Economics Books

This book should be required reading for every working adult that has a family. The authors make their point through the story-telling format - wrapping their message within the context of a fictional story. Most working parents deal with how to balance the demands of work, and family life, on a daily basis. The Janitor will help you regain that balance.

A deightful little read. It caught my eye at the bookstore the other day and I had to look at it! Some of the jacket reviews were enticing and one said that they cried at the end. Hmmm... I thought let's have a look. This was an easy read and boiled down to simplicity. Took me the just over an hour and a half to read the entire thing and in the end I did well up a bit. The six directives are excellent! Take them to heart. This book is really about life itself and not a business book. Some reviewers in the future may think that the directives are too simplistic but I think that they're just right and very easy to do in my every day business dealings and in life too! I do plan to read it often. Take time to read this! I hope that it'll recharge you the way it did me.

Very well done story format for delivering six points for better living. Easy and enjoyable read.

Great lessons to be learned, found myself looking at things a little differently after completing this.

This is a book along the lines of a Lencioni book (5 Dysfunctions of a Team, etc.), a parable that teaches a specific set of lessons. I've read several other really good ones as well, but this was the best I've experienced. It is just the right length, filled with enough insights to make you feel like it was more than worth your time, but not so many that you can't remember it all, and incredibly profound and relevant to our culture.

This is the perfect book for a business trip. You'll read it on the plane in one or two legs - but don't plan to sleep. It'll keep you reading.

Even better than the style and the lessons, though, is the personal philosophy of the book. Success is not always what we think it is. No one says on their deathbed, "Gee, I wish I had spent more time at work." This book gives you a picture of what it would look like to live a balanced life that has a positive impact on everyone around you, and a plan to make it happen.

A wide coverage of quality in the Juran's perspective. I recommend it to all who are interested this Guru theories, tools and techniques.

"Juran's Quality Handbook" is an excellent book on Quality by one of the most well known quality gurus. The book gives a comprehensive coverage of the subject of quality management. It includes the latest techniques on quality as well as quality theories.

This is a very useful book for those who are interested in producing quality goods and services in a customer focused organization. This huge tome is of immense value to all those involved with the quality profession and is an excellent reference book that covers the wide range of topics and subjects pertaining to quality.

This is a well written book that is very useful for all businesses where quality matters (that is, all businesses). This should be essential reading for quality specialists such as control and quality assurance personnel.

The most complete quality reference available.
The fifth edition includes new material on ISO 9000, benchmarking, the Baldrige and other awards, adoption of Strategic Quality Planning and TQM, management leadership for quality, self-directing teams, quality function deployment, and Tuguchi Methods.

Excellent reference..........Oh man the language and the content rocks. You need to read other books to appreciate this book more.
Quality pro's..........you need to have one of this for sure.

Warning: Not a best choice for "just preparing for a certification exam". It is too much of content for a "small goal of exam". Primer seems to do a good job

For decades Joseph Juran has been a famous name in the quality movement. He formed his own institute for quality and has for many years edited an extensive volume on methods for improving quality in manufacturing processes. This Quality Handbook, now in its fifth edition has long been the basic reference for quality engineers and statistician alike. To honor Juran, the fifth edition is titled Juran's Quality Handbook. The volume is now over 900 pages and consists of 48 chapters and 5 appendices. There are 53 authors including Juran himself and his colleague and co-editor Blanton Godfrey. Many other well-known persons have contributed. It includes a chapter on government services by Vice President Al Gore. Prominent statisticians who have contributed include Don Marquardt, Stu Hunter, Bill Meeker, Luis Escobar, Gerry Hahn, Ed Schilling, Ed Dudewicz and Necip Doganaksoy.
As a statistician, I particularly like having a wealth of practical statistical information and tables in one source. Dudewicz provides the introductory statistical material necessary to understand the four other statistical chapters that follow it (SPC by Wadsworth, Acceptance Sampling by Schilling, Design and Analysis of Experiments by Hunter and Reliability Concepts and Data Analysis by Meeker, Escobar, Doganaksoy and Hahn). These are all distinguished authors who are excellent writers and several have written whole text books on these subjects. This edition is up-to-date with the latest advances in quality techniques. Statistical advances in robust design (Taguchi methods), bootstrap methods, process control and capability are all included. Juran and Deming had major practical impact on the quality movement because they both emphasized the need for proper process management. This can be seen in many of the non-statistical chapters that deal with successful management techniques such as six sigma.

