Resources Books

You must try the Asparagus Pesto! By my calculations, a batch of this makes more and costs less than store-bought pesto. (Also less oily, if you wish.)

This book is easy to read and use. The information is presented clearly and it is easy to understand. This book is a great source book to teach yourself solar cooking. It is also easy to include younger children. Older children could pick it up and teach themselves from reading it. The recipes are of a wide variety so there should be a favorite for just about everyone. It isn't too "new age" as some other books on this subject. Outlines food safety issues very well with easy to remember rules and suggestions for building your own solar cooker. Easy enough for a child to do.

Just picked up the book yesterday and read it from cover to cover last night. Great opening section about how solar cooking works. I haven't seen it explained more clearly anywhere else. Great explanations on how to build your own- two types. And the recipes look wonderful. I'll be trying many of them when I finish building mine.

I must say this book is a real gem. It is small but contains some good information. Half the book is information on solar cooking and it even tells you how to build two simple solar cookers from things you probably have around the house or can get cheap. The other half of the book contains recipes for cooking with your solar cooker. Excluding the recipes, the book can be read in a few hours at most. After which you will know enough to be able to build your own solar cooker and be cooking in no time. The book also gives sources for buying a cooker should you really want to do so.

I built a panel cooker in about an hour or two following the easy instructions. The next day I cooked a meal with it using a recipe I modified a bit to work with the cooker. It turned out better than I thought it would to be honest. I have cooked several dishes using the cooker now and everything has turned out great. I personally find the food to be of better quality than the typical high heat cooking usually done on stoves and ovens.

Most recipes can be adapted to be cooked with sunshine so you are not limited to what is provided in the book. As the book says a general rule is a conventional recipe will take about twice as long to cook in the solar cooker. I found this to be about true, though it might take just a little longer but doubling the time seems to be about right.

If you are interested in learning how to build a solar cooker and start cooking with one then I recommend getting this book. It keeps things pretty simple and easy while still giving you the information you need to start cooking good meals with free energy from the sun.

I usually preview my books by borrowing them from the library to see if they are worth buying. This is one that I chose for my personal collection.

I also checked out "Cooking with the Sun" (by Halacy and Halacy), which had some good introductory information and interesting-looking recipes. However, as soon as I got to the list of supplies needed for actually building their solar oven (plywood, fiberglass insulation, 1/16" thick aluminum or iron sheets, double-strength window glass, etc.) I gave up. My tools are limited to hammers and screwdrivers, and I didn't even know what some of the required items were, much less what to do with them.

This book, by contrast, has wonderful, step-by-step, illustrated directions on how to make a solar oven (box cooker) using simple stuff I have at home (cardboard boxes, newspaper, aluminum foil, turkey oven-roasting bag, Elmer's glue, etc.). There are also simple-looking directions for making a reflective-panel cooker.

I love how this book caters to the average Joe (or Josephine) who wants to cook with solar but doesn't want to spend a bundle to get started. The book gives lots of recommendations for improvising inexpensive options in cookware, explaining what works best and what doesn't work so well (and why!). For example, two dark 9" cake pans held together with large binder clamps (those things used in offices to hold large quantities of paper together) can work just as well as an expensive enameled dutch oven.

Recognising what is toxic to you is perhaps a good starting point. Many of us spend more time with the people we work with than those we've chosen to spend our lives with. Most of us make assumptions that what offends or upsets us is the same for everyone else. This is not so.

In this book, Dr Lubit provides - with humour - descriptions of different types of managers and of different management techniques that can make working life hell.

Being aware of toxic behaviour and being able to manage its impact are two quite separate things. Dr Lubit provides insights into the former and resources to help individuals and groups deal with the latter.

I've had this book on my management bookshelf since it was published and find it an excellent resource both on a personal level and as part of mentoring other staff.

Highly recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Lubit's volume, "Coping with Toxic Managers and Subordinates," should be considered a standard reference for veteran and new professional staff, experienced and beginning managers, and leaders of all non-profit organizations, especially cultural ones. Colleagues have said that these conclusions apply to all organizations.

Non-profits and cultural organizations face major management challenges today. For example, while the number of museums has increased, there has been a great decrease in total funding. To stay competitive, these organizations have had to make fundamental changes in their operations and rely on a new breed of managers and professionals. This has been complicated by strong internal resistance to change. As a result, many cultural organizations find themselves unable to harness the talents of their staff and, instead, find productivity decreasing and morale dropping rapidly. High turnover, unhappiness and anger make for unmanageable environments.

