Organizations Books

Written by Jeffrey Zoul, a principal with 20 years of teaching experience in the elementary, middle, and high school levels, Improving Your School One Week at a Time: Building the Foundation for Professional Teaching and Learning is a week-by-week guide to fostering better living, working, and study conditions in any school. Each week recommends addressing a different topic - from school safety to strategies for English as a second language students to test taking considerations, adopting a focus toward homework as small amounts of meaningful work rather than large amounts of busywork, improving communication between teachers and parents, and much more. Improving Your School One Week at a Time is a complete, user-friendly yearlong manual by itself, yet comes with a bonus - those who purchase a copy may enter a code online to download each of the "37 Friday Focus" memos from the publisher's website, and then customize them to apply to the specific needs and context of one's school. An invaluable step-by-step resource.

Dr. Zoul's Improving Your School One Week at a Time is an excellent resource for all educational professionals. The text is engaging and the incorporation of staff reflections makes this book truly unique. Zoul demonstrates how respect for and belief in teachers promotes a culture of professional sharing. Teachers are given the opportunity to share their ideas through Friday Focus correspondence, and the result is a wealth of knowledge and expertise all under one roof.

This book will benefit adminisatrators and teacher leaders. It is a quick and easy read. The book should be used as the ABCs or basic building blocks of a successful PLC. The weekly Friday Focus articles are a collection of ideas that can strengthen or spring your PLC to the next level. The Friday Focus articles reflect the empowerment, knowledge, and passion of these teachers' unrelentess quest to do whatever it takes to teach, inspire, and motivate students. The Friday Focus collection produces a balance of best practices and personal ancedotes with a blend of humor, practicallity, dedication, and determination. Overall, it exemplifies a successful and productive PLC in action.

What an amazingly simple yet brilliant idea! A MUST read for passionate educators and administrators from all levels that are seeking great ideas that will positively affect school climate from top to bottom.

This book, written by Dr. Jeff Zoul and his esteemed teaching staff, is full of insight and wisdom gained over many years of collective experience. It is obvious that student learning and creating a world-class school is their focus on a daily basis.

What would it be like if ALL children could attend a school like Otwell Middle School? No doubt, the possibilities would be endless!

Improving Your School One Week at a Time is an excellent book for a school leadership team to read together for a book study. It is practical yet thought provoking. Each chapter delves into different educational experiences, methodologies, and strategies that will inspire a new educator or a veteran. Reading Dr. Zoul's educational experiences and those of his staff will leave you motiviated to teach another 20 years.......

Margaret

The Internal Economy is a direct application of market economics within organizations in order to better manage resources and directly fight against insufficient innovation, accusations of high costs and unresponsive service, and customer dissatisfaction and resentment. A careful walkthrough of economic theory and its direct application to improve flagging businesses and their management, The Internal Economy is a "must-read" for businessmen, supervisors, and anyone whose bottom line involves improving the flow and quality of internal operations.

The Internal Economy: How to Apply Market Principles within Organizations to Make Sense of Budgeting, Rate-Setting, Project-Approval, and Accounting Processes
By N. Dean Meyer
reviewed by www.CorporateWriters.com

Dean Meyer attacks the very fabric of corporate existence by questioning the structure and ivory towers that exist within corporations.

He takes us back to the basics of activity based budgeting that makes it practical for an organisation to price its entire product line.

The notion of an organisation within an organisation is introduced in an easily approachable manner. Every resource in the organisation is there to service a client. A majority of resources within an organisation serve internal clients. There are very few that serve external clients directly, like Sales and Customer services.

He argues that the internal clients need to receive value from their internal supplier. Corporations must apply market economics within the company to design their resource management processes.

This approach breaks down the historical "always been done that way" to a zero based budgeting approach.

This sounds like a drastic and frightful approach but with the external economy at its most competitive, organisations must ensure that their internal organisation are in harmony with each other and delivering a value for money service.

He provides a toolkit to identify and implement the Internal Economy model.

There are four components within the Internal Economy:

Budgeting.

This is the yardstick by which the corporation will decide how much the corporation will spend on each function

Pricing

Determining unit costs by identifying the right units, assigning direct costs and amortising indirect costs.

Purchase Decisions

Project approval that assign budget to projects and services, adjusting priorities dynamically throughout the year.

Tracking

Accounting processes that provide information for decision-making and evaluation.

He argues that the above process allows strategic alignment by allowing the internal buyers (client pursers) to make decisions about to what to buy from internal suppliers and not those products and services which aren't relevant to their success.

The book concludes with sections on the impact of this approach on Shareholder value, Corporate governance and leadership style.

This is a thought provoking book which will probably raise many questions about an organisation and covers some of the issues that have tackled before in various guises including corporate re-engineering and Sigma six, but here the focus is firmly on controllable (internal) factors and not on uncontrollable (external) factors.

A recommended read for those executives responsible for the management of change within an organisation and those who oppose it or fear it.

