the "House of Insull" unforgetable.

"Icarus" is an important intellectual history, and a riveting read. If only every book on the markets could be this good.

University of Pennsylvania law professor David Skeel's Icarus in the Boardroom: The Fundamental Flaws in Corporate America and Where They Came From presents an analysis of corporate scandals and catastrophic failures from the rise of the modern corporation through the present day.

Skeel begins by analyzing the underlying causes of what he terms "Icarus Effect" failures, named for the mythological Greek Icarus whose hubris in flying too close to the sun caused his downfall.

In Skeel's analysis, Icarus Effect failures occur as a result of three factors -- corporate executives willing to take excessive or fraudulent risks, the pressures of corporate competition, and the increasing size and complexity of the corporation. While not all corporate failures fit this definition, Skeel finds that the Icarus Effect underlies many of the most catastrophic and damaging failures in American business history.

Skeel's investigation of corporate malfeasance and business failure covers a wide historical scope, from the birth of the corporation during the 17th century voyages of trade through the exploits of recent figures such as Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, and Dennis Kozlowski. Along the way, we meet a number colorful historical characters such as Jay Cooke -- the Philadelphia banker whose scheme for selling government debt helped to finance the Civil War and the growth of the U.S. railroads until his increasing risk-taking caused the collapse of this financial empire in 1873 -- and Samuel Insull -- who established a utilities empire with a complex web of corporate ownership until his overextended, debt-laden empire was brought down during the Depression.

The most fascinating aspects of Skeel's historical analysis are the frequent parallels between the catastrophic failures of the past and those in recent headlines. Jay Cooke's dinners with President Grant are reminiscent of the friendly relationship between Present Bush and Enron's Ken Lay. And Samuel Insull's elaborate corporate structuring of his utilities holdings in the first decades of the 20th century are eerily echoed in the complex "off balance sheet" holdings of Enron in the final decade of the century.

In the closing sections of Icarus in the Boardroom, Skeel provides a critique of recent attempts to curb corporate misbehavior such as Sarbannes-Oxley, and finds little that he believes is likely to retard the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between legal curbs on corporate behavior and clever techniques for evading them. In the final chapter, Skeel offers a number of his own recommendations for how America can strengthen oversight of corporate behavior.

Icarus in the Boardroom is fascinating for both its historical perspective on corporate malfeasance and its analysis of recent headline events.

I encourage anyone, everyone to read about these theories and apply them as best as they can to students, their own children, other children they may encounter, if you are stuck in that must-sit-still-and-listen traditional-mindset, you owe it to yourself and others to open up your mind to how kids learn differently. Would love to have this be enforced reading for certain teachers my children and I have encountered in the past.

If you ever thought your child might have ADHD, or any other learning disability, you must read this. If you are a pediatrician, it's likely you've been pressured by schools into diagnosing patients with ADHD. Please read this before you do. Teachers/educational specialists can really learn from the masterpiece:"In Their Own Way". The brilliant author, Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D., inspires us to "respect the garden of childhood" and not slap a "flawed label" such "attention deficit hyperactivity" on kids. Many kids have been branded as "underachievers", "learning disabled", simply have a nontraditional style of learning, Armstrong says. Each child has his own unique combination of multiple intelligences in learning, which must be honored and nurtured." We should not be putting these kids in remedial groups or writing them off as underachievers. Instead, he suggests: "We should use better teaching strategies appropriate to the real needs of the kids, based on their multiple intelligences." Better yet, Dr. Armstrong gives concrete teaching strategy suggestions parents and teachers can follow. He also lists learning materials, books, games,internet sites, and computer software to foster the eight intelligences. If we believe Dr. Armstrong, nurturing kids is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Children rise to the highest level of our expectations. Parents and teachers can have hope. A generation of "ADHD labeled" kids or "learning disabled" kids need not be thought of as patients needing lifelong medication or remediation, but as potential Stephen Hawkings, just waiting to be nurtured properly. It is our responsibility to help these souls find their own way. It is our future.