Lubit's book contains excellent strategic thinking for dealing with the rapidly changing settings. Incorporating insights from experience in psychiatry, business management, and organizational leadership, Lubit provides a a comprehensive, hands-on guide for dealing with your superiors, subordinates and peers. This book is very complete. It describes the most troublesome types of negative and "toxic" personalities, explores the underlying reasons for the behaviors, and moves the reader from theory, to examples, to exercise sections called "Your Turn". The book is well organized, snappily written, and easy to use. It is complete with detailed "how to" sections, charts, and examples with both good and bad endings. This book will facilitate not just survival, but productivity and well-being in the workplace -- and elsewhere. I recommend it highly.

This author offers clear, concise writing on a classic business problem: how to work with difficult people. Who doesn't work with at least 1 difficult person? What organization does not suffer productivity or financial loss from at least 1 toxic manager?

As I read the well-defined descriptions of Toxic Managers, I couldn't help but recall the many faces of those difficult people that have crossed my own work path over the past 24 years, and how I might have dealt with them differently under Roy Lubit's construct. Surely you'll experience similar learning and benefit, as you hear what the author has to say about how to deal with the difficult people that you encounter in your work life.

This book does a tremendous service by reminding us that work IS personal after all; that organizations are organic systems made up of human beings with personalities, traits, and problems that we cannot simply turn off or leave at home, like robots. These toxic behaviors and managers, as defined by the author, represent the hard HARD work that organizations must do to fix the illusive and, often substantially, costly problems.

I am delighted to add a practical approach and book to my toolbox to help executives and managers take compassionate, actionable steps toward solving issues that typically impede business performance and progress. This book, I project, will help heal the hearts and performance of many organizations and professionals who seek a cure for whatever ails them.

I wasn't sure I would like this book. The topic of workplace psychology can be done wrong in so many ways. You can present it too clinically and thus lack any practicality. And you can slide the other way and shower the user with pop psychology check-lists and acronyms.

This book walks the ideal path deftly and presents practical workplace issues with the right blend of psychology background and practical wisdom on how to handle individuals with personality issues.

The book is organized by disorder. Each type of personality is presented in it's own chapter with what to look for. As well as how to handle that individual as a boss, a coworker and as a subordinate.

A fascinating read on it's own, and practical advice for people stuck in tough jobs where they have to contend with coworkers who have personality problems.

This book is an excellent handbook for managers who struggle with motivating 'challenging' people. It enables the reader to quickly identify types of toxic managers and provides guidance on effectively dealing with each type. Should be required reading for anyone responsible for improving company/individual performance.

Counseling with With Our Councils, was inspiring and instructive. It changed the way I administer- now and in the future. A must read for church leaders.

I enjoy reading this book. Elder Ballard said, "The Lord's church is organized with councils at every level, beginning with the Council of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and extending to stake, ward, quorum, auxiliary, and family councils." Elder Ballard teaches the importance of counsels to solve problems. A council provides valuable feedback and ideas that have significant impacts in a ward. In one case, a deacon advisor influenced the deacons quoroum to improve attendance, the ward was influenced and attendance increased and eventually impacted was felt at the stake level. Revelation, priesthood authority, and council combine to provide quality service, needed stablity, and needs safely met.

Focus on people. Council meetings should keep coordination and calendaring to a minimum. The best resources and talent are available and time is precious, use the time to talk about people's needs. Information discussed in councils should be confidential. Elder Ballard says, "All councils in the Church should encourage free and open discussion by conferring with one another and striving to have clear, concise communication. Councils should discuss objectives and concerns, with mutual understanding being the ultimate goal."

Sometimes a leader will voice his decision without counseling with his council. Priesthood leaders exercise authority to make decisions. Priesthood leaders lead with love and good example. Leaders have the benefit of the council; spiritual gifts are associated with the responsibilities of the members; and unity and purpose provide a powerful force.

The reviews given are very accurate. May I add that this is a must read for anyone serving in a leadership position in my opinion. Elder Ballard illustrates the how and why we should use councils within the church. He also includes a chapter on using councils within the family that I found very effective.

I would also recommend Leadership for Saints in conjunction with this book. I found that Leadership for Saints expanded on leadership topics beyond using councils.