This edition is even better than the previous editions and is indeed worthy of the title of bible. Despite the high cost this book is prominent on my bookshelf. I recommend it to anyone heavily involved in product reliability, even if they own copies of previous editions!

This is not a "pat yourself on the back you can do it book." Romanus Wolter actually rolls up his sleeves and helps you get on track. I have learned how to create a method that helps me make decisions and his formula for developing an elevator pitch was the first time I was able to bring all my ideas about what I want to do into one cohesive sentence. It seems almost too simple but just follow the chapters and in a very short time you will be talking with the big cats.

From the first step to the last page, this book is compelling. It uniquely grabbed my attention and pulled me forward to a succinct goal, and success script. With daily action steps, I'm on my way to the vision and business that I hadn't been able articulate - and moving much faster than I thought possible. Romanus has opened my eyes and life through his approach. Kick Start Your Success works!

The book is amazing. Following the step by step approach I successfully completed my new business.

I went from thinking I should start my business to knowing I should. Then using the step by step approach I established messages and goals that encouraged others to support me. Getting advise and for free was a real benefit

Thanks Kick Start Guy. I got the Kick in the Pants I needed

It is a joyfull book to read, picks the pace quick and then ask you to do exercises on the spot. I have had experince with this kind of technique and its great to reinforce what you just have learned quickly.

I got this audiobook based on reviews given here, and maybe my expecations were too high, but I am disappointed in this book.

My first complaint is the author read his own book. Sometimes this works, but in this case, his voice failed to convey his ideas with enthusiasm. I recommend the author actually spend some money and get a professional voice actor next time.

The author's key to success is to write down not your goal, but your intent on what your goal will do to benefit other people. I found this to be helpful in preparing my elevator speech to find my dream job (which I have not yet found), but many other goals I found this to be non-productive.

Having a good intent and sharing with others may push me in completing my goals, but if some goals are selfish in nature (winning an award, having self-satisfaction with a personal hobby done well, writing that great novel), sharing whatever good intentions gets me no further along than before. The author's solution is for me to keep 'spinning' my intent until I get help.

A much better book (and audiobook for that matter) is Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. You want clarity? It is significantly better than Kick Start Your Success.

I know this review is going to be voted as not-helpful by all the author's shills, but I am warning you. This book is definately over-rated.

Ken Blanchard's book, Lead Like Jesus, was like a good meal to me: a meat, two vegetables, satisfying but not noteworthy. Certainly there is nothing particularly harmful in the book (it is not like fast-food), but the "a-ha" moments were virtually non-existent for me. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing. In a world where much Christian literature is positively harmful for its lack of Scriptural faithfulness, a solid book like this that reminds us of core values is worth our attention.

Great book that is easy to read and well organized. Deals with the fundementals such as motive and perspective, and is very effective.

Excellent book. One of my "a-ha!" moments was realizing that Jesus is a Level 5 Leader. In Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't, Jim Collins explains that companies making the leap from good to great had Level 5 leaders in key positions, including the CEO, at the time of transition. He describes a Level 5 leader as a paradox of someone having great personal humility and professional will, having more ambition for the company/team than for themselves, and someone having an unwaivering resolve to do whatever must be done no matter how difficult.

A CEO describing herself as one with big ambition, ego, and drive asked Jim if you can learn to become a Level 5 Leader. He said that the data did not point to anything specific, so those aspiring to reach Level 5 should focus on the other discovered disciplines of becoming a good to great company.

I find Lead Like Jesus answers the question. Among other things it is a wonderful manual for becoming a Level 5 Leader.

This is a great guide for leaders of all forms. Definitely makes you take a closer look at the way you lead and the way you live. As I work to follow the ideas in this book, I find that I am a happier supervisor.

The author defines leadership as influence in a positive or negative direction. Given this definition, Jesus was the greatest
leader of all time. He was firmly grounded in the Rabinical
Judaism of the time. With this background, He took the fledging
Christian community on a Transformational Journey culminating in
His own crucifixion and a fantastic earthquake conincidental with
the Death and Resurrection. The author reminds us that the
ultimate leader serves the community first and not himself/herself.

Leadership comes from a variety of personal sources. i.e.
- the heart is the center of the leadership thrust
- the head formulates strategies and movement forward
- the hands relate to crafting specific actions
- the habits relate to consistency/predictability of actions

Blanchard presents the contrast between the serving leader
and the self-serving leader. The serving leader actively
engages in acts on behalf of the community while the self-serving
leader benefits himself mainly. In providing service, the serving
leader implements specific plans to move the community forward.
This was done very skillfully by Christ in His own time.

