Resources Books

Life at the human resources salt mines has been transformed since reading Richard Whiteley's excellent motivational guide. He found new zest and enthusiasm in his career and so did I and his personal testimony is genuinely moving. "Watching the contestants actually getting excited being on my show used to give me a kick, but it soon palled. Slopping up this pre-primetime pap day-in-day-out was quite frankly doing my nut in and, though it may not have seemed that way, my ability to engage in on-screen anodyne banter was affected. I was in a rut. Career worries spilled out into my private life, and I wince when I think of all the drunken I-could-have-been-a-contender speeches I made to all those anonymous barflies. I'll be honest with you - I wanted Call My Bluff, and yes, I did once say that I wanted Robertson whacked." But Whiteley pulled himself back and the rest is history.

"Love the Work You're With" is about what you can do to improve your current work situation...no matter who you are or what your job is. It makes a strong case that virtually anyone who works can find more fulfillment in their current job situation than they are currently experiencing. The message isn't about not changing jobs. Rather it is about auditing your situation and finding out what you can do to improve it before you take such a step. The book has self-assessment diagnostics to help the reader determine where he/she stands on vital issues and also offers many exercises that support him/her in creating a strategy for change. The last chapter is specifically written for managers and leaders to help them create the kind of work environment the will help people who work for them to love their work.

Your job can be a prison or a palace. For most of us, work probably falls somewhere in between, but we usually don't acknowledge - or even realize - how much control we have in the matter. If you've ever wondered what you can do to improve the satisfaction and pleasure you get from work - without making a wrenching career change - this book is a wonderful place to start. I read a lot of self-help books (and occasionally even write them). This one is chock full of practical wisdom. Buy it.

The dot-gone economy has taught millions that changing jobs is not the solution to success in work or life. Love The Work Your're With provides a road-map and tools to find personal and professional fulfillment at work. Each of the six steps in Whiteley's approach provide specific assessments, tools, and strategies to increase your level of engagement and energy at work. This book is highly readable, entertaining, inspiring, and filled with great examples. It is a must have self-help tool-kit for workers in today's complex work world. As a professional coach, I find this book to be essential for both my clients and their managers. If you've ever struggled with committment at work, read this book!

An excellent addition to my growing Richard Whiteley collection, this book does not disappoint! I have used Mr. Whiteley?s strategies/thinking from his previous works to effectively shape my company?s customer experience model. While the principles in this new book have certainly helped me personally become more motivated/productive, I have begun to use the principles in LTWYW to shape a more positive internal employee culture, thus extending our productivity and enhancing our customer service experience. An excellent book with a clear purpose and applicability!

I teach courses on software metrics and do some research on software-related measurement. As Austin points out in his book, many of the well-known advocates of metrics in the software community are blind to the issues that he raises, or they dismiss the issues as social science hooey that won't affect serious engineering. They are so, so wrong. This is a useful, readable book, that teaches hard lessons.

This is an excellent book on performance measurement. Very short, simple and easy to follow. The concept of critical dimensions and its effect on dysfunctional measurement it's well worth the read. By the way, one may also want to check the famous paper "On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B" by Steven Kerr.

Managing engineers is very challenging; measuring their performance is even harder. This book offers a fantastic review of leading research on the subject and establishes a strong case for delegatory techniques. It's a quick read but much more academically rigorous than similar management guides.

This book is filled with both humorous and chilling examples of measurement dysfunction that make the sometimes academic approach quite palatable. Dr. Austin identifies three different types of performance measurement based on the intent of the measurement - measurement for motivation, process improvement, or process coordination. It is measurement for motivation that causes the dysfunction that this book so convincingly describes.

For example, if we record the fact that 10 widgets are produced on machine A and we are comparing this against the 10 widget benchmark for bonuses, it is very likely that other perspectives like quality will suffer in the drive to make the 10 widget goal. Austin makes the point that the discovery that every time our overall performance is excellent we have produced 10 widgets does not imply that producing 10 widgets will guarantee excellent overall performance.

If we record the fact that 10 widgets are produced on machine A while only eight widgets are produced in the same time using competing technology on machine B, this is measurement for process improvement and can be very useful - provided it is limited in scope and used purely for the stated purpose.

If we record the fact that 10 widgets are produced on machine A and convey this information to the widget packaging department to ensure that enough widget cases are ready, this is measurement for process coordination, and is also potentially useful on its own.

