Performance Books

This book gets five stars because it includes practical information I was able to implement. I hate books on theory that don't give you a sense of how to put that theory into action. We've been able to incorporate these ideas to create a process of our own.

It was well organized, easy to read!, and I loved that the author lets his personality peek through. I actually laughed out loud a couple times and you can't often say that about business books.

Finally I have found a book that makes the complicated simple. Employee benefits and all of its components are both extremely important and overwhelming! Mr. Sears, who obviously is a true expert in this field, walks though a process that while in-depth is still simple to follow and understand. When looking at employee benefits I think there are three objectives most companies are looking for:
1. Provide the best package possible while at
2. The best price available and
3. Save time and internal resources
The Benefits Performance Process provides the path to those objectives through real examples and with an enjoyable style. If you are involved with your companies' employee benefit program, then this book is a must!

Heard him speak at the ISCEBS Symposium...dynamic...got the book from him there. Sears argues that we should apply strategic planning principles to our employee benefits and that failure to do so is one of the reasons they don't work right. But, more than that, he goes on to tell HOW to go about fixing it. I particularly loved the workshop method he outlines. The process outlined here actually goes beyond just employee benefits. I hope he writes a book about planning for broader business issues.

For me, it is great that this isn't a textbook..I don't have time to read those and run a business. I found this to be a lively read. He makes his point and gets on to teaching how to do it.

Every Human Resources Manager, CEO and CFO needs to read "The Benefits Performance Process" and implement the plans outlined within it. Without doing so, they are simply throwing away money and valuable employees. Every company that offers benefits to its employees will want to be sure that they are doing the best that they can when it comes to providing a competitive package while getting their money's worth. Matthew Sears offers the plan to do just that. Whether your company employs 50 or 3,550, you can benefit from this book.

By "Maximizing the Performance of Your Employee Benefit Plan" you will be learning how to assemble a benefits team, analyze current plans and problems, develop concrete objectives and plan for your company's long-term success. Through self-analysis and workshop exercises your team will develop guidelines to follow. From there you will have a plan to follow that will see you through staff changes, acquisitions, and changing regulations. "The Benefits Performance Process" is a workshop to go; it is a plan to help you develop a plan that will eventually benefit your company and your employees.

Matthew T. Sears is an Executive Vice President of Athens Benefits Insurance Services and a Fellow of the International Society of Certified Employee Benefits Specialists. You couldn't ask for a more qualified guru in the benefits performance process. Yet his book is an easy to read, understand and implement guide to improving your benefits plans. Sears is straightforward and concise, while being upbeat and friendly in his text. You likely won't find another business guide like this one and why would you want to? When it comes to improving your current plans, this is the guide to follow.

Don't put off thinking about your benefits plan until the day before your renewal is due. Don't wait until the premiums are upped once again to do something about it. Don't fear the CFO telling you to cut costs by 30%. You can be prepared. If you're not, you may lose the loyal employees you have to another company who has followed "The Benefits Performance Process."

Review by Heather Froeschl of BookReview.com.

Sub-Title: Approaches and Technologies to Enhance Organizational Knowledge, Learning, and Performance

This book is the second edition or followup to the authors original book on E-Learning. It is perhaps the most complete analysis on the subject.

Education is in an interesting time. The basic structure of the ecucational system of a teacher and a group of students gathered around him dates from the time of the Greeks. Computer aided instruction where essentially a computer uses some of these same techniques to pass the knowledge of an expert on to students using a computer.

There are, a lot of little steps between the idea and the actuality. Of course there are the mechanics of how to do it. And there is the problem of finding the right teachers. [One military training course, set up by people who have 'been there, done that' teaches things like selecting a candy bar that won't melt in the desert (M&M's?) and how to armor a truck.] There's also playing on the skill that today's game playing kids have learned playing video games. What a way to teach someone how to drive a tank!

This is a book I'd recommend to anyone interested in or in charge of setting up a computer based training program. Dr. Rosenberg has 'been there, done that' in so far as e-learning is concerned.

