Economics Books

This is a quick and short book with tips on how to behave and lead once person has reached senior management position within a corporation. However, if one is a decent person and has a good moral compass already, this book is more of re-iteration of what a decent person should behave like. In any case, when assuming a new position where actions are expected, do not make rash decisions, take tim to feel and assess corporate culture, before any decisions are made. This at least would buy a year in a positon. Be honest, plan succession carefully, take vacation and recycle technology when appropriate while being ready to accept the new one at any moment. Do not be afraid to be #2 because that can always lead to being a #1 eventually. Be professional and stick to business only, personal relationships should be kept outside of the office. The most importantly, always have a plan B even if you never have to resort to it.

Insights for the Journey is an excellent primer of common sense measures every executive should use in working with their peers, superiors, and subordinates, but usually do not. Some may scoff at the seemingly simple axioms and parables written by Lucht; this is akin to describing Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea as a story about a senior citizen engaged in fishing. Managers, at any level, who do not heed Lucht's words will quickly reach the level of their own incompetence.

Insights for the Journey is a book that you won't want to put down. I am amazed at how much wisdom Lucht packs into this succinct and very readable book. If you are serious about prospering in your career, you would be foolish to not equip yourself with the core essentials presented here. All of the boring fluff is removed and 47 compelling insights remain. During the holidays, I gave Insights to several colleagues and to all of my subordinates. I've already seen it's impact. I honestly credit the book with the tremendous improvement in productivity and relationships that has permeated my company's culture. Thank you, Lucht!!

I so wanted to like this book, it being by John Lucht, whose "Rites of Passage..." is the ONLY book I recommend for job changing executives - it is one of my top 100 business books of all time. Nevertheless, there are only a couple of good ideas in here. I agree that the first one, "Fit in", is huge and so often neglected, and I too often have to tell my clients to take vacations. But the rest seemed awfully simplistic, and I would have liked more details on how.

Note for John Lucht:

Good morning, John, and I must say that this first insight hit me like a ton of bricks! For most of my career, I have been identified as a high potential person, the ideal change agent, the first one to take a development assignment, the first one to start a new division, etc. While that very often has brought me success, tho at a high cost and high risk, when I have taken a fall, it was for exactly the reason you cited, and by that point, curiously lacking in the support of the very senior fellow who had spent months coaching me to stir the pot. In fact in those unsuccessful cases, the senior guy was asking me to do the things he had been unsuccessful in doing or had simply been afraid to do.

I so appreciate your insight as I continue to pursue my current job search targets.

With best regards, Barb Chilson in Ossining.

I am a graduate student in the field of behavior analysis. I used this book as it is intended to be used from start to finish. I successfully designed an educational teaching program that taught students a lesson in geography. I was very excited about the results. The students learned the material very quickly and became extremely fluent. Even though I used the book to guide me through designing an educational program, I could certainly see how this book could be used in an organizational setting. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning a technology of teaching that is extremely effective.

This book is a good example of a text that actually helps the reader get something done- namely, create and refine an instructional program for any setting or audience. Dr Bruce takes you from a blank page to a well designed, efficient training course in a step-by-step manner. What impressed me most was the skill with which Dr Bruce not only presents the critical ID concepts, but also shows in great detail how they can be applied.

Instructional Design Made Easy provides an insightful look into instructional design. After careful consideration of the material in this book, I considered using the concepts in an educational setting. A better use of this book would be in a business related setting, in which I have had some experience. The Efficient Design Checklists in each section is a great help in keeping users on track toward their objectives. I particularly like Exercise 2 which helps one to identify measureable results. The Performance Objective Template on page 53 of section 1 really helps translate ideas into action. This book is valuable to those who prefer a step by step approach, yet it is flexible enough to be useful to those who have experience in the fild of instructional design.

There isn't an easier way to learn about instructional design than by picking up a copy of Dr. Bruce's book. This book offers a step-by-step process for designing any training need whether it is business or education oriented. Each task within the design process is broken down and explained with clarity, allowing the reader to view specific examples and nonexamples for each component within this process. I have repeatedly used this book to improve the content and design of material for a distance learning course in behavior analysis. I have also used this book to design activities for business projects and education workshops. I highly recommend this book to those who are new to instructional design as well as to those who wish to improve their current practices.

This book practices what it preaches -- a rare commodity in the instructional design literature, indeed! It begins, early on, with presenting a pre-test to the reader (don't worry, you can check your answers!). Then, rather than concentrating on prose and commentary, which many instructional design books do, this book emphasizes practical exercises. You learn the "rules" of good instructional design by working through many examples, and importantly, nonexamples of design practices. While the book focuses on instructional design for computer-based instruction (the example illustrations are mainly of screen captures using the Precision Learning System), the principles you learn can be applied to any instructional system. Dr. Bruce has written an easy-to-follow, easy-to-use first-rate book on instructional design.

