Performance Books

It is interesting how this book envelops various concepts of supply chain into the eight processes that are cross functional as well as cross firm...
A must read for everyone who is learning more about SCM

This book explains the cross-functional integration of business processes in the supply chain management. It can be good especially for practitioners to know about the strategic and operational sub-processes covered in this book.

Haines has literally Reinvented Strategic Planning into a 21st Century Strategic Management System using the Systems Thinking Approach that is the natural way the world works. He uses a simple and clear, yet comprehensive ABCs Methodology that anyone can quickly learn and use. Yet most Planning that is taught even today still starts with a Current State Assessment (SWOT Analysis) instead of "beginning with the end in mind" as Steven Covey states in his Best Seller on the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People.
Define your Ideal Future Vision and desired outcomes within the context of the Future Environment at the future year of your Vision is how to begin. Then, Haines has you use "Backwards Thinking" to today to be able to close the gap from today to the future. The problem with most planning that starts with today as there is no gap to close to take you to the future because you have not defined your desired outcomes first.

Sustaining High Performance is strong in providing organizational managers a step-by-step foundation for dealing with any change project--big or small--using a systems thinking overlay.

The book outlines systems thinking clearly, and shows how it can be applied to virtually any multi-level change.

Haines makes managers see how the natural laws of his systems thinking approach can easily fit their planning models for viable strategies and desired solutions within the complexities of a new millenium.

I found this book interesting in the way the author has taken different strategies and theories of management and developed his concept of Integrated Performance Leadership (IPL). IPL provides the framework to allow all units of production/project management to operate in a defined order, reducing redundancy and conflicting differences. The book is a great source for those interested in running their organization efficiently.

This is a must read for anyone in a large leadership role.

Tom Massey has given us a ten commitment strategy for getting the right people in the right position to build a vision focused, values based, purpose driven, service oriented high performance team.

The format from the table of contents to the final chapter stimulates thought provoking reading. The book is designed to be read quickly for an overview. A second reading is necessary to digest, and assimilate the principles introduced. Each chapter closes with a set of questions and activities for application to assist the team leader in implementing and applying these principles effectively.

The book is forceful and straightforward, an excellent tool for integrating your purpose statement, goals, objectives and performance. Massey's thoughtful analysis and creative thinking can be applied in every business setting.

The author stresses the importance of committing to a learning environment. He gives pointers for action based strategic leadership training and step by step instructions to equip your team.

Massey is recognized as a distinguished innovative corporate leadership trainer and coach. He has authored three other cutting edge books in the business/self help genre.

This is a significant management resource tool for equipping the busy business executive. I recommend the book for every manager who wants to sharpen the focus of their team, and for "anyone who aspires to leave the world a better place."

Reviewed by Cherie Fisher for Reader Views (01/07)

The "Ten Commitments for Building High Performance Teams" has lots of valuable management advice packed into 82 pages. Tom Massey, the author, heads each chapter with one of the 10 commitments needed for building a successful team. The author promises in the introduction "The ten commitments outlined in this book will help you get the right people in the right positions to develop a focused, values driven, high performance team." Massey asks you to read the book all the way through and then read each commitment separately and incorporate it before moving onto the next commitment. Each chapter also has a practical applications section that includes questions and activities pertinent to applying that section.

The 10 Commitments are as follows:

1. Commit to getting the right people "on the bus." Take the time to really think about the qualities, skills and needs that each job requires before making the hiring decision.
2. Commit to getting everyone on the same page. A team can only be effective if it's has a common goal and vision.
3. Commit to creating a learning environment. Investing in your team can create an environment that will lead to success.
4. Commit to sharing the profits and losses. A team will feel vested in a business and strive harder when they can also enjoy the profits.
5. Commit to turning around poor performance. Poor performance has to be turned around or it can bring down the whole team.
6. Commit to dancing with "those that brought you." This is very important chapter on loyalty - yours, as well as the team.
7. Commit to playing to win. You have to be able to move your team through fear to develop a winner's attitude.
8. Commit to growing through adversity. Conflict is a part of team work. Accept it and teach your team to work through it.
9. Commit to having fun. High performance teams typically have high productivity, creativity and morale. The bottom line is they have fun.
10. Commit to playing large. It has to be more than just a job for a team to be successful. Give them purpose.

The book is written in a straightforward common-sense approach. I highly recommend "Ten Commitments for Building High Performance Teams" for those of you in management or contemplating going into management. I plan to immediately implement these commitments into my team at work.

This is Dick DeVenzio's 2nd greatest book that he wrote. The Greatest is There's Only One Way To Win. A few exerpt's from Think Like A Champion.

Hardback Total pages 414
Table Of Contents- Page
Introduction To Athletes 9
Introduction To Coaches and parents 12
How to use this book effectively 14
Think Like A Champion from
A to Z, 122 Entries 15
Index 411

122 Chapters

A few Favorite exerpt's from Think Like A Champion.