Marc has taken the time to explain through examples what we need to know to make wise decisions about E-Learning. I walked away with ideas and guidelines I can use immediately.

I have been using this book for grad course at Roosevelt U. Most books used for the classroom are dry and outdated, but I found "Beyond E-learning" informative and innovative. I would highly recommend this book to all Learning and Development professionals. If this wasn't a very good book, I would take the time to write this blurb.

Once again, Marc Rosenberg shows us the way to really transform our organizations into efficient, effective knowledge-centered enterprises. He warns that e-Learning, like training in general, is often done the wrong way, for the wrong reasons. He busts myths right and left (the section on "the myths of e-Learning" alone is worth the purchase price!), and steadfastly refuses to be swept along by fads, technologies -- or even traditions of training.

What Rosenberg does is to lay out a vision of the Smart Enterprise, in which the focus is on performers rather than learners. He argues persuasively that technologies such as e-Learning, classroom learning, knowledge management, communications and collaboration technologies are best viewed not as individual technologies (or fads), but rather as complementary parts of a balanced strategy for performance improvement in enterprises which effectively translate data to knowledge to information to performance. Detailed chapters then discuss each of the key components of this strategy for performance improvement, including practical advice on how to implement them and where the pitfalls are. Examples and issue sidebars featuring luminaries in the field and corporate success stories add weight to the argument.

This is not just another "business book of the month" full of quick-fix half-truths. It is a mature, broad and comprehensive view of what it really takes to make any knowledge-intensive organization get what it needs to reach its goals. Senior line organization managers will find it essential; training managers will find it liberating and exhilerating -- or threatening. It's required reading for everyone responsible for making their enterprises smart.

A good book for high level description of the structure of Sybase System 11. When concerning details, there are many places the explanations are confusing. Pretty often two or more contradiction view of points appear in the same page. Considering the lack of good Sybase books, I would like to give this one a favorable recommendation, but don't expect too much.

This books gives an insight into sybase internals and how to get the best out of your server. The material on locking included in this book is one of the best I have seen so far.

I've got more than 30% improvement in my Server , After reading & use the concept which is describe in this book

Of all the Sybase books that I own (10+) this is the one I look at the most. It is theoretical and practical. Only bad thing I can say about the book is the printing and binding. It is almost 4" thick and wouldn't stay open flat on a bet. The paper is unusually thick and the diagrams look like something from the pre-TeX days that your kid put together with a screen print and Paint. Content is superb. It covers topics in depth that are not covered at all in equally priced books. Only two others come close: the Unleashed book (day to day how to) and the Sugiyama & Roy book (heavy on the theory, light on the real world)

The Complete Guide to Food for Sports Performance is the best sports nutrition resource I have come across. It covers a great variety of sports and is suitable for the recreational sportsperson to the professional athlete. It covers eveything anyone would want to know about sports nutrition and is set out in an easy-to-read manner. Every sports person or sports professional should have a copy of this book

It is hard to keep reading about what "the athlete" should eat. The athlete doesn't exist. But gymnasts and runners and swimmers and basketball players do, and they all have really different needs and interests. This book begins with a section on the principles of sports nutrition - from the science to the general practice. This part is good, and provides an up-to-date view of the latest ideas in eating for peak performance. This shouldn't be too surprising since the author is the head of nutrition at the Australian Institute of Sport. The language is easy to read and makes scientific principles comprehensible.

But it is the second half of this book that is unique and special. It takes a focussed look at various sports, providing a personal glimpse of the nutritional needs and the real life eating practices of the athletes involved. Sports really differ in their lifestyle, their competition needs, their traditions and the ways in which their athletes/players eat to be at their best. These chapters discuss the key nutrition issues that arise in a sport, providing specialised strategies to deal with these issues. It reviews applied sports nutrition studies that can answer specific questions in a sport, and provides case histories to illustrate the special nutritional challenges and solutions. Find out how Tour de France riders refuel during their event. Read how gymnasts manage weight control issues, or whether weightlifters need to eat more protein. Read some of the letters written to body building magazines and compare the answers provided in the magazines with the advice of a real sports nutrition expert. Compare the strategies that football players or runners need to use to stay hydrated during their events. This is the first time that I have gained specific insights into the real life world of sports nutrition. I hope this book continues to be updated to provide a great blend of the science and practice of sports nutrition. I would recommend this book to athletes, coaches and parents. But I also think that many sports science and medicine professionals will benefit from the "birdseye" view of sports nutrition.