For several years I co-taught a series of workshops on Instructional Design with Dr. Bruce at the Association for Behavior Analysis conventions. The materials in these workshops, which were well-attended and highly rated, became some of what was used by Dr. Bruce in the development of his book. There is nothing like having a live audience to help shape development of your materials, and with this book Guy has produced a valuable tool whether you are in education, business, or otherwise interested in designing good instructional materials of your own! -- JE

Not since Eliot set upon the drizzly Dank has an Americanevidenced such bold, imaginative writing. I accidently happened uponProfessor Sloane- White's ethnography while designing what is perhaps the first psychology curriculum to emphasize a cultural and international perspective for the national university of a developing country. Sloane- White's account of a segment of Malay society added to our perspective in considerable measure through its imaginative,lucid conceptualization of a people seeking to define themselves in their emergence from a colonial past. We have appreciated far better after our reading of this remarkable volume how psychological personal identity must be coupled or integrated with a conceived social/ cultural dimension - here represented as nationhood...this revealing work, one as melodic in its prose as an Eric Clapton piece is in its musical lines.END

Not since Eliot set upon the drizzly Dank has an American evidenced such bold, imaginative writing. I accidently happened upon Professor Sloane- White's ethnography while designing what is perhaps the first psychology curriculum to emphasize a cultural and international perspective for the national university of a developing country. Sloane- White's account of a segment of Malay society added to our perspective in considerable measure through its imaginative,lucid conceptualization of a people seeking to define themselves in their emergence from a colonial past. We have appreciated far better after our reading of this remarkable volume how psychological personal identity must be coupled or integrated with a conceived social/ cultural dimension - here represented as nationhood.

Do hurry in re-stocking this revealing work, one as melodic in its prose as an Eric Clapton piece is in its musical lines.

We hope to tempt the Professor to an invited lecture to help launch our new psychology major in the upcoming academic year, and look forward to more from pen.

Essentially, an ethnographic account of the Malay rich, the first of its kind in English, but there exists a number of similar ethnographies in Malay not mentioned or referred top. The book is strong on the narrative but so-so on the analysis, and offers no real new secondary data. Should be read along with Scott's "Political Ideology in Malaysia" (1974), a semi-ethnographic study of Malay top bureaucrats.

Good news from the frontiers of international capitalism: the magic of the market, mit entrepreneurial hustle reveal urban Malays' hots for profits, for the scramble for them--and the efforts made to square this lust for entrepreneurial life with old customs and beliefs. I enjoyed the fascinating portrayals of successful Malays seeking to sanctify the pursuit of success with conventional moralism. It is illuminating to compare the most rapacious American nineteenth century robber barons' invocations: an ethic of hard work and providential rewards, with modern Malay mild businessmen's explanations of their wealty state among others, rich and poor. This book shows a superb effort in this regard. Those robber barons conflated selfish ambitions with civic virtue, and merged private gain with public good.

A was a most worthwhile read: Sloan's compelling comparisons of competing styles of capitalism, often shown through the lives of Malay entrepreneurs. It is a book, this, that imparts excitingly, the ironies and conflicts, the contradictions, among the styles of global capitalisms extant.

See how some entreprenuers present themselves as noble or heroic. This is a masterful synthesis of original research and writing, in a tone perfect to the historical moment. This is a time, after all, when CEOs posture as culture heroes, multinationals equate entrepreneurship with creativity, and the marketplace enjoys the status that God enjoyed in medieval thelogy. I won't spoil it--read this book--to see how the Malays do it!

Jolly good piece of vibrant field work and writing with imagination!

Malay Muslim enterprise is cleverly revealed; their pentient for "entrepreneurship" is exciting and is taken in like firewater or an elixir.

Affirmative action surely worked its magic for many malays, and acted as black magic against other ethnics. The price through history may be presented as as an aggravated ethnically polarized country, not yet a nation, in the sense of a pressing awareness of the needs and aspirations of all ethnic groups in Malaysia. Dr. Sloane brilliantly unravels the mystery of development of the Malays via a government program of affirmative action.Other Malaysians haven't been beneficiaries of economic policy: they mainly get it in the neck, affirmatively and laconically.

Deeply contextualized descriptions of social class, gender, domestic life and the Malay facility for networking help to show the dramatic effect of a dominant Malay Muslim government policy on economic development- to be understood, without ambiguity, as quotas, big time.

This book appears to be the first in depth research of urban, affluent Malay culture in the process of radical transformation into modernity/ postmodernity- quite a ride for those experiencing the consequences of this state-led, hyper pro-Malay capitalist moderne intensification-- wedded, in part, to Islamic resurgence.