Reviewed by Bob K

Chairman

Thought-it

As a main board director Bob gained experience both at operational and strategic levels in the service industry. His main involvement has been in the management of change via corporate re-engineering, CRM, systems oriented management information systems and training of staff.

He ran the internal audit department of a 1billion turnover Tour operator

As Group Finance Director prepared an outdoor advertising company for a float on the Stock Exchange

Has raised Venture Capital for the BIMBO of a sales promotional agency with one partner and worked within the target as MD to deliver the agreed business plan and exit goals very successfully.

Copyright:
www.CorporateWriters.com
www.InternetPressOffice.com

In today's volatile business world, firms can no longer allocate their precious resources based on yesterday's budgets. To compete, companies need their capabilities well orchestrated and aligned with business strategies. "The Internal Economy" sweeps away old thinking about managing resources. Bringing the tonic of the marketplace to bear, it provides a breakthrough approach for planning and budgeting.

Although this book is applicable to any internal service in an enterprise, I'm addressing the value of this book from an IT perspective. In a nutshell, this book provides in 110 pages more information about how to go about getting control over IT spending and governance than a pile of other books I've read.

What I especially like is the business within a business approach, and the clearly defined steps to implementing and managing it. What 'sells' this approach is the hypothetical case study that starts in Chapter 2 and shows the fallacies of a typical budget cycle, and the associated pitfalls. I cringed when I read through this case study because I've seen it repeated time and again in companies large and small. The way the author follows up with this scenario by framing the problem, and then proceeding to provide a straightforward solution using a set of subsystems that cover budgeting, rate setting, prioritization and accounting is remarkable. What makes it so is the fact that the solution can be implemented in any organization, and is almost guaranteed to pay big dividends in efficiency, effectiveness, and customer satisfaction in a relatively short period.

Another aspect of this book that I like is the discussion about chargebacks. This is a topic that arises in IT shops, and is typically implemented with little thought - or erroneous assumptions. This short discussion alone will make this book worthwhile to CIOs.

The internal economy approach is based, in part, on activity based budgeting, which is a subject that merits its own book -is one of the most succinct and illuminating I've read. The author takes this topic from theory to practicality by providing a clear roadmap about how to effectively use it in an enterprise of any size. Interestingly, the approach also aligns nicely to earned value project management, which makes this book especially valuable to project-based organizations.

Speaking as an IT consultant who specializes in IT operations process improvement and service level management, I think this is one of the most important books for any consultant or IT manager concerned with effective service delivery. It truly does contain a solution to the thorny problems of IT/business alignment and providing value to internal customers.

In this small, plainly and succinctly written book, Dean Meyer persuasively makes the case for a "deliverable-based" approach to the management of the resources of an organization's service function. He contrasts this with the "cost factor" (salaries, travel, etc.) approach on which too many budgeting processes are based.

Meyer believes that service organizations, and more appropriately all functional organizations, should be viewed as a "business within a business." Each function gathers resources and "sells" them to client organizations. To do this effectively, four processes are involved. First, client organizations must determine the budget for each project, or "deliverable" in Meyer's language, they wish to undertake and provide senior management with the full cost of each. Costs are provided by each service organization and includes indirect as well as direct costs. Also required is effective pricing of each service by the provider organization based on all expected costs and expected volumes. This, then, allows informed project prioritization and approval by the appropriate level of senior management. Finally, tracking and reporting of costs allows effective monitoring of each project and analysis of results.

The combination of these four factors enables business-oriented decisions as to what each client will and will not buy from a service unit. Executives can debate the value of each proposed deliverable with all costs and proposed results available to them. Meyer also notes that all proposed deliverables that affect a service organization's budget do not come from client organizations. "Subsidies" for resource expenditures that fuel the corporation as a whole and "ventures" for internally-needed new expenditures, such as infrastructure, must be proposed by the service organization and also approved by senior management.

In approximately 100 well written pages, Meyer presents his logical, and thoughtful, approach in a way that is understandable by senior executives - even those with no accounting or financial background. The book is certainly worth reading.

Author: Truskie, Stanley D.
Title: Leadership in high-performance organizational cultures / Stanley D. Truskie.
Publisher: Westport, Conn. : Quorum Books, 1999.
Edition Date: 1999
Language: English
Physical Details: xv, 147 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Subjects: Leadership.
Corporate culture.

If you are an executive, business owner, or manager, this book will help you. I always believed company culture was important, but I had no idea about how to create the right culture. This book provides an easy model to follow that makes sense, plus it offers leadership guidelines to make it happen. I have already instituted some of the ideas presented in the book and I have seen significant positive performance results already. I would definitely recommend this book to any leader who wants to improve the performance of his company.

"I have really been struggling with how to shape my company's culture to ensure I am building an effective organization until I read Dr. Truskie's book. His culture model is so clear and makes so much sense that its logic jumps out at you once you realize that there is a "right" organizational culture. I have heard so often that there is no right or wrong culture, but this book's compelling argument clearly dispels that notion.