If you remember, several years ago, Elder Ballard gave the same talk back to back in general conference. Remember the subject? It was on councils (See "Ensign," November 1993, "Strength in Counsel," "Ensign," May 1994, "Counseling with our Councils.")

This book is in response to those two topics, so consider this a course in ecclesiastical management and religious organizational behavior. We are not using the Church councils properly, and this book is one apostle's attempt to put us on the right track.

So often leadership is equated with office, or is seen as bossing people around. This is not only wrong, but is dead wrong. We have so many pairs of eyes in our wards and stakes: the elders presidents, the high priests, the Aaronic Priests, the Female's Relief Society, and every other auxiliaries, we are literally dying of thirst right by an artesian well.

This book has really opened my eyes. I think that we have all the helps we really need under our noses. The key is for the leaders to open the floodgates and let the people get busy. People in the ward have ideas and insights that the priesthood leaders may miss.

The whole sum of creation was began with a grand council. This is the eternal example for all of us.

Without exception this book is one of the greatest of its time. Not only does the author give accounts of how the saviour counseled others but how to apply the same principles in our everyday world. A must read for all practioners of the faith.

This is an excellent book, especially for HR/C&B practitioners. Like most HR topics, reward strategy is common sense and this book structures it neatly. A fantastic reward strategy framework - shows the inter-related nature of all stratgies and the operationalised details of a compensation strategy.

The book is comprehensive, yet accessible.

Nice to have all the PowerPooint slides on CD in the back cover, too.

This book is an excellent resource for HR professionals, compensation specialists, and line managers alike.
Well written, with great models and thought processes, yet pragmatic in its approach, this book provides a great fresh look at how to motivate employees to achieve business results.

This book is an absolute must-purchase!...
Compensation and HR professionals in general can derive great insight and value from this work. I recommend it strongly as a cornerstone of every business person's professional library.

An absolutely wonderful source of information for compensation professionals, HR professionals, and managers of all functions.
This book is a very hands-on, pragmatic handbook for building the rewards systems and structures, which will allow an organization to win the war for talent. I recommend it highly!...

If you enjoy working with university textbooks, you'll appreciate this book. It feels like a college text. It looks like a college text. It's filled with graphs and charts like a college text. It's seasoned with case studies in call out boxes. There are endnotes, as well as a bibliography. The index is so full of references, a smaller type was used-perhaps to save space.

The authors' message is that the secret to developing a creative and effective rewards strategy is based on a combination of Money, Mix, and Message. The Money aspect addresses the value of the reward(s) to the employee. The design of the plan, constructed to meet employer and employee needs, is the Mix. The Message deals with what the employer wants to communicate to its employees about appropriate values and the company's expectations. The authors describe their approach as "M3," emphasizing the need for a good balance between the three factors.

Readers will explore more than a hundred practical tools for building what they call the M3 Reward System. Financial rewards are integrated with non-financial rewards. Application of the step-by-step strategy promoted by the authors is a CD-ROM that is loaded with tools, exercises, and techniques to equip readers to tailor their own strategies to be consistent with company needs.

The authors are consultants with considerable experience in serving dozens of Fortune 500 companies. The orientation of the book, understandably, is toward larger companies. Smaller firms will still get a lot out of this text, but may have to invest some serious study time to get the full benefit of the package. The stories relating the authors' experiences are illuminating and add value for the reader who wants to gain the deeper understanding of how customized corporate reward programs are put together and managed.

Hefty price, but fully loaded.

This is a thorough and well-written book that would work well for the small to midsize business with a small or no HR department. It's loaded with sample forms and tips on creating a personnel handbook and step-by-step instructions on formatting, printing and updating it. There is a virtual plethora of pre-worded phrases, paragraphs, policies, letters, etc., as well as, possible reasons for including or eliminating certain portions.

The author even included a few sample personnel handbooks in their entirety. One merely needs to substitute one's own business info, as well as state and local specifics to make it your own customized handbook. The author also recommended you consult with an attorney regarding legal specifics and ramifications. Overall, it's like having a mini HR department you can "file away" in your bookcase at the end of the day.

Michelle Devon's DESIGN YOUR OWN EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK: HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR STAFF comes with a companion cd-rom and provides a basic instruction manual to producing an employee handbook. While the cd-rom makes it easy to just fill in the blanks with company-specific information and policies, the book does a fine job of considering the ramifications of an employee handbook, from legal considerations to difficult subjects such as safety and harassment, drug testing, reduction in wages, and more.