One of my favorite chapters involves the business of alliances in elucidating the social relations among the young lions of entrepreneurship; relatedly, I was fascinated by what Sloane conceives of as the social limits of an entrepreneurial identity.

One wishes all ethnographic studies were so brilliantly conceived and executed, clearly and briiliantly written, quite touching, really.

As a longstanding and rather hefty vegetarian, I also firmly felt that my aversion to killing animals, birds and fish for food was rooted in reverence for God's creatures. Richard Schwartz bolstered my spirituality with this compelling and irrefutable book. Genesis One clearly asserted that man was created vegetarian before our fall from grace and plunge into strife. Fortunately, the Prophet Isaiah envisions Messianic times to be an idyllic era wherein men and all creatures will live in peaceful coexistence devoid of bloodshed. Schwartz answers his detractors and accentuates the ecological, moral and human rights benefits of a meatless diet. He also salutes vegetarian advocates including Rav Kook, Rabbi David Rosen and Isaac Singer. If you love this book it will be imperative to purchase and read David Sears' brilliant "Vision Of Eden".

This book is excellent. It is beautifully written, exceptionally complete, and very fair-minded in its tone. The arguments are compelling and clear. I expected a diatribe, but that was not the case at all. Even though I will continue to eat meat, the author raised many pertinent questions and answered them in a thoughtful, well-reasoned way.

Schwartz's treatment of vegetarianism and Judaism is remarkabley thorough. He approaches the topic from the multifaceted avenues of Jewish thinking: Torah, halakhah, values... it's all there. This book is a complete compendium on all the issues and argument pertaining to vegetarianism, concerning for animals, the environment, and more. Schwartz's style is highly readable. He is passionate about his topic, but not emotional. I highly recommend the book to everyone, and certainly for Jews who take our traditions seriously.

I wrote a review on this book for the newsletter for the winter 2001 newsletter for the animal rights group, Last Chance for Animals. I am including my review here:

Richard H. Schwartz's Judaism and Vegetarianism is a useful reference for refuting claims that humans and animals do not deserve equal consideration. It effectively explains and elaborates upon the Bible's stance on vegetarianism and explores other moral and societal issues with which non-religious people can identify; Schwartz even includes a section on how vegetarianism can promote awareness and ultimately resolve these issues. The book also contains answers to common questions, nutritional suggestions, discussions of Jewish vegetarian groups and their activities, biographies of famous Jewish vegetarians, an annotated bibliography, ideas for promoting vegetarianism, and a detailed index. In sum, Schwartz has produced a well-documented, well-reasoned, and very convincing work which ends with a query to Jews who plan to continue eating meat: "In view of strong Jewish mandates to be compassionate to animals, preserve our health, help feed the hungry, preserve and protect the environment, conserve resources, and seek and pursue peace, and the very negative effects animal-centered diets have in each of these areas, will you now become a vegetarian, or at least sharply reduce your consumption of animal products?".