The idea that the intent or goal of the measurement is of paramount importance is one important lesson from this book.

Austin does make some recommendations about developing effective performance measurement systems.

Understanding the costs involved with "perfect" measurements is part of the solution. Substituting a cheaper approximation for a key measurement is bound to cause problems - witness the measurement of nitrogen instead of protein in wheat gluten used in pet food. The incorrect justification for cheaper approaches is a thread surfaces in other areas - reusing financial figures as a proxy for management accounting leads to flawed descision-making emphasizing short term financial gain - reuse of software components leads to products that are hard to use.

One effective technique is using the end customer as the ultimate judge of quality and performance - the kind of approach described 10 years later in Fred Reichheld's The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth

A principal of a company once told me that the primary job of a manager is to get the employee to do what the manager wants him to do. From there to effective management in real life comes a lot of confusion.

Robert Austin sorts it all out with a suprisingly simple model, and a strong does of honesty. Managers and workers -- participants in the serious game of work in organzations -- put aside illusions and read this book. And anyone who thought they were helping by designing a measurement program, pay attention too.

Measurement and management can work, but only if you know what you're doing.

Excellent information on the history of gemstones, understanding color and cuts. Exquisite examples, beautifully photographed. A must for anyone interested in gemstones or the history of jewelry.

This is a beautiful book with lots of interesting information on the gem collection.

This review is for the paperback version of the book, which I loved. It has a lovely balance of terrific photos & explanations of the various sources of the featured gems. It serves as a nice beginning reference when you have heard the terms sapphire & red sapphire (huh? I thought red gems were rubys or spinels) and would like to know more about which gems are related to others.

And did I say the photos are just wonderful? Enjoy!

If you have visited the National Collection and want a souvenir to remind you of the stunning array of unique World Class Gems then this is the book for you. Both the format of the book and the superlative quality of the photography make this book the next best thing to being in the exhibition hall. There is a fairly light weight coverage of the gemmology in the text, but it mostly focusses on the history and ownership of these fabulous gems. The National Collection is unique, no where else in the world is there such a concentration of fabulous jewels with such an interesting history, with the possible exception of the British Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. This book is a fitting celebration of such a marvellous collection.

"The National Gem Collection," by Jeffrey E. Post, features photographs by Chip Clark. The book is a beautiful celebration of the title collection, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution. The informative text discusses the history of the collection, facts about types of different gemstones, and specific pieces in the collection.

The full-color photography is really stunning, and brings a rich assortment of gems to glorious life. Some of the historic pieces pictured are the blue Hope Diamond, the diamond Napoleon Necklace, the Hooker Emerald, and more. Also shown are a colorful collection of "fancy" diamonds, a rare red diamond, the 858-carat uncut Gachala Emerald, the delightful "pink tutu" (a band of dainty rose quartz crystals on a large smoky quartz crystal), a dazzling group of fire opals, a lapis lazuli carving from Afghanistan, and more.

I appreciate how the book celebrates gemstones at various stages: uncut, cut, and set in artfully crafted pieces of jewelry. Many different types of gemstones--aquamarine, garnet, spinel, chrysoberyl, turquoise, etc.--are covered. Features such as a scanning electron microscope photo of the inner structure of an opal give the reader a deeper understanding of the science behind gems. From start to finish, this book is a marvelous feast for both the eyes and the brain.

With this book, Marquardt has created the most exciting and practical model for executive development I have ever seen. Warren Bennis recently asked, poignantly, "Is there a future for leadership?" Marquardt is leading all management educators into the future of leadership. As director of an executive Master's program at American University, I am astonished at how powerful Marquardt's model is for developing "leaderly learners," in the magical phrase coined by Peter Vaill. Action learning is perfect for leaders who want to learn and learners who want to lead. Marquardt's chapter on the role of "action learning coach" is, by itself, worth a shelf of books of leadership. My executive participants are raving about how action learning has transformed their individual mindsets, allowing them to surface take-for-granted assumptions, as well as helped them begin to transform the culture or collective mindsets of their organizations.

Michael J. Marquardt has developed a problem-solving tool. His process, which can be adapted by organizations of any size not only provides solutions but also builds leaders and teams.

Marquardt, a professor of HRD and Program Direction of Overseas Programs at The George Washington University, is an expert in action learning. His process has six components.