I regularly use the book as a quick reference when developing resources or planning a lecture. It is an easy read and provides nutrition tips and issues specific to individual sports. The way the book is set up, allows you to access the information quickly.

The complete guide to food for sports performance is an excellent resource for athletes of all levels. Not only does it provide detailed nutritional information during training it also provides very useful tips for competition (pre-, during and post). The second part of the book addresses a wide range of different sports from distance running and rowing to gymnastics and diving. This part is particularly useful as it highlights problems and nutritional deficiencies that are experienced by athletes in this sport, thus helping the reader to pinpoint (or watch out for) certain eating "mistakes" in their favourite sport. Case studies offer very useful examples on how even small changes in the diet can make a big difference. A brilliant book for anyone interested in sports nutrition.

I had to buy this book for a class I am taking, and it has proven very helpful and useful.

John Huntington's book is the THE reference tool in our lighting shop for show control. It has everything you need for the different control languages, in clear and concise formats.It is a must on every theatre technician's bookshelf

John Huntington's new book, Control Systems for Live Entertainment, is one of the most useful and informative books available for anyone interested in theatre technology. The book covers such technologies as MIDI, DMX512, MediaLink, MIDI Show Control, and others.

A well dog-eared copy of the first edition has been in my tool kit / computer kit for the last couple of years. I have found it a valuable resource. It has helped me on-site more than once. The second edition is more comprehensive and organized. Kudos to John in publishing a great resource fit for the student and experienced professional.

George Tucker- Show Control Engineer- Scharff Wesiberg NYC

This book is filled with true stories of the deadly and costly consequences of computer systems gone haywire. It is not technical and does not contain alot of techo-babble. Instead it deals with subjects such as surgical procedures gone wrong, airplane crashes, military mistakes, cases of mistaken identity and more...all caused by the misuse of computers or the misguded ideas of humans who use them. The author is a TV news reporter who presents this like an investigative reporter. However, he offers solutions and expert opinions on how to prevent each of these diasters from happening again. The question is: Is anybody listening ?

I like reading real-life experiences used to illustrate a technical point rather than a dry dissertation. Like 1 of the other reviewers - I feel that this title should be reprinted but it should be updated and revised in light of changes in the software/hardware/systems world since the time it was published. AND it needs to have both an index and pointers to sources (i.e. footnotes, bibliography, etc.) The lack of the latter 2 items diminished the usefulness of the book for me as I could not follow up/get more in-depth information and I could not easily find a particular fact or passage I wanted to find in the book.

I wrote this for the other entry at Amazon.com with the same title, same author, different subtitle. This book should be reprinted. With the upcoming Y2K bug as well as other incidents of software creating problems for people's lives, this book is necessary reading. It contains actual real life information about the extent of the problem and how a society that relies on computers as much as ours does is vunerable.

This book should be reprinted. With the upcoming Y2K bug as well as other incidents of software creating problems for people's lives, this book is necessary reading. It contains actual real life information about the extent of the problem and how a society that relies on computers as much as ours does is vunerable.

I am into the second go around of this book. What fascinates me the most is the fact that Eric doesn't provide the tyical text book solutions. This book makes you think about your situation and helps you in creating innovative solutions.

"Achieving success is not an accident: it results from a deliberate process of identifying a compelling purpose, passionately pursuing your vision, preparing for high
level outcomes, and performing at your best." So begins Eric Allenbaugh's latest book, in which he masterfully shows you how to achieve it. He lays out scores of
ideas, peppered with lots of examples and inspirational quotes.

Allenbaugh weaves these together through five success strategies:

Direction - linking purpose and passion with performance.
Culture - sustaining a results-oriented, customer-focused climate.
Empowerment - releasing human potential.
Coaching - creating giants out of other.
Renewal - sustaining your competitive edge.

