Organizations Books

The authors lay out a pattern of all the ways companies choose to deal with "irrisistible forces and unstoppable events" in their businesses. As the phrase implies, these events happen in all businesses, and the authors explain how, if leveraged correctly, these can often be a catalyst to greater growth in your business.

They describe irrisistible force stalls and their causes - useful if your small business isn't performing as you'd hoped - they offer solid advice that will give you a plan of action and get you back on track.

They detail common stalls and how to deal with them - "stallbusting" they call it. The stalls they find most common (and certainly these sound like familiar "stalls" used by some of my small business marketing clients when they come to me for help) are:

The directionless stall
The wishful thinking stall
The helplessness stall
The defensiveness stall
The independence stall
The overoptimisim stall
The cover up stall
The underestimation stall

As a means to understanding what could be stopping your small business from achieving its full potential, and what actions to take - I highly recommend it. It's packed with information, so it's not a quick read, but well worth the time investment for the success of your small business.

This book, with the significant stall busting tools and theories, enabled me to understand stall busting and develop new habits. It enabled me to understand the process of irresistible force management and importance of measuring performance to achieve exponential success. It helped me to develop 2000 percent solutions for the organization's future best practice to become the world's leading company in delivering its product at low cost.

Irresistible forces are unstoppable events and forces that shape our opportunities and callenges. This remarkable resource will enable you to move rapidly ahead of competitors by utilising powerful trends to best advantage. Learning to be flexible is one of management's toughest challenges. The Irresistible Growth Enterprise shows you how to be adroit and energised by unexpected changes. Tomorrow's leaders will be those who excel at using all irresistible forces to best advantage. The Irresistible Growth Enterprise offers you the key to grasping your full potential for immediate and sustained breakthroughs. Rather than living optimistically in the vague hope that neither negative job events will happen to you, you should always be prepared to see the events for what they are - opportunities for you to flourish. The fundamwental premise of the book is that no matter how successful you and your organisation are, you are performing at a modest level compared to the potential you can unleash through adopting the irresistible growth enterprise. The barrier to irresistible growth is not unstoppable, uncontrollable external changes, but fixed and frequently unexamined ideas of how to respond to these changes. Companies that have ridden such forces well in the past have grown from start ups to billion dollar sales corporations in ever-shorter periods of time. Making quick and best use of rapid changes in powerful conditions noone can control is the key to becoming an irresistible growth enterprise. By utilising the processes presented in this book, you can learn to catch the full benefit of today's volatile and rapidly changing forces and spur your enterprise on to greater and rapid growth than ever before.The Irresistible Growth Enterprise has a serious and important purpose: to make you and your organisation much more successful by having you ask and answer new and better questions than you have been using to analyse and plan your activities. Unlike most business books the Irresistible Growth Enterprise on what new things to do rather than on how to improve existing practices. This book shows you how to harness the key lessons and other useful concepts and tools in one integrated process, that will improve your performance across a broad range of activities from creating a vision to leadership and implementation. Changes is an inevitable consequence of staying in business these days. This book leads you to an understanding of the drivers of that change and provides guidance in turning changes into sustainable competitive advantage.

Donald Mitchell provides truly invaluable insight into how to prepare for the only guaranteed constant of the future - the change. He teaches not only how to prepare for it but how to welcome it, how to nurture it and how to spot the irresistible forces than can be used effectively to maximise our own success, instead of letting them work against us.

This book is different from any other that I have read in a way that it guides us to think far ahead beyond the scope of our own imagination. Put Mitchell's suggestions in actual practice in the workplace or your personal life and you potentially hold the keys of control of your success for the decades ahead.

This book is filled with such a vast amount of substantial information that reading it just once is not enough. To make a full use of it, it should be read repeatedly and reviewed time and time again. This is what I am going to do. If I would have a choice of having only 25 business books in my library, this would be one of them.

The authors lay out a road map for managers that, if followed, will permit them to take advantage of forces beyond their control. The book explains and teaches how senior managers can benefit from flexibility when they confront irresistible forces and provide a set of principles for shaping vision, strategy, tactics, management process and organizational structure. You will be able to identify external factors and obsolete ways of thinking that may be limiting your progress and success.