This is a great book for any business owner because it focuses on what you have to do for your company to succeed. These are the same things you need to focus on if you want to become the CEO of a large company, so whether you are trying to build your own company, get the job of running a large company or even trying to keep the top job at your company, I would recommend this book. It's full of real world help, unlike books that seem to try to take a single concept (like who moved my cheese) and fluff it into a book. The last chapter alone is more than worth buying the book for.

I have read over 100 business books and this is among the top 5.

Everyone in senior management should read this book. The book is a powerful analysis of what it takes to become and stay a CEO in today's environment. I was impressed with Mike's challenge of conventional wisdom. He was able to get me to think about current accepted best practices in the right context. I also liked how the insightful quotes from established historical leaders set the tone for each section. Although the book is a fast read, it should be kept as a reference guide and referred to quarterly. While some of the practical advice is common knowledge, the reminders to keep improving are right on target.

This is THE book for the executive that feels like they need to do it all-and their company's going to fall apart if they don't. Much of the advice is focused on helping the CEO to properly recognize his job and to identify what should be farmed out. It's a necessary guide for anyone who wants to get a life-but has been too busy working. The author neatly identifies the symptoms of overwork, and helps the reader to avoid them. I happily give this book 5 stars for being a much needed reality check for executives with a little TOO much focus.

There are many books about how to manage a company and nearly all contain excellent advice on how to do things right. This one is near the top of the list where the measuring device is the right-meter. Unfortunately, as the continuing reports of the disparity of corporate salaries versus worker salaries demonstrate, many CEOs have no interest in what Myatt has to say. Furthermore, the stories about CXX malfeasance continue to surface, there was a report on the news a few days ago that the American FBI is investigating whether the current home mortgage crisis was created by corporate greed.
As Myatt so aptly points out, effective leadership is about making your organization successful in the context of your community. A good leader looks beyond the immediate horizon of personal improvement and sets the table for continued growth of the company in the future. Some of the advice is:

*) Never be so full of yourself that you fail to listen to the people who know more than you do.
*) Never, ever believe that you are an infallible oracle of perfect knowledge.
*) Treat your workers as people who care about their job and not as cogs that can be used up and replaced.
*) Always, always, always be on the lookout for top talent, even to the point of hiring a future replacement. After all, even CEO's suffer from the affliction of mortality.
*) Never, ever create an atmosphere where your workers are afraid to raise issues with you. If you want yes people around you, your path to failure has largely been laid down.
*) You must always be prepared to take measured and intelligent risks, the modern world is changing very quickly and you must either adapt or mold away into oblivion. And mold grows very fast in the business world.

Myatt is a highly paid CEO coach with a track record of success. If more CEO's were to listen to and take his advice, the American and world economy would be in much better shape. Every person who either holds or aspires to any C-level position should read this book.

I have been a small business owner for years. This excellent book has helped me to focus in on my job at hand while learning to delegate effectively. The book is very informative in a way that is easy to understand. It would be a great gift for anyone from small business owners to someone in big business. This read is highly motivational, as well.

Ordinarily, I'm not a big fan of the management genre. More aphorisms than pages is not a good combo.

Tim Warneka's *Leading People the Black Belt Way* takes its time to do the job right. Not surprising, perhaps, given how Aikido -- the martial art that provides this book's philosophical center -- rewards patience. Yes, the author provides schemas to help us remember key points, but he never races through them as if prepping Intro to Management students for an upcoming quiz. His goal for his readers is genuine understanding, not rote memorization of bullet points.

Tim's prose is extremely accessible. He talks of problems that managers and their teams actually face. When he introduces concepts from the management canon, he defines them in phrases that don't demand an MBA.

Each chapter begins with a brief "story" that illustrates the upcoming topic. Don't be surprised to find that you've stopped to reflect for a few minutes before you move on. It is the nature of stories to invite readers to contemplate meaning. Far better that you start to grasp these principles organically, rather than have the author bludgeon you over the head.

Tim brings a truly fresh perspective to the management text. I honestly believe that his mission is not simply to make managers get more from their workforce, but to actually improve the world. It's not just that happy workers are more productive workers, but that happy workers are happy. So are happy managers. What's refreshing is that he doesn't consider this naive. It's a worthy common cause.