I have read other books on organizational culture, but quite frankly, they created more questions than provided answers. I did not know whether I wanted a strong culture, an open culture, a sales culture, a driving culture, or a friendly culture. Plus I did not know where to start. Dr. Truskie helps you understand that as a leader, you must establish the direction first, then shape the right culture to achieve your strategic goals and objectives .

At least now I have a model that will help guide me in creating an effective culture ( Dr.Truskie calls integrated and balanced) within my organization. He also provides excellent examples of unbalanced cultures and explains how they negatively affect performance. The changes we now have under way within my company have already resulted in positive performance improvement. But as Dr. Truskie points out, this is a journey, and not a destination so we are still working toward building our high-performance culture.

This is definitely not a "quick" read book but one you should read a chapter at time, think about the message, then read on to the next chapter. But I can tell you it is well worth the time...one of the more meaningful books on leadership available in a crowded market."

I teach Organization Theory and Organizational Behavior. Teaching leadership has the challenge of finding a way to put the theories into practice. Dr. Truskie meets this challenge and offers a reasonable solution to this decision maker's need.

At various points throughout the book, Truskie cautions that there is no one "ideal" style, nor an infallible "model", nor any single combination of leadership traits, characteristics and behaviors which are most appropriate to all organizations in all phases of their development. He urges his reader to absorb and digest the contents of Leadership in High-Performance Organizational Cultures with care, of course, but also with some degree of critical detachment. Then, correlate his observations and suggestions with the specific circumstances of the reader's own organization.

Truskie suggests that "there is a direct link between leadership, organizational culture, and performance." According to his research and analysis, the most effective leader has an impact on "forming the culture of an organization, which further can have an enhancing effect of improving the level, ensuring the consistency, and sustaining the organization's continuing performance improvement." Truskie believes that many leaders are preoccupied with identifying and then manifesting an "ideal" style of leadership when, in fact, no such style exists. That is to say, even the most effective leaders have significant human imperfections; however, they are aware of these imperfections and make every effort to ensure that these imperfections do not have a negative impact on their respective organizations.

For this reader, one of the greatest benefits of Leadership in High-Performance Organizational Cultures is Truskie's explanation of the potential, beneficial implications of the L4 Strategy with specific relevance to creating and then sustaining a high-performance organizational culture. Leaders as well as those whom they lead must constantly monitor the balance of four aforementioned cultural patterns. Imbalances are inevitable. Although Truskie does not discuss it, he would probably agree that an early-warning system of some kind is highly desirable. The model he provides suggests all manner of ways by which to recognize and then respond effectively to symptoms of such imbalances. For the foreseeable future, change will be the only constant. Given that reality, Leadership in High-Performance Organizational Cultures can be of even greater value as all organizations (regardless of their size or nature) proceed into an otherwise uncertain future.

Dr. Cheshire does a wonderful job of communicating the quantum makeup of the character trait we call leadership. While his work is centered in philanthropy, his research and conclusions have application to all aspects of living. Anyone fascinated with the non physical nature of our physical universe will appreciate and recognize the truth of Dr. Cheshire's words.

Leading by Heart outlines a leadership model which I have used extensively since studying with Dick Cheshire at Chapman University. The model applies to not-for-profit organizations and businesses. In fact, I have applied his leadership principles to all my classes and writing projects. The result has been greater clarity and focus on the importance of personal responsibility. I recommend this book to every voluntary leader in need of a new perspective on the challenges before them.

I find Cheshire's book to be applicable to the world in which we live. As a pastor of a church, I have bought copies for my Executive Board members to read, knowing that his emphasis upon compassionate leadership is what we all need to hear. He blends current scientific thought -- quantum physics -- with the need for new thinking in the Leadership world.
It was also helpful to have two scenarios played out -- volunteer institutions needing change -- in the form of college presidents and the dilemmas they face.
"Leading by heart is the primary challenge of our time." I can't agree more. Anyone who works with volunteers needs to read this book.

As an Executive Director of a small non-profit Dr. Cheshire's work has given me a new perspective on my role and that of our agency in the community. His case examples provided the context needed to apply the theories presented. It is a great honor that I was able to work with Dr. Cheshire during the summer of 2003 and discuss practical applications of "Leading By Heart" to my work and my leadership style. He is truly an amazing man with a wealth of experience. This is a must read for leaders in the non profit world.

Today, when imperious Management is confused with Leadership and many "leaders" at the highest levels of business and government have thrown moral practice aside for personal power and profit, Dr. Cheshire's book is a charismatic call for an ethical rebirth of Leadership. Since completing a Master's level program he taught in 1997, with a array of stellar guests, I have followed the ideas laid out in the Quantum Civics Paradigm presented in Leading By Heart.

It is a call to arms for those chivalrous enough to place a standard higher than reward, in their lives, their work and their voluntary activities. Dr. Cheshire states the sound philosophy of doing the greatest good, at the least expense, for the greatest number of people, over the longest period, in any endeavor. Leading By Heart is also the public presentation of his theories of organizational DNA and the formula for assessing organizational potential, I=am². These are exciting ideas with great potential in the fields of leadership and fundraising.