This is a brilliant and thought-provoking book that discusses the nature of irresistible growth enterprises, that is, those able to routinely employ the momentum of unstoppable external forces, such as technology advances and shifts in markets. Such agile organizations can use these forces as sources of power or energizers for creating and implementing 2 000 percent solutions, namely ones that produce 20 times or more the benefit or speed of the average person.

This book does a great job in analyzing the traits of the great wealth creators. I've read several books on this topic and most of them are very unfocused and biographical instead of focusing on the traits (not the person) and making an argument on why they are important. The book is very well-written and focused and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in what makes these successful people tick.

"Look past the range of the moment, you who cry that you fear to compete with men of superior intelligence, that their mind is a threat to your livelihood, that the strong leave no chance to the weak in a market of voluntary trade. . . . When you live in a rational society, where men are free to trade, you receive an incalculable bonus: the material value of your work is determined not only by your effort, but by the effort of the best productive minds who exist in the world around you. . . ."
(Atlas Shrugged)

If that quotation, by Ayn Rand, hits home with you, you'll love this book by Edwin Locke.

The Prime Movers shows us what it takes to be successful in business and in life. This is not a comprehensive study of everything that applies to the topic of becoming a wealth-creator, but the author does a really good job of showing examples of what virtues are possessed by prime movers past and present. He also draws some insightful conclusions about why volition is a key to any success.

Great book for anyone interested in succeeding in becoming an independant thinker and creator.

How does one make money morally?

This book is far and away better than books by or about a single CEO because it looks at many leaders and clearly shows what is fundamental, discarding the rest. The same principles needed to run a successful company and build wealth apply whether one runs a modest store or a gigantic enterprise (or even a modest department in a large company). In today's culture most people would rather cut down and sling dirt at those at the top. It is therefore very refreshing to read why they should be admired and how to follow in their footsteps.

Ed Locke's _The Prime Movers_ is a fairly detailed and empirical analysis of the traits common to great business leaders. Using businessmen (and women) of the past and present as both positive and negative examples throughout, Locke makes an excellent case that traits such as independent vision, a relentlessly active mind, egoistic passion for work, and love of ability in others are essential for great success in business. (Locke then breaks down each of these traits into subcomponent traits, discussing each in turn.) Despite some painfully Objectivist bits, this book was an inspiring and informative look into what makes the movers and shakers of the economy so successful.

There is a tidal wave of Leadership and How To's out there on the market. Having read most of the best sellers, this book stands out as one that will have a lasting effect on how Leaders and Managers think of their mission. I particularly enjoyed the development of the levels/stages of teams. The sought after level five is where history is made and teams see beyond their current task. When you get right down to it, it is about legacy. Are you enriching the lives of others or not? The authors cleverly use real life case studies that give us a guidepost on just how to make this a reality in our own lives and businesses.

I plan to keep this one close to my desk and refer back to it many times. It is an excellent teaching and coaching tool for developing effective teams.

As CEO Coach, Poet and author of a leadership book that helps leadrs unleash their genius and the genius of their corporations, I find this book a great resource for leading change. They help you understand the nature of corporate tribes and how to move people up to higher levels of performance. A must read. Paul David Walker Unleashing Genius: Leading Yourself, Teams and Corporations

Amidst the thousands of management books that are released each year, very few present fresh and new concepts that change the way we look at things.

Tribal Leadership is one of these books.

In their book, Logan, King, and Fischer-Wright provide a wonderful new perspective on the natural groups and dynamics that exist within organizations, and shed light on new approaches for leaders that seek to influence more effectively by taking advantage of these "tribes".

A definite must-read for 2008.

Manoj Pawar

Dave Logan and his team deliver poignant concepts in an easy to read and entertaining book that will quite likely change your perspective on your culture at work and also your personal life. It is a must read for those interested in increasing efficiency and enhancing relationships. The 5 stages approach make sense and the authors give clear recommendations on how you and your team can progress through the stages.

Very few managers appreciate the "human" factor of an organization. This results in talented managers being alienated by talented staff, leading to failure for the entire organization. This book provides the insight, analysis and guidance to effectively lead diverse teams and waste less time struggling against them.

It is different from, and for many purposes, better than a science textbook. More than enough science books have been written, but TNIK is better because it teaches readers how to think about the data on which science is built. Its fresh approach to understanding the natural world as well as human-made systems is a noteworthy improvement over the plug-in, grind-out perspective that academic classes typically offer and that turns off students.