Perhaps most indicative of Tim's take on both management and the world is his assessment of Ebeneezer Scrooge. We've heard this one so often we can recite it by heart: warm and fuzzy Bob Cratchit, good; cold and calculating Ebeneezer Scrooge, bad. What a refreshing take to see Warneka focus upon Scrooge's redemption. How the Scrooge at the *end* of The Christmas Carol literally embodies the managerial lessons that Tim tries to teach throughout *his* book. We should all be like Scrooge in the end: a good man and a good manager too.

Full disclosure: I have worked with Tim on a business project and know him to be the real deal. But so is his book. Stop enumerating habits and move your darned cheese -- *this* book can teach you a lot.

Leaders must tap into the tremendous emotional power of those they lead. Yes! In a field crowded with many good books on leadership, Tim Warneka has authored one that is fresh, unique and valuable. He dips his consultant and writer's ladle deeply into pools of both leadership and Aikido wisdom, with wonderful results. Having worked as an organizational change strategist and coach for two decades myself and having practiced the Japanese martial art of Aikido for over half that period, I can tell you that you're in for many surprises and bonuses in this book. By this I mean you will come away from your reading investment with many inspiring new ideas and lots of practical tools you can immediately put to work.

Dale Biron
Principal
Core Action Assoc., Inc.
Mill Valley, CA 94941

Leaders are sometimes hard to find. Sure, there's loads of folks that have been to leadership workshops and programs to be indoctrinated with yet another leadership system. But as Warneka points out, "The world does not need one more leadership system. What the world does need is great leadership that draws on the wisdom of the body and recognizes the treasury of emotions waiting to be tapped within every organization."

Using references to the lovely and efficient Japanese martial art of Aikido, Warneka shows us the importance of the above statement. In a text that flows much like a well trained martial artist, we receive epigrams from a well known swordsman, the Tao, today's best and brightest leadership coaches and the ever important thoughts of Ghandi and Einstein. Along with all that we get examples of Warneka's tried and try methods, his well thought out "learning experiments", helpful Author's notes and an extensive bibliography/webography. And while you'll have loads of folks you'll want to buy a copy for, this book could stay in your briefcase or backpack for months and in your library indefinitely.

I could list the 5 core problems that face leaders today, the 4 tools of conflict management or the 7 solutions of black belt leadership that Warneka expounds on and offers solutions to, or I could tell you this:

Whether you're the president of your garden club developing your next fundraiser, a teacher dealing with stubborn union issues, or a Fortune 500 CEO, this book can help.

Heck, it can be helpful in issues that arise every minute of every day in every country on this planet. Working together and living together is what we do as a species, using techniques that borrow from the philosophy of yin/yang, the Gestalt Cycle of Experience, and the teachings of Joseph Campbell, just may help us become those leaders we so desperately need.

If you're looking for a goldmine of timeless leadership treasures, you'll want to add Leading People The Black Belt Way to your collection. This book is unique because Warneka weaves his vast knowledge of eastern philosophy through the basic principles of emotional intelligence. It's thought provoking and loaded with plenty gems of wisdom. He highlights key points with bolding, for easy reference later. Each chapter ends with a summary and a learning experiment to help you implement the key concepts.

The book's content is written around the framework of The Seven Solutions of Black Belt Leadership:
1. Know the Five Core Problems of Leadership
2. Understand Leadership as a Relational Process
3. Seek Harmony in Leadership
4. Lead People Rather than Pushing or Pulling Them
5. Cultivate Emotional Engagement
6. Practice Embodied Leadership
7. Follow The Black Belt Cycle of Leading People

Don't worry if you don't really understand the meaning from this list. Warneka thoroughly defines "what is meant" at the beginning of each chapter.

This book is a great investment because it's jam packed with hidden gems. It's so content rich that he could have easily broken it down to several smaller, simpler books. Warneka clearly put his heart and soul into this piece of work.

I'm an avid business book reader and I have to say that I found it to be on the difficult side to read. Each chapter is prefaced with an eastern philosophy based story, which I personally found a bit distracting. If you're going to read it cover to cover, consider taking it in bite-sized chunks to maximize the benefits. Read one chapter every 2 - 4 weeks, complete the experiments at the end, and give your self plenty of time to sift, sort, and learn from the material.

If you couldn't put down Daniel Goleman's books on emotional intelligence, you're likely to be thrilled with this book. On the other hand, if you found Goleman's books to be great reference material versus engaging and inspirational, you'll likely feel the same way about this one.

Regardless, it's a great addition to your business book library.