As a small business owner, I appreciated the direct, instructional approach of this guide. Every business should have an effective employee handbook, but after receiving quotes for hundreds and even thousands of dollars to have one written for my staff, I decided to go it alone. I was still afraid that it would take me weeks to accomplish, but after reading Design Your Own Effective Employee Handbook I actually had mine finished within a week.

This guide contains every last helpful tip and important consideration you need to know before writing your own employee handbook. My staff now refer to it often, which has saved me a lot of time in training and answering questions - I now just send them to "The Book"! Devon's guide is well organized and easy to read, which is a good thing, since I didn't have a lot of time on my hands to sift through things I didn't need to know. Her guide walked me through the planning, writing and polishing stages from start to finish; what I ended up with was a comprehensive guide including everything from legalities and a code of conduct, to a new "no tolerance" policy - things I could not have written on my own. I saved a good deal of time and money in using Devon's book to guide me through the writing of my own employee handbook, which is why I believe it's a must-have for any business owner.

If you've ever tried to organize all the employee information from within a company then you have some idea of what type of job this snowballs into. There is so much material that needs to researched, compiled and organized and properly written that most people don't even want to think about the review process and getting final approval. And just when you think you have it all, you realize there are sections you've completely forgotten about.
This book leads you step-by-step through the process. It starts of with an excellent section on how to use the guide effectively. It then leads you through each of the major steps in the process. Comprehensive chapters cover every aspect of employee information, employee classifications and even a twenty page chapter on working hours.
The author was meticulous with details and generous with samples. She's included many sample forms, covering everything from Welcome to the company forms, Sample Time Sheets to Employee Handbook Acknowledgment Forms.
If you're in a position where you're wondering if your company needs an employee handbook and you're trying to figure out what to include and how to handle certain aspects, then look no more. This book has it all.

Devon's book provides a detailed guide for creating a company handbook that will both serve your employees as well as protect the company. She provides example handbooks as well as a pre-written template where most of the work is already completed for you. The book explains which policies to include in your handbook (such as employment "at-will", work hours and break policies, reward and recognition policies, how to handle nepotism, etc). It also explains what you should and should not state in your handbook to help you avoid legal conflicts. There are many sections which are useful, but I think the most important aspect of this book is that it gets you thinking about how to create your handbook and how to avoid potential employee relation problems in the future. It also helps inspire you to really figure out what your policies are and what you want them to be and then helps you put them in place. If you want to create an employee handbook, this book contains all the information you would need to complete the task.

On the whole, this is an excellent text, but I was a bit put off some of the opening discussion. The chapter on the "Hydrogen Economy" -- while well-written -- really didn't belong in the front of this book. It feels like an opinion piece, and the discussion questions at the end of that chapter felt biased. The first few paragraphs of the book aren't about fuel cells, they're about pollution, fossil fuel use, and global warming. While these are important topics worthy of discussion, they aren't fuel cells. The same print space could have told me something about nomenclature (What's a PEM cell? You'll have to flip ahead to chapter 3 to find out).

If I'm reading this book, I get that fuel cells are an important part of our technological future. What I wanted was an unbiased exploration and explanation of the technology. I got that, mostly, but I also got the author's opinion on government regulations (the author is clearly for them, and appears to feel that they are the best -- possibly only -- way to create the Hydrogen Economy) and was told that Carbon Dioxide is a pollutant directly responsible for global warming. Reasonable people can and have disagreed with both of these assertions, and I could and have read both sides of these arguments elsewhere. I didn't need them here.

I have been looking for a book like this for some time. The math and physics are at the college level, but I figure I need to learn something new. This could be worth working on. Now to find the materials and get to building. Who knows, I might be able to convert my car, build a new airplane, or even a classy cabin cruiser. Great book.

It is an amazing book that covers all subjects related to fuel cells in an understandable manner. It is the best book to be used as text book in a fuel cell course. It is really the unique book that truthfully has the necessary amount of information to build a PEMFC.

Fuel cells are a new topic for me, and I selected this book because the title and description seemed interesting. It was a great choice because it is written in easy to understand language - making a complicated subject understandable. Although there are many parts of the book geared toward designing a fuel cell with mathematical equations - -there are also other parts that simply describe how the fuel cell works, different types of fuel cells, different sources of hydrogen, the hydrogen economy etc. A "must read" for anyone interested in fuel cell technology.