1. A problem - It must be significant and urgent.
2. A group - The ideal group has between 4 and 8 diverse members.
3. Questions - Initially, team members are restricted to questions. This reflective inquiry period develops a thorough understanding of the problem.
4. Action - The group is authorized to implement their solution.
5. Learning - A commitment to the process is as important as the solution.
6. A coach - Someone is needed to keep the group focused.

A key step is "action." Learning is meaningful only if some type of action is taken. Action generally involves four steps:

1. Understand and Redefine the Problem. This is often the most important step.
2. Articulate a Goal.
3. Develop and Test Strategies.
4. Take Action and Reflect on the Results.

Marquardt includes a 12 step plan to introduce action learning to your organization. Properly implemented, it will accomplish three goals for your organization:

1. It will provide solutions to problems.
2. Develop leaders.
3. Build a problem-solving culture.

Optimizing The Power Of Action Learning: Solving Problems And Building Leaders In Real Time by educator and consultant Michael J. Marquardt (Professor of HRD and Program Director of Overseas Programs, The George Washington University), is a "user friendly" guidebook to an effective learning technique for facing increasingly intimidating and complex organizational challenges, especially with regard to global business concerns. Impressing the power of "action learning" to respond to the need to create new products, improve service quality, and transform organizational cultures, Optimizing The Power Of Action Learning is a confidently recommended success guide complete with a well-thought-out process for introducing and sustaining action learning among groups to the reader's particular and maximum advantage.

It is desirable but not imperative to have read Michael Marquardt's earlier work, Action Learning in Action, before reading this one. He defines action learning as "both a process and a powerful program that involves a small group of people solving real problems while at the same time focusing on what they are learning and how their learning can benefit each group member and the organization as a whole." The benefits of action learning include shared learning through all levels and areas of an organization, greater self-awareness and self-confidence for all involved because of their new insights and feedback interaction, improvement of their ability to ask better questions and to be more reflective, and improved communication and collaboration enterprise-wide.

How do task forces and quality circles differ from action learning groups? First, [they] tend to focus on the specific problem of task to be addressed rather than on identifying the organization wide, environmental, systemic elements in which the problem resides, and which also be affected if lasting change is to take place...Second, [task forces and quality circles] generally do not have the power or the expectation of taking action...Third [they] are charged with addressing a problem or improving a product or procedure; any learning that occurs is incidental." Marquardt suggests that action learning programs are built around six interactive components: a problem, the group, the questioning and reflection process, the commitment to taking action, the commitment to learning, and the facilitator. It is important to add, a "commitment to action" includes both identifying a given problem's causes and correcting it, and, then ensuring that the problem does occur again.

In this volume, Marquardt develops in much greater depth many of the core concepts introduced in his earlier book, Action Learning in Action, but focuses much greater attention on how to solve problems and build leaders in real time with next-generation tools and techniques to make action learning successful each and every time, in any organization. Those who have not read his earlier book will appreciate his review of the six critical components: the problem; group diversity (e.g. cross-functional teams); action strategies; individual, team, and organizational learning; the all-important involvement of a well-trained action learning coach; and step-by-step procedures for introducing, implementing, and sustaining action learning. In turn, many of those who have read the earlier book will also appreciate his review of the six critical components, both as a reminder and as a framework within which Marquardt refines his core concepts as well as introducing entirely new material such as the 20 best-practice examples of action learning in action. He also inserts a number of reader-friendly devices such as eight Tables and dozens of checklists which summarize key points in each of the eight chapters. These devices facilitate and accelerate review later, whenever needed to clarify the nature and extent of a reader's own specific problem or opportunity.

Of greatest interest to me is what Marquardt has to say about how to prepare for and then introduce, implement, and then sustain an effective action learning program. He suggests and then carefully explains each of twelve steps (which are listed in Table 7 on page 162) which comprise a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective process which - with appropriate modifications, of course - can guide and inform initiatives undertaken by almost any organization, whatever its size or nature may be. Marquardt's extensive real-world experience with all manner of organizations probably explains why his approach is so pragmatic. He well realizes the barriers to be overcome, hence the importance of the various checklists he provides such as those for top management support, what should be addressed during a preparations assessment workshop, the selection of action learning projects, and measuring the impact of action learning initiatives in the given organization.