So begins Tim Warneka's excellent book on leadership. As a practitioner and teacher of aikido, I appreciate Tim's use of aikido as a metaphor and teaching tool. How can we acknowledge and make use of emotional energy? As leaders, we can no longer afford to ignore this question. In "Leading People the Black Belt Way," you will learn core problems facing today's leaders and how to engage and manage them. Through theory, parable, learning experiments, and real life examples, this book offers easily grasped, yet innovative concepts. Read, learn, and enjoy!

If you're a leader and you want to live an extraordinary life then this book is for you. 95% of the people in United States believe in a higher power, whether or not they call it God or something else. Inviting that power into your life and making it part of your approach to leadership will pay benefits to both you and the people you lead. What you now consider as miracles will soon become the norm or natural.

There is power in softness. People are desperate to be led. People yearn to be loved. Stephen's book shows you how to do both. Read it, you'll appreciate the changes that will happen. The people you lead will applaud you for it as well.

Stephen goes waaay beyond just inspiring you to believe ...he actually shows you how to become the leader of your life and live from your own core truth. The powerful exercises guide you to the miracle of loving yourself and loving what you do.

This book is really about YOU ...helping you take an honest look at your life while exploring your Inner Landscape. You'll find the courage to be authentic and trust yourself more than anyone or anything outside of yourself. Get the book and discover your real Self and the miracle that you have always been.

I have read John Maxwell, Tony Robbins, and Stephen Covey. This book stands out because it is read as a conversation across the table from Stephen McGhee. He challenges you consistently to live a life of integrity and accountability - and to discover 'where' the leader in you comes from. Read it and be impacted.

How can it be that with so many seminars, trainings, programs, and inspirational material available, our planet seems to have so many vacancies for truly powerful--and empowering--leadership?

To my mind, Steve's book points the way to a leadership paradigm that can fill those vacancies. Practical, guided exercises, amazing personally revealing anecdotes, and an unapologetic call to action.

This book will create leaders that no longer chant, "Follow me!" It will birth leaders who have the courage to say, "I'll go first."

From birth we are all given the chance to create magic on a blank canvas. Steve's life work thus far has been a masterpiece. This book, in particular, is an inspiration in the truest sense in that it leads us through the steps and pathways to re-connect with our birth-right privilege; of being greater than even our own most miraculous dreams. The discussions on "Stories vs. Realities", the power of "Thoughts", and "Prayer" can be life changing if purposefully applied. If you want a no-nonsense guide to living the life our spirit intends, then this book is a MUST READ. Thank you Stephen.

I read this book with my wife each taking assignments and reporting back after a day or two. What an incredible read and experience. There is a wealth of challanging material in this book to help anyone wishing to expand themselves into a more thoughtful person.

A pure blessing that has potential and material to make a substancial upswing in one's life.
Rocco

I have been a fan of the Merills, since their synergistic work with Stephen Covey with "First Things First".

I am not married yet, nor do I have a job, but I find this book so practical and I am convinced as I grow up into the various future stages of my life, the wisdom within it, will become more and more obvious.

I really like the idea that balance is not in "balancing the scale" but in "balancing".

The sections that deals with Time Matters and Money Matters, is worth more than the price of the book. When I was browsing through the book, and got to read the Money Matrix diagram, I almost jumped out of my skin. I always felt the Time Matrix is always applicable to one's personal finance. I was so delighted to know the Merrills felt the same and has wrote and developed it further in this book. The book also feature a quote from my favorite personal finance guru, Robert Kiyosaki.

If you have a friend who is getting married, this would be an excellent gift to a newly wed couple. I recently gifted one to my best friend. Since the book is quite expensive for us living in India, I along with a group of friends, decided to give it together.

It's a book worth to be made a family heirloom. I am sure anyone would find it helpful. Its a rare diamond in the overly cluttered world of self-help books. Most self-help books offer advice, but ended up with platitudes and rehash of ideas. We need books like this one.

Another beautiful aspect to this book is the author's recognition that more than offering answers to people, it is more important to help people develop their ability to find the answer within. This is what they called navigational intelligence. It is the effort to develop personal conscience, and listening to it.

Its a book that will never leave my reading desk and will be refered to again and again and again, till I end this life and buried six feet under.

Thanks Roger and Rebecca for an enduring legacy for generations to come. I pray more and more people will embrace your message. If we all do the world will be a better place to live in.