In a field where only a limited number of books are available on the subject, it is refreshing when such a well written, compressive volume is released. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The author has skillfully combined an easy to understand description of fuel cell technology with enough meat (equations) to keep an engineer satisfied. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in fuel cells.

Do your employees have the knowledge, information, and skills to make decisions and take action? According to the author, the answer to such a question lies in one word: learning. The author argues that a workforce of employees in a learning mode is the key to a company's success both now and in the future.

This book addresses four key issues that workplace learning must address: learning stages, context, learning styles, and desired outcomes. These issues are addressed with a learning system, for which the author presents a five-phase plan to creating such a learning system: exploration, envisioning, planning, development, and implementation/improvement.

The author also includes a sample of specific tools for developing an interest in learning, strategies, and programs for individual learning, learning in groups, one-on-one learning, and learning integrated into work.

'Linda Honold has produced the best book in its field. She shows clearly how learning and development can be a real force for positive change in organizations. The book is especially useful in focusing on practical, usable methods that can be applied in real life situations. It's also valuable because the approaches the book suggests are tried and tested. She comes from a background in organizational life so it's not some arm-chair theorising by an academic. Indeed I'd wish that the theoretical 'learning organization' folks would take note of this book. We need more practical, concrete approaches to improving learning not meandering theories.

This is a book that all trainers and developers should own.'

Linda Honold describes a system for helping everyone in your company learn to become more creative, responsive, efficient and team-oriented. She describes various techniques, including methods for developing an interest in learning and in self-knowledge, individual learning tools, mentoring, coaching and peer learning as well as strategies for helping people learn in groups. She pays particular attention to learning styles, drawing on the Myers-Briggs personality type system. This book speaks primarily to human resource professionals and to executives who might be setting up learning systems for their own companies. Others may find the book dry and overly concerned with the details of systematizing the serendipity of informal learning. But we [...] recommend this book to HR practitioners, and also to professionals delving into knowledge management, who will certainly benefit from this theoretical look at how people in companies actually learn.

Developing Employees Who Love To Learn: Tools, Strategies, And Programs For Promoting Learning At Work shows how any business scan create and implement a successful learning system that will improve employee performance and enhance company profits. Linda Honold (president and founder of Empowerment System, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) draws upon her years of experience and expertise to provide step-by-step, "user friendly" instructions on laying the groundwork for, and implement, the activities and programs that will generate meaningful, applicable employee learning. The informative text is augmented with numerous illustrative examples and features "The Learning Toolbox", a compendium of ninety practical tools and resources for creating a dynamic environment for both individual and group learning. Developing Employees Who Love To Learn is very highly recommended reading for corporate managers and human resource directors.

This book came to me just as I was grappling with the problem of providing a fresh learning experience for some 40 managers in a major retail company located near Los Angeles. The book was just what I needed to develop a learning plan that goes well beyond classroom-type training. The book provides a sophisticated learning model that is easy to understand and very practical.

The book is well organized. Ms. Honold provides a useful and up-to-date review of adult learning theory, but quickly moves on to present an impressive array of tools aimed at meeting the needs of people with widely varying learning styles. When it comes to learning one size does not fit all. (We seem to accept this idea for adults -- why not for younger students?)

This is a user-friendly book of great value to anyone who is looking for a fresh perspective on how to share information in an organization. There is a major emphasis on motivating the learner, a key point that often gets short shrift in books like this. Finally, and most importantly, Ms. Honold is obviously an experienced practitioner in creating enthusiasm for learning in a work setting. That experience is reflected throughout this excellent book.

I purchased this book to help me see a better way to really implement differentiated instruction into my classroom. It was of great help in giving me real examples and ideas to putting differentiation into action!!! =)

This book was a fountain of knowledge. I am slightly overwhelmed after reading it. Every aspect of DI was described, breifly so you understood it and yet didn't spend hours reading it. The reason I bought it was because of the activity and response forms for both students and for myself as a teacher. These forms made the overwhelming infor easy to manage for lesson planning. The only thing missing was a chapter or reference to classroom management. DI is only as good as the classroom manager and as stated in Teachers Change your Bait (2005) by Martha Kaufeldt DI can be a "three ring circus..." (132). I do, however, reccommend this book for the information and response forms. I reccommend Kaufeldt's book as well.

Super book with clear explanations on theory and a wide variety of practical suggestions, templates and examples. Great for all classrooms including secondary.