I have read this book thoroughly, and I think it is the most informative, most complete and most readable book about vegetarianism I have ever read. The book is very well structured, the information given is presented clearly and is up to date. Since I am a vegan, I have paid extra attention to what is being said about veganism, and I found the author is objective, accurate and gives sound advice. The B12 issue is dealt with in a responsible manner and I think it is very wise to present the transition to vegetarianism and from there to veganism as a process of growth, where every step counts. The author gives many practical suggestions on how to make changes in your lifestyle without losing touch with family or friends and manages to be firm and friendly at the same time. These things alone make the book a purchase well worth the investment. For me, however, the particular merit of the book lies in the spiritual values that have inspired it. Reading the book from a non-Jewish perspective, what struck me most was that the author has chosen focal points which are relevant to people from all kinds of different backgrounds, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and people who are not religious in the 'traditional' sense. In short, all those who are concerned about the way we relate to our environment from a spiritual point of view. The first focal point is that ethical considerations are more important than habit, convenience, or tradition, and the second is that there will be a price to pay if we chose to ignore the ethical imperative to change our ways. There are many books explaining why it is better for your body to become a vegetarian; there are not many books explaining why it is better for your soul. Richard Schwartz makes the reader see how the themes of inclusion and compassion towards animals are woven all through the Torah. Having read theology at a fairly orthodox Christian college, I have often heard the argument that `since Man was created in the image of God, he was given dominion over all creation' as an excuse for the maltreatment of animals and their reduction to `meat-producing units'. Guided by Richard Schwartz, we are shown that according to the Torah both man and beast are creatures of God, and that our being created in the image of God is not a given, but rather a potential; something to be brought into manifestation by following the pattern God has laid out for us, and that one of the qualities we must manifest is compassion. Instead of feeling very proud of ourselves and thinking that we are like God already, we should realise that we are asked to imitate God in love and concern for all living beings. Instead of 'dominion' we should read 'compassionate stewardship', and that is something else entirely. From the idea of our potential for goodness and compassion, the theme of responsibility is developed. The author shows us how we are responsible, in the sense of being accountable for the wrongs we do not try to stop. By means of the voice of Amos and other prophets he poignantly asks how we can be content and comfortable while others are in great distress, humans or non-humans. I feel that now Europe has recently been plagued by BSE and foot-and-mouth disease, and we have watched the horrors of what is happening every night on television, this question is more pressing than ever. How are we to answer for these things? That is one side of responsibility. The other side is that human beings are called to do justice, to liberate the oppressed, to care for every living being and that it is the way we act in this world, the choices we make and the goals we chose, which form our answer, our response, to God. For me, our human capacity to answer to this call is the basis of faith in a better future for all beings and Richard Schwartz's book has given me every reason not to give up believing. Human beings have the potential to be compassionate and just, and they can learn how to express these qualities. And they will learn more willingly if they are given the facts about oppression and hunger and are shown ways how to change. This is exactly what Richard Schwartz has done. Like the good teacher he is, he shows people what their calling is, where they go wrong, and what they can do to change for the better. This calling is not just for Jews; many people feel that they have a responsibility for the planet and for all that lives there; they just don't know what exactly is going wrong and how to make it better. By enumerating the facts, by showing the consequences of present practices, and by showing the way out, Richard Schwartz makes a very strong case for the vegetarian imperative, no matter what the reader's religion is. I sincerely recommend the book.

Leigh Branham has done an admirable job writing a practical manual for keeping good employees. I believe any employer will find scores of proven tactics they can apply at once. As Joe Bosch of Pizza Hut says: "If a company implemented just four or five of these practices, they would be significantly better at retaining talent." Gee. Making more money because your employees are motivated. What a concept.

Doni Tamblyn is author of Laugh and Learn: 95 Ways to Use Humor for More Effective Teaching and Training and The Big Book of Humorous Training Games (Big Book of Business Games Series)

I read the book as part of an MBA mid-term project and would recommend this to any line manager or human resource practitioner who wants real, proven ideas and thoughts about attracting, retaining and developing quality employees. The book is very well structured and easy to read, yet a no-nonsense approach and in depth look at retaining valuable people.

Finally an employee retention resource from an outstanding consultant that combines practical step by step instructions with theory AND excellent examples from top companies. Keeping outstanding employees should be a top priority for every business, but unfortunately retention often runs a distant second to recruitment. Leigh Branham takes the mystery out of keeping top employees by providing business owners, managers and consultants proven retention tips. After introducing each retention practice, Leigh provides a questionnaire to evaluate your company's effectiveness. Plus the appendix is filled with surveys, checklists and evaluations you can start using today! As a consultant and coach, I am using Leigh's material with companies and individual clients and getting excellent feedback.

Keeping the best employees is a goal that is not often met in today's changing and fluid new economy. Leigh Branham introduces four key strategies designed to help an organization keep the employees it wants. These solid practices are designed to have a positive impact on an organization's best workers by increasing motivation, performance and satisfaction. These four key points are organized in parallel with an employee's life cycle in an organization:

Key #1: Be a company people want to work for.
The leadership of the organization must create an environment where three essential elements are put into place: adopt a "give and get back" philosophy, measure what counts and pay for it, inspire commitment to a clear vision and definite objectives.
Key #2: Select the right person in the first place.
Poor recruiting decisions today result in the poor performers of tomorrow. An organization must claim responsibility for recruiting to ensure it not only chooses the right candidate, but also stays connected to the external business community, and thereby having access to the full diversity of the talent pool.
Key #3: Get them off to a great start.
Knowing that between 50 and 60 percent of employees change jobs within the first seven months, it is seasoned experienced manager and leaders that focus on this critical period to the organization keeps its best employees. The keys elements during this period: communicate how their work is vital to success, get commitment to a performance agreement, and give autonomy and reward initiative.
Key #4: Coach and Reward to maintain commitment.
To sustain an employee's commitment to the organization, his relationship with his manager is a critical element. It is said that 50 percent of satisfaction at work is determined by an employee's relationship with his or her manager. Managers should: proactively manage the performance agreement, recognize results, and give employees tools to take charge of his or her career.