This book is one of many that build off Stephen Covey's "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," and is a more in-depth discussion of prioritizing (Living in Quadrant II for those who speak Covey). This book is divided into four sections that reflect the four biggest concerns Americans face--the workplace, the family, time, and money. The basic message of the book is that one must think in terms of "investing," whether it be money, time, or effort. It is important to examine what one invests in so that maximum returns can be paid on that investment. As an example, investing money in a car yeilds a much lower return (a negative return) than investing in a mutual fund. Investing time in televison watching yields a much lower return than helping your child with his homework. Investing in effort in a long-term project that is still months away yields a much higher return than filling out some pretty-unnecessary paperwork. Other commentators are correct when they say that the examples of theory-in-action can be fairly unrealistic (even though they really happened!), but they illustrate the authors' points well. I would first recommend the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. If you find that helpful (and I imagine you will), this book is an excellent follow-up to it.

Prioritizing the building blocks of life - family, work, money and time - is paramount to happiness. Some people do it unconsciously by living within their intellectual and monetary expectations. Others need a framework for balance, such as the one that authors A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill provide. To achieve personal balance, the authors suggest becoming a better team player, working more effectively, learning about finances and setting home and work priorities. They establish the goal of building a strong family, centered around parental "family leadership." Do they successfully address the knotty issues they raise? Yes, in a folksy way. This is a useful self-help manual with checklists, self-assessments and personal anecdotes, which are sometimes touching, but sometimes impractical or saccharine. Though the management advice dons motivational language, the sections on family and work are particularly worthwhile. The authors deliver a solid antidote to misplaced modern values, albeit wrapped in some fluffy trappings. We recommend this book to corporate officers and human resource personnel, as well as to individuals seeking balance.

New books telling you how to improve your life come off the presses every week, maybe every day. Some are bad, and you realize you have wasted your time. Some are average, and you might learn a few new things, but they aren't all that memorable. Some are great, and you go back to them again and again. "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" is one of the great books. Years later people remember it, talk about it, and reread it.

"Life Matters" is a great book. It covers a lot of good ideas, the thoughts and observations are well presented, and the book reads quickly.

The first chapter starts off talking about what is important in life. The authors focus on four areas: work, family, time, and money. They have a quiz to help in your self-assessment of how you are doing in each of these four areas. A big message of this book is there doesn't have to be conflict between the four areas.

The next chapter covers three things you have to do in any area of your life. The three "gotta do's" are:

1) Validate your expectations. You have to confront reality, for if you have an unrealistic expectation you will be frustrated. The authors make the point that the direction you are heading is more important than how fast you are going.

2) Optimize Effort. Look for ways to get the maximum benefit for your effort, and make sure your decisions are aligned with your goals.

3) Develop your "Navigational" intelligence. This is the ability to be aware of your changing environment, so that what looked like an important task at the start of the day may have to take a back seat when your boss gives you a new assignment, or a child needs attention.

The next four chapters are on: work, family, time, and money, with a chapter on each area. The authors weave each of the above three "gotta do's" into each area. For each area they explore different ways people see the area, for example how do you see your family, or your money. And then they discuss what is the reality. They have a list of "optimizers" which are techniques for getting the maximum benefit for your effort. And they talk about how to be flexible when situations change.

"Seven Habits" mentions a Time Matrix, which is a two dimensional matrix based on how important something is, and how urgent it is. Many people waste time on things that aren't important, or get caught up doing things that are important and urgent. Stephen Covey explores why doing things that aren't urgent, but important, can make a great difference in your life. For me one of the gems of "Life Matters" was exploring this same matrix in relation to money. The Merrill's point is that it is best to invest your money with the same Quadrant II focus, things that aren't urgent, but are important. For me, that idea alone was worth reading the book. There were a number of similar gems scattered through the book.

The last chapter was titled "Wisdom Matters" and here the authors explore why wisdom is important, and how to improve your wisdom. One of the points they strongly make is to develop an ongoing daily self-important program. The idea is to spend a few minutes each day improving your understanding of life, and how to make better decisions.

This is a great book. If you are interested in improving your life, buy this book, read this book, and then reread it. It will help you get better control of your life. For as the Merrills say, life does matter.

If you are a marketer, or responsible for the sales and or service of a product, then you know that if you don't make sales, you don't make money. It is amazing how many advertisers and marketers forget that fact.

George Parker gets it. The ironic part is that he has far more in common with direct marketers than with the Madison Avenue types that he typically consorts with.

There is a large focus on really understanding the Unique Selling Point of your product. This is often glossed over in Business Schools, but it really is key. If you can't say what makes your product or service different than the competition then how can you expect your clients to get it?