The material in this book has moved me in my career and personal life, and I have been forever changed by it. Read it, use it and the world will be better for your being here. That is the promise in each of us. That is the potential of Leading By Heart.

Hank Lamb
Director
Pros & Cons Project
Livingston, TX & Perris, CA

Many, if not most, corporations try to utilize scenario planning in their strategy process. All too frequently, these efforts become routine: what if we increase (decrease) marketing budgets by 10%? What if raw material prices go up (down)? It's all pretty warm beer given the pace of business change every company faces.

This book shows how to do it right. The editors have shaped the contributions of 24 experts iinto a thorough, rigorous book covering all the vital aspects of scenarios. The reader will find clear discussions of what scenarios should be and how organizations can use them to "learn from the future." There are chapters on tools and techniques (like simulation models), advice on implementation, and case studies from both the private and public sector. The last chapter, "Twenty Common Pitfalls in Scenario Planning" is especially valuable.

Forewarned is forearmed. Any manager who does not want to go into the future blind and defenseless must read this book.

If you talk to someone about using scenarios to think about the future, chances are that the other person will nod her/his head in agreement with whatever you have to say. That surface agreement, however, will be misleading because the other person is probably thinking about a totally different kind of scenario thinking than you are.

Learning from the Future helps overcome that misunderstanding by explaining a large number of ways that scenarios can be used. The book contains 25 chapters which each look at a different aspect of scenario development and subsequent thinking.

Three chapters look at what scenario learning is. Seven chapters explore basic approaches to constructing scenarios. Eight chapters describe how to apply scenarios in different contexts, like competitor evaluations, technology investing, making public policy decisions, and considering customers. The final section looks at how to create the right organizational environment for making and using scenarios for learning.

You will benefit from reading the thoughts of many of the world's top experts and users of scenario learning including Peter Schwartz, Kees van der Keijden, Ian Wilson, Liam Fahey and Robert Randall. It is a great line-up, and what they have to say is good food for thought.

If you would like a good introduction to scenario learning, this is an excellent place to start because the perspectives that are captured are unusually broad and appropriate.

This book belongs in the business library of every business decision-maker. When an important question arises, you can use this book as a resource to think through how you might best use scenarios to create a better result. Enjoy!

Learning From the Future, by Fahey and Randall, is a very comprehensive how-to manual for creating foresight scenarios and turning them into action. The use of scenarios to formulate a vision of the future and how best to be prepared for it has been a major strategy tool since the RAND Corporation, the military think tank, started using this methodology in the 50's to plan for "unthinkable" contingencies.

The collection of authors recounts the steps vital to a good scenario: identify key current forces affecting the organization, involve all levels of management (so they "own" the scenario results), assure the scenarios are linked to crucial decision processes, do not slip into trying to forecast the "most likely" future, tell a story, link the scenario elements logically (perhaps graphically) together. Chapter 4 is especially good at describing how to create matrices of outcomes with sliding scales of driving forces such as the price of gas or protectionist versus open markets. Both "future forward" (present day forward, or inductive) and "future backward" (working from the future backwards, deductive) scenario types are explored, as are computer-assisted methods.

Every conceivable element that could be factored into a scenario is covered and categorized in the book, including political trends, natural disasters, pricing and cultural trends, as well as the classic SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). If there is one fault to the book, it is that the case studies could be more poignant - instead of distinct organizations with palpable products and threats, these tend to be generic (e.g., a "high tech" company producing "electronics"); this exsanguination of content leads to some bland examples and occasional lapses into platitudes (e.g., "leave enough time for evaluation"). In contrast, another scenario book, The Sixth Sense, by van der Heijden, glows with colorful case studies. When I created and played in scenarios at RAND, we found that adding color and story helped the process immeasurably: we created posters and put them on the wall, we got into character like actors do, we generated future headlines and stories - not just generically, but for a specific date and paper (the Washington Post was a favorite) - to make the process seem more relevant and the results more richly detailed. The book could also have more precise examples of insights and corporate changes that resulted from scenarios as evidence for their worth - this text is clearly meant for the already converted. That said, the very extent and thoroughness of the material, its coverage of elements often left out of other texts, and its provision of checklists for novice scenario builders, make it a must-read. The use of scenarios has a long track record of success, even in decades past when the rate of change and pace of market forces was more leisurely. In this day and age, when markets can evolve every six months, the use of scenarios to enable an organization to be proactive rather than reactive is more important than ever, and this text is one of the most exhaustive that exists on this important topic.

Fahey and Randall have brought together an excellent team of authors who have given numerous suggestions of what to do and what not to do in developing scenario learning in organizations and institutions. From making it unmistakable that top CEOs must be involved in the process, to offering an outline for a scenario learning workshop, suggestions for scenario learning team members and cautions about the pitfalls of using scenarios, the authors have given their insights and visions for successful futures planning for organizations.