Underlying these, and woven throughout the examples, are three performance principles:

Being tough on issues and tender on people.
Honoring differences and aligning talent.
Building the bottom line and the human element.

He believes, as I do, that most people want to do their work well and to contribute to the success of their organization. Leaders must harness these individual
desires in a way that serves the collective purpose. Organizations that show this, really hum! They are the industry leaders - the best of the best - even if their CEOs
are not the flashiest ones around.

A primary role of corporate leaders is to shape and reinforce the culture of the enterprise. Allenbaugh provides a useful model of four corporate cultures, as they
are influenced by their attachment to the bottom line and to the human element. Closing my eyes and rifling through my memory bank of the organizations I have
worked in and the scores of companies I have consulted with, I not only could not think of any that did not fit this simple model, but I also understood why some of
them behaved the way they did. That set of insights alone far exceeded the price of the book!

Integration of values into an organization is a long-term endeavor, but vitally important. It's all about alignment - linking of vision with action, paying attention to
both people and profits, walking the talk, learning, growing, and striving always to exceed expectations.

In such organizations, leaders do not "manage" their employees. Rather, they "coach" them to draw out their innate talents and allow them to blossom. From his
years of experience, Allenbaugh describes several different coaching methods, all of which honor and build upon the many ways people learn. Of course, one must
deal with problem performers and even terminate them when their performance and attitudes do not match those of the organization, but it's surprising how few in
number such individuals are when given solid guidance, a supportive culture, and regular coaching.

This is not a fast read. Not because Allenbaugh's prose doesn't draw the reader along easily: it does. Rather, because the shear number of ideas is dense. I
frequently lifted my eyes from the page to ponder what he meant or explore a model he presented and to consider how I might apply it myself. These diversions
were necessary to absorb the full impact of the book.

I have deliberately left out of this review many of the most provocative learning points, so you can discover them for yourself.

The principles in Eric Allenbaugh's book can transform your life, as well as your company, but only if you will it. My advice is simple. Read it. Enjoy it. Learn
from it. Apply its lessons.

I have been a fan of Eric Allenbaugh for some time now and was pleased to see that he has put his ideas in print so that everyone can benefit from them. Dr. Allenbaugh's style is down-to-earth and common sense. He makes what so many people shy away from because they don't think they understand it, straightforward. The book is based upon his real life experience as a consultant and coach. If readers will apply Dr. Allenbaugh's advice on vision and mission and combine it with creating a culture of empowered associates, their organizations will reap long term dividends! If the reader does nothing else, the chapters on performance coaching should be taken to heart. The workplace will be so much the better for it! Deliberate Success should be required reading for all CEO's and executives!

"Achieving success is not an accident; it results from a deliberate process of identifying a compelling purpose, passionately pursuing your vision, preparing for high level outcomes, and performing at your best." Thus we being our journey with a seasoned (two decades) executive coach, professional speaker, and consultant in peak performance. The author is a proven expert in his field-a specialty that has enduring value for individuals, teams, and organizations.

The book--full of advice and counsel that would cost you thousands in a personal consultation--is organized into five strategies. The strategies are Direction, Culture, Empowerment, Coaching, and Renewal. Each strategy is presented as a section of the book, with three or four chapters on each category. Two special features add value to this book: an abundance of relevant quotes throughout the book and cameo contributions from thirteen fairly well-known authors and executives. A bibliography and index round out the book.

Under Direction, Allenbaugh shows readers how to link purpose and passion with performance. Chapters focus on creating a compelling mission and vision, linking into your passion, and implementing your vision. The Culture section describes how to sustain a results-oriented, customer-focused climate-valuable for individuals as well as organizations. The three chapters illuminate various aspects of culture, including the importance of values. The Empowerment section focuses on releasing human potential. There are several insightful chapters on empowering people, honoring the differences among people, and hiring winners by using Attitude, Aptitude, and Alignment as filters. The coaching section addresses building others' success, effective expression and listening skills, and a focus on results. The last portion of the book explores the "3 Rs of Renewal: Release, Reaffirm, and Reinvent." Chapters on individual renewal and organizational renewal contribute useful perspectives.