Those who share my high regard for this brilliant book are urged to check out Marquardt's subsequent work, Leading with Questions, in which he explains in even greater depth how leaders find the right solutions by knowing which questions to ask. He insists, and I wholly agree, that effective leadership of action learning programs must be provided at all levels and in all areas of operation but that such programs cannot succeed without the full support and sustained commitment of senior-management.

People with an intense interest in knowing all the details of action learning will find the answer to their prayers in this book. Author Michael J. Marquardt writes with the zeal of a revival tent preacher, filled with the sincere belief that action learning can help solve any problem, meet any challenge or achieve any aspiration. As he clearly explains, action learning is intended to build both knowledge and leadership. He sets out the steps your organization should pursue to implement action learning, and to use it well. He includes questions, checklists and extensive examples. All he omits are any caveats or cautions about this approach. He's a booster and an expert, just so you know where he's coming from. We recommend his manual to human resource professionals.

The Payroll Source is the best payroll book available in the market today. I use it for reference material almost every day. Practically every payroll issue is covered and if you need to see the IRS regs involved, just look at the bottom of the page. What could be more efficient? Try it. You will be thrilled. How did you ever live without it?

I wouldn't have it out of arms reach at my desk! I use it every day and would be lost without it.

This book has been my life blood as a payroll professional. It explains complicated regulations which are often incomprehensible when viewed as code and states them in a concise and useful manner.

Michael O'Toole's book has saved my day on many days!!!

This is THE book to have if you are at all involved with payroll. It is a comprehensive resource and provides information in an easy to read and understand format. It goes well beyond the basics of paying employees and handling taxes by including information on recordkeeping, accounting, technology and management. A truly complete reference that I reach for again and again!

I wouldn't have it out of arms reach at my desk! I use it every day and would be lost without it.

This book does a great job capturing how depression really does feel and effect a family. I've gone through depression myself, and I've never been able to find the words to express how it feels or how it effects anyone, but the author seems to be able to do a good job of doing so. I don't think you can ever know how it feels or what it's like until you go through it yourself, but if you read this book, you can possibly start to see it through a sufferer's eyes.

Thank you so much for sending me the book you wrote about your family's journey through depression. It was a wonderful book, and one that I believe can help many. I think it gives parents a real tool for understanding and moving through a child's experience with depression.

I believe that your son Tom does give one of the best descriptions of depression I have ever heard - 'It is like being beaten from the inside'. Your additional description of that does it justice: `Take a moment and let that sink in. Recall a picture you've seen of a person who has been severely beaten. Sometimes the bruising and swelling are so bad that the victim's features are grotesquely contorted. The bruises, cuts, and scrapes on the outside scream the agony the beaten soul must suffer from deep within. Every bone in their body aches, every muscle throbs. Maybe it even hurts to be touched.'

That is how it is. The pain of depression hurts so bad, so much on the inside, you become numb and the person you are becomes distorted. And then you do whatever they can to actually feel something to get rid of it (including drinking, self-mutilation, drugs, eating disorders, sex, and more). It gives a temporary high to an endless despair.

I encourage parents to read this book, as not only do you provide insight and ideas on how to work with children that are dealing with depression, it gives validation.

I commend you on providing a very useful tool that can help so many.

In A Relentless Hope: Surviving the Storm of Teen Depression, Gary Nelson offers to teens and their parents what he has learned from walking closely with his son through prolonged depression, and from counseling many struggling teens and their families. His book testifies that God is at work in our world, offering hope and new possibilities that can transcend even life-threatening mental illness. One of this book's strengths is its warm and empathetic approach to suffering teens and their parents. Recognizing how much stress the illness of one of its members places on the whole family, he cautions parents against turning frustration with the illness into anger toward the teen. He encourages parents above all to "just keep loving them."

Nelson's accessible theological reflection is another of the book's strong contributions. He argues that teens need both "a theology that works in the midst of the suffering" and "the opportunity for God to be present through our patient presence."

I wish that as a teen with depression I had had someone like Gary Nelson to lean on and offer hope, to help me understand what was happening to me and encourage me to extend myself some grace. I especially commend A Relentless Hope to parents and other adults who love someone with depression. While some teens may find the hope Nelson writes about through reading his book themselves, most teens with depression will benefit from companions who embody the acceptance and encouragement that Nelson fosters.