12 well thought out chapters covering print, television, radio, Internet and much, much more.

Although not the final word, a solid read and well though out perspective.

Recommended!

Cheers!

I guess I thought I'd learn something from reading this. But I didn't. That's not the author's fault. He may not have intended the book for an experienced advertising person.

I did enjoy a few tidbits. For example, he told how the use of the storyboard was a tool used by ad agencies to impress clients and win business but it was not necessary or even useful in writing television commercials.

While that's no doubt true, I still find a storyboard useful in developing a plot and use one often. Not for clients but for myself.

There's not a lot to this book in the way of helping an experienced copywriter or ad person. There's a dab of dish but not much. There are some pointers for the beginner or the person looking to do his own advertising.

Though primarily intended as a primer for entrepreneurs, MADSCAM is a must-read for anyone interested in or working in advertising. The reason is the author's unrivalled experience. George Parker has logged in nigh-on 40 years at the center of the advertising vortex. George was around on Mad. Ave. in the golden age of the 1960s creative revolution and he's still a vital force in the digital age. No mean feat in an industry that devours youthful vitality like potato chips.

In this book George tells it like it is. MADSCAM is the unvarnished truth. George is evidently allergic to BS. Which makes his tenure in our industry all the more remarkable.

MADSCAM tells you pretty much everything you'll need to know to create your own ad campaign. And it will put you wise to some of the tricks of big ad agencies, or BDAs (Big Dumb Agencies) as George calls them. Reading this will potentially save advertisers and marketers a lot of time, money and grief.

George is as engaging to read here as he is on his many blogs and, perhaps astonishingly, I couldn't find a single swear word!

If you want to advertise your business, book or yourself, this is the only book you need. George Parker tells us in no uncertain terms, what works and what doesn't. He tells us exactly how advertising works, how the industry works and how we can make it work for our business. Nothing is left out, no question is unanswered, and if you want more of George after you read this book you can subscribe to his blogs and keep updated on what else is happening in advertising.

George Parker nails it, breaking down the advertising process step-by-step in a practical, nuts and bolts fashion while simultaneously mocking the mentality of many "BDA's" as he calls them (Big Dumb Agencies). His criticism of agencies adding layer upon layer of abstraction to justify their billings, their obsession with awards, and in his view overall lack of spine is classic for anybody involved in advertising. He does a great job of simplifying things and providing a manual of sorts for entrepreneurs. There were points in this book I laughed out loud and others where I nodded and thought, "Well put George." Check his blog if you want a more bombastic delivery of some of these ideas (if profanity offends you, go read some industry drivel instead).

As others have noted, it's an easy book to quickly read and underestimate, but it's a very useful book when you actively think it through. I can vouch for its value as I'm about to use it for the second time in my undergrad intro to Entrepreneurship class at Marquette U. Judging from the quality of the plans last time (following the general outline of the appendix) and from their comments, they really have managed to develop personally meaningful, realistic and actionable plans. The first clue I had that the book has this quality was when I noticed that my wife, who is a busy business lawyer, was spending a lot of care going over it in the evenings, while preparing for a major case. So I'd conclude that it is useful for a range of readers.

Make Your Own Luck is an excellent book, with more pragmatic, useful content than I've found in most business books.

My background is in engineering and science, then business. As an engineer, I really liked that there's a "right answer." Or at least, there are clear wrong answers (the bridge will collapse if we make it out of tissue paper, period). In business, things aren't so easy. Most situations have too many factors to identify, let alone consider deeply. Shareholders interact with managers who interact with technology and customer service people and engineers and operations and ... it's tough to know how to think about all this.

Make Your Own Luck lays out a 12-step process (hmm...) for taking risks. Some of the steps sound simple: Know your big goals before you begin, so when you make bets in your life, you're betting on what you actually want. Sounds obvious? Yeah, but in my own work with executives, I've found that people easily lose sight of their real goals(1). The power from Shapiro and Stevenson's approach comes from having a rigorous checklist to consider when making risky bets.

Some of their tools help evaluate risks that I've never known how to tackle. For example, the authors give us "prediction maps," a tool for identifying low-risk, high-reward opportunities. Simple, elegant, and practically useful. Their other big new tool is "uncertainty grids." Uncertainty grids let you quickly test your plans against combinations of uncertainties to realize whether you've unconsciously anchored yourself to a single scenario, or whether your plans can survive multiple uncertain events.