If at all possible, this book should be read in combination with Branham's subsequently published book, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave: How to Recognize the Subtle Signs and Act Before It's Too Late, and preferably read first. That is desirable but not imperative. Either book can firmly stand on its own merits and both are "must reading" as competition for talent becomes increasingly more aggressive. That said, the subtitle of this earlier book correctly indicates what it provides: "24 ways to hang on to your most valuable talent." Branham carefully organizes his material within eleven chapters and focuses on four "Keys," providing with each several "retention practices." Too many business books are bloated with theory but wholly impoverished in terms of practicality. For that reason, I commend Branham on the fact that he devotes most of his attention to explaining HOW to establish and then increase the appeal of an organization that people want to work for, how to hire the right people in the first place, how to get new hires off to a great start, and how to use effective coaching and appropriate rewards to sustain their commitment. Well done!

Everything about this amazing guide is RIGHT from it's convenient size to its comprehensive content. If you know what you need to measure, you'll find the right tool for it here and even if you don't know what to measure, it'll tell you. Just fantastic. A treasure. Useful tip. It's a great resource when I need to present complex information visually in a presentation. Use it for inspiration if, like me, you struggle with visualising business concepts

The day after I bought it my boss asked me to build a priority matrix. I didn't bat an eyelash. I went back to my desk and 15 minutes later I emailed him a priority matrix for our project. He had a meeting in the conference room 15 minutes later with the director and partner. They were so impressed with my work. Thanks Memory Jogger II.

The book provided quick tips for facilitation and team building. I like the format which allows for using the book without ruining the pages.

I had to get this for an MBA class I am currently taking. It provides summaries and examples of common business tools in a small package. It's a great reference guide. I didn't do a lot of searching, but for the little searching I did, Amazon had the lowest price.

This book is set up for anyone to have many tools for them to use at anytime. It has flowcharting, public speaking, many diagrams, and several team based exercises to help become better. In the front of the book it has a tool selector, and it takes some of the guess work out of tool selection.This is just one of many great books this company offers. Our copmany uses several of these in our professional training with our clients. This is a really good book for those looking for continuous improvement. The Memory Jogger Plus is an excellent book also and has many great tools and other goodies.

It's easy to pick out what makes a particular brand distinct and valuable... Apple, Costco, Wal-mart all have a definite public perception that drives their operation. In the book Leadership Brand: Developing Customer-Focused Leaders to Drive Performance and Build Lasting Value by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood, the authors contend that each company also has a "leadership brand" that helps drive that public perception and that enables the company and employees deliver on those expectations.

Contents:
Branding Leadership; The Case for Building a Leadership Brand; Creating a Leadership Brand Statement; Assessing Leaders Against the Brand; Investing in Leadership Brand; Measuring Return on Leadership Brand; Building Awareness for Leadership Brand; Preserving Leadership Brand; Implications for Personal Brand; Criteria for a Firm Brand; Firms with Branded Leadership; Notes; Index; About the Authors

Ulrich and Smallwood do a good job in changing the way that an organization's leaders are normally viewed. Using the "brand" concept, building and promoting leaders is based on an underlying element that lends a continuity to how the company performs and delivers in the marketplace. These types of leaders are the ones that allow a company to consistently lead their market niche over a long period of time. It's obviously not a "quick-fix" solution to a company that's failing. You don't just decide "here's our leadership brand, so lead in this way" one Monday morning. Using the measured approach outlined here, it's possible to start to attract and promote the type of person that will complement the core message of your company.

Legendary organizational theorist James March once called leadership a "bogus concept." His disparaging label definitely applies to the fuzzy material masquerading as leadership on the shelves of most bookstores. In Leadership Brand, Ulrich and Smallwood avoid this trap. Their "brand" metaphor is useful in at least two ways. First, it links leadership development to a business concept most people understand: brand development. This makes the ideas more concrete. Second, it follows logically from Ulrich and Smallwood's recent emphasis on intangibles, the non-financial assets that account for nearly half of a publicly traded company's market capitalization. Powerful brands epitomize intangible value, but leadership is perhaps the king of intangibles, since it drives all other organization capabilities. Linking the two concepts -- leadership and brand -- is a nice touch. Ulrich and Smallwood are developing an impressive stream of related work, of which Leadership Brand is the latest and perhaps best exemplar.

Customers associate Wal-Mart with wide product selection and low prices, Federal Express with prompt, reliable service, and Apple Computer with innovation and elegant design. These qualities define this trio of companies in the marketplace. They make them special. They are their all-important brands. Similarly, today's companies also should develop special "leadership brands" for their executives. Such brands should embody what makes these companies truly distinctive, and thus mark them - and their style of corporate management - as singular and meritorious. Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood are two of America's most respected experts on business leadership. Here, they explain why a company's leadership brand really matters. We recommend this study of the inherent logic and intrinsic value of acknowledging and promoting your company's particular style of leadership - its leadership brand.