Teenagers are teenagers, aren't they? They are moody. They are always tired. They transform from happy well adjusted young adults to angry and lippy menaces in two seconds.

Not so, says the author of A Relentless Hope. He's seen a good number of these stereotypical teens in the families that he councils. He's also experienced it first hand with his own son.

To the outside world, the author's son Tom was the kid everyone wanted to have. He was a good student, an athlete, popular, polite, and just an all round nice guy. No one knew that Tom had to fight each morning to just get out of bed. That is, until his grades started slipping and his school absences began to outnumber his attendance days.

The culprit was clinical depression. Unfortunately, it's something that is all too common with teenagers. The really scary part is that what most of us take for granted as "just being a teenager" is actually the manifestation of this disease. So instead of getting the help they need, many teens turn to alcohol and drugs to self medicate.

A Relentless Hope is a thin, very readable book that takes on the issue of teen depression.

Gary Nelson makes a convincing argument that depression is the leading killer of teens. The challenge with addressing depression is that is shows up differently in each person it attacks. Nelson takes some time just to talk about what depression is, and the various faces that it wears. He makes the very important point that depression is a disease and not a weakness in the individual, and points out that depression often runs in families.

The book is also the story of Nelson's son's journey through depression. The author talks honestly about his fears and feeling of helplessness. As a counselor he learned that his own experience gave him added credibility to people who are sharing his struggles. The book is filled with vignettes from Tom's (Gary's son) and others' lives. The chapters are short enough to be read in a sitting, and are filled with small, concrete things that the reader can try in their own situation.

While the book is explicitly Christian in outlook (Gary Nelson was a pastor before becoming a counselor, it speaks to people of other faiths as well. He talks about how children learn their faith, and the importance of spirituality in the life of a depressed teen. The observations are about how the community can support the teen and their family in their journey. He also directs some specific comments to the Christian community that sadly sees depression as the result of lack of faith in God.

The title of this book says it all. A Relentless Hope brings hope to people who are experiencing the hardest, darkest time of their lives. It gives hope to the parents and the teens that life is possible, even in the worst depression. I will keep this book on my shelf and loan out whenever possible.

Armchair Interviews says: Important look at a challenge too many face.

I found Michael's gentle loving words very nurturing. Reading "Ritual as Resource" brought me back to peaceful basics.It reminded me to go for the simplicity of life,uncomplicated and easy. Coming from love, first for myself, and then others. The rituals and practices Michael guides you through are simple and very healing.I continue ro re-read and practice them and discover new insights every time. Michael's openess and shared personal growth are very inspirational. I am grateful for the positive energies I receive. Thank you, Michael.

Picucci's book offers a large reserve of resources for the reader's taking. The blend of theoretical, personal, and practical creates opportunities for seeing our lives through a clearer lens. The discussion of positive resource energy offers exciting possibilities: to feel more comfortable in one's own skin, a sense of terra firma, safety, of feeling at home, settled, and at one with the universe.
Picucci's work connects the collective consciousness of both old and new generations through the powerful practice of ritual. Performing rituals is the bridge that connects us all, helping us to navigate the transitions of life more smoothly. With conscious intention, we need to name the rituals we already practice, add more to the menu, and hold them in high esteem. Read this work to find inner cauldrons boiling over with positive resource energy, and creative suggestions for structure to contain that energy through the vessel of ritual. Dr. Tom Kane (Philadelphia)

The traditional institutional rituals that have served throughout history, do not address the newly evolved personal needs of many of us in the 21st century. In "Ritual As Resource", Dr. Picucci has re-created ritual as a dynamic personal resource to energize and transform our daily life. He teaches us the techniques for body and mind that we can use to achieve tranquil feelings of aliveness and ecstatic self-transcendence. The exercises in this are used to bring strength and resilience to our living.

Ritual as Resource is part psychology theory, part autobiography, part spiritual guidebook, and wholly a resource for having energy to deal with contemporary life. The initial chapters set out the framework for using ritual to connect with our own energies. The writing is accessible and comfortable, if sometimes less than graceful. The book would be worth it just for the understanding it provides of the felt senses and how working with them helps us connect with our own energies--a real resource for vibrant living. There are many examples of rituals that we can use in our daily lives; most are straightforward ways of transforming situations at work, at play, and in our relationships. For me, it was the inspiration and concept of working with ritual in this way that was most exciting. Picucci's autobiographical revelations--he is a very dynamic survivor of cancer, a heart attack and AIDS, as well as more mundane threats such as total career transition--illustrate just how valuable this kind of energetic resource can be.