I read this book while on a 3 hour bus ride to St Mary's City with my son's 4th grade class. I was so overjoyed to have found something that provided a glimmer of recognition for my son's abilities. He was labled ADD and after several years of fighting it I was finally starting to say "Well, he is very bright, BUT he has ADD." Well, now I will say he is a Kinesthetic, Spatial and partially linguistic learner. He is bright and capable and he just doesnt fit into the traditional teaching styles, along with another 80% of the population. There is nothing WRONG with him. This book can help so many people regain confidence in themselves, their children and loved ones. Confidence that our tradtional school sytem has systematically destroyed in hundreds of thousands of bright, wonderful children by trying to force them to learn in a way that is not only unatural for them, but also, many times, impossible. This book helped me to understand my son, myself,and even my husband. Now I have some of the tools that can help me reach them. ADD may exist, but 99% of it is in the eye of the beholder.

This is the kind of book you have to keep replacing because when you loan it out it won't come back!

The Education Products Information Exchange shockingly reported, 80% of the content in school textbooks was known by students before they studied. If the content was known then education meant time consumption and rising tides of mediocrity. A national education reaction was expressed in the book "Nation at Risk" providing the following recommendation: 1) rigorous grading 2) more standardized tests 3) better textbooks 4) and adherence to English, Math, Science, Social Sciences, and Computer Science. The core curriculum was designed for students to compete against other nations but considered boring by students.

What does 500 million standardize test mean? First, standardized implies keeping someone out. Standardize tests force sterilization of alleged defective individuals. In 1930, standardized tests were used to keep immigrants out of the U.S. One should be asking themselves, "Is formal testing the best way to determine competency?", "What do these tests measure?" and "Do these test encourage fault finding rather than discovery of strengthens?" Business maximums absolutely focus on strengthens rather than weakness to survive. Businesses manage weakness. What doesn't the educational system do likewise? Standardizing tests are faulty in their construction, represent poor subject selection, and faulty in research design. 500 million standardize tests means significant defect!

Learning Disability implies a specific neurological disorder. Interestingly, no biological neurological correlation has been proven indicating learning disorder students have a problem. So no biological proof exists that these student's brains are different. Diagnostics do not access the students learning style. Instead, the learning disability diagnostics are used to pick and pry for weakness administered by certified qualified experts. These qualified experts do not have comparable academic qualifications such as Phds in professional psychiatry or psychology. Yet the experts are making professional assessments about the student education capabilities. Experts diagnose to the following disabilities: dyslexia, hyperactivity, dysfunctional auditory, sequential memory, attention deficit, reading difficulty, math block, underachievement, and overachievement.

Learning Disability is revolutionary in scope, 50% of the students are labeled with a certain degree of learning disability, including overachievers. Perhaps these students just learn differently and the mere suggestion that one model for learning applies to all students is irrational. For example, Norman Geschwind, observed those "dyslexic" students, "probably a mythical made-up term", have: unusual drawing and artistic skills, a strong mechanical aptitude, and above average special dimension capability. A learning diagnostic revolution has permeated the education system. Students are required to sit for long periods of time and decode long complicated instructions. Teachers talk too much, 1/5 of the day is spent in teacher explanations and instructions. Too much talking "at" and not "to" the student; too much money interest, $1.5 billion in textbook sales ensure that product is politically and culturally marketed and declarative statements help ensure students believe absolutely; too much task analysis, task analysis represents a fragmented approach to learning where each activity is broke in parts and performance measured against the parts. The end result is a current count of 2 million students labeled as having a learning disability. The percent increase of 21.5% in 1977 too 40.9% by 1983 suggests more students need special education services and these services need federal additional funding. Few of these educationally handicapped children ever make it back into mainstream education.

Contrarian's evidence builds up. Any contradictory evidence is viewed with skepticism and rejection, but gradually contrary evidence builds until such time it cannot be rejected. Teachers teach from their lesson plans. Lesson plan educational training ignores the multiple intelligence of the student. The huge number of "Home-Schooler's" and their movement suggests evidence that learning intelligence models have become an issue. The problem is not the system structure: public verse charter/private nor public verses home-school, but in the ignorance about learning intelligence.