From the books inner cover jacket:
" Covering everything from Overconfidence, chocking under pressure, underconfidence, and playing with teammates you don't like, to slumps, doldrums, academics, and how to increase speed and quickness, THINK LIKE A CHAMPION is a valuable guide for athletes who want to excel. Its practical advice is broken down into 122 short sections on situations that athletes commonly encounter. Becoming a champion is not easy; it takes hard work and lots of preparation. Reading a book won't magically turn you into a champion, But it can save you a lot of time, help pave your way, and inspire you. This book shows how champions think and how they respond in a variety of situations. If you want to succeed in sports, you will want to read THINK LIKE A CHAMPION.

Page 3 "Championships are not won on the night of a big event, but years before by athletes who commit themselves daily to championship principles."

Page 4 "I hope the floor is real slippery tonight or the ball has to much air...You Have to embrace the conditions, not complain about them."

Page 12 "In fact, the best coaches teach athletes to expect some bad calls, factor them in, and still prepare to win."

Page 31 Chapter 4 ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES: A A CHANCE TO SHOW OFF!
"What a shame that those athletes don't have a great coach reminding them every day that adverse circumstances are normal, they are expected, awaited, and to be viewed simply as a chance to show off--in the best way possible...start viewing every negative circumstance as an opportunity."

Page 52 Chapter 10. BLAME YOURSELF!
"All sorts of things go always go wrong. Big Deal. We know that. That's the given athletic algebra. The only unknown is YOU...Ask yourself if you have reached the point in your athletic development where you can lead your team in scoring and play the best defense and still walk off the field, having lost, feeling sincerely that the loss was YOUR fault."

Page 117 Chapter 32 EXCUSES
"In sports, there's a refershing concreteness and finality, someone wins, someone loses. The losers, of course, have excuses, but fortunately, no one cares. My Father/coach always said: Let them have the excuses for losing. Let US offer the reasons for winning."

Page 131 Chapter 36 FOCUSING ON YOURSELF.
"Focusing on your is the major theme in this book, appearing again and again, in one form and another, so I won't elaborate any further. I'll let this section stand simply as another reminder. When all sorts of negative incidents, circumstances and events are going on around you, focus your attention on what YOU can do to make something postitive happen. What can you do?

Page 159 Chapter 47 IMAGINARY CHAMPIONS
"To become a champion, it is necessary to get yourself, to the fullest extent possible, to practice with the idea that you are playing against good players, against champions in big games that really matter. Keep in mind, always, that you are practing against imaginary CHAMPIONS, and make the moves, hit the shots, swing the bat, run and fake-- in ways that will work against champions."

Page 184-187 JUSTIFICATIONS
"If you don't eliminate your legitimate justifications for failure, they will actually contribute to eventual failure."

Page 356-358 THREE PLAYS
"You grow up thinking that graet means awesome and that dismal means terrible; and then you find out that these words mean 68-65, in overtime! When you think of how little difference there is between great teams and mediocre teams, it's astonishing. A so-called great team may be described with terms like invincible, incredible, awesome, powerful, perhapsthe best of all time. Three plays. Sometimes... often separate greatness from mediocrity. It is this awareness that turns coaches into fanatics, champions into perfectionists, and cliches into wisdom. I mean, isn't it time for you to tighten the screws, to turn your play up a notch, to play like there's no tomorrow, to show what you're made of, to win one for the gipper, or at least to put your pants on one leg at a time."

This is a great book on thinking about sports.

I have read all of Dick's books and though it's hard to pick, Ihave to say that this may be his best one. No one should be allowed to coach or participate in sports without this book as their text!

In my opinion, this is a book every serious actor needs to have. I've been lucky enough to have Jon as a professor, and "Tips" is the next best thing to being able to actually talk to the guy in person. He's got a lot of down-to-earth, nuts & bolts type advice in very straightforward language. While many theatre people are want to use flowery language and get caught up in the lofty ideal of being an "artist", Jon is much more interested in helping actors serve the STORY they are helping to tell, in a way that a PAYING AUDIENCE will be glad they saw. Jon has a lifetime of experience with the theatre; "Tips" gives you a pretty darn good distillation of that experience.

If this book is any indication, Jory must be a marvelous teacher. Clear, concise, and direct, this is the one book about theatre I wish I'd had when I was in school. Targeted mainly toward actors, this is a wise and lucid compendium for ANY theatre artist, or for any patron who wants to understand more about how a play works onstage.

Jory covers all the major themes and topics in pithy one-page descriptions, and clearly relates them to one another. Although he obviously has definite ideas about how to approach a play, he also emphasizes that the actor (playwright, director, etc.) as artist is responsible for making the work organic. He's also very strong on discipline and professional behavior.

This book is for anyone who loves the theatre, and can be heartily recommended for beginners and seasoned professionals alike. Appropriate especially for actors and playwrights, it's full of insights for directors and the rest of the technical team as well. Should be required reading for all university-level theatre programs. Keep it in your script bag when you go to rehearsal, just in case you need a little reminder of why you do this.

I'm wondering why this book only has one reader (now two) rating it 5 stars.

I've read scores of books about business improvement but most if not all of them focus only in one knowledge area, e.g., The Goal/Question/Metric
Method; Operational Performance Measurement: Increasing Total Productivity; Real Process Improvement Using the CMMI, and others.