I expected the author to talk much about statistical analysis and related "technical stuff". I had been very wrong. In fact, the book can be regarded as a warning to common people about the "irrelevancy" and "inaccuracy" of data or information we encounter or process so that we can perform better analysis of on our own. As from pg 197, "of primary importance from this book are the following lessons:-"

- Don't be intimidated by anyone (esp those know-it-alls)
- Be a critical thinker
- Don't confuse what's countable with what really counts
- Get organized
- Question authority
- Dig into the numbers
- Focus on the essential
- Document, document, document
- Use the internet
- Remember that others don't care as much about your work as you do
- Synthesis follows analysis

In short, a good read. Dont miss it.

p.s. I like the following quotes from the book very much. (The author did use over 31 quotes with at least one for each chapter)

Just because I use a study to refute another study does not mean my study is right. It just means I believe it. Caveat Emptor. - Cynthia Crossen

Whether or not someone else knows it all isn't really relevant; the only thing that's relevant is what you know and what you do. - Robert Ringer

This is an entertaining and well written book on some of the do's and don'ts of data analysis. To quote from Dr. Beers review below, "The main emphasis is on the art of data interpretation." Indeed there are useful tools here for performing sanity checks and for asking critical questions about all sorts of data collections. ... The examples are, at best, sketchy and few in number. The anectodes are amusing but not terribly informative. I would have much preferred more concrete examples and further discussion on some technical matters. ....

"Turning Numbers Into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving" should be required reading for anyone engaged in producing, reading, or analysing information. Based on the title one might assume that I mean numerical information, but that is not the case at all. The basic principles, such as how to sift through information and the importance of documentation of sources, are important parts of any information product. In fact, except for the sections on graphs, tables, normalizing data and a few others, the rest of the book (fully at least three quarters of it) is dedicated to determining what constitutes good information, good techniques, good analysis, good documentation, etc. This is a book on problem solving techniques and analysis of the information products of others.

Filled with useful tools and tips for problem solving under real-life situations it is one of the most useful books available. "Turning Numbers Into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving" is a masterful work in the area of critical analysis and a highly recommended read for anyone involved in creating or using information of any kind.

While no doubt I've heard many of nuggets contained in the book over the course of my high school and college days, I found Koomey's book a pleasurable read and useful synthesis of approaches and tips for completing quality research and analyses. Internalizing Koomey's advice is going to help most readers be more discriminating consumers of published research and better authors of their own research. It's a reference source I've already gone back to myself in just a few weeks and a great training resource for new consultants my company hires.

I enjoyed it thoroughly--did a great job of separating fact from fiction. I highly recommend it.

I have been a Freemason for over five years and have read over 40 Freemason related books. This book is the first one that comprehensively covers the entire Masonic field. I often lend this book to friends who are considering joining a Masonic Lodge.

I WAS SURPRISED ABOUT THIS BOOK, IT'S FULL OF INFORMATION THAT DESTROYS PREJUDISM ABOUT FREEMASONRY. THERE'S A LOT OF SIMBOLISM THAT COULD BE MISINTERPRETATED AND OBVIOUSLY PREJUDICED. SO, THIS BOOK IS AN IDEAL GUIDE TO REVEAL THE MISTERY OR "SECRET" AND GET WELL INFORMATED ABOUT THIS ANCIENT AND EXCELLENT FRATERNITY THAT CONSTRUCTS BETTER HUMANS IN ALL OVER THE WORLD.

ESTE LIBRO ME SORPRENDIÓ, ESTÁ LLENO DE INFORMACIÓN QUE DESTRUYE LOS PREJUICIOS SOBRE LA MASONERÍA. HAY MUCHO SIMBOLISMO QUE PUEDE SER MALINTERPRETADO Y OBVIAMENTE PREJUZGADO. POR TANTO, ESTE LIBRO LO CONSIDERO UNA GUIA IDEAL PARA CONOCER LA MASONERÍA Y SUS "SECRETOS" ASI COMO PARA ESTAR MEJOR INFORMADO ACERCA DE ESTA ANTIGUA Y EXCELENTE INSTITUCIÓN QUE HA CONSTRUIDO MEJORES SERES HUMANOS EN TODO EL MUNDO.

