Performance Books

I had been suffering chest pains for months - the doctors didn't find anything wrong with me. One session with Belinda Farrell and the chest pains disappeared. Huna really works. This CD and Belinda's other one, Enchantment, are fabulous. They keep you connected, grounded, and energetic.

The collaborative effort of academic experts John G. Conyers and Robert Wey, Charting Your Course: Lessons Learned During The Journey Toward Performance Excellence is the illustrative story of a school district, and a case study for the larger effects of using the Baldrige Criteria to measure K-12 schools. A deftly written and accessibly presented account of the worthy goal of continued improvement, Charting Your Course offers insight and warnings of pitfalls to avoid and is recommended reading especially for educators and building principals. Charting Your Course is especially timely reading for school administrators in today's climate of public school accountability.

This book gives clear concise information, without bias, on every investment. I've been a broker for over 13 years and use this digest constantly! The information on volitality rankings alone are worth the price of the book.

All the key investments in the world are tracked in an easy to understand digest. The best product for giving clients 'full disclosure.'

This book has lots of useful experienced job articles. The articles on exchanging transmissions and the dash restore section was full of shortcuts that worked, looked good and saved time. Also, each article tried to save money without being cheap on quality of the job. Well done.

One of the best chevrolet performance books a person can buy!Written by a man who has been there!Schorr was an editor for Hi-Performance Cars magazine in the 60s and 70s and knows what he is talking about!Its too bad this book is out of print because never before have I seen such an accurate book to document the Chevrolet performance years.Detailed reading and awesome vintage photos!A one of a kind book from a first hand source of information!!

Borrowing a phrase from Charles Dickens, for those involved in enterprise learning initiatives, these are "the best of times, the worst if times." Never before throughout human history has there been more and better information available than there is now, nor has it been easier to obtain or disseminate it. However, information needs are constantly and rapidly changing, especially in what has become (in Thomas Friedman's apt phrase) a "flat world," one without borders. Moreover, many executives have developed what Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton so aptly characterize as a "knowing-doing gap." As a result, chief learning officers (CLOs) or their equivalent have an abundance of opportunities but they also face a number of significant challenges. In this volume, Tamar Elkeles and Jack Phillips provide information and counsel that suggest how to drive value within a changing organization through learning and development. They take various challenges into full account while responding to key questions such as these, devoting a separate chapter to each:

1. Insofar as the CLO is concerned, what are the most significant trends and issues?
2. How to devise a program that links strategy to learning?
3. How to set an appropriate investment level?
4. How to align the learning enterprise with business needs?
5. How to complete a transition to performance improvement?
6. How to create value-based delivery?
7. How to manage for value?
8. How to demonstrate and quantify the ROI of learning?
9. How to manage talent for value?
10. How to establish and then sustain productive management relationships?

Then in the final chapter, "The Voices of CLOs," Elkeles and Phillips include brief but insightful commentaries by 17 prominent chief learning officers, excerpted from interviews of them by Elkeles. (I wish it were possible to read each interview in its entirety.) "They are exceptional at what they do, well-known, and highly respected for their views. More importantly, they offer realistic perspectives about how the CLO function in the organization is managed. To varying degrees, the interviewees comment on some aspect of nine issues (listed on Page 287) that represent the focus of this book.

Readers will especially appreciate Elkeles and Phillips' skillful use of various reader-friendly devices, notably the provision of Figures (e.g. Figure 1-1, "CLO Roles to meet business challenges," Page 3), Tables (e.g. Table 3-2, "Turnover Cost Categories," on Page 62 and Table 5-4, "Core Competencies Associated with Performance Improvement Work," on Page 120), dozens of boxed quotations inserted throughout the narrative that are relevant to the given context, a "Final Thoughts" section at the conclusion of most chapters, and dozens of Checklists (e.g. "Steps for Needs Assessment and Analysis" on Page 98 and "Benefits of Management Involvement" on Page 276). These and other devices will facilitate, indeed accelerate a review of key points long after the book has been read.

Although this book was primarily written for chief learning officers (with or without a formal title), I think it is also a "must read" for other C-level executives and especially for board members and CEOs. I agree with Peter Drucker that everyone involved in an organization (whatever its size or nature may be) must be knowledge workers. Only then can effective leadership be developed at all levels and in all areas, thereby ensuring that the organization can achieve and then sustain a competitive advantage. The combined costs of failing to do that are incalculable. Hence my selection of Derek Bok's comment to serve as the title of this review.

Congratulations to Tamar Elkeles and Jack Phillips on a brilliant achievement.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Jay Cross's Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Natural Pathways That Inspire Innovation and Performance as well as Return on Learning: Training for High Performance at Accenture co-authored by Donald Vanthournout and his associates on Accenture's Capability Development team. Also Edward Lawler's Talent: Making People Your Competitive Advantage, Also, John Hager and Paul Halliday's Recovering Informal Learning: Wisdom, Judgement and Community, Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement: Rethinking the Way We Measure and Drive Organizational Success, and Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.

I actually bought this book for myself, because my dad and brother had both bought it and I couldn't stand not having my own copy to spend loads of time mulling over. This book is a great retrospective book, full of pieces and images of pieces you may not even know, shedding new light on an already amazing artist...It also has some really great critical essays.. enjoy...

How to program with CIC

Looking for a quick fix to some really annoying clarinet problems? Now you can surely relax, because Michèle Gingras is here to save the day. In size, this book is smaller than your average method of study, but in content, look out! She has divided her book into 7 sections of 52 secrets for common technical and musical issues in clarinet practice and repertoire. Gingras' writing is very "to the point" without the life stories, personal experiences, and strongly directed opinions of many other current books on the market today. I believe that because she uses this particular style of writing, she is able to cover so much more in such a miniature book, perfect for having with you at all times.

Never does she state a method of instruction without also telling you exactly how to practice it. This book really uses nature as its primary example of what clarinetists, and really all musicians, should follow. Gingras feels that rather fighting and working against nature, we should use it to help us in every way possible. Although this book is intended for the advanced clarinetist, many of her explanations would be very helpful to intermediate and even beginning students; her book is that user friendly, and not intimidating in the least. I especially feel this way when she refers to tonguing and finger/hand positions, which are probably two of the biggest challenges younger students face when first approaching the instrument. Included at the end of her book is a CD that demonstrates with her own playing each musical excerpt inside "Clarinet Secrets." In my opinion, you'll never be without a clarinet teacher as long as you have this book. Anyone who knows this professor can see that inside "Clarinet Secrets" is one hundred percent Michèle Gingras. One more thing...these "secrets" really work. An alternate title for her book could be "No More Secrets!"