Here's the Quick Review of Leadership Brand: Developing customer-focused leaders to drive performance and build lasting value by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood.

HOW THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT:
Concentrates on leadership as a company endeavor, not as a matter of individual growth.
The authors attempt to get you to analyze your company's leadership from the outside in.

STRENGTHS:
This is truly about leadership development in the company.
The chapter on "Assessing Leaders Against the Brand" is worth the price of the book.
Good research and citations.

WARNINGS:
You may have trouble reading this book from cover to cover.
What's here is far too programmatic to be practical taken whole.
The concept of "Leadership Brand" may get in your way.

BOTTOM LINE:
If you're interested in leadership development, this book should be on your shelf.

Now for the detailed review.

There's not much new about leadership. But every new leadership book attempts to give you something unique, a new way to look at the subject, new things to try, or old things to try in different way. Every book tries to shift your thinking.

Leadership Brand by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood attempts to shift your thinking from studying leaders to studying leadership and toward influencing how leaders connect the company to customers and other "outsiders." They work through the metaphor of a "leadership brand," which they tell us is "the identity of the firm in the mind of the customers made real to employees because of customercentric leadership behaviors."

That quote tells you that this book will stretch your thinking about leadership development in your company. It also tells you that the authors are overanalyzing and, yes, branding the process they describe. Here's a quick chapter outline

Branding Leadership - the authors introduce their concept of Leadership Brand

There are six chapters that lay out the process in step-by-step fashion.

Creating a Leadership Brand Statement
Assessing Leaders Against the Brand - worth reading if you read nothing else
Investing in Leadership Brand
Measuring Return on Leadership Brand
Building Awareness for Leadership Brand
Preserving Leadership Brand

Implications for Personal Brand

There are two Appendices

Criteria for a Firm Brand - worth reading for an overview of things to do
Firms with Branded Leadership

HOW THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT

Leadership Brand concentrates on leadership as a company endeavor, not as a matter of individual growth. That makes it different from most leadership books, but similar to recent books like The Leadership Pipeline.

The authors also attempt to get you to analyze your company's leadership from the outside in. This is a powerful concept and one you can use in any company.

If you start thinking about leadership development by thinking about the results that need to be produced, you will see things that you won't see with the "competency" or "trait" approach. You will also be able to identify the ways that leadership at your company needs to be different than leadership at other companies.

STRENGTHS

This is truly about leadership development in the company. It will help you develop a leadership development program or modify what you've got.

The chapter on "Assessing Leaders Against the Brand" is worth the price of the book. This chapter is filled with tools and references that will help you assess leadership and leadership development whether you use the authors' program or not.

I love leadership books that are well-researched. Because the authors describe their thinking and support their points with research, you can judge whether you agree. You can also adapt a point or suggestion more effectively to your own situation.


WARNINGS

You may have trouble reading this book from cover to cover. The prose is absolutely tortured at times.

What's here is far too programmatic to be practical taken whole. Like so many programmatic books, this one lays our multiple, detailed steps and makes it seem like you go through them, bang-bang-bang in a linear fashion.

The fact is that the kind of changes the authors are calling for require changes in multiple company systems and in the culture. It's a generational process that will take years, not months.

The concept of "Leadership Brand" may get in your way. It did for me.

I never understood how a "leadership brand" was different than the culture and values of a company. Ultimately I just substituted "culture and values" in my head every time I read "leadership brand." That seemed to work fine.

BOTTOM LINE

If you're interested in leadership development, this book should be on your shelf.

In the Preface, Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood make this affirmation: "We believe that leaders matter, but leadership matters more. We have all experienced a gifted leader who engaged all of us -- our hearts, minds, and feet. Dynamic leaders enlist us in a cause, and we willingly follow their counsel. But leadership exists when an organization produces more than one to two individual leaders. Leadership matters more because it is tied not to a person but to the process of building leaders." By no means do Ulrich and Smallwood question the importance of individual leaders. On the contrary, they assert (and I agree) that one of the most important obligations of being a leader is to strengthen or at least sustain a process by which to identify, hire, develop, and then retain high-impact leaders at all levels and in all areas throughout her or his organization.

With regard to this book's title, Ulrich and Smallwood offer another affirmation: "We believe that all organizations have a leadership brand, either explicitly crafted and deployed or implicitly perceived and randomly perpetuated...[Therefore] leadership brand is the identity of the leaders throughout an organization that bridges customer expectations and employee and organizational behavior." I've noticed that in recent years, several of the same companies (e.g. Berkshire Hathaway, FedEx, GE, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, and Toyota Motor) appear on the annual lists of those Most Valuable as well as those Most Highly Admired. These exemplary companies all have high-impact leadership that consistently produces superior results. I've also noticed that the U.S. military services and their academies are also renowned for the high quality of their leadership development programs. However different these organizations are in most respects, they do share this in common: Each has devised a high-impact leadership program that is appropriate to their specific needs and objectives.