Behind the tools, they slip in some subtle thinking shifts that are worth pondering in detail. In a paragraph or two, they dismiss "high rewards require high risks" and claim you don't need high risk to get high rewards. Maybe in their world, but that's not how I think. Yet I've also heard Warren Buffett say something similar, so I'm changing my beliefs around risk/reward. That said, it would have been nice if they had pulled out some of their mindset shifts and devoted more time to helping me-as-reader explore what amount to big changes in worldview.

The writing style is fun, with thought experiments between the chapters, a final chapter of scenarios to analyze using the 12 steps, and haiku or other verse at the start of each chapter. I found it a pleasant change from the overly heavy style of most substantive business books, and it was an easy read cover-to-cover that did justice to its excellent content.

I heartily recommend the book. Go check it out!

- Stever

(1) Being a professional, of course, I never, ever lose sight of my own goals. Really.

This book has a lot of potential because it covers the hot topic of how to use "predictive intelligence" (PI) to make business or personal decisions. Unfortunately, the execution falters, since both the book and the topic exist at two levels: dry material vs. attempts to explain it. Presentations about probability are inherently dry, so to liven up their discussion, authors Eileen C. Shapiro and Howard H. Stevenson use real-world examples and creative images. However, in the end, their lively metaphors dilute their information delivery. Readers will rightfully wonder what "wallpaper jujitsu," "magic thinking," "strategic rat hole zone," "bolt-on bets" and the "OOPA! Process" are all about, and the authors don't always fully explain these intriguing-sounding devices. Teaching PI is challenging, but breaking it down into a dozen components doesn't help as much as the authors might have hoped. While we find that the book presents a clear process, interesting anecdotes and good analogies, it also ends with a series of quizzes that have more than one right answer - leaving you both puzzled and intrigued. However, those are pretty good starting points for learning about odds-making and PI.

This book is a must read for anyone who is serious about improving the odds that their actions will produce the intended results.

The book has at least four things going for it:
* The authors' deep, relevant experience in business, business theory and real-world decision making.
* A practical, straightforward approach to acting in the face of uncertainty -- based on the sequential application of 12 skills and processes that, taken together, should improve anyone's "predictive intelligence."
* Stories -- lots of engaging, memorable stories that bring the process to life.
* Interactive elements that allow you to test your understanding of the material.

For me, Make Your Own Luck has been more than just another good business book. As the CEO of a start-up business, I and my associates face more than our share of uncertainty. And, given our limited resources, the consequences of bad bets can be particularly unwelcome.

We faced just such a situation a month ago when an important part of our business was underperforming. So, we turned to Make Your Own Luck and quickly realized that the source of our problems laid in steps 5 and 6 of the Gambler's Dozen, where we had relied on too much "magic" while failing to deal with an "elephant in the living room" (read the book and you will understand). Fortunately, we had a Plan B (also covered in step 6) and we are back on track.

The book's advice was direct and effective - almost as though we had Shapiro and Stevenson on our Board asking tough questions and offering possible solutions. Like I said, it is a must read.

Although in previous reviews, the word "easy" is used, the value of this book is found by taking the time to give it serious study. "Make Your Own Luck" is not a simple read with slap-your-head insight at the end of each chapter. Rather, it provides a step-by-step methodology that, if you understand and follow it, increases the odds of your success.

Even though I'm a highly productive person, prior to buying this book, my thoughts and actions related to a business plan were scattered and unproductive. Based on my anxiety, I instantly understood the value of "The Gambler's Dozen Predictive Map." This technique shows how to match goals (bets) against probability (the unknown), a process so clarifying that it inspired me to created a software application so I could easily use this technique on a wide-range of issues.

I just finished studying the concept of "risk splits." After mastering the Predictive Map, it still took a few hours to wrap my mind around what the authors were describing; not because they are unclear, but because I've never before cast my thoughts using the patterns that they suggest. What I learned is that the hardest thing about making winning business decisions is understanding the impact of the future. By employing "risk splits," I can now look back from the future to analyze today, which is a major shift in my thinking process.

I'm starting to define my "It," a task of concisely describing my business that I've put off for the past year. As I'm a writer and a programmer, describing objectives is easy for me. In this case, however, I've come to realize that the uncontrollable elements revealed in my Predictive Map increased my anxiety and scrambled my brain. In other words, without employing "magic thinking" (more commonly called "BS"), I didn't know enough about my own project to make a meaningful statement, or properly invest my time and money (called "marbles" in Luck-speak) to make it come to life.