Differentiation in Action presents a wealth of strategies, tips, techniques, and resources on differentiated instruction that is easy to use for all educators. I have used it with groups of teachers and they readily find ideas that can be implemented in their classes immediately. Each chapter presents a specific topic with the theory neatly complemented by a wide array of strategies, so the book would be a wonderful resource for a study group in any school setting. Judy has taken the best ideas and put them all into this one powerful, teacher-friendly book. A must-have for teachers.

I have known that differentiation in the classroom is key to student success. Practical application has been my stumbling block. Finally, a resource has surfaced that offers theory and practice! I was able to use the strategies immediately. The format of the book is easy to follow. I have already recommended it to my teammates. This is a must-read for classroom teachers. (I wish my own children's teachers would read it as well!) Another plus is the abundance of other resources, including websites for more in-depth information.

This book (and the entire series) is a must-have for anyone interested in hard-rock mining in the Pacific Northwest. It is filled with not only technical information, but stories about the people who toiled in the mines as well. It is cliché to say, but it was hard to put down!

This book has launched many an adventure for me and my friends venturing into the woods to find that elusive adit, and has also fostered a new and very fun hobby as well - "Mine Hunting". I highly recommend it!

I love exploring old mines and tailing piles. This book showed me how to get to some of the best old gold mines and tailing piles I have ever prospected with a metal detector.

I just finished reading this book. I wasn't aware of the interesting history behind the old mines and mining camps I have come accross in the mountains of Washington State until I read this book. Now I am an athority on the subject and can't put the book down. This book should be a text book for every high school student of Washington State history.

This is a great book I have used it a lot to find the mines we take trips to the mines, so if you want help to the mines we a lot of gear and HIGH lift trucks to get there. please e-mail me at 2975@2die4.com or ICQ at #59209002

I have read many books on mining in the northwest, this is the most accurate. With this book I was able to follow the paths of the miners before me, it's amazing. The book provides so much information on a particular mine, I have to read it several times just to absorb the information. I have traveled to many of the mine locations in the book and never been disappointed. After reading about the history and exploring for myself, I can't wait for the second edition to be released. Most mining books talk about history yet never lead you to the magical place. With a GPS and a good compass, I have experienced a overwhelming respect for these writers. For once, I'm a kid again exploring the mountains for buried treasures. I have visited many of the historic sites this year, thanks to these writers I have truly experienced God's Country.

I'm tired of the hoopla about diversity. So when my colleague at work loaned me this book and encouraged me to read it, I did so reluctantly. In hindsight, I have to say I like the way the author got me involved from the beginning. She asks the reader to assume the role of a CEO whose company is in trouble. She wants to take me on a "journey" to help me understand how diversity can help turn my company around. I found that just a little hokey. But by business imperative #10, I was surprised at how the "journey" concept really had worked. I liked the idea that I actually did turn my company around and that it was selected as one of Fortune's most admired companies. That was clever on the part of the author. The reader is provided with lots of statistics on population trends and emerging market trends. It was almost too much, but the author certainly makes her point that the world's complexion is changing. That did get my attention. Although the statistics may have gotten a little exhaustive, her summary highlights at the end of each chapter are a great idea. Crib notes for executives, or anyone else, who don't want to take the time to read the entire book. She makes the important facts easy to retrieve. I thought the best chapters had to do with creativity and the war for talent. There was really some good stuff in there.The author's style is very direct and matter-of-fact, a plus for this subject which often gets emotionalized or overly philosophical for my taste. So, overall, I would say that this was a good read about a subject that was not of real interest to me, at least until now. I would recommend it highly to managers and human resource professionals.

This is one of the better books I've read on diversity. As the author states, there has been a lot written about why diversity is the right thing to do - why it's the politically correct thing to do. But when diversity is positioned that way, it still feels like affirmative action. It's still a focus on numbers. It's still lip service by companies that are concerned about legal liabilities. What Henry does is take a much more pragmatic approach. She focuses on the positive, bottom line, results businesses can realize when they leverage diversity. This book really underscores how diversity can be a competitive advantage. The author delves into the changing demographics. Her statistics are great, showing us that the workforce of tomorrow is increasingly diverse. So is the customer base. I didn't realize that the purchasing power of minorities here in the U.S. has grown so substantially. Henry reminds us that they are increasingly selective as well in terms of which companies they'll choose to buy goods and services from. I really liked her examples of marketing gaffes made by companies who fail to take the diversity of their customers into account. As the author points out, these blunders are examples of opportunities lost and costs to the company that come right off the bottom line. I'm impressed by the research, facts and statistics that the author compiles. Her bibliography and recommended resources are quite impressive. This is a really compelling call to action for businesses trying to compete in the global economy. I now understand what the author means by diversity is a "global necessity" whose time has come. The author argues with good back-up data that diversity needs to be embraced by organizations and no longer merely tolerated.