I enjoyed this book greatly, as a new Mason I found it gave helpful information and helped answer some of my wife's questions and concerns about the Lodge. Not a complete history, based on other research I have done, but a good concise history.

Lots of good general information. Not state specific, and doesn't have any of the "secrets" in it, but a lot of truth for all memebers of the family or freinds to read.

I cannot tell you how rough this year has been. I felt like I was drowning in "have to do" and "I wish I coulds." This book helped me connect my true wishes, secret desires and priorites. I was free to let go of the rest. I was even able to deal with conflicting emotions surrounding a romance. I have had this book for awhile and have used it at different points, but 2008 marked the first time in a long time I was in overload mode. I happened to notice the book "waiting" for me on a side table in my living room. I picked it up and I have felt better since that day.

I bought this organizer on the basis of the other reviews here.

At the time, I was looking for a way of planning and reflecting that enabled me to be more flexible about both what matters to me and more respectful of the range of mood and other influences that are part of life. I've been dipping into the organizer and thinking about how I can integrate Ms Louden's suggestions into my own experiences.

This is not so much a book describing a linear journey as it is a variety of maps for the journeyer to choose from.

And now, it is 2008, I am ready to start! In the meantime, I have purchased two additional copies of the Organiser as gifts.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Whether you are organized or unorganized, this book provides a way to get in touch with your deepest values and goals. This is a great starting place for anyone wishing they had more balance in their life and the author's emphasis on treating yourself with kindness and respect is refreshing and encouraging.

I ask myself, why does a woman need a life organizer? What has happened to create a need for us to seek answers through various devices and advice gurus? We've become so goal-oriented we can't even listen to our own intuition. Simply lying on the earth should give us any answers we need, but we're too busy, too stressed, to do even that. So we turn to today's guidance, often in the form of books, to find out how to come home to ourselves.

One of our helpers is Jennifer Louden, also known as "The Comfort Queen." Louden is the author of several books including the bestselling The Women's Comfort Book and is devoted to nurturing women to express their "true creative power." I love books and look to them for inspiration and, frequently, affirmations of what I already know. This one is a heart-based, spirit-directed approach to listening to ourselves.

The Life Organizer is glossy, full of color and original artwork, and is written in Louden's warm, over-the-back-fence, casual style. She doesn't offer advice, but rather, "a collection of possibilities to inspire you in creating your way of participating with life and with your gifts."

Those possibilities are ways to stop and "tune in to what you really want and what you really know." She notes five main steps that make up the life-organizing process: connect, feel, inquire, allow and apply. Louden cautions readers not to focus on the five steps, but rather on your own life experiences, posing questions to assist you in getting in touch with your life experiences.

Besides the main steps to help you "create your optimum life day by day, moment by moment," Louden offers six "life-planning concepts." All of these suggestions grew out of Louden's busy life experiences and the intuitive planner she created for herself, which she shared with her coaching clients and those who attended her workshops and retreats. The results, and the stories of several of those women, are included.

"Shadow Comforts and Time Monsters" is one of Louden's life-planning concepts and refers to those comforts that masquerade as self-care techniques, but in fact drain your energy. For example, chatting on a message board may be energizing, or it may be a tactic to avoid talking to your partner. Among the women Louden has coached are those "whose lives consisted almost entirely of time monsters, because they were too afraid to do what they really wanted to do." Watching TV, spending a month cooking for the holidays, and spending a week decorating your child's classroom may be among your "time monsters." Some discerning questions are helpful to consider. We so often say we don't have time, but if we look at what we're really doing with our time, a light may go on.

I particularly like the chapter on "Creating Your Life Planner." I'm a fan of journals so that's why I probably enjoyed the various approaches women have taken to crafting their own Life Planners. You may write in Louden's book, but if you need more room, a spiral notebook will work just fine. Then you need to place your life planner where you have easy access to it, by your bed, or alongside your date book. One woman constructed her own card deck using the questions throughout the book. She uses the cards as her own divination system, drawing a question card or two on which to reflect. She has decorated them with her own images so she can stare at those images and see what they spark in her.

Thirteen elegantly designed planning sections that include four weeks worth of theme-based questions also include "Stories Along the Way," true stories of women who have used Life Organizing to improve their lives.

Each week, on a two-page spread, there is space for writing your intention. Three circles provide space for completing these phrases: "let go of", "have to" and "could do." Questions, and some possible answers, give impetus to a creative and intentional week.