Because I can see the value of what the book has to offer, not just to those with a spiritual orientation but to others, I would have liked a presentation that assumed less about what the reader would accept with minimal evidence. However, I would encourage open-minded readers to explore its pages. Picucci has provided enough gifts that most readers will find plenty to gather.

Michael Picucci's Ritual as Resource is a worthy successor to his landmark, award-winning volume: The Journey Toward Complete Recovery. In this new book, Dr. Picucci introduces the reader to core themes from the "energetics" field and then blends them with "authentic process", a community-based approach to growth and recovery outlined in his previous work. One key theme in this book is the presence of the opposing energies in our lives; sometimes we experience them as stress, inter-personal conflict, or trauma. With the conscious use of ritual, we can learn to accept and even thrive on these opposing energies. Readers encountering the "energetics" field for the first time may find these ideas somewhat challenging. But the reader is well-rewarded as the themes come together in an uplifting message about how to live an emotionally healthy life in modern society.

The true richness of the book comes through most clearly in the author's discussion of how to create your own "rituals" for healing, health and personal power. Rituals are consciously crafted sets of actions incorporated directly into one's daily life - from the delightfully simple "shower and health" rituals to deeply moving rituals to cope with life threatening illness and death. Dr. Picucci shares his own life experiences in an intensely personal way, helping the reader understand how energy and resources can help a person face virtually any life challenge. Using this book as a guide, I have created my own rituals that now are essential and deeply satisfying parts of my daily life. Readers will find this book a wonderful source for creating their own rituals, to make their own lives richer and more spiritually fulfilling.

Salmon Without Rivers is a great book of historical facts. It includes many issues like; original salmon locations/populations, "Economy over Environment" issues, and the ineffectiveness of large decision making commissions/agencies. However, with all his good background information the book does not propose any solutions nor investigates today's coastal human communities as they relate to the salmon and/or habitat.

This is a must read book for anyone interested in salmon, rivers and the ecology and history of the Pacific Northwest. Excellent information and a good read.

This is an excellent book that documents the history of salmon, how native Americans viewed them and how modern Americans view them. It focuses on why the pacific northwest is facing a salmon crisis, and our failed attempts to replace what we have lost. Great read for anyone who is concerned about environmental issues.

A thoroughly researched and impassioned presentation including the history of salmon, their decline, why billions of tax dollars in restoration efforts have had paltry returns, and insights into the where we should go from here. A complex issue is examined from many perspectives in an easy to read and compelling book. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in salmon.

As a freelance author writing a piece about salmon for a California-based magazine, this book was indispensible and eye-opening. It is unfailingly sensitive and intelligent about salmon, discussing the fish as fellow creatures in the "natural economy" in which we all live, rather than as mere commodities in the "industrial economy" that has transformed the West in the last 150 years. It is fascinating about the geology that shaped the salmon's environment, the evolutionary history of the fish, the relationship between Native Americans and salmon in the Northwest, and it provides a detailed history of the many factors that have led to the salmon's decline, including habitat destruction, misbegotten hatchery programs, overfishing, dams, mining, grazing, irrigation. If you like to read books about ecology, the creatures of the earth, fish, or the Northwest--you can't go wrong. This is a wonderful book.

I love this book. Tells Santa's favorite story of Christmas which is about the birth of Christ. Santa is sad and tired because everyone has forgotten what the true meaning of Christmas is. I got it in hardback so it would last.

A wonderful children's story to bring the true meaning of Christmas to a child from Santa's perspective

This is a great book that helps keep the meaning of Christmas focused on Jesus, while kids can still experience the tradition of Santa Claus. Basically, Santa explains that Jesus is the real reason for celebrating Christmas.

"No, no, no," said Santa in a kindly voice, "Christmas hasn't got anything to do with me. Sit down and I'll tell you all the story of the first Christmas."

"Santa's Favorite Story" is an attractively illustrated (with watercolors) picture book for children, which helps to de-emphasize Santa's role in Christmas, and helps to place the focus where it should belong. I'm sure the real Saint Nicholas would agree that it's part of his favorite story as well! (For more on the real St. Nicholas, take a look at "The Saint Nicholas Secret," by Dennis E. Engleman, available here at Amazon.com.)