The smart leader uses scenarios as an important tool in the executive toolkit. Just as good decision-making is not done in a vacuum, but rather is done in the light of a good deal of research and information gathering, so even scenario planning is prefaced by homework, preparation. Elements of history, traditions, branding, decision-making methodology, personnel, key decision factors and key external forces are all pieces of the background necessary for scenario planning. Scenario Learning is not just one more thing one must do because some higher up says it must be done. It is not just a task. All decision-making of any magnitude needs to cease until the scenario planning sheds light on the decision. This process is the best of strategic planning and should not be set aside while the company chooses its strategy. "Scenarios are most valuable when they are understood to be movies of an evolving story, not a snapshot of a specific point in time" (p. 12).

Several types of scenarios are offered. Scenario learning, in the context of Systems Thinking, is a powerful tool for moving into a changed reality. Systems thinking is the engine of dynamic scenario planning. In any system it must be understood that each element in a system acts or reacts to every other element in the system (elements such as events, patterns of behavior and contextual structure). Seeing the system rather than individual elements when making a decision means making decisions with a greater possibility of successful growth.

"Scenario Learning is a search for an understanding of how the future could change, and how an organization could thrive by adapting to a number of particular changed circumstances." Scenario learning identifies what the indicators of change are, and what decisions and actions must be taken today to be ready to survive and win tomorrow and in the years to come" (p. xi). What follows in the book does indeed make this clear.

This impressive work shows how to harness imagination and strategic management techniques to create scenarios that simulate future opportunities and threats. Shows how to use scenario building, drawing on case studies and insights of 26 expert scenario developers. Presents a new system of scenario learning, bringing together strategic management, scenario technology, teamwork, creativity, and decision-making skills. This is a meaty and informative book.

At last a practical way to review and analyse the culture of an organisation and track its development.

What are organisations for? This book enables the reader to understand the root causes of current imbalances in the world economy/ecology and know what they can do (within their reach) to make a difference.

A synthesis of the works of Stephen Covey, Jim Collins and other great corporate alchemists.

"This book has been such a journey. I started out with two ideas. The first idea was that organizational transformation must look and feel a lot like personal transformation. The second idea was that the values held by successful companies must be similar to the values held by successful individuals. These two ideas led me on a journey of discovery that gladdened my heart...This book...provides a road map and tools for those who want to travel the same path" (from the Foreward).

In this context, Richard Barrett, in Chapter 11, shows a comprehensive framework for building a visionary organization. Here, he defines a visionary organization as a long-living, successful organization that cares about its employees, its customers, the local community, the environment, and a society at large. According to him, visionary organizations take social responsibility very seriously, and they display six important characteristics:

1. They have strong, positive, values-driven cultures.

2. They make a lasting commitment to learning and self-renewal.

3. They are continually adapting themselves based on feedback from internal and external environments.

4. They make strategic alliances with internal and external partners, customers, and suppliers.

5. They are willing to take risk and experiment.

6. They have a balanced values-based approach to measuring performance that includes such factors as corporate survival (financial results), corporate fitness (efficiency, productivity, and quality), collaboration with suppliers and customers, continuous learning and self-development (corporate evolution), organizational cohesion and employee fulfillment (corporate culture), and corporate contribution to the local community and society.

Hence, he develops a three-phase process for building a visionary organization: (1) preparation, (2) implementation, and (3) maintaining an evolutionary culture.

Finally, during the process of building a visionary organization, he writes that "the critical factors in successful transformations are (a) the management team's commitment to modeling the new values and behaviors; (b) integrating the new values into the structural incentives of the human resource processes of the organization; (c) building psychological ownership by involving employees in defining the missiom, vision, and values and the Balanced Needs Scorecard objectives and targets; (d) helping employees to think like owners; and (e) assigning responsibilities and developing structural mechanisms to support innovation, learning, and cultural renewal."

Highly recommended.

In his visionary and hopeful book, Global Mind Change, The Promise of the 21st Century (1990), futurist Willis Harman observed that we are in the midst of the greatest social shift since the Middle Ages, a change in the actual belief structure of Western society. As the dominant institution in society, Willis felt business had an obligation and the potential to lead this shift. In Creative Work: The Constructive Role of Business in a Transforming Society (1990), he provided some benchmarks of new paradigm business and examples of a handful of leading companies.

Richard Barrett is clearly an inspired central figure in empowering the business world to take its place as an evolutionary and transformational force. Through his consulting practice, speaking engagements and now his powerful new book, Liberating the Corporate Soul, Richard presents the business world a gift of immense proportions providing a clear understanding of how to liberate the untapped creative brilliance, deep compassion and universal love that has been trapped within the prisons of old paradigm business models.