Although this book is full of possibilities, at the core is its intent is to bring you back to yourself, eliminating what no longer serves the life that you, in your heart of hearts, desire. It looks very organized, but in fact you can approach it in your own non-organized, non-linear way. Using it as a divinatory tool seems a good idea to me. Just open the book and see what tips and stories appear for you today.

Jennifer Louden is a bestselling author, personal coach, radio show contributor, columnist for "Body & Soul Magazine" and creator of learning events and retreats. Louden is married to cinematographer Christopher Mosio, living in a small house on an island in the Pacific Northwest, along with their daughter, Lillian.

You can share a cup of virtual tea with Jen at www.jenniferlouden.com and www.lifeorganizerbook.com.

by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviewsorg
reviewing books by, for, and about women

A perfect tool for taking charge of your life. Not a rule book, not even an advice book. Almost as if she's walked through a year of life and left a trail of bread crumbs, along with helpful guideposts pointing out potential destinations. Nary a stray hint of blame or chastisement to give credence to that irritating inner voice who loves to list for us all our shortcomings and why we don't deserve, haven't earned the life rewards we desire.

I've got a shelf full of other journaling/life path books, but this is the one that I use. It's structured enough to give direction but flexible enough to allow my passionate, artist-inside part of me to take control of the process. I bought a boxful of this book, hand them out like precious gems to all my women friends.

I really enjoyed this book and wish that it had been required reading in business school. Unlike many "business" books, this one is covers not only the theory behind what makes a good partnership but also the practice of building and maintaining a good partnership. Anyone who is part of some sort of organization, for-profit or non-profit, will find practical advice here. A must read for any entrepreneur, family business or new venture.

I'm usually not the type to make the time to write a review but with this book I felt compelled to.
There are so few books written on this topic. I've read other but this one is so comprehensive and has such amazing detailed examples.

The only negative is that it is not available in mp3 so I can listen to it. Mr. Gage, if you read these reviews could you please get to work on this.

One of my clients referred me to this book, and I now recommend it to all of my small business clients. It is perfect for developing partnerships of any type, including business, strategic and personal partnerships. It has helped me frame my vision for a number of projects, and I will continue to refer to it.

This author has done a masterful job of presenting a topic that is not talked about enough. Partnerships are hard, but how to make them easier and better is a subject that needs to be taught and discussed much more. As an avid reader, this book has been more timely and helpful to me as a partner is a successful small business than any other book, hands down.

This is a top-notch book - nicely written, smartly organized, and easy to follow and understand. It provides insightful information, telling case histories, useful checklists and exercises, and even includes a fully developed "Partnership Charter" in the appendix. Author David Gage offers an inside view of partnerships, and his case studies make the text a pleasure to read. More importantly, he shows you how to create a partnership charter that will function as your enterprise's Magna Carta in the years to come. If you are planning a partnership, we advise you to study this expert presentation first. You will save yourself a lot of trouble.

It seems to me that The Fifth Discipline (the previous publication of the series) is more attacting to me. The second book can be more precise and concise in content. Generally speaking I still like these two books as a foreign reader.

The Fieldbook attempts at making the esoteric concepts of the fifth discipline more down to earth and contains a treasure trove of strategies, tools, methods and explanations on how to make the learning organization into a reality.

Thus people who have read The fifth discipline will gain the most from this book. It's a must read for people who want to make their organizations transition into a 'learning organization'

This book is a collection of theoretical summaries, reports, analyses, and strategies all quite useful to anyone interested in generating some thinking and action around change. The team of five writers (Peter Senge, Richard Ross, Bryan Smith, Charlotte Roberts, and Art Kleiner) provide some original work, but also serve as editors to a vast quantity of material drawn from practitioners, theorists, and writers in the field of organizational improvement. According to Senge, "great teams are learning organizations - groups of people who, over time, enhance their capacity to create what they truly desire to create." (p.18) This book is really about creating and building great teams. The learning organization develops its ability to reflect on, discuss, question, and change its current and past practices. To do this, people and groups in the organization need to meaningfully pursue the study and practice of the five disciplines - personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking.