As Ulrich and Smallwood correctly point out, a brand combines an identity with a reputation among various constituencies. "Leadership brand is the identity of the firm in the in the mind of the customers, made real to employees because of customercentric leadership behaviors. In other words, leadership brand occurs when leaders' knowledge, skills, and values focus employee behavior on the factors that target the issues that customers care about." The challenge for any organization (whatever its size or nature) is to formulate a program ensuring that everyone in that organization embraces the values, gains the knowledge, and strengthens the skills needed to drive performance and build lasting value.

After briefly explaining the "what" in Chapters 1 & 2 (i.e. what leadership brand is and why it is important), Ulrich and Smallwood devote the remaining chapters to "how," answering questions such as these:

3. What is a "brand statement"?
3. How to prepare one?
4. How to assess leaders against the brand?
5. How to invest in the leadership brand?
6. How to measure its ROI?
7. How to create and then increase awareness of it?

Note: My own opinion is that creating and then increasing awareness of the leadership brand should precede measuring its ROI. That is, I would reverse the order of what are now Chapters 6 & 7.

8. How to preserve it?
9. What are the implications of a leadership brand for a personal brand?

Then in two appendices, Ulrich and Smallwood review the criteria for a firm brand and include the last of several self-diagnostics, "Diagnosis for leadership brand"). Then in the second appendix, they briefly discuss their research on the top firms for managing quality, suggesting that some function as "feeder firms" because they "feed the demands for next-generation leaders in other firms." For example, Hewlett-Packard, Johnson Controls, and Kraft. Non-profits include the Drucker Foundation, UNICEF, and the U.S. Marine Corps.

With regard to the U.S.M.C., Jon Katzenbach is quoted in a footnote to Appendix B: "Their mantra is simple and compelling and I first heard it articulated by Brig. General John Ryan (ret.) as follows: `We want all of our leaders - at every level -to focus on only two things: First, mission accomplishment; you will accomplish your mission no matter what...Second, and of equal importance, you will take care of each and every one of your Marines - let me repeat that that, you will take care of each and every Marine in your unit.' I have often thought that if all aspiring young leaders focused on these two things they could go a long way down their journey to becoming admirable leaders at whatever level they gravitate to."

I especially appreciate the provision of self-diagnostics as well as various "Tables" that organize key points within the context of a given chapter. They include Figure 3-1, "Creating a leadership brand statement" (Page 53), Figure 4-3, "Collaborative behaviors" (Page 94), Figure 7-1, (Pages 166-167), and Figure 9-1, "Creating a personal brand" (Page 212). Reader-friendly devices such as these facilitate, indeed accelerate frequent review of key points later.

Credit Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood with providing in a single volume just about as much information and counsel as most organizations will need to devise and implement or strengthen a process by which to produce the high-impact leaders it needs. In my opinion, becoming a "leadership brand" is only one result of that process. Moreover, everyone should be involved both as a student and as a mentor. Exemplary companies are proud of their current, hard-earned reputation as a "leadership brand" while keeping in mind that the high quality of their leaders will continue only if they constantly nourish and strengthen the process by which they are developed. For that reason, I strongly recommend that all decision-makers in a given organization read this book, then discuss it with other members of senior management. It would be a serious mistake to try to apply everything that Ulrich and Smallwood recommend but equally irresponsible to have no development process whatsoever. As they suggest when concluding their book, "the journey to leadership brand begins with the self." Bon voyage!

Those who share my high regard for this brilliant book are urged to check out Judgment co-authored by Noel Tichy and Warren Bennis, Ram Charan's Know-How and his more recent Leaders at All Levels, Roger Martin's The Opposable Mind, The New American Workplace co-authored by James O'Toole and Edward Lawler, Henry Chesbrough's Open Business Models, Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect, James Kilts's Doing What Matters, Dean Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement, and Enterprise Architecture As Strategy co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.

After reading Tony's book, I understand why it is often used as the textbook for various Christian Coaching education centers. He delves into the science of many of the tenets of life coaching in plain language, and illustrates the art of practical applications of those principles through real examples of coaching situations. I consider Tony's book and John Whitmore's Coaching for Performance two essential books for anyone interested in the study of life coaching.

Bought this for my wife who is a Pastor / Life Coach. Says it contains lots of good principles.