As an Early Childhood Educator, I read many books to children and value quality literature. This story is by far the best book to read to children during the holidays. The connection to Jesus is wonderful. It has become the traditional Christmas story at my school and at home. DON'T LET IT EVER GO OUT OF PRINT.

The book begins with a foreword titled: "It's not supposed to be this way." The authors outline the problems and issues that many people have with performance appraisals. Then they make two key points. Here's the first one.

"Rather than a painful yearly event, performance appraisals can be viewed as a discussion, a culmination of small meetings held throughout the evaluation period."

In other words, performance review grows out of supervision. The rest of the book assumes that those "discussions" are going on. They're necessary to the process, but they're not the subject of the book.

The authors also make the point that: "In one form or other, performance reviews will continue to be a fact of our work life. This book is designed to cut through the anxiety and make the process, or series of discussions, more pleasant and productive."

Even though there are some people calling for the abolition of performance reviews as we know them, that's not likely to happen on a large scale any time soon. If the place that you work has a formal performance appraisal process now, you can count on having to deal with it for years to come.

I assume that if you're considering purchasing this book you will either be looking for ways to make your company's performance review system better or you will be looking for ways to make the process of actually doing performance reviews with your subordinates less daunting. For that reason, I'll split my analysis and recommendations into two parts.

Designing the Performance Review System

If you are responsible for designing or re-designing the performance review system in your organization, this is a book you should read. The research that's referred to matches up well with research I've done and read. The authors do a good job of presenting it and drawing conclusions.

They're also thorough. There's discussion of the current state of performance reviews, supervisor-employee relationships, scorecards, compensation, and much more.

Working Managers

If you are a working manager who has to do appraisals within your organization's system you will find some helpful material here, too. There's good discussion of how appraisals go off track. The authors cover different kinds of rating errors. And, there's material on actually conducting the appraisal.

But this part of the book is not as strong as the part about designing formal appraisal systems. There's not much depth or reach to the material on face-to-face discussion of behavior and performance issues.

That's because those are peripheral issues for the authors in this book. If you want more on face to face discussion, read my book, Performance Talk: the one-on-one part of leadership, which deals specifically with that aspect of supervision.

That's a quibble, though. Stress-Free Performance Appraisals is a solid, well-researched and well-written book that can help you improve the performance review process in your company.

Everyone, it seems, hates performance appraisals. Some corporate cultures compel managers to "grade on the curve," which means that even good employees may have to fail. Even in less draconian corporate cultures, performance appraisals require supervisors to tell people about their shortcomings, an uncomfortable exercise for both the appraiser and the appraised. Meanwhile, lurking in the not-too-distant background is the threat of litigation instigated by an employee whose appraiser lets slip an awkward reference to race, sex, age or some other legally proscribed subject. This book tells you how to avoid the stress and anxiety of appraisals by focusing on a few basics. Authors Sharon Armstrong and Madelyn Appelbaum provide valuable counsel - albeit not terribly well organized - for people on both sides of the desk, both the supervisor and the employee. We recommend the authors' useful potpourri of advice, role playing exercises, case histories, evaluation forms and observations about appraisals to everyone who participates in a performance appraisal system and certainly to anybody who runs one.

Sharon Armstrong is a known expert in the field of performance appraisals and human resources training and her latest book does a fantastic job of covering a critical issue for any manager. This is a must read for any manager or would-be manager - its well-written, easily readable, and has the capacity to improve any workplace. Strong reccommend!

This is a great resource for HR consultants and practioners who are creating innovative performance management systems for their organizations. It addresses the underlying issues that prevent organizations from successfully managing performance and delivering candid and constructive feedback. I highly recommend it to all of my clients.

As an experienced human resources professional, I have dreamed of the day when I could create a succesful performance appraisal program. And I had concluded that there was absolutely no way to please everyone. Cheer up -- Stress-free Performance Appraisals offers a fresh perspective to this tired, worn topic.

The text is, surprisingly, useful for human resources professionals, managers, and employees. It is visually attractive and chocked full of valuable questions, extensive documentation, great examples from well-regarded organizations, and ideas to cover a variety of cultures and performance appraisal philosophies. As examples of their recommendations, the authors weave -- chapter-by-chapter -- the scenarios of three fictional employees with varying performance levels. The book is an easy read in about three hours.