The learning organization - Senge's vision for the productive, competitive, and efficient institutions of the future - is in a continuous state of change. Four fundamental questions continuously serve to check and guide a group's learning and improvement (see page 49): (1) Do you continuously test your experiences? ("Are you willing to examine and challenge your sacred cows - not just during crises, but in good times?") (2) Are you producing knowledge? ("Knowledge, in this case, means the capacity for effective action.") (3) Is knowledge shared? ("Is it accessible to all of the organization's members?") (4) Is the learning relevant? ("Is this learning aimed at the organization's core purpose?") If these questions represent the organization's compass, the five disciplines are its map.

Each of the five disciplines is explained, and elaborated in its own lengthy section of the book. In the section on "Systems Thinking" (a set of practices and perspectives, which views all aspects of life as inter-related and playing a role in some larger system), the authors build on the idea of feedback loops (reinforcing and balancing) and introduce five systems archetypes. They are: "fixes that backfire", "limits to growth", "shifting the burden", "tragedy of the commons", and "accidental adversaries". In the section on "Personal Mastery", the authors argue that learning starts with each person. For organizations to learn and improve, people within the organization (perhaps starting with its core leadership) must learn to reflect on and become aware of their own core beliefs and visions. In "Mental Models", the authors argue that learning organizations need to explore the assumptions and attitudes, which guide their institutional directions, practices, and strategies. Articles on scenario planning, the ladder of inference, the left-hand column, and balancing inquiry and advocacy offer practical strategies to investigate our personal mental models as well as those of others in the organization. In "Shared Vision", the authors make the case for the stakeholders of an organization to continually adapt their vision ("an image of a desired future"), values ("how we get to travel to where we want to go"), purpose ("what the organization is here to do"), and goals ("milestones we expect to reach before too long"). The section offers many strategies and perspectives on how to move an organization toward continuous reflection. In "Team Learning", the authors rely mostly on the work of William Isaacs and others, and make a case for educating organization members in the processes and skills of dialogue and skillful discussion.

This book is enlightening and informative. It has already found a place on my shelf for essential reference books.

Peter M Serge, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook

To quote the first few paragraphs at beginning of book:

Among the tribes of northen Natal in South Africa, the most common greeting, equivalent to "hello" in English, is the expression: Sawu bona. It literally means, "I see you." If you are a member of the tribe, you might reply by saying Sikhona, "I am here." The order of the exchange is important: until you see me, I do not exist. It's as if, when you see me bring me into existence.

This meaning, implicit in the language, is part of the spirit of ubuntu, a frame of mind prevalent among native people in Africa below the Sahara. The word ubuntu stems from the folk saying Umuntu ngumuntu nagabantu, which from Zulu, literally translates as: "A person is a person because of other people."


"I bow in honor and reverence that place within you where to the Universe resides, when you are in that place within you, and I am in that place within me, there is One." ~namaste


The five disciplines are at the CORE of a Learning Organization

1) Personal Mastery: expand your personal capacity and ability

2) Mental Models: see how our internal pictures of the world shape action and decision

3) Shared Vision: group commitment

4) Team Learning: group ability is greater than the sum of individual talents

5) System Thinking:


"When we try to bring about change in our societies, we are treated first with indifference, then with ridicule, then with abuse and then with oppression. And finally, the greatest challenge is thrown at us: We are treated with respect. This is the most dangerous stage." --A. T. Ariyaratne (Speech made at International Community Leadership Summit, Winrock, Arkansas, March 1983. This quote paraphrases and expands upon a well-known statement made by Mahatma Gandhi in his book Satyagraha in South Africa, 1982, 1979, Canon, Me.: Greenleaf books)


"An [organization] is not a machine but a living organism." --Ikujiro Nonaka /****
Fundamentals of epistemology: what is knowledge, the nature of knowledge, and what constitutes learning.
understanding is achieved after internalization.
Without experience, we cannot truly understand.
Internalization: transformation from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge, habits and culture that we do not recognize in ourselves.
Innovation is a process to capture, create, leverage, and retain knowledge.
What is your belief? A belief about images of the world - you may call it a mental model - is a very subjective thing

information is the flow of a message, while knowledge is created by accumulating information. Thus, information is a necessary medium or material for eliciting and constructing knowledge.

The second difference is that information is something passive. When we switch on a TV set, information comes regardless of my commitment. But knowledge comes from my belief, so it's more proactive.