Easy-to-read book for individuals, managers, business owners, consultants, and those charged with the responsibility (and opportunity) of coaching others to deliberate success. This is a good how-to book, enjoyable and enlightening as a read-through and worthwhile as a reference when you need a re-focus.

I purchased this tape after attending one of Aretta's life purpose workshops. I have listened to it almost everyday, and it has really helped me to gain insight. While using this meditation, my mind has come up with many ideas that have led me closer to my purpose. I appreciate the insight and clarity I've gained by using this meditation. Thank you so much Aretta, you have made such a difference in my life!

I first heard this meditation when I attended one of Ms. Swanson's Life Purpose Workshops. I purchased the tape and use it all the time. It has really helped me get clear on what I would like to do with my life. I have found that my mind tends to reveal new ideas while I listen to this tape. I have started to take action on many of these ideas... and I am pleasantly surprised at how much is beginning to materialize. I can really say that I am happier and living a better life from using this meditation. Thanks Ms. Swanson!!

Aretta, thank you for sharing your inner most thoughts and feelings. Your writings are a positive source and a tool in helping us apply valueable lessons in our everyday life. I admire and I commend you on your gift and talent in sending us this important message.I recommend this book to people from all walks of life.God bless you! Hiko

This is a beautiful and powerful meditation tape. After listening to it over a period of a few weeks, clues to my life's purpose began to appear. I am now very clear about what my purpose is, and have found the direction I was looking for in my life. Thank you for your guidance Aretta. I've feel as though I've been blessed by you!

The husband-and wife team of Kimball and Mareen Duncan Fisher have collaborated to produce a well-documented, stimulating and useful book on what they call the "distributed mind", or knowledge workers who are geographically and/or organizationally dispersed. The Fishers have been involved in business process redesign for many years, and they have poured their comprehensive lessons learned into this 277-page volume.

One of their most important contributions that they deliver early in the book is to demystify the term "knowledge worker" by explaining that very few knowledge workers do only knowledge work and very few physical laborers do only physical work. This is a liberating insight, because it expands the potential applicability of their later discussions on how knowledge work is important in factories as well as R & D labs.

The Fishers use the term "the learning lattice" to describe an approach to redesigning knowledge work that explains how teams can be organized to take advantage of both units composed of functional experts (skill development teams) and cross-functional teams (business teams), optimizing the knowledge, perspectives and contributions of all concerned. Some organizations call these newly emerging learning lattices "centers of excellence".

Both of the Fishers started their careers in the art world, it is not surprising to see that they have some intriguing comments about harnessing creativity in organizations. They argue that creativity is a social activity, not a guru-centered process that requires isolation. Citing a 1993 survey done ! by the Center for the Study of Work Teams at the University of North Texas, research showed that knowledge workers prefer collaborative team environments, where there is an opportunity to share ideas and solutions.

How about leadership of knowledge workers? The Fishers suggest that this is not an easy task and that the leader's role is handled best through a boundary manager role. They identify seven key attributes for the "distributed leader", including articulating a vision for the organization, managing by principles rather than policies, and effectively coaching and communicating. They provide specific recommendations for ways to "infuse energy and wellness" into organizations through better understanding of roles and responsibilities, effectively managing--rather than suppressing--conflict, and orienting and developing knowledge worker teams.

The Distributed Mind is a great new tool for those who are interested in building community in organizations.

"This is the age of knowledge work. It is the age of the smart worker. The operations that learn the secret of tapping into this knowledge will always outperform those that do not. Those that master the 'collective intelligence' of knowledge work teams will be the architects of the future...As individuals, knowledge workers are smart people. But their individual effectiveness is amplified when they are also part of a smart organization. As an effective knowledge team, they can often create a sort of synergy where the outcome of the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts. These smart teams appear as though all team members are of a common mind that shares information and ideas seamlessly across the membership-a distributed mind...This book is about knowledge work teams. Knowledge work requires a special set of skills related to an area of expertise, such as those of an engineer, a salesperson, a consultant, a manager, or a health-care professional. But it requires much more than technical competence to be successful as a knowledge worker" (from the Introduction).