I'm still on page 216 as of August 22, 2007 but I don't have to wait to finish this book to say that it's good. The author is the kind of person that leaves no doubt that he knows what he's talking about because I've experienced the same situations - positive and negative - he described in the book. For example, we had a former president who wanted us to be assessed at CMMI Level 2 because it will attract more customers. When he found out how much it would costs, CMMI suddenly slowly became history and we had to find another way to 'improve' which costs less or at no cost (Hello?). In page 187, he actually listed the reasons why organizations get certified (assessed or whatever) and my above example is #3, market advantage.

Most important of all is that he doesn't take an atomistic but rather a holistic approach to business improvement. He stressed the cliche, 'a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.' All the good intentions in the world like 5S can fall like a deck of cards when just one manager's desk looks like a garbage dump.

I only have one complaint though and it's about the book's reference to an article written in Wall Street about China shooting 18 factory managers and workers for shipping poor quality refrigerators. I Googled for it and it seems it was just a prank or hoax article similar to the North Korean's leader destroying the moon. I understand that this book was written in 1995 and it was probably an honest mistake to believe the article was factual. But this doesn't take away from my 5-star rating.

Harrington does an excellent job of presenting a methodology to understand how all of those improvement 'flavors-of-the-month' can actually work TOGETHER to obtain that rosetta stone business strives for - synergy - in seeking improvement. The book is very well written, easy to understand, and will serve well as both a strategy book and a reference to keep handy when one more 'initiative' arises the next month. Well worth the money. His work makes sense out of improvement intiatives.

Berger is a music therapist working with clients who experience performance anxiety or who are diagnosed with autism or ADHD. This book is based on her work with three highly skilled young musicians. They are talented and well trained, but experience such anxiety when called on to perform, especially in situations where they will be judged (auditions, recitals), that their music is not at the level their skills otherwise afford.

These performers have been trained in the Western classical tradition; which is to say, they perform from fully notated scores. Thus they experience an initial shock when they begin working with Berger, for free improvisation her stock in theraputic trade. Free improvisation is just what the name implies: make whatever sounds you want to make. Don't worry about whether or not they are music, much less whether or not they are good music, just make the sounds. Within this framework Berger will variously mirror, answer, support, or query her clients, in the music itself. She may also set them highly specific tasks. Thus in one session she directed a client to pick four notes and to play anything he wanted to using only those four notes.

A student of psychoanalytic technique can read her anecdotes and see parallels. In her world a client achieves a breakthrough when she can play easily, passionately, and deeply absorbed in the music itself. While these breakthroughs are achieved by musical means, they necessarily engage the whole person. The anxieties these clients faced involve conflicts raised in the context of performance because of the role those performances play in the clients' interaction with others. One client came from a cultural background that discouraged strong emotional expression while another was constantly belittled by his father. Berger's task was, in effect, to help these clients transform music performance from an arena that triggered these conflicts into an arena where they could set them aside.

We all, in some way, need such arenas. That is why we have art. But, in view of what Berger reports in this slim volume, I fear to consider the implications of the fact that we are three generations from being a society in which everyone made music routinely. We're told that autism and ADHD are on the rise. I've read an expert assert that "those with ADHD are adrift and disorganized in time" (Barkley 1997, 240) that mentions neither music nor music therapy. Berger tells me (in private conversation) that music therapy can help such children. Is it possible that we are seeing the neurological effects of living in a world where people no longer make music?

The modest physical dimensions of the edition belie the broad and powerful messages contained within these covers. I am a composer who has thoroughly enjoyed reading Ms. Berger's observations, and I continue to revisit a number of sections that resonate deeply with my own perceptions about what we artists do and how we do it. Although the title leads one to assume that this is a guide for performance-oriented artists, I can tell you that any creative person-- whether they make their living as such or not-- will get a tremendous amount from Ms. Berger's wise words. I highly recommend this book.

yeah, i echo the first reviewer's comments. This is an excellent book. It gives a totally unique and totally honest view of the way that theater gets made and it then provides a model for the way to write about it.

I loved this book. If your interest is theater, theater writing, performance, group dynamics or reflecting on educational/academic and artistic practice then this book is a must.

The author explores notions of trust and truth, documentation and creative writing and what it means to create and shape material for performance. The work described is UK based but the ACTUAL material of the book is pretty much universal. For students who are being asked to write about their own processes (or other people's) it's absolutely first rate. Likewise for college and university tutors. I'll certainly be using it in my work as a professor as well as as a reference and guide to understanding and exploring the creative process.

It's a five star book.

Outstanding content and fun to read! Sports in general and golf specially are a microcosm of life and business. Using golf as a metaphor the traits of champions guides you through a dream round of golf with the help of an engaging and wise caddy and real life examples of some of history's finest golfers. The lessons are practical and insightful and sure to guide you to breaking par on the course, in business and in life.

This great book is a must for both Golf fans and Personal Development buffs.It teaches,inspires,and motivates.There are some great golf stories mixed in with tips and techniques on how to be a success in business,golf and life.There is alot of valuable information in this well written book by two great authors who know a great deal about success.