As a christian leader, what is so fascinating about this book is that so many of the principles in it are taken directly from the Bible.
One of the most powerful sentences in the book is this: "Coaching is a conscious imitation of the way that Christ looks at us and the way that God develops leaders."

Tony's book is an integral part of my coach training program. I believe all my students would agree that it is a powerful tool in the hands of someone who wants to be a good coach.

This is an excellent book for someone wanting to get questions to use for stimulating discussion and thinking in others. My tendency is to want to just tell people what is so obvious to me rather than let them get to that place through their own thinking. The book is chock full of questions to use on lots of different levels. I have found it very useful.

The Poetry of Business

When I created The Poetry of Business - working from the inside out - I was using poetry to take a person through their career for the purpose of self examination and enlightenment. Poetry is one of the most powerful mediums to penetrate to the core of your beingness and invoke innate emotions and creativity. Leading from within is a great use of poetry and commentary used to inspire leadership, and I think it is exactly what it promoted itself as. I was thrilled to see another book combining poetry and its impact in the working culture. In addition it is a fundamental direction for the nurturing of poetry within, and the furthering of poetry in society.
Tracy Repchuk
Bestselling author of 31 Days to Millionaire Marketing Miracles
President and Founder of the Canadian Federation of Poets
Founder and Editor of Poetry Canada Magazine

There are many devotional resources, most of which serve us well in our faith formation. This book however has been a unique resource for me as a United Methodist pastor. It is a book filled with poems that have been selected by various individuals, some well known, others not. The individual gives a reflection on the meaning of the poem for her/him and then the poem following.

For me, I turn to this book at the end of the day, sitting in my easy chair I flip through the book in no particular order. I find myself reading the reflection by an individual. I then read the poem, allowing the person's reflection to "color" my perception of the poem. And then I sit in silence. No difficult/complex process. Just reflection, poem, silence.

As we are reminded in the Courage & Renewal work, the soul/spirit comes to us "at a slant". It is in the silence that I feel a particular sense of the sacred. This book is a rich resource to be read one poem/one reflection at a time. It is food for the long journey.

This wonderful anthology gives pleasure two ways: first, as a source of a wide variety of new and interesting poets and poems you may not have encountered before, always an important service for an anthology to perform. Second, however, the brief introductions that each contributor offers to his or her poem are a revelation and often as powerful as the poem itself. Who would have guessed that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, would both find inspiration in Tennyson's "Ulysses"? Or that a Congresswoman would be touched by Naomi Shihab Nye's "Kindness".

If you are expecting a collection of sentimental poetic candies, fear not. A few old chestnuts are here: "Invictus", for example, offered by a philosophy professor at the U.S. Naval Academy, but when you read his reason for including it, you read the poem with a new appreciation. Poets like William Stafford, Mary Oliver, and Langston Hughes are cited multiple times, and much-anthologized poets like Robert Frost and T.S. Eliot are here too, but so are poets new to me: William Ayot, Carol Zippert, or Ezzeddin Nasafi. Mystics like Rumi, Hafiz, and William Blake. Public figures like Eugene McCarthy and Martin Luther King Jr.

The 93 poems are thoughtfully grouped into eight sections with intriguing titles that will make sense to anyone who's been in a position of leadership: "Called", "Defining Moments", "Sometimes It Aches", "Pay Attention", "The Real Bottom Line", "Dare to Endure", "Leading Together", "Back At It". The editors have clearly paid attention to the poems and clearly thought deeply about leadership. We expect much of our leaders and project upon them powers and motives that only compound the responsibility they already carry. We hope they will inspire us, but we seldom think about where they find inspiration. This anthology offers their testimony and the result is an anthology that rewards multiple readings. Whether you lead a large corporation or a school PTA, you'll find it inspiring to listen to leaders praise the poems that inspire them.

The richness of the poetry in Leading for Within will resonate with anyone who faces challenges in leadership. And the well chosen poetry is enhanced by personal reflections of remarkably wise leaders who have contributed to this wonderful book. It has become my trusted resource -used frequently for personal sustenance in legal academia. It's a perfect gift to inspire and comfort those who embrace leadership day in and day out.

I have come late in life to poetry. I learned in high school how to dissect and wrestle a poem to the ground not how to savor and take a poem into my heart for my own use. This book of poetry and reflections is one I can savor. I so enjoy reading how others have found inspiration in a poem that I too have come to love like the poem "Lost" by David Wagoner with a reflection by Peter Senge. I highly recommend this book.

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.

Stephen McGhee's book gives not just hope, but the comfort of knowing we can change our lives through love, generosity and accountability. The slices of real life experiences sprinkled throughout are inspiring and lend a powerful message: be you, be genuine and thus create a life of leadership through miracles. It is a lovely seed to be planted in all of our hearts.