In this context, Kimball Fisher and Mareen Duncan Fisher:

* define knowledge work by comparing five characteristics that differ for physical and knowledge work as follows:

- Job Characteristics: (1). Core task, (2). Critical skills, (3). Work process, (4). Work outcome, (5). Knowledge used.

- Job Characteristics of Physical Work: (1). Doing, (2). Physical, (3). Usually linear, (4). Product, (5). Applied.

- Job Characteristics of Knowledge Work: (1). Thinking, (2). Mental, (3). Usually nonlinear, (4). Information, (5). Created.

* argue that "the nature of work is changing from mostly linear to mostly nonlinear and from requiring mainly physical skills to requiring mainly mental acuity. Jobs now usually produce more information than product and require more improvisation than rote, automatic application of process. While this trend is dramatic in a few cases, for most of us the change has been a slow, steady evolution of our jobs", and illustrate this trend.

* show how teams and team-based operations differ from groups and non-team-based operations, and illustrate how these teams differ from the traditional organizations by comparing hierarchical organizations with team-based organizations as follows:

- Hierarchical Organization: hierarchical order, local optimum, maximum specification, functional defect control, specialized skill, vertical information flow, work ethic value, and conservative improvement.

- Team-Based Organization: information order, global optimum, minimum critical specification, source defect control, multiskilled, source information flow, work life value, and continuous improvement.

* illustrate the differences between physical and knowledge work teams by comparing typical physical work teams with knowledge work teams.

- Typical Physical Work Teams: physical labor, multiple generalists, inside single organization, fairly stable membership, and repetitive responsibilities.

- Typical Knowledge Work Teams: mental labor, multiple specialists, across multiple organizations, shifting membership, and single-purpose responsibilities.

* explore the process of knowledge work design, and illustrate the characteristics of evolving organizational form-learning lattice organization.

* discuss the metaphors and practices needed to create successful knowledge teams.

* argue that "environmental shifts and changes in organizational capabilities have created opportunities and need for virtual knowledge teams in contemporary organizations. To effectively create, utilize, and support VKT's, we must focus more attention on the VKT challenges", and then discuss the challenges of making VKTs effective.

* discuss fostering innovation and creativity as a critical challenge for knowledge work.

* discuss what is becoming a critical attribute of effective knowledge work teams: the ability to transfer knowledge effectively without causing information overload.

* discuss the role of leaders in knowledge teams, and argue that "in knowledge work teams, team leadership is critical. Although this formal leadership is often shared or rotated, we believe it must be done properly for the team to be effective".

* discuss a number of practical tips to prevent illness in teams, including providing team training, integrating new team members, setting goals and measuring results, understanding group decision-making processes, managing team conflict, building team communication skills, giving and receiving feedback, defining team members' roles and responsibilities, developing operating guidelines, and creating a team charter.

* explore how technology aids knowledge work, and argue that "technologies must be appropriately integrated into the organization if they are to benefit knowledge teams. Three particular problems to avoid are technology misuse, expecting more from technology than it can reasonably deliver, and serving technology instead of having technology serve the team".

* discuss future trends in knowledge work by illustrating six key work trends for the new millennium: (1). automation of physical work, (2). elimination of traditional jobs and work structures, (3). empowered knowledge workers, (4). knowledge work teams predominant, (5). workplace flexibility, (6). more virtual knowledge teams.

Strongly recommended.

The T-word, team, has been badly devaluated during the last few years. People talk about teams without really understanding, what they actually are about. No wonder some people react with cynicism when their CEO returns from a training seminary with the word Team on his lips.

There is a solid case for this book that addresses teams, especially knowledge work teams from a practical no-nonsense perspective. This book makes good reading not only for knowledge work team builders but also for the people that actually make up the teams. The language and structure is exceptionally readable and the issues are easy to grasp. Someone might even say that Fishers use too many cases to justify their points. Fishers start with discussing knowledge work, then teams and finally knowledge work teams and finally building a working organisation made of knowledge work teams.