He challenges business leaders to "create strategic goals that call for quantum increases in performance that promote transformational thinking." "These improvements are achieved", he says, "only by taking a systems approach-a shift in basic assumptions that create a new way of being and doing - evolution". "Not doing things differently, but doing different things." Not shifting things around a table but creating a new table. "When individuals are asked to participate in transformational thinking they tap into their intuition and creativity. This type of thinking can only be maintained in corporate cultures that are built around trust, employee involvement and openness."

He cites the research of Collins and Porras whose book, Built to Last, proves that "contrary to business school doctrine, maximizing shareholder wealth and profits are not the dominant driving forces in most long lasting successful companies. Throughout the history of most visionary companies a core ideology existed that transcended purely economic considerations."

Quoting mystic poet Kahil Gibran, who said "work is love made visible", he goes on to say that "the challenge for companies in the twenty-first century is to create a work environment that encourages personal fulfillment-taking care of employees' physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs....to live out their passions and provide them with opportunities for service". According to a 1995 Newsweek article, 58% of Americans feel the need to experience spiritual growth. "What better place", Richard asks, "than through your work?

Building on the work of humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow, he finds that "most companies are stuck in the lower levels of consciousness he has identified as survival, relationship or self-esteem consciousness."

Barrett has developed the Balanced Need Scorecard and other powerful laser-like measuring tools to help organizations determine if the values they espouse are being embraced and lived. In the end, he believes "companies either operate from the fears of the ego or the love of the soul". Richard defines evolutionary leaders as "people who hold a vision and courageously pursue that vision in such a way that it resonates with the souls of people".

As the editor of an online publication that explores new paradigms in business and other disciplines, I would not risk entering the 21st century without reading, digesting and implementing the ideas contained in Liberating the Corporate Soul. Those companies that do will have a strategic advantage over those that don't. More importantly, it is unlikely that corporations will survive without creating transformational cultures that nurture and liberate.

New Book Provides Road Map and Tools For Building Visionary, Values-Based Businesses

(Washington, D.C. - December 1, 1998) You don't have to look far these days to witness the growing trend in business to nurture the corporate "soul." Once muttered in hushed tones of self-conscious reserve, soft-sounding words like "values" and "meaning" and "spirituality" are becoming as bold and common in the corporate lexicon as hard-nosed phrases like "bottom-line" and "return on investment." Until recently, though, the two vocabularies have struggled to come together in any cohesive, systematic process for guiding the strategies and actions of corporate America.

In a new book entitled Liberating the Corporate Soul (Butterworth-Heinemann publishers), author and business consultant, Richard Barrett, bridges that gap with an approach to organizational planning that will warm the hearts of human resources, corporate affairs and financial people alike.

The book begins with a review of Barrett's central thesis that "who you are and what you stand for are becoming just as important as what you sell." Next, Barrett describes his Corporate Transformation ToolsSM which is a set of measurement instruments for "auditing" individual and organizational values. Finally, the book provides a framework for using those tools to build a visionary, values-based organization.

Barrett's model is based partly on the landmark work of Abraham Maslow who defined the human "hierarchy of needs" on four main levels - security, relationship, self-esteem, and self-actualization. "Maslow himself concluded, however, that self-actualized individuals were actually motivated by higher states of consciousness, including spiritual needs," says Barrett. "But he never fully delineated what those states were."

Liberating the Corporate Soul expands on Maslow's work with a detailed explanation of Barrett's Seven Levels of Organizational Consciousness (survival, relationship, self-esteem, transformation, organization, community, and society) and Seven Levels of Leadership Consciousness (authoritarian, paternalist, manager, facilitator, collaborator, partner/servant, wisdom/visionary). According to Barrett, one level isn't necessarily superior to another. "All are relevant. It's really more a question of balance," he says. "However, it is at the higher levels of consciousness that organizations are meeting spiritual needs that focus more on the common good than individual self-interest."

The book's message and methodology are receiving acclaim from noted business leaders and authors throughout the world. Martin Rutte, co-author of the popular Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work calls Barrett's book "the bold, practical blueprint we need for moving business to the next evolutionary level. Sweeping, brilliant, a sense of the grandeur of the new paradigm of business." Marcello Palazzi, Co-Founder and Chair of the Progessio Foundation in The Netherlands says that "Liberating the Corporate Soul achieves the impossible: it integrates the intangibles of ethics, vision, and consciousness into a tangible measurement system."

Barrett began his search for a mechanism that would align an organization's actions and decisions with individual and social values when he was employed at the World Bank. In the early 1990s, he set out on a personal mission to move values to the top of the bank's business agenda. Through a series of determined steps - including the formation of the "Spiritual Unfoldment Society" at the bank - he managed to fulfill his mission and simultaneously formulate his values-based organizational development system.

Today, Barrett is head of his own consulting firm, Richard Barrett and Associates, LLC, and he is using his values-based system in working with organizations throughout the world. He is quick to point out that all of the organizations with which he works have values. The question is whether those values resonate internally with employees searching for deeper meaning in their work lives, as well as externally with a society increasingly favoring businesses that exhibit advanced levels of social consciousness.