This is one of the better books I've read on diversity. As the author states, there has been a lot written about why diversity is the right thing to do - why it's the politically correct thing to do. But when diversity is positioned that way, it still feels like affirmative action. It's still a focus on numbers. It's still lip service by companies that are concerned about legal liabilities. What Henry does is take a much more pragmatic approach. She focuses on the positive, bottom line, results businesses can realize when they leverage diversity. This book really underscores how diversity can be a competitive advantage. The author delves into the changing demographics. Her statistics are great, showing us that the workforce of tomorrow is increasingly diverse. So is the customer base. I didn't realize that the purchasing power of minorities here in the U.S. has grown so substantially. Henry reminds us that they are increasingly selective as well in terms of which companies they'll choose to buy goods and services from. I really liked her examples of marketing gaffes made by companies who fail to take the diversity of their customers into account. As the author points out, these blunders are examples of opportunities lost and costs to the company that come right off the bottom line. I'm impressed by the research, facts and statistics that the author compiles. Her bibliography and recommended resources are quite impressive. This is a really compelling call to action for businesses trying to compete in the global economy. I now understand what the author means by diversity is a "global necessity" whose time has come. The author argues with good back-up data that diversity needs to be embraced by organizations and no longer merely tolerated.

This book is a bargain for anybody who's involved in diversity in the workplace. Pamela Henry has written the BEST argument I've ever read on why organizations need to start treating diversity seriously and incorporating it as a business strategy. She does so by discussing ten business "imperatives," which range from demographics, globalization and the war for talent, to business competencies like recruitment, retention, creativity and productivity. The author has done a lot of research. She also incorporates vignettes about her diversity experiences in Corporate America, sharing stories that really give the reader great insight into the advantages and challenges that diversity in the workplace offers. But that's not the best part of the book. The best is the second part in which Henry includes strategies, tactics, tools and metrics to launch and sustain a diversity initiative. She includes her 9-S model she's developed to give organizations a framework from which to plan and launch a diversity initiative. She includes great metrics and tools to ensure organizational accountability. The diversity scorecard is comprehensive. She even includes a cultural audit that is one of the best I've seen. Her insights into what skills and competencies leaders must acquire in order to create an inclusive culture that values all differences is really on target. So are her strategies and tactics for recruiting a diverse pipeline. This book needs to be read and utilized by companies that are serious about making a commitment to diversity and an inclusive culture. It's the best bargain going at $...

This book has everything a person interested in the field of diversity would want and it's very comprehensive. First, it has probably the best business case for diversity I've ever read. I really liked the fact that the author stuck to the bottom line implications of diversity and didn't stray into the philosophical or moral issues surrounding diversity. She really tells companies how they can leverage diversity to increase their profits. Second, the author's style is very straightforward. She supplements her arguments with facts and current statistics, and not leaps of faith. If you look at the end notes, you will see just how much research has gone into writing this book, which really adds to its credibility. Her chapter on the war for talent was especially compelling. She tells us that the shortage of skilled, technical labor is increasing. Worse, the U.S. is producing far fewer engineers needed to narrow this gap than many Asian and European competitors. The data the author presents is both convincing and scary at the same time. The numerous examples of costly mistakes companies have made by not understanding the cultures of the customers they were trying to sell to is interesting reading. It serves as a call to action for companies doing business in the global economy. The author does a good job of outlining the cost benefits of hiring right the first time. Replacement and retraining costs come right off the bottom line. Since the emerging workforce is increasingly diverse, her insights on how to source and recruit diverse talent are valuable. I also liked the chapter on creativity and how diversity creates greater bandwidth in experiences and perspectives that makes for better problem-solving and innovation. The author likens diversity to the "DNA" of creativity. Having no diversity at the table, she warns, is missing an opportunity to arrive at the "most elegant" solution. The tools that she includes in the second part of the book are awesome. Like I said, this is a great resource book for anyone interested in starting or managing a diversity program.