Fishers do not limit their perspective to teams and organisations but discuss also their influences to societies and individuals. Teams do not work in a vacuum but change the way people work and think and live their lives.

The one thing that I disagree with is they way Fishers create an artificial (in my opinion) distinction between physical work and knowledge work, and the consequent physical work teams and knowledge work teams. Fishers stress the point that even knowledge workers do physical work and physical workers do knowledge work, but within their definition of knowledge work!

This is a book on Knowledge Workers, and on business management, actually. It does discuss industrial age and post-industrial age workers, but it's not so much about industry, industrial workers, and modern factory automation.

The sense I came away with is that the aim of the authors was on making work teams more effective. However, for me, the book gets back to a more fundamental issue, the possibility of effectively eliminating levels of management in any organization. This is done not just by eliminating some staff, and giving the remaining staff communications. On a superficial level, automation of information access and communications for today's knowledge workers is required. However, on a more fundamental level, this is done by the assumption of a greater degree of the responsibilities by Knowledge Workers.

The book does get to the nub of flat (empowerment) versus hierarchical (delegation) management styles, which has come about with downsizing and the advent of empowered workers. It discusses how to manage processes and people with fewer managers, by enabling them to gather and use information and make decisions. Most importantly, it prioritizes: responsibility, empowerment, the management of processes, the management of people, management styles, downsizing, and information sharing. They all go together, but some of these are ends, and others are only means to an end. Further, some of these means to an end are prerequisites and others are only facilitators.

Whether tasks are delegated one-at-a-time to individuals (hierarchical), or projects and processes are turned over to a work-team (flat), in both cases communications is required. However, the differences today, are that Knowledge Workers in empowered organizations: are on multiple teams, not having just one job to do; must communicate with all team members, not just with supervisor and immediate coworkers; are responsible for the entire job, not just for one aspect of it.

Without proper orientation by management, Knowledge Workers in empowered work teams can remain focused on technical skill development or on information sharing, as ends unto themselves, or on doing their narrow tasks. What could be missing is a focus on the success of the process or project, and on the achievement on the goals of the organization. In the absence of middle managers, whose job it was to not only manage workers, departments, and processes, but also to focus on the goals of the larger organization, empowered Knowledge Workers must assume a large share of these responsibilities.

Team members must understand firstly, that responsibilities have been thrust upon them, and secondly, how to carry out these responsibilities as a self-directed work team. Today, we're not just providing communications systems to workers. We are holding people responsible, and therefore we're providing them with communications systems.

When I first got the book I felt a bit disapointed since it lacked a lot of text, I felt "man, I wish he'd talk about things like how to maintain good balance, good posture, etc."... but overtime, through the exercises and going for really slow up, I've realized that as I practice the exrecises in front of a mirror, I learn how to balance myslef properly through trial and error
All I can say is, after just 9 of the 16-note exercises, I'm double peddling away at songs I nevedr thought possible before! Just as long as you really take your time to learn each exercise properly... you will gain a lot!

This book will definitely help you build up your chops with your feet, in addition to potentially helping you uncover some problems with hand/feet independence. This book is worth it in terms of both money and time invested.

I have been playing drums since 1979 but only in the last year have I gone double bass. Some say you can't teach an old dog new tricks or it is really difficult to re-wire your brain to use the 'other' foot, but the way this book is written is perfect. It starts with simple activities that you need to master in order to move on. I highly recommend it.

For my fellow lefty drummers, he doesn't use L and R but he uses B.D.1 and B.D.2 which is refreshing.

Thank you Joe!

Joe does one of the greatest jobs of using double bass drum playing. He doesn't over do it in this book. The book gets you using your feet in all areas of drumming. Fills, Patterns and Rhythms. It helps you develop you brain to use you feet as equal. You will not just be some double bass trash metal drummer after this book. You learn how to use you feet equal with your hands in fills and other techniques around the set.