And the organizational knowledge or intellectual infrastructure of an organization encourages its individual members to develop new knowledge through new experiences.

This dynamic process is the key to organizational knowledge creation - that is, socialization (from individual tacit knowledge to group tacit knowledge), externalization (from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge), combination (from separate explicit knowledge to systemic explicit knowledge), and internalization (from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge) [...].

[...]

Three Guiding Ideas

1) The Whole. When you are pointing a finger at the problems, notice how many fingers are pointing back at you. If you fixed the symptoms and ignore the root causes, the problems have not gone away. Another way to look at this is treat the person, not the disease. Of course treat the disease if the patient is dying, but know that the patient will get sick again because the "root causes" are stil there.

2) Community. The self is "a point of view." "The essence of being a person is being in a relationship [with] other people." You will not believe this, but each person before you is there for a reason. The reason this person is there at this moment is for you to learn something about yourself. If you ignore the person, do not ignore or forget the lesson.

3) Language. The map is not the territory. We cannot contain every bit of information that comes to us in the world, so we have to create a "map of the territory" and then refer to the map for our information. By changing a person's map, we change their reality. Language is the map, not the reality.

Senge's second serving of the Learning Organization is filled with practical tips and real-life examples from companies and organizations that have embraced the teachings of the Learning Organization successfully.

The Book is a collaboration of several writers who do a superb job of unraveling the web that is the learning organization. At times, it may seem to the reader that the book is a labyrinth of disjointed concepts and ideas. However, if you have read `The Fifth Discipline' you will find no problems following the concepts introduced. In fact, you will even understand why the writers have chosen to introduce them in that fashion. If you have not read "The Fifth Discipline', do not despair, it will take a little longer to get `the whole picture'.
The Book is divided into 8 main sections:

1) Getting Started addresses the basic concepts and ideas of the Learning Organization.
2) Systems Thinking (the fifth discipline) - Many people have argued that Senge should have delegated the fifth discipline until the end, however, without Systems Thinking, your vision is disjointed and incomplete.
3) Personal Mastery covers the area of individual development and learning. The chapters here are among the most valuable in the area of self-growth and self-improvement.
4) Mental Models - These are the pictures that you have in your head which represent reality.
5) Shared Vision - You've seen the whole picture, you've developed and you understand how you see the world. Now you need to find a common cause with the rest of the people in your organization, something that you all work for.
6) Team Learning - As you work with other people in teams or groups, you need to pass the stuff that you have learnt and the wisdom you've acquired to others. At this stage, the learning is no longer that of the individual, but the group.
7) Arenas of Practice - (Self explanatory)
8) Frontiers - Where do we go from here.

If you are interested in development, learning, growth, leadership, gaining a competitive edge whether at an organizational or personal level, then this book is for you. In fact, I'd venture to say that this is book is for everyone.

I received my books in great shape and in a very timely fashion. Would order from this place again...Thanks so much!!

Just started book ,but am truly amazed at simplicity yet depth of information to live and serve as a Christian in this life. Am anxious to finish and apply.

This is a great book. It is helpful for counselors, but also very practical for self-help. It is eye opening to say the least--helps to get to the heart of problems.

I was only about ten pages into this book before I realized that it was very, very good. And it kept getting better. It is not only theologically sound in the sense of not containing noticeable errors, but also deals with its subject matter in a theologically astute way. And in addition to being theologically sound, it is pastoral and practical. I have no doubt that I will return to it again and again in pastoral ministry.

The main idea of the book is that all believers should be doing what Tripp calls "personal ministry," helping people to see themselves and their situations in a biblical light, and work to be conformed more to the image of Christ. Most of his stories and application have to do with pastoral ministry or professional Christian counseling, but the principles could apply just as well to a small group leader, or any Christian who wishes to be used by God to minister to others. In examining our lives, we (and the people we counsel) need to understand the fundamental teachings of the Bible on God and humanity. We have to understand that we are fallen, that sin has pervaded every aspect of our lives. As a result we sin, we suffer from the effects of others' sin, and we respond sinfully to that suffering. Sin is not an occasional mix-up in an otherwise well-functioning system; it is a constant reality that is at play in every situation we deal with. We must also understand, though, that as believers we have been fundamentally changed by the gospel. We have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and we have been filled with the Holy Spirit, so that we really are able to fight against the power of sin ad walk in increasing obedience to God's commands. In short, all of us are "people in need of change," God gives us the means by which to change, and we are called to help each other change.