The book cites revealing data from several research studies to support Barrett's claim of shifting trends in employee and social attitudes. The Cone/Roper Marketing Trends Report shows that 76% of consumers in 1997 said they would switch to brands associated with a good cause if price and quality were equal. That figure is up from 66% in 1993. On the employee front, a study conducted by Students for Responsible Business with 2,100 students at 50 graduate business programs found that 50% said they would accept a lower salary to work for a "very socially responsible" company. Perhaps more revealing, 43% claimed they would not work for a company that was not socially responsible.

Data like that is not being lost on some of the country's leading business figures. In his book, Barrett quotes Levi Strauss CEO, Robert Haas, as stating "In the next century, a company will stand or fall on its values."

None of the enthusiasm for this growing trend is much of a surprise to Barrett. "People naturally feel better about themselves and their companies when they see a clear sense of values, vision and compassion driving management decisions and actions," he says. And there's good news in that for the people watching the bottom line, because those positive feelings will translate into greater loyalty, stronger performance, and higher profits. It's a win-win outcome all the way around."

Liberating the Corporate Soul is now on sale at major bookstores across the country.

Although the title appears simple, every page has condensed, meaty points which are easy to understand and make sense. The authors obviously understand that one needs to "listen" before any self improvement can be addressed. Very pro-active and lets the reader know s/he will succeed.

A practical, concise guide that will enhance the communication skills of the novice and veteran administrator.
The book teaches you to be a more effective listener and communicator.
While it is an essential tool for a supervisor, It belongs on the book shelf of everyone who wants to be successful in the workplace.

A first glance at this book, an hour before a meeting, grabbed my attention and I grew curious to see if the authors' plan for effective meetings would be reflected in my own workplace. The truth? Lemay and Schwamberger's advice on providing an agenda and keeping discussions on track would have made that long afternoon much more worthwhile! A quick and interesting read, their guide leads the average person to realize how simple it can be to achieve excellence at work.

The collaborative work of Eunice LeMay and Jane Schwamberger (who together draw upon a total of sixty years of experience and experience working and managing in libraries and the business world), "Listen Up!: How To Communicate Effectively At Work" is a compilation of apply-it-yourself skills for communicating effectively with customers, clients, co-workers, and bosses regardless of gender, cultural, or generational differences. Readers of "Listen Up!" will learn how to identify their own (and others) learning and workplace behavioral types. This will lead to an enhanced ability to foster teamwork, reduce stress, and improve performance. Based on the concept that listening is the foundation of good communication, "Listen Up!" is confidently recommended reading for anyone seeking to increase productivity and job satisfaction for themselves, their employees, their management, their vendors, and their customers.

This is a truly helpful and practical book for both supervisors and staff. As a retired Library Director I wish it had been available when I was working. It should be essential reading for anyone in a supervisory position. Presented in a clear, easy to digest format, it addresses many of the communication problems that organizations face. Using this book as a source for a staff workshop would be a great idea. Thanks to authors LeMay and Schwamberger those who wish to improve communications and resolve problems at work have a great tool.

If you're frustrated with your career or if you've been hopping from company to company looking for the perfect job, this book is a must-read. Most jobs, authors Joe Frodsham and Bill Gargiulo believe - perhaps overoptimistically - already offer the possibility of satisfying work. Frodsham and Gargiulo provide a step-by-step guide to finding the things you truly love to do - your "passions." Once you understand these deep personal needs, then you can retool your job to meet them. The authors caution against switching organizations except as a last resort. We recommend this book to perennial job-seekers. If you absorb its information and do the internal work it advises, perhaps you, too, can attain "career wealth" right where you are. Hint: "career wealth" is not the same thing as earning a lot of money, just a lot of satisfaction.

"Make it Work" is a rare find. A book that gets right to the principles and practices that will transform your career and your life.

So many people that are unhappy in their current jobs look outside at what appears to be the greener pastures. A large percentage eventually succumbs to the illusion of "it's better over there" and change jobs, only to find that there really is little difference. Many of the others remain at their job, happy in the security and stability, yet inwardly unhappy and resentful. The authors make a powerful case for another option, instead of looking over the fence, scan your current pasture with an idea of applying the proper fertilizer and periodic watering. In other words conduct a detailed examination of your current company and your passions and see if there is compatibility between your passions and what the company needs.
Options are that some job description needs to be changed, a current job needs to be done differently, a new one created or a job developed where there is no detailed description. The positions of the authors make an enormous amount of sense for employees and employers. The cost of losing a productive employee is enormous, so it makes economic sense for employers to be reasonably flexible in allowing employees to expand their horizons. Changing jobs is a traumatic experience that should be carefully thought out and often fails to generate an improvement in your emotional, psychological and professional well being. Therefore, if you can find or create something better where you are at, then by all means you should do so.
A self-help book that makes sense, contains nothing that generated the "what a crock" reaction when I read it, and has a lot of sound, practical advice, it should be read by everyone who is unhappy in their current job.