Can the system really have so many learning disabled students? A new learning model must emerge. Many parents feel they need to motivate their children to learn. Perhaps learning starts by determine the type or combination of intelligence types, your child exhibits: linguistic learn best by saying, hearing, and seeing words; logical learn best by forming concepts and looking for abstract patterns and relationships; spatial learn through images, pictures, and color; kinesthetic learn by touching, manipulation, and movement; musical learn through rhythm and melody; interpersonal learn best by relating and cooperating; intrapersonal learn best when left too them selves. Learning how to get your c

Lest make things clear form the start, I am from a beautifully country (Chile) that have over 90% of students in voucher schools, some private, some municipal, the proportion in Municipal schools is going down year to year, parents are moving to private-held schools, and municipal students numbers goes down, from overt 75% some years ago to below 50% now, and continues to shrink. It looks like that parents, if they have the possibility; they move to better-performing schools.

The simple power behind the general success of U.S. is the ability (and liberty) of persons to walk-out and obtain the service elsewhere, it puzzled me that a so simple, and sensible, idea has a significant part of the educators against it. When people spoke of liberty, in general, is fine, when people spoke of liberty to choose school is bad.

This is why I bought this book; I like to understand the position of anti-vouchers, maybe I got convinced, but I don't, the book is a compelling list of thinks going bad in municipal school today, and shows a supposed path to improve things, by developing an action plan to have better municipal schools, the tool to convince of the necessity of change is fear, fear that if they don't improve the vouchers are coming!

The book is a starling list of things that make for underperforming municipal schools, from School boards managed by conflicting interest groups, to curricula reform (that that author suggests is not working)and a hope that this time they have a working plan to improve municipal schools, the necessity of making system changes, but the author also recognizes than this are the kind of changes more difficult to obtain. The chapter "Changing the system" start with along list of difficulties to change, including to assess than "Structural changes that is not supported by cultural changes will eventually overwhelmed by the culture" after such strong expression one a the right to think that Mr. Schlechty is on a vain trail, as cultural changes are the most difficult to do.

Well, they have plenty of time to try this path or another or another, in the mean time they will keep children chained to his local municipal school, simply, by negating the possibility that they move with is tax money elsewhere.

Inventing Better Schools provides a rare opportunity for school administrators to to 'look over the shoulder' of a successful practitioner of educational reform.

Schlechty (pronounced Schlek-ty) predicates the teaching program on the belief that it is the teachers' jobs to actually ENGAGE students in meaningful learning. A radical idea!

He states: "Viewing students as a customer places the the school in the position of accepting the proposition that the school's obligation is to invent work sufficiently attractive that the students engarge in it voluntarily. (Coercion may gain compliance, but it does not produce engagement and commitment.

It is the obligation of the school and the teacher to invent work that attracts the attention and compels the energy of students, for it is in inventing products that customers will buy that a customer- focused business creates the conditions of its own survival."

Across the world the public school system is under threat and Phil Schlechty provides the most practical scenario for its survival that I have read.

** We are starting a school administrators' reading group/ discussion forum in our district and this text is our starting point. Over 30 principals nominated to be in this program in two days.

First and foremost this book is so well organized it made it a pleasure to read. Schlechty clearly outlines and summarizes all 12 chapters in the Preface. Don't miss it! This book is not a light topic ~ so focusing the reader where the author was headed was greatly appreciated.

Schlechty claims that American public schools are in urgent need for dramatic improvement or they take the risk of becoming extinct. And the key to improving the schools is the quality of the work students are provided. Students need to be engaged in their learning and their work should reflect relevance to their needs to become socially and academically prepared for the next century. He says all students are entitled to a high quality of education. I couldn't agree more!

Here are two other aspects that I found powerful about this book (besides the organization style). 1) Schlechty clearly states what he perceives the problem is with American public schools and how he came to that conclusion and 2) he then provides the reader with an aggressive cookbook style solution to the problem (the action plan).

The author lives up to the title, Inventing Better Schools An Action Plan for Educational Reform.

I recommend this book to anyone who cares about our children's future: parents, students, educators, administrators, community leaders, superintendents, business leaders, etc. because it takes ALL of US to make the changes needed to Invent Better Schools and this book is a great starting point.

Inventing Better Schools, An Action Plan for Educational Reform, by Phillip C. Schlechty, is a must read for those interested in educational reform in the public schools including teachers, administrators, schools boards, and local educational leaders. Any district wishing to make systemic changes may wish to use this book to provide a common starting point for reform dialogue.