This book is a great introduction to personal ministry, especially for a pastor. The examples were a little dramatic, and it could be discouraging for someone who isn't dealing with marriages that are falling apart or people who were abused as children. But Tripp's principles are a great paradigm for any Christian who desires to minister to others and build deeper relationships within the body of Christ.

I was given this book by a mentor of mine and told that it would be extremely helpful. The problem is that I saw it was deemed a "counseling" book on the back, so I moved on for a while before I picked it up and read it. I continued to see the book on the "Best Seller's" list at many sites that I admire, so I finally picked the book up and started to read. I have to be honest, if I were to try and write all that I learned this review would turn into a novel itself.

Paul David Tripp really unpacks a three part effort.

One: To show me who I am
Two: Who others are
Three: How to practically minister to them, and accept their ministering to me

This book gets to the root of the issues and he even starts with the theological impact of understanding who God is and then who we are, namely: we aren't perfect, we need change, and we need help in that changing process from Christ and others.

This book not only unfolds what we are to do in daily ministering opportunities, but he unpacks the practical ways to do them. One of my favorite quotes in the book is that:

"We often say we need to preach the Word, but we also need to counsel the Word."

That is what this book is all about. It is how to counsel the Word of God to those in everyday life that need change just like you and I. What will hinder this book is that some will think it is only for the pastor or counselor, but it's intention is for all believers and it is written that way and is desperately needed for today's church.

I have already used the book and will continue to go back to it to try and unpack my shortcomings and also to help others do the same when they are in need of ministering. I know this is not the "hot topic" of discussion around the water cooler, but this book is much more needed in today's world that wants to only deal with actions instead of the root of those actions, namely, our darkened heart in need of the power of Christ. You will learn how to effectively and biblically (synonymous terms) counsel another as they ask a simple question or are having everyday life problems, instead of giving a "pat" answer or reciting Scripture and telling them to pray about it. I cannot recommend this book more highly.

One of the best networking books on the market!
This book confirms the fact that when it comes for networking, relationships, social behaviour etc, women are better than men, as studies indicate, and this great book written by the "Queen of Networking" fully prove this.

Not only is this book worth a million dollars to businesses, we use it to coach and interview candidates who come to us seeking jobs in the arts and culture industry. People need to be proactive about their careers, and Neirenberg's networking strategies will become second nature and add to career success. We featured it in our Art Career Newsletter to raving reviews. Geri Thomas, President, artstaffing.com

Author Andrea Nierenberg is president of Nierenberg Group Inc. which trains in customer service, sales, and networking: as such she's been heralded as a whiz at setting up businesses using networking strategies, and now you don't have to visit her to benefit: MILLION DOLLAR NETWORKING does it for you, providing her first book packed with networking tips and insider savvy. A set of rules common to any type of business on how to develop effective networking strategies accompanies chapters of steps for establishing these connections. From the etiquette of giving and taking information to creating strategic business alliances, MILLION DOLLAR NETWORKING: THE SURE WAY TO FIND, GROW AND KEEP YOUR BUSINESS is essential for any who would profit.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

We are not taught how to network in college, or perhaps anywhere else in our natural path of life. Well, this book teaches you all you wanted to know and much more. Even as a student and an introvert by nature, I have made contacts and developed meaningful friendships and professional relationships by using the tools from this book. Get this book, you will thank yourself!

What is the best way to grow your business, further your name recognition and meet new people all at the same time? Learn to effectively and efficiently network. Many people see networking as a burden but Nierenberg flips the script giving you motivation to get your networking on. MILLION DOLLAR NETWORKING is packed full of useful advice, time saving tips, along with all the how to's and what for's. Even though this book is stocked in the business section, it should be read by people looking for employment, business owners, and everyday people wanting more out of life.

MILLION DOLLAR NETWORKING is a follow-up to Nierenberg's "Nonstop Networking" but can easily be used as a stand alone and provides new information. The easy to read format, clever stories, and use-it-now ideas will increase your networking skills making you more marketable. Reading this book has provided keys to increasing my networking circle and I'm sure it will do the same for you.

Reviewed by:
Deltareviewer
Reviewing for Real Page Turners