This is a must read if you want to be successful in your organization! "Make it Work" cuts through the jargon and lies, and really enables you to apply principles for success. It's unleashed my heart and career, and I am forever grateful for it.

I picked it up and I couldn't put it down. It's got the right tools and advice for a person that career minded. It also made me realize that I can get the brio that I want out of my career, just where I am. This is a great read!

A must read for any activists. Easy to understand and yet effective.

This is the how-to book I wish I had written. It's perfect for activists, charities, government agencies, even PTAs! No one can sell an idea or cause better than the person who believes in it--this book gives you the basics and more on how to get your campaign or event in the news.

The most difficult task for any activist or organization is getting noticed. With an influx of so many news agencies and mediums it's hard getting noticed by reporters and editors.

This book shows you how to make your cause 'interesting' to those who matter in getting your message across: the Media.

You'll learn how to do several things like give speeches, create an identity, use props & mascots and more.

Although it could have probablly included more in-depth detail and 'how-to' it was certainly worth the investment.

Bottom Line: Worthwhile addition for any activist or their organization. Invaluable for the person in charge of making causes and campaigns noticed!

Outstanding on all fronts. No jargon - all facts. Salzman shares his secrets and tells you how to figure out making your work into news. In this image-crazed age, this book is a must.

Gearing up a new issues education/activist organization, I read this invaluable tome. Then I called its author (Jason Salzman) to find proteges of his whom I might hire on the East Coast. After talking with him over a couple weeks, I hired him and have tremendously benefitted from his experience, wisdom and creativity. Not often we can hire the guy "who wrote the book." If you can't hire him yourself (try though), his book lays out the science and art of garnering media for you to tout your cause.

The Origins of Order will be viewed in the future as a milestone in shifting the existing Darwinian paradigm in biology from a "survival of the fittest" (natural selection) to a new paradigm focused on explaining the "arrival of the fittest" through self-organisation.
Using a boolean (NK) network model and a extensive amount of biological facts, Stuart Kauffman demonstrates in a powerful
way the central role of self-organisation in the creative process of life. His vision that biology seems to operate
as self-organised non-linear dynamical systems at the edge of chaos will have as much influence in biology that a similar vision offered by Nobel prize winner Prigogyne in the field of thermodynamcis. The book connects a web of fundamental ideas from the fields of biology, physics, mathematics and computer sciences and requires a strong background in biology that I unfortunately did not possess. The laborious style, the lack of clarity in the writing and the (unnecessary) length of the book should not stop anyone from reading this amazing book.
Stuart Kauffman combines an intellect and a vision that only very few scientists possess. This book is a must.

Kauffman believes that spontaneous self-ordering, which both simple and complex systems can exhibit, must be incorporated into evolutionary biology, along with traditional random variation and natural selection. Certain complex systems will be spontaneously self-ordering. Natural selection then tends to push such systems to the edge of chaos. In addition to advancing Kauffman's theories, this reference provides a good overview the Neo-Darwinian synthesis, a review of origin of life theories, a review of genetic regulatory theory, and a review of cell differentiation.

It took me a whole summer to read this book in 1993 and it is still the most amazing book I have ever read. If you are computer/mathematically inclined, have an interest in biology, and have enough time to digest it, this book will blow you away. It contains the most amazing hypotheses to come out since 1859. Unfortunately, it takes a huge investment in time to really read this book, but an epiphany awaits those who get through it.

Stuart Kauffman has an MD and is a generalist. The book deals primarily with theory and understanding of computer simulations of state driven systems of large numbers of connected nodes. It examines how such systems evolve through mutation and gives a clear understanding of the limited role of natural selection in comparison to the self-organizing forces at work within such systems. It examines the meta-interaction of sub-systems of interacting states (attractor basins) that occur within a system. In English: it gives the first theoretical framework for understanding just how it is that cells which all contain identical DNA express themselves as some number of stable cell types. Normally a cell will react to a perturbation in whatever way will return it to its base stable cycle (attractor loop). One type of cell turns into another type when just the right perturbation kicks the system from one attractor basin into a different attractor basin.

This is heavier reading than his popular science book, At Home in the Universe, but preferable for anyone with the necessary tiny amount of knowledge of genetics and logic operations. There are few equations of any kind. The results apply to more than just biological systems.

The book is long because instead of just presenting a few principles that you can try to remember abstractly, he leads you through all the important steps of his research and gives you a real feel for how complex systems actually evolve and operate. The book raises more questions than it answers, as it should be for a book of such originality and importance.

When you fully grok the contents of this book you'll be so excited you'll want to rush and explain it to someone else, which will be utterly impossible, so you'll probably have to lend them your book, buy them the popular version, or face the fact that you are now relatively alone on a higher plane.

The deep future will see this as a very important book. The first to consider the deepest layer of reality. Anyone interested in GA's or ANN needs to start here. This book is pure foundation. Stand on it and you stand on solid ground.