Schlechty presents his case as to the urgent need for public school reform and challenges educators to redefine what their role is in providing quality education for students. His two basic tenants for the urgent need for reform is the fear that public education could be lost to a voucher system and the increased need for people to have adaptive skills to be successful in an information based society.

The starting point for educational reform is the basic mission of schooling. Schlechty states, "The aim of schooling is an educated citizenry, but the core business of schooling is engaging students in work that results in their learning what they need to learn to be viewed as well educated in American society (page 31)." In his philosophy, if schools are looked at as a business, students are the primary customers.

Inventing Better Schools emphasizes that reform efforts in the past fail because the changes are not embodied by the whole organization and the culture that surrounds the schools. All stakeholders need to be involved in the reform process. To enable systemic change, four key questions need to be answered before by educational leaders:
1. Why is change needed?
2. What kind of change is needed and what will it mean for us when the change comes about?
3. Is what we are being asked to do really possible? Has it been done before? By whom? Can we see it in practice?
4. How do we do it? What skills do we need and how will they be developed (page 208)?
In the appendix, two districts provide examples of what goals and action plans they have by answering key questions like the ones above.

Take the time to read Inventing Better Schools, An Action Plan for Educational Reform before spending enormous amounts of energy on efforts that may only have limited lasting impact on education. Schlechty sums up his mission when he writes, "...great leaders are needed if real change is to occur. My hope is that this book will find such leaders and that they will find this book useful (page 185)."

Few authors have been able to write a more practical and informative guide to reforming the American educational system than Phillip Schlecthy. He explains both the postive and negative aspects of education today and provides strategies for redesigning schools to become focused on producing high quality, engaging work for students. Thought-provoking questions are included as tools to help districts transform as well as cases studies which exemplify effective educational reform. Inventing Better Schools is revolutionary, thorough and bound to make an impact on anyone who is serious about revitalizing American schools

This novel integrates several different tools, each individually useful in understanding personality, into a powerful way to evaluate and grow a corporate culture. The organization that I am involved with is currently using the tools described in this novel to great results.

Island of Excellence is an insightful book that explains corporate culture in a truly insightful way. Mark Bodnarczuk breaks the mold of corporate literature with this unique novel. While Island of Excellence succinctly explains corporate culture and ways to tap into its creative power, it also speaks to the individual. It has helped me greatly in my personal, as well as professional life. The lessons I've learned have helped me form a new understanding about my relationships at work along with a better understanding of how I fit into the culture of my workplace. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand corporate culture and thrive in their workplace.

Island Of Excellence: 3 Powerful Strategies For Building Creative Organizations is a must read for any business executive or manager looking to gain a competitive edge to drive their organization to higher levels of performance. The author, Mark Bodnarczuk, combines the solitude of scuba diving the spectacular reefs of Papua New Guinea to explore the corporate and personal lives of nine characters attending a life altering dive workshop. This "Teaching Novel" has provided me insight on how to set free the creative thinking within our organization and allow individuals to find meaning and significance in their work. An eye-opening book that I highly recommend!

Using Fictional Characters relating to Jungian and Enneagram models, Mark Bodnarczuk, takes the reader on a journey exploring the inner self. In a unique approach to the "Corporate Book" Mark invites the reader to identify with one of the characters and discover their own internal conflicts that prevent them from fully experiencing their potential for excellence and success. Mark's book takes us a step beyond just identifying leadership traits and obstacles, to recognizing, understanding, and overcoming those obstacles to unleash our full potential. I am on my third read of Mark's book and discover new insights each time. His principles have helped me achieve greater success not only as a CEO, but also in my personal life.

This book was one of the best books I've read in recent memory. The writer, Mark Bodnarczuk, uniquely used fictional characters to make a very complex subject enjoyable to read and easy to retain. His insights into how personalities affect work performance and teamwork were especially helpful. I've applied his principles in my organization and found them to improve teammwork, employee morale and organizational productivity. I would recommend this book to anyone who desires an understanding of human personalities, how people's personalities impact teamwork and how understanding personalities improves business performance.